#oh I nearly forgot about Magneto

[imaginita-est-omnibus]

This, exactly. I have had this conversation so many times with my sibling as we grasp for representation in popular media. We both were raised lighting Shabbat candles and eating homemade Challah every Friday evening, attending religious school on a weekly basis, and observing most of the Jewish holidays both at home and in our synagogue. I am very religious and am planning to attend the JTS. My sibling doesn’t believe in God. But neither of us are able to find true representation in any media that isn’t explicitly about Jews.

This especially comes up in connection to superheroes, as my sibling loves Marvel and I love DC. They both have “Jewish” characters, and both have had their Jewish characters represented in live action, but on my side I’ve got the CW’s Felicity Smoak, who is the most Christian Jewish character I’ve had the displeasure to watch, Ragman, who spouts random Jewish trivia as is necessary to the plot, and the Kane family, who put stones on Kate’s grave instead of flowers. On my sibling’s side, they’ve got the Thing, whose Jewishness amounts to a Chanukkiah in the background of his childhood home, and Moon Knight, who has the best representation so far… in that we see his father sitting Shiva.

I don’t know what it says about the public conception of Judaism that the two best representations (for my experience) in recent TV were both about Jewish mourning rituals, but it’s definitely not enough, definitely not representing my culture, not to mention those who are even more observant than my family. Oh, and also the fact that one of those two is part of an ultra-rich family, and the other has an abusive home life. Hurtful stereotype or bad implications, take your pick Jews.

It hurts even more when you compare it to characters like Ms. Marvel and Daredevil, who we see frequenting their place of worship and drawing strength from their belief and community. There’s no characters like that for the Jewish community on the same level of popularity. My religion feels reduced to “they mourn their dead weirdly and celebrate Christmas with blue decorations,” and it really hurts. I feel more represented by that one old Jewish guy in the Sandman who said the Shema before dying than any of these “Jewish” characters.

my hot take is that, with some exceptions, making a canonically jewish character explicitly secular/detached from judaism is more often than not just lazy writing in shows not devoted to exploring religious themes

i can think of countless jewish characters across entertainment media, but i can name maybe two whose connection to judaism extends beyond their last name, mentioning hannukah during the christmas episode, and a few thrown-in jokes with yiddish words. that would be fine to a degree, but there’s always some sort of “explanation” for why they don’t connect more to their jewish identity, and that explanation is almost always appropriated from dechristian atheists/non-religious people and ill-matched to judaism (usually it’s that they don’t believe in god or the bible story, which isn’t required in judaism anyway)

it’s perfectly acceptable and necessary to show secular jews. but there is a massive spectrum of and between secular and extremely devout jews, with varying beliefs, perspectives, and cultural identities. if you don’t want to do the research to properly represent a group, then don’t do it at all. half-assed representation has the potential to be even more harmful than not representing in the first place

[tobiasdrake]

The Epic Final Battle! Holy shit, this finale is amazing.

Okay so Magneto is up there with Rogue and Rogue's powering the Mutation Machine that is actually the Murder Machine because that's easier to explain the stakes of to a 10-year-old than large-scale racial erasure.

Storm and Jean will use their powers to fling Wolverine, the one person who cannot fight Magneto, right up there next to Magneto. Here we go.

"What the fuck?" ~Magneto as he watches Wolverine suddenly fly overhead and sail straight on into the New York Bay.

That very nearly is what happens, as they overshoot their target by a comical margin.

"HEY!!! HEEEEEYYYY!!! I MADE IT!!! YOU CAN STOP WITH THE UPDRAFT!!!"

Magneto, meanwhile, still cannot comprehend that this is actually happening. That this, flinging Wolverine of all people at him, is the plan.

Wolverine then attempts to ignore Magneto entirely and free Rogue.

"Oh shit. Somehow I completely forgot about that." ~Logan

Scott decides to just fucking shoot him, and we get the most baffling moment in the entire film.

Jean: Scott, wait!

Wait... for what, exactly? Magneto turns Logan's blades aside and begins bending them, while the machine starts firing up and emanating its blast wave. What does she think is going to happen suddenly to change the tide of this fight?

Scott: Jean, I have to! Jean: Just wait!

FOR WHAT, Jean!? What could we possibly be waiting for!?

I think she's kinda on Magneto's side here. She's over there like, "Hang on, let's wait until the wave kills all of the U.N. conference people and then shut it down before it can reach New York. Compromise."

Nothing happens. There is no payoff to "Just wait". It ends when Scott eventually stops listening to his homicidal girlfriend and takes the shot.

We could have done this two minutes ago, Jean.

And that's it. That is the entire battle. Cyclops One-Punch Mans Magneto down with a pitiful "Ugh!" and the plan to thwart the machine goes off without a hitch.

What a weird-ass final battle. XD

"It occurs to me now... Lying here... That I could have stolen Cyclops's visor back away from him at any time. Should not have gotten so distracted laughing at the Logan Toss. My spine has regrets."

And then the X-Men just leave. They leave Magneto lying there in Lady Liberty's torch for the cops to come take him away, whenever they get around to climbing the torch. No shit, we see a panning shot up from him lying there to the Blackwing departing. The cops will deal with him.

You know, these cops.

It's cool. Scott shot him in the back one time so he's probably unconscious and will remain so for an indeterminate amount of time. It's cool. We can leave what comes next to the whims of fate.

[ynscrazylife]

I saw that your requests are open!! I absolutely love your work and your writing is the first thing i do whenever i want to read marvel fanfics. Im really not sure if your not comfortable making a x male reader. Im a male and I really find them really hard to cross by with any fandom with good writing. If you’re comfortable with this. I want to request a WandaVision x male reader where mr is really close to Hayward and Monica from SWORD and has also similar powers to Magneto in the X-Men universe. (Telepathic and Telekinesis). Joins Darcy, Woo, Monica, and Hayward to stop Wanda. But mr got stuck into the hex so Darcy, Woo, Monica tries to get him back? If you do this thanks so much and sorry if its so long!

Sure and thank you so so so much! No worries for the long ask, I don’t mind.

One For All, All For One

Summary: Y/N is the fourth member in the Hexagang. When he gets pulled into Westview, Darcy, Monica, and Jimmy will stop at nothing to get him back.

This takes place when S.W.O.R.D begins its investigation!

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Darcy asked for the umpteenth time into her headset, from where she sat in the makeshift S.W.O.R.D. Headquarters next to FBI agent Jimmy Woo. 

Y/N rolled his eyes playfully, standing just feet outside of Westview, New Jersey. “Jimmy said it himself that it’s like it doesn’t want him to go in. I’m just going to see how far I can get before being . . . stopped,” he said. 

Darcy huffed, not liking this answer. “You have no idea what ‘it’ is,” she pointed out. 

“Darcy, it makes the most sense to send Y/N in. He’s the only one in this investigation that has powers, and with the police around this place not even knowing of Westview . . . We might be up against something supernatural,” Monica reminded her. She stood behind Y/N, having accompanied him outside.

Before Darcy could think of another argument, Y/N cut in. “Am I good to start walking, Jimmy?” 

Jimmy quickly checked in with Hayward and then gave him the green light. 

Monica and Y/N shared a nod before Y/N took off in a steady pace, but cautious. Anything could happen at any moment. As he started to get closer and squinted his eyes, he saw something that was definitely difficult to spot.

“Guys . . . There’s something here. It’s like a wall of some sort,” Y/N said, and immediately the sound of Darcy quickly typing was heard. 

“What do you mean by a wall?” Monica asked. 

Y/N made a small noise of frustration, unsure exactly how to answer her. “It’s visible but only when you get close. It definitely looks supernatural,” he said and, after a moments’ hesitation, put his hand out and got closer to the barrier. 

Y/N immediately gasped as soon as his hand came into contact with it and before he had a chance to pull his hand away, he felt something lurch him forward and he got plunged into the town of Westview. 

Monica had been listening to something Jimmy was saying and hadn’t seen Y/N try to touch the barrier, but she did see when he disappeared. The captain gasped, and immediately walked over, but he was nowhere in sight.

“Guys . . .” Monica said, confused and alarmed. “Y/N’s gone.”

----------------------------------------------------

Monica stormed into the office-like room she, Jimmy, Y/N, and Darcy had been sharing, furious. Jimmy and Darcy immediately looked up from their computers and shared a knowing glance. “I take it your meeting with Hayward didn't go well?” Darcy guessed, spinning her chair around. 

