#she got the mcu Loki treatment from me-

[liaswritesrobots]

More pride icons!

Headcanon: Windblade is a lesbian!

[toffeeanddragons]

10 Fandoms, 10 Characters, 10 Tags

Thank you so much @idle-brit for tagging me!This was lots of fun :) 💖

My tags: @delyth88, @elymusplant, @galaxythreads, @chemical-processes. No pressure to answer, of course :)

1. Loki (MCU)

As much as I love everyone on this list, there is absolutely no competition for number 1. Loki has been my favourite character of all time for nearly 6 years now (because clearly the best time to join someone's fandom is after they've just been murdered), and is showing absolutely no signs of being replaced anytime soon. I have a Loki blog, for god's sake. The brodinsons are my favourite relationship in any kind of media, ever. I love them so, so much. Loki's a million different things and feelings, all at the same time, all fighting with each other, which makes for a wonderfully complex and nuanced character. Also, he's hilarious. Look at that eye roll. This is a man who hates his life, which makes me feel better about mine. Thanks, Loki.

2. Klaus Hargreeves (The Umbrella Academy)

As will become obvious throughout this list, I love me an emotionally traumatised crazy person. Klaus is that. One of the characters who makes me laugh the most, ever, show-stopping dress sense, and a bucketload of unresolved trauma which goes largely ignored by Klaus, the other characters and the narrative itself? It was love at first sight. Their banter with the other characters, especially Ghost Ben (rip) is one of my favourite aspects of the show. Here's to hoping that Klaus won't be getting the Allison treatment in season 4!

3. Pippa Fitz-Amobi (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder)

I binge-read the entire AGGTM series earlier this year, and instantly fell in love with it. Pip is one of my favourite protagonists ever. Impossibly clever, compassionate, obsessive, badass, and a teensy bit unhinged. What's not to love? I would die for her. I'd say that I'd kill for her, but I think she's got that covered. I think she's written in a very realistic way, firstly as a genius 17 year old girl who doesn't really know what she's getting into, and later as a haunted individual who wants to stop investigating but can't. The way she politely knocks on people's front doors to dig up their traumas, accuse them of murder and all-round ruin their lives is everything to me. She is my blorbo. I am so, so excited for the show to come out, and I'm sure that Emma Myers will do a wonderful job as Pip!

4. Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games)

One of the best-written characters, in one of the best-written series ever. Reading from her perspective is such a delight- she's endlessly suspicious of everyone around her, constantly on survival mode, trusting very few people and relying on exactly no one (to begin with, at least). She's a random teenage girl, from the poorest district, and she wins the Hunger Games. She's so mentally unstable that she has to be sedated, and still she's made to be the face of a rebellion. She's rude, and kind of unlikeable. She adopts all the weakest tributes, at risk to herself, knowing that they won't win. She's doomed to fail by the narrative. She's the it girl of 2010s dystopian YA fiction. Jennifer Lawrence is an amazing actress, who does a beautiful job portraying the depth and conflict of Katniss in the films. The themes and social commentary of the Hunger Games is one of its (many) strong points, and I am so so glad that people are talking about it again, because it is my favourite book series out there.

5. Mitchell Pritchett (Modern Family)

I have no idea what to say about this man, I just love him. He just like me fr. What an icon. Impeccable music taste. I've started saying, "no my god" now, and nobody understands what I'm talking about. Even in a sitcom, my favourite is the one with issues that he refuses to talk about or fix. The episode where he's trying to hide that he dressed up as spiderman makes me cry-laugh. Claire's speech at his wedding makes me just cry. He's not a perfect man, but he's certainly better than everyone else.

6. Shin Tsukimi (Your Turn to Die)

My favourite cringefail loser! I said Katniss was doomed by the narrative in a metaphorical way. This idiot is actually doomed.

No but in all seriousness, I do really love him. Before the beginning of the game, he was just a relatively normal young man- but, when confronted with the inevitability of his own death, he made himself into a monster to survive. He has a violent vendetta against the local badass teenage girl, who is traumatised as hell already and does not need Shin chipping in as well, thank you very much. I love his relationship with Kanna, his biological sister; how he uses her, manipulates her, and still cares for her so much that he dies for her with a smile on his face in the Emotion route. Conversely, in the Logic route, his actions are a direct cause of her death, and I just love how much YTTD hates siblings. I hope that his past with Midori is explored more in either a mini-episode or the final part of the game, because I find it sooo interesting. I'm super excited to see whether he actually has no chance of survival, or whether he makes it out, against the odds, on one of the routes. He's a bit useless, so I won't get my hopes up.

7. Rue Bennett (Euphoria)

I think it goes without saying that Euphoria has its issues, lol. Sam Levinson is an idiot. While a lot of the show (especially season 2) feels shallow and like it doesn't care about its characters, Rue's storylines always have heart and depth and I am so invested in her arc. It's no wonder that Zendaya won 2 Emmys for this role, because her acting is phenomenal! Rue feels so real to me, in the way that she's trying so hard to stay sober but she falls down and relapses time and time again. Recovery isn't linear, but she's getting there, and I adore her with all my heart. Her relationships with Lexi, her mother, her sister, and her sponsor, Ali, are my favourites, and the healthiest for her, in my opinion. Her brief friendship/ romance with Jules may have kept her more solidly sober than anything else in the show, but Jules (understandably) cracks under the pressure of Rue's mental health, and can't be there for her. Rue needs to heal for herself, which she appears to be doing at the end of S2.

8. Max Mayfield (Stranger Things)

Duffer brothers, please just let her be happy.

Despite only being introduced in Season 2, Max has, in my opinion, had the best character development out of everyone on the show. Her growth from someone standoffish, rude, and uninterested in the group (maybe I'm being a bit harsh. She was, like, 12) to someone who is willing to risk her life to help her friends and Hawkins means so much to me. The scene in "Dear Billy" (S4, Ep4) where she escapes from Vecna remains my favourite in the whole show and will probably be burned into my brain forever. Her relationships with Lucas and El are very sweet, and some of my favourites in Stranger Things. Her final line in S4, after all her struggles over the season, being that she doesn't want to die literally breaks my heart. I hope she gets some degree of a happy ending in the final season. She was my first profile picture when I joined this hellsite, and I love her a lot.

9. Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables)

The shenanigans that this girl gets up to never fail to make me laugh. The bit where she accidentally dyes her hair green and then has to hack it all off makes me feel awful for her, but. it's hilarious. Sorry, Anne. Her friendship with Diana is so sweet but also so funny to me because they really are the most chaotic duo of the 1880s. The scene where Anne accidentally gives her alcohol instead of fruit juice is so mortifying but so, so funny. Amidst all of the insane situations that Anne gets into are a lot of really heartwarming moments and relationships. Matthew and Marilla adopting Anne, even though they wanted a boy, because she's so endearing and alone in the world is probably what made me who I am today. I still haven't gotten around to watching Anne with an E, but I've heard it's amazing. I look forward to watching it when I have the time :).

10. Daphne Blake (Scooby Doo)

My first ever favourite character! Another one who I don't have a tonne to say about. She's an icon, she's a legend, and she is the moment. She has done nothing wrong, ever. She knows martial arts, so watch out.

Honourable mentions: Thor (MCU), Finnick Odair (The Hunger Games), Gretchen Weiners (Mean Girls), Jake Peralta (Brooklyn 99), Maurice Moss (The IT Crowd), The Eleventh Doctor (Doctor Who), James (The End of the F***ing World), Ali Abdul (Squid Game).

If you read all of this then thanks, and have a great day!

[lukaslosteyelashes]

My Review of the Miraculous London Special, Part 4

I’ve finished part 4 (finally lol). There’s going to be one last part, the "final thoughts" which hopefully will be done faster than the previous parts. Anyway, I made a little bit different look for this post and I also will (or already did) edit the previous parts too to match with each other.

What this part contains:

How does time travel work in Miraculous? - I am basically trying to make sense of the logic behind the time travel in Miraculous by going through the Miraculous/MCU comparison others also made.

Ladybug = Gabriel Agreste - My honest reaction and thought about this.

Here it goes!

Spoilers ahead ->

How does time travel work in Miraculous?

Every time I think I can understand how time travel work in Miraculous I read someone else's post completely debunking everything I believed in and I'm at square one again. But here I am, still trying to make sense of things.

Older Bunnyx said in "Evolution": "Time is like a river with multiple streams and the Burrow is where they all come together." So, like, if we look at the time as a straight line that's come from the beginning of time to the end of time, then that's the river; and the streams are all the different timelines that are on that straight line; and the Burrow is this magical dimension where every timelines (the streams) are connected to; staying with the water metaphor, I guess it'd make the Burrow the ocean? The holder of the Rabbit Miraculous is the one who can jump to every other timeline from the Burrow. Right now (and in the future for who knows how long) Alix Kubdel is the Rabbit Miraculous holder and oversees the time for any possible anomaly. And her top priority is to protect and preserve their universe as is, where she's Bunnyx.

I saw people compare the time traveling in Miraculous to the Spider-Verse movies, or Bunnyx and the Burrow to the TVA in Marvel (I'm not familiar with the comics so I only know the movies and serieses). I think, this makes sense since it would explain well why Gabriel's wish got different treatment than Lila's even though his probably also rewrote the universe. It'd make Gabriel's wish a canon event or it'd be the intended future in the Sacred Timeline. While Lila's wish is not a canon event or it made a branch in the Sacred Timeline. Well, in the MCU it's not just about the timeline but the multiverse and while we know that in Miraculous different universes exist (Paris special) and it's possible to travel through them with akumatization or kamikotization, there's nothing really that connects the different universes and their timelines. So Bunnyx doesn't have to deal with other universe’s problems and only needs to focus on theirs, which doesn't make her job any easier at all tho.

I'm also in with that comparison and I'd go that far to compare Bunnyx to He Who Remains (Kang) but without the villain part (Loki series). For so long I thought that Kang basically wrote every event that happened, happening and will happen on the Sacred Timeline and he didn't allow any altering (so kind of like a God). But further searching made me realize I was wrong. Kang didn't make the Sacred Timeline, that's his original timeline which produced him and that's what he wanted to preserve. He made the TVA to oversee his timeline, detect anyone who deviates from and made a branch, and eventually eliminate them, preventing any alternate universes to develop. This not just stops any new, more evil Kang variants to emerge but also denies everyone their free will. Kang is just a time traveler who saw the future and wants his preferred timeline to be the absolute reality, that's why he created the TVA and located himself at the end of time. And isn't what Bunnyx is doing is kind of similar to that?

I already wrote above that Alix’s top priority is to protect and preserve their universe where she's Bunnyx. Lila's wish would've made a cut into the river and would've diverted it to create a completely new one with new streams. It'd break the connection with the Burrow too and erase a part of their universe, which is their future, and recreate it according to the wish. I guess if their plan hadn't worked Chronobug and Bunnyx would've sat there in that white space for eternity. With Gabriel's wish, the river wasn't really cut off, more like some streams got removed while other streams were created but still connect to the same ocean, I guess? I mean, Marinette is still Ladybug, Adrien is still Chat Noir, Alix is still Bunnyx and so on, and the timelines are still connected to the same Burrow. There’re two things that changed: Gabriel is dead while Nathalie is alive; well technically there's only one thing that change since Gabriel would've died anyway, he didn't have much time left before he made the wish. Bunnyx made the choice to not interfere after Gabriel made his wish because it didn't erase their future from their universe and he was Monarch who had to be defeated in some way. It did create a new villain though.

