#it was a little to mcu-esque for my taste

[honeybubblebeeeeee]

Since you’re taking requests…

Bakugou x reader in an MCU universe where Bakugou is an avenger and reader who has a very Shuri-esque character and lives in Wakanda??

I can just imagine him falling in love after he gets really injured and is forced to rehabilitate in Wakanda and reader has to heal him and is just like

-_-

Have a great day!!

YAAAY finally a request so hype to do this for my little angry Pomeranian <3 I hope this did the request justice give me some feedback for sure i wasnt sure how long to make it

Bakugou was heaving as he launched himself past falling rubble trying to keep up with the enemy infront of him. He was tired, he was bleeding and he didn't know how much longer he could keep it up. He could see a stream of green above him as Deku joined the chase. His body was on fire from the use of his quirk but it was so close to being over. He was looking forward to laying down and being left alone for a couple days.

His focus was shattered as the screaming of Deku. "KACCHAN STOP!" Katsuki's head hit smacked into the concrete and everything went black before he could even register the attack.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Katsuki blinked slowly as his vision tried to focus on the lights and shapes around him. His limbs felt like they weighed ten times the amount they should as he struggled to register the current world around him.

"Ah! He lives!" A celebratory laugh and the sound of footsteps advanced on him. A soft hand pushed him back down. He struggled against it but his body felt no energy to fight back as his eyes focused on the person above him.

"Ah ah. Stay down. Not done yet." You looked down at him, a smirk on your face. Katsuki wanted nothing more than to tell this woman to go away, to stop bothering him but he was so tired and so weak that he just watched as you moved around him looking at a tablet in your hands.

"Vitals look good, blood pressure seems to be rising but I have heard you got quite the temper dont'cha?" You laughed as the sound of you tapping the screen filled the silence. "You're healing - but slowly which concerns me. It's too slow for someone like you and nothing I did helped. I dunno what you got hit with but boy they did a number on you."

Katsuki's eyes followed you as you walked behind a console and focused on whatever it was in front of you. He was able to finally at last force himself up, swallowing the wince as he went. In front of him a hologram of a skeleton illuminated. Certain bones and areas were highlighted red.

"See here, your ribs got hit hard, a few broken. Clean break luckily. Abrasions, bruising, a few cuts and gashes. Things are just not healing quickly. It's not a poison. It's something else." You looked over at him as he placed his feet on the ground. His face scrunched in pain but he didn't say anything.

You rolled your eyes, a soft chuckle leaving you.

"Eh? What's so funny?" If looks could kill those red eyes of his would throw real daggers at you. You shook your head and held up your hands in defense. "Nothing. You are just as stubborn as they say."

Doors opened and Izuku walked in. "Oh Kacchan! You're up. Shouldn't you be resting?"

'Tch. Shut up." Katsuki started to walk out the doors but Midoriya stopped him. "Where are you going?"

Katsuki just glared. "Home? Where else?"

You laughed. "Home? You are a little far from home my friend."

Large metal shutters started to open on the opposite side of the room revealing a vibrant and lush landscape. "Welcome to Wakanda Katsuki." Your smile was wide as you stared out in awe of your homeland.

Katsuki felt his attitude towards you soften from the way you looked out at the world with awe. Even the bubbly personality you had in light of his rudeness, the sarcastic and teasing tone that went with it.

"Anyway, let me show you to your room.

Izuku had bid his farewells and katsuki followed you just down the hall from the lab to the next set of doors into a tasteful apartment. "You can stay in here, close to the lab so I can keep an eye on you. I'll have you in the lab daily to check on ya and figure out what is the causing of this lack of healing but get some rest for now. You're gonna need it." You smiled and left the room.

Once it was clear you were gone Bakuguo made it to the bedroom before laying down and groaning against the pain he was trying to hold in.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Rise and shine fire boy!" Your voice rang out as you threw open the large curtains in the bedroom.

Katsuki groaned, covering his head with a pillow. "Buzz off."

"We have things to do, c'mon. Meet me in the lab." You tauntingly patted the pillow over his face and walked out. In the moment Katsuki was thankful for the pillow in the moment because it covered the smile that forced it's way on to his face.

He slowly but eventually made his way into lab. You hovered over a table with something half melted on it. The closer he got he realized it was his grenadier bracers. "Hey! Don't touch those!" His temper rose as tried to move towards you threateningly but the pain that spiked from his ribs cut his rampage short.

You looked up at him with a smile. He hated how it smoothed the rage over. "Relax, relax. I cannot break it more than it already is. I simply want to make them better. It's interesting technology but - mine - is better." You strutted back to the console from the previous day. "Lay down. I want to take another scan."

Katsuki glared at you. You huffed putting your hands on your hips. "What's the problem?" He didn't like people bossing him around, telling him what to do but he did like the ay you were matching his attitude. Everyone usually got mad at him, told him he was rude or stubborn and to get over it but so far you had not expressed a single complaint about him. You just shot back whatever he dished out and, he liked it.

He smirked. "Nuthin'." and laid back down on the table. He watched you as you focused. He noticed the way you were biting the inside of your cheek as you focused. It was cute.

"Hm, well. Whatever it was has worn off. Damn. You seem to be healing properly now. The medication I gave you seems to have finally mended the bones. I wanna check something else though." You walked up to the side of the weird platform he laid on. "Lift up your shirt."

His eyes went wide. "What?! No." You rolled your eyes and laughed. "I need to see the bruising and I need to check under the bandages. Relax, Kats."

He felt the tension slip away at the nickname you used. He internally scolded himself but reluctantly lifted his shirt above the bandages. You examined intently, placing a couple fingers along the bruises and pressing. His skin prickled at your touch. "Oh, sorry, hands are probably cold." You pulled away, rubbing your hands together quickly to warm them up. Except that wasn't why his skin got goose bumps. It was just your touch - soft and delicate. You pulled at the bandage revealing what would have been a wound. "Ah. Healed. Nice." You pulled away completely and walked to the console again. He pulled his shirt down and slowly sat up. "Well I'd say you will be healed completely and back to full strength in a matter of days. However, I would like to take a look at your suit maybe make a few adjustments."

"Sure, whatever." He slouched where he sat, looking out the large windows that were now uncovered. "I could show you around if you like? Wakanda has a lot to offer." Katsuki shrugged, pretending to feign disinterest but in reality he wouldn't mind spending more time with you.

He had followed you out of the lab. He responded in grunts and huffs as you led him around but your mood never changed. He liked it when you smiled at him when it came to rooms you really enjoyed such as the large conservatory filled with lush plants.

Eventually you came to a stop. "Well, that's most of it. I can take you back to your room if you want. You should rest some more."

He scoffed, his hands in his pockets and he side eyed you. "I'm fine."

You smirked. "SO does that mean you want to continue?"

He shrugged again, feeling a heat come to his face. "Sure, whatever. I don't care." You hummed at him. "Right."

So, you continued day after day. He followed you around the grounds, through fields and forests. As time went on he slowly spoke more. You teased each other, bantering in a way he was unable to do with anyone up until this point. People took him too serious, took his jokes or insults too serious but you didn't. You kept up with him and sometimes even left him without comebacks.

It was one day that finally got him, he couldn't take the feelings that were bubbling up inside him. It was the way you stood over his bracers, nimble fingers toying with them, the way your eyebrows furrowed as you tested it and it didn't work out as planned. Katsuki didn't even realize he was staring.

"I know you are there Kats. I don't bite.... usually." You sing song voice echoed out as you winked at him over your shoulder. He felt the heat that rushed to his face, but scoffed instead trying to hide the smirk that threatened his stoic face.

"What'cha doin' anyway?" He stepped up beside you, his skin brushing yours. He hated the way he wanted to just get closer. "I just uh-" You stopped short, needing to concentrate. Katsuki smiled down at you but felt the need to cover it. "Well? What is it?"

You glared at him for his impatience, his scowl quickly dissipating into wide eyes as they flicked from your own to your lips and back up. He wet his lips in response. A soft smirk formed your lips. "Don't worry, not gonna break anythin'."

He hummed at you, watching you rewire and rework the bracers. "How's your injuries feeling anyway hm?" You didn't look to him as you spoke but his eyes never left your form. "Oh, uh..." Truthfully he felt fine now but he knew once he was better he would have to leave Wakanda, leave you. "Still sore and uh painful, yeah, hurts." He tried to speak with conviction even going so far as to hold onto his rib as if it ached.

You side eyed him and held back the smile that played at your lips. "Well I guess you'll just have to stay longer then won't you? I can't send you away when you are still in so much pain. Right Kats?" The sarcasm that laced your voice was playful but it went over his head. "Yeah, yeah, painful and sore. Right." He nodded his head long trying to convey seriousness.

You poked him right in the rib where the injury had been but he didn't even react. "Looks painful you're right." You tilted your head as you looked up at him. His brows furrowed in confusion for a moment before his brain fog of just thinking about you touching him cleared and he realized what was actually happening. "That hurt."

You smirked at him. "I'm sure it did. I guess you really will have to stay. Hope that's not a problem."

He licked his lips, staring at your own again. "Hmm, ya i guess I'll have to make it work somehow."

He'd make it work. He didn't care if it took another injury. Getting closer to you was the only thing on his mind right now.

[thexgrayxlady]

What I Read in July 2024

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chakraborty - 4.50/5.00

If you could synthesize a book in a lab, just for me, this would be very close to the end result.

This was a fun, swashbuckling adventure, staring a retired pirate and her middle-aged crew. I love how despite being older, the characters are all still hot messes and absolute menaces to society. Amina, despite trying to reform for her kid, is still an adventurer at heart and you feel how much she loves being back on the sea, getting into misadventures. I was having too much of a good time to take too many notes.

Also Raksh sucks so much. He's just the worst. I love him. I want him to keep trying to serve Amina magical divorce papers forever.

It's really just held back by its ties to her previous series, which is mainly a personal grievance because I'm finding interconnected universes, especially when they don't need to be there, increasingly uninteresting. The part on the Peri's island drags a lot and they take a lot of the tension out of the ending.

The book has a fun, Raiders-esque feel to it. The plot unfolds at a pretty fast pace and I never got tired of the hijinks the characters got into getting the band back together.

Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan - 3.00/5.00

I'm always weirdly disappointed by these books. Like, they're not unenjoyable, but I always feel like there isn't enough focus on the speculative biology of dragons. The pacing for this book is a lot better than the previous entries, it gets right to business on Isabella's voyage around the world to study dragons. It's very accessible and easy to read. When the dragons are on page, they're really interesting. I really liked the illustrations. Unfortunately, I'm just not terribly interested in the politics of this world.

