#luthor leading ben away kills me

[dreamersdreamloud]

Drug Cartels (Part 1?)

Lena Luthor x Boss Cartel Reader 

AN: attempted rape, betrayal, strong language,  

The Luthor Cartel and Los Reyes Alfa Cartel have been in a drug war for a couple of years. The older generations knew how it all started but as the years went by, the lines have been blurred and the people had a hard time who to put their trust in. The two drug groups weren’t always like this before until a turnt of leadership led them into this direction.

It all started when two men from college wanted to start a business to make quick cash. The easy way to do that is to sell drugs. A shit ton of drugs. The two men became popular by name within their community. (Y/F/N)(Y/L/N) and Lionel Luthor have become popular within a month of sales. It’s a given fact that college students love doing drugs whether it's smoking it up or shoving it through their nostrils. They both agree that they want to keep this business stable but their supplier was lacking on them. 

Lionel pitched an idea that they should drop out of college and use his remaining inheritance money to create a warehouse supply in Mexico. It was relatively cheap at the time to buy land and start work. The two men drop out of college and disappear to Mexico to start a booming life. 

It was fairly easy. They got connected with American sellers and hired a bunch of Mexicans for the work. They called themselves the Templar Cartel. Lionel kept track of supplies and how it gets delivered while your father kept track of making deals and where the money was flowing. They become rich in the same year. They threw their money almost everywhere and anyone who needed it. They became the untouchable heroes . They hired lots of men for protection and women for pleasure. Life was going good for them until the Mexican and American government wanted to shut them down. 

The governments were getting frustrated with the rise of overuse of drugs, violence, and gang related fights. At first they didn’t know why and how but they found out that drug lords were the problems. At first, tensions grew between the Templar Cartel and the Mexican government. On both sides, many have lost lives from their own members or family. 

Lionel and your father brainstormed a plan to ease off from the government. They paid off Mexican officials to do some of their dirty work and create two branches within the Templar Cartel to cover more ground. More drugs and money production to flow in. It was doing really well until the American government finally got involved. Their efforts of hunting down warehouses were impressive but very dangerous. 

Lionel and your father have finally decided to go their separate ways and made a verbal agreement with several witnesses to not harm either drug group and hope for the best from out running the police and the ignorant government officials who betrayed them. 

*** 

A year and half later 

Lionel had found the love of his life. Lillian. He met the woman who was vacationing at one of the most beautiful Mexican beaches. They hit off pretty well and manage to keep a healthy relationship to the point where Lillian agrees to marry the leader of the Luthor Cartel. It wasn’t long for them to produce an heir, Alexander Luthor. Also known as Lex Luthor. Lionel was very pleased that his first child is a son who he can bond with and teach the ways of the Luthor Cartel. 

By the time that Lex was 14 years old, he found out that his father cheated on Lillian with an Irish woman when he visited Ireland for a business trip. The trip was about making new deals to send out drugs for that area. Lionel made a drunken mistake and fucked a woman during his trip out there. Lillain was upset for a while but they were able to talk it out and kept the marriage strong. When Lena Luthor was born, she wasn’t living in the Luthor compound yet, until after turnt of events. 

Lena’s biological mother was purposely shot by a rival gang. The backstory was when Lionel was in a meeting that day. Lena and her mother went to a beach to enjoy the nice warm day. Lena’s mother went for a swim and Lena walked around the beach to collect seashells. 

On her mother’s final moments, Lena heard a loud gun shot being fired from afar and she saw a bullet go through her mother’s head. A clean shot. Members of the Luthor Cartel tried to chase down the sniper. One member retrieves little Lena to safety just in case the sniper were to shoot again. 

Little Lena did not cry nor scream at her mother’s death. She knew what was going on and all felt helplessness in her heart. Lionel and his men took less than a week to find out who murdered her mother. A phony small drug gang who tried to scare out the Luthor Cartel for crossing their Irish territory. Lionel sent out orders to kill all the members of the drug gang. 

Lillian and Lex accepted Lena warmly but did not get much attention as Lex. The soon to be rising leader of their family cartel. Lionel has been training the young man into becoming a successful and ruthless leader. Lionel would give some training to Lena too but he always thought it was best that she stayed in school and stray away from the family business. 

*** 

A tragic day happened within the Luthor Cartel. Lionel Luthor was finally shot down by the CIA. The Americans have caught up with the cartel leader and brutally shot the man in public. The news spread so quickly. Lillian sent out members to pull out Lena and Lex from school to make quick changes of leadership. 

Lex became the new cartel leader. Lillian went into hiding because the Americans were hunting her down as well. Lena had a choice to go into hiding too but she decided to stay with her brother to help lead. She was angered by her father’s death but she can’t believe she was experiencing the same helplessness she once felt for her dead mother. Lex wasn’t coping well either. His rage was concerning but no one dares to question him. 

Lex sent out plans on expanding and killing many of those who were in the way. Lena supported his ideas and thought it was necessary. The Luthor siblings were unstoppable until Lena had a change of heart. She witnessed her brother send out orders to kill an innocent man’s family just because that man had pissed off him. 

Lena tried to convince Lex to stop the execution. She failed. She saw that Lex’s men shot the man and woman in front of their children and then the children became the next target. Lena cried for them that day. She cried out for many other family members but she did nothing to help. She let her brother do it. 

Her brother created more problems for the Luthor Cartel. He has started a war with Los Reyes Alfa Cartel. Lena and Lex knew that the leader of that cartel was once close friends with their father. They knew the history of how this all started  but never saw the face of the leader. Lex didn’t care for the old connection and threw the known verbal agreement out of the window. Lex stole clients and killed members of Los Reyes Alfa. 

Lex was growing insane and became hungry for more power. He threw a proposal to his sister on how to gain more power and money by sending her off to marry a cartel leader from Africa, James Olsen of Los Caballeros Negros. Lena rejected. She refuses to be in a arranged marriage with an unknown man who was know to rape women and kill families of those who disobey them. 

This angered Lex. He slapped Lena across the face and said “how ungrateful of you to refuse such a great opportunity! We are trying to build a bigger empire! For our father! For us!” 

Lena didn’t cry. She glared at him. She was going to hit him back but his two close  men, Ben Lockwood and Morgan Edge, took her away and locked her in her room. A few hours later, Morgan came back with handcuffs in his hands. 

“Your brother told me you need some warming up to do.” The disgusting man rubbed his clothes cock and eyed Lena from head to toe. “He says that this might change your mind. Once I’m done with you, I’m sure you’ll change your mind about your brother’s proposal.” 

Lena panicked. The man is going to rape her. She’s still a virgin too. She wasn’t going to let this man take her pure form. She didn’t scream because she knows that won’t help. Morgan holds her down and rips her tight skirt. She felt the hard cock hit her thigh. She kicked and punched the man. 

“You bitch!” Morgan slaps Lena’s face and tries to hold her down again. He attempted to unzip his pants with one hand but Lena kicked again but this time in the right spot. The man groaned on the ground and held onto his manhood. The raven-haired woman picks up a heavy object and knocks him out with a single blow to the head. 

She grabs the combat knife and gun on his body and quickly packs a backpack full of essentials. She manages to get out of the Luthor compound and makes a run for it. She doesn't know where she’s going but she knows she can’t stay within the Luthor Cartel territories. Eventually, the woman who used to run the Luthor Cartel with her ruthless brother is now on the run. 

