#natasha romanov meta

[its-all-a-little-bit-magical]

I love this conversation, and like all marvel moments that I love, it both hurts me and heals me in the same breath. In that second to last gif, where Natasha hesitates, right before she asks who Steve wants her to be, I feel like she's aware that she's taking a risk in making what is essentially an offer.

Hear me out: she wants to keep Steve on her side, especially right now when everything is going to shit. But, despite their time working together, Steve is pretty fricking guarded and she's still piecing together information on what kind of person he is and what he wants. Like she knows he's rejected every date she's tried to set him up with (is he gay? asexual? interested in someone specific? in hER maybe?) and now he's talking about how he wants someone with shared life experience (does being co-workers count?) and wanting to trust her (suspicious, why would he feel like he wants to trust her more than is required to do their job??) and when you put all that together, there is a version of that equation that comes out to "I don't want them; I want you".

As a woman who lost a hell of a lot of male friends during her youth because they wanted to be more than friends and I didn't want to (this isn't a flex, it made me very very miserable to find out time and again that people who said like 'of course we can still be friends even though you don't like like me' actually had zero interest in me platonically), there is a certain degree of tension and wariness that I have around men before I know what it is they want from me. I often feel like I have to be on guard until they let enough slip that I know they're safe to be friends with.

So maybe I'm projecting, idk, but to me that hesitation looks like she's braced for an answer she doesn't want to hear. Because she's asking what he wants from her in a moment where she needs him as an ally and I think in all honesty Natasha is trying to figure out how to secure him as one in this conversation. She knows he's here but she's not made that happen and I think Natasha needs to feel control over the situation in order to trust that things will keep being okay.

I think she's reached the point where she doesn't have time to guess about Steve's motives anymore (even though honestly I think he's been pretty clear with them, but to Natasha the frankness is probably quite alarming and I doubt she'd be able to see it without assuming there's something Under it) and she's decided she needs to know them, so she's straight asking but, to me, that question sounds less like 'who do you want me to be' and more like 'what do i need to give you to keep you around and on my side here?'.

Like, if Steve had turned around and come back with like a smoulder and an "I want you to be you" or some shit (idk i can't picture steve saying that but just [insert romantic proposal here] for the line), I think Natasha would have come back with some quip about how she thought he was never going to take the hint, and just ✨ gone along with it

I feel like she was bracing herself to have to give something up, to make this relationship a transaction she could understand.

and then Steve is just there like please can we just be bros

and i fucking love that for them. I really really do.

Well, there's a chance you might be in the wrong business, Rogers.

[hurtspideyparker]

I headcanon MCU Natasha as a lesbian and I don't like the meaningless male love interests they throw at her just because she's the only woman on the team. I love Bruce but they had no chemistry, and Steve and Tony were purely a flirt for the mission. (I'm not judging ships tho like whatever you want! I'm just talking about the films). 

I just love the concept of a powerful female assassin exploiting men's attraction to her as a weakness while being immune to it herself, as if her lesbianism is a strength and power of its own. She's beautiful and sexual not in a perverted way, but in the way she owns her body so completely in battle and romance. She has perfect control.

I also just really value her platonic friendships with her teammates. I wish there was more media where men and women were friends without having any past or future romantic feelings. Her and Clint being so close and strong together was special and an amazing beam of light all throughout The Avengers to Hawkeye, her great rhythm and trust with Steve, and the silly complicated relationship she has with Tony over the years.

[slightlycomicobsessed]

god this comic makes me ill. i feel like natasha and logan are so underrated when it comes to natasha's relationships. but also, look at her hair in the first page. it's short. that tells me this is before onslaught, and after she appears in miller's daredevil run. which means that this is about the time she's leader of the avengers. and yet she still carries around this guilt. she owes him. he saved her.

he... taught her.

god. i love this comic. i don't think i've said that enough. look at how happy she is. look at how proud logan looks. she may have been in the red room at the time, but she still took after his training. she still learned from him because he was real. he was one of the few things that was real...

god. within just the scope of this comic it's hard to understand the magnitude of what she just did. she lied to SHIELD. she jeopardized lives, jeopardized her position as the leader of avengers, felt the heavy, leading guilt knowing that she is sending agents -- people she might have known, cared about -- for logan. because logan saved her, and she will owe him forever. this is what i mean when i say natasha is loyal. she does not care, does not trust, but when she does, she is loyal to a fault. if she can help you, she will. even to her own detriment.

raised to be loyal to the motherland, and is now loyal to those she cares about. forever slaving over debts that she believes that she owes.

this comic just...

means a lot to me.

all panels/pages from Wolverine: Origins #9

[blade-liger-4ever]

The Problem with Mara Jade, and Why She Doesn't Work

A Mara Jade dissection? From me?

More likely than you think!

Now make no mistake, I know exactly what kind of fanatic waters I'm treading. After all, it's no secret that the Star Wars fandom simply adores anything that Mara does, and people have been clamoring for her "long awaited" return to the Star Wars Canon since she was cast off along with the rest of the crew when the Mouse took over Lucasfilm. However, I have had many thoughts in direct opposition to Mara's worshiping fans, and now that I've finally had enough of both Mara's escape from her actions and attitude, as well as having snapped after suffering the ignorance of those who praise her to the heavens, I'm at long last going to tear down this character and explain in detail not only why she makes no sense in universe, but why she should have never been introduced the way Zahn introduced her in his trilogy featuring Thrawn.

Buckle up, 'cause I am not holding back on the fandom's darling girl.

Problem One: She never suffers in her upbringing

It's explained by everyone in Legends and the fandom that Mara Jade was taken in from a young age to be the infamous "Emperor's Hand" and raised to kill his enemies without remorse and blindly follow his orders. They all say the training is rigorous, and that she was spared no shortage of training in combat, espionage, and whatnot, and I will admit, her skills prove it. But you know what the flaw with this logic is?

Mara is not once shown to have any trauma, pain, or even physical scars from the training.

Don't believe me? Just look at her trading cards which, for added benefit, had a professional "head-turning beauty" model pose for her. She's a shiny, pristine woman in those pictures with no sign of the abuse she logically would have suffered during her training.

"Blade, why are you harping on logic? This is Star Wars, where there are space wizards and jetpacks and intergalatic travel. Logic doesn't have a place here."

I keep "harping" on logic because for the suspension of disbelief to properly work, there needs to be logic for things to work in a story. Take Galen Marek, a fellow Legends character, for example. He was raised by Darth Vader to be a relentless, unstoppable assassin - and his body is covered with scars, and most importantly, it takes Galen two thirds of the game to break free of his loyalty to Vader and see that he's been nothing but a means to an end to his master. By contrast, Mara doesn't suffer nearly as much, nor does she even, truly, break out of Palpatine's hold, even in the globally praised Thrawn Trilogy.

Which brings me to Mara's next problem.

Problem two: She never truly rejects the Dark Side, or her role as the Emperor's Hand

Now before you jump on me, let me say this: I recall her killing Luke's clone and "freeing" herself of the final command Palpatine lodged into her brain. However, if given the option, I still believe Mara would have killed Luke simply because she had no real reason to not kill him.