Wicked Beauty by Katee Robert - 3.50/5.00

I gave Katee Robert another chance and I liked this so much better than Electric Idol. Wicked Beauty made for a fun and easy beach read. The characters are less annoying, except for Hermes and Dionysus, who are, yet again, just so irritating. I hated every second they were on page. Fortunately, there was not very much of them.

I really liked Helen, Achilles, and Patroclus. They had a fun dynamic between them. I appreciate that while they come to care about each other, they have incompatible goals at first and they eventually work to figure out how to make their relationship work. They're all messy bisexual assholes and I loved watching them being messy bisexual assholes.

The ratio of porn to plot was a lot better in this book. The plot is kind of dumb, but it's entertainingly dumb and, let's be honest, you're not reading this series for the plot. There are some things from the plot that I would have changed, one of them is genuine and the other is just a personal preference. I wish that Helen defeating Paris had been from her POV and had more time and weight dedicated to it. It felt like the author was rushing to the end here. I also wish there had been more drama around Patroclus' injuries in the second trial, but that's just my preference. Hiding injuries is my catnip. It was dangled in front of me and then jerked away. Like the football. Jail for Katee Robert. Jail for 1000 years!

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson - 2.75/5.00

I see the appeal of these books. They do not appeal to me.

To it's credit, it is very accessible. Maybe a little too much so for my taste. I am, admittedly, a pretentious asshole. This could have been a fun book. At times, it is very close to being a very fun book. Unfortunately it settles for being the MCU of fantasy in both a complementary and a derogatory sense.

The language is very simple, to the point where the few times where complex vocabulary was used, it was somewhat jarring. I think I can count on one hand the number of times figurative language was used. Everything is very surface level, if it's what you're in the mood for, I could see it being very easy to turn your brain off and enjoy this and not have to worry too much about missing out on subtext.

That being said, everything is explained so often that you have to ask yourself if Sanderson thinks his readers are stupid. You just want to tell him that yeah, you got the point like three paragraphs ago, just get on with it. The over explanation of the, admittedly interesting, magic, the simple plot, and the beyond simple characters lead to the book feeling tensionless and bloated.

I actually like the magic system. When it wasn't being explained every other paragraph. Learning about Allomancy became very repetitive fast and I think at least half of it could have been kept in the appendix for a much tighter book. And because it was so overstated, I became kind of pedantic about it. The magic system doesn't even go as far as it could with its own logic. Why can they push and pull non-magnetic metals? Why is that road copper when it could be a much cooler magnetic metal? You could have a road made out of cobalt or neodymium or even nickel if you wanted something more mundane. Why is pewter the metal that makes you stronger when it's really soft and malleable in real life?

The world itself feels more like a themepark version of itself than an actual lived in world. I wouldn't care about this so much, but Sanderson gets so much praise for his worldbuilding and I do not get it. This is due at least in part to how flat and lifeless the characters are.

Vin is wildly inconsistent. She says over and over and over again that she doesn't trust people and she expects to betray her. Yet every time she encounters someone betraying someone else and she becomes surprised pikachu. Like, she should not need to have what noblemen do to Skaa women explained to her. She should not be shocked and appalled by it. She grew up with that threat constantly hanging over her head. She should not like or trust the nobility as much as she does, as quickly as she does. From the very beginning, she feels more like a sheltered noblewoman than a homeless orphan who makes a living by stealing.

I've very rarely encountered a character as annoying as Kelsier. You can practically see him tip his goddamn fedora and hear him say, "M'lady." I'm not sure a whole chapter goes by without one character or another extolling the virtues of the goddamn Mary Sue. He has one pretty good moment, when he returns to the Pits of Hathsin, and another when Sanderson has another all too brief flash of really good writing with Kelsier's death. The first is nearly immediately undercut when Kelsier single-handedly destroys the Pits in two pages and meets so little resistance in doing so that it feels like he could have done that whenever he wanted to. If he could so easily do this, why does the rest of the plan even need to happen?

Sazed's the best character and even then, he's still wish.com Alfred Pennyworth.

Because the main characters are so overpowered and the antagonists have very little presence on the page, plot has no tension. Everything just feels too easy for the characters. Everything more or less goes according to plan. And when it doesn't, it doesn't feel like they have to struggle to get things back on track. At the end, I had to ask myself what was the point of 2/3 of the book spent gathering the army when Vin and Kelsier were going to solo everything.

The tension is not helped by calling the oppressed underclass The Skaa.

The logbook bits at the start of the chapters are the most interesting part of the book because they're allowed to stand more or less on their own and they don't tell the reader everything that happens, then explain it in the narration, then have the characters discuss it again just to make sure that the reader knows what happened.

Admittedly, the last fifty pages are a blast, but you shouldn't have to slog through six hundred pages of repetitive, annoying, beige prose to get there. The Lord Ruler's entrance is really cool and creepy. What Vin does with the metal arrowheads is creative and frankly just nifty. Unfortunately, my copy had several misprinted pages right when it was getting good, so I couldn't really even enjoy that.

At the end of the day, it honestly feels like Sanderson would rather be writing manuals for a TTRPG than a novel.

Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse - 3.50/5.00

The cover is less criminally ugly than Fevered Star!

I want so badly to like this book more than I do. Unfortunately, it inherits too many problems from the previous book to land as effectively as it could. The author still has to scramble to move characters into place because of how much time the previous book wasted futzing around.

The whole Teek storyline feels rushed and I feel like Xiala should have gone through most of it in the previous book. If her mother, aunt, and the matrons were given more time to develop, then their massacre would have had more of an impact. The scene on the beach where she starts to Sing is really good and I wish that it had the impact it deserved. That being said, once it gets off of the Teek islands, watching her come into her powers is pretty cool and her storyline moves much more smoothly. Her reunion with Serapio is very cute and I love their relationship.

Naranpa's storyline ultimately feels superfluous and hastily tacked on as the conflict pivots away from the Crow God and the Sun God. At the end of the last book, I thought we would get at least something interesting happening at the Graveyard of the Gods and it just never happens. I feel like you could cleanly excise her parts from the book and very little would be lost. It's ultimately just so shallow and disconnected from everything else that it's hard to care.

None of Balem's flashbacks were needed and just leave the book feeling bloated. Frankly, I don't think that Balem's POV is needed to begin with. You could get just about everything you needed from that with some minor tweeks to Iktans.

Serapio's POV is easily one of the strongest. There's a scene with the man he thinks is is father that's so good. You get such a strong sense of his religious trauma and why he feels like his destiny is his only option. You really understand why he latches so strongly onto anybody who treats him like an actual human, like Okoa and Xiala.

Like. I loved the first book in this series. I love these characters. This is such an interesting world. I know it doesn't seem like it from this review, but I like this book. There's a lot of very good stuff in here. It's just held back too much by mistakes made in the previous entry and I wanted it to be better.

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

GUARDIANS 3 Opening Ain't a Disappointment

Some seem to be writing it off as a disappointment, but I'd say it's pretty cool that the third GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY movie opened with around $118m this past weekend.

That's a sentence no one would've imagined being a reality back in, say, 2004... Or even 2014, when the first was on its way to theaters.

"A third GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY movie made over $100m on its opening weekend".

The first GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY movie opened with $94m back in August of 2014, which was an astounding number for this kind of movie back then: Based on characters few outside of the comic-sphere have heard of, and for a movie that was more a space opera with weird funny creatures in it as opposed to the more grounded superheroes like Iron Man and Captain America. This time we had snarky raccoons and talking trees... How was THIS thing going to do?

Before GUARDIANS came out, the MCU kind of slowly held our hands when it came to introducing the world above Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers, and Natasha Romanoff... THOR had the Asgard/Nine Realms/fantasy stuff, THE AVENGERS had some rather generic alien invaders, and THOR: THE DARK WORLD mostly played it safe with the space/cosmic stuff... Until its mid-credits scene featuring The Collector. A brief scene which was directed by GUARDIANS trilogy director James Gunn. A very brief taste of what was to come regarding the cosmic side of the MCU... And Gunn's wacky FARSCAPE/FUTURAMA-esque space adventure movie truly blew it all open. THOR, THE AVENGERS, and THOR 2 walked so it could run, you could say...

And yet, these guys and the world they inhabited were completely new. Only The Collector and his slave Carina appeared in THE DARK WORLD, which had opened with $85m domestically. The Marvel brand, post-AVENGERS, absolutely had to have helped this movie, because this kind of space saga isn't always an easy sell if you aren't STAR WARS... And even STAR WARS was largely doubted before it was unleashed unto the world. GUARDIANS would go on to score a great 3.5x multiplier and went on to make a lot of money for what it was. It managed to outgross CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER and THOR: THE DARK WORLD, even.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY was more than a homework movie, it was more than a picture you had to watch to keep track of what was going to happen in the next AVENGERS movie...

It's interesting to me because GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY largely revolves around one of the Infinity Stones, and Thanos is present in the movie, but the immense heart of the storyline and Peter Quill's whole deal, these weirdos with rough pasts and dodgy backgrounds all coming together... It made for something special, and that beating heart of the story shined beyond the few MCU trappings, namely its big explosive third act set-piece and the stuff that hinted at the future.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 was even more stand-alone, so self-contained that it could exist - almost plausibly - outside the MCU. It even takes place a little after the first movie, which was set in 2014, the year of its release... And this movie came out in 2017. It wasn't concerned with what was happening on the ground or elsewhere. It didn't have any major cameos, not that I can remember anyways. I don't even think Ego's seed terraforming on Earth during the final battle was even referenced by future Marvel movies or at least the ones set after it (like CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR). The movie opened with $146m, an astounding total. Then it made a decent 2.6x its opening, probably because it was more frontloaded this time, and the movie was a little more ambitious than the first one. Some elements in it were a dealbreaker for some people, including quite a few critics. The same is being said about VOL. 3 as well.

(For the record, I love all three of these movies, VOL. 3 might just be my personal favorite of the bunch... I have to sit with it for a few...)

Then the Guardians themselves made appearances elsewhere, namely in AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR and AVENGERS: ENDGAME. The plots of those movies absolutely inform some of the characters' arcs and story elements going forward, largely concerning Peter Quill and a Gamora who never met him. Otherwise, GUARDIANS VOL. 3 manages to be self-contained once more.

I see it this way. The first one surprised and did very well, the second one was the peak of the series at the box office, and the third one comes down a bit...

It's happened before. SHREK, SHREK 2, and SHREK THE THIRD have the same trajectory. As do the DESPICABLE ME movies not counting the MINIONS spin-offs. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN is another example off the top of my head.

We're at a point now, I think, where a lot of people are stepping off of the MCU train post-AVENGERS. They'll show up for certain movies that appeal to them, such as SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME, BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER, and this picture, but that's it. I expect VOL. 3's multiplier to be closer to those than to ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA's abysmal 2.0x multiplier. I feel the same has been happening with DC movies, too. Look at how SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS just did, or how BLACK ADAM kinda came up short.