Anyway, the bottom line is, I still don't understand how this works 😂. Bunnyx can jump to the past and to the future too, so I was kind of baffled how she didn't know what would happen, only after her future selves started to disappear. Maybe there are rules with the Rabbit Miraculous that haven't been mentioned before. We know that Bunnyx's future selves cannot tell her anything, but maybe she can't look at futures that directly affect her either or she can only change events that happened in particular ways.

I guess the point with stories with time travel is to just sit back, switch off your brain, don't overthink things and try to enjoy it. If you know any good time travel stories hit me up with it, I'm only familiar with the MCU stuff and this, lol.

Ladybug = Gabriel Agreste 

Brilliant and hilarious!

I know not everyone is pleased with this, and thinks Marinette should have made a smarter move to deceive Lila, besides she didn't even erase the rest of the information Timestalker gathered (she didn't have time for that tho, the windows inside the Burrow were disappearing swiftly). But I adore this! It's almost like when Lila as Hoaxer in "Revelation" made everyone believe that Marinette is Monarch.

I know Marinette doesn't know that future Hawkmoth is Lila but I think it's still perfect that she trolled her like that.

Plus, not everything has to make sense and be rational in a story. We are talking about Miraculous here, even though the tone of the show changed, kids are still watching it too. It's perfectly fine to include things just for the giggles and fun.

I felt an immense amount of satisfaction when I saw Lila completely breaking down after she saw that in her notebook.

I was like "Yes! I knew all along you weren't sane at all". Okay, I know that's mean, but I've read a lot about how others think she'd treat Nooroo right, that he'd be the only one there for her and stuff like that, and I just couldn't grasp what would make someone think that. Just look at Nooroo, look at him!

He’s more miserable than when he was with Gabriel. She’s more cruel to him and he is with her for, like, a couple hours yet but she already controlled him in ways even Gabriel didn’t use (or just didn’t know about). Lila is going to be (already is) a terrific villain that you can hate to the core and (hopefully) also an unredeemable one.

And lastly, here is a happy Nooroo to lighten your day:

We probably won’t see him like that for a long time.

part 1 | part 2 | part 3

The last part is coming soon…

[tumblingghosts]

just out of curiosity, who are your favourite tbosas characters and what draws you to them?

sejanus plinth!

my favorite characters (technoblade, severus snape, mcu loki, polites from epic, kuboyasu from saiki k, etc) tend to follow a certain archetype (close with one person, loyal to their principles (whatever those principles might be), story (probably) ends in tragedy). it’s not an intentional pattern, but i did notice that most those kind of characters draw me in.

but for sejanus specifically-

i really like how strongly he commits to his morals. moving to the capitol at eight-years-old(!!) and facing derision from pretty much everyone yet still choosing to be kind after 10 years of that treatment. he has so much compassion to offer, even when we can see that he's pretty much at the end of his rope (mentally and emotionally) by the time of marcus's death.

something about not giving into cruelty in the face of adversity just makes him so special to me. he deserved so much better than the ending he got (istg the urge to fist fight coriolanus every time i'm rereading the books-)

a few other characters are clemensia dovecote & reaper ash (mostly because of @meekmedea and their characterizations of them). clemmie's a real interesting character to think about, especially how she changes pre- and post-snake bites. also reaper- the way he went and apologized to each tribute personally for having to kill them, yet going into the arena, he cared for dill, taking care to cover the other tributes' bodies with the flag he tore down. despite his words, his actions held a lot of honor.

but i do enjoy most characters in tbosas given a reason (aka fics and tumblr posts from others who hold [character] dear and get me excited about them too) so it's only a matter of time before others join...

[side-eyeing felix ravinstill, persephone price, mizzen, coral, vipsania sickle, treech, lamina, livia cardew, etc etc]

thanks for the ask! :D

[frasier-crane-style]

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is a blockbuster so uncreative that it has two separate skybeams in it

Actually, what it really reminds me of is The Forbidden Kingdom, you remember, that movie where Jackie Chan and Jet Li finally teamed up, only it was all focused on some douchey kid? This is the same thing--the Autobots and Maximals finally team up!--only it's all about some douche. Because representation.

I'm serious. The Maximals are barely in this movie. The Autobots aren't in it much more. But we get a lot of this random dude, whose sole characterization is that he's from Brooklyn. Brooklyn! He's from Brooklyn, you guys!

Could it be? Are these characters in... GASP... Brooklyn?

There's also this chick, who delivers each line like she just bit into a sandwich. It makes you miss the days of Michael Bay. Sure, the actresses he cast couldn't act either, but at least they weren't 5/10. Let's admit it--the CGI model is hotter.

The plot makes no sense and is cobbled together from older blockbusters, which slightly made sense. Unicron--you know, Galactus for robots?--eats the Maximals' homeworld. He's trying to get today's MacGuffin, the Transwarp Key, which the Maximals hide on Earth in prehistoric times. Earth: The Transformers' junk drawer. Is there a single fucking widget those damn bots own that they haven't stashed here?

Now, Unicron wants the Transwarp Key because it will allow him to travel to other planets and eat them. The Autobots want it because it will let them go home to Cybertron (this movie is in continuity with Bumblebee, when they all left Cybertron).

This compels a few questions. How did Unicron get to the Maximals' planet if he can't already travel through space? Why can't the Autobots just return to Cybertron the same way they got to Earth? The movie says that Unicron is 'trapped in another galaxy,' presumably since the Maximals left, which I think the movie says happened a couple millennia ago. This seems like a short amount of time to devour every world in a galaxy, since Unicron says that he's starving--maybe he can only get around at sublight speeds? In which case you have to wonder why he can't travel FTL, but his minions can easily make it to Earth. Shouldn't Unicron be able to travel in the same manner his minions do?

Anyway, you know what all this means. Our heroes have to find two halves of the plot coupon*. The bad guys get the plot coupons instead and use it to summon up the worse guys with a portal, allowing for an endless stream of faceless CGI hordes. Rhinox has no lines.

*("This is some Indiana Jones shit," our Brooklyn protagonist from Brooklyn helpfully notes, since the movie is desperately trying to do MCU style meta humor--lots of characters talking about how silly it is that they are interacting with giant space robots)

The movie even rips off the scene from The Avengers where Loki astrally projected to talk to Thanos. Same exact visuals and everything.

Also, it's Representation now, so the first twenty minutes are about how our protagonists are oppressed by jerky white people who do evil, oppressive things like refuse them medical treatment unless they pay their hospital bills and not give them jobs because their references are bad. Which makes it unintentionally hilarious that Brooklyn guy is the first minority lead in a Transformers movie and the first protagonist to meet his Autobot buddy by grand theft auto instead of buying a car. Brooklyn!

The movie also really wants you to know that just because the Maximals came to Earth in prehistoric times, doesn't mean they created the Nazca Lines or anything. Which, bizarrely, is done by the archaeologist lady saying they must've created the Nazca Lines and Optimus Primal saying that humans did it. So... I guess she's racist for assuming Indigenous people couldn't create the Nazca Lines? It's one of those daft moments meant only to do numbers on Twitter.

Oh, and GI Joe shows up at the end. It's supposed to be one of those 'Samuel L. Jackson meets Tony Stark' moments, but that Snake Eyes movie flopped (and the movie is set in the 90s for no reason, so anyone they get would be retirement age if they did a movie in the present day), so they just give Brooklyn guy a business card that says GI Joe on it. That's the big surprise cameo. A business card.

[anonymousfiction211]

Ready to talk?

Summary: Loki can’t figure out why you are ignoring him. He finally decides to take matters into his own hands. Word count: 2.545 words Warnings: BDSM, Dom!Loki, restraints, use of safeword, aftercare A/N: This story doens’t really follow the mcu timeline. In this story Loki already has an established relationship with you, a mortal. And his mother and Odin are still alive. Hope you like it!

Loki looked up from his book in your direction. You were sitting on the opposite side of the couch, scrolling on your phone. You were wearing tight leggings, an oversized t-shirt and had let your hair loose. Your typical lounge outfit. He saw you tense up slightly and knew that you felt him looking at you. You didn’t look up from your phone or said anything to him. You hadn’t said anything to him all morning, and he didn’t know why. It was starting to get to him. ‘Is something wrong, dear?’ he asked you. But there was no answer. Loki just sighed and turned his attention back to his book.

He couldn’t get himself to focus, tough. Something was wrong and you were definitely ignoring him. He started to think about things he could have done, or said, that would get you so upset. You knew he hated it when you gave him the silent treatment, he had told you times and times again that if something was wrong, you should tell him. Loki was starting to get frustrated. ‘Just tell me what I did to get you mad this time?’ he asked more harshly than he intended. You still didn’t move or answered him. ‘FINE. Be petty if you want’ he grumbled while storming to the bedroom. He was hoping that if he left you alone for the afternoon you would come find him and finally tell him what’s wrong. Sometimes that would work, but not today.

If you wanted to piss him off, this was the way to do it. Loki heard you had started to cook dinner and it was smelling amazing. He walked to the kitchen and began to set the table, like always since he never learned to cook. You still didn’t acknowledge his present, but surely you couldn’t ignore him when you are sitting across him facing him. When he was done setting the table he sat down in his chair. ‘Smells amazing, darling’ he complimented you. He still didn’t know what was wrong, but he thought some flattery wouldn’t hurt. You turned down the stoves, grabbed your plate and plated your dinner. Then you turned and disappeared to the living room. Loki just rolled his eyes at your childish behaviour. He grabbed his own plate to do the same, determined to get you to talk to him during dinner. When he reached the stove, he saw there was nothing in the pans. You hadn’t made him any dinner. Loki was pissed off before, but now he was furious.

He threw the plate across the kitchen and it shattered against a cabinet. He took a few breaths, trying to get himself to calm down a bit, before confronting you. When he entered the living room he saw that he slightly startled you with his actions. That pleased him, maybe you finally would talk to him. ‘Will you finally tell me what’s wrong?’ he asked you through gritted teeth. You didn’t say anything, you just looked down at your plate and started to play with your food. The anger in Loki started to rise quickly. If you didn’t want to talk, he would make you talk. He grabbed your plate and smashed that one as well, by throwing it to the other side of the room. He saw your eyes widen and back away from him a little bit. He put his hands on your tights to hold you in place and leaned down to meet your eyes. ‘Last chance, tell me what’s wrong or I’ll make you’ he threatened. You didn’t look at him and still didn’t say a word.

Loki grabbed your waist and threw you over his shoulder. You shrieked and started to fight him ‘Let me go’ you yelled. He just laughed ‘Oh NOW you talk. A bit too late for that isn’t it?’

‘Loki. LET. ME. GO!’ you screamed at him. Loki didn’t react to your fit, he decided to ignore you. He loved himself some irony. He walked with you screaming and kicking to the bedroom. He threw you down on the bed and was on top of you in a millisecond. You were trying to catch your breath and Loki was delighted to see you panting already. He hadn’t even started. He let you catch your breath while starting to bite your neck and made sure to leave marks behind. When you finally caught your breath, you started to talk ‘Alright.. yesterday I..’ but Loki’s hand on your mouth cut you off. He noticed you flinched from his unexpected movement. He bit down hard in your flesh, almost drawing blood and heard you shriek against his hand. He moved up a bit to meet your eyes. He conjured up a gag and saw your pupils dilated, while you were starting to squirm.

