#knight's end variant cover

[smashpages]

Daredevil #3 (Marvel, November 2023) Knight's End variant cover by Dustin Nguyen

[alphacomicsvol2]

Spider-Woman #1 Cover Art (Fist of Konshu-Knight's End Variant Cover by Kael Ngu)

[age-of-moonknight]

“New Kids on the Block,” Spider-Woman (Vol. 8/2023), #7.

Writer: Steve Foxe; Penciler and Inker: Ig Guara; Colorist: Arif Prianto; Letterer: Joe Sabino

[ultradude13]

X-Men #28 Knight's End variant cover by Ivan Tao

[catmansquad]

“Unstable”

A short piece for one of the Looking Glass chapters I rewrote to be Reader-centric.

Yandere!Miguel 

You just can’t seem to shake the feeling that someone’s watching you…

Earth-928 [Iteration: 157] October, Nueva York, 2099

The halls were dark and silent, a dozen unused chambers and corridors, left and forgotten to gather dust. As far as the public were concerned, the building was undergoing renovations, of the long-term type. Its twisted spire would tower beautifully against the neon skylines of Nueva York, now only one floor, one room was illuminated. The nameplate on the door was crooked, the room was covered in half-dismantled machinery; loose cabling, screens that were broken or had been punched straight through, and piles of empty takeaway boxes. Clad in red and deep blue, the large figure sat before a bank of shimmering hardlight screens, staring straight ahead and thoroughly lost in nostalgia. He had tried. Miguel O’Hara had tried so very hard; to assemble the Spider Society, the heroes and defenders of the sprawling infinity of the multiverse. But it never came to be, none had agreed, perhaps they were missing, or had already been snatched by another version of himself. In another world, so close to his own, too fine a distinction even for the dimensional travel watches to recognize it. Somewhere along the line where their paths had branched, he had lost a coin toss against fate, his other self had won it.

The Spider Society was never to be, and the scarce few he had tried to recruit did not remain for long, they had claimed he was… Unstable. Miguel snarled at the recollection, teeth gritted, fangs bared. He took a heavy breath, exhaling slowly. He had broken enough screens over those memories. The halls of his great ambition were dusty and empty, and now he was left here; standing in what once been Alchemax’s finest building, now a ruin of a dead dream. He still remained as his world’s one and only Spider-man, DNA irreparably mangled with that of a spider’s, blessed and cursed with frightening powers and a lifetime of guilt and trauma.

While he could not step into the reflections of his own world, he could still peer into them. How many hours had he wasted, watching his other self- the successful Miguel- lurking before those same screens, recounting his own pains, his own issues. Miguel had laughed at him, the man who was and was not him. Hard light webbing? Powers given by serums?! The man was not his reflection, he was but a weak, pale shadow! He hoped that his other self could see him in turn, peering back through the glass at him; see the powerful man he wished he could be and go green in envy.

Then he had widened his scope of interest, looking at all his other selves, in other worlds. The further out he went, the weirder and stranger those worlds became, the more unique his incarnations became; a knight in shining armour, a bloodthirsty vampire, a merman, and stranger still. But there had been another twist of fate, another interesting fact that not even his successful self could claim; these variants of himself had someone by his side, beautiful eyes that met his own crimson hues. Miguel was transfixed, watching each world in turn, the same yet different. He’d had Lyla scour every single record, every database, searching for you in whatever form you could take. She had returned with nothing; you did not exist in this world. He had upturned the entire cafeteria after that revelation. There was no point in fixing the mess, it would never see use. Miguel had eventually calmed himself, back to the scope once again, scouring realities. Eventually, he had picked a nearby reality; Earth-927, one world from his own. It was running behind his reality, and once again he had found himself… And there you were, right by his side. They were in love, they were married. Miguel felt a longing in his heart, a cure for that loneliness. What had he done to end up as the loser of every cosmic coin toss?! This version of him was nothing special; overworked, overtired, and so very, purely human. The world was simply too primitive, the technology did not exist, the experiments for his transformation had not- could not happen, this world had no Spider-man. He hated that version of him. You deserved a Superhero to love and protect you.