Here's some mutlipliers that I think kind of speak volumes...

SHANG-CHI - 2.9x

ETERNALS - 2.3x

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME - 3.1x

MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS - 2.1x

THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER - 2.3x

BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER - 2.5x

QUANTUMANIA - 2.0x

It shows me that these movies are a lot more frontloaded now than ever before by the diehard fans, and that general audiences are kind of directing their attention elsewhere. It's natural, really, for the MCU is now a 15-year-old franchise, the first IRON MAN movie having debuted in May of 2008. That it's still pulling in these kinds of monster grosses and opening weekends is kind of astounding. Even QUANTUMANIA posted a trilogy high for ANT-MAN, with an $106m opening. An MCU movie hasn't missed that threshold since ETERNALS, unsurprisingly a movie that introduced a ton of new characters and a new side of the MCU hitherto unseen.

I predict GUARDIANS VOL. 3 will have okay legs, as it does have an A CinemaScore grade. Probably about on par with how VOL. 2 held up after its opening weekend. Should either just reach $300m domestically, or barely miss it. It's doing pretty good worldwide, so I think it's safe to say that this is one audiences will stick around for. I see it making a profit, unlike QUANTUMANIA. The GUARDIANS movies are unique like this, in that they're not homework movies or ones you have to watch in order to keep up with the wider universe. You can follow these characters through all three of their movies, and you only watch two other movies to get the rest of their story. (Their cameo in THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER has next to no bearing on this film.)

I think it really shows just how much audiences love those characters, and not what they mean to the MCU as a whole. Gunn and his crew really scored there...

Now, when THE MARVELS opens in November, and CAPTAIN AMERICA: NEW WORLD ORDER next spring, I suppose we'll get a better idea of the MCU's trajectory going forward and what it might splinter into...

[nileqt87]

Thoughts on WandaVision by a non-Marvel fan

As someone who had only seen a single Marvel movie (The Avengers) and only watched Jessica Jones season 1 for David Tennant (while hating nearly every other character in it), which had none of these characters, I only watched WandaVision precisely because it dared to break the mold and be even remotely ambitious instead of doing the same old CGI cartoon fest over and over. And somewhat because of what Marvel has done to the film industry, television has completely and utterly overtaken film as where emotional, dramatic storytelling now happens.

And okay, I happen to have had a major TVLand addiction growing up and binged a ton of the shows referenced in WandaVision long ago (yep, those very same '50s-'80s sitcoms). I couldn't pass up the retro. Love at first sight. Combine that with what promised to be a tragic, human/non-human romance. Sold. I knew little else about the characters.

For a long time, I've seen female fans (in particular) comment on how part of the reason they write fanfiction for Marvel is that they have to read between the lines just to add the implied dramatic content of the relationship focus variety that never quite gets developed in canon (certainly not up to the standard of what a fic reader expects). I saw a few comments that pretty much described WandaVision as exactly that: a fix-it fanfic before tragic reality invaded Pleasantville. Wanda's whole Hex was essentially a glorified fix-it fanfic.

For this reason alone, I can only hope the success of WandaVision gets them to create a season 2 that is dedicated solely to Wanda trying to put her family (Vision) back together that does the tragic romance justice in a way that giving them side parts in other people's movies just isn't going to cut it.

I feel like Vision's ultimate resurrection or even Wanda's struggle with her grief is better left to her own headline story, whether be it film or television. Television is the only medium that is going to allow the actors to really sink their teeth into this sort of star-crossed, tragic drama and not have it relegated to a minor side-character plot. Either give Wanda and Vision their own movie (hopefully, with heightened focus on character development as a lesson learned from television) or wait to integrate the mind and body of Vision in another season that gives both of them center stage with room to develop it.

Them having their twins for real might also be worth a season 2 in a way that probably wouldn't even work on film, as showing such a feminine pregnancy storyline would be a helluva departure for a Marvel movie that goes from action set piece to action set piece.

I wouldn't even hate it if Wanda's sitcom comfort zone made a few more appearances, even if it is merely the occasional domestic fantasy or dream/nightmare, so there is a way to not completely divorce a potential season 2 from season 1's "gimmick". It could be merely as simple as her pointedly doing something Sam/Jeannie-esque with her magic. Cooking with floating kitchen items would be an easy nod.

Probably not what Marvel is thinking of doing, but as a non-Marvel fan, WandaVision has a real opportunity to pull in new viewers with very different tastes that have so far managed to give the films a wide berth. It would do so much better as a show.

Go the route of giving these characters their own headlined projects and Marvel could have a real juggernaut of a 'ship, as well. My impression was that WandaVision got a lot of fans talking about the characters and their relationship in a way that the previous films and comics had not; some even making comments they had barely paid attention to the characters before the show.

IMO, the mere character descriptions sound like some of the most interesting and fleshed-out characters Marvel has got right now with real opportunity for real dramatic depth. And that's putting aside that Scarlet Witch is one of the most powerful characters on the entire Marvel roster. Making a whole television season about a character going through the stages of grief and about a woman who just wants the family she lost back (a woman who desperately wants a husband and children, no less) was very different territory for Marvel. Human/non-human, in addition to having the level of doom that makes tragedies very, very memorable.

There's tropey drama potential there that hasn't been mined with the non-human who becomes more and more "human" (it's the stuff of fairy tales and sci-fi both). Hayward or someone like him could easily be used as a character who doesn't see Vision as equal to humans, for example. Delve into the sort of existential questions about artificial life achieving consciousness no less feeling than a human's that stories like Data on Star Trek, Blade Runner and Bicentennial Man pose. That species difference without the magic of sitcoms could be mined for a gorgeously dramatic plotline. What it means to be human explored through the non-human--one of my favorite tropes.

And of course, it's the stuff of fairy tales--most notably Pinocchio (the once-inanimate learning to and desiring to become real by proving himself worthy and because it fulfills the greatest wish of the person who loves them most), combined with the interspecies romance elements of The Little Mermaid (tragic ending or not--see also the desperate acts taken to achieve this cosmically-denied togetherness, only for such a tragic ending to come of it in the original work).

Given that the MCU movies just lost a bunch of their A-listers, they need something big like this. Marvel needs philosophical and character-driven meat on its meager dramatic bones. Here are two actors who could carry something more ambitious and pick up an entirely different audience. Marvel could get an even bigger female audience with these two, IMO. And it wouldn't be cheap girl power pandering either (I say this as a girl). These characters are legit with incredibly warm, likable, endearing performances behind them. This chemistry works 100%.

I think White Vision having an existential crisis where he's questioning what he is if he has all the memories of a being who clearly can feel every human emotion (the idea that we are our memories), but at the same time knowing that he's only artificial life, would be an interesting lead-up to Vision being fully restored with his full consciousness in addition to the added memories of what he experienced inside the Hex.

A restored Vision would have to reconcile what Wanda did in her grief over him and her family. It's also a glimpse at the life Wanda wants with him, which included something that isn't biologically possible, though it likely is through her own abilities of creation. There's also the idea of balance that he's the one who might hold her back from the brink of going down any further dark paths as a figure of ordered stability for her, while she is key in the chaos of his becoming more "human". The to-be parenthood story is obviously hanging over them.

The situation with Hayward intending for White Vision to remain a mere machine that can be manipulated and used as a weapon in a way that an independently-thinking Vision can't be is also a path to go down. As I said, there's a potential storyline about prejudice regarding artificial intelligence, even if it has all the emotional capability of humans.

And on top of that, Vision is in a relationship with a human, even if it's one who could potentially be the key to restoring his consciousness through her own link with the original Mind Stone. It also furthers Wanda's role as a mother and creator if she can give him back his life in this way. While the heroic Avengers might not question them being "an unusual couple", who says everyone else would be so kind?

I really think he needs to be brought back. Wanda desperately needs him for her story to continue.

[gavillain]

Was watching OUAT again and....yikes. They really did butcher Hook. But I’m a little surprised that Rumplestiltkin isn’t one of your favorites. He seems like the type of bad guy you’d like.

You’re right! It’s kind of funny, out of the Once Upon a Time villains, Rumple, Cora, and Regina (when she was evil) are the three most “Overtaker-esque” villains. Yet who are my OUAT Overtakers? Hook and Cruella XD

But actually, I have had the longest and most convoluted history with Rumplestiltskin, and you brought him up so now I’m gonna tell you XD So when the show was first airing and season two was ongoing, I LOVED all of the villains. Regina and Hook were in my Top Ten villains list, Rumple was in the top fifteen, and Cora was in the top twenty. OUAT had like my FAVORITE rogues gallery for a time. 

But here’s the thing: when the show was airing the early seasons, I was in my late teens and didn’t fully understand my tastes in villains. I had kind of distanced myself from the Disney villains because they were seen as more “immature” and my favorite villain at the time was Loki in the MCU (I had only dabbled in his comics self at this point). And I thought because I enjoyed Loki and the OUAT villains that for me to like a villain, they had to have tragic backstories and be woobies. And that kind of skewed my entire view of them and every other villain I encountered. Now I know that what I like are the charismatic, power-hungry, theatrical villains with interesting layers to examine and peel back but not be redeemable. But I didn’t really realize that at the time.

So here’s where things get sticky: season three of OUAT. Hated it. I was mad about Hook and CaptainSwan, of course, but I was convinced they were still going to do Emma/Neal and for Hook to go off and become a pirate again after the Neverland arc (I was Booboo the Fool). And then I was getting really dissatisfied with Rumple, and I couldn’t put my finger on why because the writing for him was still good. He wasn’t acting like a charismatic villain anymore, but I didn’t put two and two together that that was why I was dissatisfied and started just thinking “Well, maybe I just don’t like this character anymore.” And so I was glad when he “died” because it meant he could be sent off, and I wouldn’t have to worry about him any more.

But thennnnnnn “Quiet Minds” happened. Rumple was resurrected because Neal sacrificed himself and died. I was FURIOUS. One because I actually really liked Neal Cassidy and thought Michael Raymond-James played him so likable, and I hated that he died. I was also mad because Neal was my hope of the writing on Hook going back to the way it was, but with him dead, Hook/Emma became an inevitability. And it also brought back Rumplestiltskin, who I was going through my “I don’t like you any more” ordeal with. And after that happened, I went on an Anti-Rumple VENDETTA. I blamed him (and Zelena to a lesser extent) for all my problems with OUAT’s writing. I quit the show, I posted constantly about what a shithead Rumple was, and how bad the writing was. It was a THING. Like I actually made my friends who liked Rumple end up hating Rumple because I was talking about how much he sucked constantly.

