#see even nix and see alfred

[batgeance]

i clearly love a goth pathetic genius idiot with identity problems because i can’t stop thinking about how the batman becomes gotham but this young and this early into his “career” he can’t let go of him only being the batman because what else does he have

[captain-josslett]

Broken Melody - Part Forty Nine

Masterlist

Summary: Grammy Award winning Emma Danvers is the first to say she has a pretty good life. But what happens when it implodes around her and it looks like things will never be the same again?

Words: 5.6k+

Warnings: Fluff, Angst, Injections, Moments of PTSD and Smut 🔞

Pairings: Emma Danvers x Diana Prince, Alex Danvers x Sam Arias, Kara Danvers x OC

This Part: J'onn has followed Emma back to the Batcave.

Cannot believe we are sooooo close. And how is the next part number 50?! I also added my words up and the fic is over 250k words! 🙈

Thank you for reading and let me know if you wanna be tagged or any general feedback will be greatly appreciated. Please! I like knowing your thoughts.

Taglist: @finleyfray, @life-is-hella-unfair, @natasha-danvers, @supergirl-writingz, @camslightstories, @thinking1bee, @aznblossom, @inquisitive-nix, @checkingoutforheroes

“And what drink can I get for you J’onn?” Alfred asks kindly.

“Water will be fine.” J’onn responds coolly, his eyes are focused on Emma, curled up on the bed.

“Sure you don’t want anything stronger J’onn?” Kate asks as she taps away on her tablet. But J’onn shakes his head and Alfred leaves the room.

“Make yourself comfortable, I’ll be right back.” Bruce says as he backs away towards the door before also exiting the room.

J’onn nods and watches Bruce go. He turns back to the tightly coiled up Emma on the bed.

“Diana? Help me move her please.” Kate asks the hero and the pair gently uncoil the blonde and straighten her out on the bed. J’onn swallows at the evident pain etched on Emma’s face.

They start changing Emma out of her sweaty clothes and into clean, fresh sweatpants and a t-shirt. J’onn silently watches while he closely studies Emma’s body. His stomach slowly starts to sink at how frail Emma is looking. Her hair is limp and doesn’t have the shine and glow it normally does. That he can see her ribs poking through, despite her toned body. For a moment J’onn closes his eyes to keep his emotions in check.

The past seven months have not been easy. For anyone. A day has not gone by where J’onn hasn’t thought about Emma and worried about her wellbeing, despite the many emails and messages she sends to Eliza.

“J’onn?” Alfred’s voice makes J’onn open his eyes and takes the bottle of water from the tray Alfred was holding. He drinks half of it before placing it on a nearby dresser, taking note of Lena’s portal watch. Something Emma has used to purposefully evade them.

A sheet has now been draped over Emma’s body and Kate places a cannula up Emma’s nose to help her breath better. She picks up her tablet and starts inputting the data from the machines.

J’onn slowly approaches the bottom of Emma’s bed and his stomach sinks even further when he analyses Emma’s face. Her cheekbones are more defined and sharp. Her eyes are sunken in making the skin under her eyes appear dark and hollow.

J’onn tightly crosses his arms over his chest as he waits for Bruce’s return. Diana changes back into her regular clothes and sits by Emma’s side. J’onn observes the brunette lovingly placing her hand over Emma’s and tenderly holds it.

“J’onn.” Bruce’s voice says behind him. J’onn turns and momentarily clenches his jaw.

“How long has she been here?” J’onn asks with clear tension in his face.

“Not long and I was just about to call you.” Bruce holds his hands up in a downward motion, as if trying to pacify the Martian.

Diana whips her head towards Bruce and narrows her eyes at him.

“Diana, don’t give me that look.” Bruce says firmly, making Diana clench her jaw and focus back on her girlfriend. “She is-” Bruce pauses and focuses on the alien in front of him. “Lets sit.” Bruce motions to the sofa and starts to walk over.

“I’m happy standing thanks.” J’onn says without moving.

“Okay.” Bruce moves back to J’onn and stands openly in front of him. “There is no easy way to say this, but we believe that Emma’s powers are killing her.”

J’onn immediately spins around to Emma and approaches her side. “No.” He takes her other hand and tenderly squeezes it. “You must be mistaken?”

Kate holds out her tablet to show him the data. “There is a chance we could be. But all our data so far indicates that Emma’s body is breaking down. That it is unable to cope with the strain of the mutation.” Kate says mournfully.

J’onn studies the tablet and juts his jaw to the side. “How soon can you get your helicopter ready to take us to National City?” He starts approaching Bruce to come up with a plan to get Emma home.

“No! J’onn!” Diana stands quickly. “Emma isn’t ready to go back.”

“What if she doesn’t have that much time left and it’s being wasted here?” J’onn asks harshly.

“J’onn I understand-” Bruce starts to say but J’onn quickly interrupts him.

“How can you possibly understand? Emma is like a daughter to me, my own flesh and blood. Kara, Sam and I spent days searching for her thinking she had been taken!” J’onn voice rises with his anger, not realising Emma was starting to stir. “Only for her to-”

‘J’onn?’

He quickly spins back around and rushes over to Emma’s side. “I’m here, I got you.” He takes her hand and gently strokes her head, watching as her dull, hazel green eyes slowly open. “Hey princess.”

Emma raises an eyebrow at him. ‘You haven’t called me that since I was a child.’

“I should never have stopped.”

Emma smiles weakly up at him. ‘How did you find me?’

“After I heard your thoughts, I quickly placed a tracker on your suit.” J’onn explains and perches on the edge of the bed.

“But the Batcave’s cloaking system should have stopped the signal from reaching you.” Bruce says in disbelief, a frown spreading across his face. Kate gives him an impressed gaze.

“Winn and Brainy have been working on new, more advanced scanning systems to try and find the Shadows.” J’onn explains and Brcue nods in understanding. “It may be worth you getting in touch with them.”

Suddenly he hears Emma let out a whimper in her mind and a harsh outtake of breath.

“Em?” Kate approaches the bed and studies the blonde’s face, trying to figure out what’s wrong. Diana also stands, looking worriedly down at her girlfriend and keeps a hold of Emma’s hand.

‘My head, pain.’ Emma’s mind moans out and she breathes heavily in and out of her nose. Trying to get as much oxygen into her.

“She’s saying her head hurts.” J’onn explains and Kate immediately goes to grab some pain relief.

“How?” Diana frowns deeply and looks between Emma and J’onn.

“Telepathy” J’onn explains and Kate injects a kryptonite needle into Emma. J’onn’s eyes widen as Emma’s veins glow a fluorescent gold around her arm.

‘Argh!’ Emma’s mind screams out and she jolts sharply.

“You’re hurting her!” J’onn goes to stop Kate but Diana grabs his arm, holding him back.

“It’s morphine, it will help.” Kate pushes the plunger down, injecting Emma with the painkillers.

‘J’onn, it’s okay.’ Emma’s mind whimpers out as she clenches her jaw. But as soon as Kate takes the needle out and disposes of it, Emma is able to relax and starts feeling the warm effects of the drug. ‘Can you sit me up?’

J’onn reaches for the controls on the bed and raises it so Emma is fully propped up.

“Here.” Kate gets him a chair and he sits by Emma’s side.

Emma holds out her hand and motions for his. He takes hers and gently squeezes.

‘What have you been told?’ Emma thinks as she studies his face. He tries to keep his face neutral, but Emma can see the troubled emotions swirling in his eyes.

“That you have powers from the serum-” J’onn clears his throat as it feels like it's closing up. “And that your powers are killing you.”

Emma takes a deep breath and watches the emotions surface in J’onn face. His eyes slowly filling with tears.

“Look, I understand why you left. I understand that you had your heart broken from the moment the attack started until-” J’onn stops, lowers his head and wipes his nose. “All you need to know right now.” J’onn lifts his head and gazes at his daughter. “Is that we all miss you so much and we need you back at home.”

Emma narrows her eyes slightly. ‘What’s changed? What if I come back and the same thing happens? I need to find a new place and then what?’

J’onn takes a deep breath and sits closer to Emma. “I cannot speak for everyone else, but I am sorry for not recognising your pain. I became so focused on finding those responsible that I didn’t see you were struggling and I regret that every day.”

‘I can’t.’

“Why? We all love you so much and I know Kara and Alex are suffering as well.”

Emma sniffs, seeing the pain within his eyes hurts her deeply. ‘I’m sor-’

“No, don’t finish that thought.” J’onn reaches out and cups her cheek. ‘But you need to come home-”

Emma squirms at the thought and shakes her head. Her breathing becomes more erratic, the pain slowly creeps back in, despite the drugs.

“Have Winn and Brainy figure out what's going on, to save you.” J’onn continues to try and persuade Emma.

‘I’m not ready.’ Emma’s mind weakly protests, her eyebrows scrunch together.

“Emma. You’ve been gone for over seven months. Your family needs you and I know you need them.”

Emma squirms again, her neck and head rolling forward and to the side as a tug of war battles within her mind. She longs to go back and be with her family, to feel safe. But is that all a lie? What if they think of her the same way Lena does? That she’s a distraction. Without her voice, she is nothing.

“Emma?” Diana stands and sits on the edge of the bed. “J’onn, that’s enough.” Diana gives the alien a heavy glare before focusing on her girlfriend again. “It’s okay Emma, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

“If not now then when?” J’onn answers back, his frustration breaking through his walls as his focus shifts to Diana and he misses Emma’s internal thoughts.

“When she is ready!” Diana snaps at him.

“She may never be ready!” J’onn stands and Diana copies him.

Neither see Emma start to go frigid until her hands fly up to her eyes and she bends forward.

“Emma?!” Diana panics and reaches for her shoulder and back.

‘Argh it hurts! Please make it stop!’

“What hurts?” J’onn asks quickly, hating seeing Emma in such pain.

‘My eyes- bout to explode.’

“Her eyes feel like they are about to explode.”

“Let me see.” Bruce moves forward and gets a torch to shine into them.

But Emma isn’t removing her hands and starts rocking due to the pain.

“Emma, lower your hands.” Kate tries to calmly say while the heart monitors start frantically beeping. But Emma doesn’t respond.

Diana grabs Emma’s arms and focuses them down. Revealing a glowing gold light behind Emma’s eyelids and blood starts dripping from her nose.

“Heat vision.” Kate diagnoses as Emma jolts and jerks on the bed. Her screams of pain are heard by J’onn, who watches in horror.

“Emma please, you need to calm down.” Diana tries to soothe her girlfriend, but recognises she is already too far gone as Emma continues to squirm and jolt. The machines incessantly bleep around them.

Suddenly Bruce stabs Emma’s arm with a kryptonite needle and after a few moments her body becomes slack against Diana’s.

“What did you do?” J’onn asks harshly.

“Put her under, her heart rate was getting dangerously high.” Bruce explains coolly as he goes to dispose of the needle. “If we keep this up I’m going to have to make more of these.”

“Was that really necessary?” Diana says through tears as she holds a limp Emma close to her. The glowing around Emma’s sunken eyelids immediately fades and Kate hands her a wet cloth to wipe the blood from Emma’s face.

“Yes it was, there is no knowing what would happen if she uses her heat vision.” Bruce says with genuine sadness as his eyes flicker to the unconscious blonde.

“I’m sorry.” J’onn rubs his forehead as he flops back into the chair. “Seeing her again and the way she is. I just want her home. Her Mother wants her home, everyone does. It hasn’t been easy.”

“But that isn’t yours or anyone else’s decision to make.” Diana says softly while lowering Emma gently back down onto the bed.

J’onn nods and looks up at Bruce who is studying the recent data on his tablet. “Would you mind if I bring Emma’s therapist here? He may be able to help Emma in a way none of us can.”

“If it helps her, sure.”