‘Lyla… Show me.’ He watched the hologram of his assistant glitch into existence beside him, as much as a pain in the ass as she was, she was useful. A gift from his late ex-wife, along with her plans for the whole dimensional travel prototypes. No children, no wife, and no Spider Society. ‘Show you what?’ Red eyes closed; he exhaled in annoyance. Every single time… ‘What do you mean “what”? Show me 927! Show me-!... Show. Me. Them.’ ‘I mean, I can, but you’re not gonna see much with your eyes closed.’ His eyes snapped open, a snarl in his throat as he made to grab her image, claws raking through empty air as she blipped and returned on one shoulder. ‘Already live, big guy. Back on scope and in range.’

He watched the screens shift, the displays melting into one great view, a mess of code and rendering glitches. “LENS ADJUSTING -  927” “PARALLAX SCOPE LOCKED” “ADJUSTING GAMMA” “ADJUSTING AUDIO” The image smoothed out into a dark, rainy night, watching a car park itself outside a detached house on a lone lane. The engine switched off and the lights dimmed, leaving only the nearby streetlight for illumination. When they did not emerge, Miguel stepped up closer, a hardlight control panel materializing under his fingers as he manipulated the viewfinder, zooming and rotating to the interior of the vehicle. His eyes widened as he saw you, that warm smile on your face, loving and kind as you reached over to the seat beside you, there he was- the other him, the regular him- sound asleep, arms folded and mouth hanging open, snoring softly. ‘Miguel… Miguel, we’re home… C’mon, sleepyhead…’ He watched his other self groan, brown eyes blinking open. ‘Ah, fuck, my neck…’ The other Miguel rubbed his neck, other hand grabbing the car keys. ‘Did you want anything to eat or drink, Mig?’ ‘I... Think I’m just gonna fall into bed, mi amor…’ Miguel’s red eyes scoured the scene before him. To him, the happy couple did not look so happy. Once again, he felt that dark knot tighten in his gut; they both looked exhausted, surely you deserved a man who could look after you? He watched you  follow your husband inside and quietly reminded himself that his own penthouse was far nicer than their home. When was the last time he went there? Lyla had reminded him that he should go and rest. Repeatedly. In truth, he should switch off the scope and go back to his own bed, and try to sleep. He watched you lock up as the other Miguel staggered upstairs to the bedroom. You hesitated, keys in hand, and Miguel followed you through the house, watching you turn each light on, searching each room like you wanted to be sure of something, then switched them off. Finally, you entered into your bedroom, changing out of your damp uniform and into nightwear, softly sliding under the covers and snuggled up close to the larger man who was already sound asleep. ‘Mig, I… No, never mind…’

It wasn’t spying. It wasn’t being a voyeur. You had become his world, and when you were not present, his heart ached and he found it hard to breathe. There was a beauty in watching you, he could waste entire days simply staring at your form, so close he could almost reach out and take you. ‘Miguel, it’s nearly 3AM, you have gone for nearly 32 hours without sleep.’ ‘Lyla, enough.’ He did not look to her, his eyes firmly on the screen, watching you folding laundry, placing it aside. Eventually, you picked up a white hoodie, far too large for you. A fond smile crept across your face as you held it close, tight in your arms and buried your face into the soft fabric with a delighted smile and a gentle sigh. Miguel watched with wide eyes; he would have to find one just like it.

For the whole day, he followed your routine around the house, watching you clean up, watching you dust and polish. It was only as evening set, browsing on your laughably primitive phone, did you look up, putting the device back in your pocket and pulling back one of the curtains softly, peering outside into the empty street, worry written across your features. Concerned, Miguel panned back the view, scouring the entire street from all angles, not even a single peep of activity. Then swiftly returned to you, who had calmed down once again, lounging back on the sofa, phone in hand, typing away. Curious, he adjusted the viewfinder once again; you appeared to be messaging a friend.

“>: Have this awful feeling, it comes and goes all week; the dread that I’m being… Watched. I can feel it right now; eyes on the back of my neck. It feels like… Like someone is out there. I don’t feel safe without Miggy here.” 

“Have you tried an exorcist? lol” 

“>: I’m serious. It’s creeping me out. Like, something bad’s gonna happen.” 