Welllllll then season four happened. They were bringing back Maleficent, so of course I had to catch up because I’m me. And Rumple was actually acting like his villainous self again. And I LOVED it and had so much with it, but I couldn’t admit that to myself because “Rumple is bad! Rumple is the reason for the bad writing!” and because he was acting like an evil douche and not making up for my “problems” I couldn’t even really admit to myself that I was liking him as much as I was. But I finally did more or less make peace with the character by the end of the season.

Then I ran a roleplay blog as him for a while over at @askpowerbeyondramennoodles and by that point, I knew I liked him but the writing in the show was so crap that it was just constantly me not being sure WHAT I wanted from him. Did I want him to be good and be with Belle? Did I want him to go fully bad? Did I want something in between? I didn’t know, and I still don’t really know. Mid-way through season six, I stopped watching the show because I got bored, tried to watch season seven when it came out, quit because I got bored again, watched the finale and hated it.

So, by this point, I know my taste in villains pretty well and I know what I like. Hook, for whatever reason, has always been the most important OUAT villain for me, so I made a strong effort to go back to season two and reclaim the character and just let everything afterwards wash away. I fought against canon hard, killed the bad Hook in my fic to revive the villain one stuck him with Jafar, and the rest is history XD But with Rumple, I’m at this weird phase where I have SO much history with Rumple, and I legitimately don’t know how I should feel about him. As you said, he’s very much my villain type, so there’s definitely something there to doing with him what I did with Hook, but there’s still a part of me that also really wanted him to get to be a good dad to Neal and a good husband to Belle that I just never had with Hook. So I don’t know if the same “reclaiming the great villain” process would work for me on him. 

Maybe I’m due for a rewatch of the first two seasons in their entirety. I need to figure out how I feel about Regina too. (I still know how I feel about Cora, though - I love that evil bitch XD)

[spaceorphan18]

Marvel Movie Night: Blade

I’m kicking off my Marvel Movie Nights with the first decently produced major motion picture based on a Marvel property with Blade.  Before then, it’s really, really bad direct to video or completely unreleased films (which I may or may not get to at a later date) and Howard the Duck, which is bad enough by reputation that I just couldn’t bring myself to start there.  

So, here I am, at Blade, a film about a half vampire who hunts other vampires.  I really expected this film to really suck.  I really did.  But surprisingly, it’s not that bad! It’s not great or anything, but I’d definitely rewatch this over any of the 90s Batman films.  Blade came out in 1998, just as Superhero films were getting into a lot of black leather and techno, and kind of feels like a relic of that time period.  I’m unfamiliar with the director - Stephen Norrington (who apparently has only done four films), but considering this film actually functions on a competent level and suffers only from a pedestrian plot and lacking special effects, I have to say he did an adequate job!  

 The funniest thing, to me, about this film is how hilariously by-the-numbers superhero-esque this film is.  Brooding superhero who lost his parents at a young age? Check! Superhero forced to face whether he wants his powers or not? Check! Older mentor who dies half way through the film? Check! Love interest with special skills and is used for bait? Check! Bad guy with a quirky sidekick who wants to take over the world? Check! People claim the MCU is formulaic - but hey, I think the two hour action flick had a standard structure way before the MCU grabbed hold of it.  

Nothing about this film feels original - but I’m looking at it with twenty more years of experience.  The only worth talking about superhero films that came out before this one were all Superman (heroic and innocent) and Batman (gritty and weirdly dark then just straight up campy) films.  While Blade seems basic and unoriginal now, at least it had its own style and isn’t as campy, cheesy, or overly Burton-esque as the DC films of the time.  Blade is also rated R, so I expected it to be a bit more explicit than it was.  Yeah, there’s an abundance of blood everywhere, but it’s so fake looking that it feels almost cartoonish, and the only other reason it’s has that rating is all the f-bombs dropped.  (The villains know they’re in an r-rated film, every time they drop an f-bomb, there’s a hard emphsis on it -- I know I’m in this fucking movie.  It’s kind of hilarious.)  

I kind of expected there to be some partial nudity - but there wasn’t, to my surprise.  Usually R rating means boobs flying everywhere, and this film was pretty tasteful when it came to that.  Good for them. 

The action sequences aren’t bad, but suffers a little from the one-on-one style.  (Ngl, this was produced by New Line, the same company that did the original TMNT film, and there was something about this that reminded me of that, though I’m hard put to say what, exactly.) There isn’t much in the way of special effects, but that’s for the better - because the few times they melt a vampire or one explodes or something it’s… not great.  But being in the late-90s, I’ll give them a pass.  It could be much, much worse.  

Wesley Snipes famously plays Blade, half vampire himself, out to kill all the vampires because, well, vampires suck.  Can’t say I know that much about Blade from the comics (I haven’t read much with him in it) but I think Snipes really embodies Blade pretty well.  He looks good.  Fights pretty well.  And Blade has such little dialogue, not a whole lot of acting is necessary.  He does, every once in a while, have some random one-liners, which injects a little humor to the film, again to my surprise.  The film doesn’t take itself too seriously, and it’s a nice touch, but it doesn’t get too campy either. 

Anyway, Blade is helped by his mentor figure Whistler - a grumpy and gritty Kris Krisofferson, who doesn’t really do much except give exposition and die so to motivate Blade to finally get all the vampires! I don’t really have a whole lot to say about him because he’s just… there.  And then he’s not - serving his purpose and then stepping off to stage left with some dignity.  

But the main plot is really driven by a woman named Karen played by N’Bushe Wright, a doctor (who specializes in blood diseases!! Because of course she does) who is bitten by a vampire.  While she’s definitely in the damsel in distress camp (Blade has to save her a few times, plus she’s bait, plus she has to do the whole - sacrifice my blood so the hero can go on thing (in a vampire blood sucking moment that’s almost an awkward sex scene)), she’s pretty badass herself.  She can hold her own with Blade, manages to find a cure for vampirism in two days, manages to climb herself out of a pit, and kills a few vampires herself.  And now that I think of it, other than the weird-ish sacrifice moment, there’s no romantic tension between the two of them the whole movie.  Interesting.  

Granted Blade’s so focused on his own mission that he doesn’t have time for any of that.  

Meanwhile, opposing Blade is Deacon Frost whose evil plan is to bring back an ancient evil vampire lord and take over the human race.  Because why not.  There’s a bit in here about how he’s a turned vampire, and not a pureblood, which seems to make him enemies with his own kind - but, as you guessed it, he’ll get back at those nasty ole purebloods, too.  He’s got a quirky sidekick named Quinn who just won’t die (it becomes sort of a joke) and a lady friend named…  what? She doesn’t get a name! Why would women need names, gosh…  

Anyway - of course everything comes down to Blade vs Frost and I’m gonna let you figure out how that goes.  

One of the weirder things to happen in the film, though, is that Blade’s mother - whom you assumed was dead, is actually alive and a vampire.  And while him having to deal with eventually killing her is on the table, what’s weird about it is that she’s oddly seductive towards him in all her scenes with him.  Why? I don’t know.  It’s super uncomfortable that she’s basically coming on to her son.  But, that was the only real unexpected thing that happened in the whole movie.   

Rating: 3 out 5 Silver Stakes.  Overall, it’s not a deep film.  There’s nothing new here that you haven’t seen a thousand times other place, and probably done better.  But I give it credit for being the actual first black led superhero film (the black cast is great! It should really be recognized more for that).  And it is a fun film for the mindless vampire hunting flick that it is.

[elcorhamletlive]

fandom: MCU (Post-Avengers) ship: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark tags: Fluff and Smut/Handjob/Laughing during sex

It’s very simple.

Tony may not be the tactical mastermind of their team, but, hell, he is a genius, so he knows some strategical thinking, thank you very much. And contrary to popular opinion, Tony knows what he wants, and, mostly – at least on an intellectual level – he has at least an idea on how to get it.

Tony wanted Steve Rogers from the first time he saw him.

Well, technically, not really, he supposes – the first time he saw Steve Rogers, he had been maybe five years old, and he had no idea what the concept of wanting someone even was. He saw Captain America, thought he was awesome, and wanted to be his friend. Then, as he grew older, he hated Captain America, thought he was the worst thing that ever happened to his life, and wanted to beg his father to stop searching for him.

Then, as an adult, he laid his eyes on Steve Rogers on a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier and wanted him.

It would have been easy to blame it all on some weird Freudian-esque way to get back at his father, but Tony knows that’d be bullshit. He was always aware that Captain America was hot – who wasn’t – but, personally, the clichéd, Ken-doll look didn’t appeal much to him. It just wasn’t his thing.

So it was kind of a surprise when, while Tony’s brain was deciding that he hated Steve Rogers’ guts, Little Tony was happily informing him how much he liked Steve Rogers’ everything, from his pink lips to his steel gaze to the way his hands rested on his belt.

So while Tony’s mind was going, “fuck this guy”, Tony’s dick was going, “fuck this guy”, and, well. It was a lost battle from the start.

Which leads him to where he is now, opening the door to his bedroom, pushing Steve inside without stopping kissing him for a second. Tony wishes he cared a little more about how this is going to affect the team and their fragile tentative truce-turned-pseudo-friendship, but right now, feeling Steve’s hot, soft mouth against his, he doesn’t give a single fuck.

Like he said: Very, very simple.

“We should-“ Steve starts saying, but Tony shuts him up with his mouth. He guesses he should let Steve speak, probably, but it’s hard when Steve’s lips are already swollen and flushed, begging to be tasted.

Steve is a fucking good kisser, too, which is just unfair, when you consider how little experience he must have had until now. Granted, he’s not a technique master, but he’s so damn enthusiastic, laying strong hands on the back of Tony’s neck as he ducks his head to explore his mouth fully. His warm tongue traces the seam of Tony’s lips as if he’s memorizing it, and that really shouldn’t be enough to get Tony as eager and wanting as he is now, but it is. Tony retaliates by pushing him against the wall, kisses growing hungrier as he makes good on his promise to bruise those ridiculously shapely lips.

Tony drags his mouth over Steve’s jaw now, enjoying the feel and taste of that silky skin. His hands are at Steve’s sides, holding him firmly. Of course, Steve could push him off easily if he wanted to - and isn’t that a huge turn on, when you think about it. He doesn’t, though, and Tony can feel Steve’s erection against him, and he’s about to drop to his knees to find out what freedom tastes like when Steve whispers again, a little more urgent, “Tony.”

Tony backs away a little. Steve’s face is all flushed. His hair is messy, floppy bangs falling over his forehead and reaching his eyes. He’s so goddamn pretty, it’s not even fair. Someone should have intervened, at Eskrine’s office, all those years ago: Sorry, sir, you’re way too beautiful to take part on this experiment. Your face combined with superserum-enhanced muscles would go above and beyond what the human brain can handle. In the name of the sanity of geniuses who will be born a couple decades from now, we have to turn down your request.