When Lex found out that she escaped, he sent out groups of people to hunt for the young Luthor. Little did he know, Lena ended up hiding in the Reyes Alfa grounds where her faith could be unpredictable.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Is It Really THAT Bad?

How many fucking times must I talk about this movie?

I feel like this movie doesn’t need an introduction. Everyone knows this film. Its reputation precedes it. It didn’t bomb and it’s not generally considered one of the worst films ever made (at least on the level of films like Robot Monster or The Cat in the Hat), but this movie is easily one of the most divisive films ever made. This film has generated enough arguments that, if we harnessed the energy of all the flame wars it has caused, we could probably power the entire world until the heat death of the universe.

With the impending release of Zach Snyder’s bloated redo of Justice League, I’ve decided to go back and ask myself of this film here… is it really that bad?

THE GOOD

Here comes the most uncontroversial opinion: the action scenes in this movie rock (or at least two of them do). The standouts are the titular showdown, which almost makes sitting through the rest of the movie worth it, and the epic warehouse fight Batman gets into, which is like something straight out of the Arkham games. It’s so good. And aside from that, a lot of the cinematography in the film is good. The film knows how to look good, though unfortunately it does end up being a lot of style with little substance.

On the subject of Batman, I think Ben Affleck is a great and inspired choice. I certainly think he’s worthy of standing alongside Batmans like Clooney and Keaton, easily embodying both the Dark Knight and Billionaire Playboy aspects fairly well, though the writing does not always handle him quite as well as it should (we’ll get to that soon enough). Henry Cavill, while still a rather dour Superman, is as good as ever as Superman, and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman was a great choice here, especially since she didn’t have control so that she could insert anti-Arab racism, like some DCEU movies.

Perhaps one of the movies most impressive feats is how, in an uncharacteristic moment of brevity, it manages to condense the backstory of Batman into the prologue, getting it out of the way and not making us sit through yet another Batman origin film. This is literally the only thing the movie has over the MCU; where that franchise just has the character Spider-Man inexplicably in existence without even a hint of his origins, they just get Batman’s tragic backstory out of the way so we can see him beating the crap out of people. If more superhero movies want to take this route and just condense the backstory into an opening montage like this, I’d be down for it.

THE BAD

I really could just say “most of the movie” but that’s such a cop out. Let’s actually look at the problems. Let’s work our way up through the things from least problematic to most, shall we?

The best place to start is what Zach Snyder did to Jimmy Olsen.

Jimmy Olsen is made into a CIA spook who is brutally killed early on, and yes, that was Jimmy Olsen. Snyder put him in to shock audiences with his senseless murder, and also because he felt the character had no place in his series. Does making Watchmen just turn people into joyless husks who like to horribly bastardize iconic characters? Jimmy Olsen is ultimately a small microcosm of the film, but he is the sum total of everything wring with the early DCEU. He is bleak, soulless, and shows a critical lack of understanding about the comics and why people enjoy them.

Now let’s move on to the more exciting problem to discuss: the villains. I don’t even think it’s worth wasting much time discussing what’s wrong with KGBeast. While it is kind of interesting they’d think to use the guy at all, the fact he never dons the costume and dies by the end of the film is unfathomably lame for a character named KGBeast.

Now, onto the main antagonist, and the most infamous part of the movie: Lex Luthor.

Lex Luthor is horribly, horribly miscast. Jesse Eisenberg is a great actor for sure, and he’s effective in movies like Now You See Me, The Social Network, and the Zombieland films. But here he is being asked to play one of the most diabolical cunning geniuses in comic book history, and rather than play him as such, he plays him like a cartoonish twit. This Lex is utterly unrecognizable as Superman’s greatest foe. Does anyone think Lex Luthor would send a jar of piss to someone as a joke before he blows them up? That’s more something the Joker would do on an off day. Lex is not cunning, not intimidating, and not diabolical in the slightest, and yet there are moments where Eisenberg’s acting chops shine through and Lex, for a moment, is almost engaging. Luthor really suffers the way Doctor Doom tends to in film adaptations: the filmmaker clearly doesn’t get why people like the villain, and decide to do some weird, unique take that will only cause to alienate fans.

But perhaps the worst of them all is Doomsday. Doomsday has exactly one claim to fame, and that’s killing Superman, so as soon as he shows up if you have even a passing awareness of the character you know how the movie is going to end, which robs the film of tension for its last battle. The fact he also appears with little buildup and doesn’t have any characterization doesn’t help; Doomsday is just the Big Gray CGI Blob that superhero movies try and pass off as a final boss for the heroes to fight. This has worked precisely once, in Iron Man. The Incredible Hulk and Venom did not make it work, and this film is nowhere close to being in the same ballpark as Venom.

By and far the biggest problem, though, is the movie’s incredible length and its very existence in the franchise at this point in time. This is an epic superhero crossover in which two of the biggest comic book characters of all time fight and then team up… And it is the second movie in a franchise. While they do a good job of establishing Batman rather quickly, Wonder Woman comes out of nowhere. And then at the end, Superman ‘dies.’ We have had one single movie prior to this to make a connection to the guy, and yet here he is getting a temporary comic book death with no buildup whatsoever that we know is going to be reversed sooner than later because the movie telegraphs this to us.

Imagine if, instead of building up the character over the course of a decade and putting him in all sorts of different stories, the MCU went right from Iron Man to Endgame. You go from a simpler, character-driven piece to a massive crossover where a hero dies right away, and it doesn’t give anyone time to care. Tony Stark had multiple films worth of characterization under his belt before they threw him in a crossover, let alone killed him, but Snyder expects you to give a damn about a Superman who just started his career in the previous movie of a franchise.

And the ass-numbing length of the movie is no justification. Even before the director’s cut came out this film was a slog, and the director’s cut really does nothing to earn its existence. All it does is add more runtime to an already tedious and bloated film, leading to the same exact ending and fixing none of the overarching narrative problems of the thing. The problem with any director’s cut is that ultimately the movie is still going to be Dawn of Justice, it’s still going to lead to extremely rushed character decisions, and it’s still going to be a mess. You’d have to redo half of the film to make this into a worthwhile and coherent narrative that’s actually worthy of being an entry in a superhero franchise.

And to top it all off, the movie spends far too much time foreshadowing for its own good. People criticized The Mummy for shoehorning in way too many shared universe elements right off the bat, and if that movie was bad for it, so is this one. The cameos from all the members of the Justice League, while striking, could be excised from the plot with little to no impact, and the Knightmare sequence is just excessive and weird.

Is It Really THAT Bad?

The answer to this question has never been harder.

On the one hand, this film does have some merit. There is some good casting choices, good cinematography, good action… But then, on the other hand, the film is overly long, pretentious, has poor writing and dialogue, mishandles everyone aside from Superman, and is just incredibly unpleasant.