He pulled his hand from you mouth and put the gag on in one smooth motion. He pulled your head up slightly to fasten it around your head. ‘Oh, the irony… I’ve been waiting for you to talk all day and now that you finally are I just want to shut you up’ he laughed to himself. ‘You’ve made me quite mad, and you know what happens when I get mad, do you?’ he said with a dangerous tone in his voice. You were still staring in shock at him and answered him. But it wasn’t understandable through the gag, so you just nodded your head, realizing you had pushed him too far today. He got off you and sat down on the edge of the bed. He grabbed you and draped you around his lap. You stomach were on his thighs, your head and feet were hanging down on either side of him. He slid down your leggings and underwear and started to massage your cheeks. When you let out the slightest moan he brought his hand down hard against your flesh. In an instant it started to burn, and you cried out. When he caressed your cheeks again the sting made you flinch. He didn’t wait long before he spanked you again, this time on the other cheek. You had the same reaction, and he repeated the same action again. He repeated your spanking five times on each cheek. You were sobbing, screaming, and begging against the gag to give you a break by the time he was done.

He pulled you up so you could straddle his lap. Making sure your ass didn’t touch his lap, since he knew it would still hurt too much. He wiped away your tears. ‘Doesn’t feel good to be ignored now, does it?’ he said a bit spiteful to you. You violently shook your head. ‘So, it’s safe to assume you wouldn’t do it again? EVER?’ he said. You nodded. He pulled you of his lap. He took your shirt and bra off you. ‘Good, now sit upright on your knees. Hands behind your back’ he commanded you. You did as you were told. Loki pulled the robe from his nightstand and tied your hands behind your back. ‘You remember the safeword right?’ he whispered in your ear. You nodded, you knew you had to snap your fingers if you really wanted him to stop. He pushed your legs a little further apart and laid down the hitachi wand right underneath your pussy, almost touching it. He sat the wand to the highest setting and left it buzzing beneath you. He got up from the bed and sat down the chair across the room. He grabbed his phone and started to type and scroll. ‘Down’ he said in a stern voice. You wiggled your legs further apart and felt the vibration off the wand right against your clit. A loud moan escaped you. You looked down when you heard Loki tap his chair ‘eyes. on. me.’ he said to you.

After a few minutes you couldn’t stop making noise. You were moaning, whimpering and did your best not to drool around the gag. Loki was still sitting in the chair looking at his phone, no matter how much noise you made he didn’t look up. ‘Up’ he said. You wiggled your legs more together and whined at the loss of vibration against your clit. ‘I just ordered some food. Unfortunately for you, it will arrive an hour from now’ he said. ‘Down’ he said, and you moved to feel the vibration against your clit again. He got up from his chair and put his phone on the bed before you. It showed a timer for 30 minutes, counting down. ‘I want you to go down for one minute and up for two, got it?’ he told you. You whimpered a bit but nodded. ‘Good girl. I’ll go clean up the mess I made’ he said. You were thankful that he was leaving, so you could cheat a little. He was almost at the door when he doubled himself. His double smiled widely at you and returned to the chair. ‘Oh, he stays there to see if you obey’ Loki shouted from the living room. That was the longest half hour from your life. At first it was easy to do, but after ten minutes your need to orgasm was becoming unbearable. One minute and the wand wasn’t nearly enough to give you what you needed. You were almost there, but the two minutes away from the vibration let your orgasm eb away so the next minute was starting all over again. By now you had lost the battle against the gag and were drooling uncontrollably.

When Loki came back he didn’t look at you. He immediately turned his attention to his double who was reading a book. ‘How did she do?’ he asked like you weren’t moaning and panting in the room. ‘She did just as she should’ his double answered. ‘I think she is close to her orgasm. She is really starting to make a mess’ he went on. Loki just smirked at himself. ‘Hmm.. should we let her come?’ he asked his double. ‘I don’t know, she was ignoring you almost the entire day.. maybe you should keep her in this state for the rest of the night?’ he answered. ‘That is true, but she did promise never to do it again’ Loki told himself. Meanwhile you were still moaning and listening with tensity. Wondering if he would really leave you here for the entire night. ‘Maybe you could let her off easy, but if it ever happens again you know what to do’ the double said before disappearing. Loki now turned his attention to you. ‘Down’ he said, and you did. He was watching you this time. From all the moaning he knew you were close, but he needed to push you further. You needed to know that if things got too much, you could still trust him. That whatever you did, he would always be there for you. ‘Don’t come’ he told you, knowing you wouldn’t be able to follow this command. Your eyes widened in shock and suddenly your orgasm shot through you. You muffled moans were loud and you were trying to fight your restraints.

Loki felt a little bad for doing this to you, but he needed to do it. He stalked towards you and saw the worried look in your eyes. You had disobeyed him, but you couldn’t take any more punishment. You ass was still sore from the recent spanking. Loki took the wand away and moved to sit beside you. He caressed your ass and heard you hiss against the gag. He made an over-the-top movement with his arm, indicating that he would spank you hard. Tough, he would never do that to you right now. When he brought his arm down you snapped your fingers. He stopped right before his hand connected to your cheek. He saw you beginning to sob. ‘Sssh.. it’s alright, darling. I’ve got you’ he shushed to you. He untied your hands and the gag and saw that you were trembling. He sat down on the bed and pulled you flush against him. He caressed your hair, whispered to you how good you were and waited till the sobbing and trembling stopped.

He put a finger under your chin and made you look up to him. ‘Go take a shower darling, The food should be here any minute. Are you doing okay?’ he asked you. ‘Yes’ you said with a gravel voice. ‘Sorry’ you added. Loki just pulled you tighter against him. ‘Don’t ever be sorry for that, love. I already told you so many times that no matter what’s wrong, you can always come to me. I will always be there for you’ he told you. ‘I know, it’s hard sometimes’ you answered. The doorbell ring and you got up to take a shower. Loki was setting the table again and started to plate the food. When you got out of the quick shower you saw he had changed the sheets, probably with his magic. On the bed laid your underwear, his sweatpants, one of his shirts and his hoodie. You put the clothes on and entered the kitchen. He had ordered Chinese, which he wasn’t particularly fond of, but he knew it was your favourite.

The two of you sat down and began to eat. Knowing this conversation needed to happen you started by saying ‘Sorry for ignoring you’. Loki took a minute before answering you. ‘I’m sorry too. It’s just, I’ve told you what my upbringing was like. I can’t stand it when you ignore me’ he said quietly back. ‘I know. It’s just I’ve heard your conversation with Thor yesterday. I know that he and you are planning to go back to Asgard for at least a year…’ you finally admitted while tears were streaming down your face. Loki was shocked for a moment before rushing towards you. He sat down on his knees and took your hands in his. ‘I am, but it isn’t..’ he was cut off by you. ‘How can you leave for a year and not be bothered to tell me?’ you asked him. ‘Is that really what you think?’ he asked you a bit hurt that you would actually think he would leave you. ‘Love, you know mortals aren’t allowed. But there are other ways in, and nobody would notice an extra servant’ he smiled at you. ‘What?’ you asked him. ‘That means you’re coming with me’ he told you. 

A feeling of relief washed over you. You were so afraid he would leave you that ignoring and fighting him seemed better than hearing him tell you that. But seeing Loki look at you like that, you knew you should have trusted him and talk to him about it. ‘But why are we even going?’ you asked him. ‘Well, it took some time persuading Thor and my mother. But they finally agreed to help me and hide you from Odin. Because I finally found a way to make you immortal’ he said proudly. You immediately grabbed him and kissed him fiercly. When you had no more air in your lungs you had to let him go. Loki just chuckled at your reaction ‘I told you I would never leave you’ he said.

[bluebeetle]

what IS the worst character assassination youve ever seen? i can think of some guesses but its a long list

its a VERY long list....

1) the time cassandra was evil and could also suddenly speak perfectly when she was previously struggling. it makes no sense. so much of her character was built on doing the right thing and not wanting to kill. it was so fucking stupid and im glad its long forgotten

2) whatever the fuck jason was doing in battle for the cowl and batman and robin 2009. some of it was ok in the latter but the former... he just went full evil villain without any of the nuance he had before. also red head jason my detested

3) wanda wanda wanda wanda. she gets this so many times. her in trial of magneto where shes calling erik daddy and stuff despite not knowing that man was her dad until she was a married adult woman.

avengers disassembled where she went ~~~crazy~~~ and killed a bunch of people.

house of m with the no more mutants thing. just yikes yikes yikes. they tried to fix it later by saying she was influence by dark magic and stuff and doctor doom played a role but then that got ignored.

she's still blamed for house of m by the xmen and other mutants even NOW where they all hate her still despite it that story literally being 15 years old

4) any time bruce is abusive and hits his kids. what the fuck. bonus points to all star batman and robin for being so bad at that, its acgtually kinda funny. he made dick eat RATS in a CAVE the DAY HIS PARENTS DIED IN FRONT OF HIM after calling him the r slur

5) damian almost being turned evil after teen titans 2016 and stuff; it got fixed thank god but hes been written like he has to redeem himself for it and that racist writing ugh

6) speaking of: talia going from a loving, caring person who hadnt even killed until she met bruce and did it in self defense, who sacrified her own happiness to make sure her child was safe and away from her father, who had morals and loved bruce to a scornful woman assassin who kills people indiscriminately, abuses her child, rapes the man she claims to love, and continues to meddle with his "real" love because shes jealous, and then clones her own son and gets that clone to murder her 11 year old, also has sex with bruce's 18 yr old son who she was taking care of.

yikes

7) trickster in countdown. why is he suddenly homophobic. he and pied piper have known each other for years, theyre both old silver age flash villains. pied piper was not quiet about being gay even back in the 90s. he interacted with trickster multiple times during that flash run prior to countdown. why does trickster suddenly make homophobic jokes. answer me dan didio. ANSWER ME

8) catch all for any bad live action versions. like. everything about mcu hawkeye is a crime agaisnt hawkeye. i mean other mcu characters suck but i feel bad for him bc he usually doesnt get that treatment. jason in titans. the mcu maximoffs. stripping loki of being nonbinary and bi.

9) why did wally become a mass murdered in heroes in crisis and then try to cover it up. i know it wasnt murdering on purpose ig but also it was just a bad storyline ugh.

10) akihiro being stripped of all personality to be the slutty bi guy in x-factor. die.

anyways notice how half of these are characters of colour? yeah tip of the iceberg lol. anyways....

[twh-news]

'Loki' Star Sophia Di Martino on the Season 1 Finale, Working With Jonathan Majors and What She Knows About Season 2

[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers through the Season 1 finale of Loki, "For All Time. Always."]

Since her introduction at the end of Episode 2, Sophia Di Martino's depiction of Sylvie, the female variant of Loki introduced midway through her campaign of vengeance against the TVA, has been a defining aspect of Disney+'s Loki. And, as we learned in the season finale, the story of Loki isn't over yet — though what's in store is pretty nebulous, following Sylvie's betrayal of Loki (Tom Hiddleston) after what was their first and what might be their last kiss.

In a one-on-one conversation with Di Martino via Zoom, Collider asked about working with Jonathan Majors in his MCU debut, what it was like having both fight scenes and more romantic scenes with Hiddleston, and of course what the conversations around Season 2 have been like.

Collider: To start off, when did you have a sense that there would be a second season of Loki?

DI MARTINO: I mean, there'd been rumors for a while, but I still haven't heard officially if it's happening, like officially, officially. I only know what I know through reading the news. And I know, because you guys know, because of the tag at the end of Episode 6.

I was going to say, that feels like a pretty official thing, but it doesn't sound like anyone has shown up at your doorstep with paperwork.

DI MARTINO: No, nothing. Nothing like that.

Now, does that mean that when you watched it, were you given a full script of the sixth episode?

DI MARTINO: Yes. We got one episode at a time. So I wasn't given Episode 6 until like midway through shooting Episode 5.