Monica shook her head, sinking into her own seat, and seemed to take Darcy’s words as an invitation to rant. “He said he had no clue how to bring Y/N back. He’s the DIRECTOR of S.W.O.R.D. and he doesn’t even have any ideas? What abut the town full of missing people that Y/N is in?” 

Darcy frowned and got to thinking. “Well, then, we need to come up with something to get Y/N back. Not only is he the key to understanding more about Westview but he's our friend! I’m not going to sit back while he’s missing,” she said, determined, and stood up, crossing over the room to grab a pen and paper. 

Monica joined her and while the two women started planning, Jimmy re-focussed himself on the WandaVision show. A couple mins in, though, he nearly fell off his seat. “Y/N!” He yelped. 

Monica and Darcy looked up and within seconds were at either side of Jimmy, all three of them intently watching the screen. Sure enough, Y/N was happily engaging Vision in a conversation at their workplace, as if nothing had ever happened. As if he had no clue where or what he was doing.

“Oh my god,” Darcy said, breaking the trio’s stunned silence.

“It’s like he forgot . . . everything,” Monica observed. 

For the next day, they did everything in their power to try and get Y/N back, but nothing worked. Until - they heard an alarm go off and all of S.W.O.R.D ran outside, only to see Y/N lying in the grass, red magic surrounding him.

“Y/N!” Darcy yelled, not caring about the other agents and broke out into a run, soon being followed by Monica and Jimmy. 

Jimmy helped Y/N sit up and questions began rolling off the tip of Monica’s tongue. Darcy, recognizing that Y/N was still dazed, lightly hit Monica’s arm and told her to give him a moment. Taking a couple deep breaths, he whispered the words that no one expected to hear: “Wanda . . . It’s all Wanda.”

[andrewmoocow]

Steven Universe: The Fantastic Mutants chapter 3: Enter the Brotherhood (originally posted on July 11, 2020)

AN: Sorry this took so long to come out readers. Coronavirus,  online school and all that jazz just had me occupied for a good while.  Hopefully you've been keeping yourselves entertained in the midst of  this quarantine; I've gotten into Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Scooby-Doo  Mystery Incorporated, Cardcaptor Sakura, Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic  among others. Anyways, let's get back, at long last, to the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning of Gifted Youngsters (or just Xavier Institute or XIHLGY since that name might be a bit too long for some)  and see how the Crystal Gems and their new allies can get out of this one!

--

A few hours prior to their invasion of Professor Xavier's school, the Brotherhood of Mutants sat around a table examining the exploits of the  Crystal Gems to get a good idea of what they'll be getting into. "Don't  ya think we're in over our heads?" Juggernaut asked his fellow mutants  while watching video footage of Lapis stealing the ocean. "I mean, one of them can literally use 75% of the planet to kill us all!"

"The blue one may have the strongest power, but she is also rather emotionally fragile." Black Tom remarked. "In fact, all of them are pretty unstable once you think about it. Insecure, dependent, obsessed, haughty, cowardly, hotheaded..."

"Quit with the psychology stuff Tommy!" Pyro exclaimed out of boredom. "What I wanna know is how could they brainwash three world-destroying monarchs so easily? Could the same happen to us too?!"

"Well, the boss maybe." Sabretooth answered. "Speaking of which, where is he?"

However when Creed wasn't looking, the master of magnetism was standing behind him with Mystique at his side. "Lemme guess, he's standing right behind me."

"How could you guess? Do you have psychic abilities like  Xavier?" Mystique snarked as she sat down next to the clawed mutant. "I've been discussing plans with Erik for the past few minutes, plans on how to infiltrate these Gems. He chose the water-controller as the one I should masquerade as since it would require that I retain my usual skin color."

"He's got a good point, but why are we hunting these down in particular?" Avalanche wondered. "Is it because of how celebrated  they became for allying with the Avengers?"

"Not quite everyone." Magneto revealed. "Our current ally Doctor Doom wants the child's gemstone for the purpose of creating his own army of half-Gem warriors. And taking care of them will be so fulfilling for me after Rose had left me all those years ago."

--

In the present day, the Brotherhood had begun their assault on the Crystal Gems, with their archenemies the X-Men caught in the crossfire and the Fantastic Four as well. The mansion was left damaged in their arrival  and the Brotherhood now has the heroes surrounded.

"Now my friends, are we going to make peace by handing the child to me or must  we resort to drastic measures?" Magneto purred threateningly, holding out his hand and expecting someone to shake it.

"Like we'll ever let you have Steven!" Garnet stated. "Just a few weeks ago, he was nearly captured in a situation similar to this one, and we refuse to let it happen again."

"So when I want to do what's right, you try to fight back." Erik pointed out. "Yet when those three Diamonds plotted to destroy Earth, you let them off scot-free simply because they were mourning a bratty child that was no better than them? The hypocrisy is quite strong here!"

"Can we just cut the blabbing about our morality and fight already?!" Amethyst complained while wriggling free from Black Tom's vines and pouncing on Toad, tying his tongue around his eyes to blind him. "Why are you always targeting me?!"

With that, the battle properly began. The Crystal Gems charged at the Brotherhood of Mutants with the X-Men and Fantastic Four by their side, tearing up the mansion even more.

During the chaos, Morph snuck around the  battlefield in the guise of Garnet and tackled Sabretooth from behind, sitting on top of both his arms. "You little shit, get offa me!" Victor  exclaimed in agony while Morph then took the form of Groucho Marx. "I'd have you cry uncle, but you don't really have one as far as I know." He quipped while pretending to hold a big cigar.

Meanwhile Steven  & Connie had formed into Stevonnie to gain a better advantage over  Magneto, but he used psionic shields against their sword. "Gem fusion! I remember that quite well!" the master of magnetism recalled. "Garnet and Amethyst fused much like you to tear Auschwitz apart."

"Auschwitz?! You mean the Nazi concentration camp?" Stevonnie asked. "You must've been one of the Jews locked up there, right?"

"Indeed, me and my parents as well." Erik answered. "But alas, I wasn't one of the lucky ones."

--

It was October 7, 1944, towards the end of World War II when Erik's mutant powers awakened. When his mother was heartlessly shot dead by the  scientist Klaus Schmidt, Erik promptly went berserk with a loud cry of "NEIN!" followed by manipulating every metallic object in the room, even crushing a pair of army helmets and the heads of the Nazis wearing  them.

Klaus was excited at Erik's potential, but his joy turned to  fear when a loud crash was heard before a massive purple flail burst through the roof of his office. "Mein gott." The mutant ally of the  Third Reich muttered in awe of Sugilite. "Hey small fry!" the brutish fusion grinned while grabbing Schmidt by the collar with two large fingers. "Why don't you try picking on someone your own warped fascist  government?!"

"Please let me go!" Klaus begged for mercy. With a toothy smirk, Sugilite gave her word and dropped the man back through  the hole made in his roof, landing Klaus on his desk and making him too injured to get up. "Puny Nazi." Sugilite sneered before separating into Garnet and Amethyst.

"Bitte, hilf mir." The boy who would become Magneto croaked while crawling out from underneath the rubble, mildly injured but thankfully not comatose. "Bunte damen, hilf!"

Unfortunately, his voice was too hoarse for anyone around to hear. Not even the Nazis carrying away the bodies of his mother and Klaus were able to pay attention to the young mutant. "Is anyone else in here?" the voice of  Rose Quartz called out as she stepped into the ruined office. However, she was able to find a certain young man pinned under pieces of ceiling. "Are you okay young man?"

Still hoarse, Erik was unable to give  his name to the Gem. "Hallo, mein namen ist Rosenquartz." Rose introduced herself in some sloppy German. "Kannst du mich verstehen?"

"Rose!" the commanding tone of Captain America distracted her for a bit. "You have to come with me, they're bringing reinforcements from HYDRA!" he urged the Crystal Gem leader. With a small gasp, Rose turned back to Erik with some comforting words. "Don't worry little one." She assured him in English. "I'll be back for you soon."

But unfortunately for Erik, she never did.

--

"So you're hunting us down partially because Rose forgot about you?" Stevonnie asked. "Honestly, I'm not really surprised."

"I remember what happened that day!" Pearl exclaimed. "Rose couldn't come back for you because she was poofed during the battle and we had to retreat. I am truly sorry we were unable to make do on her promise."

"Sorry just won't cut it!" Magneto boomed, pinning Pearl to a wall with a steel beam using his powers."And no matter how much she tried to make  amends when we met again, I still never forgot."

--

Nearly twenty years later in 1963, the Crystal Gems were touring the city on a  sunny day when they found a large group of people gathered before a stage, where a man made a speech. "What are those guys doing?" Amethyst asked her fellow Crystal Gems. "I'm not sure, but I believe we should get a better look." Garnet answered.