“He may bring his dog too.” J’onn adds as he walks to a chest of drawers to get Lena’s portal watch.

“Is the dog trained?”

“Yes, she’s a therapy dog.”

“I meant more for her ah, business, but sure.”

J’onn nods. “If Emma wakes up before I get back, please tell her and if she decides not to see Alistiar then we can reschedule.”

“Shouldn’t you wait until she wakes up to see what she wants?” Kate asks with a raised eyebrow.

“What if we are running out of time?” He asks and disappears in a purple flash.

The trio are quiet for a moment and Bruce leaves to go to his office. Diana collapses back into the chair and raises a hand to her mouth, feeling like her emotions were going to burst out at any moment.

“You can cry, you know.” Kate says gently and places a hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“I just-” Diana sniffs and tears fill her eyes. “How did I not see this?” Diana asks as she berates herself. “If I had then none of this would be-”

“Hey, hey, hey.” Kate grabs another chair and faces Diana. “We can play the what if game all we want. What if Kara and Alex hadn’t been taken by the Shadows on that day? What if Emma was able to call for help and escape? What if Lena had stayed with Emma? What if, what if, what if.” Kate reaches out and takes the demigod’s hand. “What we do have, is right now. We cannot focus on the past or worry about the future but stay right now in the present.”

Diana shakily inhales and nods.

“What does Emma need right now?” Kate and Diana glance over at the sleeping blonde. “And, maybe, healing that rift between Emma and her family, no matter how much she is trying to run from the conflict, is what Emma needs right now. The love of her sisters, her Mom.”

“Maybe.” Diana whispers brokenily.

-- -- --

A short time passes and Emma starts to stir again.

“Looks like we’ll have to inject a larger quantity if we need her under for longer.” She hears Kate mutter and tap on her tablet.

“Astéri? Emma? Can you hear me?”

Emma feels Diana squeeze her hand and she squeezes back.

“Oh thank the gods.” Diana’s voice hitches, making Emma frown and slowly open her eyes. “Hi.” Diana whispers and lovingly strokes Emma’s hair.

Emma smiles sluggishly and rubs her head closer into Diana’s hand.

“Just to let you know, J’onn went to get Alistair.”

Emma momentarily freezes and leans back to look at Diana’s face.

“They will leave if you want them to.” Diana says reassuringly as she continues to play with Emma’s hair. “But I think it will do you good to see him.”

Emma huffs out a small breath but nods.

“Okay, I’ll go get them.” Diana moves away but Emma holds onto her hand. “What?”

Emma points at her own, slightly chapped lips and tilts her head.

“Hmm, how could I forget.” Diana smirks and slowly leans in. They kiss and Diana closes her eyes, for a moment, like she can just pretend that everything is fine and she is back in Santorini.

But when she opens them, that idealist life is gone again.

“I’ll be right back.” She stands and hands Emma a bottle of water before going to find J’onn and Alistair.

Emma watches her go and rests her head back against the bed. Her body feels impossibly weak but the pain has, thankfully, lessened. She sips the water and silently hums as the cool liquid moistens her parched throat.

Putting the lid back on, her eyes momentarily flutter shut until she picks up three sets of footsteps and… some paws?

Immediately Emma opens her eyes again and sits up further. A smile breaks across her face when the door opens and Lily trots in beside Alistair.

The snowy, white German Shepherd barks happily and her tail wags when she sees Emma.

‘Lily!’ Emma’s mind yells out and she pats the bed. Immediately Lily rushes over and uses the chair to climb up. Emma voicelessly laughs when Lily attacks her face with sloppy kisses with the lick of her tongue.

“It’s good to hear you laugh.” Alistair comments as he sits to Emma’s right. “And it’s good to see you.”

Emma turns her head and focuses on the ginger headed alien. Still wearing his tweed jackets and brown oval glasses. His blue eyes sparkle kindly back at her. ‘It’s good to see you too.’

Immediately Lily settles between her legs and rests her head on Emma’s stomach.

“Is Lily okay there?”

Emma nods and starts stroking her head.

J’onn steps forward, drawing Emma’s focus to him. “May I just say, I wanted to apologise for how strongly I approached things earlier. It was wrong of me too and I’m sorry.”

‘It’s okay J’onn.’ Emma thinks and smiles reassuringly at him.

“Alright, I’ll be with Diana if you need me.”

Emma nods and Diana leans down to place a tender kiss on her lips before stroking Lily’s head and leaving with J’onn.

Emma takes a big, deep, intake of breath and turns to focus back on Alistair. Her stomach starts fluttering with butterflies at what could be brought up. His blue eyes seemingly analysing her intently.

“J’onn brought me up to speed on what is going on, but that is from his understanding. May I see yours?”

Emma nods and the past seven months play through her mind, her pain, her joy when she was in London. How Robyn helped drag her out of the hole she was in and how music helped her further.

At times Lily boops her snout against Emma’s hand whenever she senses Emma in moments of distress.

Especially when Emma relives the attack on Waterloo Bridge.

“That must have been very frightening for you?”

Emma nods but her memories continue to play out when she arrives in Paris and meets Diana. She does skip the intimate moments with Diana but is otherwise fully open to the therapist.

“Hmm, seems like Diana has helped you a lot.”

Emma nods and keeps running her fingers through Lily’s fur.

“Your anxious Emma, why?”

‘If I go back to NC, what if Diana won’t come with me? Or things don’t work out? What if they disapprove or-’

“Or?”

Emma can’t help but have a memory of Lena come into her mind. Of a time when things hadn’t fallen apart, where Emma woke up before her ex and gazed lovingly at her sleeping face, feeling her own heart melt at the sight of Lena.

“You still love her?”

‘I think a part of me always will.’ Emma admits mournfully. ‘But that doesn’t matter anymore.’

“Why not?”

‘She made her feelings about me quite clear.’ Emma momentarily closes her eyes, the pain, the memory of the break up surges through her mind. A high whine emits from Lily and she nuzzles Emma’s hand.

“How do you feel about seeing her again?”

Immediately Emma looks away and her face scrunches up with emotion. ‘I don’t know.’ Her mind whispers with uncertainty.

“What about your sisters? My colleagues have told me they continue to do well in their treatment.”

‘They are?’ Emma snaps her head to Alistair and opens her eyes.

“Yes. I’m sorry I cannot disclose anymore due to patient confidentiality, however, by my understanding, they have been sending video diaries to your old email address.” Alistair leans forward and feels the confusion radiate off the blonde. “Once your Mom told them you were no longer using it, my colleagues thought it could be healing for your sisters to speak out their pain, their memories and have a way to send it. You do not need to watch them. You can delete them right away if you have too, or forget that email address altogether. This is just a tool for them to use in their own journey but you also may benefit from watching them. The choice is yours, okay?”

Emma nods her understanding. Feeling a part of her wants to look immediately and another part of her never wants to look.

“Can you explain to me your hesitation to go back to National City?”

Emma pauses for a moment as she thinks of her answer. Her emotional pain suddenly pushes forward and makes her squirm.

“It’s okay Emma, allow yourself to feel it.”

She takes a shaky deep breath and tears start filling her eyes. She remembers the times she would have with her sisters, how they would hold each other while watching a movie but would keep Emma at arms length in terms of opening up to her. How their communications never got to the deep level they would so often have. How they solely focused on chasing the Shadows, making Emma feel like an afterthought through canceled sister nights or lunches. How their relationships also got in the way, and though Emma is so happy for them, it hurts being left behind.

“It’s okay Emma. Breathe through it.”

Emma remembers her breathing exercises and purposely calms her breathing, allowing the tears that have built up, to finally fall. Lily immediately moves to lie more on Emma’s body and rests her head on Emma’s shoulder. Giving her the physical comfort and pressure she needs in that moment.

‘I miss them so much.’ Emma’s mind weeps out. ‘I miss them every day and I want to tell them everything that’s happened and hug them and just-’

Emma lifts a hand to her pounding head as her shoulders arch slightly off the bed.

Alistair stands and stares down at her as he assesses what he is witnessing while feeling her pain.

“Interesting.” He mutters and his head tilts. “Emma, this pain you are feeling in your head and in your eyes. Does it appear when you feel strong emotions?”

‘Yes.’

“Mainly positive or negative or a bit of both?”

‘Mainly negative.’

“Do you mind if I search your mind for these moments? To better understand what is going on? I’m warning you that it will be painful.”

Emma shakes her head and lets out a voiceless groan of pain.

Alistair places his hands on either side of Emma’s temples and closes his eyes.

Emma jolts as she feels his presence go through her mind. She relives every moment her powers have flared, even the intimate moments with both Lena and Diana when the headboards cracked and the bed broke. Her escape from the DEO, the de-stress room, Waterloo Bridge, the attack on L-Corp.

On and on the memories flash past her, some rewind and fast forward as Alistair processes them.

Lily barks loudly, drawing Alistair out of her mind and Emma’s head falls heavily back against the bed.

Blood is dripping from her nose and Alistair immediately gets a tissue to stem the flow.

“I’m sorry.”

‘Not worry.’ Emma’s mind breathes out brokenily and moves her head forward. But finds the nose bleed has already stopped. ‘Did you find out anything?’

“Possibly. But I will leave you to rest. Do you have any further questions?”

‘No… Well, am I ready to go home?’

“I’m afraid only you can answer that.” Alistair says with a small smile and Emma silently huffs. “But, sometimes, when we are at a crossroads of standing on the ledge, all we need to do, is let go.”

Emma lets Alistair’s words sink in and nods.

“I just need to talk with Mr Wayne and J’onn. Lily, stay with Emma.”

Lily lifts her head when she hears her name and nods, as if understanding the command, settling back down on Emma.

Alistair quickly leaves the room and goes down the corridor to where the rest of the group are.

“How is she?” Diana immediately stands, her face full of worry.

But Alistair ignores Diana’s question and focuses on Bruce and Diana. “I think your theory may be incorrect.”

-- -- --

Emma continues to stroke Lily’s fur and smiles when she would randomly lick her cheek.

‘Hmm, maybe I should get a dog.’ Emma thinks to herself.

“Maybe you should.” J’onn’s voice makes her jump and Lily turns to growl at the intruder until Emma soothes her back down.

“May I sit here?” J’onn motions at the chair Alistair had sat in and Emma nods. “Emma, I wanted to apologise again for how strongly I tried to push you earlier-”

‘It’s okay-’ Emma interrupts but J’onn holds his hand up.

“No, please let me finish. I responded poorly, even though Alistair tells me it was natural the way I did. I want to be better for you. And of course I would very much like you to come home, but it is entirely your decision.”

‘Thank you J’onn.’

“You're very welcome.”

‘Can you help get Lily off me? I want to hug you.’

“Lily, off.” J’onn orders and Lily responds right away.

Emma stiffly sits up and removes the nose cannula. J’onn helps her slowly get to her feet.

“There we go.” J’onn smiles and then lovingly wraps his arms around her. “Have you grown? I swear your head was lower down.”

Emma shrugs, just enjoying the papa bear hug J’onn is giving her. They stay like that for a while until Diana and Alistair re-enter the room.

J’onn kisses Emma’s cheek but halts when he compares her height again. “I swear you were never this tall.”

Emma shrugs again and smiles.

“Why? How tall were you before?” Diana asks, confused by J’onn’s comment.

“Five foot seven, same as Alex.”

“Not by our calculations.” Kate says while unlocking her tablet. “You are five foot ten, more near eleven.”

“No way!” Emma signs in disbelief.

“Well I’m five foot eleven.” Diana says casually and stands next to Emma. “And you are almost as tall as me.”

“Alex is not going to like that.” Emma signs with a grin.

“Why?” Diana asks with a tilt of her head.

“She’ll be the shortest sister. I’ll actually be taller than Kara. How did I not notice?”

“You had a lot going on.” Alistair tries to reassure her.