Miguel hesitated, oily noodles slipping from the chopsticks, back into the greasy takeaway box, mouth open. It couldn’t be possible. There was no way that you could be capable of perceiving him. No-one in any reality was capable of detecting that. Either you were being stalked by someone else altogether, or… He felt that dark knot in his gut bloom and tighten again. … Or you were fated to be together. A smile curled onto his lips. Yes. That was it. If you so dearly wanted your loving husband by your side… … Well, he’d be more than happy to volunteer…

(Your husband is soon kidnapped by Spider-man and given one warning to go very far away and stay there. Or else.)

------------------ (Seriously, screw whoever went “eh, ignore literal-spider-man origin for Miguel, just make him some grouchy person who needs injections and can’t produce his own webbing”)

[doctorofmagic]

BLOOD HUNT PREDICTIONS (and spoilers!)

Okay, I see everyone is struggling to keep it cool because of what just happened today in Blood Hunt #1. But honestly I'm very excited to put the pieces together (also very HYPED!!!). So here are my thoughts (and my friend Red's, thank you, my darling) on what we gathered so far through clues, covers and solicitations.

Obviously, spoilers.

Well, first thing I'd like to establish is that people will probably feel lost if they haven't read the last Blade volume. Thankfully, yours truly did! Which means I can provide some context:

Just recently, Blade released an ancient evil called the Adana by accident. To make it up for this mistake (which would lead to the end of the world, basically), he had to embrace his full vampiric powers by drinking Dracula's blood (they're in a kinda complicated relationship right now, not friends nor enemies but necessary allies). That also meant that he was corrupted by its evil.

Plus, as I said it many times, Blade has a deep respect for Stephen because of the Montesi Formula, which resulted in the extinction of all vampires. Yes, Stephen did it once, and I'll get back to it because I think it's REALLY important.

Since we established that Blade might be corrupted, let's move on to the next topic.

Is Stephen dead?

My best guess is "not really".

In Blood Hunt, we see that T'Challa sacrificed himself to protect Cap America Sam and the rest of the Avengers who survived the first strike. But is T'Challa gone? Luckily, I follow Farid Karami on twitter and he posted a few inks he did for Black Panther: Blood Hunt. And guess what? That's right, we'll about to have vampire!T'Challa!

Besides, we all know that the next Doctor Strange issue will feature Wong and vampire!Stephen. What we didn't know was how Stephen would fit in the plot, but thanks to the variant cover I posted last week, we do now: he'll be guiding his allies via his astral form.

Now, how can the Sorcerer Supreme deal with the vampiric threat? It was shown that Stephen and Clea are looking for the Montesi Formula again.

For those who don't know, the Montesi Formula is a spell from the Darkhold that can wipe every single vampire off the face of the Earth. Stephen already used this spell once when he fought Dracula (and Blade was there, hence the respect he holds for Stephen). Unfortunately for them, Wanda has just recently absorbed the Darkhold within her body as a way to gain autonomy from Chthon (as seen in Darkhold: Alpha and Omega). Besides, Wanda was captured by the Bloodcoven, which means she can't do much right now. In addition, as hinted by Blade himself, she won't use the Montesi Formula, mostly because the character can't be involved in another kind of genocide (thanks, Bendis). And that leads us to the next topic.

Who could do it? The very one character who would overcome morals on behalf of his people, the same one who already appeared in the first issue: Doctor Doom. And if we think about it, he has two advantages already: 1) he's second in line to be the Sorcerer Supreme, and 2) as already established, he'd do anything to protect his planet and, most importantly, Latverians.

It's also important to reiterate that an astral form is not as powerful as the body+soul. With Stephen's strength limited, it's not that crazy to imagine that he could pass the mantle to Victor for a limited period while they find the spell. "Why not Clea?" I don't know. It's already established that managing the power of two sorcerers supreme is extremely hard and draining. Could be another reason as well. I'm just trying to find a coherent train of thought through this variant cover here:

Still, we're left with a very important dilemma. We have nice vampire allies in current comics: Brielle (Blade's daughter) and Soldier and Reese from the Midnight Mission (Moon Knight), the three of them being characters to be featured in the tie-ins. Well, not to mention Stephen and T'Challa, and maybe some more to be turned in the next issues. This is why I don't think the Montesi Formula will happen. Jed won't kill THE Black Panther, let's be real. So what's next?

We're expecting a plot twist at some point, and Blade will have an important role here. He's set to have another solo title this year, probably following the consequences of his actions. But there's a high chance someone else is involved. Let's check this panel once more:

Atlantean rituals.... Where did we hear about it before? That's right, Sorcerer Supreme #11!