As the Crystal Gems blended into the rather blasé crowd, the man continued speaking. "Despite the fact that you lauded such beings as the late Captain America, you also hypocritically look down upon mutants for possessing similar abilities."

"Uh actually sir," a young news reporter with a fake toothbrush mustache  spoke up. "There is a clear difference. Captain America was given his  powers by science to help win the war. Mutants on the other hand were  born with their powers that could go out of control if pushed too far."

"Did anyone ask for your opinion boy?" the man boomed as he glared at the  reporter. "Please don't take it out on me sir, I'm just a young reporter!" the newsboy nervously squeaked and then high-tailed it out of there. "But thanks for the story menace!"

"Hmph, children." The speaker rolled his eyes before returning to his speech, or he would've  had he not found a familiar face joining his audience. "Wait, I remember you!" he shouted. Using his magnetic abilities, he pushed the spectators away by forming a path straight to Rose using the steel fence that once separated them. "Rose Quartz. How have you been coping with the captain's demise?"

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Rose asked the mutant. "Of course you'd forget about me." He replied. "I am known as  Magneto, the master of magnetism! But I'm sure you'd at least remember me calling myself Erik."

"Oh my goodness, Erik?!" Rose exclaimed. "I am so sorry I didn't come back to you like I promised! There was HYDRA coming for us at Auschwitz, I just didn't have time and-"

"I believe that's enough!" Magneto roared before he proceeded to use the  fences against Rose. "You have forgotten me at the camp, and now I shall  make sure everyone forgets you!" He tossed the fences at the Gem, but Garnet & Pearl quickly deflected them. "Stay away from her!" Pearl called. "Amethyst, get everyone out of here while we take this one on!"

Amethyst gave a comical salute before she rounded up all the human spectators with her whip and dragged them to safety. "I see how it is." Magneto  boomed. "You are just like all of them."

"No, you don't understand  Magneto!" Garnet stated. "We've actually met and fought alongside a few mutants before! There was this Canadian one during the war, and we even met En Sabah Nur as well! The Crystal Gems value all life on Earth, whether they be ordinary humans or otherwise!"

"You can try to rope yourself into my good graces all you want Gems!" Erik growled. "Because nothing can ever change the past!"

--

"That fateful battle was how we first met Xavier. He had an older team of  X-Men that saved us from him." Amethyst recalled. "Speaking of which, where could they be now?"

"Wrong time, wrong place!" Sunspot  exclaimed while he fired a blast of solar energy at Juggernaut, who was unfazed. "Could this get any worse today?!"

"As a matter of fact, it can." Mystique replied sharply, snapping her fingers to summon a pair  of massive blue and purple robots that towered over pretty much  everyone. "Pink gem detected, pink gem detected!" the machines noted in unison. "Bring boy to Doom immediately!"

"Sentinels?!" Jean exclaimed. "And it seems this time, they've been modified to hunt him down!" Emma replied as the Sentinels held out their hands to trap Steven in a forcefield. "Guys, a little help?" he called out from inside his prison. "I can't seem to get out!"

"STEVEN!" the Crystal Gems screamed while the Sentinels slowly took off into the sky with the boy in tow. "Don't worry Steven, I'll save you!" Kitty exclaimed. "Storm, give me a boost!"

"You got it!" Storm replied, grabbing the younger mutant by the waist and lifting her up high with her flight abilities. When she was let go, Kitty leaped at the Sentinels and used her phasing powers to pass through the forcefield to rescue Steven. "Don't worry little guy, I got you!"

"Thanks Kitty, but I think we might be too late." Steven thanked sorrowfully, making his new friend look up to discover that the Sentinels were headed for a large airship above them. "Aw crud." Kitty smacked her face in irritation. "Guess I walked into that one."

"Now they got Kitty too!" Scott shouted. "Yeah, I think we got the picture!" Lapis said. "Can't any of you fly up and save them?!" Morph suggested. "You seem to love ignoring obvious  solutions!"

Lapis rocketed into the air as she was joined by Angel, Storm, Firestar and Human Torch with intents to rescue Steven & Kitty, but unfortunately they were quickly shot down by the Sentinels, still slowly making their way inside the Brotherhood's vessel and leaving the other heroes behind.

"Let this be a lesson to all of you Crystal Gems." Magneto declared. "You may think just saying sorry will instantly make everything better, but time will never make people forget." He surrounded his Brotherhood in his forcefield and lifted them all up to his ship. When the villains got inside, the ship sped away from the destroyed mansion.

"I can't believe we lost him, just like that." Pearl muttered while on the verge of tears. However, Reed was there to put a comforting rubber hand on her shoulder. "Don't fret, I think I might know where they're heading." Mister Fantastic declared. "They're working with one of our greatest enemies  known as Doctor Doom, which means their next destination will be his kingdom of Latveria."

"Latveria? I've read about that place." Connie replied. "Very good that you know about this place Fraulein Connie." Colossus complimented her. "But still, the combined forces of Doom and Magneto might need more than just our three teams here."

"I think our first step would be calling the Avengers." Peridot suggested.  "But they agreed to let us solve our own problems unless it was absolutely necessary we needed their help." Garnet responded. "Maybe at least a few of their reserve members would be useful, but not the whole team."

"I do know someone who can help us, but I don't think a few  of us are going to like it." Colossus announced, much to Wolverine's irritation. "You don't mean?" Logan growled. "Da, exactly." Piotr replied with a nod and then he turned to Connie. "Connie, the X-Men now have a very special job for you."

"Whatever it is Mr. Colossus, the Crystal Temps will do what we can!" Connie said exuberantly as Peridot, Lapis, Bismuth and Nephrite assembled behind her with goofy grins on their faces.

"I admire your optimism malen'kiy. And  please, call me Piotr." Colossus continued. "I cannot believe I am  saying this, but we need you to find for us," he ordered her. "Deadpool!"

Wolverine giving a loud aggravated moan followed this up.

--

Well, this sure took a while, hasn't it?

Bitch, a while doesn't even cut it!

Wait, Deadpool?! How did you get here?

I came here to yell at you for prolonging my long-awaited proper debut  for months now! Well I've had it up to here with your lazy-as-shit behavior! Next chapter, you better let me help you out or I'm taking  that "ANDY ONLY" folder on your laptop for myself!

You monster, I worked hard to build up that collection! Okay fine, you can help in parts. Deal?

Deal! And what are you still doing here? Get the hell outta here until next chapter, The Deadpool and Peridot Show! Damn, that chapter title really rolls off the tongue.

[postmortem-bookworm]

Bright - Bucky Barnes - Part Two

Fandom: Avengers

Type: Series

Word Count: 2,562

Character(s): Bucky Barnes, Natasha Romanoff, Steve Rogers, Shuri, T'Challa

Warning(s): Cussing, Mentions of attempted suicide (but shouldn’t be anything triggering), smut (maybe), mentions of X-Men, Steve is crushing

A/N: This picks up almost right after Black Panther, but before Bucky is awake, there is no Thanos, and everyone is alive.

Life in Wakanda starts off slow, much like her time at the School did, taking a time to get used to it. Finding things to do to fill her time, Shuri comes by twice a week to accompany her to the market, showing her the vendors who will give her the best deals, and even helps her buy some packets of seeds so that she can start a garden of her own, off the side of her hut. In the mornings, she works on her garden and writes letters to her friends, and in the afternoons, she works on painting under the pergola, and baking goods.

Occasionally, in the evenings, she walks to the palace to have dinner with Shuri, T'Challa, Nakia, and the Queen Regent Ramonda. Other times, she makes a simple meal for herself, and sometimes Shuri, and goes on a walk through the woods behind her hut. She swims in the stream every once and awhile, enjoying the natural spring compared to the water from her sink and shower.

Most of her days are leisurely slow, too used to something coming up for a fight, like aliens, HYDRA, killer ex-assassins, fighting her own friends and family, fighting other mutants. But, with keeping up with her meditation exercises, she manages to keep her powers under control, and relax her enough to get to sleep each night without any nightmares of her time as Magneto's prisoner. Things change three or four months later, after a trip to the market with Shuri, the two of them are preparing dinner for the two of them, when Shuri brings it up.

"Sergeant Barnes will be coming out of stasis in a few days." She says as Maeve starts to cut into the chicken on her board. The preplucked and beheaded bird is a heavensent in this sometimes-godforsaken place, because if there is one thing this girl doesn't do, it's behead a chicken. "After he is awakened, we will let him rest in the village for a day or two, so he can get used to being awake again. It is a long walk from here, to the palace, and if there are any medical concerns, we want him to be within walking distance at the very least."