“Explains why you felt like you were being stretched.” Bruce adds and Kate nods along.

‘Don’t tell anyone.’ Emma threatens J’onn with a quirk of her eyebrow.

“I won’t.” J’onn gives her a small smile and hugs her again. “This isn’t goodbye, more a, see you later.”

‘See you later.’ Emma’s mind calls out and waves the trio off as they disappear in a purple flash.

“Don’t worry, I’ll let you borrow one of my portal watches.” Bruce says before leaving the room and Emma spins around to the dresser to realise Lena’s portal watch is gone.

‘Son of a-

-- -- --

The days go by quietly and once Bruce feels happy, he allows Diana to take Emma back to Paris. He gives Emma strict instructions to not use her powers in any circumstance and to take note of how she feels if she has any flare ups. He also makes her some lead lined glasses, like Kara’s but a black, thick frame to help with the headaches and over exposure.

When the couple portal into Diana’s apartment, Emma breathes in deeply.

It’s familiar, but it doesn’t feel completely like home.

The next morning Emma wakes up in Diana’s arms and snuggles backwards into her.

“Hmm, good morning Astéri.” Diana’s voice whispers deeply as she kisses the back of Emma’s head.

Emma turns her head and connects her lips with Diana’s. The kiss gradually gets more and more heated and Emma moves her body around to face her girlfriend. The pair start slowly grinding against each other. Their love making has become even more passionate and tender since Emma’s collapse. Something Emma does not mind at all.

Hours later and after having a long sex session in the bath. Emma sits on the sofa and listens through the arrangement of ‘Keep Climbing’ she’s recorded as a demo. All that is needed now is the vocals, but Emma does not want to disturb Robyn while she is still on tour.

Emma sighs deeply and taps the edges of her MacBook Pro. The temptation to watch some of her sisters’ videos is growing by the hour.

Making her mind up Emma opens her emails and clicks on her old email address. Soon thousands of messages pop up. All from different people and representatives. It starts to become very overwhelming until Emma has the idea to only show her sisters’ emails. But even then the emails are numbered over four hundred.

Emma reads the headings of each. Most are titled with the days or entry level but Emma’s eyes fall on a few that have occasions in them. The main one that catches Emma’s attention is from Alex, titled, ‘I’m engaged!’

Slowly she moves her finger across the trackpad and double clicks on the video.

She grabs a pillow to hold as Alex’s upper body appears on the screen.

“Hey Peanut. Happy Thanksgiving for whenever you see this.” Alex gives the camera a small, hesitant smile. “So, I don’t know if you saw Mom’s email or not but, surprise!” Alex holds up her left hand and shows the camera her engagement ring. Tears fill the redhead’s eyes and Alex sniffs. “Honestly I was thinking of asking her but she beat me to it.” Alex lowers her hand and glances down at the ring. Sucking in her lips as if trying to keep her emotions in check. “I mean, I wanted to get Sam a ring before you left.” She gazes back up at the camera, as if looking right at Emma. “And the reason I didn’t was because I wanted you there. Please don’t feel guilty about that, I just-” Alex runs a hand through her hair and wipes the tears that have rolled down her face. “I just want you here to celebrate with me, you know.” Alex gazes up at the ceiling to try and stop herself from crying further. But it doesn’t help. “I mean, will you be here for the wedding? Will you come? Please? I can’t imagine getting married without you by my side. Like the many times we played with our dolls and put on grand weddings for them, we were never apart and I-” Alex lowers her head and sniffs loudly. “Sorry.” Alex wipes her face and tries to compose herself. But Emma can see the utter pain Alex is bearing when she looks back up at the camera. “I’m thinking of wearing a dress, I initially want to wear a suit but Sam is bringing me around the idea of a dress. I have no idea what kind yet and I’m dreading going to the bridal store. Mom’s gonna see if she can book Sam and I in at Treyvon’s.” Alex grins and chuckles as she wipes the tears away again. “Think you can get us a discount?” Alex takes a deep, shuddering breath. “I hope you are okay and-” Alex pauses and bites the inside of her lip. “I hope to hear or see you soon. I miss you Em, so, so much and I love you even more.” Alex’s face scrunches up as she reaches over to stop the video.

As soon as it ends Emma bursts into tears and rips her glasses off to rub her eyes. She rocks back and forth as she voicelessly sobs. Soon quick, heavy footfalls race to her and instantly Diana picks her up to position Emma on her lap. She doesn’t say anything but holds Emma close and comforts her as she weeps.

Eventually Emma calms down enough to stop crying and just nuzzles her head into the crook of Diana’s neck. .

“Astéri? Are you alright?” Diana asks and Emma slowly sits up from Diana’s wet shoulder. “Oh Em.” Diana reaches over for a tissue and gently wipes Emma’s face.

“Did you hear?”

“I heard the start, but not all. I wanted to give you your privacy.”

Emma nods and rests her head back down on Diana’s shoulder. Diana gently hums and rubs soothing circles on Emma’s back.

Eventually Emma sits back up again and signs. “Pass me my Mac. I need to send some emails.”

-- -- --

A few days later

Emma portals into a storage area surrounded by wedding dresses. A squeal immediately greets her.

“Oh my god it's really you!” A woman dressed in black gapes at her.

Emma smiles and nods. She pushes some of her hair behind her ear and momentarily knocks the face modifier on her helix.

“Please follow me and I will take you straight to Trey. Sam has chosen her dress, she found it quite quickly but your sister is having a hard time, bless her heart.”

The bridal assistant opens the door and holds it open for Emma to walk through.

Emma feels herself shaking as she follows the assistant through the deserted boutique. Her stomach feels like it's knotting and has butterflies all in one.

‘Keep calm Em, keep breathing.’ She tries to reassure herself and fiddles with her glasses.

They eventually get to the main area where a little platform is situated for brides to stare at their possible gowns in the full-length mirrors and get other people’s opinions.

Emma pauses by the archway and watches as Alex motions to herself in the mirror. Clearly not one hundred percent happy with the dress she has on. But, to Emma, Alex still looks stunning.

Emma’s eyes gaze at the back of the heads of her family and friends. The only ones missing were the men and Sam.

Then Alex turns to face the others, her head lowered in defeat and Emma’s eyes snap to look back at Alex.

She watches as Alex slowly lifts her head and freezes when their eyes connect. Her breath hitches as she finally notices Emma standing there.

“Em?!”

(Part Fifty)

[aion-rsa]

Zack Snyder’s Original Vision for Justice League Faded Long Before His Exit

https://ift.tt/3buaKS6

As Zack Snyder’s Justice League prepares to showcase the director’s true vision of the 2017 film long-sought by a vocal segment of the fandom, behind-the-scenes details have emerged about the director’s exit from the theatrical film, providing interesting context to its upcoming debut as an HBO Max miniseries. It seems that the official—devastatingly heartbreaking—explanation for Snyder’s departure from the film actually overshadowed some behind-the-scenes strife.

Picture this for a Justice League plotline: Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) falls in love with a recently widowed Lois Lane (Amy Adams). While the notion of a Batman/Lois Lane romance is not entirely unheard of in the annals of DC Comics, it might seem awkward for a film franchise that was still taking its first steps. Nevertheless, this was a major angle that Snyder intended to inject into the film, as revealed in a lengthy Vanity Fair exposé. Of course, the romance, which would have directly followed the events of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, obviously didn’t make the film, and—barring some secretly-shot scenes for the Snyder Cut—it is unlikely to ever happen. However, it was apparently typical of the now-revealed clashes that Snyder had with Warner Bros. in the lead-up to his 2017 exit.

“The intention was that Bruce fell in love with Lois and then realized that the only way to save the world was to bring Superman back to life,” Snyder explains of the idea that Warner nixed. “So, he had this insane conflict, because Lois, of course, was still in love with Superman. We had this beautiful speech where [Bruce] said to Alfred: ‘I never had a life outside the cave. I never imagined a world for me beyond this. But this woman makes me think that if I can get this group of gods together, then my job is done. I can quit. I can stop.’ And, of course, that doesn’t work out for him.”

Backtracking a bit, Snyder—having come off hits like Dawn of the Dead, 300 and Watchmen—was auspiciously tapped to shepherd Warner’s wider aspirations for DC Comics films starting with 2013’s Man of Steel, which debuted Henry Cavill’s impressive iteration of the Blue Bomber. However, the film was a winding rollercoaster of dark drama that stood in stark contrast to the Marvel Comics movies against which it was designed to compete. Thusly, it banked $668 million worldwide—by no means a flop, but well short of Warner’s expectations, especially against the film’s $225 million budget. Regardless, the studio gave Snyder a mulligan and allowed his vision to further manifest mostly unfettered with 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which introduced Ben Affleck’s Batman, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Ray Fisher’s Cyborg and—in a bizarre, context-deprived cameo—Ezra Miller’s The Flash.

Dawn of Justice would go on to gross $873.6 million worldwide—once again, not a flop, but nevertheless disappointing for Warner, who had maintained faith and even upped the budget for Snyder’s sophomore DCEU effort to $250 million. “When Batman v Superman came out and we did get a negative reaction from the fans, it was disheartening for all of us,” laments production head Greg Silverman. “Zack had made these movies, like 300, that were such crowd-pleasers. And that was our job—to make crowd-pleasers. And here, we have made a movie together, and it didn’t really please the audience.”

Read more

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Indeed, Batman v Superman was not generally regarded as a crowd-pleaser, and was instead widely lambasted by both critics and audiences alike, manifesting as a marathon of moroseness passing for poignancy, showcasing a titular conflict between the two heroes held together by flimsy load-bearing motivations, weighed down further with unexplained Justice League-foreshadowing scenes (notably the aforementioned Flash cameo and the “Knightmare” sequence,) referencing an imminent invasion from planet Apokolips. More importantly, it didn’t create the watershed cultural moment that Warner needed to effectively whet audience appetites for the Justice League team-up, which was clearly its main purpose. Thus, while Marvel continued to bask in billions with likeable icons—and even made icons of non-mainstream titles like Guardians of the Galaxy—Warner was stuck with DC movies permeating with unrelatable angry gods who hate each other.

Consequently, while the studio soured on Snyder by the time production for Justice League had commenced, there was an unfortunate fatalism, since the die had been cast on where the story was headed. After all, Snyder came into the film with a vision that was far too lofty even for a director who was still in the studio’s good graces, much less one perceived as having led it down the primrose path. Further tinder for this proverbial fire was scattered with a top-down edict from Warner chairman and CEO Kevin Tsujihara, who mandated that the picture would be only two hours in length, and that DC Entertainment creative chief Geoff Johns and Warner Bros. co-production head Jon Berg were to be on-set every day to, as Snyder puts it, “babysit” him.

“It was really tricky and not a position that I loved, to be honest,” Berg says. “I tried to be forthright about what I thought creatively. My job was to try to mediate between a creator whose vision is instinctually dark and a studio that perceived, rightly or wrong, that the fans wanted something lighter. I was respectful of the director and didn’t pursue things that were coming at me from the corporate side that I thought weren’t in line with what would make the best movie.”

Snyder maintains that having Johns and Berg watching over his shoulder didn’t bother him, and that “they weren’t that threatening.” Yet, they constantly pressed him to inject humor into his otherwise-serious content. “It wasn’t anything that was too outrageous,” says Snyder, but it nevertheless created a contradiction, especially as the ambitious designs Snyder teased in Dawn of Justice—many of which sidetracked that film—were being systematically erased. Thus, Justice League seemed to be a tug-of-war production, as Snyder moved ahead with his vision, only to see concepts nixed outright (like the Batman/Lois romance,) and even lose produced ideas like the spinoff-teasing romantic subplot between Ezra Miller’s Flash and Kiersey Clemons’s Iris West (the latter of whom was cut from the film altogether,) and a proposed return of Harry Lennix’s Man of Steel character, General Swanwick, who was to be revealed as a disguised J’onn J’onzz/Martian Manhunter; concepts that, for those in the know, represented the intended heart of the film.