So in that situation, what was your initial reaction to reading, especially like the last, say, 10 pages or so.

DI MARTINO: Just like, holy crap. This is massive. How exciting. Woof. And then also, "who's going to play He Who Remains, I need to know because it's such an amazing part and such incredible speeches he has. I wanted to imagine who would play him, but I couldn't have ever imagined the way Jonathan would have done it. So brilliant.

In terms of working with Jonathon Majors, what was that experience like? Just because I feel like he brought such a different energy to the role than I think anyone would have ever expected.

DI MARTINO: Yeah. He just exploded onto that set with so much energy and nothing like we could ever have imagined. It was a lot of fun and he was brilliant. You know, people were saying this is going to be something really special, whispering behind the camera. He was so eccentric and fun and kind of terrifying. Very easy for Tom and I to just sit and listen to him for a few days. Very entertaining.

Yeah. In rewatching the episode, it's still so striking to me the way that, after Sylvie stabs him, he makes barely any noise.

DI MARTINO: Because he knows that it's a possibility, I think. So maybe he's had a long time to sort of imagine every scenario. Yeah. It's kind of creepy, isn't it? The way he does that.

When you were breaking down the script for Episode 6, were you talking about Kang the Conqueror? Were you talking about the comic book backstory there?

DI MARTINO: I don't remember talking about the comic book backstory of Episode 6. But you know, to be honest, it was all very quick. Especially with Episode 6, we got the script pretty late in the day. So there wasn't that much mining to be done, to be honest. I'm not sure about Jonathan's experience, but for me, it was sort of pretty late in the day, just in the case of learning my lines and trying to make sure I didn't mess that up.

Of course — and it makes sense in terms of where your character is coming from.

DI MARTINO: Exactly. So I just need to know at that point, I just need to know what's going on for Sylvie.

In that case, in your head, what was going on for Sylvie in those scenes?

DI MARTINO: Oh my goodness. So much. I mean, so much happens in like 30 seconds. Doesn't it?

Definitely. But even before the final sequences, it's very dialogue-heavy and there's a lot of listening. In playing that, what was important for you?

DI MARTINO: To really listen and to really take on board what he was saying to us at that point, and then to choose not to believe him. For Sylvie, she's just on a revenge mission from the minute she walks into that building, she knows that she wants to kill someone. When they're in the elevator with him, she's already taking swipes at him. She just wants to get him with her machete. And I think she's just so laser-focused on that goal, that he could have said anything to her and her priority wouldn't have changed.

So you don't think there was ever a moment in that whole sequence where Sylvie was tempted, not tempted by the possibilities presented, but tempted to believe him?

DI MARTINO: I think there's a moment that he really pushes Sylvie's buttons when he's talking about you have been on a long journey and it's been really tough for you, hasn't it? And you can't trust anyone. You think you can trust him. And he starts playing mind games with them, playing them off against each other. And I think at that point, he plants a seed of doubt in her mind about Loki, but I think her mission to want to kill him doesn't change. She's absolutely married to that idea. And that feeling is so strong that she chooses it over Loki in the end.

From your perspective, where does that come from?

DI MARTINO: Just revenge. Like having her life taken away from her, her life ruined, spending her whole life on the run, this sort of anger. And if you want to think of it in these terms, her "glorious purpose." I went there.

I don't think you got to say those words during the show, so I'm glad you got this moment now.

DI MARTINO: Yeah. I'm saying it as much as I can now.

Later in the episode, this wasn't the first time you had a fight sequence with Tom Hiddleston, but did it feel different from the episodes you shot earlier?

DI MARTINO: Yeah, it did. This scene was far more emotive. There was a lot more going on for both of them. It was the breakup scene. It was the fight that you have when you are leaving someone. And it's so painful because you care about this person, but you just can't be with them for whatever reason. And that's how that felt.

Which is so interesting because of course what happens at the end of it is that there's a kiss and it's given the whole big Hollywood romantic music treatment.

DI MARTINO: Yeah. I mean, but that often happens when you're splitting up with someone, doesn't it? Just one last time, a sweet goodbye. It's kind of like a goodbye kiss in a way.

Of course. But it was also, unless I'm missing something, the first kiss.

DI MARTINO: Yeah. It was. And it had been building up for a long, long time. I think it was ultimately a goodbye kiss and a clap away for Sylvie to physically turn him around so she could get hold of that TemPad and zap him back to the TVA.

Yeah, of course. In terms of that, in general, I feel like there's a temptation to just kind of look at the Loki and Sylvie relationship as a straightforward romance, which of course it is very much not. From your perspective, what was it about that you worked hard to lean into.

DI MARTINO: I think it's about sort of self-love and acceptance as well as being a romance story. And for Sylvie, she's sort of shedding everything she doesn't need before she gets to He Who Remains so she can kill him. She gets rid of her cape, she gets rid of her horns. She ultimately gets rid of Loki. It's just not serving her in that moment. And it's so cold to think of it that way. But I think that's what was happening. That and the fact that she wanted him to be safe. So, she's kind of saving him by pushing him through that time door as well.

And if you're going to think of it as like an exploration of self-acceptance and self-love, that's also interesting because she showed sort-of, I don't know, getting rid of a part of herself that isn't serving her anymore at the same time as keeping it safe.

It's really interesting to hear you talk about it that way, because it makes me think about how the one thing that came out, especially I think in Episode 5, is the idea that knowing Sylvie made Loki a better person in some fundamental ways. And I'm wondering about the opposite of that. What did knowing Loki mean for Sylvie?

DI MARTINO: I think it's slightly different for Sylvie. I don't know if he's made her a better person. I don't know if she's allowed herself to change yet. Loki's been quite brave and he's changed. He's a changed person by the end of that series. Sylvie is still hell-bent on her mission and she still chooses it over caring about someone else. So maybe she's yet to make that change.

So in talking about the scene like it's a breakup... Season 1 ends with the characters being very separated and of course, Season 2 is very much a nebulous thing at the moment, but people break up all the time and get back together. In your head, do you see there being still some sort of future for the characters as a couple?

DI MARTINO: It would definitely be fun to see them in the same room together again, wouldn't it? I'm fascinated. Yeah. After that, I'm fascinated to see what Loki has to say to Sylvie after doing that to him. Who knows? Never say never. I'm really excited to see what they come up with because it could go in so many different directions, but surely they have to come face to face again at some point.

It's like that awkward party after you've broken up with someone and you see them again. And that first conversation, whether it's in public or not, it's sorts of awful, but such a relief once it's been done.

Something that's been kind of a topic of discussion when it comes to talking about romance on screen is a quality that a lot of leading men have — for lack of a better term, the ability to give their love interest a Look. I've consulted with others and we feel like Tom Hiddleston has the look or has the ability to deliver the look. And I'm curious what it's like to be on the other side of it.

DI MARTINO: Tom's a very charming man and he could definitely make people go weak at the knees by just giving them a look. My reaction to that is always to sort of make a joke and run away. So there was probably a lot of that on set, breaking the tension by being a goofball.

I just had to react as Sylvie. And Sylvie's got these walls up. She doesn't let anyone in and that includes Loki. So sure there's a sort of, oh, this person is not as I thought they were. I'm warming to them. But Sylvie's not an easy nut to crack.

Is it fun getting to play that kind of strength?

DI MARTINO: Yeah. It's awesome because when her defenses do come down and she's vulnerable, it's really interesting. And you start to see all of the stuff that's buried underneath and that's what makes her a great character to play.

So, how do you feel about there being a second season? Do you feel like if there hadn't been a second season, you would have gotten the closure you wanted to from the story?

DI MARTINO: Probably not. I want to know what happens just like everyone else. I'm super excited and I just can't wait to see which direction they're going because it could be infinite directions.

Do you have a sense that there might've been different aspects to it, had COVID not been an issue?

DI MARTINO: I think COVID actually probably made it a lot better. We had a five months hiatus and Kate and the producers and writers worked a lot on episodes five and six during that time. And as far as I've heard, a lot changed for the better. They could rewatch what we'd already shot and just carry on working on the scripts and developing them. So I think it was great to have that time actually, as awful in most ways it was, that was the silver lining of it.

Very. Yeah. So looking forward, I imagine if there's a second season, you're on board if you get asked.

DI MARTINO: Hopefully. Hope so.

By the way, I was really excited to see the story about how your costume was designed to allow you to breastfeed during shooting. That seems like it was a really special detail.

DI MARTINO: Yeah, really, really. I'm just so grateful that that happened. It made my life so much easier and it was important to me that I carried on doing that. So it was just the little things and it's just saved a lot of time. Practically, it was a godsend.

Of course. So looking forward, what's next for you?

DI MARTINO: Lots of interviews. Lots of being able to talk about episode six finally, and then, who knows? An infinite possibility. So yeah, I'm excited to see what happens and to see people's reactions to the series because people are still catching up. People are still watching and rewatching it and probably go on.

Yeah. I mean, I imagine that you're going to be cosplayed at various conventions over the next several decades probably.

DI MARTINO: Do you think? That blows my mind.

I mean, cosplaying has a long legacy to it.

DI MARTINO: It's so cool. The way that people are already making Sylvie horns and crafting them from scratch and spraying them. And there's one woman that's just sewn a whole suit together and it looks exactly like my costume. It's so impressive, the love and attention people put into it.

Are you getting an action figure?

DI MARTINO: I don't know. Hopefully. What would I do with it? Maybe I could use it as a cake topper. Who knows? But that would be a very cool thing to have, wouldn't it?

[bestofblackwidow]

The "Let me go - it's okay," she told him the last time we saw the Black Widow, it was - to say the least - emotional. "Let me go - it's okay," she said to Hawkeye, plunging to her death on the arid planet Sleeping in Avengers: Endgame for the ultimate sacrifice to save the world. While the deaths in the Marvel Cinematic Universe go on - sorry, Iron Man - there was probably no more heart-stopping moment, since the former SHIELD spy who became Avenger gave her life to recover the Soul Stone.

Still, it left the MCU in a bind. For years, a Black Widow film had been mooted, right back to 2004 at Lions Gate Entertainment before the rights reverted to Marvel. When Scarlett Johansson first appeared as Natasha Romanoff - the former KGB assassin with a very particular set of skills - in 2010's Iron Man 2, it didn't take long before questions were asked about a solo outing. Marvel Studios conductor Kevin Feige even held discussions with Johansson, who was then only 25. But there was a caveat, he said. "The Avengers comes first."

While others - Thor, Captain America, Black Panther and even Ant-Man - had their moments in the spotlight, the Black Widow was forced to wait. And wait. And wait. Not that Johansson thought that her character demanded the same treatment; if she was going to be in front of a Marvel movie, there had to be a reason. "Is there anything exciting to do creatively, as an actor?" she says. “Will we be able to do something extraordinary and strong? And something that stands on its own? "It's what makes the independent Black Widow an intriguing prospect: an inauguration of Phase 4 of the MCU promises to step back in time before her dramatic death to answer the provocative questions that still hover over her Crucially, the script transports audiences back to the events right after Captain America: Civil War, after that huge internal confrontation of the Avengers.

Without relatives or an organization that employs her, the Black Widow is alone, says Johansson. "It gave us the opportunity to really show her when she's kind of out of her game, you know? Because of that, anything was possible." The actress was there "from the start" at the script meetings, as they began to figure out how to delve into Romanoff's origins. "You are trying to map all of this ... which is extremely stressful," she laughs, "because there are no guidelines."

