#macky's trauma is so fascinating to me

[fluffypotatey]

I missed the part where Shadow Play took place over a few days and Macky is so stupid for going “you again? You must be my biggest fan” like SIR. He is the ONLY person coming to comfort binge popcorn and cry at an empty theatre while you repeat the same hero and warrior story like how are not tired and like, is MK ok bc this is unhealthy copism inflicting that depressing af story he kept internalizing on himself by coming back here. What was the goal telling that story over to no audience anyways lmao, okay safe enough hobby, but the lack of reaction to MK mentioning the LBD but THEN saying something is coming 👀 “good to see there is some potential” the “you’re just a bit too much like him” for a revived guy who just had a trauma flashback he’s way too dang chill, but oh the genuine FEAR when not mayor shows up, I hear macaques (as in the animal) smile to show fear, matches his personality fine but sometimes that breaks too and oof, and noooo his lantern. That’s like his only belonging, I personally love lanterns culturally, so wahh hope he gets it back it’s like that one fic where he also loved it a bunch and didn’t know where to hide it bc he thought the others wouldn’t like him keeping it.

ok there is some great art made by @llumetesdellums that perfectly encapsulate Shadow Play because yeah, MK is literally just obsessively rewatching this play (mood) where he sees himself as swk's shadow and warrior and unable to keep up, and the play just enables it because it is told in favor of the Warrior, who feels scorned and neglected by the Hero. BUT ON THE OTHER HAND!!! you have the hilarity of MK coming to this show everyday, every hour, eery showing and Macky just....goes on with the show 💀💀💀

like, on one hand, yeah, Macky had set the production times and (in my opinion) is a monkey of the arts™️. like yes, sure, this play was made with ulterior motives, but who is he to say no to more showings 😂 like on a story standpoint, MK's crisis is very emotional and tugs at your heartstrings because we've all (maybe) have been in his position of feeling second best and not good enough. but when you place yourself as a third party or Macky, you just see a guy obsessively coming to a show that clearly affects him negatively and nobody is stopping him

it's so hilarious from that end but also i just love this episode so much. and YEAH macky playing off MK's attendance like that is like, bitch you can just end the charade, you have the power!!! 😂 my guy

and then when it comes to Macky's own emotional feelings, i personally always see him as someone who's "cool" persona is his shield. fake it til you make it! if they think you're unfazed then nobody will ask questions, which Macky actually doesn't want MK to ask question that pertain to the specifics of his relationship with swk.

literally every answer he gives MK boils down to "he hurt me, i'm mad about it and feel incredibly betrayed, so don't repeat history". personally i don't think Macky can talk about the specifics bc it is still raw to him. a memory like a shish kabobed eye is pretty visceral, ya know? talking about it means reliving it, and Macky would rather be annoying vague and negative than do that.

[agentxthirteen]

SAM WILSON aka The Falcon is a former U.S. Air Force pararescue jumper turned Avenger who was Steve Rogers’ right hand man. When Sam finds himself tangled in an international conflict that is more personal than he could have ever imagined, his only shot at overcoming this trial will be to team up with his least favorite 106-year-old: Bucky Barnes. Anthony Mackie, who returns as Sam/Falcon, welcomed the opportunity to dive deeper into the character. “I feel like with this series, we've been able to show you why Sam and Bucky are who they are and why they believe in what they believe,” he says. “You get to meet and get to know them as three-dimensional characters. You get to see them as people. It's funny because usually in a movie forum, you only have two hours to tell the beginning, middle and ending of a story. But we have six episodes to tell the entire scope of where these characters have been, how they feel about the world they're in, and where they're going once this series is over.”Upon returning from the Blip, Sam joins his sister Sarah in Louisiana in an effort to help save the family business. It’s complicated and he struggles. “Sam became a hero because of where he’s from—he saw that the world was not fair,” explains head writer Malcolm Spellman. “He ran off to save the world by joining the military. But he’s always worried if joining the military was really about running away from problems at home—they seemed so insurmountable, it'd be easier to save the world.”But it’s not the only thing on his mind. The future of the shield and the role Sam plays is not as clear as Steve Rogers anticipated. Says Spellman, “He truly believes that there’s an argument to be made that red, white and blue—stars and stripes—inherently represents oppression.”Adds Mackie, “Sam considers the shield a representation of the country that we live in. There's a lot of trepidation as far as how does a Black man represent a country that does not represent him?”