The laborious process continued even after Snyder and wife Deborah (who serves as a producer,) were dealing with the passing of their daughter. Yet, Snyder officially exited Justice League in May 2017—two months after the tragedy, which was initially cited as the primary reason. “It’s such a lightning strike in the center of this whole saga,” says Snyder. “And in a lot of ways it has informed everything we’ve done since.” However, it was clear that the escalating acrimony between Snyder and Warner Bros. was the heretofore unspoken other reason behind the split, after which the studio tapped Joss Whedon—fresh from his own acrimonious exit from Marvel Studios—to pinch-direct the picture and have it ready for theaters by November. Of course, as Ray Fisher, and an increasing number of personnel now allege, that tenure led to a different—inherently toxic—problem.  

Regardless of where one stands on the perpetually polarizing topic of Zack Snyder, his exit from the ambitious crossover film was undeniably one of the saddest stories to hit the industry in quite some time. However, its tragic aspect turned out to be the emotionally heavy straw that broke the back of Snyder’s rapidly weakening relationship with studio Warner Bros. Thus, with most of those studio restraints now shed, it makes the upcoming arrival of the labor of love that is the “Snyder Cut” even more intriguing.

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Zack Snyder’s Justice League hits HBO Max on Thursday, March 18.

The post Zack Snyder’s Original Vision for Justice League Faded Long Before His Exit appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2NLuzvY

[forcedsense]

&& @banschivs​ ;; SC

       Even in daylight, the Wayne Heir tends to stick his nose in others business. His ideals of justice run his life. Maybe not the best to keep his name out of papers-- he’d been arrested briefly two weeks ago for beating a man for berating a young girl. Still has no doubts the man was a pimp, but seeing as he ended up nearly dead less than a week later, not much he could do about it now. The Bat couldn’t take him out, but someone else did. He was a bit busy having to beat down police for trying to take him in. 

            A man called Stan arrested in connection to prostitution and kidnapping. Victims still yet to be identified or found. Gashes in his face by unknown origin, however The Bat man seems not to have been involved. 

    Now, though, if he were arrested, he’d easily be able to pay his way out. If the crime families could do it, he didn’t see why he shouldn’t. Someone with his face constantly in the papers, whether due to his humanitarian deeds, or bad behavior when it came to others. “ Go on ahead, I’ll catch up. “ Alfred wasn’t given time to argue as Bruce got out of the back seat. Hardly payed much attention to what Nix might have been doing herself-- a heavily pregnant woman didn’t need that kind of unwanted attention. Whether or not she had internet fame. Precisely why he walks over to the bushes where a man takes photographs of her, grabbing him by the jacket collar and tossing him onto the ground. 

The crowds seemed to notice, and Wayne takes little concern in how they pull out their phones to record him. Can already hear Alfred berating him for letting his aggression get the better of him again. He was able to talk it over where Stan was concerned, what decent person would stand by while a woman is abused by another? This case, this scene will likely warrant mixed reactions. Wayne hardly cares either way. 

           “ Haven’t you people ever heard how inappropriate it is to stalk someone? Let alone take photos of them without their consent. “ The man tries to argue his way out of it, even looks a bit frightened. Flashes from camera phones reflect, but Bruce pays little mind. “ If Vicki Vale can ask before doing an interview for Gotham News Network, or one of her articles in the Gotham Gazette, then anyone else writing articles has every opportunity to ask beforehand. Journalism is about a story, not about gossip mongering. “

             If the photos were uploaded to the cloud, it’d be too late, but just in case, Bruce grabs the DSLR from the mans hands. He pulls the memory card out, and tosses the camera back at him, little concern for if the camera were to break. He starts walking away, and the man stands to tackle Bruce-- only for him to dodge, grabbing his leg and tossing him back onto the ground. Not the best move, perhaps, but excuses could always be made when you have the money. His attention turns to Nix, and he offers the SD card to her, rather than break it like he’d planned. Extra blow to the man, so to say. “ He’s been following you, so I believe this is rightfully yours now. “ 

[kariachi]

Okay, we’re gonna see how much liveblogging I can get done today. We’re still in full Kevin mode, and we’re starting the day with Heads of the Family. I have minimal idea what to expect, but I love Kevin and I love the Bugg Brothers, so it can’t be bad.

Right?

My love for this show’s music selection continues.

Oh good lords, these people take family reunions seriously. There’s a fucking banner. You can see more people in this frame then there was at my last family reunion in it’s entirety. And that was everybody from this farming family that still lived in the northeast within six generations of relation. Not kidding.I know nix and I play with there being too many fucking Joneses but goddamn there are canonically too many fucking Tennysons!

Just, goddamn.

...Last year Ben and Gwen had a burping contest where Ben won by so much a fucking gazebo collapsed on them and several relatives. I’m not surprised, just concerned

And Aunt Kathy damn near banned them from future reunions. Honestly I can’t blame her. Made Max give her a month’s worth of foot massages to re-earn the right to attend.

They’re bringing the deviled eggs.

That is, a sad amount of deviled eggs for the number of people here.

Nobody is happy to see Ben, which, given last year, not surprising.

...yep, that’s a level of offhand rudeness you only get from relatives.

Honestly I gotta write a fic involving family reunions, that’s shit’s gotta be confusing for an Erinaen like Argit.

(probably Great) Aunt Kathy likes bacon in her deviled eggs. The presence of them was likely planned ahead.

There’s a Sweden branch of the Tennyson family. The representatives shown are Sven and Len. I’m horribly amused. Also Max apparently can’t tell which is which.

...Somebody just showed up given a headcount of nearly 600. What is wrong with these people?!

The headcounter’s name is Alfred. He has pumpkin pie. This earns him a point.

He’s Max’s second cousin. This is a relation I can accept as a family reunion.

Somebody is showing off Max’s baby pictures. Making him out to have been a worse-looking teen than he was though. Doesn’t look good, but I was expecting worse from the characters’ reactions.

Also this is apparently Grandma Rita, which given it’s Max saying that I have to assume she’s either his mother or his grandmother, so Ben & Gwen’s great-grandma or great-great-grandma. Probably great-grandma. Either that, or she’s aged real well, or she and Max’s mom had kids real young.

“I’m gonna get some deviled eggs“ Ben says before being stopped by the realization that there, by the food, is his archest of nemesises, Kevin. Who, given there’s nearly 600 people here, may actually belong. I mean statistically, with this many people just attending the reunion, nonetheless in the family, there’s acceptable odds he’s a cousin of some bent.

Also my son, dual-wielding fried chicken

Gwen, concerned Kevin might be related to them. Max, concerned Ben’s going to do something that gets them banned from the family reunion.

“Don’t do anything rash“ like Ben has ever done something not-rash ever in his life

Boys please. I know you’re both disasters but, for five minutes pretend to have something resembling chill.

Ben: *totally down to kick Kevin’s ass for daring to eat a food* Kevin: *certain he won’t because they’re surrounded by innocent relatives* Ben: *does not care one iota* Gwen: *about to have an aneurysm because holy shit is her cousin trying to get them disowned*

I have to admit, I do enjoy the addition of episodes where Kevin is just existing and it’s Ben who’s starting shit? Having a wide range of hows with regards to the boys getting into fights makes sure that we get some real character depth out of both of them, as well as making sure the episodes don’t get samey and that they can always do something new. They aren’t pigeon-holing themselves.

The boys have left to a less target-rich environment and are now fighting because, again, how dare Kevin come to a Tennyson family reunion and eat the food. And we still don’t have any real evidence he doesn’t belong. I mean he makes that ‘where you got all your weird’ comment, but it’s Kevin, if they were twins he’d say that just to rile Ben up.

Me thinks these boys should’ve gone out a little further. Attract less attention.

...Ben knocks Kevin clear across the fairgrounds, jumps into a dumpster to stay out of sight until he comes back for round 2, finds the Bugg Brothers. Of course.

Ben is just having A Day.

A particle decimator. Okay, cool, but why you guys hiding in a dumpster?

It’s a shrinking ray. The plan is to use it to destabilize the national economy, undermine the government, disrupt social order, and wreak havoc among the entire world population. I feel like Maurice needs to start thinking smaller.

And lo, they were using the wrong device and accidentally switched Heatblast and Maurice’s heads. I’m shocked.

This is gonna be a weird episode from here out isn’t it

Kevin, gonna kick somebody’s ass even if he’s not sure what the fuck is going on

Kevin, rolling with the head swapping thing. Though honestly with some of the shit he’s been through this probably don’t seem too bad

I do like how Maurice made a head-swapping helmet and yet he and Sidney have not swapped heads, despite, well, everything.

Ah, this is presumably the device that swapped their heads in the first place. Cool cool.

My son

So clarify, he’s outnumbered, his head in on the wrong body, and the Maurice and Sidney are looming. He shows no signs of concern, or lack of confidence he can handle the situation. He still gets divetackled, but hey

And he’s not doing bad, given he’s wrestling against two guys his size.

And Ben has the helmet

“You need to fix us!“ And how, pray tell, do you expect your cousin to do that, Benjamin?

Welp, Gwen and Max got their heads swapped now.

And the watches timed out, meaning how Maurice and Sidney are basically helpless until shit times back in.

Welp, Maurice and Kevin swapped. So now Kevin’s head is on Ben’s body and Maurice is on Sidney’s. Meanwhile Ben’s head is still on Maurice’s body, Max’s on Gwen’s, and Gwen’s on Max’s.

This play-by-play brought to you by Fanta. Thirsty? Get a fanta.

And now Ben’s head is on a squirrel body. And a squirrel head on Maurice’s.

“Gotta fix this before I get infected with this dork’s genes“ Kevin pls.

Okay, Maurice is whole again, but now there’s a squirrel using Sidney’s body

Wow, Maurice, maybe you should’ve hedged your bets on whether you wanted to leave the helmet in the care of an 11-yo or a fucking squirrel.

And lo, now Maurice is back on Ben’s body and Kevin is on Maurice’s.

And I’m not even gonna give a play-by-play of these last several switches, just assume everything happened including the rise and fall of the roman empire

Kevin is fucking done. Also he and Ben are on each other’s bodies now.

Oooo, I was wondering if this episode came before or after Kev joined up with the Forever Nerd, turns out it’s after. Also this phone doesn’t have the spikes.

Oh gods and Ben is answering the damn phone.

FN: Kevin where are you? Me: Kevin is dead. Yeah, horrible accident involving a sprinkler system, a can of soda, and a mountain lion. Just awful. So, ya know, you may as well just lose this number-

Oh

Oh fuck

Oh gods damn

Okay so Ben imitates Kevin and claims he’s hanging out with his family (which, kudos Ben for trying to cover for him, your sweet child) and the Forever Nerd fucking- The quote-

“Family? *scoffs* That’s a laugh. You have noone. Without me, you’re all alone, remember? Now stop playing around and report back here at once.”

I’m gonna kill him, y’all. I’m gonna kill him and then wrap Kevin in a blanket and feed him cookies and cocoa until he pops.

Even Ben’s like ‘wait, no family?’ Which, given this clearly takes place after Introducing Kevin 11, what is going on in Kev’s life and what did Ben think was going on in Kev’s life?

Also Ben theorizing that maybe that’s why Kev crashed his family reunion, just to be part of one, and gods preserve me that’s a painful thought.

Kevin, critiquing the Bugg Brother’s evil plot.

Ben: If you want your body back you just need to blast me- Kevin: *blasts him*

Maurice and Sidney have been getting on so well this episode, it warms the heart. And makes sense in an episode involving a family reunion and the official reveal that Kevin has jackshit in the way of familial relations. Now to find if this is because he dropped them for being shit, because he’s actually an orphan, or he’s been taken from his family because they were shit.