During the old age, Varnae become ruler of the vampires and was brought back by Marie Laveau in modern age, fighting Doctors Strange and Voodoo. His last appearance traces back to Blade when he and his friends confronted him. Frank Drake sacrificed himself in an explosion to kill Varnae, and that's the last time we hear about him.

But see how the pieces come together? Blade, Stephen and Varnae. It makes sense that things would center around these three. And this is why I'm very excited. It's not a surprise that I love Blade and Stephen's relationship, and all these elements would make a wonderful drama, one that I'm really looking forward to!

Overall, I'm not worried about status quo or anything like that. I know things will work out in time, and seeing so many of my favorite characters involved in an event written by McKay only makes it better!

And that's it! Feel free to add your thoughts on this post! And see you all next week with Doctor Strange #15! ��

[katyspersonal]

Continuation of the previous post! Probably like 2/3, MAYBE 2/4 I don't know hghghgb

1) So, I proceeded to the Rauh Ruins! Earlier when I visited this place I somehow ended up in the pool with giant hippo through weird jumping and found Spider Scorpion Ashes! Then I died for a dumb reason and then got lost in the labyrinths, and ALSO died for a dumb reason 🤡

But this time, I checked the door I've skipped previous time to check later, and turned out it WAS what I needed 🤡🤡🤡

2) I found this cool tailsman:

.....and then got killed by a fly guy who corner-guyed me 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

3) Later down there, I killed a strong Crucible Knight, who appeared to be a new named character!

I really like these vgfhhb I have love/hate relationship with Elden Ring's like, 400 characters including all non-respawns and mentioned. It IS nice that the word is so full, but it plays a cruel joke with my autism towards wanting to remember every name XD

4) Okay so, remember I boasted about having killed all Furnace Golems? To my delight, there was one more here! XD annnd it was gone. It is okay, though, I can always bully them again in NG+ 😎

5) My objective, though, was a Horned Knight I saw from afar earlier where Cross and Dane's letter were but couldn't reach due to big height. I kept trying to figure out the way to reach them, but had to give up. It is just so weird how I sometimes notice an enemy and get strong fixation on trying to kill it gggfhgfh

6) The next half an hour was....... bad, on the other hand. -_- In the next underground building, to my surprise, I've noticed some Hornsent using the blood-flies swarm magic not unlike Vare, and yeah, I know there were some Bloodfiends here earlier, but yes later that would be a point of interest!

But.... ohhh my fucking God. I kept getting lost, or so I thought?? I skipped the elevator and ran to kill a couple of Horned Knights, and then ended up in a small place with bloodloss variant of hounds and a Bloodfiend with A BIT TOO MUCH HEALTH 🤦‍♂️ I died and what I, like (questionably) sane person decided to do? RIGHT tried again 🤡 But later I took another turn

AND THERE WAS A POOL OF SCARLET ROT AND GODDAMN RED variant of Kindred of Rot!! I could not get anywhere NEAR the first one because it kept shooting the X2 VARIANT of Pest Strings at me!!!!! I barely was able to progress! Later somehow I ended up in another Rot place, and got invaded by Vengeance-Seeking Hornsent! Whom I almost killed but my plans got ruined by me stepping back and getting CORNER GUYED BY ANOTHER KINDRED OF ROT!!!

I screamed, I cursed, I messaged @val-of-the-north "WHERE AM I SUPPOSED TO GO" and "WHICH ONE OF AT LEAST THREE """FORWARDS""" ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT". I found the double variant of Pest Strings as an incantation, I could not understand why Hornsent wasn't invading again, turned out I kept running in another place and somehow accessed previous one without remembering how, turned out I needed to take that one elevator I've skipped and so I did area backwards, turned out in the first room there was a lever I NEEDED to use but was not seeing 🙄🤦‍♂️.... But, at last, I figured this place after 500 attempts and killed the guy too!

6.1) Yes, he dropped his set and weapon. :> ..and the caterpillars mask. The descriptions of which I've already read prior, because people kept telling me he was a Potentate himself. XD I covered why it was not likely the case earlier in this ( x ) ask reply regarding the topic!