Steve brushes his hair off his forehead. That floppy hair of his is the most ridiculous thing Tony’s ever seen. It’d be great to pull it, to angle Steve’s head and fuck his mouth. Steve would suck the way he kisses, clumsy but so eager, those soft lips wrapped around Tony’s-

“We should, hm. We should get to bed,” Steve says, and something in his voice rings alarm bells in Tony’s head.

“What?” he asks, still panting, brushing past his overwhelming arousal to take in Steve’s body language. Steve’s posture seems unusually stiff, and though he glances at the bed, it doesn’t seem like he’s actually looking at it, and more that he’s using it as an excuse to not look at Tony.

“I mean,” Steve says, turning back to Tony sharply. “It seems more comfortable?” He makes it sound more like a question than a suggestion, and after a second of silence, he turns towards Tony, hands at his waist. “But if you prefer here, that’s – that’s also fine.”

Tony, honestly, has no strong preference. He definitely wouldn’t say no to the idea of turning Steve on his back and fucking him against the wall, or being fucked by him, or any other possible combination involving his dick and Steve’s dick and one or possibly both of their assholes. But he doesn’t mind going to bed either, and he guesses that’s what Steve might want, from his sudden awkwardness.

“It is more comfortable,” Tony says, running his hands over Steve’s arms. He nods towards the bed, watching as Steve blinks at him with those baby blues, and, in a moment of awkward impulsiveness, holds Steve’s hand, intending on pulling him gently and loosen it immediately afterwards.

To his surprise, though, Steve’s hand clutches his, and the alarm bells on Tony’s head are now too loud for him to ignore.

“Everything okay, Cap?” he asks, trying to keep his voice as casual as possible.

“Yes,” Steve replies, quickly – too quickly. He sits on the bed and pulls Tony closer, hand finding the back of his head, pulling him down. “Come on,” he says, bringing their mouths together. And man, is that a good distraction, that scorching hot mouth against Tony’s and those strong hands pulling him towards the bed – but not enough to make Tony forget that rigidness on Steve’s shoulders and that nervous look on his face.

Tony breaks apart the kiss – which, fine, takes a little longer than it should, but honestly, stopping kissing Steve Rogers to do the right thing should be a character test. It should earn him a prize or something.

He keeps his hands on Steve’s shoulders – he wants to keep them in a neutral position, but honestly, no part of Steve’s body is neutral to touch, he finds. He swallows. “You want this, Cap?”

Steve’s eyes widen and his mouth opens, again, entirely too fast. “I do,” he says, as if he’s defending himself from an accusation, and this is so not how Tony wants this go. “I just-“

“Hey, hey,” Tony says, raising both his hands. His body protests the whole not touching Steve thing, but it’s easier to think that way. “It’s not a problem, ok? I mean, if you want, that’s fine – more than fine, honestly, but, anyway, point is: nobody signed a contract in blood here, right? I’m not gonna fill a report to Fury if you change your mind.”

To his surprise, Steve’s mouth curls in a shade of a smile. Something in Tony’s brain notes that as important data, for some reason (he’s given up trying to understand how his thought process works years ago), like a lightbulb goes off in his head.

“Not changing my mind,” Steve says. His smile grows a little self-depreciating, and he rubs the back of his neck. “Just… Not very used to this, I guess.“

That’s a half-truth if Tony ever heard one. “Have you ever done this before?” he asks, trying to keep his voice clear of any judgement and possible arousal that the thought of a virgin Captain America in his bed gives him.

Steve’s jaw clenches. “Yes.”

“With a man?”

It’s almost funny, because Tony can tell every single part of Steve wants to lie to him, but, apparently, he can’t find it in himself to do so. “No,” he admits, bashful.

Tony’s dick throbs enthusiastically at Steve’s honesty, and Tony’s brain sends a message for him to calm the fuck down as the actual implications of what is happening dawn on him. Steve just stares at him with those unbelievably blue eyes, and maybe he doesn’t – ok, scratch that, he definitely doesn’t want to look vulnerable, but that’s how he looks now, young and nervous, very unlike the stoic leader Tony has been getting used to work with, the past few months.

“Okay,” Tony says. He wants to ask again if Steve wants this – if he’s sure that he wants his first time with a man to be with Tony, precisely, when Tony’s pretty sure Steve would have to beat guys off him with a stick at any gay bar in the world. But Tony’s had some experience trying to talk Steve out of things by now and – well. He’s had better luck coming up with new elements, to put it bluntly.

So, basically, if Steve wants to do this, he’s gonna do it, and he’s gonna do it even if it means gritting his teeth and powering through perfectly normal feelings of nervousness or awkwardness. Which is… really not the attitude that Tony looks for in people he takes to his bed. Like, ever.

“Let’s take this slow then, all right?” Tony says, and he doesn’t wait for Steve to answer, sitting down next to him on the bed and taking his jaw on his hand.

He presses a soft kiss to the corner of Steve’s mouth, taking in his sharp inhale of breath, his flushed face, his dilated pupils. Steve’s body is into this, for sure, but Tony needs him to be all here, all for what’s happening. There are lines of tension all over his jaw and neck, and he actually shakes a little when Tony moves closer.

This is supposed to be fun, you know, Tony wants to say, but he has a feeling trying to address this directly is just gonna make Steve shut himself off more.

Then again, Tony is a genius, so he might have a better idea. Maybe.

He presses a kiss to Steve’s jaw, descending his way to his neck. Steve’s skin smells like soap, subtle and sweet, and though a part of Tony wants nothing more than to leave a collar of bites and marks all over his neck, he knows that’s not the goal right now, so he just nuzzles Steve’s neck a little, rubbing his goatee on his skin.

Steve squirms a little, huffing out a surprised laugh.

“Hmm, ticklish, are we?” Tony says, pleased, going back to the task of giving Captain America a nice amount of beard burn.

“Knock it off,” Steve says, but he’s laughing, apparently despise himself. His posture loosens a little, too, which, hey, point for Tony. He raises his head and runs his hands over Steve’s shoulders, still too tense for his liking.

He pulls Steve into a kiss. That’s far from a hardship – Steve’s mouth feels wonderful against his, soft and warm. Steve is eager, ready to part his lips, to let his tongue find Tony’s, and it takes Tony a moment to coax the kiss and set a lighter, exploring pace. He takes the time to trace Steve’s lips with his tongue, suck his bottom lip lightly, listen to the delicious humming noise Steve makes into the kiss.

“Slow down, Cap,” Tony says, when Steve grows more frantic again, pushing Tony to lay on the bed. It’s a bit hard to keep himself from just pressing Steve into the mattress and devouring his mouth, but Tony keeps it cool, pulling away, pressing deep, slower kisses onto his lips instead. “This isn’t a mission, nobody dies if you don’t disarm the bomb on time – okay, terrible metaphor, but you get my gist,” He babbles. Steve lets out a weak chuckle, but there’s a glimpse of nervousness on his face.

“I know what I’m doing, Tony,” he says, but there’s a note of unmistakable doubt on his voice, that Tony makes sure to shut down really fast.

“Oh, you definitely, definitely do,” Tony mumbles against his mouth, before capturing it again in a deep kiss to illustrate his point. “You are way too good at this, it’s not even fair,” he whispers when they pull apart, enjoying the flush that spreads over Steve’s cheeks at the praise. He nips at his lower lip before continuing: “Can’t blame me for wanting to take my time.”

Steve doesn’t seem fully convinced, but Tony pulls him closer, runs his hands over his sides and kisses him again. They spend a while doing just that, kissing and curling around each other on the bed. It’s delicious, and Tony can feel Steve’s body relaxing a little against his, can feel his touches growing more daring, grip growing stronger on Tony’s waist, lifting his shirt, hands travelling over Tony’s lower back.

When Tony pulls away to take a breath, Steve’s eyes are wonderfully darkened. He is panting, that silly floppy hair falling over his forehead, and Tony brushes it back with his fingers, without thinking.

“Didn’t peg you as someone who liked to take things slow,” Steve says. His voice is a little weird, like he’s trying too hard to sound dry, but it comes off too honest for it work. Suddenly, Tony wonders if he has thought of this before – if he has spent much time wondering how Tony likes to take things in bed, wondering about what Tony would like.

“Well, I am,” Tony whispers against Steve’s cheek. It’s a blatant lie, really – Tony enjoys a healthy amount of foreplay, but the last time he spent this much time laying in bed fully clothed just kissing someone was…

Huh. He doesn’t think it ever happened before.

This line of thought makes strange things happen at Tony’s chest. He decides to scrap it.

“I sense you’re getting a little impatient, though, Cap,” Tony says, rolling his hips forward and pressing himself against Steve’s blatant erection, earning himself a groan that makes his own dick twitch on his pants. He kisses Steve’s ear, sucking on his earlobe, and Steve’s hands fly to his ass, pressing him closer. “Gotta say, you’re definitely the most energetic ninety-year old I’ve ever taken to bed.”

Steve’s laugh is loud this time. Tony watches the way his eyes crinkle, mentally categorizes the way his body shakes with laughter. Steve laughs like he’s forgotten how to do it, like it surprises him he still can.

It’s a good laugh, Tony thinks. A bit rusty, but still. It’s pretty great.

He opens the first few buttons of Steve’s shirt, letting it fall open on his sides, taking the moment to rub his face on his skin again. Steve’s chuckling, and Tony runs his hands under the fabric, skimming those pecs, alternating between kisses and just plain ticklish beard burn.

“Tony-“ Steve huffs, voice a hilarious mix of breathless and exasperated, cutting himself off with a gasp when Tony’s hand finds one of his nipples, brushing his fingers over it, teasing it.

“Now, come on, Cap, I know you didn’t expect me to be all serious in bed,” Tony whispers, mouth trailing over Steve’s collarbone – Steve’s flush goes all the way down, spreading over his chest in a gorgeous pink hue, delicate color over all that firm muscle, how is he even real. “I’m feeling super magnanimous today, so I’m not even going to say there’s only one way to shut me up,” Tony keeps going, paying attention to the way Steve’s body melts at his touches. He wonders if Steve’s ever been this relaxed before, and the thought makes him want to keep talking: “You can think about that next time you want to yell at me in a meeting.”

Steve’s hands grip his ass firmly, pushing Tony closer, pressing his body against his. “I have,” he whispers, dazedly, and he has no right to make two simple words sound so damn hot.

