#source: spider-man: homecoming

[therighthandofvengeance]

Londo: Don’t do anything I would do, and definitely don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. There’s a little gray area in there. That’s where you operate.

[shit-the-vampyr-cast-never-said]

Edgar: I’ll call you back.

Jonathan: Feel free not to.

[incorrectringsofpower]

Ar-Pharazon, to Kemen: Don’t do anything I would do, and definitely don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. There’s a little gray area in there, and that’s where you operate.

[incorrect-losers]

Bev: You guys are losers

Eddie: Then why are you sitting with us?

Bev: Because I have no friends

[spideyspetertingle]

Aunt May: We love having you around MJ, you're welcome any time. Heck, let me give you a house key, pop in whenever! MJ: Thank you, May! Peter: ...I don't even have a house key.

[actual-howlinglikeaseaturtle]

[tomixslefttoe]

[“The Gala”]

Melissa: I can’t believe you’re at this lame party.

The Hero: You’re here, too.

Melissa: Am I?

[spider-jaysart]

Jon and Billy both going to Kathy's house for a party that she's throwing:

Billy, now that him and Jon are both at Kathy's party: Okay, you're gonna have Superboy fly in, say you guy's are tight and then I get a fist bump from one of those half broke punks

Damian, spreading some cream cheese on a slice of toasted bread for himself: Can't believe you guy's are at this lame party

Billy: But-you're here too

Damian, before taking a bite of his toasted bread with cream cheese and walking off: Am I?

Billy and Jon, mentally while left with confused faces: ????

[splat-goes-the-nat]

*in a language class*

Peter, to the teacher: OH you're asking what we did yesterday

Peter: *turns to MJ* how do you say "cried"?

[ffiamgoku]

All I see is Tom's version of Ben Reilly/Scarlet Spider.

blonde baby🐥🌼☀️💫💛🌻🐣

[soliloquent-stark]

incorrect marvel quotes 1/?

robert downey jr and tom holland in spider-man: homecoming (2017)

quote source: icarly

[therighthandofvengeance]

Marcus: I’ll call you back.

Franklin: Feel free not to.

[kidney9-9]

Visions - Peter Parker

@theslayerofthevampires asked: Hey! You asked for requests so here I am:) I was wondering if you could do a Peter Parker x psychic reader one and this could take place around homecoming era where the reader has had the gift of premonitions ever since she was little. She attends school with Peter Parker and friends unaware that he's Spider-Man. One day when she helps Peter pick up something that he dropped and she has a premonition that involves the Peter being trapped under rubble the premonition is so violent that it cause her to faint

Hey there! I hope you enjoy this oneshot. It went kinda long and I cut it off at an odd moment because I wasn't sure how to continue it without it being super long! Thanks for sending this one in :)

Peter Parker x Reader [Fluff and Angst] Warnings: Violence, visions, mention of death, fainting

-

Starting a new school again made your head hurt like hell. You and your family had to move to this new area because of your dad’s job and thankfully, this was supposed to be the last time you guys would move. Hopefully, you’d enjoy this new school you were going to, as a sophomore. It was upsetting that you had to leave your friends once again, after living in your old home for about two years.

Your head was hurting even more than normal, since you started to have more and more premonitions after moving to such a big city. Your dad’s job usually took you all to somewhat remote places. The most remote place you had to live was in a small town in Alaska for about three years, when you were in elementary school.

These premonitions started the night your grandmother passed away. It was awful, the first ever premonition you had was the view of your grandmother’s funeral and you hadn’t known at the time that she had just passed away.

Thankfully, there had been a little box set aside for you from your grandmother that explained why you had this supposed “gift”. It passed onto every other generation of women born in your family, after the last person with the gift had died. You were “blessed” (you had believed yourself to be doomed) with the gift of seeing the future. You would get random visions every day, lasting only a few seconds at a time. Sometimes touching something or someone would trigger a more powerful vision, one where you’d feel like you were really there.

This big new city had been causing you to have visions every other hour of the day, it was terrible.

And this school was huge! You had applied to it when you heard you were moving and thankfully your application was accepted. Each classroom had about 30 people in them, and the courtyard was twice the size of the football field.

The start of the first day was a bore so far. You were in your fourth class, right before lunch, and you stared at the board as the teacher droned on and on about following their rules.

“All borrowed pencils will go back into this container here. I count all my pencils at the beginning and end of class, so please return them. You will need access to a laptop this year for my class, because we will be writing a lot of essays. If you need a laptop, you can always rent one in the library here on campus, using your student ID number. We will also be using a textbook and various online sources, so please look on my syllabus to see which textbook to pick up at the library sometime this week.” He continued and you took a few notes to remember the things he was talking about.