Oh yes, she kept finding "convenient excuses" to keep him alive, but those are points of plot armor. Anyone else in her place - like fellow Emperor's Hand Shira Brie - wouldn't have hesitated to shoot Luke's head off, or stabbed him through the heart with a lightsaber. The only reasons she didn't were because Zahn wanted Luke to have an enemies-to-lovers dynamic, and the writing world has never recovered since he glamorized that trope. Furthermore, despite the fact that Mara has a conniption over being lied to and manipulated into thinking she was the only Emperor's Hand by Palpatine, she does not do so with a realization that she was doing the wrong things for the Emperor. No, she only sees that she was used as a means to an end, and her fury is not all that different from Maul's rage when we see the former Sith Apprentice again in The Clone Wars - which, logically, points to the fact that Mara had a thirst for power, something that Legends actually confirms.

Don't believe me? Pull up her Wookieepedia file. It explicitly states in her bio that in her early career, she pratically dreamed of killing Vader and taking his place as Palpatine's apprentice. It's even said she revels in the Dark Side and her mission as Palpatine's Hand. Furthermore, she does not even express remorse for her actions, or even attempts to make amends by sharing her knowledge of Imperial Intelligence with Republic Intelligence. Compare her to Black Widow: when Natasha Romanov switched her allegiances, not only did she reject her past and even her nationality, she joined SHIELD to atone for her actions.

What does Mara do? Get Anakin's lightsaber handed to her by his own son after she tried to kill him repeatedly, and simply departs to "find her own path."

No honey, you don't get a consolation prize for choosing practicality in that moment with Luke's clone, and you certainly don't get to traipse around the galaxy free of consequences of your actions without at least giving vital information to the Republic.

"Oh, but she'll suffer from the memory of what she's done, Blade!"

Really? There is no reason for that woman to have a conscience, and the fact that everyone tries to hammer that into me points me to the next issue.

Problem three: Mara Jade is given a conscience with no substantial basis for it

Allow me to bring to light the history of a former assassin I love dearly for what she suffered to explain Mara's struggle here: X23/Laura Kinney of Marvel fame.

Literally born into a branch of the Weapon X project, Laura's life revolved around nothing but training, emotional distance, cold-blooded torture, and killing on orders from the highest bidder - and she made her first targeted kill at age nine. Because of that, she emotionally shut herself down.

Why do I have no issue with Laura's response to her first kill? Because she had two people who went against the Facility's status quo and fed her scraps of kindness, warmth, and love.

And for that, Laura was mind-controlled into killing them both as "poetic justice".

The first one she had killed via a "trigger scent" that was engineered to send her into a blind rage was used on her teacher, Tanaka. When she awoke from it, she was horrified to find her "sensei" lying dead in a pool of blood, her own claws coated in his blood. After this, she was given Kimura as a trainer/handler, and the woman took every opportunity to abuse and torture her - all in the name of "making her strong". This, coupled with her mother having to back off on showing her love, made Laura suppress her emotions, and deal with them by cutting herself with her own claws. Her mother, Sarah Kinney, didn't realize until later that the scars (I cannot recall if they healed or not) were Laura's own doing and not Kimura's.

Laura was used by many to kill hundreds, and Sarah eventually gave up hope that there was a little girl left in the assassin.

That changed, however, when Laura found a young boy listed as a target on her assignment. She knew that if she left him alive, she'd be faced with more punishments, torture, and abuse. She knew that, and she must have been terrified for her life.

But Laura, having been shown compassion and love at different points, was able to see a bit of that same fear in the boy.

And despite knowing full well what was in store for her, Laura let. Him. Live.

Sarah orchestrated her and Laura's escape after this, and had Laura undertake one last mission to kill the personnel at the Facility and the new clones of Laura that were being grown. However, Laura's main abuser had a last laugh by getting some of the trigger scent on Sarah, and even though they were both free, Sarah paid with her life at Laura's hands.

To this day in the comics, Laura waking to see her dying mother and her claws sticky with her blood, is one of her most traumatic and devastating memories.

I bring this up, patient readers, to point out the severe flaw in Mara's creation. She was taken in at three years old to be raised in the heart of evil, and yet she's somehow the only Emperor's Hand to have a conscience. Three years old is not the proper age to have a total recall of what morality is, especially when you're being trained to kill with abandon and to not care about taking a life. More to the point, Laura had two people who gave her morals and humanity. Mara, by contrast, had no one: no nanny or diaper-changing droid was mentioned in order to credit where she got her moral compass from, which flies directly against Galen's turn from the Dark Side. Because even Galen had PROXY to thank for being remotely approachable at the beginning of The Force Unleashed. If you don't believe me, check out his Wookieepedia file; the droid is expressly stated to be the reason he has any compassion at all.

Mara has no reason for having a moral compass, and anyone who tells me otherwise should go dunk their head in a frigid cold lake.

Problem four: Mara has too much autonomy for a born and bred assassin

Remember what I was going on about with Laura? Beyond the surface of what I scratched, she never got a break or any rewards for a job well done. That is because no one viewed her as anything more than a tool to get things done. Among the underworld, she was a favorite weapon, but because of that favoritism, Laura was worked to the bone by people around her. When you're a tool, favorite or otherwise, you don't get breaks.

But according to the almighty Timothy Zahn and countless others in Star Wars, Mara got to take vacations because the Emperor favored her so much. And furthermore, she had such an advanced favoritism with him, and was such a spectacularly good agent, she could choose who to kill and who to hide from the Emperor without him being the wiser. Mara even had the nerve to think of and enjoy herself as a "law unto herself" while still being under Palpatine's thumb.

Bullcrap.

Fellow assassin Galen never had breaks, child assassin Laura Kinney never had breaks, international spy Natasha Romanov never had breaks. They never had breaks because they were TOOLS. Tools, in the eyes of their masters, are nothing but instruments to be used or thrown away as seen fit, regardless if said "tool" is a handheld object or an entire company of soldiers. Assassins have this even worse because they are people exclusively used for your personal gain. Giving Mara Jade breaks from her work is inane and breaks the logic of having an assassin turn over a new leaf. And the reason for that is because all the other examples I named worked their fannies off in order to make amends and actively choose to become better. Even though we got little with Galen atoning for his actions, he still tried his best.

Mara doesn't do anything to atone, apologize, or even make up for the things she did. She lived and died in Legends continuity as a selfish brat who got away with literal murder and never had anyone question why they had her there on their side when there was never a guarantee beyond Luke's out-of-character defense of her by saying she "no longer serves the Dark Side/the Emperor".

Luke, my guy, my childhood hero second only to Optimus Prime. You know better than this. Yes, you see the good in everyone, but there was never anything she did right for purely right reasons to have garnered that level of loyalty and devotion from you. She tried to kill you, wanted to take your father's place in Palpatine's grand scheme, and was frightfully close to killing you in the third movie of the Original Trilogy while laughing as you fell into the sarlacc pit. The fact that this all goes on, and no one in or out of universe makes her pay for her actions tells me she was just everyone's darling OC insert girlfriend for Luke, who they could do anything with, and people would and did accept it because they wanted Luke to have a "hot bad girl wife".