Rath trying to be friendly and welcoming towards Kevin.

Kevin, just walking away from that shit.

And Max and the squirrel are still mixed up, and continue to be as the family flees the event.

9/11 solely due to Kevin things. My son deserves better.

[wits-writing]

Dark Nights Metal #6 (comic review)

Here we are, the climactic finale to Dark Nights Metal by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. Earth has sunken into the darkness. The heroes all defeated or on the verge of defeat by the Dark Multiverse’s army of nightmares and Dark Knights. Every stop needs to be pulled out to even have a chance of containing Barbatos. Seeing it all play out is a ton of fun and worth the buildup of the 5 previous issues.

From here I’m diving headfirst into spoiler-territory to discuss how Metal wraps up and my few gripes with the finale.

[Full Review Under the Cut]

Two narrators are present in Metal’s finale and the shift from one to the other marks the turning tide of battle. It starts with The Batman Who Laughs observing Barbatos’s moments before victory and discussing how this all started with Carter Hall’s journals. He monologues about this to his captive audience, the chained figure from The Wild Hunt. He notes how all the heroes have been laid low or are being overwhelmed by their forces. However, the tide begins to turn are Wonder Woman calls out a war cry to the other heroes present and all of them get back up to continue the fight, including Plastic Man making a big show of his involvement after five issues as an egg. The turning tide of battle finalizes with three key events; Detective Chimp and the heroes who were scouring the multiverse arriving with multiple alternate Batmen as back-up striking at Barbatos, Kendra Saunders facing Carter to remind him of his heroic life as Hawkman, and finally, Wonder Woman diving into the World Forge to retrieve Superman and Batman. When the Trinity emerges, they’re all armed with the key to stopping the Dark Multiverse, the tenth and purest form of the metal that binds all creation, Element X.

From that point, the final battle plays out with the heroes having everything they need to facedown Barbatos and his forces at Challenger Mountain in Gotham. Capullo draws the final battle admirable with a lot of control to the chaos that could be present. FCO Placencia’s colors keep the heroes in brighter focus to contrast Barbatos’s appropriately darker forces, with Hawkgirl as the only one occasionally getting lost in the shuffle since she’s still wearing her darker outfit from her brief time fighting for the other side. With new journal entries from Carter Hall taking over the narration, the final battle is one satisfying payoff after another as everyone gets a moment to shine. Batman punches a Joker-dragon in the face and rides it through the skies over the battle, while using the properties of Element X to arm the rest of the Justice League. The other Leaguers each take out their Dark Knight counterparts in one strike each. Carter Hall finally snaps out of it and rebels against Barbatos. Hawkgirl strikes a fatal blow against the bat-demon. Finally, Batman has his final showdown with The Batman Who Laughs before the Jokerized Dark Knight can enact Barbatos’s backup plan to snuff out the multiverse’s light, with some unexpected help from someone who hasn’t been seen since the Dark Days prologue, the Joker.

As the Clown Prince of Crime puts it, the last thing The Batman Who Laughs, a dark reflection of the idea that Batman always wins because he’s prepared for anything, would ever expect is to face down Batman and Joker at the same time.  It’s a smart move on Snyder’s part to make this Batman’s big moment of triumph in the story, to defeat the darkest of these twisted Bruce Waynes, while keeping the ultimate universe saving of the finale as a collaborative effort between the entire Justice League. Their victory comes from using Element X to channel everyone on Earth together, freeing them from the Dark Multiverse’s influence and affecting the fabric of creation enough to open up the multiverse beyond the Source Wall at its edge.

Metal has mainly been defined by comic book readers as a book containing a ton of wild imagery. Though there is plenty of that to spare, what surprised me most about this finale is that it brought everything back around into a single satisfying theme. The events of this story were truly set off by Batman letting his fear of the unknown control his actions, it’s what drove him to steal Nth Metal artifacts while keeping the reasons secret from his fellow heroes. That unknown future also defines something the forces of the Dark Multiverse profess many times over the course of this event, that all roads (i.e. all futures) lead to darkness. It was by trying to pre-emptively stop that darkness by himself that Bruce fell right into its trap and by accepting help from his longtime friends that they all escaped it to fight back.

The epilogue closing the story out, drawn by Mikel Janin, Alvaro Martinez and Raul Fernandez with James Tynion IV joining in as co-writer, spells out some of Metal’s consequences. The denouement takes the form of one of my favorite superhero comics tropes, the Justice League all enjoying a dinner party together to reflect on what they just went through. The artistic shift from Capullo to the epilogue’s team reflect the end of the chaos that’s been happening in Metal since issue one, since the art is not as chaotic or stylized in the final pages as the rest of the event. We get some brief hints at things to come in the DC Universe, contextualized as Carter Hall’s catalogue of visions he had while in the thrall of the Dark Multiverse, and most of it’s not too surprising if you’ve been following DC Comics news for the past few months. The focus is on setting up for Scott Snyder’s upcoming tenure on the main Justice League book, which will be preceded by the four issue No Justice miniseries in May. But all of that is small potatoes compared to this event ending on the heroes rocking out to the musical stylings of Damian Wayne and Jon Kent, with Alfred backing them up on drums.

If this is just a taste of what Snyder has in store on Justice League, I’m sold hook, line, and sinker. But this finale still has issues, like how Element X could potentially be read as too easy a fix for the conflict or how the person The Batman Who Laughs had chained up this whole time was just some random Monitor, referred to as the Over-Monitor, and not specifically Nix Uotan, as many news outlets and fans have theorized. Where the Gorilla Justice League from The Wild Hunt went after their promise to help is anyone’s guess, but it’s understandable that something so seemingly random from a tie-in wouldn’t come in out of nowhere in the main miniseries.

Overall, Metal is a solid event comic and one of the best of its kind in years. It’s been a ton of fun and I’d highly recommend this to anyone, so long as they don’t mind getting thrown into the deep end of how crazy superhero comics can get.

[wbwest]

New Post has been published on WilliamBruceWest.com

New Post has been published on http://www.williambrucewest.com/2017/07/07/west-week-ever-pop-culture-review-7717/

West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review - 7/7/17

I took last week off, but I hope y’all had a great 4th of July weekend. Life’s still kinda kicking my ass, so this’ll be an abridged edition this week.

I finally got around to watching a movie! It’s been on my list since I first heard it was in pre-production, and I’m amazed it took me this long to watch it, considering my love for the source material. The Founder stars Michael Keaton as Ray Kroc, the “founder” of McDonald’s who really just stole the concept from the McDonald Brothers. A down-on-his-luck shake machine salesman, Kroc happens upon the fledgling McDonald’s restaurant in Southern California. Knowing a good thing when he saw it, he pretty much insisted on becoming a part of the operation, mainly focused on franchising the business. And that’s when things get interesting. I LOVE McDonald’s. You can hate me all you want, but like Jim Gaffigan says, “Everyone has their own McDonald’s”. Mine just happens to be the actual company. I don’t know enough about the history of the company to know how factual an account the movie was, but it was sure damn entertaining. Keaton is amazing in it, and I feel like anyone would enjoy the movie even if they think they don’t give a rat’s ass about McDonald’s as a company. I highly recommend this film.

We finally got our first trailer for Marvel’s Inhumans, and now I realize why they were so hesitant to release it. MY GOD THIS LOOKS TERRIBLE! It looks like Into The Badlands – a show that I hate because people fawn over it when it looks like something that would’ve aired after Xena on Saturday afternoons 20 year ago. Yeah, I even told one of the Badlands creators that when he confronted me over my “appraisal” on Twitter. Badlands is a bad show, but it gets “diversity points”, so folks give it a pass. This show doesn’t even get diversity right, so it’s really just a shitshow in the making. I hate hate HATE that this is considered an official part of the MCU, even if it’s just a part of the never-referenced TV wing. Anyway, this trainwreck debuts in IMAX on September 1st, but will officially air on ABC beginning September 22nd.

Speaking of diversity points, CBS lost all of theirs when they let the Asians go from Hawaii Five-O last weekend. Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park both left the show after salary negotiations broke down as they requested pay equal to their costars. I’ve never seen more than 15 minutes of that show, but I know the dude from Lost seemed pretty important to things. He was basically the White guys’ interpreter to all things native. CBS has claimed that they offered them sizable increases, which weren’t deemed acceptable to Park and Kim. Now the Five-O showrunner, Peter Lenkov, is now joining the side of the network, saying that CBS made “generous offers” to the stars, yet they decided not to renew their contracts.

This has turned into a discussion of race in Hollywood and how things still aren’t equal across the board. I’m a big fan of billing. Billing is important, and should go to the most well-known star. It’s the reason all the ’89 Batman posters say “Jack Nicholson” first. Dude was a bigger star. Now, I didn’t watch Lost and I didn’t watch Battlestar Galactica, but I still recognize Kim and Park from those shows. Maybe it’s just because I’m a geek and folks were always talking about those shows. The show’s star, Alex O’Loughlin? I can’t name a thing he’s been in. Don’t know that dude from Adam. And the other lead? James Caan’s kid? Whatever. Y’all mean you couldn’t pony up the cash to keep Lost Dude and Battlestar Girl? We’re not talking about big names here so, unless there was a favored nations clause where O’Loughlin would have to get a raise if they got raises, thereby thwarting the whole “equality” thing, I don’t see what the problem was. As has been pointed out, all O’Loughlin and Caan had to do was stand in solidarity with their costars and this would’ve been a non-issue. Word on the street it O’Loughlin is quitting at the end of the season anyway, so it’s not like we’re talking another 5 years here. He couldn’t keep his ego in check for a season? Nah, for too many folks, as long as they’ve got theirs, they don’t care if you’ve got yours.

We also got a trailer for Pitch Perfect 3, forcing me to reiterate that NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE A TRILOGY. I know everyone involved likes money, but sometimes there are natural, built-in ends to things. That thing was a 2-movie franchise and that’s it. Don’t forget – I lived that life. I was in the same competition the Bellas won in the first film (we came in 2nd), and I experienced the aca-graduation blues that the girls experienced in the second film. That’s pretty much it. There’s nowhere else to go. I mean, sure there are some random outlier outcomes. One of my groupmates is a hit producer in Asia now. Another is a pretty big pop star in Hong Kong. The rest of us? Dead-end jobs and bills. I used to occasionally do karaoke, but even that got to be too depressing. That shit is fun while it lasts, and then you’ve got to move on. So, in that vein, I can understand the plot of the 3rd movie, with the girls wanting to have one last hurrah, but I don’t really understand the concept of putting them on a USO tour. Is that something the troops wanna see? Has Pentatonix been dropped into the theater of war? It just seems kinda farfetched to me, and I was fine with how things were left in the last movie. Sure, I’ll see it, but it won’t be in a theater.

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

Hide grandma’s wallet – QVC is buying out Home Shopping Network.

After 3 seasons, The Carmichael Show has been canceled by NBC. I really wish someone else would snatch it up, as it’s a smart show

Netflix has renewed Dear, White People for a 2nd season. Meanwhile, they canceled Girlboss after one season. Reed Hastings giveth and he taketh away.

Speaking of Netflix, hearing the cries of fans, Sense8 will officially conclude with a 2-hour finale special

Netflix also renewed one of my favorite original shows, F is For Family, for a 3rd season.

Apparently a series based on the popular Step Up film series, called Step Up: High Water, will premiere on YouTube Red, where absolutely NOBODY is gonna watch it.

Fuller House season 3 will coincidentally premiere on the 30th anniversary of Full House, September 22nd.

Make your vacations weird again, as Cirque du Soleil has purchased Blue Man Group.