“You mean you don’t only have wet dreams about the Constitution? The History books lied to me,” Tony says, hand trailing over Steve’s stomach, stopping right above his belt. Steve’s laugh is rough and breathless, exactly the way Tony wants it. “Now, let’s see how can I best serve my country, hm?” He unbuttons Steve’s pants, lowering the bandh of his underwear. “Oh, wow, land of the brave indeed.”

Steve lets out a surprised laugh, burying his face on Tony’s shoulder. His cock bobs against his stomach, flushed and beautiful. Tony’s mouth waters at the sight, but he thinks sucking him off right now might make Steve come too fast, and while that’s just fine in Tony’s book (might be a little too fine for his ego, to be honest), he doesn’t want Steve to feel self-conscious. He’s never seen Steve laugh that much before, and it’s one hell of a good look on him.

“Oh, say, can you see,” Tony starts humming, trailing his fingers over Steve’s stomach lightly, just barely brushing his cock. Steve actually swears amidst a bunch of giggling, which is the best possible reaction Tony could have imagined. “By the dawn’s early light, what so proudly we-“

Steve pinches him.

“Hey!” Tony complains, but he’s grinning against Steve’s neck now, and he can’t help but press a few sucking kisses there. There’s none of that tension of the beginning, and Tony wonders if he can get away with giving him a hickey. “Excuse me, sir, but it’s my God-given right to express my patriotism whenever I feel like.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Steve says, but his voice is incredibly fond, filled with wonder in a way that makes Tony’s heart perform some funny acrobatics on his chest, which, okay, means they need to get the show going and not focus on that. “You’re so- Fuck,” Steve blurts when Tony takes a hold of his cock, letting out a bunch of incredible little noises as Tony runs his thumb over the tip gently, smearing pre-come over his hand.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tony says in a sing-song voice, though it’s hard to keep himself unaffected. Steve feels heavy and hot on his hand, and as Tony slicks him up, his own cock twitches on his pants. “I’m just a proud citizen, happy to be part of the greatest nation in the wor- Ouch!” he protests, when Steve pinches him on his side, but it’s impossible to not smile when Steve grins at him.

In a way, it’s almost a blessing Steve doesn’t smile like that more often. Keeps the Sun from being outshined and all.

“Will you just…” Steve says, hips jerking forward, trying to thrust into Tony’s hand. Tony grins, and Steve clumsily pulls him up by his shirt, pressing a kiss on his mouth. He’s so fucking sweet, mouth hot and wet against Tony’s, cock throbbing with want in Tony’s hand, needy and demanding.

Tony kisses him back deeply, hand stroking along his length, setting up a pace. He pulls back, nipping at Steve’s bottom lip, then buries his face on the curve of his neck and probably gives him a bunch of hickeys, biting and sucking shamelessly. Tony feels a little like a teenager, dizzy with arousal over a fully clothed hand job, but Steve’s expression is more erotic than a hardcore porno now, with his half-lidded eyes finding Tony’s, red lips parted in an oh as he trusts his hips forward, body jerking at every motion of Tony’s hand.

When Steve comes, his hands sink deeply onto Tony’s shoulders, probably bruising him, and Tony thinks: God, he’s beautiful. It’s a strangely stupid thought that might caused by the lack of blood flow on his brain right now, because Steve is always beautiful, but right now he’s beautiful in an almost dangerous way. Steve’s body sinks onto the mattress as if he’s limbless, and he’s got those stupid bangs falling over his forehead again and a lazy smile on his lips. Right now he’s beautiful in a way that’s scary, laying on Tony’s bed, wrecked and happy. Like he belongs there.

Tony swallows tickly, letting go of his cock, and Steve pulls him closer, kisses him all open-mouthed and sloppy.

Tony kisses him back, because he’s only human. His own dick is painfully hard against his pants, but right now, that can wait.

“Thank you,” Steve breathes against his lips, and Tony needs, needs to give a snarky reply, because there’s absolutely no other way he can handle the look Steve is giving him right now.

“Don’t thank me for performing my civic duty.” His hand reaches forward of its volition, brushing Steve’s hair off his forehead (the bangs are fucking adorable, okay, sue him). “Besides – I’m not nearly done with you yet,” he whispers, but it comes out less suggestive than he means to, more like a promise than anything else.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” Steve says, grabbing his waist. He rolls him over (easily, as if Tony weighs nothing, Jesus Christ) and presses a kiss on Tony’s jaw. “Still.“ His blue gaze is incredibly bright against Tony’s. “You’re… I don’t know.” He shakes his head, smile big and full of wonder, and Tony physically has to pull him closer, he just has to. “Just – thank you.”

The part of Tony’s brain that still has survival instincts is going Fuck fuck fuck in the back of his head. The rest of his brain is busy marveling at that smile, and thinking Steve just… Steve should keep doing that. Keep laughing. Keep smiling. Because of Tony. He. He should always do that.

“Anytime, Cap,” Tony says, softly, when Steve starts pressing kisses at his neck and unbuttoning his shirt. It comes out too real, too sincere, his head spinning. “Anytime.”

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #373

Top Ten Thoughts on Avengers: Endgame

Spoilers ahoy!

It’s the end of an era as Avengers: Endgame is finally upon us. As I write this, I’m less than 24 hours out of the cinema and it’s still all percolating within my brain. This Top Ten, then, will be an almost stream-of-consciousness outpouring of my joy, sadness, and occasional twinge of disappointment at what is unquestionably a phenomenal end to the Infinity Saga, a satisfying sequel to Infinity War, and a whole lot of fan-service.

Like I said: SPOILERS AHOY.

“Five Years Later”: it was a long film. Three hours long. but crucially, it does not feel three hours. It feels big, weighty, epic, but it does not feel long. to say it’s considerably longer than the previous Avengers movies, it just flies by. In this way, it’s similar to the Lord of the Rings movies; breadth and depth but still a lot of pace.

“Move on”: the five-year time-jump was a little bit of a surprise (I didn’t think it would be quite that long), but it helped sell a universe torn apart by the aftermath of The Snap. What I was not expecting was for them to live with it. Okay, so the departed people came back, but won’t that cause its own problems? This is not the world we entered in 2008 when Tony Stark was blown up in the desert; it’s not even the world we left in 2012 after a stunted alien invasion of New York. Some people will have tried to move on, perhaps forging new relationships, just to find their old lovers returned. Younger siblings will suddenly become older siblings. People will have lost jobs and houses. It’s rather fortunate that, from the looks of things, Peter Parker’s entire class was snapped out of existence and then returned, otherwise he’d be a lot younger than his co-stars in Far From Home. Anyway, not just undoing the time-jump was a brave decision and sets the stage for some potentially interesting stories going forward.

“It has to be me”: I went in expecting deaths, and I was surprised. I was expecting a bloodbath, and it was actually relatively muted. I was surprised that Vision didn’t get resurrected, less surprised that Gamora (sort of) did, astounded that Nebula survived, and blindsided by Black Widow. I don’t think it’s just because she’s got her own movie out next year, but I honestly thought Black Widow would become the lynchpin of a post-Captain America Avengers team. Hey, who knows? Maybe she will…

“I really tried to bring her back”: this is actually my mum’s theory (she’s a big Avengers fan), but what if Bruce was successful? When he snapped his fingers, he wanted to resurrect Natasha, but claims he was unsuccessful. What if he’s wrong, and she is back, somehow? Perhaps compromised, perhaps changed? Maybe her solo film will be about bringing her back to the light.

“I knew it!”: I was practically crying with giddy joy when Cap lifted Mjolnir. The fact that Thor had expected it, and was actually pleased by it, was just delightful. But Cap’s fight with Thanos, armed with both his shield and Thor’s hammer, was just a fantastic piece of fan-servicing fantasy cinema. I kinda wished they’d gone whole hog and given him his own Iron Man armour to boot.

“Your majesty”: Thor’s development in this film was interesting, as he was almost used as comic relief. His depression made total sense given not only that he blamed himself for not stopping Thanos in time, but also the scale of the loss he’d suffered prior to, and during, Infinity War. All the same, it was a bit of shame to see the character he’d developed in Ragnarok rolled back a little bit, even if it does set him up for some nice solo adventures down the line (perhaps he’ll feature in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and I really hope Taika Waititi gets to make another Thor solo movie too). But considering how Loki stole the show in the first Thor and Avengers movies, and how The Dark World and Age of Ultron were a little disappointing (in different ways) in regard to the God of Thunder, the strength of Thor’s story arc and what’s being asked of Chris Hemsworth in the role is a huge improvement and bodes well for the future.

“I am Iron Man”: if I’d put money down, I’d have said Cap dies for-real in the film, but Tony gets his own stand-alone Logan-esque swansong. That was not to be; Cap survives, sorta, and Tony really does make the sacrifice play and die saving the world. Whilst I’m disappointed he didn’t get to say goodbye on his own terms, as far as last stands go, that was phenomenal. A great call-back to one of the most famous moments in the MCU, a brilliant use of his OP armour’s capabilities, and just a really cool image. Totally Tony, totally Avengers, totally the end. Sob.

“You gonna tell me about her?” Steve Rogers totally deserved his happy ending, and if he hadn’t somehow ended up with Peggy Carter, then I’d have been a little bit disappointed. But I just don’t buy that Captain America would choose to retire. Did he get stuck in the past? Did he decide to fight crime in the 40s and 50s? And if so, did he try to do anything about Bucky or Hydra? Or did he know that that future was his past and so, as Bruce and Nebula explained, he was powerless to change it? Regardless, the fact that what we saw in the film was, essentially, Cap quitting, it left a slightly sour taste in the mouth, even though him handing the shield to Sam was a triumphant passing of the torch. Oh, and one more thought on this topic: in the Russo brothers’ first film for Marvel (The Winter Soldier), Peggy says something about how Steve was even instrumental in introducing her to her husband (I paraphrase); I wonder if, even back then, the endgame (ho ho) for Cap was always going to be “go back in time and marry Peggy”?

“That really is America’s ass”: let’s not get too mired in the mud here, despite my “Cap don’t quit!” niggles. Because as big and epic and tragic as the film was, it was also hilarious. I really didn’t expect it to be quite as funny as it was (I’m not sure why, all the previous Avengers movies have been pretty funny). I was quite pleased at how much humour Captain America was given; his exasperated “I know, I know” when his younger self trotted out the “I can do this all day line” was another delight.

“Assemble”: just like Cap wielding Mjolnir, there’s a certain geeky thrill just to hear him say those words. But the army of Avengers emerging from Strange’s portals was a phenomenal sight to behold, and it’s really exciting to see where the MCU goes from here. Captain Marvel has essentially declared her domain to be space; likewise, Thor is off with the Guardians for the time being; Black Panther is busy being King of Wakanda; Iron Man and Black Widow are dead. So who do we have, the next time the Avengers need to Assemble? Sam Wilson’s Captain America; the Scarlet Witch; Spider-Man; And-Man and the Wasp; The Winter Soldier, maybe; I guess Doctor Strange; perhaps Valkyrie? And then save the big guns for when they’re needed? Anyway, it’s just fun speculating at this stage.