Fortunately, Johansson was not alone. In another inspired choice for the MCU canon, Feige recruited Australian director Cate Shortland, best known for discreet dramas like Somersault and Lore. While she was surprised, Shortland was encouraged by the creative freedom that Marvel was offering. “They allowed me to be myself and encouraged me to make a movie that I was passionate about,” she says. "We were allowed to have a lot of nuances and make a character-oriented film."

After several Skype sessions with Johansson, who also receives producer credit, Shortland worked with a Russian researcher to embody Romanoff's dark story: "the red in my ledger", as she told Loki in 2012 in Os Avengers. As she sings in the trailer, "We have to go back to where it all started" - the promising teaser clips of Romanoff as a young man (played by Ever Anderson, daughter of Paul WS Anderson and Milla Jovovich) in a childhood that seems far from idyllic. That's what makes Black Widow a family reunion of the kind that only Marvel would have the courage to conjure. Joining Romanoff is Yelena Belova, a sister-sister and fellow murderer who trained alongside her in the so-called Red Room, the punitive Soviet facility that produced 'Black Widow' spies.

"Their stories intersect," promises Shortland. "They clash." Played by Lady Macbeth's British star Florence Pugh, Belova is more than a physical match for Romanoff. Still, emotionally is where it really matters. "What Yelena does is kind of point to Natasha's pain," says Pugh. “She is part of Natasha's story. And I think that's why we have an opportunity to look at Natasha's story, because Yelena has been knocking on the door and says, 'Hey, let's deal with this pain. ”As Johansson comments, Belova is not just a carbon copy of his own character.

"She is completely alone. She is strong and different. She is so different (from) Natasha." Beside them are Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz) and Alexei Shostakov (David Harbor), two father figures whose own stories intertwine with Natasha and Yelena. "This is the coolest thing with this whole group of people. They all had parts of their past that they regretted," says Pugh. “They’re older. They’ve had more life experience. They know more about the system, about this world they’re all living in.” Harbor, the Emmy Stranger Things nominated star, managed to put an indelible mark on the muscular Shostakov, better known as the Red Guardian super soldier, the Russian equivalent of Captain America. "There is a gangster quality to him," the actor smiles. "And he's covered in tattoos. He's got a beard and those gold teeth. He's crazy." But after years of making bad decisions, he's also full of remorse.

"He's in a bad situation," adds Harbor. "And he needs redemption." Weisz's character, Melina, is another who experienced the rigors of the Red Room, a place that put her in contact with Natasha and Yelena. Marking his first dive at the MCU, Weisz acknowledges that the film addresses the idea of ​​discovering his favorite family. "It's definitely about finding out where you belong and where you came from, and what your background story was, and who you really are, and what matters to you - your ideology, I think." Along the way, Feige made reference to The Kids Are All Right - the 2010 Lisa Cholodenko film about a same-sex couple raising two teenagers. "Which is so weird," laughs Johansson. "You would never expect that from a Marvel movie." no it was the only strange nod to the film. Harbor speaks of Shostakov in terms of Philip Seymour Hoffman's drama teacher in the dramatic black comedy The Savages.

Or even expressing "the pathos of a small town, independent, family-run, weird movie... like Little Miss Sunshine". More understandable cinema references include "things like Logan and Aliens and The Fugitive," says Shortland. "We saw movies like that." Certainly, it's easy to see comparisons between Sigourney Weaver's determined Ripley, from James Cameron's masterpiece Aliens, and Johansson's Romanoff, an Avenger who has no superpowers. "We saw it as a force," says Shortland, "because she always has to dig really deep to get out of shit situations." According to the director, everyone in the production invested in deepening Romanoff - even Scottish composer Lorne Balfe (Pennyworth, His Dark Materials), who replaced Alexandre Desplat's original choice. Balfe looked at the character's origins, says Shortland. “He said, 'I want to put it on the ground, because it has been dug up in the movies in the past. I want to give her that flesh and blood. 'And he created this soundtrack that is really Russian."

However, perhaps the real blow here is to recruit Shortland, the first female director to face the Black Widow (and only the second, following Captain Marvel co-director Anna Boden, to enter the MCU). "This film would not be what it is without Cate Shortland," says Pugh. "I think having her eye, and having her mind with this script, has taken her to a whole different realm." Johansson agrees. "" You can feel it was made from a female perspective ... cooked there. "Although Ray Winstone's casting as Supervisor of the Red Room Dreykov (whose daughter contributed to the abundance of red in Romanoff's book, according to Loki) add more to the psychological battleground that the Black Widow will explore, it also deals with victimization, a very pertinent topic in the current climate. The Red Room itself is where trainees are brutally sterilized. "You will see that these women are hard working and strong, and they are murderers - and yet they still need to discuss how they were abused," says Pugh. "It is an incredibly powerful piece."

Judging by the 2020 Oscars, where Pugh and Johansson had their own private relationship session on the red carpet, the two actors got along very well. "She has a really beautiful career ahead of her ... she's a very special person," says Johansson, excited when Pugh's name is mentioned. More specifically, Pugh may well have more Marvel to chew on, if it is rumored that her character will take on the 'Black Widow' mantle for new adventures. By learning Parkour, kickboxing and knife fighting for role, Pugh can safely cut things physically, though she's reluctant to claim that the Black Widow is just a setup for future outings. "Even though it is obviously where everyone wants to go and want to think - think about what comes next - this film never really seemed to be what he was trying to underline." According to Johansson, however, test the audience who saw the film thinks otherwise. "Her character and her performance are so dear." Now, after more than a year of pandemic-related delays to July 2021), it will not be just a few lucky spectators who will be able to see. Black Widow will even be the first Marvel movie to debut simultaneously on the Disney+ streaming site (with a 'main hit' fee), an understandable move considering the uncertainty that still exists around the world. And in fact, after the success of the Marvel TV shows WandaVision and The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, it doesn't seem like such a strange home. Johansson believes that fans will respond to Black Widow, with this flashback of an earlier part of her life, bringing more poignancy to the Endgame's outcome. "Our goal was for them to be satisfied with this story; that maybe they could have some solution, I think, with the death of this character, in a way. It seemed like people wanted this." Shortland agrees. "We felt that we should honor his death," she says. And the Black Widow will surely honor him.

[therachelperspective]

FILM | Black Widow [2021, dir. Cate Shortland]

I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the character of Black Widow. She was the only female hero – at least in the early days of the MCU’s Avengers films – amongst a sea of men. She kicked ass without super or godly powers, she had a mysterious past before her days with S.H.I.E.L.D. There were a plethora of details that made her interesting. So the fact that it took so long for her receive her own film is blasphemous to begin with. Through the media’s hype before the film’s official release, and the claims made about Black Widow’s place in the MCU, I believe my expectations going into viewing the film were more than they should have been, and that plays a big part in why I am less than pleased with the final result.

Don’t get me wrong, I am still incredibly glad that Black Widow received her own film because you’re damn straight she deserves it, but if you’re going to declare that it will be explaining Budapest, explaining the Red Room and the creation of the Widows, explaining more of Natasha’s past (and if it was not declared as such, it’s still what we as viewers would have wanted after all this time)... Needless to say, I would have preferred an actual origins film instead of whatever this was. It’s placement as a little blip between Civil War and Infinity War, as a “What was Nat up to?” sort of thing, felt ill-placed in the MCU timeline, especially since an epilogue scene puts her amidst the period of Infinity War (as shown with her short blonde hair), and the after-credits scene jumps even further forward in time to post-Endgame. Sure, there were scenes that took place in Budapest during Black Widow, but what happened there previously and any interaction with Clint before she became part of S.H.I.E.L.D. was only briefly (and I mean VERY BRIEFLY) mentioned in a short passing scene. The Red Room and how Natasha became a Widow, still only touched on in mere moments during an opening sequence, nothing more than what we’ve seen in previous Avengers films (i.e. Age of Ultron’s flashback scenes). But her time as part of the KGB? Any interaction with the Winter Soldier? Completely absent. Black Widow, unfortunately, failed in my perspective to do anything other than bring her back together with her old “family” and then, with them, merely going through a bunch of a big budget fight/escape scenes with the bad guys. When I then also read that director Cate Shortland had no experience directing budget action films, I came to the realization that Black Widow did rely a great deal on fantastical visuals to distract from the limited story, and it didn’t even do it that well. Instead of a true glimpse into the past of a most tight-lipped Avenger, we get another bang-bang-shoot-’em-up action movie to add more red to her ledger. Every male Avenger got better story treatment, over a series of films no less, than Natasha in her one and probably only standalone tale. Long story short: sure, they gave Black Widow a film, but they still did her reaaaal dirty.

Despite its incredible shortcomings, I’m still trying hard to like it. I want to like it, and enjoy what I was given. The humor throughout the film, especially from David Harbor’s Alexei Shostakov (a.k.a. the very obvious comedic relief character), was entertaining; Rachel Weisz has not seemed to age at all and it was great to see her amongst the action as mother figure and badass scientist Melina Vostokoff. But we all know the true shining star of Black Widow other than Scarlett Johansson in her final role as Natasha... was that of Florence Pugh as “baby sister” Yelena Belova. Although I was admittedly fond of Florence before seeing Black Widow, she was quite outstanding as Yelena and her chemistry with Scarlett undeniable; I really did like her in this role. It’s really no surprise that they will be/are making way for her and her character to become a bigger part of future MCU entertainment. I’m not complaining there. AND... although I was hoping for more, I also cannot complain about any “easter eggs” or commentary from Black Widow that connect it to the other films, because that’s truthfully my favorite part of the MCU as a whole – the way that everything is so intricately connected. I can’t help but smile when they make references spanning 13+ years; their dedication to that is really what makes them successful.

Was I disappointed? Yes. I won’t lie. Almost every good scene was shown in the trailers (the film itself just providing more context), and I think there was only one twist I didn’t see coming. But so much, even the details from the film itself, were poorly explained, if explained at all. I shouldn’t have had to research or come across information when reading various items on the internet to clarify as many details that I did. I shouldn’t have had to know information from the comics (which I have not read) to fill in some of the blanks. The MCU even claimed that you would not have to watch their shows in order to understand the films, when in actuality the final end-credit scene makes a helluva lot more sense if you had. Granted, I would watch the shows regardless, I just would have liked to know that I should have watched The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and/or Loki first instead of, say, Googling who the heck Valentina Allegra de Fontaine is.

Black Widow, on IMDb alone – I don’t dare venture further out into the Internet for this one – is flooded with poor reviews, and it really does pain me the amount of truth contained in the few I skimmed. Florence Pugh carried the film; Natasha was a sidekick in her own movie; Taskmaster (who I don’t know enough to say anything about here) was ruined... but the thing that bothers me most, as one reviewer stated perfectly, is that this is “the first MCU film I’ve hated, and I’m shook.”

I wouldn’t go all the way to “hate” per se, as I'll always love Marvel and the cinematic universe it has built, but... Me too, buddy. Me too.