Luke is the pinnacle of goodness in Star Wars. A pinnacle of goodness deserves someone who is just as good for almost the exact same reasons as the pinnacle, but able to back him up in his saving endeavors while being a shoulder for him when there was one lost soul he couldn't save.

Mara Jade has none of that, and she never showed anyone that level of care and attention. And if she did, it did not make sense with all the crap she got away with.

Conclusion

Well, there's not much I suppose to conclude this. I expressed why Mara doesn't work in excruciating detail, and why she didn't work in the end. I will go out on a limb and say that my distaste for her is clear, as well as my opinion that she should not have won Luke's hand when he had many other love interests (look it up. Trust me, he had many girls eyeing him, and had many dates in Legends.)

I will, however, say this much: In my Star Wars Canon, Luke marries Alex Winger, the only girl in Star Wars who I feel matches his personality and needs well. Ben Skywalker will not exist in it, unless I make him the oldest or youngest of Luke and Alex's kids, which is entirely possible now that I consider that option. And it may surprise you, but I do intend to bring Mara into my stories - as a true villain, though she may get a redemption before dying in my own take.

Regarding any hate I receive for both my tear down of Mara and my changed plans for my own Star Wars Canon, I will tell you this: I am one person with these thoughts and feelings, so far as I can see, whereas the much adored Mara Jade has hundreds of appearances in old Star Wars media and various fanfictions. If you can't tolerate my dislike for Mara, then go suck your thumb while reading Legends books involving her. It's not worth either of our time to fight over that blasted female, and I've got too much on my table to bother wasting my free time arguing over her.

Good day, and may the Force be with you.

[found-family-tournament]

Found Family Tournament Round 1 Part 4 Group 18

Propaganda and further pictures under the cut

RTDL Quarted: Kirby ,Bandana dee ,Dedede ,Meta Knight

Avengers: Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, James Rhodes, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton, Wanda Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff, Thor, Loki

Submissions are still open!

RTDL Quarted:

They are just so <3. Dedede is the dad who knows what hes doing and Meta is the kinda bad infence dad whos trying his best. Kirby and Bandanna are the kids. i love them so much i cant put it into words :]

Avengers:

Ok I was debating on submitting them or not because canon dropped the ball so hard in so many ways. They have so much found family potential! Squandered! But then I decided to make my own rules and I say they all live in the tower and have movie nights and communicate openly and love each other. Fuck you Marvel.

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

sorry im not home right now im walking into spiderwebs

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/JluGxC2 by ditzybat With his infamous Parker luck, he managed to find himself in the one city where meta-humans (or enhanced) aren’t welcome, all because the local hero (Batman, is he a bat? Ridiculous name, at least Peter earned his name, he’s a humanoid-spider!) dislikes them. That’s probably some sort of racism… or abelism… okay, it’s an ism. At least Peter isn't running around in leather and bat ears like some sort of kinky furry. — Peter Parker traverses universes with a green haze clouding his vision and an infinity stone embedded in his very core, gets adopted by crime lord, stalked by birds of prey, aliens, and considered an enigma the bats can’t quite crack Words: 10677, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Batman - All Media Types, DCU Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Categories: Gen Characters: Peter Parker, Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Duke Thomas, Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain, Harry Osborn, Johnny Storm, Felicia Hardy, Bruce Wayne, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Loki (Marvel), Stephen Strange, Tony Stark Relationships: Peter Parker & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Natasha Romanov, Tim Drake & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Duke Thomas, Loki & Peter Parker, Cassandra Cain & Peter Parker, Harry Osborn & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Johnny Storm, Felicia Hardy & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Johnny Storm & Harry Osborn & Felicia Hardy, Minor or Background Relationship(s) Additional Tags: Dimension Travel, Soul Stone | Soul Gem (Marvel), Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Acts Like a Spider, Found Family, Crack Treated Seriously, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Spider Mom Natasha Romanoff, BAMF Peter Parker, Peter Parker and His Mini Harem, not really but you’ll see, cherry picking canon, Not Canon Compliant, Dick Grayson is Peter Parker's Biological Parent, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Past Peter Parker/Johnny Storm, Past Felicia Hardy/Peter Parker, Past Harry Osborn/Peter Parker, Romani Dick Grayson, Past Rape/Non-con, Dick Grayson and Richard Parker (Marvel) are the Same Person, Court of Owls, Dramatic Irony, Song: Spiderwebs (No Doubt) read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/JluGxC2

[ao3feed-drstrange]

Your Aspirations Belong to You

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/qepkV4S by DWriter Besides an advancements in technology, magical creatures, and magical girls, what is left to explore of this world? Meta! Or, rather, metamorphosis! A mutation that can give people a unique power! Midoriya and Shigeo are both working hard to become heroes themselves, but Shigeo has a meta while Miodriya does not. However, things take a turn and both boys find themselves in the biggest adventure at the world famous school, Academia! I swear to gods, if Deadpool 3 is bad, I am leaving Marvel. You're on thin ice! Spider-Man doesn't count. I know My Hero Academia is going to end. I left after season 4, so I don't mind coming back to it. Either way, Marvel, don't screw this up. Words: 1988, Chapters: 2/25, Language: English Series: Part 7 of Thank You Fandoms: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Teen Titans (Animated Series), モブサイコ100 | Mob Psycho 100, Marvel 616, X-Men - All Media Types Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/M, Gen, Other Characters: Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki, Todoroki Shouto, Uraraka Ochako, Stephen Strange, Kate Bishop, Peter Parker, Jean Grey, Peter Maximoff (X-Men Alternate Timeline Movies), Garfield Logan, Raven (Teen Titans), Koriand'r (DCU), Robin (DCU), Victor Stone, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Thor (Marvel), Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Clint Barton, Bruce Banner, Scott Lang, Hope Van Dyne, Loki (Marvel), Wanda Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff Relationships: Midoriya Izuku/Uraraka Ochako, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Maximoff (X-Men Alternate Timeline Movies)/Original Character Additional Tags: I am typing up every single superhero in the tags, but look at the notes, if you see someone you like, then stay, if not you can go read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/qepkV4S

[ao3feed-janefoster]

Worlds Apart

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/LsAhzyw

by Carry_On_Waywards

When an accident at her brother's lab sends her through time and space, Max ends up in the MCU (which just so happens to be her favorite franchise) and has to somehow figure out a way to get home. In the process of doing so, she experiences things that she never thought were possible and meets people she never imagined she'd ever get to meet.

Words: 1944, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M

Characters: Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Thor (Marvel), Loki (Marvel), Jane Foster (Marvel), Erik Selvig, Darcy Lewis, Nick Fury, Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, Other Character Tags to Be Added

Relationships: Loki (Marvel)/Original Female Character(s)

Additional Tags: Meta, Loki Needs a Hug (Marvel), Mind Manipulation, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Stark Industries (Marvel)

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/LsAhzyw

[ao3feed-thor]

Even an Infinite War has an eventual Endgame

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/9aWqxyk

by TheKidwBlueGlasses

"You're kidding me."