This film is in many ways the exact problem Christopher Nolan created with his Dark Knight trilogy. Nolan, by grounding the fanciful characters of comic books into a realistic setting, created a climate in which someone could suck any sort of joy or meaning out of comics. The success of his films meant that people would see dark, gritty realism as preferable to joyous, colorful escapism, and the negative effects of his films, however good you find them, are still felt today even as filmmakers are finally shaking off the grit. Dawn of Justice is the zenith of Nolan’s style of superhero film. There is nothing fun, joyful, or engaging to be found here; it is simply the characters you know and love forced into dark, miserable scenarios that ends in death and misery. Where’s the fun? Where’s the color? Where’s the wonder, the excitement, where is any of it? This film paints a bleak and miserable and hopeless picture of a world of superheroes. It really makes me think of this rather famous comic panel:

I absolutely hate this movie, but not because I think it’s bad. I hate it because it has enough good ideas where it should be the best thing ever, but it really isn’t. It’s a miserable slog of a film that does nothing to justify or earn its massive runtime whatsoever. It really does belong somewhere between 5 and 6 on IMDB, because I can almost see why people like it, but it just isn’t even remotely close to being how good its fan say it is. This is not a good superhero movie, and this is not how we should want superhero movies to be. There is a market for serious superhero fare of course, and there’s no reason that these films can’t engage with mature themes or anything, don’t get me wrong. But this is absolutely not the way to do it.

[fairfowl]

Hot Chocolate and Liquor (I Need A Drink)

April 2nd 2019, the remaining Hargreeves tie up loose ends (Klaus-centric, no Sparrows)

this fic is also on AO3

-

They arrived on April 2nd 2019 to an empty tomb of a mansion, echoing and cold. By the staircase Grace had booted up and greeted them warmly, leading them down to the kitchen for a snack as though nothing had ever happened.

There was no sign of Pogo.

No sign of Reginald. 

No apocalypse.

After everything that they'd experienced the anticlimactic calm had been surreal. The six of them had followed their mother's measured footsteps down the halls of their childhood home, politely averting their eyes as Diego wiped tears away. 

Five had led, with Vanya close to him. Diego and Luther followed side by side, while Klaus trailed after Allison, his fingers ghosting over the sleeve of her dress as though he was afraid of getting lost. Allison bore her brother's clinginess well, eventually grabbing and holding his bony hand in hers as though it was the simplest thing in the world.

Both of them were shaking, but neither said a word.

Mom brewed hot chocolate uncannily quickly, and with more skill than Klaus had seen from professional chefs. Miraculously his flask had survived their battle and time travel, after pouring a hearty dose of the contents into his hot chocolate Klaus generously donated the rest to his siblings. Vanya, Allison, and Five accepted his offer—some more gratefully than others—while Luther and Diego declined. 

Instead Diego had turned to the counter and said something completely unprecedented.

"Mom, why don't you come sit down with us?" 

Their mother was widely considered to be unflappable. Klaus had seen her wrist deep in her childrens' guts, standing between knife wielding teenagers, and facing her own demise, all with the same demure expression on her face. But now she paused 

“Sure” She said finally, smiling, her blank processing expression turning to the familiar bright smile that she wore so often. “If it makes you kids happy.” 

It did.

She placed a plate of perfectly arranged cookies at the center of the table before sitting beside Diego,  her back straight, prim and proper, while the six of them silently drank their hot chocolate. It felt like a tiny little revolution. 

Allison had been the first to stand. Her graceful fingers had ghosted over her wedding ring as she explained. 

“I need to talk to Claire.” 

Five had nodded immediately, and the others followed suit. Klaus gave his sister a smile and two thumbs up before returning to his drink. He wondered idly if he would be able to summon Raymond, it was possible that he had died in the fifty-six years they’d travelled to be here. If he were alive he would be in his late eighties. Klaus hoped he’d had a good life, for Allison’t sake. 

As Allison left he switched the mug in his hands and grasped the hem of Vanya’s oversized shirt, rolling the stitches between his pointer and thumb hello.

Vanya looked at him, at first surprised and then soft, she said nothing but scooted closer. Across from him Diego met his eyes as Luther watched Allison go. Her heels made a quick anxious tap tap tap as she walked away.

“What are we going to do now?” Klaus broke the silence. “Now that it’s all over do we just go back to what we were doing before? Go our separate ways?” 

The remaining siblings shifted uncomfortably, glancing at each other. 

“I don’t really have anything to go back to.” Luther said, running a large finger over the table’s wooden surface. “The last four years I spent in this time were all wasted on another of Dad’s lies. It’s not like I can just go back up to the moon and do nothing.” 

Luthor’s expression was caught between a rueful smile and a grimace. The look on his face was all but alien to the rest of the siblings, who had rarely seen Luthor look anything but neutral, annoyed, or smug. Klaus wondered if the ability to move his face was something that he’d learned on the moon, or if he’d picked it up during his time as an underground boxer who worked for the mafia. 

And wasn’t that still surreal. 

“I don’t have anywhere to be either.” Five chimed in, staring at his hot chocolate as if it held all the secrets of time and space. He seemed shocked by the prospect. After decades of single minded survival, years of assassinations, and two weeks of mad running to stop the world from ending, it must have been outright bizarre to find himself with nothing else to do. 

“You could join me!” Klaus interjected, unwilling to let the mood sour without at least an attempt of a joke. He pointed at Five.  “I have a lovely little alley behind Dunkin Donuts that’s just lovely this time of year.” 

“Why didn’t you invite me to your alley?” Luthor’s face turned to a more familiar annoyed expression.

“You wouldn’t fit.” As he spoke Klaus jolted slightly as Vanya’s small hand shot out, wrapping around his wrist.

“You were living in an alley?” 

“Not really.” He rolled his eyes. “I didn’t really live anywhere Vanya. It’s just a nice alley.”

Vanya looked as though she doubted that. 

"I think I'm still first chair." She murmured, there was something heavy in her voice. Klaus wondered if she really even wanted the position. "But I also think I probably still killed Leonard." 

There was something matter of fact in her statement, a resignation to accompany the guilt. 

"That doesn't matter." Luther frowned. "He was evil."

If only it was that simple. 

"Were your fingerprints on any of those knives?" Diego asked, his expression thoughtful.

"No, but there should be some in the house …. And in his car." 

“Ours would be too then.” Diego said, drawing one of his knives and fiddling with it thoughtfully. “Allison, Five, and I all went to his house to look around.”

Klaus frowned, glancing about the room before he remembered that the presence that he was looking for wasn’t there. If Ben wasn’t around then he’d have to think for himself. Vanya’s hand was warm on his clammy skin. 

“Remember when we were kids, and Dad would send Ben into a room with all the bad guys so he could ‘take care of them’?” He used his free hand to make air quotes. “We kind of committed murder all the time and never faced consequences for it. Why should we now?”

It was a horrible thing to say, arrogant and callous and extremely typical for the Hargreeves family. His siblings nodded uneasily. The room felt colder.

“How did Dad make all of that go away?” Klaus continued. 

“He had a lot of connections.” Luther ventured, his mug dwarfed to the comparative size of a shot glass by his giant fingers. “Between him and Pogo they could just sort of make anything go away. I think he had connections with the government somehow.” 

“Do you think we could inherit any of those connections?” Vanya raised her head, pushing hair out of her face. She was so pale that her eyes seemed black against the whiteness of her skin, even in the warm light of the kitchen.  

“Maybe.” Luther looked at Diego as if he was expecting a challenge, but Diego simply whittled at the edge of the table, his expression conflicted. Klaus doubted that their tentative plan sat well with their brother’s zealous sense of justice, and he was grateful to Diego for the restraint that he had shown so far. After their time in the 1960s, his experiences in the psychiatric hospital, his failed attempt to save Kennedy, and whatever had happened with Lila—Klaus really was confused about what had gone on there—must have exhausted him. 