Patton Oswalt is engaged to 80s actress Meredith Salenger. Ya know, the same Patton whose wife died last year. I guess we all grieve in our own ways…

Lack of interest brought down The House, which bombed at the box office last weekend. It was reportedly Will Ferrell’s lowest live-action opening for a major studio.

Nick Fury will reportedly be making his MCU return in 2019’s Captain Marvel

HBO is reportedly getting the True Detective band back together, with a 3rd season to star Mahershala Ali

Nixing speculation that she was still up for the White House Press Secretary job, Kimberly Guilfoyle has reupped her contract with Fox News

Rob Lowe and his sons will chase the supernatural in The Lowe Files, and I literally cannot wait.

New game show, Snap Decision, premieres August 7th. Hosted by David Allen Grier, the show breaks precedent because it will debut on GSN and in syndication on the same date.

The world’s leading (and only) bar scientist favorited my tweet this week

We’re gonna do something different here this week. Usually, if you’ve been paying attention to the week’s news, you can at least try to figure out who or what had the best week. Some weeks it’s harder to choose something than others. Then I remembered, “Will, this is YOUR site.” After all, this is all pop culture through my lens, so it’s my rules. So, sometimes I might choose something that meant a lot to me that week, while you were none the wiser. But I bring it up on the site so that we’re all on the same page. And that’s the kind of pick I have this week.

After watching The Founder, I was left thinking, “Michael Keaton is a goddamn national treasure”. After watching Spider-Man: Homecoming last night (yeah, we’ll talk about it next week, when more of y’all have had a chance to see it), I was thinking “Why have we been sleeping on Keaton the past 20 years?” I mean, with the exception of The Other Guys, I honestly hadn’t seen a Michael Keaton movie since probably Batman Returns, and yet Birdman is the one considered his “comeback vehicle”. In The Founder, he really made you feel for a traveling salesman who was at the end of his rope. After a string of laughable failures, he finally found something to which he could hitch his wagon: McDonald’s. And while he also had to prove this to everyone in his sphere of orbit, most importantly he had to prove this to himself. He really needed a win, and Keaton did such a great job conveying that.

In Homecoming, Keaton plays Adrian Toomes, better known as the Vulture (though he’s never called that by name in the film). Not unlike Alfred Molina’s Dr. Octopus, he’s something of a sympathetic villain. Were it not for the fact that comic book franchises deal in the good/bad binary, you could almost relate to him and understand where he’s coming from. He’s a modern-day working class guy who feels ignored by the fat cats up on high. He doesn’t have evil goals. He simply wants to provide for his family, and he has a code of honor that dictates he must do whatever it takes to make good on that promise. I felt that Keaton did a great job expressing the plight of the working man. Sure, he got to utter some cheesy villain dialogue, but that simply comes with the territory. If you stopped for a minute, and ignored the fact that Spider-Man HAS to win, you realize that Toomes is actually kind of on to something. Again, though, I’ll get into more Homecoming thoughts next week.

My pal Chad pretty much swears by Michael Keaton as his favorite actor – a lot of that having to do with his immense love of 1989’s Batman. I’ve gotta say, I was never a huge fan of Keaton’s Batman, and when Chad would laud Keaton’s praises, I wasn’t really seeing it. I see it now, though. I have seen the light and I am healed! Dear Hollywood, more Michael Keaton, please! He pretty much impressed me on two different cinematic fronts this week, and that’s why Michael Keaton had the West Week Ever.

[batgeance]

❛ what’s black and blue and dead all over? you. ❜

He  remembers  texting  her,    but  he  doesn’t  remember  when.    It  could  have  been  days  ago  or  maybe  hours,    and  he  would  sooner  guess  days  because  it  feels  like  he  hasn’t  taken  off  his  suit  in  nearly  a  week.    Time  is  always  funny  because  he’s  always  in  a  perpetual  state  of  exhaustion.    The  truth  is,    it’s  definitely  been  less  than  even  one  day.    His  phone’s  somewhere  across  the  room  with  a  missed  call  from  Arthur  and  maybe  the  reply  he  hadn’t  bothered  to  wait  for  from  Nix.    He’ll  check  them  later.

Too  many  rooms  in  Wayne  Tower  are  without  life  and  collect  cobwebs.    Some  of  them  are  still  dusty  despite  frequent  occupants  and  looking  up  at  the  gothic  candelabra  above  them  in  one  of  dozens  of  office  spaces  reminds  him  that  keeping  a  staff  of  two  is  not  exactly  efficient.

Like  his  brother,    Bruce  stands  at  the  floor  to  ceiling  window  overlooking  the  city  without  a  shirt.    Her  joke  is  at  the  expense  of  the  latest  round  of  bruising  accounting  for  the  only  color  exposure  on  the  skin  of  his  back.    That  ghostly  canvas  is  greening  where  older  wounds  have  paused  their  healing  as  their  fresher  siblings  bloom  in  place  of  where  Nitinol  hadn’t  kept  up  its  defense  in  full.    These  hits  landed  well  enough.    At  least  he  has  the  decency  to  look  almost  apologetic  that  she’s  found  him  like  this.

❝    Not  yet.    ❞  Arthur’d  likely  not  appreciate  either  one  of  them  for  this  humor.    Nix  can  see  Bruce’s  profile  where  he  twists  his  chin  parallel  to  his  shoulder  and  spies  her  at  the  door.    Dory  must  have  waved  her  in  the  right  direction.    Alfred  would  have  walked  her  all  the  way  here  so  she  couldn’t  take  any  side  quests  and  then  lingered,    but  he’s  nowhere  to  be  found.    Relieved,    Bruce  returns  his  attention  to  the  sprawl  of  Gotham  out  and  below.    ❝    Thanks  for  coming.    ❞

— @banschivs // TBM22.

[sleepofgiants-blog]

Constructivism (Batman and Raven #3)

MONDAY

Batman is held down on his knees by well dressed henchmen. A breathing mask is strapped to his face and two tanks stand in front of him.

Two-Face

“Heads, you get halothane. Tails, it’s sarin. Any way the coin falls, Dark Knight.. I walk outta here.”

Two-Face tosses his coin in the air and it stops midway on the panel to bisect the page.

Rachel, 10, sits on her bed looking at the clock on her end table. It tells her it’s 1:00 AM.

THURSDAY

Batman is bound by thick vines and a green mist hangs in the air.

Poison Ivy

“Psilocybin, salvia divinorum, virola carinata.. Who says salad can’t be dessert?”

A big flowered vine bisects the page.

Rachel sits at the breakfast table with Alfred, looking at an empty chair.

SUNDAY

Batman is snared in a bright pink web of chewing gum.

The Joker

“HAAAAARRR-LEEEEY! This isn’t funny unless you bring me those throwing Stars of David!”

A string of hahahas bisect the page.

Rachel does her homework on the sofa as Alfred watches his program.

Rachel

“*sigh* Where’s dad? He’s been gone all day. He never takes this long.”

Alfred

“Well, miss, he got a call from Arkham.. That Joker escaped again. Seems he has himself a partner these days. It’s not well enough for criminals to do terrible things anymore. Now they need a theme and a troupe. Makes one think..”

Rachel wrinkles her nose.

Rachel

“Stupid bad guys.. I’m going to bed, Alfred. ‘Night.”

We see Rachel leaving the room and looking off panel slyly as Alfred props his feet on the ottoman.

Quick shots of Rachel grabbing yellow dishwashing gloves from a cupboard, shoving her feet into her duck printed galoshes, opening the glass case in the Batcave..

Splash page: Raven is flying above Wayne Manor, Gotham City twinkling in the distance. Batman’s older model half cape clasped around her neck, worn upside down as a cloak, it points an angular corner like a fang or a beak in front over her face. Her gloves and boots chunky on her gray pajama clad extremities.

Next page: Alfred retrieves his chirping mobile device and an app reads “EMPTY NEST” over a map with red and yellow icons placed along the grid.

He puts the phone to his head and says

Alfred

“Concierge to Chiroptera. Corvus is precocial.”

Batman is perched on a water tower when he touches the earpiece on his cowl to respond.

Batman

“I know.”

Alfred

“EXCUSE ME, sir?”

Batman

“I said I know. We have been expecting this.. I’m following her. I want to see what she does.”

Alfred

“I am fully aware I am under your employ, and as such am in no position to question your decisions BUT HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?”

Batman clicks his earpiece and smirks.

Raven soars over the Gotham skyline.

Raven inner dialogue

“I’ve never seen it so dark before.. Looks kinda scary. Well.. I guess I can look kinda scary, too.”

Her eyes glow.

Raven flies lower, closer to the rooftops.

She spots a group of teens breaking into a window on a fire escape.

Raven inner dialogue

“That looks illegal! Uh.. Here goes!”

She swoops down and COLLECTS them in her cloak, which has become pure darkness. She drops them hard onto the street below. They’re understandably shaken but this is Gotham, so a member of the bandits shouts “BATMAN?”

Raven softly lands in front of them, one foot at a time. She looks RIDICULOUS.

Thug

“Check again, dork. Batman ain’t four feet tall.”

Raven

“Why did you guys do that? Break into that person’s house? That’s stupid.”

Thug #2

“What is this schwarbage?”

Thug #1 PUNCHES Raven in the face. Gotham sucks.

Raven can’t believe it. She has no clue how to respond. Unfortunately, nature does. Flight, then fight.

She springs back, red skinned and mad. The silly boots and gloves seem terrifying now. This is raw emotion and inexperience.

The shadow around her takes the shape of a giant bird and a clawed talon fires out towards the closest evil doer.

It crushes the thug’s ribs.

KR-KRK

SLAM

The quivering body is pinned to the pavement and one of the lot pulls a gun from thier waistband and aims for the demon’s head.

TINK!

A Batarang strikes the gun with a spark and sends it out of the thugs hand just in time!

Batman glides down from a nearby roof.

Batman

“RACHEL, NO.”

Rachel is human again and crying.

Rachel

“..Dad?”

Batman punches the now gunless thug in the throat and says

Batman

“CAR. NOW!”

The Batmobile turns a corner and opens a door by itself and Rachel gets in.

Thug #3

“Batman has a kid?”

WHAM

Batman swings his boot into the thug’s head.

Bruce and Rachel drive home silently.

The next day. Rachel eats breakfast and hears in the next room

Alfred

“-Completely irresponsible! You let it go too far, sir!’

Bruce

“We needed to know what it would do.”

Alfred

“She, Master Bruce. Your daughter.”

Bruce stiffens.

Bruce

“Alfred, please.. I know. No matter how much training we’ve done here, it’s always different out there. Now that she knows, she’ll be more prepared.”

Alfred

“Listen to yourself! She is ten years old.”

Bruce

“So was I. And she has more power than I did. Ever will.”

Alfred

“Sir.. I was under the impression that any training I have been witness to was to ensure a incident free life for Rachel.”

Bruce

“She can’t have a normal life. None of us can ever turn away.”

Alfred tucks his chin into his chest, desperate to discover the right words.

Cut back to Rachel, shadowboxing at the table and beaming a grin with her lightly bruised eye.

Dusk:

We see an open sketch pad on Rachel’s desk festooned with costume designs and whizzbang eye-catching names. Batgirl! Nixed. Nightwing! A blue question mark lazily wanders nearby. Raven! A red circle corrals the chosen moniker.

Off-panel we hear ZZZIIIP!

Rachel pounces through the doorway with a purple drawstring bag.

She reaches the front door, coast is clear! No paternal figures in sight.

She turns the knob and runs right into a wall of denim and cotton.

Rachel

“OOF”

Clark

“Evening, miss. Are you Rachel?”

Rachel

“Uh.. yeah.”

Clark

“I’m Clark, I know your dad from er- work? He invited me to dinner tonight.”

Rachel

“DAAAAD, YOUR DATE’S HERE!”

Clark stands in the doorway with a blushing smile.