Okay, there we are, ten thoughts off the top of my head. It’s funny sometimes that a movie can be so bloody good but the thing that sticks is the niggles (like, where was Lady Sif at the end?! And I feel bad that they couldn’t find room for Paul Bettany just so he could get a lovely little pictorial send-off in the credits). It’s such an achievement, the likes of which I don’t think we’ve seen before and I wonder if we’ll see again. Just in the same way that Avengers united several heroes who’d (mostly) starred in their own movies, and we got to see them join up and interact in a way that cinema hadn’t shown before, Endgame gives us an epic series finale of a film, one that is dependent upon the 21 films that came before it and the hours and hours of character development devoted to its stars. Where do they go from here? Which heroes get their sequels, which new heroes do they recruit? Will we ever see more of Steve Rogers? Will a new generation – Squirrel Girl, Ms. Marvel, Ironheart – take centre stage? What will be the over-arching connective tissue that, in ten years’ time, leads to another epoch-shattering Avengers smackdown? And how – how, how, how – do they incorporate Deadpool, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men?! I’ve no idea (well, I’ve got lots of ideas but they’re probably wrong) – but it’ll sure be fun finding out.

Oh, and there’s still no sign of Death’s Head.

[starfiresupernova]

11 Questions

I was tagged by both @jiyamarrii & @chasethesun18 to do this, so I’ll be answering 22 questions. But I love these things so I’m totally okay with it LOL. Anyway, let’s get started!

Laura’s Questions

1. Marvel or DC? TV-Verse or Film-Verse? Why? — The easy answer to this question is that I like all superhero stuff. I tend to watch more Marvel, but I’m a big fan of both. MCU? Yes please. Smallville? Sign me up. I haven’t watched the Marvel Netflix shows yet, but I really want to. Cloak and Dagger on Freeform is pretty good so far! I watched the first two seasons of Arrow and most of the Flash, but since the CW added all the other DC shows to their programming, I’ve been a little overwhelmed, but they’re still good! So yeah, long story short, I like it all :)

2. I’m looking for new TV shows to watch. Recommend me a show and tell me why you think I’d like it. — I can’t remember if you’ve watched Gilmore Girls or not, but I recommend it to everyone who wants something funny and heartwarming, but heartbreaking sometimes, too. Lorelai is my SPIRIT ANIMAL. Otherwise, I recommend Lost in Space on Netflix if you’re into Sci-Fi stuff (it’s also funny, and the characters are amazing). One Tree Hill is amazing if you’re into soapy teen dramas (like 90210 or Gossip Girl). The awesome thing about OTH though, is that it’s obviously drama, but it deals with other serious topics and it isn’t bitchy like GG. The characters are all different in their own way, and it’s my favorite teen drama show of all time.

3. Watch a random episode of Timeless. Tell me your opinions on the episode and I’ll try to guess which episode you watched. — Okay, so I know each episode like the back of my hand, so let’s go. It’s my second favorite episode of the entire show. The music is A+. (You’ve probably already guessed it by now lolol.) It has one of my top 5 favorite Lucy outfits. I’ve seen this episode so many times I’m pretty sure I can almost recite it word for word (and I’m not sorry about that).

4. Do you have a skin care routine? If yes, what is it? — Not really. I don’t use much on my skin to tell you the truth. I use the St. Ives Blackhead Clearing green tea scrub every other day, and once in a while I’ll use a Biore charcoal pore strip. Other than that I don’t use anything.

5. What are your favorite pair of shoes? Why? — This might sound completely childish, but I LOVE my shoes that have daisies on them. I got them at Payless, and they’re Minnie Mouse brand, but they’re black with little daisies printed on them and I love them so much. I need a new pair soon because they’re a few years old and they’re worn, but I love them to death.

6. What is your phone wallpaper? What is your desktop wallpaper? — My lock screen on my phone is a picture I found on Google Images of Timeless. It’s blue and has the Time Team and the Timeless logo with a cloud. My home screen on my phone is a cotton candy-esque background. My desktop wallpaper is the Timeless edit I made with the Taylor lyric “Time won’t fly, it’s like I’m paralyzed by it.”

7. If you could have dinner with one person, dead, alive, or fictional, who would it be and why? — I really want to say Lorelai Gilmore (or anyone from Gilmore Girls, honestly..) for this one. Eating at Luke’s Diner? Yes. Please. I’m all in.

8. What’s your favorite smell? Why? — This is very oddly specific, but I have this notebook that I got for Christmas last year. And every book/notebook/paper smells good, but THIS NOTEBOOK. It’s my favorite kind of paper smell. I know, it’s weird, but it’s amazing. Otherwise I love lemon, vanilla, and peppermint scents and the smell of the grill when we grill hamburgers/hot dogs.

9. Do you have any tattoos? If yes, what are they? Do you regret any of them? — I do not have any tattoos, but I want to get one in the near future.

10. What is your horoscope for today? —  Jun 11, 2018 - You enjoy caring for others and you intervene regularly in their lives to guide them. Ironically, today you're the one who needs advice. You'll probably need to get away from it all in order to get a clear view of your own life, Leo. You could even decide to make the necessary arrangements for a trip abroad.

11. Beards: Yes or No? — UM YES.

(OBVIOUSLY I NEEDED TO INCLUDE WYATT’S MAGICAL BEARD)

I also love Xavier from No Tomorrow, Hugh Jackman, and John Krasinski. Their beards are also pretty magical.

Ryan’s Questions

1. If a book becomes a movie do you read it or watch it first? — Most of the time I don’t realize a movie was a book until after I see it. And then I always end up liking the movie better. (IE the Twilight saga) I always try to read the book first, but sometimes I’ll just watch the movie. 

2. What’s your favorite Disney movie? — OOH OKAY LET’S GO. Tangled is my favorite all-animated Disney movie. Meet the Robinsons comes at a second. Enchanted is my all-time favorite Disney movie EVER. My Favorite Martian is my favorite all-non-animated Disney movie. Also The Princess Diaries comes at a close second.

3. If you could have one superpower what would it be? — If I got to choose I would want to have telekinesis. Matilda has solidified that dream LOL.

4. Do you believe in soul mates? — I’m not sure, to tell you the truth. I don’t like to think that there’s only ONE person in the entire world that I’m meant to be with, and that they’re my other half. I mean, it’s a nice concept, but also I feel like I would just be too worried that I won’t ever meet my soulmate because it could literally be anyone in the entire universe. I’m meh on the subject.

5. What’s your happiest memory? — Honestly I think my most happy memories are when I was really little, like in early elementary school? Like, ages 5-11 is when I think I was most happy. And don’t get me wrong, I’m really happy now and whatever, but I have more responsibility now and I was more carefree back then. One memory that sticks out is Christmas of 2010. I got my DSi XL and I was at my grandparents house with all of my cousins. We played around on the DS and took pictures, and I still have them saved on it. The very first picture I ever took on it. It was just such a happy time for me, and I love thinking back on it.

6. Most embarrassing memory? — I threw up in front of my entire classroom in 4th grade. It was terrible. And it happened so long ago, but I still can’t get over the fact that there are people my age who saw me throw up on the floor of our classroom. Nope. Let me go hide forever LOL.

7. Where do you see yourself in five years? — I don’t really like to plan that far ahead into the future, but in five years I’d like to be moved out of my parents’ house and working on getting my book published. (I’m still working on writing it at the moment, so hopefully I’ll be done with it by then and in the process of finding it a home.)

8. Who is/has been the most influential person in your life? — I have to go with my parents on this one. But only personality-wise. I’m not interested in what my parents do for a living, but I try to model my work-ethic and values after them. I’ve obviously grown my own personal tastes, but I see more of myself in them every day and I’m very proud of that.

9. If you could time travel to the start of this year and tell yourself something what would you tell yourself? — You won’t have everything figured out yet, and that’s okay. You’ll be pressured, but take things at your own pace. There’s nothing wrong with taking time to figure things out, no matter what everyone is telling you. You’ll get to where you want to be, you just have to take your time, and set your own pace.

10. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done? — Wow, okay, this is going to sound lame. Are y’all ready? I stole a toy camera from Goodwill when I was, like, 6. I wanted it but I didn’t think my dad would let me, so I hid it in my coat pocket and never told anyone. That was literally the first thing that came to mind.. 

11. What’s your favorite thing about yourself? — I love that I don’t waver in my enjoyment of things. My sister mainly, always makes fun of me for wearing what I wear, for reading, and for listening to the kind of music that I listen to, but I’m very proud of all of those things and I don’t let it bother me. Yeah, it gets annoying when she tells me my taste in music sucks, but I will very happily listen to Two Weeks Late by Ashley Monroe at a high volume and sing along proudly. No shame. As Jessica Day so proudly states, “I break for birds! I rock a lot of polka-dots. I have touched glitter in the past twenty-four hours. I spend my entire day talking to children. And I find it fundamentally strange that you’re not a dessert person. That’s just weird and it freaks me out. And I’m sorry I don’t like Murphy Brown, and I hate your pantsuit; I wish it had ribbons on it or something to just make it slightly cuter. And that doesn’t mean I‘m not smart and tough and strong.” 

Thanks for the tag, guys! This was fun :)

[canvaswolfdoll]

CanvasWatches: Avengers: Endgame

Well, I have to admit: the new trailer finally sold me on Detective Pikachu! Yes, the first trailer showed off uncanny valley designs with a suspicious genwunner undercurrent, but the trailer played before Avengers: Endgame showcased more designs that were from later generations and more aesthetically pleasing, and hinted at clever writing from a sincere love of Pokemon. It did the job trailers are meant to do: sold me on seeing it.

Sonic the Hedgehog will be a fun mess. Just need to decide if it’s worth a theater ticket, or just a rent.

Okay, I’ll talk about the MCU now.[1] There have been a couple more films since I last discussed the franchise, so I’ll play catch up, then talk Endgame and update my ranking list.

I have been rewatching the films sporadically in pieces, because my current job is essentially babysitting teenagers at varying emotional stages, so they’re on the TV sometimes. Oddly, haven’t seen anything before The Rift mentioned in the last review. Might try to rectify that, but I also need to catch up on Pixar films.

So, the new MCU films!

(Spoilers for all the MCU films follows)

Ant-Man and the Wasp

It’s good! Ant-Man and his cast are the only Earthbound characters I continue to care about. (Which I’ll get into more later). They did a very tidy job of elevating Hope van Dyne to a title character and advancing her character without being obnoxious about it. I am super in favor of female leads, but not a big fan of neon signs saying “Girl Power!”