Either that or Mom’s presence had mellowed him out. 

Speaking of Mom.

“There’s a form in your father’s office that can be used to deal with casualties. Once filled out it can be submitted electronically to an anonymous government agent who then proceeds to clean up any loose ends.” Her smile was like the ones shown in toothpaste commercials. 

“Well fuck.” Five’s time stopping the apocalypse really had done nothing for his manners.

*-*-*-*-*-*

Really they hadn’t known if it would work—they still didn’t know for sure—but it was better than doing nothing. After they had brought her up to speed Allison had put it well.

“It’s a good first step.” 

So they crowded together in their deceased father’s office, their voices hushed as though they were still children under Reginald’s watchful eye. Above them the unmarred portrait loomed, unyielding and perpetually disdainful. 

“I wonder if he was ever happy.” Vanya murmured, looking up at the painting as Luthor opened the file cabinet. Allison perched against the desk her eyes on Klaus as Klaus in turn watched Vanya. 

“I doubt it.” Five responded coming up to stand beside their sister. “Whatever else he was, Reginald Hargreeves was a terminal malcontent.” 

It was a grim pronouncement for a man who had ultimately committed suicide, but certainly not untrue. The terminal malcontent and his seven little natural disasters, spinning out of control at every opportunity. 

Six.

Klaus wrapped his arms around himself, his right hand resting on his left shoulder Hello. Sky Soldiers. Hello Sky Soldiers. 

Luthor made a satisfied noise as he found the folder in question, drawing out the form and placing it on the ostentatious hardwood desk. At the door their mother watched silently, her default serene smile cemented to her face. Five took the paper, scanning it clinically as he held one of Reginald’s fountain pens in his hand. 

It looked expensive and Klaus wondered how he’d missed it during his first looting of the office. It had been only days ago technically speaking, but for Klaus nearly four years had passed. The siblings who had once been exactly the same age down to the hour were now staggered across a few years’ worth of experiences. 

Physically Klaus was the eldest, but mentally Five had half a decade of trauma over the rest of them. Sometimes Klaus caught his brother’s eyes and those decades seemed especially apparent. 

“We had forms very like this at the commission.” Five’s voice was high pitched and childish, but his intonation held the heaviness of his age. “The field agents use them to account for accidental collateral damage, it’s pretty standard paperwork. This one has a CIA stamp but otherwise it’s nearly word for word.”

For a moment the siblings were silent. The fabric of Allison’s dress slipped across her knees as she shifted, Diego leaned forward, peering over Five’s shoulder. 

“Creepy.” He pronounced, long hair falling down to brush his cheek. Klaus wondered if he was going to shave it all off again now that they were all back. “Did you have to do that a lot?” 

“No. I was never sloppy enough to need it.”

Klaus wanted a cigarette. He hadn’t smoked in three years, nothing, not even pot. After being spat out into 1960 he’d relied too much on Ben’s manifested abilities to get high, and after everything else cigarettes had hardly seemed worth it. Once Keechie had joined their group and started using charisma and psychobabble to push them all towards clean living Klaus had written nicotine off entirely to avoid losing control of the nebulous but extremely enthusiastic spiritual collective that had congregated around him. 

But the cult wasn’t there anymore.

Ben wasn’t there anymore.

He settled for biting his lip and mentally going over what he remembered of their father’s alcohol selection. At this point in life his memory was shot, but some things stuck out with obsessive clarity. He knew that there was top shelf vodka and gin behind the bar, scotch in the cabinet, ecstasy in his unicorn plushie, oxy in the infirmary, and a razor blade taped to the inside of the light fixture in the upstairs bathroom. 

He’d always had a good memory for escape routes, it was what had made him a good lookout in their childhood exploits. 

They filled out the paperwork in short order, and handed it to their mother to deliver. Even Five couldn't figure out who it would go to, but it was integrated into Grace’s programming and they collectively decided to trust her on this.

When they’d finished Allison hopped off the desk in a flurry of crinoline, her heels clicking against the hardwood floor. 

“I’m going to get changed.” She said fingering the material of her skirt. “And then I need a drink.” 

Klaus smiled

“Way ahead of you.” 

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

They congregated by the bar. Klaus had poured for Vanya first before measuring out a shot for Five and himself. Diego and Luther hung back, looking at the bottles of liquor warily. Luther’s experiences with alcohol were limited to the one night days before the apocalypse, and if he’d had any feelings about that night he had yet to share them. Diego on the other hand had enough experience to know that he was better off if he avoided drinking in excess.

And he wasn’t shy about sharing his opinions.

“Really Klaus?” He looked disappointed, judgemental but not angry. 

“I already fell off the wagon Di, I might as well.” Klaus took the shot, Five and Vanya followed as Allison entered the room.

Her hair was pulled back and her clothes were much more modern.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you wear a t-shirt in years.” Klaus commented as she sat down. Their sister had changed into light wash jeans and a mustard yellow top. It was a sharp contrast from her extremely fashionable bespoke hollywood wardrobe, and the gorgeous dresses that she’d worn during their time in the past. She looked nice and Klaus wondered if he should follow suit. Wearing black felt right but he was getting chilly. 

He took another shot instead.

Diego finally shrugged, sitting beside Klaus at the bar and motioning Luther to follow him. Behind the bar Five rummaged for a moment before popping back up with a  satisfied expression and a green bottle. He poured himself a generous amount before sliding the bottle towards Allison and Vanya. Klaus could smell the familiar pine-y scent of gin. 

He poured himself another finger of vodka before passing the bottle into Diego’s waiting hand. 

“We should make a toast.” He said, mostly to fill the silence. Even surrounded by his siblings he felt alone, bereft of Ben’s familiar presence. 

“To what?” Luther asked, looking to Klaus as though he were expecting an order. For a man who had been raised to believe that he was a leader Klaus realized that Luther was absolutely most comfortable when following directions; whether the trait was a result of nature or Reginald’s grooming he couldn’t tell. 

“To Ben.” Vanya piped up, firm and confident in a way that she would have never been before. Klaus nodded.

“To Ben.”

[randomsupergay]

Shape of My Heart

Inspired by: This post by @from-a-recklesswriter

A/N: The image below is how I imagined Kara being found in the tub, just without the background.

Other notes: AU. Angst with a happy ending.

TWs: Angst, death, murder

Kara and Lena had made up somewhat, and only after saving the world from Leviathan, Lex, did Ben Lockwood escape from prison and lace the air with Kryptonite again.

Nobody saw it coming, not even Lena Luthor. Superman had been lucky enough to get into a specialized room that contained two cells where Clark, Kara, and Jonathan would be safe. Unfortunately, Kara had been at home taking a relaxing bath when she suddenly couldn't breathe. She managed to grab her cellphone from the floor and call Alex before passing out.

It caused her to go into a coma and the sun lamps weren't helping, a day turned into weeks and weeks turned into months.

Eventually a year has gone by and Alex is the only one still holding onto hope strongly. She's been in here every day and had to be forced to get some sleep.

Maggie had shown up, completely worried, as well as Sam and Lucy.

Kara doesn't even realize she's in a coma at first until she hears Lena's voice. Talking to her at first, then reading a book.

Her heart has stopped once but that was because she hadn't been getting enough oxygen.

One day she could hear Lena's voice closer than usual. "It’s okay, Kara. you can let go now, I love you, i’ll always love you and i’m going to be fine. We’re all going to be fine. Rest now, my love.”