The accusation rang out in the heavy silence in the conference room. Tony stared hard at where Cap and the others were sitting at the opposite end of the room, their heads down, faces clouded, and metaphorical and literal tails between their legs in various degrees of shame and sorrow. Rogers' expression was the worst. The super soldier opened his mouth. "...I honestly wish I were, Tony." ---------------------------------

Happy Five Years everybody!!! :D

Words: 1258, Chapters: 1/23, Language: English

Series: Part 2 of Even an Infinite War has an Endgame...

Fandoms: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man (Movies), Thor (Movies)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: Multi

Characters: Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Thor (Marvel), Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Clint Barton, Bruce Banner, Original Female Character(s), Pietro Maximoff, Loki (Marvel), Peter Parker, Rocket Raccoon, Nebula (Marvel), Carol Danvers, Okoye (Marvel), Scott Lang, Cassie Lang, James "Rhodey" Rhodes, James "Bucky" Barnes, Peter Quill, Gamora (Marvel), Drax the Destroyer, Mantis (Marvel), Groot (Marvel), Uatu | The Watcher (Marvel), Thanos (Marvel), The Black Order (Marvel)

Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Avengers Team, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Thor, Steve Rogers & Avengers Team, Avengers Team & Thor, Avengers Team & Original Female Character(s), Clint Barton & Pietro Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff & Wanda Maximoff, Tony Stark & James "Rhodey" Rhodes, James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, Nebula & Tony Stark, Nebula & Rocket Raccoon, Loki & Thor (Marvel), Bruce Banner & Thor, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov

Additional Tags: Post-Movie: Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It of Sorts, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Self-Insert, Meta, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Religious Themes, Mythological Themes & Symbolism, parables, lol I was homeschooled, Morality, Food as a Metaphor for Love, acts of service, Artist Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Minor Character Death, Happy Ending, Possession, Mind Manipulation, Implied/Referenced Mind Control, Foreknowledge, Canon-Typical Violence

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/9aWqxyk

[ao3feed-stevesharon]

The Creative Connectivity

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/fS0tHGk

by agentx13

Steve does not like that movies are being made about his life, particularly when they put the people he cares about at risk.

Words: 4500, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Captain America (Comics), Captain America - All Media Types

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M

Characters: Sharon Carter (Marvel), Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Reed Richards, Rumiko Fujikawa

Relationships: Sharon Carter/Steve Rogers

Additional Tags: sharon carter month, comic characters react, Meta, ngl some of it will hurt, But It'll Be Okay

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/fS0tHGk

[slightlycomicobsessed]

I'd actually characterize Name Of The Rose and Deadly Origins more under number 1, though I did really enjoy them lol. You're definetely correct about No Strings Attached (i assume you're referring to the 2019 run, right?) but it is fun to see her kill that asshole, but it's definitely really dark. For BW 2020, I have to admit I am biased considering it is the first Natasha comic I ever read, but I do admit it's a very OOC comic that immediately gets reversed in her next appearances (the Murderworld Saga). I'd put it as number four just because of how drastically different she acts, and for the inclusion of stevie (that she did not need). I feel like there should've been a happy medium between the two. I would've loved a darker comic where natasha takes a victim under her wing, and upon learning what happened to them, vows to kill who hurt them. so it's a bit of a balancing act as she cares for this traumatized kid (idk i'm just a sucker for soft!nat) while also hunting down who hurt her. BW 2014 is one of the best natasha comics I think ever, it's very much the mold for any good natasha characterization. Homecoming is one I'd personally put under #3 just because it is one of those comics that drastically changed how natasha was characterized and viewed because it was one of her first official solo origin stories. It's a bit tired now because we have all of these other runs that keep rehashing the same issues but considering when it came out it is actually quite a breath of fresh air (especially when compared to THAT nat and yelena comic.... whic came out super close to it....)

as a veteran black widow enjoyer. i have been through the trenches to bring to you the ✨six types of natasha romanoff comics✨

number one - Angst™. She gets no joy in these comics, only being tortured by/regretting/trying to make up for her past. number two - wait, does she even get agency here- oh wait so she does but it's just to be saved by/be with her Heroic Boyfriend™ and then get treated like shit only for said Heroic Boyfriend™ to become shocked pikachu when she fucks off. number three - The Best Ones™. It takes her seriously and expands on her story, while also leaving space for the characters to breathe. These can be scattered across issues and runs, even ones where she's not the name on the solo. number four - what are these proportions. wait what did she just say?? oh my god this art is really good actually - wait what did she just do????? WHAT??? WHO APPROVED THIS??? WHO THOUGHT THAT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA??? (the ooc ones)

number five - cameo appearance probably. super sexy spy but you can never trust her hehe! let's ignore how she acts in canon and how many times she's saved the world because she was a Bad Guy™ once. these ones will probably have a lot of sexualization. number six - Being Underestimated™ (either by the narrative or by the characters in the story itself)

[brucenat]

let me tell you why this shot WRECKED me

I know exactly what this look is. This is someone who’s been stomped on, abused, thrown around, abused again, thrown away, got a taste of joy then had everything pulled out from under her. This is years of trauma and depression beating down on someone who’s trying everything they can to do what’s right and not give up.

This is a look I’ve had before. It’s the concoction of ugly actions and feelings, but it’s a concoction I can deal with. Natasha Romanoff, this woman so heroic in her strength, her resilience, the altruism she’s developed, feeling this? Natasha Romanoff, the heart of the Avengers--this group of rare individuals she’s slowly allowing past her fronts, past her barriers--feeling this?

That, I cannot deal with.

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

Clint Barton being one of the more competent/street-smart Avengers in the MCU (seriously, he’s shown more braincells than most of his teammates in just two episodes) makes a lot more sense when you consider:

1) He’s married. If he can balance his Avenger life with his married life, you just know he knows what he’s doing. 

2) He has three kids to deal with.

3) He has no powers, so he pretty much has no choice but to be one of the more competent/street-smart Avengers. He’d literally be dead by now if he didn’t share the Avengers’ braincells with Natasha. 

4) He didn’t grow up having a ton of money, so he still has that “farm boy, make do with what you got” mentality.

5) He’s a spy, so he’s trained to be able to work on his own in dangerous situations.

[ceterisparibus116]

Hi hello I am in love with your writing! I was wondering if you’d be willing to talk about your take on all of Matt’s ships? Love ‘em? Hate ‘em? Think they’re okay? Think they’d work long term? Think they’d sink fast? (Examples: Karen/Matt, Claire/Matt, Elektra/Matt, and even fan favs like Foggy/Matt, Frank/Matt, Nat/Matt, Jess/Matt, Maya/Matt) You don’t have to do all or even any, you can ignore me, I’m just interested in your personal opinion!

Aaaa, this is such a good question.

*disclaimer* these are just my opinions. Please don’t read if you aren’t prepared to read something potentially negative about your favorite ship. And please don’t start a ship war here. Art is subjective and we all find different meaning in it, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be.

Okay, so first off: I ship Matt with therapy. That’s the OTP. Next up would be Matt with either a puppy or a kitten. Pairing Matt with another person is great for drama but not necessarily good for him (or the other person) unless therapy is involved. And it’s probably even better with a puppy or kitten involved. So that’s my threshold answer.

