#meta: marvel

[tarragonthedragon]

Cyclops gets such a rough deal man. imagine having brain damage that caused you to uncontrollably shoot laser blasts out of your eyeballs destroying everything in sight that you had to worry about literally 24/7 and also you had to supervise teenagers throwing cars at each other because your father figure and his ex are taking leftist infighting to the streets and also on top of that whenever you show any amount of concern over this situation people are like "jeez what a buzzkill. loosen up control freak. why can't you be all chill and cool like wolverine" meanwhile wolverine is having his amygdala forcibly removed by the us military for the third time this month

[mischievous-thunder]

Logan not only held onto the photograph after the fight until he fell asleep but also kept it with himself until what he thought was going to be his last conversation with Wade.

Just prior to going into the chamber to destroy the Time Ripper, Logan gave the photo back to Wade because the man didn't think that he'd make it. He wasn't someone who expressed their emotions too eloquently but in that moment his expressions and voice conveyed what his heart truly felt. Seeing Wade teared up and realising that that moment could be their very last together, Logan let the voice of his heart take over.

That was their declaration of love.

[artbyblastweave]

A while ago I made a post criticizing Overwatch for leaning into superheroic, noble imagery and branding despite the core gameplay loop consisting of around a dozen people who are canonically supposed to be on the same side throwing down for unclear reasons. This same criticism does not apply to the recently-announced Marvel Rivals, as a dozen Marvel superheroes fighting to the death for unclear reasons is more or less a one-to-one adaptation of the source material

[velvet4510]

If it weren’t for Billy creating the Road, Sharon would’ve died completely alone, never again having a taste of sisterhood or adventure.

If it weren’t for Billy creating the Road, Jen would never have unbound herself or regained her power.

If it weren’t for Billy creating the Road, Alice would never have known what her mother did for her or broken the curse, achieving what her ancestors could not.

If it weren’t for Billy creating the Road, Lilia would never have achieved closure within herself or understood her own purpose in life.

If it weren’t for Billy creating the Road, Agatha would never have learned to love a child again or realized that she could still be more than just a killer.

Every member of the coven, whether they physically survived in the end or not, was given something immeasurably valuable by Billy through his Hex of the Road.

He may have “killed” some of them.

But in truth, in one way or another, he saved all of them.

[incorrectbatfam]

Back when I worked at a restaurant, we would have this one DoorDash guy who had honest to God the worst timing ever. I never learned his name but he looked like a Mark and he had a special talent for showing up as something was happening. One time he came to pick up an order as the police were escorting someone from the bar for trying to assault the bartender and Mark was just standing in the middle of the entryway like🧍‍♂️asking about a burger that hadn't been started yet. Another time, he showed up as the kitchen was on fire and didn't understand why he couldn't pick up his order anyway even after my boss explained it to him three times. There was also the time he showed up and twenty seconds later, our POS system spontaneously imploded and our boss—the only person who could fix it—was out that day. Mark was an omen. Every time we saw his car pull up, there would be a collective sense of exhaustion mixed with dread.

Anyway, I think every piece of superhero media needs a civilian background character like Mark whose sole purpose is to get in the way and Fuck Shit Up by simply existing.

[reallyunluckyrunaway]

You have to earn that title damnit.

[thestarlightforge]

“Because the truth is too awful” could be taken so many different ways.

“Because it was simple. He was a boy, and sometimes, boys die. He went to sleep, kissed me goodnight and his mother needed him home. And I couldn’t save him.”

“Because he was the abomination. Not the Darkhold, not me. I got addicted to power and had succubus magic I couldn’t always control, but he was the one who couldn’t live without murder.”

“Because I kept killing after he was gone, when he didn’t need it anymore. I used his song to murder innocent witches, even though he died to stop the bloodshed.”

“Because I didn’t respect his choice, Rio’s job or her motherhood, and let him go. I kept killing in a desperate attempt to get him back—and blamed his mother, my love, for his death—even though he was always going to die, I always knew that, and his life was a miraculous gift.”