It was at that moment that her heart stopped beating, causing Alex to run into the room and panic trying to save her sister.

Begging and crying, clutching onto her as hard as she could. Lena had started crying, along with everyone else. Eliza had fallen to her knees at the sight of the heart moniter.

Alex had been crying for a half an hour when Maggie and Sam tried to pull her away.

"NO! NO! DON'T MAKE ME LEAVE HER! SHE'S NOT GONE!" It was a heartbreaking sight. J'onn was crying.

But then, as if a prayer was answered, a person in a protective armored suit appears and walks over to where Kara lay motionless, stuffing her hands full of decontaminated grass, and then covering a bed in it, moving Kara to lay on it. The person spoke and then watched, a bright golden glow appearing around the blonde.

Just as Lena started crying harder, the heart monitor beeps, causing everyone to hold a breath.

As Kara opens her eyes, an all too familiar voice is heard. "El Mayara."

"El Mayara." Kara responds.

Alex runs over to Kara and hugs her, an air purifier being set up in the room.

The armored individual turned to face Lena. "I know you poisoned the air with lead to stop a Daxamite invasion. I have something that will purify the air of Kryptonite, can you get it to work?"

"Of course I can." Lena says in a matter of fact voice.

It took a few hours, but when it was finished and turned on, Lena smiles and thanks the person that helped.

It was at this point the armor was removed and Lena was in shock.

"Hurt my niece again, and I'll kill you myself." It's firm and serious, leaving no room for being told to stop.

Non turns around and looks at Kara and Alex. "I didn't understand what you saw in this planet before, what made Astra change her mind...but I see it now." He tells Kara. He looks at Alex and clenches his fist. "I still haven't forgiven you for killing my wife. But it's a start, seeing as how much you care about my niece." Alex is a bit tense, but nods before thanking him.

Non offers a small smile before he starts to head for the door to leave the room.

"Uncle Non, where are you going?" Kara asks, looking at him.

"Don't worry, dear one. I still have one last battle to win, then I'll be back here." It's reassurance at it's finest.

Kara doesn't pry, but says okay. With that, Non left and found the person that dared to poison the air with Kryptonite.

Looming over the man's bed and looking at him with pure hatred, he does the one thing he vows to never do again unless absolutely necessary. He kills the person responsible. Making sure that he's dead before leaving the body and setting the building on fire.

"I brought back this ice cream you Humans talk about so much." Non says, holding five tubs of ice cream in his arms.

"Have you had pizza?" Kara asks.

"Pi what?"

"You have so much to learn, uncle Non."

"I have time to, dear one." A small smile before he's dragged away by Alex after setting the tubs of ice cream down. "You killed him didn't you?" Alex asks in a whisper. "I did." A confirmation. Kara doesn't have her superhearing back yet, but Maggie, Lucy, Lena, and J'onn all heard them, deciding that this one time, it was completely okay to kill someone.

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1298

Monday, January 27, 2020

 It's the Year of the Rat man. I hope it's a happy one for you and yours. I had the pleasure of spending time with the newest member of the Jee Gang toting baby Ashton around while he took in the happy chaos at our Chinese New Year gathering yesterday. His wonder at the world makes it a happier place.

 Conan Serpent War #4 - Jim Zub (writer) Ig Guara & Vanesa R. Del Rey (art) Frank D'Armata & Jean-Francois Beaulieu (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). This bizarre adventure teaming up Conan, Solomon Kane, Agnes and Moon Knight concludes with the demon Wyrm chopped up into fish food. This story won't matter to anyone other than fans of those four heroes but it sure was fun to read.

 Batman #87 - James Tynion IV (writer) Guillem March (art) Tomeu Morey (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). I'm happy Catwoman and Cheshire are in this story. I love how Guillem March draws women. There are a lot of players in Gotham City right now so please pay attention as the mystery unfolds.

 Once & Future #6 - Kieron Gillen (writer) Dan Mora (art) Tamra Bonvillain (colours) Ed Dukeshire (letters). That's two fantasy stories that ends with the death of a serpent. Must be a common theme this week. One of the bad guys gets away and the story of Duncan and his Granny will continue. I don't know if I'll read the next arc since this one didn't conclude very well. I felt that Zombie King Arthur was defeated too easily.

 Detective Comics #1019 - Peter J. Tomasi (writer) Scott Godlewski (art) David Baron (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). And so the winter solstice passes and the mystery of the Nordic cult ends. I'm glad this story about a creature from the nether regions was short.

 Atlantis Attacks #1 - Greg Pak (writer) Ario Anindito (art) Rachelle Rosenberg (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). I picked this off the rack to read because I wanted to see what Namor was up to these days. He's back being the angry ruler of Atlantis pissed off at the air breathers. This time he's mad at all of the Agents of Atlas. That Jimmy Woo sure hangs out with the weirdest heroes of the Marvel U. If you're a fan of all those Agents you'll want to add this 5-issue mini to your subscriptions.

 Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #2 - James Tynion IV (writer) Steve Epting & Javier Fernandez (art) Nick Filardi (colours) Travis Lanham (letters). Cool. It looks like Lex Luthor is going to be the one to save the world this time. I like who he's asking for help. I'll give you a hint: har.

 The Amazing Spider-Man #38 - Nick Spencer (writer) Iban Coello (art) Brian Reber (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Here's the latest twist to the life of Peter Parker: J. Jonah Jameson is helping Spider-Man now instead of vilifying the hero. Jonah is also working for a new media firm and the old fogey does not like what he sees. We're back to the Chameleon storyline where Peter and his spy sister Theresa are trying to get back all the S.H.I.E.L.D. tech that was stolen. All the dangling plot threads are starting to get annoying.

 Superman #19 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Ivan Reis (pencils) Joe Prado, Danny Miki, Julio Ferreira & Oclair Albert (inks) Alex Sinclair (colours) AndWorld Design (letters). I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop after Superman's big secret identity reveal. All of his Earthly super villains haven't taken advantage of the news so let's head out into space shall we? This is where Mongul attacks the new United Planets. The Superman versus Mongul fights have been epic and this new one won't disappoint.

 Fantastic Four #18 - Dan Slott (writer) Paco Medina, Francesco Manna & Carlos Magno (art) Erick Arciniega (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). Now I get the point of this "Point of Origin" story. When Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben launched all those years ago, the Overseer of the planet Spyre saw a threat to his perfect planet and shot cosmic rays at the ship to kill the FF. We know how that went off the rails. So now we have the Fantastic Four returning to Spyre and basically screwing up the whole planet like the Overseer foresaw. Hey, you don't mess with Destiny. I wonder why Reed is so pissed off in the next issue teaser.

 Batman Superman #6 - Joshua Williamson (writer) David Marquez (art) Alejandro Sanchez (colours) John J. Hill (letters). Well that was a whole lot of yakkity-yak. This issue takes place before Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #1. Batman and Superman find Wonder Woman to tell her the bad news that Donna Troy has been infected by the Batman Who Laughs. Then they continue to try and find a cure for the infected. The issue ends with a surprise appearance of two super villains making the next issue a "must read" for me.

 Marauders #6 - Gerry Duggan (writer) Matteo Lolli & Mario Del Pennino (art) Erick Arciniega & Federico Blee (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Kitty (call her Kate) saves the day but is sunk in the end. I've been ambivalent about reading this title of political intrigue and this issue made up my mind to bench this book. The subject matter is mature but the dialogue is juvenile so I'm outta here.