Now I’ll go ship by ship. I’ll be analyzing these primarily in terms of how I think they function as a ship, with less of a focus on chemistry. Chemistry, to me, is way too subjective. Besides, I’ve seen it said somewhere that Charlie Cox could romance a lamp or something, and that’s 100% true. I think he has chemistry with everyone. Different kinds of chemistry, sure, but chemistry nonetheless. So that’s not a terribly useful metric for analysis. My focus in the analysis is largely on what the characters have in common, with a secondary focus on how they complement one another. As my parents (two psychologists) say, “opposites attract, but commonality stays together.” Especially commonality on certain issues like core values, worldview, etc. So with that in mind, let’s dive in!

I’ll start with Matt x Karen (aka Karedevil) because I think that’s the ship I’ve written the most for. My favorite thing about Karedevil in terms of writing it is that she, like Foggy, is more central to legal plotlines (which are obviously my faves) than characters like Claire, Frank, Elektra, etc. My second favorite thing is probably that their core values are so very close. I think Karen ultimately prioritizes Truth for Truth’s sake slightly above Helping People, whereas Matt prioritizes Helping People over Truth (which explains their different approaches to the Castle trial; she was most focused on figuring out what was going on, and he was most focused on helping Frank – and then on helping protect the city from the Hand). But both of them care about people broadly and without discrimination, and both are willing to lie down on the wire to save everyone from friends to strangers. So in many ways, they’re mirrors of each other. I also really like how the show committed to growing both of them through their relationship. Matt had more growing to do, but both of them needed to get better at communication and compromise, and both of them do get better. They also seem to genuinely have fun together—and I know some people think they didn’t have chemistry in Season 2, but I can’t get past the scene where they’re working on cross-examination questions in Matt’s apartment together. There are still lies and secrets hanging between them, but they’ve gotten past the first-date awkwardness by this point, and you see how they have so much fun problem-solving together. (And can I just say…as a lawyer, I desperately want someone I can trial prep with. So yeah, that scene has my heart.) Similarly, the scene where she whispers to Matt to strategize during the fight at the church in Season 3 shows how compatible they are, even though she can’t exactly fight alongside him. They’re similar, yet complementary.

Next up is probably the fandom’s most popular ship: Matt x Foggy (aka Mattfoggy). I love reading Mattfoggy fics, although I’ve only written one myself. Shipping Matt with Foggy tends to lead to more domesticity and fluff for Matt, which I 100% support, and that’s probably why Mattfoggy fics are more likely to be my comfort fics. And ultimately, that’s one of Foggy’s great strengths: he cares about people and is willing to put himself in danger, sure, but he also values comfort and security, and I think it’s really healthy for Matt to be exposed to that (and, at times, forced to accept it). I also love that Matt and Foggy are both lawyers. I have some lawyer friends who insist they’d never date another lawyer because they think they’d argue too much, but I personally would love to be with another lawyer (heyo single lawyers, hit me up…jk, jk) because: a) I wouldn’t have to explain as many of the things that I’m either worried or excited about, because the lawyer would already understand the concepts; and b) lawyers tend to enjoy having debates without getting their emotions involved. I love that Matt and Foggy could speak the same language, so to speak, and could use their logical reasoning skills to debate stupid, silly things for fun as well as important things to try to find common ground. Plus, the fact that they lived together for so many years (either college + law school or just law school; it’s unclear) shows that they genuinely enjoy each other’s company and get along well with the day-to-day stuff. All that said, my main gripe with Mattfoggy is that I’m still not sure Foggy actually understands how important Daredevil is to Matt. In Season 2, he showed that he still hasn’t understood everything Matt’s been saying since Nelson v. Murdock when he tried to insist that Matt and Daredevil haven’t always been the same person – which also is acting like he knows Matt better than Matt knows himself, which, y’know, yikes. Foggy redeemed himself a bit by bringing Matt the suit in Defenders, but that’s only after treating Daredevil like an addiction earlier in the season, and I’m pretty sure Foggy brought him the suit not because he approved of Daredevil but because he wanted Matt to be safe. Then in Season 3, Foggy’s priority is basically in bringing Matt back and, again, making sure Matt doesn’t hurt himself (e.g. by killing Fisk), but Season 3 doesn’t actually show Foggy acknowledging that Matt needs Daredevil. We don’t even see Foggy thank Matt for saving his life. (C’mon, writers. Did you deprive us of that scene on purpose???) So I’d love to see Season 4 Foggy really come to genuinely appreciate Daredevil (even while encouraging Matt to be more sensible about it), but until that happens, I think Foggy can never really understand and support all of who Matt is at his core. Then if that happens, the next issue will be compromising on how much injury/risk Matt can endure while Foggy takes responsibility for his own emotions. Yes, Matt needs to be more aware of how his choices affect those around him, but Foggy also needs to be mature enough to accept that Matt-as-Daredevil means Matt will get hurt and take risks. Foggy needs to figure out how to be okay with that rather than guilt-tripping Matt over it (e.g. “I’ve covered for you enough as it is” and “every time I come up those stairs, I’m afraid this is the day I find you dead in your living room” – those lines always upset me). If Matt and Foggy can get all that sorted, though, I think they could fall into the mutual trust, respect, and enjoyment that they had in their school years even with the complication of Daredevil.

Next up: Matt x Frank (aka Fratt), another popular ship. This one just – I’m sorry. No, not to me. Not in a romantic sense, anyway. They’re both hot, I’ll readily concede that, but their beliefs are so diametrically opposed on such a crucial issue—because, y’know, I think the value of human life is a pretty important issue. I don’t think they can work romantically until they come to the same page on that. Genuinely, by the way, not one of them just appeasing the other. However, if we assume they can get on the same page, then I think Fratt has a ton of potential. They can complement each other really well, and Frank will certainly call Matt out on his bad decisions, and I’m always hyped about Matt being paired with someone that Matt doesn’t feel he needs to protect. Matt will be protective, because that’s just who he is, but he can reasonably trust Frank to not die even if Frank goes after someone dangerous. The same just can’t be said of Foggy or even Karen (since having one gun and being a decent shot is nothing compared to what Frank has been shown to be capable of).

And that, of course, brings me to Matt x Elektra (aka Mattelektra). Aw, these two. Chaos. I kinda love how she can bring out Matt’s playful side and get him to loosen up; she’s similar to Foggy in that way, except even more mischievous. I love imagining them crashing, like, fancy politician parties and wreaking havoc, or engaging in wild malicious compliance sorta stuff to oppose bad laws. But in most ways, she’s similar to Frank, and I think the same is true of her as of him: she and Matt won’t work long-term until they get on the same page with the value of human life (except that’s an even bigger problem for them, because Frank respected Matt’s convictions insofar as he didn’t want Matt to change, whereas Elektra actively tried to push Matt into violating his own convictions), but if they agree there (willingly—neither of them pushing the other to conform to their own view of morality, because yeah, Matt’s guilty of that too), they have a lot of potential. And it’s awesome that they have such a similar upbringing because they can automatically understand each other so much better given that both of them were trained by Stick. That said, I have one other major issue with Mattelektra: the way that she shows so little respect for the other parts of Matt’s life. Now, she redeemed herself a little in trying to help the Castle case (I don’t believe she knew it would backfire), but she still expresses so much disdain for his legal profession and his friends. Their relationship can’t be healthy if she refuses to see Matt for all that he is.