Clark

“Ha! Well, it’s not like that.. Of course there’s nothing wrong with.. um”

Clark removes his glasses with his left hand and unbuttons the collar of his shirt with his right to reveal bright red and blue fabric underneath and levitates a foot off the ground in the doorway.

Wow. Superman.

Rachel

“Holee-”

Cut to: Dinner.

Alfred expertly shaves a ham.

Bruce and Clark sit opposite each other at an opulent oak table in an opulent dining hall. Clark shrinks into his secondhand sport coat and Bruce expands in his $900 turtleneck. Raven sits at the head of the table, telekinetically balancing a fork and knife in a perfect waltz on her plate.

Clark

“So, Rachel.. That’s, uh, wow.”

Rachel

“I can fly too.”

Clark

“Ha. That one took me a while! I actually used to have this ring-”

Bruce

“How do you feel about taking Rachel to the Fortress?”

Clark

“Uh. I mean, Rachel do you want to-”

Bruce

“To train with alien weaponry.”

Clark drops his silverware.

Clark

“To tr- What? Bruce, I don’t think a minor should be handling guns..”

Bruce

“I thought you grew up on a farm. Anyway, I’m talking strictly defensive training. The Fortress has significant space for aerial maneuvers, yes? And it’s private.”

Clark

“I’m not shooting your daughter. Is this what you really called me for? I thought you might just want to meet the others..”

Rachel looks at Alfred and he shrugs.

Bruce

“She needs an instructor. One that can work at her strength level. Actually, we’ll be working together to-”

Clark

“She’s ten!”

Rachel

“She’s sitting next to you!”

Bruce

“How long after you crashed into our planet did you start lifting tractors and looking through walls?

Clark

“That’s-”

Bruce

“Different? We all are. World’s spinning faster and faster and we owe it to ourselves to keep up.”

Bruce looks over to Rachel and continues

“Are you going to keep going out at night?”

Rachel

“Yup.”

Bruce looks at Clark again.

Clark

“I- I don’t know. I guess.. I’ll think about it. That’s all I can say for now.

We have an exterior shot of Wayne Manor at the last moments of dusk. Clark Kent drives away in his five year old Honda.

As he drives away, he looks into his rear view mirror and sees a dark shape soaring away from an upstairs window.

Clark

“I really hope I don’t have to clean this up, Bruce. I really-”

WHOOSH

The Batmobile races by Clark’s vehicle from a hidden driveway. We have a freeze frame of both men driving side by side in an instant. Batman is smiling.

Clark

“I don’t know if that warms my heart or worries me sick.”

[aion-rsa]

How a Batman 1989 Deleted Scene Cost Sean Young the Co-Starring Role

https://ift.tt/3tLKA4I

1989’s Batman is widely regarded as a time-tested, transformative entry for the comic book movie genre, and its $411.5 million worldwide gross ($872.8 million adjusted for inflation,) certainly shook an unsuspecting film industry to its core. However, for actress Sean Young, who was initially set to co-star in the film as Vicki Vale opposite Michael Keaton’s Caped Crusader, it represents a point in which misfortune pulled her away from a prospective mainstream breakthrough. Indeed, not only did a pre-production accident force her off the film, but the scene for which she was preparing ended up getting cut from the movie!

Director Tim Burton’s choice of Sean Young for Batman’s leading lady role, photojournalist Vicky Vale, seemed auspicious, since it brought the genre experiment a rising star with pertinent gravitas from roles in then-recent offering like Blade Runner and Dune, along with dramas like No Way Out and Wall Street. It was a positive outlier against the buildup from the film’s 1988 production, during which it was preemptively savaged by fans and critics over Burton’s selection of comedic character actor Michael Keaton—fresh from starring in Burton’s 1988 hit, Beetlejuice —as opposed to a conventionally imposing action movie star. However, a fateful accident would see blonde bombshell Kim Basinger take the role of Vicki, depriving Young of the film’s defiant, industry-altering success.

Amongst a normal number of revised permutations, the Batman script, written by Sam Hamm and Warren Skaaren, once had equestrian leanings—initially involving Vicki—designed to build toward a major action sequence. Consequently, in a setback that now resides in the realm of comic book movie legend, Young, who had been in London for four weeks of read-throughs and rehearsals for Batman’s imminent production in Pinewood Studios, was practicing her horse-riding skills when she was thrown off and sustained a fractured arm. That led producer Jon Peters—who had purportedly convinced Burton to cast Keaton—to suggest that the incapacitated Young be replaced with Kim Basinger, as cameras were set to roll in a week. The suggestion was immediately accepted, resulting in the replacement being quickly flown in, costing Young what was to be the biggest role of her career.

“They did spring the horse-riding thing on me, and I fell and had an accident,” explains Young in a recent interview with The Daily Beast. “Could they have kept me on the show and shot around my arm? They probably could have. I think [producer] Jon Peters had this hard-on for Kim Basinger, and he saw an opportunity to exit me, and he did. And no one ended up being very happy with that choice. But it is what it is. I had an accident and then got walked to the door.”

Warner Bros.

The scene in question was the intended start of Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale’s first date, set at Wayne Manor. While the final cut started the date inside the dreary, echoey estate, the date would have instead started outside, at the horse stables. There, we briefly see the two riding horses—with Vicki coming across as the more experienced rider—before they dismount and kick off their flirtations. In an example of intended foreshadowing, Bruce says, furtively alluding to his secret crimefighting exploits, “Horses love me. I keep falling off. Maybe that’s why they love me. You should see me, I’m one big mass of bruises.” At that point, they walk off to a patio on which Alfred (Michael Gough) awaits them with a bottle of champagne,” at which point their date continues inside. Indeed, it’s a minor scene, and, as we were meant to see later in the film, Vicki’s horseback riding was merely a plot device designed to set Bruce on an arc for his own horseback action sequence; an aspect that lends Young’s role-costing accident a cruel element of irony.

The eventual payoff to the stable scene would have manifested after a scene that did make the film (at least partially), in which Bruce visits Vicki in her apartment, hemming and hawing as he tries to muster up the courage to reveal to her that he’s Batman. Of course, the Joker (Jack Nicholson)—enamored with Vicki—then interrupts at the door, resulting in a confrontation with Bruce that ends with Joker—after dropping the crucial clue of the “You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?” line—shooting Bruce with a pistol, leaving Joker convinced that he killed him before leaving Vicki with an offer to consider. As we saw in the movie, Bruce secretly lined his shirt with a bullet-stopping metal tray, and pulled a Batman-esque disappearing act on Vicki after Joker departed. However, this scene was initially designed to kick off an elaborate chase sequence.

Read more

Movies

Batman 1989: The Long Journey and Enduring Legacy of a Superhero Classic

By David Crow

Movies

Michael Keaton is Not Becoming the Default DCEU Batman

By David Crow

In a major contrast from Batman’s onscreen form, early drafts of the script’s apartment scene had the Joker kidnapping Vicki after he revealed the suicide of girlfriend Alicia (Jerry Hall), and smashed the porcelain mask that covered her acid scars. Indeed, the famous, “You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs” line was to be followed by a dramatic cut, after which we see that Vicki was taken by the Joker and his men in their convoy of purple vehicles. At this point, Bruce arrives on the scene to find a mounted policeman in bad shape, sporting a familiar unnatural grin delivered by Smilex gas. Thus, without any other vehicle nearby, Bruce commandeers the cop’s horse and proceeds to chase down the Joker’s convoy. As the chase through Gotham starts to prove fruitless, a red symbol light flashes on Bruce’s belt, at which point a Volkswagen Bug—conspicuously going 70 mph—closes in on him, revealing the driver to be Alfred, who arrives bearing a bundle of fresh Batman attire, resulting a quick pit-stop before the rescue commences. It’s a major divergence from the film itself, in which Vicki wasn’t taken by the Joker at all, save for the climactic scene atop Gotham Cathedral.

“Falling off that horse was something kind of—I couldn’t hang on. There’s kind of a poetic symbolism about that,” lamented Young back in 2005 DVD documentary Shadows of The Bat: The Cinematic Saga of The Dark Knight. “In a way, I look back at that particular time in my life and I go, ‘Wow, I wish I’d been able to hang onto that horse. I wish I’d been able to do that.’ Because then the turning point in my particular career—I would have been able to stay on the film, I would have been in a big box office hit, I would have been able to go on to other big box office hits. That kind of domino effect would have occurred in my career. That was the turning point in my career where that didn’t happen.”

DC Comics

The horseback scenes, while ultimately cut, weren’t as excessive as they seem in retrospect. That’s because it was always clear that Burton’s version of Batman was to reflect the darker elements that came into prominence with Frank Miller’s groundbreaking, profoundly influential 1986 DC Comics miniseries The Dark Knight Returns. By no coincidence, that comic story contains a scene in which Batman rides a horse off into battle; an element of the story that created iconic imagery. Thus, it was merely a reflection of the revolutionary influences—divorcing Batman from the comical stereotype from the 1960s Adam West TV series—that helped form the film. Additionally, one draft even used this sequence as the vehicle to set up the origin story of Robin.

Yet, the saga of Sean Young and Batman continued in the public sphere—sans horses. As the sequel that would eventually become 1992’s Batman Returns had just cast Michelle Pfeiffer for the key role of Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Young felt slighted for not having been given the chance to audition for the part. It’s an understandable feeling, given the way she was unceremoniously recast, which belied any serious volition for her to field the part, since they could have possibly shot around her broken arm during the production’s initial months. Consequently, Young started what became a very public campaign to be cast as Catwoman. This culminated in a 1991 appearance on The Joan Rivers Show (seen just below), in which Young showed up in a homemade Catwoman getup and—through a sultry performance of the character evocative of Eartha Kitt—took Tim Burton to task on his apparent reluctance to even meet with Young in any capacity.

“Even if he wasn’t even going to use me in the sequel, I can’t understand why he wouldn’t at least see me. He wouldn’t see me,” exclaimed Young—at this point out of character—to the late talk show host, who then brought up the rumor that Burton thought the Walkie-talkie Young liked to carry during those days was a gun. “How would I know what he thinks,” Young responded. “He wouldn’t see me, he ducked me, he ran. And then later on, my agent told me that he was going to hire a bodyguard because I was like a dangerous lethal person.”

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Nevertheless, Batman‘s nixed horseback scenes ultimately proved to be a major undoing for Sean Young. Her status as a rising headliner evaporated after that tumble. She would subsequently suffer from, as she now alleges, being blackballed by prominent Hollywood figures such as Steven Spielberg, Warren Beatty and, yes, Tim Burton. In fact her most prominent post-80s movie was the co-starring (twist-touting) role in 1994’s Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, which Young says she only landed because star Jim Carrey advocated on her behalf in spite of studio Morgan Creek. Yet, Young has always worked steadily, and was recently seen in director Tracy Wren’s 2020 drama, Rain Beau’s End, with multiple movies still on her backlog. So, don’t discount the prospect of a potential Sean Young-issance just yet.

The post How a Batman 1989 Deleted Scene Cost Sean Young the Co-Starring Role appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[auburnfamilynews]

It’s early, but Auburn looks poised to land another top 10 class in 2018.

I have said it a few times and will continue to say it probably until the football season starts, it’s early. There will be coaching changes, recruiting ranking changes, commitment changes and plenty of other changes over the course of the next 11 months. Still, from all early indications, the Tigers seem to be putting themselves in position for a strong 2018 recruiting class.