 Kill Lock #2 - Livio Ramondelli (story & art) Tom B. Long (letters). The search for the key to disable the Kill Lock continues. I care about the plight of these four condemned droids.

 The Old Guard: Force Multiplied #2 - Greg Rucka (writer) Leandro Fernandez (art) Daniela Miwa (colours) Jodi Wynne (letters). The team goes to rescue victims of human traffickers and get a surprise when they open the container. This book will blow you away.

 Guardians of the Galaxy #1 - Al Ewing (writer) Juann Cabal (art) Federico Blee (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Call him Racoon, Rocket Racoon. Rocket's gone from looking like road kill in the last story arc to quite the fashion plate in this new run. And his guns have gotten a lot smaller. The team is recovering from the Universal Church of Truth massacre but their respite is short lived. Zeus and his Greek gods have returned and they're all evil now. You can tell because they're dressed in black. Nova asks the Guardians for help but only Starlord, Rocket, Moondragon and Phyla-Vell/Captain Marvel join the fray. I like that Marvel Boy is back and when the mission goes FUBAR, a surprise ally makes an appearance. The art alone makes this worth picking up off the rack.

 Basketful of Heads #4 - Joe Hill (writer) Leomacs (art) Dave Stewart (colours) Deron Bennett (letters). Poor June, she keeps meeting up with bad men. You can't blame a girl for defending herself. Now there are two heads in the basket. Basket head number three just introduced himself. This is just too weirdly fun.

 Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula #1 - Frank Tieri (writer) Angel Unzueta (modern day art) Stefano Landini (flashback art) Rachelle Rosenberg (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). This is the last of the one-shots leading into the 5-issue Ravencroft mini. It's going to have lots of Marvel heroes and villains if this issue is any indication. In the first few pages alone we have Man Wolf, Misty Knight, Mr. Fantastic, the Falcon, Power Man and Iron fist and the Winter Soldier who introduces the flashback where Captain America fights with Dracula. When we return to the present, new inmates are being incarcerated into the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminal Insane. I could only identify Mr. Hyde but I didn't recognise the others. The consultant hired to work with these inmates was a surprise and may entice you to pick up Ravencroft #1 when it hits the racks on January 29. Imagine if the Joker were hired to work at Arkham Asylum.

 Wonder Woman #750 - I read all 9 stories in this $9.99 US anniversary issue to see where Princess Diana was at right now. Nothing much has changed since I stopped reading her book regularly so I won't be picking up #751. I've read other comic books aimed at young female readers, the Unstoppable Wasp is a good example, but this one doesn't spark a renewed interest in me to follow Wonder Woman's adventures.

 Birds of Prey 100-Page Giant #1 - Now this is more like it. There are 3 new stories and 3 reprints that I've not read before so it's a great value at $4.99 US. The core team of Batgirl, Black Canary and Huntress are joined by Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and Catwoman, all fabulous females ready for action. Almost makes me want to see the Birds of Prey movie that hits theatres Friday, February 7.

[abbatoirablaze]

The Understudies, Season 1, Chapter 5

Word Count:  1.7k

Warnings:  angst, mentions of death

“Don’t you get it, you big ape?” Five growled, glaring at Luthor, “that’s what I’ve been trying to do.  I’ve been trying to make sure it doesn’t end!  But you guy-”

“YOU PIECE OF SHIT!” Both brothers looked at Diego, who was charging into the room at Five.  But Luthor grabbed him and lifted him off the ground before he could reach him, “HEY.  Put me down!  GET YOUR APE HANDS OFF ME!”

“I can do this as long as it takes you to calm down!” Luthor pointed out as his brother tried to fight against him. 

Diego went limp, his rage quickly melting him into a puddle of self-loathing covered in leather, “fine!”

“No!” Luthor said quickly as he put Diego down and looked him in the eye, “you’re going to tell us what you’re talking about!  What’s going on, Diego?”

“Our brother’s been pretty busy since he got back!” Diego pointed out, “he was in the middle of that shootout at Griddy’s.  Then at Gimble Brothers after the guys in the masks attacked the academy…looking for him!”

“None of which is any of your concern!”

“It is now!” Diego hissed, pointing at number five, “they just killed my friend!”

Bri looked at him for a moment, her head popping up at the mention of Eudora.  Worry coursed through her veins as Diego nodded to confirm what he’d just said, “sh-she’s gone?”

“Looking for him!” Diego seethed, his dagger pointing at five.  Bri held her son a little bit closer to her chest and turned his head away from the arguing men.  Diego’s heart lurched in his own chest at the reminder of the first woman he’d loved and how she’d shared her love with his brother, “she went chasing after a lead I told her about and she’s gone now!”

“Who are they, five?” Luthor asked slowly.

“They work for my former employer,” five sighed, “A woman called the Handler…she sent them to stop me.  Then as soon as Diego’s friend got in the way…well…they’re fair game.”

“And now they’re my fair game,” Diego growled once again, “And I’m gonna see to it, that they pay!”

Diego stormed out and Bri looked between five and Luthor, and back to her son, “we-we should go! We-“

“Can help!” Benji said quickly, cutting his mom off, “Uncle Five, tell us what we need to do!”

“I’m afraid you can’t help, kid!” Five muttered, looking at his nephew.  His own heart ached at how much he looked like Ben, “your mom and you should get somewhere safe while w-“

“WE can help!”

“Benji…”

“Former employer?” Luthor asked, breaking the tension between Briana and Benji, “What is this really about, five?  And don’t give me any of this ‘it’s not any of your business, crap!”

“Well it’s a long story…”

“We’re leaving, Benji!”

“But mo-“

“Now!” she said firmly, shooting her son a look.  Benji frowned, still at his mother’s side, while five talked about how he was an assassin.  On her way out, she paused, seeing Diego still in the alley beside the house in the car.

“You should talk to him, mom…”

“It’s not that simple, Benji…”

“From what you always told me, dad would have been the kind of guy to encourage you making up with Uncle Diego…he never liked the idea of any of you arguing,” Benji said softly.  She sighed, knowing that he was right, as she looked at a very sad Diego.  She passed her phone to her son, “what’s this for?”

“Call your Aunt Allison and tell her to meet us on the coffee place on fifth.”

He nodded and instantly started dialing a number while she went down the alley; the gravel crunching softly beneath her feet.  When she reached the car, Diego had his head in his hands and was softly crying.

“Hey.”

His head shot up and he shot her a look, before quickly wiping the tears from his face, “what do you want?”

“I know Eudora meant a lot to you, Diego…”

He sniffled and looked at her, “you don’t know what she meant to me, Bri…”

“I know that you wanted to marry her...that you-“

His eyes narrowed as he glared at her, “what? How did you know that?  Were you stalking me or something?”

“No-no…I just…she found me…when you two first started dating,” she said quickly, “She-“

“She what?”

“When you were training at the police academy to become an officer with her…and you two were seeing each other, she looked me up…”

“Why would she do that?” he asked, confusion lacing his voice, “why haven’t you ever told me about this?”