It’s all of these. It’s none. I love Jac Schaeffer for that, and so hope we get more chapters.

[logansgaar]

Bucky's blue color coding is one of my favorite consistencies with him, as well as how consistent red is with negativity for him.

His blue coat during the war always makes me smile?? Every chance Bucky gets he picks blue.

Blue was still a feminine color back then, it only really became considered masculine and pink a feminine color heading into the 50s. It's just interesting to me that Bucky consistently picks blue, his all blue suit to Sarah's funeral is the equivalent of wearing an all pink suit now.

Steve's costume was designed for him based off the flag and aside from one greyish-blue jacket after his mother's funeral, he mostly chooses to wear muted, warm tones like browns, yellows and reds like other men in CATFA, especially Howard who wears a lot of red during CATFA. In the modern era Steve does also wear a lot of blue, but that could just be because of modern influences idk.

Every time we see Bucky dressed in something he would've chosen for himself pre-war it's blue, and even post-Winter Soldier he mostly wears blue with only once wearing a red shirt (when he was in hiding in Romania, when he presumably didn't have the liberty of being picky.) I'd almost say Bucky associates red as a negative color... Arnim Zola's bow tie he would've no doubt been wearing while he experimented on Bucky, Red Skull, blood, the HYDRA symbol, the Red Room, the Winter Soldier notebook, the red star on his arm, the Iron Man suit, the wall in his apartment in Romania (and arguably his red shirt in Romania too, since he was on the run and then mind controlled wearing it.) To a MUCH less severe degree, his and Sam's hostility with each other follows Sam's whole run with the red Falcon suit. Also lmao the suit he asks the Wakandans for for Sam is a lot less red than Sam's comic book CA suit is, the wings for example. This part is a reach but it's still a funny coincidence.

[ironshieldchild]

they really have a habit of thinking about each other when the world is ending, huh.

[perseidlion]

Streaming in Kaos

Well, it happened. I can't say that I'm surprised that KAOS has been cancelled by Netflix. I am a little surprised at the speed at which it was axed. Only a month after it aired, and it's already gone.

That has me wondering if the decision to cancel was made before the show even aired. We have to remember that marketing is the biggest cost after production. If the Netflix brass looked at the show and either decided (through audience testing, AI stuff or just their own biases) that it wasn't going to be a Stranger Things-level hit, they probably chose at that moment to slash its marketing budget.

That meant there was pretty much no way that KAOS was ever going to hit the metrics Netflix required of it to get a season 2.

What makes me so angry about this (other than the survival of a show relying on peoples' biases or AI) is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you decide before a show is ever going to air that it won't be a success, then it probably won't be. If you rely on metrics and algorithms and AI to analyze art, you will never let something surprise you. You'll never let it grow. You'll never nurture the cult hits of the future or the next franchise.

Netflix desperately needs people behind the scenes that believe in stories and potential over metrics. Nothing except the same old predictable dreck is ever going to be allowed to survive if you don't believe in the stories you're telling.

The networks and streamers have a huge problem on their hands. They need big hits and to build the franchises of the future to sustain their current model (which is horribly broken.) But people have franchise fatigue and aren't showing up for known IPs like they used to. The fact that Marvel content is definitely not a sure thing anymore is a huge canary in the coal mine for franchise fatigue. People aren't just tired of Marvel, they're tired of the existing worlds both on the big screen and the small one. Audiences are hungry for something new.

It is telling that the most successful Marvel properties of the last few years have been the ones that do something different. Marvel is smart to finally pull out The X-Men because that is a breath of fresh air and something people are hungry to see more of.

There's pretty much no one behind the scenes (except for maybe AMC building The Immortal Universe) that is committing to really taking the time to build these new worlds. Marvel built the MCU by playing the long game. That paid dividends for a solid decade even if it's dropping off now. That empire was built not with nostalgia for existing IP (don't forget the MCU was built with B and C tier heroes) but with patience. Marvel itself seems to have forgotten this in recent years.