Last week, the Tigers landed 4* OG Jalil Irvin giving Auburn their 4th commitment of the cycle. Three of those commits are rated 247 composite 4*s (Joey Gatewood, Daquan Newkirk, and Jalil Irvin) while the lone 3* in Shaun Shivers might be one of the most explosive players this cycle. That’s a solid group to kick off the class but what should make Auburn fans even more excited is how Auburn looks with some top uncommitted talent right now. It would not be shocking if 4* WR Justyn Ross, 4* CB Jalyn Armour-Davis, 4* RB Asa Martin, 4* OG Tank Jenkins, 4* ATH Nathaniel Watson, and 4* DT Coynis Miller all landed with the Tigers. All six of these guys have AU as either a leader or in their top group and all of them are ranked in the top 10 in the state of Alabama. Only once since Nick Saban arrived at Alabama has Auburn signed more top 10 instate talent than the Tide and that was in the class right after winning a national championship. Auburn has also never signed the 247 composite #1 player in the state during Saban’s tenure. Both of those could change in 2018 if the Tigers are able to close on the above players. A tall task but not unimaginable at this point either.

Then there’s the out of state talent like 4* WR Jacob Copeland, 4* TE Tyneil Hopper, 4* LB Quay Walker, 4* WR Matthew Hill, 4* S Quindarious Monday and 4* S Myles Sims who all are very seriously considering Auburn. I would be surprised if all of the listed names signed with Auburn but I also wouldn’t be stunned if we ended up landing them all as well. The Tigers have positioned themselves as a legitimate player for all of these recruits, now they have to finish. Obviously, the Tigers will need to have a strong showing on the field in 2017 to keep the good vibes going and keep their current coaching staff somewhat together but if they do, then the Tigers might be able to sign one of if not their best class under Gus Malzahn.

Again, though, it’s very early….

Auburn Sets High Bar for Fehoko

The biggest visitor for Junior Day was not a junior in high school, it was Texas Tech DT transfer Breiden Fehoko. Auburn was the first official visit for the former top 50 player and apparently, it left him “speechless”.

“I was really speechless,” Fehoko said after his visit. “First and foremost, I enjoyed the hospitality. Second, I really enjoyed how everybody was really transparent and just real honest about seeing me play here and how they can better my skill set and how they develop me as a football player. I think that was a big thing. … Being this is my first visit, sets the bar really high for other schools.”

He still has four more visits to make but it seems like the Tigers did a great job of positioning themselves to land the big fella. Georgia is the team to watch, in my opinion, as their new DL coach is close with Fehoko and there’s a chance they will be without Trent Thompson down the road as he deals with some off the field issues. But the Dawgs along with LSU, Louisville, and Ole Miss are all going to have to work hard to top Fehoko’s Auburn visit.

Junior Day Recap

Last weekend was Auburn’s 2nd junior day of the 2018 cycle. The Tigers welcomed a plethora of talent to campus including recent commit Jalil Irvin. From all indications the weekend was a success and helped position the Tigers to hopefully land a few more studs down the line. Benjamin Wolk over at SECCountry compiled a list of the talent that made the trip:

2018 class

4-star WR Justyn Ross, Central (Ala.)*

4-star QB Joey Gatewood, Bartram Trail (Fla.)*

4-star OG Jalil Irvin, Stephenson (Ga.)*

4-star ATH Nathaniel Watson, Maplesville School (Ala.)*

4-star DT Alfred Thomas, Lanier (Ala.)

4-star OLB Quay Walker, Crisp County (Ala.)*

3-star RB Charles Strong, Union County (Fla.) — FSU commit*

3-star WDE Kelvin Stokes, Stanhope Elmore (Ala.)

3-star ILB Michael Harris, Tucker (Ga.)*

3-star OLB Richard Jibunor, Athens Christian (Ga.)*

3-star OLB Braelen Oliver, Douglas County (Ga.)

3-star WR Jammal Houston, John Ehret (La.)

3-star CB Juanyeh Thomas, Niceville (Fla.)*

3-star RB La’damian Webb, Beauregard (Ala.)

3-star OG Johnny Harris, Mill Creek (Ga.)

3-star WDE Kingsley Enagbare, Hapeville Charter (Ga.)

3-star WR Jaray Jenkins, Jena (La.)

3-star ATH Kolbi Fuqua, Cordova School (Ala.)*

3-star OLB La’Dedric Jackson, Lanier (Ala.)

3-star DT Timaje Porter, Theodore (Ala.)*

3-star OT Kameron Stutts, Brooks School (Ala.)*

Unranked DT Jalen Cunningham, Saint Clair County (Ala.)

Unranked WR DeLonte Evans, Minor (Ala.)

Unranked WR Shedrick Jackson, Hoover (Ala.)

Unranked safety Keyon Helton, West Florida Tech (Fla.)

Unranked OLB Shaka Heyward, Mill Creek (Ga.)

Unranked OL Ches Jackson, Tift County (Ga.)

Unranked OLB Caleb Kelly, Hapeville Charter (Ga.)

Unranked WDE Trey Laing, Tallahassee Leon (Fla.)

2019 class

Unranked OLB J.D. Bertrand, Blessed Trinity (Ga.)

Unranked CB Devin Bush, Edna Karr (La.)

Unranked OT Adrian Medley, Pensacola (Fla.)

4-star QB Bo Nix, Scottsboro School (Ala.)

4-star CB KJ Wallace, Lovett School (Ga.)

2020 class

Unranked RB Reggie Bracy, St. Paul’s Episcopal (Ala.)

Unranked LB Jackson Bratton, Muscle Shoals (Ala.)

Unranked ATH Quitman Kincaid, West Port (Fla.)

Unranked OT Kyle Mann, Douglas County (Ga.)

Wolk also got plenty of quotes from visitors about their experience over the weekend as well.

The big name that jumps out is 4* WR Justyn Ross. This was his 2nd trip in as many weekends to Auburn. His mom is currently serving overseas so don’t expect him to make any decisions soon. Still getting the stud wideout on campus as often as possible can only benefit the Tigers. Bruce Pearl might want to get him on the hardwood as well after seeing this ridiculous dunk last week.

Not many offers were doled out over the weekend but one 2019 recruit did get one. CB Devin Bush out of New Orleans, LA landed only his 2nd overall offer and first Power 5 offer. Bush told Wesley Sinor at AL.com that the offer had him “amped up” and felt like validation for all of his hard work. 2019 NSD is a very long ways away but being the first to offer a player usually keeps you in the hunt throughout the cycle.

Other News

One of the more interesting visitors was 3* FSU RB commit Charles Strong. The longtime Nole commit decided to visit after a recent conversation with WR coach Kodi Burns and came away impressed with the Tigers.

Strong isn’t the only FSU RB commit giving AU a look. 5* RB James Cook (Dalvin Cook’s little brother) tweeted a top 8 last week, despite being committed to the Noles. The Tigers came in at #6 and are expecting to receive a visit over the summer.

3* DT Timaje Porter has set a commitment date of March 24th. The big 320 lb nose guard has had AU as a leader for a long time but is also strongly considering LSU. He will choose between the two Tiger programs in two weeks.

Keith Niebuhr over at 247 put together a slideshow of possible commit candidates for Auburn. This was before Irvin committed but I still think a few names on there are possibilities to be next after Irvin such as Jalyn Armour-Davis and Richard Jibunor.

He also has a slideshow listing Auburn’s most important recruiting targets.

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Spider-Man 3: Charlie Cox Daredevil Return Would Redeem the Marvel Netflix Universe

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Casting news for Spider-Man 3, has been surreal and chaotic—in the best possible way. Now, in the aftermath of reports that villains from previous franchise iterations like Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock and Jamie Foxx’s Electro will return (in a manner not yet known), a strong rumor is now pointing to the addition of a displaced Marvel hero, Charlie Cox’s Daredevil; a move that, if true, would mark the first big screen acknowledgement of Marvel’s nixed Netflix television corner.

The ever-growing rumor (recently boosted by trade TV Line,) implies that Cox’s Matt Murdock, a.k.a. Daredevil, will go from small-screen cancelation by Netflix to big-screen splendor alongside star Tom Holland (and Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange,) as part of the ever-growing Spider-Man 3 cast. The rumor’s renewed momentum noticeably occurs shortly after Netflix’s licensed exclusive rights to Daredevil expired this past November, rendering it open season for Marvel regarding its signature blind lawyer vigilante. Thus, it seems that Marvel Studios’ creative coalition might be on cusp of mollifying the legion of fans who have long been hashtagging #SaveDaredevil ever since the Netflix series—along with continuity siblings Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, The Punisher, Iron Fist, and The Defenders—came to a screeching halt by the end of 2018.

It may seem like eons ago, but back in 2015—a quaint time in which Marvel didn’t have a fancy Disney+ direct-distribution streaming platform—the MCU’s small screen offshoots only consisted of ABC network offerings Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter. They were joined that April by the premiere of Netflix’s bingeable upstart streaming series, Daredevil. Serving as a clear breakthrough starring role for London-born actor Cox, the series was a gritty, dramatic contrast from its small screen contemporaries, and garnered tremendous acclaim. Of course, it was also a bellwether offering for the subsequent spate of similarly MCU-adjacent shows on Netflix.

Yet, while Cox’s authentic performance effectively cemented him as the definitive onscreen Daredevil, both he and his Netflix TV cohorts remained relegated to their small New York City corner of the larger MCU, dubbed the “Street Level,” to which movie connectivity was only kept afloat by occasional universe-acknowledging Easter Eggs (e.g. a framed newspaper article on a wall referencing The Avengers’s “Battle of New York”).

Consequently, the prospective inclusion of Cox’s Daredevil in Spider-Man 3 would provide the definitive cinematic-canonical link to the lucrative MCU that the Netflix shows, despite their popularity, could not get during their short-but-sweet collective lifespan. It was a missed opportunity, seeing as the Netflix heroes operated in New York City—a small world for superheroes despite its urban enormity and population density—where Avengers Tower fills the MCU’s city skyline, Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum stands in Greenwich Village, and Holland’s Queens-based Spider-Man operates from home. Indeed, fans will finally be relieved from the perpetual plot-hole-pointing question that asks how Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, or stealthy slayer the Punisher somehow never crossed paths with the rest of the MCU.

Netflix

The Kingpin Question

Additionally, the big screen christening of Cox’s Daredevil—and the events of the television series—could also yield one of the biggest fringe benefits yet: more phenomenal, psychologically-powerful performances by Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. The Kingpin, an A-list Marvel Comics villain, previously played by the late Michael Clarke Duncan in the 2003 Ben Affleck Daredevil movie. D’Onofrio clearly owned the role, redefined it, and brought Fisk to life in a spectacularly nuanced manner, showcasing the often-conflicting personality of the domineering mobster, in a way that was tragic and even sympathetic—at least when he’s not using a car door to smash someone’s head to pieces like a leftover pumpkin. Such an inclusion would be especially apropos, seeing as Kingpin—created by Stan Lee and artist John Romita Sr.—was originally introduced in 1967 as an antagonist for Spider-Man before eventually igniting defining comic book rivalries with Daredevil and Punisher.

Of course, at the time of this writing, the notion of Daredevil (or Kingpin) joining Spider-Man 3 remains unconfirmed. Moreover, given the film’s speculated Spider-Verse plot developments, possibly via Doctor Strange-spun magic, it could even be the case that the version of Cox’s character we’d get in the film won’t be the one from the television series, which would be a waste of backstory. Barring that, the move could yield canonical redemption in other movie appearances for Krysten Ritter’s Jessica Jones, Mike Colter’s Luke Cage, Jon Bernthal’s Punisher and Finn Jones’s Iron Fist (bottom of that food chain as he may be). We could also see ideas used from the never-realized “Daughters of the Dragon” martial-arts-centric spinoff with Simone Missick’s Misty Knight, Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple, and Jessica Henwick’s Colleen Wing for a Shang-Chi sequel.    

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Nevertheless, it does seem that the veracity of the rumor will be revealed sooner, rather than later, as Spider-Man 3 gears up for production. The film is still scheduled to hit theaters (at least, if Warner’s recent monumental streaming move doesn’t bankrupt them all) on December 17, 2021.

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