"Understandable." Maeve says as Shuri starts to cut into the potatoes. "Need those squared." She says, pointing it out, before she continues to cut the chicken off the bone. "So, after the first couple days, I'm supposed to help him settle in here? In the other hut?" Shuri smiles to herself, dicing the potatoes.

"Indeed. He will be confused, and lost. His last 70 years have been dictated by people who used him, people who wanted him to kill, and did not care about him as a person, in anyway. He will need a friend." She explains, glancing at Maeve as she pauses, knife hesitating over the chicken. Shuri can't see it, but there is terror in her gaze as haunting memories flicker across her gaze. Suddenly, her flour pot on the shelf before them shatters, causing the two of them to jump, and Shuri looks at her in surprise as she starts to gather up the shards.

"Sorry, sorry." She rambles, her hands are swift in gathering the flour with her telekinesis, her frazzled floundering surprises Shuri.

"Are you alright?" Shuri asks as Maeve drops the flour into a new pot, and tosses the shards away, biting her lips as she nods. "Are you sure?"

"Let's just say... There are things that are better left unsaid and left in the past." Her words don't even sound like her own, muffled by the immense fear sending her heart pounding in her chest, and the memories flashing through her mind. "Um, the Kimoyo beads- I can contact anyone in the world you said?"

"That is correct. Do you need to call someone?" Shuri's inquiry goes half unnoticed as Maeve glances at the silver bracelet.

"Um, yes. You mind if I step out?" She asks, already starting towards the door.

"Not at all. You've already shown me how to make these "hobo" potatoes once before. I will continue while you make your call." Shuri answers, causing Maeve to nod, leaving before Shuri can finish her sentence. The night swallows her almost whole, crickets chirping and cicadas singing as she walks towards the woods for privacy, stopping just within the treeline. The screen comes up on the call, shedding blue light across her and her background of trees, the line starts to ring.

"Hello?" The voice on the other line answers after half way through the second ring.

"Professor?" Her voice is hesitant, nervous like she's a student all over again.

"Maeve, thank goodness you called. I haven't been able to get ahold of you, nor have I noticed your power signature anywhere in Cerebro. Are you alright?" His father voice nearly brings tears to her eyes, and she swallows against the lump in her throat.

"I'm safe, Professor. As safe as I can be right now. Um, I seem to be having some... difficulties adjusting to my new life." She swallows against the lump once more. "The night terrors are fewer, I don't wake three feet above my bed as much, but... I seem to be remembering... well- more than I ever have before. It's not the same as other memories either, it's like I'm frozen in fear because I feel these memories as if they're currently happening. It hurts, and it scares me." He lets out a soft sigh, and she can practically seem him rubbing his temples as he thinks about what to say.

"I miss confess, Maeve. When we found you, after your... time with Magneto. You were very different. Almost dead like. You were mentally and emotionally broken. You wouldn't respond to anyone, not even Logan!" The Professor clears his throat. "He was- We all were worried that you were gone for good. You were physically there, but you were almost as active as a corpse. I had think of something, because by the time we found you, you were practically dead."

"Professor... Please tell me you didn't." She whispers hoarsely, her fingers sliding into her bangs, nails digging into her scalp.

"I didn't remove the memories at all, I merely put... mental stints in between them, then over time I started to remove them. Slowing your journey back into what happened. During those times, your night terrors would worsen. It seems I forgot to take some of them out, and they're all coming free at once." He explains.

"Professor, why didn't you tell me?!" She cries out in anguish, nails blunting against her scalp as panic spikes through her.

"You might have tried to remove them yourself, and that would have damaged you worst than what happened with Jean's ability." He answers resolutely.

"You shouldn't have doubted me! It's not my first time experiencing this- look at what happened to Jean! I was there! You should have told me immediately after what happened to Jean!" She shouts, dropping her free hand from her hair, the Professor's regretful sigh is audible from the other end of the line.

"I apologize. I see the error of my ways, and I did try to contact you after you left, but you left without anyway for us to contact you. You made certain that we knew, you didn't want anything to do with us until you were ready." He points out, cause Maeve to growl out a sigh, raking her fingers through her hair once more, before she pinches the bridge of her nose.

"You are correct, Professor. My apologies. I will keep in contact with you if anything should occur." She pauses.

"Maeve," He says softly. "everyone here misses you." She swallows thickly at that, letting out a sad sigh.

"I know. I miss you all too." She hangs up, walking back to her hut, where flavorful scents are wafting into the great outdoors, causing her to smile. Things would be alright.

After Bucky was awoke from Cryo, and settled into life in the village a bit, she was alerted by Shuri that it was time to meet him, post-battle. The trip to the village is long, cold, and wet, the rain pooring down around her, but it's a difference in the weather, for the first time since she's arrived in the last few months. Walking through the village, she approached Shuri and her Dora Milaje guards, the princess smiles at her in greeting as Bucky ducks out of the hut behind the princess, stalling at the sight of her.

"Hello Sergeant." She greets softly over the pouring rain, he becomes visibly uncomfortable from the title.

"Bucky, please." He says, and she nods.

"Hello Bucky, I'm your new neighbor." She smiles at him, her umbrella covers the two of them as Shuri holds her own. "I've come to accompany you to your new home."

"I appreciate it." He smiles a bit, before he runs a hand through his shaggy locks, and they all start back through the village, towards the outskirts. "You were at the airstrip, right?" He asks as they march through the grass.

"Yes, Steve recruited me." She answers, struggling to keep up beside him, he seems to notice as she starts to slow down, taking the umbrella from her hand. "Oh, thanks." She murmurs as he just nods. "Anyway, I mostly provided air support. My abilities can be a bit iffy, sometimes." He watches her as she bites her bottom lip, before she lifts a hand up, a few drops of rain around the two of them freeze, quivering to fight against her hold on them. She turns her hand to him, holding the drops before him, causing him to gape as they walk, reaching up with his metal hand to touch one. They pop and scatter from her hold, causing her to wince at the cold.

"Sorry." He says, causing her to giggle, and shake her head.

"Nope, it's just cold. Like I said, I have difficulties with my abilities sometimes." She says, shaking the water off her fingers. "It's fun to experiment."

"So, what are your powers?" He asks as she looks up at him. "You... don't have to answer." He says, running her fingers through her hair, she looks down while biting her lip.

"Empathy, telepathic, and telekinesis." She says as she keeps her eyes on the grass.

"Wait, seriously?!" She jumps as she hesitantly looks up at him, and he gapes at her. "How were you flying then?"

"U-Uh, m-my telekinesis makes me able to fly." She answers, before pushing her hair behind her ear- she hardly notices that Shuri and her guards had left to return to the palace.

"You haven't had the best reaction to your powers, have you?" He inquires as she shakes her head, walking through the grass to approach the huts. "I won't judge you, it's not like I have the best track record."

"I'm not going to judge your track record." She says, causing him to smirk a bit as she runs her fingers through her hair again, and gestures to his hut. "Your new life starts, right through that door." She says, causing him to chuckle as he hands her the umbrella, and opens the door.

"Thank you, for the company." He says as she nods, shrugging.

"I was lonely when I first arrived, I don't want you to feel like that." She replies with a teasing smirk, and he waves her off.

"I think I'll be fine." He answers, she shakes her head as she walks over to her hut, ducking inside the door to pull out some stuff for dinner. Midway through cooking dinner, the loud sound of a hammer smacking against wood, captures her attention. She flips the stove knob down to low as she steps out of her hut, the cool breeze is the only reminder that it rained earlier that day, and she pauses at the sight of Bucky. He's hammering a large wooden post into the ground, his hair is pulled up in a half bun, and he's in work jeans, a gray shirt, and a makeshift poncho is draped over his metal arm, almost like to hide it.

"Was it something I said?" She jokes as she leans on his hut behind him.

"What?" Bucky asks, looking over at her, before he chuckles. "No, it's not like that."

"Well, that's good. I wouldn't want my first day as your neighbor to put up fences between us." She says with a playful grin on her lips, and he shakes his head.

"No, I talked to Shuri the other day, and she had set me up with a therapist in Wakanda The therapist told me that the best form of therapy would be taking care of something living. Shuri agreed to set up some goats for me to raise." Bucky explains as she crosses her arms over her chest.

"Goats?" She asks, causing him to chuckle as he rubs the back of his neck.