BUCKY BARNES was Steve Rogers’ best friend and a WWII veteran who was brainwashed by Hydra to become the Winter Soldier—a deadly and ruthless assassin who would stop at nothing to achieve his assigned mission. As revealed in the post-credit sequence of “Black Panther,” Bucky’s mind was healed by the Wakandans, and he later joins the Avengers to heroically battle and ultimately defeat Thanos. But now that Bucky has been thrust back into the real world, he must figure out how to become James Barnes again—all while facing the demons from his past. Sebastian Stan portrays the eternally troubled Bucky/Winter Soldier. “He is trying to embrace his new life—but he’s pretty lost and having an identity crisis again,” says Stan. “He's doing his best, finding his own path after Steve, after all those events. It feels like this is the first time he's finally free, so to speak, to look after himself. But it's not easy. “How does this character now function in the world?” continues Stan. “What's his life going back to Brooklyn? How is he meeting people? How is he interacting at coffee 5shops? Is he dating? Is he thinking about another career? Is he in therapy? There were all these questions about where we could take this character. There were a lot of fun and exciting things that came out of that exploration.”Co-executive producer Zoie Nagelhout adds that for the first time, Bucky is making a concerted effort to take charge of his life—and that includes making some difficult amends. “He is working to unburden himself from the trauma of being the Winter Soldier,” she says. “He believes that will get him closer to knowing what he wants.”Stan asserts, however, that Bucky’s past is there to stay. “Look, there's always going to be a darker side of this character, which I’ve always loved—it’s what makes him more interesting and complex,” he says. “I feel like that doesn’t go away. It's still there deep down. He's just learning how to deal with it a little bit better.”

JOHN WALKER is one of the highest-ranking soldiers in the U.S. military. He is patriotic, strong, good-intentioned, and every bit of him will be put to the test as he tries to team up with Sam and Bucky to protect the world from a new threat. Wyatt Russell was called on to portray the dedicated soldier. “We thought Wyatt was an interesting choice because a lot of his work before had him playing the slacker with long hair and a beard,” says executive producer Nate Moore. “But we found this unique energyin him that neither Sam Wilson nor Bucky Barnes has, and we felt that was important so that John Walker stood apart from these two characters.”But, says Russell, Walker’s journey is not without complication. “I gravitate towards characters who need to make difficult decisions,” he says. “His dichotomies are what attracted me to him, and I’ve been allowed the leeway to shape him a little because we’ve never met this character before.”

SHARON CARTER, a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who went on the run after breaking the Sokovia Accords, knows that if she stepped foot in the United States, she’d be arrested. But life underground has taken its toll on Sharon, who’s become somewhat jaded while fending for herself since the events of “Captain America: Civil War.” But heroism runs in her blood, and she finds herself tangled in Sam and Bucky’s global fight.Emily VanCamp, who returns to the MCU as Sharon Carter, says the character has changed since we last saw her. “Listen, when we find Sharon, she’s in a pretty dark place,” says VanCamp. “When we first see her, there’s a little bit of anger. She’s tougher, a little raw and rough around the edges—a totally different version of Sharon than what we’ve seen in the films. That’s really interesting to explore.”Adds Nagelhout, “We never really heard from Sharon after she put herself out there for Cap, Sam and Bucky, so we felt it was important to tell her story—to see what’s she’s been going through after throwing her career away to do what she felt was right. She’s that kind of person.”

ZEMO, the Sokovian special forces officer who targeted the Avengers after he lost his family in the battle of Sokovia, has been rotting in a German prison since we last saw him in “Captain America: Civil War.” But Zemo isabout to be reignited with a new ferocity. “I kind of fell in love with Zemo,” says director Kari Skogland. “He’s a man who’s struggling with this desire for revenge. But his story is a slippery slope of trying to make something right, but going about it all wrong. So, when we meet him, he’s paying for his crimes. He’s lost everything. He’s in a very sad place. I couldn’t help but feel a certain amount of sympathy for him.” DanielBrühl, whoreturns as Zemo, feels similarly about the character. “In ‘Civil War,’ I was fascinated by the fact that Zemo is a multi-layered villain,” he says. “He’s not just a sinister bad guy. But there was not that much time to explore different facets of him, so it was great to be given the opportunity to revisit this character.”