We’ve also got Matt x Natasha (aka Mattasha, I think?) which I love. Nat can handle herself in a fight like Frank and Elektra, but her view of morality is much more similar to Matt’s. She seems okay with killing people if she thinks it’s the only way to protect others, but she isn’t as calloused about killing as Frank, and not as gleeful about killing as Elektra. At the same time, they can both appreciate losing their childhoods and being trained as child soldiers. Also, listen – they can spar, and it’s gorgeous. Their fighting styles are almost identical (check out these analyses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COFN_AMwLP4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpOYbAEWb5E). I love it so much. I think Nat would appreciate settling down in Hell’s Kitchen and having a quieter life while still being able to help people when she goes out at night, and if she decided to work adjacent to Matt’s legal work, her experience as a spy would be a huge help. If she wanted to go another route, though, I’m sure Matt would support whatever calling she wants to pursue. Yeah, I’d love to see them heal together.

Anyway. Circling back to the Netflix shows, there’s also Matt x Claire (aka Clairedevil). I love how they have the core value of Help People At All Costs (he risking himself, she continually risking/losing her job), and I appreciate that Claire has, like, a normal job and isn’t just off in Vigilante World (because tbh I think if Matt’s partner is primarily a vigilante, that makes it way easier for him to segregate his life, and we all know how well that works out). I was so sad when Clairedevil wasn’t canon, but I was also proud of Claire for drawing lines. I just wish she’d communicated more clearly so she and Matt could’ve negotiated and found more common ground. See, I think the thing that really freaked her out was the fact that in S1, Matt said he was willing to do “whatever it takes.” That’s what led to their breakup, so to speak. And what kills me is, Matt won’t do “whatever it takes” since he won’t kill! *sigh* Anyway, if we assume that they reach agreement on how far Matt should go as Daredevil, they still need to work on communication styles. It kinda bothers me how bitingly sarcastic Claire can get at Matt, basically calling him an idiot and a disaster all the time. It’s unkind, and besides, it’s totally ineffective (since Matt never goes “Huh, you’re right, I’m totally being an idiot here”). Claire needs to be gentler with her words and express more appreciation for the ways Matt’s helping people, like she did in the first episodes of S1, and then I think Matt would be more likely to follow her advice instead of shutting her out. If they get that sorted, I think they’d be unstoppable. (Also, I said I wasn’t gonna talk about chemistry, but if I have to choose a ship based on chemistry, it would 100% be Clairedevil.)

Another popular Netflix ship: Matt x Jessica (aka Mess, appropriately). Aaaa, I love these two. One thing I really appreciate about this ship is that it usually involves Matt focused on helping the other party (which actually is another thing Mattelektra has in its favor, in my book), rather than the other person doing everything to help Matt. Matt demonstrates that he respects Jessica’s life, her privacy, and her agency, and he’ll basically punch anyone who says otherwise. The fact that he already knows about Kilgrave gives him additional understanding of why she is the way that she is, and I’m sure gives him even more respect for her. In the meantime, she’s great at punching through his broodiness and making him laugh. I mean, he laughs more with her in Defenders (when he’s at one of his bleakest points) in, like, a few days than he does with pretty much any character. They also have similar core values deep down, and I’d love to see Matt coax Jess into outwardly caring about people more, while she gets him to be a little less reckless.

Maya x Matt: somehow I’ve never actually read the comics with them together, and the age gap in their actors throws me a little. Theoretically, though, I can see how they could work. They have the martial arts in common, which I love; they’ve also both been hurt by Fisk. Also, to the extent that Maya becomes a hero, I think she’d be more of a street-level hero, which I believe is very important to Matt since he values Hell’s Kitchen so deeply. But I don’t have enough of a sense of Maya’s personality to know whether she and Matt would really be aligned in their values or anything.

Another incredibly obscure pairing is Matt x Malcolm Bright from the Prodigal Son show. Last I checked, I think I’m the only person who’s written that ship, lol. Let’s just say they also have a lot in common and I think they really inspire each other to be better people.

But y’all can’t be sleeping on the best ship ever: Matt x Kirsten. If you don’t know Kirsten, that’s probably because she currently only exists in the comics. (Which is such a shame, because she’s that good.) Kirsten is another lawyer, so she and Matt already have that in common. She also figures out pretty quickly that he’s Daredevil, but he refuses to admit it, and it becomes something of an adorable inside joke for them. When they finally do get together, she does an amazing job calling him on some of his issues and teasing him while still being supportive. He adores her, but doesn’t seem to put her on a pedestal the way he does with many other characters, and she adores him back. They’re both determined to help people, and at the same time, they just have fun together. It’s adorable and healthy and I love it.

Okay, so those are all the main fics I can think of atm (and some small ones too). If anyone else wants my opinion on any other fics, feel free to shoot an ask about it! Also please feel free to share your thoughts in replies and reblogs, as long as we all stay respectful of each other's opinions. Again, art is subjective, so it's not about arguing. Just discussing characters we all love. <3

Oh, and check out my fics (I have fics for Karedevil, Mattasha, Clairedevil, Mess, and Matt x Malcolm) if you wanna see how these opinions of mine are fleshed out in stories.

[geenawrites]

'Black Widow' and undermining Dramatic Intent (II)

[PART ONE]

The 'Civil War' Effect

4): Elements that could’ve made Black Widow Natasha's personal journey are reduced to quick conversational bites told to Natasha instead of experienced by Natasha and the audience first hand.

The film could've built the story around her family selling her off to the government (on some eugenics mess). It could've set the stage for the subplot regarding her mother’s search for her until she was murdered, and Natasha trying to learn about her past pre-assassin.

For all the moments where we simply see her on her own, a lot of that alone time isn't used to explore how she feels, what she's thinking, or a personal throughline. It's just a montage of her looking gloomy and wearing comfy sweatshirts.

The only time Natasha truly feels like she is the emotional center of the movie is the opening act of the film. There, she’s portrayed by Ever (Gabo) Anderson and not Scarlett Johansson.

And as a film touted-as a vehicle for Johansson, that is bad. But also underlines why Florence Pugh’s Yelena was considered the real protagonist of the movie.

Black Widow could've been about Natasha wanting to reclaim her past from the Red Room (her abductors) because she reunites with her sister and parents (her surrogate family), and needed to finally deal with the consequences of killing Antonia (her ghost).

Instead, Black Widow is really Yelena’s story and emotional journey. Yelena justifies the presence of Alexei and Melina more-so than anything in Natasha’s history. As centered as Natasha was in the prologue, it works more as a establishing point for Yelena versus something like Natasha’s lost family or working with Clint Barton in Budapest.

Yelena being tasked to save the Widows (by the elder Widow who created the mind control cure), killing Dreykov, and destroying the Red Room are immediate issues that directly impact her arc and development as a character. Natasha is largely along for the ride, bringing Yelena where she needs to be in each act.