"Well, they give milk, which I can make into butter and cheese. Their hair can be used for fabric, for blankets and clothes, and they can be killed for fresh meat." She smirks as his thoughts of 'not that I'd ever kill them' echo at her, causing him to gape at his head snaps up to look at her. "Did you hear that?" He asks.

"Oh," Her smirk falls, and frowns, looking down at her feet. "sorry." She prepares for him to shout at her, tell her off, or anything else of the like.

"No need to be sorry, I think I didn't think you were really able to hear my thoughts." He explains as she sheepishly looks up at him. "It's actually really fascinating." He says, causing her to blink in surprise, before heat scores her cheeks, and she turns her head away.

"I-I-Th-" She stammers, obviously taken by the surprise as she backs away, gesturing wildly over her shoulder. "Dinner. Burnt. Not." She manages to compose those words, before she turns on her heels to sprint back to her hut, throwing her door shut behind her as she attempts to finishes dinner, and busy her mind. After the food is done, she's managed to compose herself enough to walk outside, and wander over to the burly man, who is still hammering posts into place around the side of his house. "I cooked dinner," He turns to look at her in confusion. "you should go freshen up a bit."

"Oh, are you inviting me to eat with you?"

"That was the plan." He smirks as she shuffles in place, feeling nervous as he chuckles.

"I'll be right over." He says, swinging the rubber mallet into place to smack the post into the ground.

"You have five minutes. If you aren't washed up and over to me house by then, I'll do what my mom used to do, and drag you over by the ear." She warns, causing him to shoot her a skeptical look, and she rolls her sleeve as she takes a step towards him. He drops the mallet, dashing inside with a surprised and slightly fearful look on his face, causing her to smile triumphantly as she walks back over to her hut, happily with a little pep in her step.

[what-the--curtains]

Braving the Elements

Chapter 22: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Part 1/2

Tw: Swearing

Authors note: sad dad times ahead folks!!!!

(Played during training)

Shuri and Tony had been working on a way to counteract the effects of the shots created by Roman and his crew. They hoped if they could figure out how to dampen the injectable powers then maybe, just maybe, they could reverse the powers Apocalypse had taken from other mutants unwillingly. While they were busy in the lab the rest of the team had been tasked with identifying where all the mutants from Romans files had disappeared too. Something proving to be difficult. Partly due to Romans silence on the matter who had been a tougher nut to crack than you had initially thought.

“Look at this,” Nat says, pulling up a holographic map of the world. “Turns out the government is tracking mutants. Looks like they’ve been chipping them or something. Once they’re in the system you can track their movements around the globe.”

“Am I on there?” Wanda asks looking at the screen.

“Is that even legal?” Steve asks leaning over Nat to get a closer look.

“When have they ever cared about that, and ya Wanda probably, Eric took mine out when I joined up with him” you say nonchalantly whilst scanning over a folder of recent missing persons. Wanda looks down at her own arm slightly horrified.

“Anyways, we’ve seen recent increases in missing persons and decreases in mutant hotspots in major cities , Singapore, Toronto, London, Cape Town.” Steve continues

“Maybe they’re recruiting them?” You offer.

“That’s not all.” Nat says

“Look here” Steve says, “Increase in prison breaks and kids disappearing from schools and foster homes. They must be grabbing them so they can use their powers.” You stand up and leave the room.

“Looks like they forgot to remove some chips. I mean what’s the likelihood of even 10 mutants being in the middle of the Sahara desert.” Sam says using a laser pointer to circle the small group of red dots on the map.

“With a mutant army the size of a small country, how the hell are we going to stop him?” Nat asks.

“Once Tony and Shuri figure out a way to dismantle apocalypses powers, or at least some of them then all we have to do is inject him with it.” Steve says.

“Can’t we just shoot it from far away?” Sam asks.

“Probably, but we’ll need a clear shot, some kind of distraction, and the only one of us strong enough to take him in hand to hand combat is Y/N. If you can manage to get your powers under control you may be able to hold him off long enough for that to happen. Wanda can you help her with that. Wait, where is she?” Steve says looking around the room for you.

Wanda goes out to find you, but you’re gone “She’s just stepped out I’ll go grab her” she says not wanting to worry anyone. She finds you a few blocks away standing outside looking up at a statue made in commemoration of the signing of the mutant rights act.

“Hey,” Wanda says, gently touching your arm and moving to stand beside you.

“It’s bullshit you know. The people who signed this act tested on mutants in secret for years afterwards. How many more Wanda, how many more of us have to suffer and now at the hands of our own. As if it wasn’t hard enough already.”

“You sound so much like him sometimes” She says, referring to your old mentor Magneto.

“Kevin Bacon? Ya, I get that all the time.” You joke, giving her a smile. She shakes her head, not dignifying your joke with a laugh.

“They don’t have to suffer, not if we find them and stop Apocalypse.” she says.

“Weaker opponents have nearly stopped you before.” You respond

“This time it’ll be different. We have you. As far as he knows you're strong, but he thinks you can’t control it. Element of surprise could give us the upper hand.”

“What if it can’t be controlled, Jean’s powers almost consumed her.” You say trying to mask your fear.

“It’s a risk, but I’ll be there with you the whole way, I’ll make sure you don’t stray too far” Wanda says taking your hand

“A risk I have to take then” you say flatly.

“You don’t have to, no one’s going to make you do this and no one will judge you if you say no.”

The two of you walk to the park and sit down under an old elm tree.

“I’m afraid of what other powers may present themselves. That lighting would have been lethal to any of you and I don’t want you to get hurt.” you say after a few moments.

“Pfft, please, someone’s full of themselves, I could take you any day of the week.” She says punching your arm playfully.

You sigh trying to mask a smile before uttering “I’ll do it, but if it gets out of hand we’re shutting it down.”

“Deal! We’ll start tomorrow then, bright and early!” she says standing up and brushing her dress down before pulling you up from the grass.

“Great! My least favorite time.” you say standing up.

“Well we do need you to be angry” she chuckles as she links her arm in yours and the two of you walk back to the tower.

Your alarm goes off at 6:00AM the next morning and you go to smack the snooze button, but accidently hit a sleeping Bucky right in the face.

“Fuck sorry you say” laughing at his disgruntled face. “I forgot you don’t sneak out at like 4 anymore.” you gently stroke the spot you had just whacked and he turns to face you.

“I love waking up like this, well not the hand in the face, but here with you.” He mumbles eyes still shut.

“And I love not having to give you your clothes back.” You kiss his head before exclaiming “Gotta go, sorry about the face!” as you walk to the kitchen

“Apology not accepted. You’ll be hearing from my lawyers” he calls after you.

Wanda pours you a coffee as you enter into the kitchen the orange hues of dawn creeping in through the windows.

“Nice shirt” she says smiling.

“Nice face” you say back.

“Oh burn” she mocks sarcastically.

“Cut me some slack, it's early!” you say before getting suited up and heading down to the basement level of the tower.

“Alright,” Wanda says, leading you into what can only be described as an underground bunker. “It’s been outfitted with every possible safety feature, rubber-lined concrete walls, bullet proof glass, sprinkler systems, fire retardant sand.” You gaze up and around the bunker as Wanda explains it’s various features. You can’t help but think about all the things that could go wrong, no matter how safe they made it was still risky.

“Alright, let’s start at the beginning. First thing we need you to do is get into, let’s call it your state, by yourself. You have to initiate it yourself, we can’t have you going off every time someone makes you angry. Now get angry”

“Should be easy enough” you mumble as Wanda leaves the room. It takes some time, but eventually you manifest into your state, with eyes glowing you float to the sky and lighting bursts from your hands. After a few minutes you fall to the ground. When you come too, Wanda's sitting next to you.

“Welcome back” she says lifting you off the ground “Think you can try it again?” you nod. After a few days you’re able to enter your state quickly and relatively easily so you move onto staying conscious.

“Okay, that’s the easy part down.” Wanda says over the intercom.

“That was easy?” you chuckle in disbelief.

“Try to stay conscious after entering the state, when you feel your rage about to spill over, I want you to focus on a moment, any moment of anger that’s clear to you. Keep it in your mind, stay with it until it’s completely in focus then try to open your eyes.” You nod. Getting into the state was a breeze compared to becoming conscious, but eventually you’re able to do it. Initially, you can only hold it for a few minutes before passing out, but with each day it gets longer. By the fourth day you’re able to remain in the state for a few hours, but it's exhausting. Constantly using all your energy was taking its toll on you physically and mentally.

“Okay let’s take a break” Wanda insists.

“No, I'm fine” you say, she gives you a look which you return back to her.