The films do a good job of playing with scale, adding a third “Giant Man” stage to the options, and I care about the Lang/Pym/vanDyne family and their struggles. The villain(s) are also fun, playing with a Tracer-esque time displacement element that allows phasing, and making the motives of the bad guys completely sympathetic.

And they didn’t kill anyone. Gold star. I like people not dying.

Comedy’s still strong, and the callbacks to Ant-man were tasteful. I want more.

Captain Marvel

Okay, I know I risks boos here, but…

Good world building, character revelations for Nick Fury, and moving in and out of the cosmic stage and the earth stage (which carry different aesthetics and tones) but…

I’m not big on Captain Marvel as a character. She’s a rash, confident, quippy hero person, which is fine, except we have so many rash, confident, quippy hero people already. She didn’t distinguish herself as a distinct person to me, and it doesn’t help I’m also unclear about what her power set is.

The twist with the Skrulls was nice. I’m familiar with the general Skrull concept, so the twist worked even on those who know about the bad guys already. The 90s were a fun time to see, and I enjoyed everything around Carol Danvers.

It’s just… Captain Marvel felt generic to me.

There’s a chance for development later, but for now… it’s a’ight.

Avengers: Endgame

This one had the actual war in it. They should’ve called this one Infinity Wars. Maybe call the last one Infinity Gauntlet or Thanos Rising or something.

So, Thanos won in the last movie. How to fix that? Find Thanos and take the gems and fix things? Well, Thanos destroyed the Infinity Stones a week ago. That’s lame. Thor beheads him and stomps off.

There’s also a good comic nod when they show his armor hung up as a scarecrow.

So, how long do we all mope?

Five years.

Five years.

And they don’t reverse this time jump, which is going to make the timeline of the films an even larger headache!

And, worse still, we lost Abby Ryder Fortson. Sure, Cassie Lang survives, but she also aged a decade in five years and there’s no comfortable way to tell a story with young Cassie anymore. Which is tragic, because that actress was super on point in both Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp. She nailed being an adorable little mirror of her father, and it was a great dynamic to give a superhero.

But, nah, Scott Lang was in the Quantum zone for five years, but perceived by him to be five hours, so there’s not even an opening to fit in a film within the five year jump and depict that father daughter dynamic.

I want to like the commitment. Making bold decisions and not reverting to the status quo is something I’m here for. But Ant-Man is owed one more film, and Cassie was important to me. And an older teenager just wouldn’t be able to play the dynamic the same way as a precocious preteen.

But I guess I shouldn’t dwell on the past.

Plot continues, some characters attempt to move on, Black Widow clings to hope, Tony Stark starts a family.

Then Scott comes in to say “Hey, how about time travel?”

And everyone else says “That’s dumb.”

And Tony Stark says “That’s dumb.” But it naggles him, and he figures out how to traverse the quantum realm.

So time travel is solved! Time to get the Infinity Stones from backwards in time.

So we get some nostalgic walks to the past films, including validating The Dark World. Because that was the only time the Reality stone was in play.

Also, they fridge Black Widow.

That’s been a regular problem with the sole female presence of the original Avengers. She was there to support other characters. The buddy-buddy of Hawkeye, Hulk’s confusing love interest (because Betty Ross was… lost in a drawer somewhere between Incredible Hulk and The Avengers, and they’re too embarrassed to admit it), and assisting Cap in Winter Soldier. Besides angst about being an assassin and not being able to have children[2] she never had the space to be a character outside of what she was to others.

And she literally gave up her life for a man.

Maybe I missed something in the dull SHIELD-era stuff, but Black Widow never resonated with me.

So the stones are gathered, placed on an Iron Man gauntlet, and Hulk (now at peace with himself, he’s a half-step between Banner and Hulk) does the reversal snap.

But past Thanos comes in for one last fight.

We get a fun scene where Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor all try to fight him, which even gets to the point where Cap uses Mjolnir,[4] and it’s very good.

But Thanos gets sick of it, and calls down his army.

Which looks bad.

So Dr. Strange teleports in with those who were on Titan.

Then, other mages teleport in with everyone.[5]

And I believe I felt what most people felt during the first The Avengers. Because it was going to be an epic, all-hands fight, but this time there’s a good number of good guys I care about, the antagonistic force has context now, and there’s a clear goal: keep the Gauntlet away from Thanos.

A giant, crowded fight scene, and it was easy to follow the action.

Plus everyone gets a moment sign.

Though, that does bring me to a nitpick: Spider-man asks Captain Marvel, whose arrival destroyed a giant space war ship, who’s going to help her during her turn with the Infinity football. Dumb question, Peter.

But then all the named female characters show up to be like “We’re here to help! Girl Power!”

And it kind of undermined Captain Marvel? Like, she’s massively powerful, but the narrative implying all the women need to band together to help her when the last couple of football passes were men going solo seems demeaning.

But I’m a white guy writing about nerd movies, so whatever.

During this battle I realized something important: the costumes (except Thor and Spider-Man, who had plot reasons) were on point. Everyone looked like their iconic selves. Iron man had a good Red/Gold balance, and the suit was mechanical. Captain America looked like Captain America. Rocket had his jumpsuit and goggles. Captain Marvel had the right jumpsuit and short hair.

They all looked correct. It was great.

I have one last nitpick: Tony Stark did not deserve the Thanos kill.

Yes, they’ve been trying to play up his fear and paranoia of Thanos since the nuke scene from The Avengers.

But Thanos didn’t do anything directly to Stark. They barely knew each other. Stark got a family, an amount of stability. He’s a playboy, billionaire, philanthropist. Tony Stark was fine.

Nebula was maimed. Turned machine in both body and mind. She suffered a lot under Thanos and by Thanos. She had an arc through this movie. Nebula should’ve killed Thanos.[6]

I would’ve also accepted Gamora, if they wanted a big name character.

But, nah, got to give the big finish to the man who started the franchise off. Sure.

Tony dies, and it’s a good death because his death achieved a big victory. Which is what you should do when you kill a character: have their death be their moment of awesome and a good narrative closure to the degree of their importance. No-name backgrounds characters can be comfortably killed off with a backhand, but to kill off an Iron Man, who has been relevant since the start of the franchise and started an era, his death needs to be worth twenty plus movies of set up and close an Era. Which Endgame did.

Black Widow, meanwhile, had been around for almost as long, had been poorly served by the narrative, and her death brought her arc no closure. Her story just stopped, and it’s unsatisfying.

Which is the main point of Endgame: bringing closure. Iron Man dies, and has earned his rest. Captain America, given access to time travel, retires and (importantly) passes on the mantle.

Actually, that’s an interesting question: who’s taking over Cap’s battle commander role? Because Iron Man has his replacements in Spider-Man (for tech and science upstarty-ness) and the Pyms (for big concept sci-fi) and Pepper Potts can still provide funding and infrastructure backing. Captain America makes Sam Wilson the new Captain America, but Sam hasn’t taken a leading role yet, so making him the new Avengers Leader might be an awkward transition.

The point is, the original six Avengers got their closures (of varying quality). Brash adventurer Thor continues his adventures in space, Tony Stark died but left a positive legacy to override his war profiteer history, Captain America get his lost time back, Hulk found peace with himself (which happened off screen, but eh, he was fun). Hawkeye and Black Widow… well, they started out as “they’re here, too!” characters, and they ended as “and they’re done, too!” characters.

Now, it’s time for the next generation, and it’ll be fun to watch.

Ranking and Overview

Well, the big narrative is finished, and it got better as it went along. The first phase was marred by the trend of “Super heroes, but in our grim and gritty world” that the Nolan Batman Films inspired. Thor began to loosen the tone, and Captain America was hint towards more grandiose elements, but it wasn’t really until Guardians of the Galaxy that the creative team looked around and said “This is inherently silly, right? Can we just… have fun?”

And from there, every new franchise had fun, while the originals had to keep their serious faces on.

Anyways, I’m going to rank them now from worst to best:

The Incredible Hulk

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Thor: The Dark World

Iron Man 2

Iron Man 3

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The Avengers

Iron Man 1

Thor

Captain America: Civil War

Doctor Strange

Captain Marvel

Black Panther

Captain America: the First Avenger

Thor: Ragnarok

Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Infinity Wars

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Spider-Man Homecoming

Ant-Man

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Guardians of the Galaxy

Despite being two parts of a full story, I ultimately decided Infinity Wars and Endgame were different enough to split them for rankings.

And I enjoyed Infinity Wars a little more.

And I think this confirms my self-assessment from last time: I enjoy fun, strong characters, and bold choices over trying to be real or attempt drama. I like to escape with my escapism!

Now, where do I think the movies go from here?

Honestly, I feel they’ll be able to do three more phases (for six total). In that time frame, Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man will get third films, while Black Panther, Doctor Strange, and Captain Marvel each get two additional films. Complete trilogies before their cast become part of team-ups to bolster other films. There may be a few other franchises introduced, but besides Fantastic Four, I feel like Marvel is starting to need to dig too deep (especially since they burned the Defenders on Netflix shows. Daredevil could’ve been a film character).

The X-Men work better, narratively, away from the rest of the Marvel Universe, so hopefully they keep to their own, separate franchise.

So, complete trilogies, grind towards two or three more Phases,[7] then it’s time for reboots.

As for overarching plots, I feel like we’re not going to get another multiphase big bad. Doctor Doom would be a great next step, as he represents political hand wringing, technology, and magic in a single megalomaniac, and I feel like we’ve gotten to the tonal point where Doctor Doom can be properly hammy. But it’ll be a single phase. Then one or two more big bads, possibly ending with some sort of villain team-up and time travel shenanigans to bring everyone (everyone) back for one, finally grand finale.

Then Reboot.

Maybe start with Captain America next time. Or the Fantastic Four. We’ll have to wait and see.

For now… I’ve got a Digimon project I keep hyping, and I have been meaning to rewatch Star Wars.

Maybe check out my Patreon or Ko-Fi if you enjoyed this essay.

Kataal kataal.

[1] I will note I stepped out for the Star Wars trailer. I’m gonna see it, so I want as little spoiled as possible. But the title and JJ Abrams being back at the helm has me concerned. [2] Which I think gets an unfair rap. I always felt that detail was just a pin in the life Widow was built for. She submitted to invasive surgery and cut off options to be what she was. It’s a symbol, not just poor writing.[3] [3] Age of Ultron still sucks, though. [4] For the record, I believe he’s known he could use it since Ultron, but he was being polite to Thor. [5] Except Black Widow. [6] Plus, comic accuracy points! [7] Amazon has two box sets for the phases with art based around an infinity stone each, so completing the set with six total phases makes sense.