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

@10catslover​ @random-ass-fanboy​ ugh I guess this is how I’m doing this because apparently there still isn’t a better way to reply to replies in new posts, anyway these are replies to this post

my impression is that it’s because...a lot of Loki fans are also big Tony Stark fans, for a variety of reasons (the same reasons Frostiron is almost certainly the biggest Loki ship that isn’t Thorki, and for that matter I don’t actually know how the two compare to each other in numbers). I mean there are other reasons to be frustrated, like the fact that they’re both magically powerful in comics and only one of them gets to be that way in the MCU, or the way MCU Loki and MCU Wanda both started out as significant enemies of the Avengers for kinda complicated reasons and the writers only gave one of them a chance to earn forgiveness and fight for the good guys when in any just world Loki would’ve had that chance a while ago too...although as far as the latter goes, Nebula represents an even more egregious case because as far as I’m aware she’s still pretty solidly a villain in comics--one you can’t help feeling bad for, but a consistent and mostly intentional villain anyway--and she got a definitive redemption arc in the MCU regardless, and I...don’t typically see Loki fans hating her for that? I mean, they shouldn’t, I love MCU Nebula and her arc, but I am mad MCU Loki didn’t also get to have basically the same arc like he deserved, especially when I consider that his comics counterpart seems to have a much more complicated history than Nebula does, which means you can’t even go “well one is a Hero in comics and the other is a Villain” as a way of explaining it the way you can with Wanda and Loki. obviously Nebula is not the one on everyone’s minds right now, which I’m sure has something to do with it!

but--yeah, my sense is that this pattern of some Loki fans disliking Wanda is largely because a lot of Loki fans are also Tony fans, and generally speaking, Tony fans tend to not like Wanda very much because of how she was introduced in Age of Ultron...and then Civil War compounded the issue...and the reverse is also true to some extent, so it kind of turns into a nasty feedback loop where, for instance, someone who likes one character and is indifferent to the other starts actively disliking the second character because that character’s fans dislike their fave, and the more defensive people get about their faves, the more they tend to go on the offense and the nastier everything gets.

just taking myself as an example, my knee-jerk response--which I usually don’t actually say, I just silently seethe about it--whenever I see Wanda-negative posts (or Steve-negative posts because there’s typically a lot of overlap there too) basically boils down to “yeah well what about YOUR fave’s death count, what about all the shit YOUR fave gets away with, why is YOUR fave’s trauma a meaningful reason for his actions but my fave’s trauma isn’t, how about THAT”...even if the post in question never actually mentioned Tony. I mean, it usually does at some point in the reblogs or in other posts so I think my assumption is justified, but it’s also true that I automatically assume someone’s Steve or Wanda negativity is a direct result of them loving Tony whether the post itself gives me a reason to think that or not, so my defensive reaction of my faves immediately jumps to what is probably a preemptive attack on Tony’s flaws because of the assumptions I’m making...and again, I suspect the reverse is also basically true (i.e., people who were mostly indifferent to Wanda start disliking her more because they see what seems to be random Tony-bashing from Wanda fans).

so it’s all just...one big nasty feedback loop that I really wish we could all try harder to avoid. like...there are probably ways we can criticize narrative treatments of different characters without actively shitting on those characters, right? or, I don’t know, focusing more specifically on “here’s why I think Character A keeps getting shafted and it sucks, especially when Characters B through G do similar things that are portrayed differently, which is a problem of writing and not one of those characters and their fans inherently being The Worst” rather than “Character A keeps getting shafted and that’s why I made 10 posts in a row about how much I hate Character B”? or at least really trying to look at things in good faith instead of jumping straight to “Character B’s stans are delusional”? I mean fuck, we’re all here because we love something about the fandom, right? can we...try to focus on that? can we at least stop calling each other delusional (a specific thing that seems to come up a lot) for having different opinions and interpretations?

[sea-owl]

So I just watched the newest episode of WandaVision and I got some thoughts.

First do I think Wanda is the antagonist in her own show? Yes. Do I think she's evil and the villain? No. Do I believe someone at the very least manipulated Wanda into starting this? Yes and money is on Agnes or Agatha Harkness as some believe she might be, from her recent lines of, "Do you want to retake that scene?" And her questioning Wanda's power of bringing back the dead when Tommy and Billy beg Wanda to bring Sparky back to life. (Lowkey also suspect that the twins know mommy is in control of their world.)

I believe Wanda is hurt and is using an extreme form of escapism in an attempt to try to heal herself. But in doing so Wanda is also hurting thousands of others in the process, this includes Vision and her twins.

Vision is getting angry and questioning Wanda about the town, unknown to the fact that she revived him. (I also believe that Sword might have been doing some sketchy shit with Vision's body but that's for another post.) Vision states that he's not under her control, and hes right, he's slipping out of it now that the illusion is gone. Her twins are not affected by her powers like rest of the town and they're questioning her on previous actions she took and why can't she do it? Why can't she do it again? These questions show that Wanda's escapism is slowly slipping from her control and proof that its not working. The cracks in the facade are starting to show.

I believe Wanda needs help too, but I also believe she finally needs to learn accountability. In the past the Avengers, more specifically team Cap has let squeeze by her messes without much of consequences to her or them. They have infantilized her, often calling her a kid. Well guess what she's no kid anymore and they let her get away with too much for too long. This latest thing she has done has held thousands hostage, went against Vision's wishes after he passed, and against the Sokovia Accords, which are still a thing un tge MCU as stated by Jimmy Woo in episode 5. She's not walking away without some sort of consequences for this.

In all honesty to me that's a good thing for Wanda's growth. Wanda's character bugged me so much because she was stuck in this infantilized state that all the adults used "she's just a kid" excuse to explain away her lack of maturity and not learning from her mistakes. And I think what really bugged me about that was I was always roughly about the same age as Wanda ever since she first joined the MCU and she always came off to me as immature and a little spoiled later on. It makes feel like a proud older sister finally seeing my younger sibling learning an important lesson.

Again I believe Wanda needs help, like proper therapy, and that this is like a reverse House of M. I believe she's going to somehow fuck with the multiverse and bring in mutants, possibly the townspeople being the mutants. I also believe she's going to get the Loki treatment. I believe she's going to at least start healing from this by the end of the show and begin her atonement when she teams up with Dr Strange. Wanda is hurt, she's not necessarily a villain, but she is still doing bad things and hurting innocent people. It's time for her to learn like Loki did and I'm excited to see where this takes her.

[omegafan101]

 I’m marathoning the MCU again to get ready for it finally returning with WandaVision and now I’m hyperfixated and I just gotta express excitement for all the new stuff.

WandaVision

I mean firstly we’re finally getting back to the MCU!

These two characters definetly deserve their own show!

Multiverse of Madness teasers?

Falcon and Winter Soldier

I mean what’s not to love about Sam and Bucky working together??

Captain Falcon!

Return of Zemo! (Masters of Evil perhaps??)

Black Widow

This is coming out a whole year after it was supposed to and I’m so ready to finally see it.

Taskmaster looks so fucking cool!

Loki

I’m not even the biggest Loki fan but how can I deny how exciting this is?

Looks like we’ll be getting into how the time travel messed things up with the TVA.

Love & Thunder teaser?????

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

I don’t know anything about this guy so I’m really happy to learn some more about other Marvel heroes!

Finally gonna see the real Mandarin!

What If...?

Animated MCU?? Sign me up!

I’ve always loved What If scenarios so seeing them within the context of MCU lore is sure to be cool!

Marvel Zombies baby!

Last performance from Chadwick Boseman.

Eternals

Again, don’t know anything about these guys but happy to learn!

I love Kumail Nanjiani!

Spider-Man 3

God where do I begin???

Alfred Molina and Jamie Foxx reprising their roles??? Hell yeah!

I think they already got Andrew Garfield and are working on getting Toby Maguire???? Fucking amazing if they do and no matter how many news sources I read it just seems to good to be true!

I have this crazy idea that they’re gonna do a multiversal Sinister Six which would be amazing but I’m not getting my hopes up.

Hawkeye

Kate Bishop baby!

I actually don’t know much about either Hawkeye but my friend loves Kate so I’m excited!

Ms. Marvel

KAMAL KHAN IS MY FAVORITE FUCKING MARVEL CHARACTER EVER!!!

I want everyone reading this to know I freaked out the moment she was announced.

And even more so when I found out she should have her show out by next year!

Thor: Love and Thunder

It’s another Thor movie directed by Taika Waititi. How could I NOT be excited???

Jane Foster Thor here we come!

Asgardians of the Galaxy perhaps?

Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness

I think they said it’s gonna be a horror movie so I can only assume Nightmare’s gonna be the villain?

Definetly leaning into other Earths with this.

More Wanda content!

Moon Knight

Don’t know too much about the guy but he was always a top choice for a somewhat more obscure hero to join the MCU.

She-Hulk

What’s not to love about She-Hulk?

Also more Hulk content! Really hoping we get to see him wreck some shit with She-Hulk, saw more Banner than Hulk in Endgame.

ABOMINATION’S FINALLY BACK BABY! So ready to see him in better CGI!

Leader too maybe??? Please????

A-Force perhaps?

Secret Invasion

MOTHER FUCKING SECRET INVASION!!!

Secret Invasion has ALWAYS been one of my favorite Marvel stories! I was kinda dissapointed when the Skrull turned out the be good guys and thought we wouldn’t get it but here we are!

And Fury as a main character hell yeah!

Ironheart

So glad we’re getting into the newer generation of heroes!

Champions maybe?

Armor Wars

So glad they’re doing Armor Wars! And with Rhodey as the main character!

Justin Hammer will probably be back??? If he is I’m so glad they’re finally working with Iron Man 2 and Incredible Hulk. They kinda just left those two in the dark for years.

Titanium Man maybe????

Fantastic Four

BOUT FUCKING TIME!

Poor Fantasic Four has really not been given good treatment huh? Really excited to see what MCU does with them!

MOTHER FUCKING DOCTOR DOOM!!!

He’s inevitable. He’s one of the greatest villains in Marvel history and it’s a shame we weren’t able to have him sooner.

Now all we need is X-Men.

Don’t have much to say about the rest honestly.

[leonardhoee]

Why TROS (The Rise of Skywalker) is better than Endgame (AKA absolute trash)

SPOILER WARNING!!! SCROLL IF YOU HAVENT SEEN TROS

Ok so apparently there’s actually a debate about which is better. First of all. I acknowledge that TROS may not be the best Star Wars movie to ever come out but compared to the trash that endgame/Infinity War are it was 10000x better.

TROS did a pretty good job with character development. Even though I’m not happy that Ben died, he had a purpose. There was no other choice in that situation but to do what he did and his death was more bittersweet than acutely painful. They did a great job redeeming him and the moment he talked to Han Solo made me so emotional. 8.5/10. the ending was satisfying and it left room for fans to make their own headcannons about the future.

Just some of the best moments

Look at the difference from the beginning to the end. *chefs kiss

Meanwhile...

Endgame and IW:

Carol?: reduced to a deus ex machina

Thor?: a fat joke; has no purpose for even being there anymore since anyone can use his hammer now

Steve?: threw away his entire new life to go back to the past with Peggy

Tony?: dead when it should've been nebula who killed thanos and his abusive dad got redemption

Natasha?: JUST found a family and redemption and happiness but she sacrificed herself for no reason

Wanda: had her trauma erased and basically made to not be taken seriously by the audience when thanos said he didn't even know who she is. And that’s exactly what happened.

Loki?: died for ABSOLUTELY no reason other than drama; undid his redemption arc

Gamora?: proved the trope that in the end you won't escape your abuser

Black panther/ wakanda?: reduced to ash in .5 seconds after they were supposed to be this great advanced nation

Banner?: basically useless bc he can't bring out the hulk. This couldve been their moment to truly show what BANNER can do but no. Apparently he's nothing without the hulk

And that’s just some of the characters they fucked up

1) The movie perpetuated a lot of misogynistic stereotypes (can’t expect anything better from the Russo’s), reducing most of the female characters to emotional wrecks (Wanda, nat), deus ex machinas that are shelved for most of the movie (carol) sacrificial lambs (gamora, nat), and plot devices for male characters (Peggy). And they think adding one “token feminist scene” is going to cover up their horrid treatment of the women in the rest of the movie

2) It supported basically most of the abusers in the MCU. Showing Gamora being sacrificed supported the trope that you can never escape your abuser. Loki being violently murdered for no reason showed that you can only find redemption in death (even though he was already redeemed). And tony easily forgiving Howard supports the idea that no matter how bad they are, you should forgive your abuser because they’re family.