“It-it’s not like we were on good terms, Diego,” she muttered, suddenly regretting her decision to check up on him as she looked back to her son, “I mean…after you cheated on me, I-“

“I didn’t mean to…”

“And after me and Ben got together…and then he died.  I just…I tried to put distance between us all!” she admitted, “the only ones I kept in touch with were Dot, Allison, and Luthor…”

“Yeah…I heard about you and Luthor,” he grumbled, a pain hitting his chest at the mention of how Bri and Luthor saw each other for a while after Ben passed, “caused a rift between you and Allison for a second…”

“She was married to Patrick…look…we’re getting too far off topic.  I just wanted to make sure that you were okay, Di-“

“I’m never okay, Bri,” he said quickly, cutting her off, “I haven’t been okay since you left me for Ben.  And then coming home and meeting him…he-“

“Don’t you dare pin any of this on Benji…you don’t know him.”

“You’re right!” he hissed, “I don’t know him…and I don’t want to.  Because that kid shouldn’t be Bens…he should be mine.”

“Mom!” Benji called from the top of the alley, holding out the phone, “Aunt Allison is calling back…she wants to know where we are!”

“You should go, Bri!” Diego muttered as he turned the car on, “wouldn’t want to hold you up from something important…”

Klaus pulled himself out of the water, gasping deeply as the oxygen rushed back into his lungs, and the sounds and sights that hid behind his eyelids faded.  A calm looking Dot watched him curiously as she sat on the edge of the tub, “I was wondering when you were going to come up for air.”

“It wasn’t a matter of wanting to, Dot…”

“You have PTSD…”

He shot her a look and leaned against the curved back of his tub, his arms draping themselves over, dripping red tinted water onto the marble beneath him.  She eyed it momentarily and then looked away, “I can sense it on you, you know…”

“What are you talking about?”

She smiled softly at him, the look turning sad when she took his hand, “you should get dressed, Klaus…we have a lot to talk about.  And this isn’t a discussion that will be a short one.”

“I don’t want to…”

“Come on,” she offered gently, taking her brother’s hand.  He sighed heavily and stood up, following her as she wrapped a towel around him, “it’ll be okay, Klaus.”

“It’s never okay,” he muttered, “I haven’t ever been alright.”

She nodded sadly and followed number four to his room, ignoring the bloody trail that he was leaving behind himself.  It wasn’t much longer when she heard the soft padding in the hallway, another frown perching itself on her face when she saw five in the doorway.  He looked to Klaus, “are you okay?”

“Yeah…long night.” He lied, looking between the two, “why is everyone asking me how I feel all of a sudden?”

Five looked at Dot, who shook his head, and suddenly five began examining him from a distance, “more than one from the look of it.”

“Yeah.”

Things began to click as five noticed the smaller details that were added to his brother that hadn’t been there yesterday, “don’t remember the dog tags.”

“Yeah…they belonged to a friend.”

“How about that new tattoo?”

Klaus lazily rubbed at his arm, and began to shrug it off, “yeah…you know, I don’t even totally remember getting it.  It was a long night.”

Five looked back at Dot and she bit her lip.

“You did it, didn’t you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know, I can recognize the symptoms, Klaus!”

“The two of you are crazy,” he muttered, shaking his head, “what symptoms?”

“The jet lag,” he pointed out, “the full body itch.  The headaches that feel like someone shoved a full box of cotton up into your nose and through your brain.”

Klaus stopped fiddling around and looked between Dot and Five.  If there were to be anyone in the house that would know what he’d been through and wouldn’t think he was crazy, it would be the two of them. 

“So, are you going to tell us about it?” he asked, gesturing to Dot and himself, “because we can both tell what’s going on.”

“Your pals,” Klaus began, nodding along, “when they broke into the house and they couldn’t find you, they took me hostage instead.  Five smiled, “and you took their briefcase!”

“Yeah…and I thought that there was money in it!” he admitted, “or that I could pawn it.  You know.  Whatever.  But then when I opened it…and the next thing I know…”

“Where?” Five asked.

“What he means is…when?” Dot corrected.

Klaus swallowed his anxiety, not able to look either of his siblings in the eyes, “what difference does it make?”

“What diff-“ Five asked, cutting himself off.  He shook his head, “better yet…how long were you gone?”

“Almost a year!”

“A year?” he asked, “do you know what this means?”

“Yeah,” Klaus scoffed, his scoff turning into a sarcastic chuckle as he tried to make a joke, “I’m ten months older now.”

“No Klaus, this isn’t any sort of joke!” Five admonished, “Hazel and Cha Cha will do whatever they can to get the briefcase back.  Where is it now?”

“Gone!” he sighed, “I destroyed it!”

“What the hell were you thinking?”

Dot stood up from her spot on Klaus’ bed and glared at five, “he didn’t know what he was doing, Five.”

“What do you care, anyways, you prick?”

“What do I care?” Five asked, “I needed it, you moron…so that I could get back.  So that I could start over!”

“FIVE!”

“Jus-“

“Where are you going?” Five growled, glaring at Klaus as he tried to excuse himself from the situation.

“Interrogations over…I’m tired of good cop, asshole teen!” Klaus said simply, leaving the room, “just leave me alone!”

Chapter 6

[bringbackwendellvaughn]

Castings I Liked

Marvel

I was gonna lead with January Jones as Emma Frost coz I am the biggest fan of that but then I remembered there was one casting that was even better than that.

JK Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson!

Nobody has ever brought a character alive as perfectly as JK Simmons did with Jonah. 

Chris Evans as Cap is fantastic.

Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart as Magneto and Xavier was genius.

Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool.

I’m not the biggest fan of Fassbender but I would say he’s really made the younger Magneto better than he seems on paper.

Most the X-Men in Apocalypse I liked and think it’s a shame the movie didn’t focus on them. Cyclops, Jean, Nightcrawler, Quicksilver, Psylocke - these are the characters the franchise should be building around. Not Jennifer Lawrence.

Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen Stacy was the best Black Cat casting ever! No, she was far and away the best thing in Spider-Man 3.

I love ASM 2 and think Andrew Garfield finally got Spidey right in it. Dane DeHaan was perfect as Harry Osborn, would’ve loved to see more of DeMatteis’ stories channeled with him. Felicity Jones as Felicia Hardy was great and her and Garfield looked picture perfect together and not getting to see her as Black Cat is an enormous shame.

Wesley Snipes as Blade goes without saying.

Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin.

I’ve saved her for last, but yeah, I think January Jones as Emma Frost was fantastic. January Jones is perfect for Emma. She looks the part perfectly and as an actress can definitely do Emma’s range. She can be vulnerable, she can be classy, she can be seductive, she can be sassy, she can be mean, she can be evil. Everyone says she was shit as Emma Frost but that’s not true. The writers wrote an abysmal Emma Frost with no depth who was just an evil henchwoman. How is it January Jones’ fault that the character wasn’t written well?

DC

Bale was fantastic as Batman and gave his all and couldn’t have been in better Batman films or better in the role - but for me it was always like he was the perfect Batman in all but his face. That’s not a diss, he was fantastic! And almost everyone else in the Nolan Batman films was superbly cast. Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Heath, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy. My only caveat is apparently Naomi Watts was in the running for Talia... she’d have definitely been better, imo. Oh, and I’m deliberately forgetting the entire character of Katie Holmes/Maggie Gyllenhal.

Then with the new DCEU - the best is Ben Affleck as Batman. Affleck immeediately improves upon my only negative for Bale’s Batman and I really look forward to seeing Affleck do more with Bats. Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Margot Robbie makes Harley Quinn better than she deserves, even Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang. I’m seemingly the only person who thinks Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor was fantastic too.