“Okay, now I want you to come out of the state. You need to relinquish your anger. Empty your mind, become devoid of any emotion, mentally numb.” It takes every last bit of energy out of you, but you manage to do it by the end of the seventh day. When you weren't training you were sleeping. It’s the only time Bucky sees you, he keeps telling you to take a break. He begs you, but with mutant lives on the line you refuse to stop. He misses you, but knows it's selfish of him to demand you spend more time with him and less time trying to save the world. Day by day you build up immunity and two weeks in you are able to enter and leave your glowing state with minimal side effects

[thecorteztwins]

(During the “Blood Ties” event, Revanche/Kwannon was a member of the X-Men and went with them to Genosha to fight Fabian Cortez and his ex-slave followers. However, we never really see where she goes or what she does there. I decided to write about that. I’m just sorry she had to get her ass kicked, but if it had gone the other way around, Fabian would never have made it to get killed by Exodus. As a note, at this point, Revanche still believed herself to be Psylocke due to their mixed memories. If you’re confused about who she is, I have a long post about her HERE. Also, for those concerned, there’s nothing creepy here. For all Fabian’s grossness, doing stuff to unconscious women was actually never his MO, and he had more important thing on his mind during Blood Ties. I’d rate this PG but only for the violence.) Working her way into the Genoshan presidential manor was cake. After all, thanks her ninja training with-- No, no, what? She had never been a ninja. Betsy Braddock had dreams of being a warrior as a child, but they had never come to any fruition. Even when she had joined the x-men, her means of fighting had been mental, as befitting someone with her telepathic abilities. The memories, the training, the skills, they belonged to Kwannon, accidentally gained when their minds had fused, when Kwannon had found her body washed upon the shore in Japan. The same way Kwannon had gained her memories of the X-Men to such a degree she had been able to trick them into thinking SHE was their lost Betsy, reborn in an Asian body somehow! Believable for a telepath, she supposed---but how could they continue to fall for it when the genuine article had reappeared?! How many times must she prove herself to them? Ever since she had first met them, over and over, they never believed in her, always--- Well, that would be straightened out in time. This madman Cortez had to be dealt with now. All lies were undone in time, but his threatened an entire nation---and the life of an innocent child. She made her way past the Genoshan rebels with ease, fighting them by ambush or simply avoiding them by stealth. These poor people had lived as slaves; they might have great mutant power and advanced weaponry at their disposals, but they had never been trained for combat. Not like her---no, not like Kwannon. In retrospect, she supposed that made her let her guard down. She assumed that Cortez would be like them, reliant on merely nature and technology, not on true skill. Since this building had once belonged to a government that had good reason to fear mutants, it was laced with anti-telepathic blockers, not unlike the Hellfire Club, but she didn't think she'd need her psi-powers to deal with Cortez. She forgot that he was not Genoshan. She forgot what she had been told about his first fight with the X-Men.

It was only the slithering sound of a cape sliding against the ceiling panels that alerted her, but too late---the kick from above to the back of her head as he swung out bowled her over before him all the same, sending her sword clattering beyond her reach. Stupid...bloody...cow! “So, Revanche,” he gloated behind her as she pushed herself up, “The latest recruit. I like what you've done with Elisabeth's hair.” As Revanche turned her torso to look at him, she saw he had Luna Maximoff cradled in one arm. On one hand, it made fighting harder for him. On the other...it meant that if she tried something and failed, the girl might pay the price.

“Funny you're keeping the dye job though,” Cortez continued “What were the odds you'd both like purple so much?” “I am Elisabeth Braddock, dog,” she proclaimed, getting to her feet, “I always have been, sword, you cannot confuse me, any more than--” She cut herself off, scolding herself revealing such passion, such weakness, to an enemy...and worse, nearly revealing information to him about a conflict within the X-men he might exploit, as he had exploited Magneto, as he exploited these poor once-slaves here. The very thought of such dishonorable conduct made her want to split him in twain right here. “...than?” Cortez raised his eyebrows, as if inviting her to finish, “Oh, not my business, hmm? Well, I'm more inclined to believe you, I suppose, given your face---did you swap codenames? Is she the better telep--” Now it was he who was cut off, and caught off guard, as she leaped at him, creating a blade of psychic energy from her hands to replace the one of metal that she'd dropped. It was weak due to the dampeners, but it was there, and it was-- Once again, he triumphed, and this time she could not credit it to the advantage of surprise. With an infuriatingly amused expression, the cur not only avoided her strike, but caught her by the wrist, swinging her, and just before he threw her to the side, flooded her with an overcharge, just as he had the 'fake' Psylocke in their first battle. Though she was unable to use her telepathy right now, it still existed, and she howled in suffering as it fought in her head against the suppressors, rerouting back at her own mind. “Whoever the new Psylocke is, Revanche---you fight like her too!” Cortez crowed above her, “And you'll lose like her!”

Then, he drew his gun from his hip holster, and the butt game down on her head. *** She opened her eyes. She was lying in the middle of a ravaged Genosha field, the earth around her literally scorched, likely from a fight involving pyrokinetics, energy blasters, or both. Her mind was aching, her psychic powers exhausted, as useless as her hands, which were bound behind her back in metal shackles, of the sort once used to restrain unruly Genoshan slaves who had, however briefly, broken through their brainwashing. Cortez stood over her, Luna still in his arms. He was a large man as it was, one of the tallest she'd ever met next to Colossus, but at this angle, he was positively monstrous. The shadows cast by the harsh island sun on his sharp features making him look strangely inhuman. “Take this message to the X-Men,” he said, now that he saw she was awake, “If they don't protect me, if the Avengers don't protect me, this girl dies.” “Protect you?” Revanche could not keep the innocent surprise out of her voice. With all this man had done, all he could do, he needed protection? And not from the X-Men and the Avengers, but by them? “You don't frighten me, Revanche, Psylocke, whoever you are---there are far greater things to fear than you, and Magneto, the ancient fool, has awoken one and brought him into his fold! We're ALL in danger! Me most of all!” As inhuman as he had looked, there was nothing more human than the rising desperation in his voice now, which only moments before had stolid and solid as stone itself. “My, how sorry I am to hear that,” she said, with the sort of perfectly polite sarcasm only a lifetime among the British upper-crust could cultivate. “Shut up!” he grabbed her by her hair and jerked her up to her knees, his tone truly unhinged now, “My life is at stake! You will do as I say, or you won't leave her alive---and neither will Luna!” “And here I thought, just for a moment, you might be a worthy foe,” she returned, as calm as he was not. Her lip curled, “You disgust me.” Cortez answered her with a kick, releasing her hair as he did so that she would fall to the ground again. She heard the baby Luna cry out at the sight. Getting to her feet, she continued in her own calm but contemptuous voice, “Very well, they'll get your message---but I pray Magneto and his newfound friend get you first!” With that, she began her trek back to the X-Men, her telepathy guiding her to them as it gradually came back beneath the brutal Genoshan sun.

[god-hunter]

X-Men: Gold #1

This was very good.  Maybe not quite as groundbreaking as Prime, but for a new direction, I can definitely say that Guggenheim has got it covered.

[Spoilers and thoughts]

Right off the bat, you’re not gonna like what I’m gonna say.

I was so annoyed to see that Kitty cut her hair.  Why?  What’s the point??

Less hair does not equal strength.  At this point it’s a really stupid cliched trope that nearly EVERY female character falls into and I’m kinda sick of it.  And before anyone goes off toting that I’m a misogynist prick, let it be known that I only bring this up because Kitty’s always had an iconic look with her long hair in a ponytail.  And we were JUST re-introduced to her as such in Prime.  If they really wanted to take this new direction with her look, they could’ve made a point of her doing that in the Prime issue.  They showed just about every other transitional aspect in that regard...

But anyway.  That’s a minor annoyance.

This issue starts with Kitty, Old Man Logan, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Storm and “Prestige” investigating an issue with Terrax right at the heart of New York City.

[...Prestige?  The name threw me off on the character re-cap page, but it’s explained later that it’s Rachel Grey, which made me feel better.  Because at first I was hoping and expecting Rachel Grey.  Then they throw a new name at us, and I got scared, because you never know with Marvel.]

So.  Terrax is terrorizing the city for reasons unknown to us.  I should’ve said that the very first thing we see before this, is someone toting Mutant Hate on the news.  Someone who seems important.  A Ms. Lydia Nance.  I’m sure we’ll be hearing and seeing that name more in this book.

But back to Terrax.  Its unexplained why or how he got there, but the action is pretty great.  Storm tornadoes him away, clashes him with a bolt, but damage was done to a nearby building, which is about to fall and crash onto another building, hurting hundreds of innocents.