3) Thor was ridiculed throughout the movie, undoing everything Ragnarok did for his character development. It’s like that movie never even existed at this point. Instead of showing him healing from his trauma, his weight, mental health, and destructive coping mechanisms were made fun of by all the characters. Would tony stark ever actually mock Thor for alcoholism when he struggled with the same thing? Would Valkyrie seriously just leave him alone to drink and forget his pain when she went through the same thing?

4) Another thing is Mjolnir. I get that steve was able to lift mjolnir in the comics. However what exactly makes him worthy in the MCU? We know that Hela and Odin were able to use mjolnir and there’s a pattern there. People who are blood related to Thor are worthy of wielding mjolnir. That’s why loki was never able to lift it. So why is steve Rogers, a human, able to use it. And with lighting powers on top of that. After the way Thor was treated in the movie (basically being useless until the fight at the end) what is the purpose in him even being there if now even humans are able to summon lighting like he can?? Lightning is something only Thor can do. Not even Odin can do it. It doesn’t make sense with the logic they’ve established in the MCU.

5) Going back to loki. Ragnarok already finished his redemption arc. He was ready to go to earth with thor and the rest of the asgardians. He was finally being treated as an equal yet the Russo brothers decided to kill him pointlessly and violently before even the title credits. That’s just disrespectful they reduced him to a plot device for drama, to make thanos seem dangerous. Now, Looking at the scene. Thanos was literally ready to let him go. He did not need to die. Loki had to have known that attempt to kill him wouldn’t have worked after being tortured by thanos for so long. He can’t be killed by a dagger. Loki isn’t that dumb. And he’s not that selfless. He wouldn’t sacrifice himself for no reason especially when he could’ve walked away unscathed. His death scenes was one of the most unnecessary, gruesome, graphic deaths I’ve ever seen from marvel. It made me feel sick. The sound of his bone snapping seeing the blood running down his eyes was it. They could’ve done so much with this character but they chose to do this instead. Hopefully the Disney + show fixes his character arc.

Overall, my expectations were low for both movies. But endgame was the biggest disappointment to the marvel franchise I’ve ever seen. TROS was truthfully very satisfying and did everything endgame wishes it did.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. I hope the sun will shine on us again.

[cblgblog]

My point was about Steve and Sharon and the treatment she received from Marvel. It's not about Sharon and Peggy. I don't want Sharon to be shown happy by Steve to validate him, it has nothing to do with Peggy. I'm sorry, Sharon was cut off because of the fans' hatred too. If she had become popular, she would still be there, just as Peggy got a series, or Loki who has a series. There's no way Marvel would cut Sharon if she had received love from fans. The writers do what Kevin Feige wants Part 1

if he had said, keep Sharon because she's popular, she would have stayed, even if they didn't like her. Yes, the fans had a voice over her departure, not just the writers and Marvel. BTW I'm not Staron stan, I'm just not going to close my eyes about how she was treated, and she can still be treated. She doesn't deserve this. Part 2

If she had become popular, she would still be there, just as Peggy got a series, or Loki who has a series.

It has something to do with Peggy if you’re making the argument that Sharon haters (commonly treated as interchangeable with Steggy fans, though that isn’t true in all cases, at all) are the reason Sharon didn’t get more screentime. If you’re making the argument that Sharon being less popular than Peggy is the reason Sharon lost out on a storyline. And, again. I don’t think she was treated badly by Steve narratively. By the writers, yes. She was wasted, they didn’t know what to do with her, she deserved better. She should’ve had more to do, if they were going to bring her in, more character development that wasn’t centered around a possible romance that didn’t get followed through with. As for the scenes she did get with Steve? No, I’m sorry, I don’t believe Steve treated her badly. He didn’t love her and leave her. He didn’t love her that way period, it was never allowed to progress that far. He didn’t throw her aside. They both went on the run from the law. He showed gratitude, he literally thanked her, so no, he didn’t treat her badly. The writers not doing more with her and letting her just fade out? Yes. But as it pertains to how they wrote her interactions with Steve? No.

And no, sorry, I don’t agree with blaming fans for what Marvel chooses to do. If Marvel was beholden to all their fan groups, then Steve would be in a relationship with Sharon, Bucky, Peggy, Nat, Tony, Sam, and plenty I’m sure I’m missing out on. Why is Peggy so special that people who prefer her to Sharon are the ones that get listened to, if you’re assuming that fans raging on the Internet is a thing Marvel seriously pays attention to? Did they just spin a wheel and whatever it landed on, that was the rabid fan group they were going to listen to? Quite a lucky coincidence for Sharon haters, isn’t it?

Peggy did become popular, more than TPTB expected after First Avenger. But to act like that’s a bad thing, like that’s people’s fault for liking her, and that’s why Sharon got removed? If she was THAT popular, her show wouldn’t have been cancelled after 2 short seasons, something that happened right before CW hit. Her show was cancelled, she was killed off, they had Sharon in CW, and Sharon has more cred with the comics crowd. They had every excuse in the world to not pursue anything more with Peggy and focus on Sharon. They didn’t. That’s on the writers, not on the people who enjoy Peggy’s character/didn’t like Sharon because of the romance angle and how it was done.

Peggy’s not Loki. She’s not Iron Man. She’s not going to be thrown into every project possible because everyone adores her on that level. If she was as popular as you’re claiming--enough to blame that popularity on why Sharon was screwed over narratively--then her show would still be on. It would be continuing on after AoS. Maybe we’d have a Howling Commandos spinoff by now. Have any of those things happened?

Yes, she is popular, she has a devoted fanbase, that is larger than Marvel anticipated. She is NOT as popular as Loki, or Iron Man, or any other character that is such a money maker for Marvel that they get used as much as possible, sometimes to the detriment of other characters. And I love her infinitely more than Tony or Loki, but you cannot, in any credible way, compare her popularity to that of Loki. Sorry, you can’t, and I say this as her biggest defender. The argument people make when blaming Peggy’s popularity for Sharon’s sparse appearances in the MCU? No. Neither Peggy Carter or Hayley Atwell have the power to sway the MCU in such a dramatic way. Hayley Atwell was a relative unknown before First Avenger, with 2 short seasons of a relatively low rated TV show under her belt by the time of CW. Vancamp, in comparison? She had 8 seasons of continuous primetime TV by then, across 2 successful TV shows. She was perfectly positioned after CW to step in more, had the writers chosen to do that. If Marvel were as beholden to Peggy fans as you claim, they wouldn’t have killed her off 20 minutes into the film. 

The writers do what Kevin Feige wants. If he had said, keep Sharon because she's popular, she would have stayed, even if they didn't like her.

Could not agree more with this. The writers do what FEIGE wants. When Emily clapped back at him during a panel, asking where her character went, she clapped back at HIM. Not the fans, She didn’t say “Why don’t more of you guys like me, why doesn’t anyone like me?” to the audience. Ultimately, it’s on Feige and Marvel, what happens and what doesn’t. Is it Stucky fans fault that Steve and Bucky haven’t had more time onscreen together, because they’re just not popular enough, people don’t want that enough? Is it Tony stans fault that he died? Were Nat and Gamora both killed because neither of them were popular enough? Because from everything on the Internet, fan reactions, none of those things are remotely true, yet all of those decisions were made. Nat and Gamora getting dead for manpain? That was bad writing. THAT was actual misogyny. Sharon wasn’t given enough material to work with as a character. Because they chose to bring her in and then wasted her, THAT is bad writing. If they’d wrote her in with a clear vision of what to do with her, she very well could have become more popular. They didn’t give her the material needed to stand out? That is bad writing. It’s not because this 60-year-old character doesn’t have a fanbase, or because Emily Vancamp, veteran of several TV shows, nominated for a long list of awards for her acting, not because she doesn’t have a fanbase.

Peggy is not that popular. Sharon/Emily is not that unpopular. Blame the writers, blame Feige. Enough with this narrative that one talented, successful woman with fans got screwed over just because another talented, successful woman also has fans. They both have fanbases. They’ve both proven that, given the right material, they can kill it. Stop pitting them and their fanbases against each other instead of blaming the people with actual decision-making power.

So yeah, I don’t agree with you, probably never going to, you’re probably never going to agree with me. Which is fine. We’re two strangers online, you saw a post I made and disagreed with it, which is fine. I don’t need to convince you, you don’t need to convince me. I’m sure that if you came off of anon and I saw your blog, there would be posts I’d disagree with too, and no amount of back and forth would change that, and that too is fine.

[thorne93]

Unforeseen Chasm (Part 50)

Prompt: Two sisters fall for men that are absolute enemies. The love they have could tear all of them apart, or it could bring them together.

Word Count:2925

Warnings: tired reader, flirty gambit, doting Bruce, angry/ jealous tony and loki, arguing and mentions of a fight

Song for this part:There no way-lauv and julia michaels

Note: This is by far the longest thing I’ve ever written (including my novels). It’s a collaboration with the amazing @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo​​. It started as a funny “What if…?” and it evolved and got huge. This took two years to write. We are both proud and happy and we hope you enjoy it. It follows from Thor 1 to Endgame in the MCU. Some of the timelines may be off in order to fit certain people, and some characters may show up earlier or in different ways than they have in the movie. But for the most part, it follows the MCU. It also has a bit of crossover with some other Marvel characters throughout the story.

Masterlist for Unforeseen Chasm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A week had passed at this point, and three more sessions had taken place between you and Shannon. Shannon was nearly bed ridden at this point, doctor’s orders. The treatments were healing her internally, they were helping, but physically, she felt weak. As for you, if they lasted extended periods they could take a toll on you, and most of the time they did wear you out. Keeping your power set to low for long periods of time took a lot of endurance. 

One day after your session you were sitting in bed reading when Remy entered the room with a small box of your favorite candy. “There’s the hero,’ he greeted with a grin. Remy had been around more and more each day and the company was much appreciated as Shannon seemed to sleep off most of her sessions. 

You scoffed. “I’m no hero,” you assured. 

“Not according to that woman,” he stated, pointing to Shannon. “You’re saving her life.” He handed you the candy and sat on the bed. “How you feelin’, darlin’?” 

“I’m hanging in there,” you said with a sigh. “This has to be boring, checking up on the bed ridden girl every day,” you noted with an eyeroll. 

“Quite the contrary. I look forward to this part of the day, every day. Don’t you?” he asked, the hidden meaning in his tone. 

A red hot blush flushed your cheeks before you looked away, refusing to answer. “What have you been up to?”

“Actually learned a new card game. Wanna play?” 

‘Sure, I guess I’m in the mood to get my ass beat,” you joked. 

“Oh come on now, I’ll go easy on you,” he said as he shuffled the cards with showmanship. “We aren’t gonna wake her, are we?” he asked, gesturing towards Shannon with the cards. “If she needs to rest…” 

You glanced to your best friend. “No, I think she’s already in a deep sleep,” you assured. 

“If you say so,” he said with a smile, and you were sure you saw a sparkle shine on his teeth, making you blush again. He caught the shade of red on your cheeks and a bit of color rose to his own before he dealt you in and began to explain the game. The two of you spent all afternoon playing until Shannon woke up, and he dealt her in as well. 