Ironically, here I found an evidence in favor of that claim, because not far away from this spot there was a Potentate Cookbook that allowed to create Hefty Rot Pot! So it could be a reasoning for him oddly being in this place: learning what to do with materials here! Doesn't change the timeline contrivance though so not convinced.... besides, Romina turned out to be from Belurat originally, which he also comes from, so maybe he was seeking old friends / went nuts finding her and hearing more from her.. But yet AGAIN, this is a surprise tool that will help us later!

6.2) Huge waste that he never got any dialogue though! What, are we just supposed to assume that he went insane after testing revenge? :p Explain yourself, "partner in arms"!!

7) In the area afterwards, I recall hopping on the roof and killing an unusual variant of a Horned Knight!

^ this was not what they dropped there; I got their chest piece drop later! What they DID drop was leg piece and, if I remember correctly, their incantation of sending many golden feathers to attack them! I just don't remember if they dropped it or I found it nearby.. Chest piece was a later drop on my other run after dying, but I found it more interesting!

So, you know how herald of God of Death, at least in some quantity, is the Twinbird? This chest piece mentions being given special favour by some golden birds! Meanwhile, description of Winged Scythe mentioned white maidens/angels as envoys of death? (Yes, Katy, of course everyone here remembers one of like 600000 descriptions in this GIANT game 🤦‍♂️) ... so I think, maybe whereas white/silver/whatever are Death(rite) birds, the golden birds are "life" birds! Especially with the reoccurring gold+silver theme in Elden Ring! So, while Bird Knights were the Knights of Gold life birds, those "angels" were this to White death birds 👀 Guys.... second half of the Twinbird...

8) So, I've found Church of the Bud, golden fog and all, but continued to explore every nook and secret I could before going there. Found an interesting Crucible in a secret spot!

9) I swear I checked everywhere for now. Still had something left with that bridge and a golem shooting arrows from there, but I just decided to go fight the boss already.

I've had a big, long sigh.. I hoped for a cutscene because I saw very minor spoiler for this boss and from the design I believed there would be SOME stellar appearance! I even expected the VOICELINES! However, the battle just started. And, like... it has been very easy. I was tense, not letting myself relax! I just KNEW it could not be this easy! There HAD to be a catch, like second healthbar after this first phase is over!!

..but, no. I just killed her and that was it. It was frustratingly easy. ;-; No cinematic, no voice, no second scarier phase like Goddess of Rot.. I don't know whether I accidentally collected TOO many Scadutree Fragments, or adapted too well or both, but it is what it is... ;-; At least, it was very beautiful.

10) I checked her items at Enia's, kinda want to get both if I still have a Mausoleum free! Scarlet Rot is my fav status effect to torture enemies with! XD

... what followed was like, 3 hours long conversation with @val-of-the-north about the lore.

So, it started with him pointing out that translation is a bit inaccurate and he read elsewhere it says more like "she discovered a divinity and clung to it" + "like sinister Scarlet Rot", which I already believed more because Scarlet Buds straight up said that they were not always infected by Scarlet Rot! But turned out I completely missed the fact that Romina did appear in the second DLC trailer holding the bud that became her weapon, where Messmer was burning Belurat!

I honestly didn't remember it when I saw her weapon, in my memory it vaguely left a trace as "some guy holding a sword" hfhggvn

So we had red buds initially growing in Belurat, yet still not Rotten, and her relocating them in Rauh (conveniently, as Messmer doesn't touch this place anymore thanks to Salza). But also they only became infected with Scarlet Rot later, IN Rauh, yet some infection WAS left in Belurat as it is also full of giant scorpions and fly people and has poisonous swamp! God of Rot was scorpion-like though, and giant scorpions are associated with 'saint of the bud'!

So, I think what she let live back in Belurat, more to worse than to better, was the source of fly disease, and Scarlet Rot is a later variant of that poison, probably appearing over long stagnation! She nurtures buds that will never bloom, what can be MORE stagnant? They're like eggs that never got to hatch but layed around enough to go bad!