Aside from that, I think people really want stories that aren't connected to a billion other things. That takes commitment on the part of the audience to follow and to get attached to. People WANT three to five excellent seasons of a show that tells its own story and isn't leaving threads out there for a dozen spinoffs. We're craving tight storytelling.

KAOS could have been that. Dead Boy Detectives could have been that. So could Our Flag Means Death, Lockwood and Co, Shadow and Bone, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Willow, and a dozen other shows with great potential or were excellent out of the gate.

If you look at past metrics, you only learn what people used to like, not what they want now. People are notoriously bad about articulating what they want, but boy do they know it when they see it. Networks have to go back to having a dozen moderate successes instead of constantly churning through one-season shows that get axed and pissing off the people who did like it in a hamfisted attempt to stumble on the next big thing.

The networks desperately need to go back to believing in their shows. Instead, they keep cutting them off at the knees before they ever get a chance because some algorithm told them the numbers weren't there.

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

Reblog your own posts. Like all the time if you want.

This site isn't algorithmic sometimes if you miss it you just miss it.

But reblog your old fics and old pieces. Reblog your own funny text posts. It's not embarrassing and honestly if you're a content creator, I suggest you get into the habit of doing it every once in a while because if it's not on a master list I think there's whole posts your new followers will just never see

You work hard on stuff and the internet teaches us that content is only good for a week before it spoils and that's just not true.

[dandelionjack]

hey insane doctor who people. remember the snowman scene in the church on ruby road? there was no baby in the pram 👀 instead of a baby it was “shopping” . tags i left on a gifset then realised fuck it, it deserves its own post

gift-wrapped baby that’s not a baby. saved by the doctor from imminent mortal danger but the snowman was hollow on the inside too…

[mischievous-thunder]

Wade, during an argument: Now you sound like those boring unromantic people.

Logan, deadpanning: Says the one whose idea of flirting is to kidnap an unsuspecting drunk man at gunpoint from a bar.

Wade: YOU LEANED AGAINST MY GUN OMG YOU-

Logan, smirking: -Which further proves that I'm neither boring nor unromantic.

[devine-fem]

no because ya’ll don’t get it. you guys don’t even understand the fact that peter was an asshole before ben’s death, he wanted to make money out of being spiderman. that was literally his first instinct. to deadpool’s face he’s constantly trying to make himself hate him.

he’s projecting! he’s making himself dislike deadpool because he sees himself in deadpool. he sees the parts of himself he hates in deadpool. the part of him that would had ended up just like him.

its not about the fact that deadpool kills. almost all of peter’s hero friends have killed a bunch of people throughout their years, its the mercenary business he doesnt like specifically.

he dislikes the idea of trading a human life for money no matter how bad the person was. and on TOP of all this. peter acts abrasive in front of deadpool but then turns around and speaks to someone else, out of the company of deadpool and if that person says something mean about deadpool HE THEN ACTIVELY DEFENDS DEADPOOL!! hes so weird about that man. you guys don’t understand what these comics are telling you, you’re just so adamant on saying peter hates deadpool and it doesnt make sense for him to like him due to being a merc.

[velvet4510]

I could be way off here, but I feel like part of Agatha’s character arc might be to learn humbleness and accept that she cannot be the most powerful witch ever. She resents Wanda, and now Billy, because of their level of power. She sees it as completely unfair that Wanda’s son escaped death, when her own son did not. But the fact remains that Wanda and Billy are both long prophesized by Chthon. They are destined to be the greatest witches to ever live. Agatha needs to realize and accept that that isn’t her destiny, but that’s okay; she doesn’t need to have the most magic in the world in order to find some sort of internal peace and healing. Power or not, she is special in her own way. Out of all the witches in the world, Death gave her heart to her, Agatha, not the Scarlet Witch or Wiccan. That means a lot.