Natasha isn't as centered in her own her film as she should be. Simply compare the structure of her story to the structure in the Captain America (x2), Ant Man (x2), Thor (x3), and Iron Man (x3) films, and how those narratives focus on Steve Rogers, Scott Lang, Thor Odinson, and Tony Stark. Those films are about their emotional journeys while maintaining a healthy supporting cast that don't overshadow them.

Black Widow in comparison feels more like Captain America: Civil War, which is more of an Avengers film than it is a Captain America story. The emotional center of Civil War is Tony Stark and Zemo. Steve and his cast are simply underpinning Stark and Zemo's arcs. It also tries to introduce a new character (Black Panther) with the exact same story beat (revenge) as Stark and Zemo, and a MCU-wide subplot (Sakovia Accords) that ultimately goes nowhere later on.

The consequences of Civil War "Avengering" a solo film are on display in Black Widow in a big way. It's introducing new characters, and trying to tackle a trilogy's worth of storylines (the Red Room, Budapest, the Widow family, Civil War-fallout).

She doesn't even get a decent postmortem send off. The post credits, wherein Yelena mourns Natasha, is turned into a comedic skit and a teaser for the Hawkeye series. It's not allowed to remain a moment of mourning between two sisters separated by literal death.

As an Executive Producer of the film, I know this was not lost on Johansson. She might be an awful person, but she doesn’t strike me as someone so unaware of her environment that she set the stage to be undermined by her co-star. No, I think, given the timing, Johansson knew this was always going to be about setting up her successor.

Wrong Time, Wrong Place

Choosing to set Black Widow after Civil War was just a poor choice on Marvel’s part. Natasha circa 2016 has more or less come-to-terms with her history as a state-sponsored assassin for both Russia and the United States. Her arc as seen throughout the Avengers and Captain America films has come full circle following the events of The Winter Soldier. Now all she has left going forward is the arc dealing with Thanos' genocide and resurrecting everyone.

There is nothing to mine in terms of personal character drama because, at this point, she has laid it all to rest. It's nothing that torments her akin to Bucky trying to square away with his past as an amnesiac assassin.

All of Natasha’s threads are focused on the break-up of the Avengers. At first, seemed like her arc was going to be about not falling back into bad habits (being mistrustful of everyone). That it was going to deal with how she felt let down by the team (after trying to be the reasonable party among everyone), but the film doesn't really commit.

After that one conversation in Budapest, "getting the Avengers back together" isn't even a focal point. We just get awkward callbacks that tell the audience that Natasha isn't on the same level as Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor.

Yelena forgiving her family is used to tack on the sudden parallel idea that Natasha has been convinced she can personally bring the Avengers together again as a surrogate family once things work with her Widow Family.

Again, even in her own film, Natasha is playing the sacrificial matriarch of a Boy’s Club (whose event films she features only as a supporting character. Something I think people are only just realizing). That says to me the MCU never valued her beyond her ties to the male Avenger cast.

”You’re such a mom!” becomes a lot less funny in that context.

If this film was immediately set after The Winter Soldier or even Age of Ultron, wherein all of her history and SHIELD’s was leaked for public record, then there might’ve been a chance for an emotionally resonant story arc.

How would a Natasha scrambling to create new covers, and new ways to protect herself, deal with the sudden public attention of the world knowing that she was a foreign assassin that bought her way into the United States and became a celebrity superhero? How would a post-Winter Soldier solo film deal with Natasha’s past in way that she didn't become overshadowed by her own supporting cast?

How would a post-Age of Ultron solo film handle her past as informed by her nightmare (which stuck closer to her history as a trained dancer in the comics) on top of the events of The Winter Soldier?

But even as a post-Civil War narrative, Black Widow should've really cared to explore how Natasha felt about having to revisit her history with the Red Room, on top of being betrayed by Alexei and Melina. Instead of giving all those emotional beats to Yelena, actually show us Natasha confronting them beyond “it wasn’t real!”

How would the story turn out if parent with the biggest hand in the facilitation of her abuse (Alexei) wasn't turned into a flat comic relief character? What if he actually got chance to really consider her grievances, show remorse for his actions, without being turned into a “ha, ha, he’s do dumb (and fat)!” punchline (after setting him up as the total opposite in the prologue)?

Melina could've been an interesting co-antagonist working with Dreykov, but the film skirts past how she is complicit in the harm that her daughters faced (Yelena especially) with a fake Heel Turn moment that only undermined Dreykov as a threat.

And that’s really the problem with Black Widow. The film, or rather Marvel Studios, doesn’t want to really tackle Natasha’s past or pain like they were willing to do with Steve Rogers in The First Avenger, and The Winter Soldier.

Maybe because that would mean approaching the story with the emotional maturity of The Bourne Identity, a PG-13 film that was plenty violent without being excessive. It was also emotionally resonate by dealing with the fact that Jason Bourne was, pre-amnesia, a US assassin that did awful shit.

Instead we get a plot about mind-control, and magic red dust that can break said mind control (that apparently requires invasive surgery of the brain).

Whedon seemed comfortable with getting close to the actual violence that was asked of Natasha (vs. done to) by the Russian government as a kid. The screenplay for Black Widow can talk past Natasha willingly doing awful things, but doesn’t want to confront that by having her or Yelena deal with an army of assassins who are walking down the same path Natasha did, fighting and killing for another government without any sort of mind control.

This is why Natasha's assassination of “Dreykov’s Daughter” (Antonia) as the thing that happened in Budapest also doesn't land. The movie doesn't want to deal with how Natasha learned to live with murdering a child to buy her freedom into America. They make it so that she didn’t kill her, actually, just gave her a bad case of pizza face. She’s not even the one that pulls the trigger, the film suggests that it was Hawkeye.

Her mustache-twirling villain of a father, who somehow survived the explosion and building collapse with zero burns or broken bones, is the one who does all the truly horrible things to his daughter (turning her into a mindless slave).

The Original Sin that Natasha is defined by is swept under the rug in the same way her history as a killer is blurred by the script. It’s akin to rewriting Xena’s history with Callisto as the killer of her family and village, and deciding, “No, Xena didn’t kill them. They all survived with minor burns! Callisto can now forgive Xena!”

Natasha's Antagonist

Dreykov is a weak antagonist/villain because the screenwriting seems determined to accredit the abuse of the Red Room entirely to him instead of making a systemic issue. What started off as a clandestine organization for the KGB throughout most of the MCU is rewritten in Black Widow as the personal playground of a thinly veiled Harvey Weinstein analogue who puppeteers his personal assassins to do bad things, thus rendering them all innocent of their wrongdoings. It makes them "perfect victims" in way.

(Johansson has gone on record saying that this film was influenced by the #MeToo Movement. Well, celebrification of it, anyway)

Dreykov doesn’t challenge Natasha, or her family. There’s never an immediate danger or stakes being driven by Dreykov. He’s not doing something they have to stop “before time runs out”, he doesn’t have anything on any of the characters that could push their actions.

He takes a backseat to the family hijinks, so the journey to finding and destroying the Red Room has no urgency (Natasha being dead already notwithstanding). As the supposed architect of their misery, he’s about as threatening as Mason (Natasha’s Black Best Friend who buys her things while in hiding).