But seriously... that convo was LONG. Maybe even longer than 3 hours, actually. We covered everything in my weird obsession to understand what happened here. The fact that Deathblight, Scarlet Rot and Formless Blood all have connection with plants and flies like ugly triplets of sorts, what Abyssal Serpent could be, how came story of Romina's discovery is similar to how Bloodfiends discovered Formless Mother in the shadow of their ancestors corpse. Whether Outer Gods reach out, are born at the place of misery, or both. If maybe the 'stagnation' uniting three concepts was something dumped in Abyss and not burnt by Abyssal Serpent yet and Messmer could maybe accidentally open a portal in there if he went TOO wild with his fires, so creatures from there try to escape! And Eiglay and Winged Serpent and Formless Serpent and what all of them are jfghhb

_________

The brainstorming got so intense that I was not able to keep playing and... went to bed, as it was past 1 AM xD Conversation of the century, of course, but it requires a separate post! In fact I did have an ask about Romina I neglected to look at until I meet this boss, I probably should pick it up now!! I want to, just.. in several days when I have my computer ;-;

So I went to bed and the rest happened today! I will share in the next post!!

[gorogues]

Spoilers for comics in July!

These are from the official solicits for that month, which you can see in full at Adventures In Poor Taste. Of note: DC comics return to Wednesday releases as of that month.

THE FLASH #11 Written by SIMON SPURRIER Art by RAMÓN PÉREZ Cover by MIKE DEODATO Jr. Variant covers by JAVIER RODRÍGUEZ and MATT TAYLOR Artist Spotlight Variant cover by JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA-LÓPEZ $3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock) ON SALE 7/24/24 As Barry, Max, Mr. Terrific, and Pilgrim head into the Speed Force to uncover what’s really causing all the chaos around the world, Wally returns home but is under the same mind control that seized Barry. Meanwhile, Linda finally meets the Resident, the being Wally turned to while trapped in the Gallery!

I get the feeling the chaos may be (partially) caused by somebody who appears on the above variant cover. He sure seems to be having a good time.

The next two solicits are speculative and are included here because they may possibly be of interest.

POWER GIRL #11 Written by LEAH WILLIAMS Art by EDUARDO PANSICA and JÚLIO FERREIRA Cover by YANICK PAQUETTE Variant covers by TERRY DODSON and INHYUK LEE $3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock) ON SALE 7/24/24 Forever alone?! Dating is hard, especially if you’re Metropolis’s breakout hero Power Girl. Will an innocent date with the mysterious Axel be just what Paige needs to get her groove back? Or are there some skeletons in her suitor’s closet waiting to be set free?

This probably isn't our Axel, but it's here just in case.

DARK KNIGHTS OF STEEL: ALLWINTER #1 Written by JAY KRISTOFF and TOM TAYLOR Art by TIRSO CONS and RICCARDO FEDERICI Cover by TIRSO CONS Variant cover by GERARDO ZAFFINO Variant cover by FRANCESCO MATTINA 1:25 variant cover by HOMARE 1:50 variant cover by FRANCESCO MATTINA Foil variant by HOMARE ($6.99 US) $4.99 US | 40 pages | 1 of 6 | Variant $5.99 US (card stock) ON SALE 7/17/24 The snow falls thick, blood runs black, and color itself is only a distant memory. The legendary assassin Deathstroke stalks a frozen wasteland, killing for coin among a nation of ever-warring jarls. But when our murderer for hire finds himself cast in the role of reluctant guardian, will he fight to end the icy curse destroying his land or be consumed by the sins of his own dark past? The red-hot Dark Knights of Steel epic expands into bone-chilling new territories with new surprises in store!

It seems likely that Len will appear in this AU (and hopefully Lisa will too), but who knows. One of the variant covers appears to have Killer Frost, though she isn't named and it could be someone else.

[dirtyriver]

Daredevil #3, Knight's End variant cover by Dustin Nguyen

[itscomplicatedx]

Marvel at the beginning of the show: So this show will be about Loki learning to love himself and not being afraid of being lonely anymore.

Also Marvel: completely ignores Loki‘s trauma and tries to make him an evil narcissist** (Mobius is not qualified to make that assessment, especially since according to the TVA, Loki was supposed to do the bad things he did) at the beginning, tries to stick him with a Thor light version of himself, and has him end up alone, where once again, very few people will know or care when he did something heroic.

I liked season 2 a lot better than season 1, but that ending was whack.

If you don’t feel like reading a long rant, feel free to skip below. If you disagree with me and want to make your own long answer, write your own post. I’m mostly here to express my opinion, not get into long debates.