The Arrowverse... Caity Lotz as Black Canary is great. I stopped watching Arrow when they killed her off. They brought her back and gave her her own show but too little too late (plus they made her “White Canary”). I really like Stephen Amell, he is hot and watchable but I don’t know if he’s really good as Green Arrow at all. I think the guy who plays Flash is great but I feel he’s playing Wally West in all but name (which is good because Wally > Barry). I really liked Wentworth Miller from Prison Break as Captain Cold, I was surprised how much fun he brought to that role. But I stopped watching it all when Caity Lotz was killed off so I don’t know about Firestorm or Hawkman or Brandon Routh. None of Gotham are really good as the characters - some of them are good actors and good in it but none of them are good as who they’re meant to be, if that makes sense.

The only other DC one I think is worth mentioning is Jack Nicholson as Joker. That’s my Joker!

[rugbyquit5-blog]

SCOTT SNYDER Explains LEX LUTHOR's JUSTICE LEAGUE #7 Prisoner

Credit: Jim Cheung (DC Comics)

(Sort of) spoilers ahead for Justice League #7.

The conclusion to this week’s Justice League #7 revealed that Lex Luthor has been keeping the Batman Who Laughs in a dungeon beneath the Hall of Doom.

Well, technically the solicitation for this month's Justice League #8 (cover above) revealed it three months ago. But that's neither here nor there. 

Why would Lex Luthor need to speak with the Batman Who Laughs?

And how does this tie into the The Batman Who Laughs limited series that Scott Snyder and Jock are creating for six issues beginning in December?

Newsarama talked to Snyder to find out.

Credit: Jim Cheung/Mark Morales/Walden Wong/Tomeu Morey (DC Comics)

Newsarama: Scott, in this week’s Justice League issue from you and Jim Cheung, we saw the debut of Starman in the title, a surprise that you already explained. But there’s another surprise — it looks like Lex Luthor has the Batman Who Laughs chained up in his basement. Can you provide some insight into that moment we just saw at the end of Justice League #7?

Scott Snyder: Yeah, Lex has him chained up in, like, a three-level-down dungeon inside of the Hall of Doom. So the whole idea is that he’s locked him there with magic, with cosmic forces, with literal material forces, so he can’t get out.

Nrama: Why does Lex want him?

Snyder: Lex understands how key the Batman Who Laughs is to this whole story of the Multiverse, because he’s one of the few figures that, having been sort of a conqueror and the great supervillain of the Dark Multiverse, has seen many, many versions of how this whole thing could play out, given people’s worst fears and highest hopes.

So he’s an extremely powerful character to the story.

Nrama: OK, so how does this lead into the The Batman Who Laughs mini-series you’re doing with Jock?

Cover to December's The Batman Who Laughs #1

Credit: DC Entertainment

Snyder: What we’re going to do in The Batman Who Laughs in December is relatively self-standing, but if you want to know how he gets out and what sets up everything that’s going to happen in that series, it begins in Justice League #7.

Nrama: And we’ll find out more about Lex’s purposes for him, and how he contributes to the Justice League story, in future issues of Justice League?

Snyder: Yeah, right away. He’s actually the focus of Justice League #8, the “Legion of Doom” issue.

The issue really focuses on a conversation between him and Lex Luthor. It raises the stakes of the whole series tremendously.

Nrama: OK, so I’m trying to imagine this conversation and why it’s so important. I guess they’re both super-intelligent, though, right?

Snyder: Right. I mean, what I love about him … I mean, people think he’s kind of the Joker, but he’s not.

Nrama: He’s Bruce Wayne.

Snyder: Yeah, he’s Batman. He’s Bruce.

Credit: DC Entertainment

Some of my favorite lines from him are the reminders that he’s Bruce Wayne. There are some amazing lines from James [Tynion IV, who wrote Justice League #8] and in the Legion of Doom series that’s coming up.

So Lex says to him at one point, how do I do this? Why did I not win the way I thought I would win in that first battle with the Justice League?

And he says, “Well, do you remember back when you joined the Justice League, you came to the Batcave and you asked me how to win over everybody?”

Nrama: So the Batman Who Laughs has shared memories from the Bruce Wayne we know?

Snyder: Yeah, he has the same memories as Bruce, up to a certain point, up to Dark Nights: Metal. So he says, “Do you remember what I told you? And by the way, do you remember the little sandwiches that Alfred made us, with that pepper jam? I miss those so much.”

Nrama: OK, so that suddenly makes him a really interesting resource for Lex.

Snyder: Yeah, Batman is a character that looks at everybody from every angle, and he has this kind of analytical mind. Where Martian Manhunter, for example, is the most empathetic and thinks about how everybody’s feeling.

Batman sort of sees the strategy of how everyone’s going to act.

When you get a Batman Who Laughs — a Batman who’s completely evil, with no codes, no restrictions — all he thinks about all the time is how to win.

That joke about how Batman always wins? This is the way Batman always wins. He is the ultimate apex predator of the DCU. There’s nobody he hasn’t considered in some way or thought about eight ways or a hundred ways to bring them down.

So you can keep him in a cage, but even as you’ll see in that “Legion of Doom” issue, he’s like, “I’m in a cage because I want to be in a cage right now. You’ll never get the one-up on me.”

So I love him.

Nrama: So yeah, it’s as if he’s the Joker, but so much worse.

Snyder: Joker, to me, exists in relation to Batman — at least our version of him. He doesn’t really exist in relation to the DCU. He doesn’t think about Superman. He doesn’t really think about, you know, Aquaman.

But the Batman Who Laughs is like the “Tower of Babel” arc by Mark Waid writ exponentially larger.

This is Batman if he wasn’t just, like, how do I take you down in case you go bad? It’s like, how do I discover a hundred ways to take you down and enact all of them immediately?

So that’s why I love writing him, because there’s just nothing — he’s almost the most evil and most vicious and most predatory character you can imagine. There’s just nothing that’s too far for him, in terms of, you know, no one’s off limits, from Alfred to anybody for him.

Nrama: You keep packing these issues with surprises, and this week, you had two new concepts at the end. I mean, it’s like, “but wait! There’s more!”

Snyder: Yeah. We do slow it down in the next couple issues, to give people a minute to catch their breath, but then it goes even farther in the next arc or two.

Newsarama note: Courtesy DC, here's the solicitation for December's The Batman Who Laughs #1.

THE BATMAN WHO LAUGHS #1 written by SCOTT SNYDER art and cover by JOCK variant cover by BEN OLIVER “A Batman who laughs is a Batman who always wins.” Left rattled by the events of DARK NIGHTS: METAL, Bruce Wayne must come face to face with the nightmares spawned from the Dark Multiverse. But even though evil devoured evil in the collapse of Challengers Mountain, the Dark Knight still has his doubts. He discovers that the Batman Who Laughs not only survived the fight with The Joker at the end of METAL, but now he is enacting a sinister plan across the Multiverse—something both terrifying and oddly familiar. But when Bruce Wayne realizes the only way to stop this madman is to kill him, he must consider violating the very rule Batman won’t break…the same rule that created this insatiable villain—the Batman Who Laughs! ON SALE 12.12.18

Source: https://www.newsarama.com/41741-snyder-explains-lex-luthor-s-justice-league-7-prisoner-spoilers.html