Dreykov fails like the rest of the MCU’s villains (not named Erik Killmonger) because there's no depth to the character. There's no real loyalty to the character as a demonstration of his power or influence. Again, all his victims are blameless in their violent actions. No one with speaking lines or face time (that isn't a G.I Joe grunt) is working with him because they believe in his goals or ideology.

Complicating that matter is that the script never reveals what his goals or ideologies are besides, "I can create chaos with an army of assassins. I am so evil."

It’s wild to me that so many are rushing to defend the implementation of this sloppily written (and miscast) character because, “he works as a villain because he's a human trafficker” and “he mind controlled his own daughter.”

“He does terrible things”, or a character representing awful things that happen in the real world, isn't enough to make an effective villain. If that was all it took, then 90% the MCU’s villains wouldn’t be so forgetabble.

(He’s not real, I shouldn’t be reading posts like, “he doesn’t deserve screentime b/c he’s an awful human being! He earned his lazy death scene.” Girl, what???)

If you’re gonna tackle human/child trafficking as defined by one antagonist, then really make it part of the story. Make it something that Natasha and Yelena are actively trying to stop. Don’t montage it over a bad Nirvana cover and then shift gears into a G.I. Joe scenario in a floating fortress.

If you're gonna make Dreykov the abuser of so many women, then make it crucial to your protagonist's narrative. Don't add a silly Angry Beavers plot where his stinky musk can control a woman's bodily functions because as a weak analogue to "how men police women's bodies".

Because Natasha has no real conflict with Dreykov, confronting him in the climax goes nowhere. Dreykov is Yelena’s antagonist. It's why Yelena gets to kill him instead of Natasha, so it would've made more sense for her to confront him instead.

The film eventually establishes he's no real threat to Natasha because the writing pulled a Xanatos. The character feels like he exists only so Johansson can sass him, and make a callback to the Loki Interrogation scene (a scene that only worked because of the audience misdirection.)

Dreykov could've been an effective villain if he was anything like the Headmistress characters in the Samee-Waid Black Widow series from 2016.

The Headmistress and Anya (the new Headmistress later on) were characters with emotional connections to Natasha and the Widow children she was trying to save. They taught these girls to believe in the totalitarian philosophy of the ruling class. Natasha and the other Widows couldn't live without them until they were able to escape their influence.

The Headmistresses were women, which makes it plain that women are also perpetrators of abuse. It isn’t just something that men do, which is how this script has approached this subject entirely (Captain Marvel did the same thing as well). Abuse being exclusively a male theater of action.

Antonia's death could've been meaningful in regards to Natasha and Dreykov as characters if Dreykov cared that Antonia was murdered by a Red Room assassin. Natasha admitting that she killed his daughter and regretted it would've made a lot more impact than just having him shrug it off because he's so heartless and so evil.

Or, as other people have said, imagine if it was Antonia who was the antagonist gunning after Natasha because of what she did, not only to her, but her father as well.

It would not only render the mind-control plot pointless, it would re-center the focus on Natasha, and force the writers to do something else with Yelena, Alexei, and Melina (assuming they're even necessary in this scenario). Then, Natasha would have a genuinely threatening antagonist because the stakes are personal on both sides.

It would've been a hellva lot more meaningful than using Taskmasker as a plot-twist (after hyping the character up as the controller of the Red Room and Natasha's personal nemesis).

Callisto’s story as a villain resonates because she cared about what she lost, and Xena knew there was no real forgiveness for what she did to her. Imagine if they approached Natasha’s role in Antonia’s death like that.

(But that's probably asking for too much nuance from Disney and Marvel.)

Conclusions

In story that wants to be about the abused reconciling with their past and family, the film effectively robs the abused of their autonomy by going the extra of mile of making them zombies. In the same way the Star Wars sequel trilogy avoided Finn’s history as an indoctrinated and enslaved Stormtrooper, Black Widow doesn’t want to deal with the ramifications of indoctrination.

How people buy into and protect organizations that strip them of their humanity by making them complicit in violent systems. Oh, sure, they’ll nod and wink at it (as they do with Natasha and Melina’s past), but they won’t go any further than that.

Instead of dealing with how a forced hysterectomy effects Natasha physically and emotionally, we get a joke that isn’t any better than Natasha calling herself a monster, or the “time of the month” joke that got rebuked by the director and the cast.

Instead of reflecting on her time with SHIELD and the United States, the United States is portrayed as "the good-guys who gave her a real family” (ignoring even the half-hearted criticism of the US that The Winter Soldier made), while Russia is still out there doing nefarious Cold War Things and ruining people's families. All of which just feeds into uncritical Russian stereotypes and Red Scare that the film’s foundation is built on.

I enjoyed the film, but the more I think about it, the more I realize Black Widow really does nothing except undermine Natasha's darker elements and self-imposed redemption arc (as written by Whedon).

On top of rewriting key elements about the Red Room (the movies being broken as the comics is a true irony), It minimizes Natasha's violent past to make her into a clean, and boring superhero whose solo film thinks lamp-shading sexism is the same as subverting it.

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

sorry im not home right now im walking into spiderwebs

by ditzybat With his infamous Parker luck, he managed to find himself in the one city where meta-humans (or enhanced) aren’t welcome, all because the local hero (Batman, is he a bat? Ridiculous name, at least Peter earned his name, he’s a humanoid-spider!) dislikes them. That’s probably some sort of racism… or abelism… okay, it’s an ism. At least Peter isn't running around in leather and bat ears like some sort of kinky furry. — Peter Parker traverses universes with a green haze clouding his vision and an infinity stone embedded in his very core, gets adopted by crime lord, stalked by birds of prey, aliens, and considered an enigma the bats can’t quite crack Words: 10677, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Batman - All Media Types, DCU Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Categories: Gen Characters: Peter Parker, Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Duke Thomas, Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain, Harry Osborn, Johnny Storm, Felicia Hardy, Bruce Wayne, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Loki (Marvel), Stephen Strange, Tony Stark Relationships: Peter Parker & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Natasha Romanov, Tim Drake & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Duke Thomas, Loki & Peter Parker, Cassandra Cain & Peter Parker, Harry Osborn & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Johnny Storm, Felicia Hardy & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Johnny Storm & Harry Osborn & Felicia Hardy, Minor or Background Relationship(s) Additional Tags: Dimension Travel, Soul Stone | Soul Gem (Marvel), Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Acts Like a Spider, Found Family, Crack Treated Seriously, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Spider Mom Natasha Romanoff, BAMF Peter Parker, Peter Parker and His Mini Harem, not really but you’ll see, cherry picking canon, Not Canon Compliant, Dick Grayson is Peter Parker's Biological Parent, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Past Peter Parker/Johnny Storm, Past Felicia Hardy/Peter Parker, Past Harry Osborn/Peter Parker, Romani Dick Grayson, Past Rape/Non-con, Dick Grayson and Richard Parker (Marvel) are the Same Person, Court of Owls, Dramatic Irony, Song: Spiderwebs (No Doubt) via https://ift.tt/JluGxC2