**Marvel doesn’t seem to understand much at all about mental health. I wish we could get whoever wrote Moon Knight to write everything about mental health in the MCU as they handled it in a decent way for a TV show. The last guy they tried to call a narcissist (Tony Stark) literally either tried to or sacrificed himself to save the universe more than once; as did Loki and his variants. Loki was set up to fail since the beginning of the timeline; and while obviously he’s far from innocent, acting like it was all his grievances were in his head and “imagined slights” or just a function of a narcissist is a pretty awful message to send about trauma. We know for a fact there’s a shit load wrong with Asgard, and an amazing slew of double standards in the MCU. It would be a great way to explain it to say it was all part of a timeline that was meant for somethings to turn out a certain way, but I’m not sure they’ll do that. But that’s my head canon anyway, based on what we saw in the What If series. There we see that when certain events aren’t set up and happen differently, heroes can go off the trail and villains can be just fine.

They conveniently showed Loki how Odin “loves him”, but not that he literally kidnapped him and lied that his birthright “was to die”, and just basically let everybody else off the hook including people who have done worse than Loki.

I understand if they didn’t want to use another actual mental health term, but instead of “narcissist” they could’ve just gone with Loki having “severe attachment issues” or something more vague like that, but then they might’ve actually had to talk about how he got them. Because I guarantee you when the majority of people hear the term narcissist they think of the worst kind who have all the worst full blown traits on the spectrum, not of the fragile kind, who do have self-esteem issues, share a lot of traits with BPD, and are said to be more rare. They most definitely don’t think of people who would sacrifice themselves.  

I personally see Loki as Borderline with some narcissistic traits (who wouldn’t have them being raised a royal in a place like Asgard). With Tony I think some of his supposedly worst traits were him trying to cover up his trauma. Sorry Natasha, but an assassin/spy who works for a shady government organization is not qualified to make a mental health assessment. Neither is Mobius.



[smashpages]

White Widow #1 (Marvel, November 2023) Knight's End variant cover by Declan Shalvey

[alphacomicsvol2]

Amazing Spider-Man #38 Cover Art (Knight's End Variant by Valerio Giangiordano) (Final Inks)

[kilowogcore]

I ain't no chess master or nothin', but I'm pretty sure only rank amateurs'd end up with that setup. Assumin' the piece in Batman's hand (which looks like a knight ta me) is still in play, it's still an inevitable draw.

Chess nerds, feel free ta' correct me if I'm wrong!

Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful cover, but it's like havin' a wrong equation on the blackboard in a classroom scene!

(Art sampled from "Batman/Superman: World's Finest" Vol. 1 #15 variant cover by Walt Simonson and Michael Atiyeh)

[redhoodedangel]

My Arkhamverse! Jason Todd Headcanons

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Inspiration is a struggle to find for my X readers right now. My ADHD and autism has been a struggle for a while now, not to mention my anxiety. So, here are some of my personal headcanons for my favorite variant of my favorite character…

Warning ⚠️: Mentions/descriptions of torture, descriptions of sickness/illness-like symptoms (vomiting/upset stomach), Mental Illness, PTSD, and other disturbing themes

~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~

Jason has BPD and ADHD. Both are hereditary, coming from his bio parents and he’s struggled with them for as long as he could remember, even before Batman and Joker.

Because of this, he has a lot of emotional outbursts and deep set anger. This is made very clear during his conversation with Barbara during the Halloween takeover

When he finally got out of Arkham, he couldn’t eat a lot of the foods he used to enjoy (he threw up the first time he tried to eat a burger)

All he ate in Arkham was whatever rotten food or drugged water Joker gave him. Only he would end up puking it up later on. Either that, or he went hungry (sometimes by his choice)

He actually ate like he has an upset stomach or stomach bug for a while, only drinking water or anything that was light on his stomach (Gatorade, room temp. Ginger ale, etc)

He could only eat crackers and toast, sometimes whatever soup he could buy (with pickpocketed money) or cook himself.

He has to wear a brace to better support his fucked up back. This is why his Red Hood chestplate looks so bulked up.

He had something similar in the Arkham Knight suit, but it’s lightweight, made from sustainable materials, and not as bulky as the one in his Red Hood getup.

Barbara offered to take him to a chiropractor to help him with his back. The practor was actually someone who helps her with lingering pains and phantom aches in her legs and hips.