Kitty makes an impressive call to have Kurt teleport her up to the top of the building, where she can phase the entire place [and presumptively its inhabitants], so that when the building crashes down to the ground, it actually goes THROUGH the building and no one is hurt.

Logan and Colossus aided in this process too.  Logan taking on Terrax in mid-air and Colosses helping to hold the building from falling, probably softening the landing.

A whole crowd of people are now outside and staring at them in fear.

“You know, if the Avengers or the Champions were here, they’d be cheering right now.” Rachel throws in her 2 cents.

Kitty addresses the crowd and asks if everyone is okay.  A little girl speaks up, and the mother immediately says, “Don’t talk to it, dear.”

I loved Kitty’s reaction.  “’It’? Really?”

Then she tells all of them, “I think the word you’re searching for is ‘Person.’  ‘Human being,’ even. If you’re feeling charitable.”  “...You’ve never exactly trusted us... and I know that to the extent you ever [had], we have a long way to go to rebuild that trust.  But we’re starting today.”

I really appreciated that.  And I love that back-sass.  Definitely missed that.

[Now... I would be remiss not to mention something shitty in the art, done by Ardian Syaf, since its all over Tumblr today.  But apparently Kitty’s head was placed very close to the word Jewelry, which kind of only looks like the word “Jew” is prominently featured.  Also the number 212 on the store seems to take significance.

[Neither are things I noticed, but this is where I will sign on to something being amiss, for real.]

In the very next scene, the X-Men are once again playing Baseball, only this time it’s at Central Park, and I’m beginning to realize that maybe this is a thing the X-Men do in their downtime after all.  So maybe there was something to that last game in Limbo after all...

But Piotr is up at bat and wearing a very strange white shirt that reads QS 5:51. I didn’t understand it at first, and Tumblr blew up about it today, mentioning that this, and the 212 and the Jew thing are all references to the Quran.  That all of this is some sort of Muslim warning or something.

[I’ll be honest.  I didn’t read the post.  I was disgusted that a Muslim Artist would do such a thing in the first place, and I just kinda... don’t need to read on any of the hate.  Marvel apparently made a public statement saying that this artist is receiving disciplinary action and that future prints of the book will not feature this at all.]  - But holy shit man.  How crafty do you have to be to get passed the editors in the first place?  That’s fucked up man.  These guys are giving you work.  Don’t be subtley passive aggressively political.  What the fuck is that???  I just want to read an X-Men comic and enjoy it.

And of all issues, it had to be the most important Restart Issue??  ...This guy’s an asshole.  And his art is good.  [I never mention artwork in reviews unless I really don’t like it.]

So...  after/during the Baseball game, some lawyer guy comes looking for Katherine Pryde, and he slams her with legal paperwork, regarding their communities relocation to Central Park.

[Logan was being really annoying here btw.  I kind of hope Guggenheim fixes his voice for Logan.]

“I signed about a Phone book’s worth when the Mayor agreed to let us relocate here.” Kitty said.  Oh good.  So they didn’t just teleport in and expect to just.. inherit the territory.

So she reads the booklet and asks what it is.

“Just an invoice.  For the first, six months’ lease payments as well as property taxes for the parcel you’re occupying.”

She frowns.  “This is for Eighteen Million Dollars.”

“This is Central Park.” He smiles.  “Arguably, the most valuable residential real estate in the entire World.”

Her eyes widen with fear and shock.  [I kind of liked this realism a lot actually.  But I have no idea how they’re gonna get that kind of money or funding.  They’re gonna have to do a really good job with the public or something.  We’ll see.]

I did enjoy Logan’s quick, “Want me to claw him?” to her.  It added much-needed levity to the moment.

That night, Storm and Nightcrawler have a nice bit of downtime.  They’re watching that asshole Lydia so-and-so taut off her mutant anti-trust.

“The more things change, the more they stay the same...” Kurt says.

Storm decides to quote Magneto and says that, “The past is prologue.”

Kurt corrects her and says that it’s Shakespeare.  Then he asks what she means.

“That, perhaps we’re returning to our roots...  Perhaps, after all the trials and tragedies, we are returning to what we were.”

“Outcasts?”

“Heroes.”

I enjoyed that.  There was a little bit of her getting down on herself about IvX.  As Lydia brings up the fact that the world is unsure of the long-term effects of their war against the Inhumans, Storm feels like they’ve not only lost the war, but they’ve lost any sort of good reputation they might have had.

It was refreshing to see Rachel train with newer students, Armor and.. a stone guy. [I forgot his name.]   She explained why she’s going by “Prestige” now, which I really appreciated.  And it seems that they will go by new code names too.  Kitty wants everyone to move forward, not backward.  That’s pretty cool.

Kitty has a moment in her office, where she’s trying to go through files and work.  Narrative moments of self-doubt or just being in awe of it all occur.  I appreciate this.  Then Piotr walks in and asks her to have dinner.  I love that she worries about this internally and then tells him that she doesn’t want to eat with him.

“I mean, as friends sure. Always. No problem.  But you didn’t mean as friends, right?”

[Yes!  Thank you.]

She tells him she moved on, but she’ll always love him.  [The difference here than with Jean and Scott, is that Piotr and her HAD their past.  Multiple times.  And they’re both adults.  Jean... just knows a past that occurred between them.  And she’s fucking young and all over him.  Then saying, not interested when Scott makes a move?  That’s bullshit man.  It’s very Teenager.  And that’s why I reacted the opposite way, when this same exact thing happened between her and scott in the last issue of All-New X-Men.]

Thankfully, this awkward moment gets interrupted by Rachel, who tells them that someone’s attacking the city.  

Kitty feels both relieved and like the worst person ever for hoping for that sort of out.

They take the Blackbird Jet over to the UN Headquarters in Manhattan, and teleport directly to whoever is causing the problem.  It turns out to be a 5-person team, in which I only recognize Pyro and Avalanche.  And a fire-woman tells them, “We’re the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.”

-To Be Continued-

Aw man.  Well, here we go.

Thrust into a new thing.

I like it.  I wouldn’t say any of the outlying conflicts are groundbreaking.  We’ve seen this kind of politics before in Fraction and Gillen’s run a lot.  Probably Bendis’ too.

I do like the newness of Kitty making a conceited effort to have the Public know and Trust them though.  And I’m definitely looking forward to a day where this public looks to the X-Men and actually asks for their help and appreciates them!

We saw it in San Francisco very early in Fraction’s run.  So much that it almost didn’t make sense at first.

I’d kind of like to see that level of respect happen in New York.  But I would appreciate if it was gradual, if Guggenheim took it in that direction.

Looking forward to X-Men: Gold #2.

But I’m looking forward to X-Men: Blue #1 more.  That’s coming out this next week.

[joestrummen]

Watching X-Men

It feels narcissistic to post liveblogs a lot of the time I watch stuff, but then even when I had no friends I used to write these things in me diary. I was a sad kid...

Did I learn about evolution from X-Men I stg

Damn this labour camp scene used to fuck me up (I remember it like I used to watch it over and over)

If the presentation of powers is brought on by traumatic events what the fuck happened to Rogue (was kissing that guy the first time it happened?) (Jean said it was heightened emotion, maybe she was just turned on...)

y i k e s I forgot about mutant registration

You think Patrick Stewart hasn't aged and then you see him from ten years ago and damn he had dark eyebrows and smooth skin

Did Charles just look in Magneto's brain? I thought he agreed not to do that?