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

A couple of days later, Bruce was in the bedroom, bright and early checking on Shannon. At this point you were sure it was habitual for him. He always greeted you, and checked on you verbally, but he practically doted on Shannon. In one way, it was adorable. In another way, you cringed thinking of what would happen if Tony ever caught Bruce looking at Shannon the way he was right now. 

“Mon cher, you up?” Remy asked, poking his head in the room. 

“Always,” you groaned. “What’s up?” 

“I thought you might like a movie day,” he stated, bringing in a laptop. 

“Movie day? But I thought I had a session?” you asked, looking to Bruce. 

He shook his head. “Actually, that’s a no go today, Y/N/N. Shannon is still too weak from the other day, plus she’s still asleep. You need a day of rest anyway.” 

“That’s all I do is rest,” you groaned. “And Loki hasn’t been by.” 

“I could shoot him a message,” he offered. 

“If you wouldn't mind?” 

“Sure thing. Now, don’t wake Shannon,” he instructed, sternly. 

You saluted him. “Yes, sir.” 

With that, he swept out of the room. 

“Scoot,” Remy ordered in a kind voice, his face lighting up. 

You frowned quickly. He wanted to sit on the bed? “You want to sit here?” you asked, perplexed. 

“No, I thought I’d sit on the floor while we watch movies all day,” he said sarcastically while rolling his eyes. “Yeah, I want to lay next to you. Now scooch.” 

With trembling hands, you picked up the blanket and scooted over to make room for him, throwing the blanket back. He sat down, gave you the laptop, and swung his pajama clad legs under the blanket, getting snuggled. 

An image of Loki appeared in your mind, and you were extremely thankful he wasn’t there in that moment because the attack on New York would pale in comparison to his reaction to this. You slightly shrunk away from Remy at the thought. 

Remy asked what you wanted to watch, but you said he could pick. You were hoping he’d choose action, or comedy - something completely neutral. But he chose a romantic movie, and it made you want to crawl under the floorboards. Every kiss, every touch, every hug made you feel like you were on fire. It took everything in you not to look Remy’s way at some scenes, making you hot under the collar. 

“How about a horror next?” you all but shouted when that one ended. 

“Not a big romance fan?” he asked. 

“Just… want something to get our blood pumping,” you tried, before realizing how that sounded. 

“I might have a thought on how to do that,” he stated, glancing your way. 

Internally, you had died. This couldn’t be happening. 

“I, uh… I think a horror would be good right now. I haven’t seen a good scary movie in a long time. Find me a good one, please?” you requested. 

“As you wish, chere,” he said with a bit of a smirk. 

You glanced to Shannon to make sure she was still asleep, but she was on her side, facing away from you. You tried to take a deep breath. All you had to do was survive movie night… the possibility of that happening was looking bleak. 

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

When your session had ended the next day, Shannon was about to lay down when Bruce walked in again. 

“Hi, Shan. How are you feeling?” he asked. 

“Actually, I’d really like to go for a walk,” she stated.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” he started, rubbing his neck, not comfortable telling her no. 

“Please? I haven’t been outside in over a week, and we both know it’s not healthy. I need fresh air. You can be right with me to make sure I don’t hurt myself.” 

“I don’t know, Shan--”

“Oh for christ’s sake, take her on a walk,” you ordered. “It’s a walk, Bruce, not storming Normandy beach…” 

With that, Bruce looked back to Shannon, offering his hand. “Alright,” he sighed. “Let’s go.” 

“Have fun,” you called after the two.  “But not too much fun!” you shouted before Shannon leaned back to glare at you. You stuck your tongue out at her. You were just about to lay down when Remy came waltzing in. 

“You’re already in bed?” he questioned incredulously. 

“I’ve had a long day,” is all you answered with. 

“I could do something to take your mind off of it,” he offered as he came in and sat on the edge of your bed. 

“I could just sleep,” you said sarcastically. You adored Remy coming by all the time, but you were worried those old feelings were starting to be new feelings. Loki hadn’t stopped by in almost two weeks, and unless you were texting him first or calling him first, he didn’t talk to you. You were starting to feel forgotten by everyone but Remy. 

“Nonsense. You’ll sleep when you’re dead. Would you want to walk in the garden?” 

“Too hot,” you retorted. 

He put his hand on his chin. “Hmm. We could bake something together…” 

“I’m not supposed to be out of the bedroom for that long.” 

“I know,” he said, pulling is phone out. You peered at him, your eyebrow perked up. 

“What are you up to, Cajun?” 

“Hold your horses,” he ordered before shooting you a sly smile. A song softly filled the room. It wasn’t one you’ve heard before, but it had an amazing tune. He stood from the bed and held out his hand. “May I have this dance?” he asked, his smile making your knees weak -- good thing you were in bed. 

“I don’t know, Remy,” you tried, shaking your head, sounding unsure. You knew why you didn’t want to. “I’m supposed to be on bed rest…”

“It’s a dance, Y/N/N, between old friends. Come on, I’ll go slow.” He reached towards your hands and gently pulled. “You can’t lay around all day. You need some exercise and this is perfect.”  

He pulled you into his arms, your chests pressing together as he held your hand up, and you rested your other hand on his shoulder. He quickly found the beat and began leading you in a delicate slow dance, sometimes twirling you out, and you secretly loved it, all while hating that you loved it….. 

Maybe it was the fact that Loki hadn’t been around lately. Maybe it was because now you two were focusing on your lives and careers rather than each other like when you were in the cell. Maybe it was how sweet Remy had been lately… Whatever it was, it was a dangerous concoction.

The song spilled into the room, and you hadn’t quite registered the lyrics, but you should’ve listened harder to what your friend had chosen… 

You touch me and it's almost like we knew

That there will be history between us two

We knew someday that we would have regrets

But we just ignored them the night we met

We just dance backwards into each other

Trying to keep our feelings secretly covered

You touch me and it's almost like we knew

That there will be history

There's no way that it's not going there

With the way that we're looking at each other

There's no way that it's not going there

Every second with you I want another

But maybe we can hold off one sec

So we can keep this tension in check

But there's no way that it's not going there

With the way that we're looking at each other

I wish I could make the time stop

So we could forget everything and everyone

I wish that the time would line up

So we could just give in to what we want

'Cause when I got somebody, you don't

And when you got somebody, I don't

I wish that the time would line up

So we could just give in

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

Meanwhile outside Bruce was keeping a close eye on Shannon. He didn’t think she should be outside just yet. ”I think we should head back inside, Shannon.”

“Bruce, we haven’t even been outside that long. I’m sick of sleeping and just looking at the same four walls,” she said, exasperated. “Please just let me enjoy the fresh air and the sun.” She looked at him.

He gave in knowing well there’s nothing he wouldn’t do to make her happy. “Alright, how about we go a little farther that way. I think you might like seeing the younger kids playing.” He had been walking beside her at a safe normal distance but he couldn't help wanting to get closer. 

“Lead the way.” She smiled for the first time in ages. She felt so comfortable around him she knew he could turn into the Hulk and protect himself if anything triggered her. It’s probably why she’s only let him be this near her.

The two were walking enjoying the sounds of the kids laughing, when Shannon seemed to lose her footing and Bruce was quick to catch her. Worried she’d over exerted herself, he helped her get back up. “Here, why don't we go sit down over there?” He pointed to a little area.

“Yeah sounds like a good idea, seems as though I'm still pretty weak.” She sat down and waited for Bruce to do the same. “Thanks for being here with me, you didn't have to.” 

“I wanted to make sure you were okay.” He sat down close to her. “You still doing okay?” He looked to her

“You don't mind if I lean on you for a bit, do you?” 

“Not at all.” He moved his arm so she could get comfortable. “Is this alright? Or do you want to lay your head on my lap?” Bruce blushed at the realization of what he asked. “Unless you feel uncomfortable doing that.”

“Actually if you don’t mind, I would like to lay down. It's been a while since I’ve done so.” She scootched further down and was finally comfortable. “This is nice. I’ve missed being outside I’ve forgotten what it feels like to feel the sun on my skin.”

Bruce had been watching her enjoy being outside. His hand had gone from being on the grass to her arm and had moved up to her hair slowly he passed his fingers through it and he felt her relax further. He was enjoying this time together and hoped he’d get more moments like these. He knew there could never be more between the two and if Tony caught them he’d never forgive him. So he took what he could get. She looked so beautiful in the sunlight her hair was a shade lighter in the sun it looked almost blonde brown. He kept passing his fingers in her hair and watched her smile at the feeling of the movement.

“This is nice,” was all she said. “I’d like to do this more often if you’d let me, Bruce.”

“So as long as I'm able to make sure you're okay, I don’t see why not.” He smiled down at her.

Just then, Tony was walking through the path with a few things in hand when he noticed Bruce sitting on the grass with someone. The closer he got he realized the person was Shannon. Tony had never felt the way. He didn't know how to react. His wife was lying in the lap of another, a close friend of his at that. He saw how at peace Shannon looked that he didn’t want to ruin her mood. He hadn’t seen her this relaxed in a while. He knew he’d have to have a serious talk with Dr. Banner later on because that was just not acceptable. Bruce was looking at her in a different way and he didn't like that. He thought about how unfair it was that she so openly let Bruce come this close to her, let alone touch her in any way. When he tried it, she would flinch or move away as if she were scared of being touched. What was it about Bruce that made her feel like she won't have anything to fear?

Heading inside to drop things off in the room she was sharing with you, he saw Loki storming out. Tony took the chance to take his anger out on him, needing to let some steam off hoping that the other man can help him relax a bit.

“Hey, Blair witch, where you heading off looking like a kicked puppy?” Tony remarked seeing the other man in the same wavelength of emotion. 

"Not that it's any of your business, Stark, but I'm... I just saw Y/N dancing with someone else."

"Really?" he asked, slightly intrigued, and partly sympathetic. "Who with?"

"I don't recognize him," he answered, his anger shining through as he clenched his fists. 

Tony sighed. "Well, anyone is probably an upgrade from you, right?” he offered, flashing a smile that ate at Loki.

"Same could be said for you," he shot back as he started to walk off. He wasn't in the mood for Stark and his games.

"I'm ready to go any time, anywhere, name the place," he challenged, getting in Loki's face. 

"You're not worth the trouble, Stark," he responded evenly. "You'll have me put back in that cell."

"Nope. It'll be a fair fight. Just you and me. We'll finally settle who's the better man. Unless of course, you already know the answer and you're just afraid this will prove that."  

"I'm not afraid of anything. I'll happily remind you that one of us is a god, and one of us is a human flying in a tin can."

"Then let's do this," he said with a grin. But just when he reeled his arm back, readying the first punch, a deep voice boomed in the halls.

“Hey!” the gravelly, authoritative voice yelled out. “Knock that shit off. If you’re gonna do this, do it right.” Logan approached the two men who cocked their heads at him. “In the ring,” he insisted with a smile. 

 “Did someone say in the ring?” Wade Wilson pops out of a nearby room. “Sounds to me like it’s about to get entertaining!”

“You seriously want us to box?” Tony asked with a bit of a smile. He’d boxed a lot and he was fairly certain Loki didn’t even know what the sport was.

“It’s the only fair way for men to fight,” Logan offered, grinning from ear to ear. “What do you say? You in?”

  “Logan’s right Mr. hot shot, are you gonna be a man and fight in the ring or not?” Wade grins seeing the two men looking ready to kill. “How’s about a little wager Logan?” he turns to the burly man next to him.

“Your on  asphalt face.” Logan grins at the man next to him and turns to lead them to the boxing ring.

Tony and Loki exchanged looks before shaking hands and agreeing to it. A few of the kids in the hall cheered and followed the men into the gym.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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