But, Jason couldn’t stand the thought of a stranger putting their hands on him, so he declined but thanked her for the gesture

He wears a face mask whenever he goes out. A lot of people still think he’s dead, so best not show his face in public.

It also has the benefits of covering the ‘J’ brand on his cheek and people think he’s sick, so they stay away from him

Speaking of which, the ‘J’ mark isn’t the only traumatic scar with meaning or a story behind it on his body

He has three ‘HA’ laughter brandings, one on his left pectoral (where the Robin emblem was placed on his former suit), one on the small of his back, and the last one on his right hip.

He also has a pair of furled wings carved into his upper back. Obviously, an owed to his time as Robin and the painful memories that accompanied the mantle

Cooking reminds him of his time in the kitchen with Alfred and some of the best memories he had that weren’t tainted by Joker

Despite his initial disdain, Jason thinks Tim is a good Robin, but he steers clear of him because he feels he might say or do something he’ll regret later

Probably talks to Dick on those rainy days since he wasn’t involved in what happened to him

He still has that protective soft spot for kids, even after all the shit he went through

Joker tried to get him to hate them, but it was probably the only thing that Jason was resolute about. He would not harm a single child, even if it spared him from the pain and wrath of the Clown Prince himself

Upset that he never got to apologize to Bruce (and Alfred by extent) for everything

~~~~~~~

That’s all for now!

~~~~~~~

[dailydamnation]

As if a solo book isn't enough (it isn't, not nearly, great as it promises to be), there's more Illyana in the January 2025 solicits:

ULTIMATE WOLVERINE #1 CHRIS CONDON (W) • ALESSANDRO CAPPUCCIO (A/C) VARIANT COVER BY GLEB MELNIKOV • VARIANT COVER BY STEVE SKROCE VARIANT COVER BY LEE BERMEJO • VIRGIN VARIANT COVER BY LEE BERMEJO CONNECTING VARIANT COVER BY JOSEMARIA CASANOVAS ULTIMATE SPECIAL VARIANT COVER BY LEINIL FRANCIS YU • VARIANT COVER BY TBA THE MAKER'S ULTIMATE WEAPON! From rising star Chris Condon (That Texas Blood) and MOON KNIGHT powerhouse artist Alessandro Cappuccio comes the story of the ULTIMATE WOLVERINE! In order to maintain control of their corner of the Maker's world, three members of his council – Magik, Colossus and Omega Red – deploy their most lethal asset: The Winter Soldier! But WHO is the weapon behind the mask? 32 PGS./Rated T+ …$5.99

UNCANNY X-MEN #8 GAIL SIMONE (W) • JAVIER GARRÓN (A) • Cover by DAVID MARQUEZ VARIANT COVER BY NICK BRADSHAW • CONNECTING VARIANT COVER BY CHRIS GIARRUSSO GAMBIT VARIANT COVER BY MIGUEL MERCADO GAMBIT VIRGIN VARIANT COVER BY MIGUEL MERCADO "RAID ON GRAYMALKIN" Part FOUR! The epic RAID ON GRAYMALKIN story ends here, with Rogue and Cyclops on opposite ends of the mutant struggle, perhaps forever! Are they honoring Xavier's legacy or destroying it? Do they choose loyalty or the law? An all-out action issue that will affect both teams (and the entire mutant community) with devastating results! 32 PGS./Rated T+ …$4.99

X-MEN #10 JED MACKAY (W) • NETHO DIAZ (A) • COVER BY RYAN STEGMAN FANTASTIC FOUR HOMAGE VARIANT COVER BY MICHELE BANDINI MAGIK VARIANT COVER BY LEIRIX • MAGIK VIRGIN VARIANT COVER BY LEIRIX "RAID ON GRAYMALKIN" AFTERMATH! In the wake of the raid on Graymalkin, the X-Men are fugitives – and O*N*E knows exactly where to find them. Heavily armed Shrike squads are en route to the Factory to serve warrants and lock up the X-Men, and it won't be long until the X-Men find themselves right back in Graymalkin. Unless… 32 PGS./Rated T+ …$4.99

We're kind of getting spoiled in quantity this month!

[doctorofmagic]

Doctor Strange #9 Knight's End variant cover by Meghan Hetrick.