AW

YEA

BRING ME THE CAGE FIIIIGHTINNNN

MNMNMNMNMN

Oh my God Rogue is so thirsty X'D

I just realised my ultimate dream in life is to impress Wolverine in a cage fight

[head in hands] they put in clanking sound effects when wolverine hit the other guy why did the year 2000 have to happen to good films

if han solo is a butch icon can logan be one too i stg these bootcut jeans, the big brown cowboy leather belt, the ... whatever the fuck his hair is im wilding

im literally losing my shit every time he's on screen im fucking dying he's in that leather jacket that cigar end me END ME

two queers clocking each other in a shitty dive bar YES

wolverine's life as a metaphor for the cycle of poverty that being queer traps you in

(and one thing that mutants and queers have that jewish people don't is ostracision for their family, which can have impacts for isolation and poverty) (correct me if i'm wrong)

wolverine dresses like a dyke im losing my shit

can someone explain to me what is the fuck wolverine's hair

omfg he's such a grumpy goofball

I always loved Rogue's magicka coat

She is fucking wild omfg u chase that man omfg

being like fuck off im not helping, driving away 50m, and then being compelled to stop is Everything I Look For In A Character (am i being like a reylo like if he hadnt she would have straight up died idk)

and now he's feeding her killlll me

I’m getting kinda philosophical about how I so instinctively loved the tropes in this film and they are STILL sending me wild like what in fresh biological determinism is this

i cant deal wiht every single got damn second between wolv and rogue every inch of me is ascending to a higher plane of id

this film is made of literally every non-sexual kink ive ever had i cant deal with this not at all

uggggghghghghghghgh he was being all uncaring but he fed her and turned on the heater even though she didnt complain about the cold and when she flinched when he nearly touched her he reassured her and now he just told her his name im fuckin dyin larry

wow waking up in that hospital must not have been a fun flashback like experience for wolverine he must fucking hate hospitals

HOly Shit Charles speaking directly into his head while he's that freaked the fuck out is NOt Helping the situation

uggggghhhh oh my god Charles 6000% sees Logan like a son end my entire body I don't neeeed this Wolv and Rogue is bad enough fuuuck

also lol @ Charles holding a supervision what a Cambs boy

oh my god baby logan is only 15 years old

and i stg if charles promised not to look in people's heads because he is all up in logan's business

oh shit add amnesia to the list

wolverine is so protective of rogue enddd me

BOBBY HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO PERFECT MAKING AN ICE ROSE LIKE WHAT A PLAYA HE IS RIGHT IN THERE

'when i was 17 i met a young man named erik lensherr. he too had an unusual power' this is literally a description of meeting the first other gay man in your life (and/or falling for them)

im still unsure about magneto as a radical activist (is that the word)

lol can i blame this on the troubles again. i cant find anyone who's activism incites and escalates violence to be a good or productive thing.

I love that Jean Grey is the kind of woman that Logan is into

WHO wrROTE the flirting in this film they are all creeps omfg

If Logan is in a different timeline then I could correct his behaviour to be actually like a radical activist, though that would take some research

Wtf Charles theyre talking about a register it would be exactly like getting a number tattooed on your forearm

McKellen is reeeally giving me a Ben Whishaw vibe

If Magneto is a good guy why didn't he just recruit her instead of kidnapping and planning to kill her. Wouldn't it be much more fascinating if he had recruited her. Maybe in the fix it timeline he did.

'If you were really so righteous, it'd be you in that thing.' too right wolv

awwwww wolverine you lil self sacrificing fluff ball

So in the fix it verse I'll have Wolverine blame Magneto for Rogue's death or something and Magneto will be like she came by choice and wolv will be like she was fifteen

[lofe-a]

I finally watched Dark Phoenix

So, what’s up with all the ridiculously bad reviews? Who is behind that? Dark Phoenix is by far not the worst X-Men movie. I truly enjoyed it, unlike Apocalypse where I left the theatre absolutely disappointed. It has it’s flaws and it’s no DoFP, but it is a solid movie, it dares to try something different and it does not deserve to be treated like this.

As to my predictions...

...I did pretty good.

1. Mystique dies ✔️ (not really a prediction)

I have to say, her death was... ok. I see the symbolic parallel of Jean killing her biological mother and Mystique as the “mother” of the X-Men family. I would have liked a few more minutes of character building beforehand. You get a tiny peek at her mentor/mother role, but for me it wasn’t enough to make her death resonate. Same goes for her relationship with Hank. It would have been cool if they had, for example, started with a hard training session in the Danger Room similar to X2. That could have established where all the characters stand, added some meaningful moments between them, and could also have given a more indepth glimpse into the conflict between Raven and Charles. Instead, they gave us a supposedly funny moment with Quicksilver’s “Doing space missions now, cool” and Scott, probably representative for the audience, having a thousand questions, which they don’t have time for - just because the didn’t take time for it!! Dark Phoenix is about 20 to 30 minutes shorter than the previous three movies! I liked the short moment between Jean and Raven though.

2. Quicksilver is also at least severly injured during that fight. I think he dies as well. After all, he is already dead in the MCU… ✔️

I liked that they established early on that the fights have consequences which can’t be shrugged off as usual in superhero-movies. Also, taking Quicksilver out of the picture gave more screentime to Kurt who was really good in this one.

3. Until that Chess scene was leaked, I was pretty sure that Charles would die. Especially with the “I can’t remember the last time you took a risk” burn from Raven I’d like to see him take on the Dark Phoenix in the end and not make it. Would also be nice if he is trapped in his mind after fighting her and the Chess scene takes place on the Astral plane or something OR he loses his memory and Erik has to take over as the leader of the X-Men. ❌

I’m not sure how I feel about Charles’ role. I really liked that they pushed him from his moral high horse and portrayed him as definitely not a cinnamon roll (totally valid to like that in fanfiction, but in comic canon he often is more of a manipulative, self-righteous bastard with mostly good intentions and seeing this in the film was satisfying). Making him walk like a marionette was brutal. It seemed unnecessarily cruel, don’t know if it was meant to test his faith. It really hurt to watch and for me it was a tad to dark for this kind of movie.

4. The Jean/Scott relationship will be really cringy (for me at least, because Tye is just not my Scott) ✔️ Not only cringy (even though it could have been cringier), but totally unnecessary for the plot. I’m no fan of Jean/Scott mostly because it sometimes seems as if Scott’s love for Jean is enough “character” for the man. But... if you walk this route, then at least make it matter. 5. Quicksilver will be mostly used for comic relief, no father-son-moment with Erik, but if he dies this might come up to trigger the Magneto-Mode ✔️

The only X-Men that had a more disappointing role than Storm.

6. The home-planet of Jessica Chastain’s character was destroyed by the Phoenix force ✔️

I’m not sure how they could have written the story without aliens, but I wish they had tried. It’s not that I disliked the D’Bari, but I feel there could have been a more intriguing story. 7. Storm could be deleted from the film without any dramatic changes to the plot. ✔️

Ice cube machine. That’s all I’m gonna say.

8. Not enough Genosha, because I really love the idea of Erik founding a mutant homeland. ✔️

Not nearly enough Genosha. Loved it. Loved Erik, the helicopter scene, the dialogue between him and Jean... but where was the “You are not looking for answers” from the trailer? I hope that means we might get a good extended cut to fill a few of the unsatisfying gaps.

9. I’d love to see Charles move to Genosha in the end, but I really don’t think that’s gonna happen. ❌

Happy to be wrong about this one. 10. Maybe a “Get Charles out of here, I’ll buy you some time” moment for Erik ❌

It was great to see them all fighting side by side in the end. The “For Raven” moment was a bit too cliche for my taste, but the train fight was really good. A few brutal kills by Magneto, very like in the comics. Kurt - oh sweet Kurt. The way he went ballistic after being unable to save that soldier, damn. But what is this about Hank controlling his furry blue self by will? That... that’s not how it works.

11. Jean will defeat alien!Jessica to save her family ✔️

Similar to 6. I just have the feeling there could have been a more interesting story. It’s way better than the ending of Last Stand, but even with Jean’s “death”, it feels like the easy way out to me.

12. Maybe by transfering the Phoenix force into her, but since she’s not “worthy” she can’t hold so much power and explodes or something ✔️❌

There was some power transferal and they did explode in the end...

13. No real Cherik, just the Cheriky chess scene ✔️

Is it a lovely scene? Yes. Is it meant for the Cherik fans? Possibly. Does it make Cherik canon? Sorry, but no. It gives a lot of room for imagination and it’s more than I expected or hoped for, but that’s not canon or “as good as canon” and I won’t be content with it.

As I said, I really enjoyed Dark Phoenix. I was captivated from the first moment on until the very end. There were a few eye-roll-lines, that were to clichéd for my taste, and the humourous ones fell totally flat. But there were several small moments that really resonated with me like when Raven doesn’t stop pestering Charles until he finally snaps and tells her “you know how I know” or when Selene is pulled out of the train and you see Erik’s shocked face and just feel that he genuinely cares about his people.

I didn’t like Sophie Turner as Jean in Apocalypse, but she was great here. The darker Charles was great, Erik was perfect. Mystique and Beast were ok. Loved Bamf!Nightcrawler. Storm, Cyclops and Quicksilver... meh. It’s a family story, but they kind of forgot about the siblings along the way and focussed on the various mothers and fathers. Would have liked to see some rivalry between Scott and Storm for the leadership in the group (like in the comics), which would have made the moment between them, where Scott says that he wants Storm to come with them, a lot more meaningful.

All in all I’d say ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5.