“This is so boring.” Someone whined behind you, and you mumbled back, “Right?” This spurred on a surprised laugh from the person behind you, so you turned around to see who it was.

It was a guy, with dark brown hair parted at his forehead, wearing a graphic t-shirt of an old cartoon character. “I’m Ned, it’s nice to meet you.” He whispered to you, eyes going back and forth from the teacher to you.

You nodded politely and smiled to him, telling him your name, “It’s nice to meet you too. Cool shirt.”

Ned visibly brightened up and you smiled even more back to him. You turned around when you heard your teacher clear his throat and continued the lecture. A few minutes went by and finally the teacher said to introduce yourself and talk with others around the classroom.

You turned your chair around to face Ned and smiled at him again. “Hey, so we have history together. Do you know anything about this class and teacher?” You awkwardly bring up, trying to start a conversation.

“Oh yeah! He’s kind of a jerk when he doesn’t have an energy drink on his desk. And his breath stinks really bad, so prepare yourself if you ever need to talk one on one with him. But I think he lets people choose their own partners in class.” Ned rambles, then looks at your notes, “Wow. You’re prepared! Are you like, good at school? You should join our team for the Academic Decathlon this year!”

You laughed slightly, “I mean, I just write down what seems important and remember the dates.”

“That’s perfect, we’re always looking for new people to join. Are you good with math and science as well?” Ned asked and you nodded.

“I am, I was actually in a math club in my last school.” You shrugged, and Ned’s eyes widened.

“If you join our team, I will literally do anything you want as a favor. Seriously, we only had like 3 girls last year, it’s always good to diversify our team! Please, join. You seem cool too, since you recognized who was on my shirt.” Ned begged, leaning closer to you on his desk.

You let out a surprised laugh, “I’ll think about it. Maybe if I meet more of the members, I’ll join?”

“Stay with me during lunch, I’ll introduce you to my friend Peter! He’s part of the club too. And Liz Allen’s part of the team too if you heard of her.” Ned mentioned.

You shook your head, “I don’t know anyone here. Just know the classmates that sat next to me during class.”

“Oh, okay! Yeah, I think you’ll get along with the rest of the team, they’re pretty nice.” Ned shrugged.

-

You sat next to Ned after grabbing some food. The cafeteria was somewhat busy, but it seemed like everyone was grouped up mostly, and getting ready for Homecoming. You took a bite out of your food as Ned spoke up to someone, as they sat next to him on the bench.

“Oh hey, this is Peter Parker, my friend I was talking about earlier.” He introduced you and Peter together. You smile and wave politely to him, finishing your bite.

“Hi Peter. It’s nice to meet you. You’re on the Academic Decathlon team here?” You started the conversation between the three of you and Ned launched into explaining to Peter how you two met and how he thought you’d do great on the team.

“Yeah! I think the teacher would welcome you on the team anytime during the year, so it doesn’t matter if you’re new. Plus, I think there’s a trip soon, for our competition, so that would be fun. I’m not sure I’ll be there for it, but you should totally go with Ned.” Peter told you and you nodded.

“Oh sweet. I think I’ll join you guys for a meeting then and I’ll see if I like it.” You responded and took a sip of water.

“Why do you keep cancelling things, Peter? It sucks, you’re like my best friend and you’re always going on about your internship. Tony Stark’s gotta let you off the leach sometimes.” Ned complained, noticing Peter’s words about possibly not going on the trip.

“Woah, Tony Stark?” You asked, impressed. Tony Stark didn’t hire high school interns, you had researched that a while ago when you lived somewhere in California. There was a Stark Industries building a few streets away from your old school and you wanted to intern there for a little but was told it wasn’t possible.

Peter must be super smart, you figured, to get an internship at that company.

“Oh yeah, I’ve been a bit busy with that. And I always have to make sure I’m available for Tony Stark whenever. He could need me anytime, so I want to make sure I can help him out.” Peter replied, making Ned pout.

“That’s so annoying. Can’t you like tell Tony to chill out or something?” Ned groaned, rolling his eyes as Peter shook his head.

“I can’t just blow him off like that. And… besides I talk to his assistant, or something more than I talk to Tony since he’s really busy.” Peter huffed out.

“Still, that’s so cool you know him and have an internship. What do you guys do?” You asked, and Peter lit up, starting to talk about robotics and technology he was working on.

“Well, he’s got me reading and learning about MIT’s newest robot. I think he’s working on something with the Avengers too, so we only talk every so often about this stuff.” He brought up and you oohed in interest.

“The Avengers are cool, I heard something’s up with Captain America though. I don’t think we know all the details though, since the news keeps repeating what they’re saying about him.” You said, and Nod hummed in response to your words as he chewed on something.

“I used to think he was awesome until he did those videos for gym classes. Now he’s just some weirdo boomer.” Ned groaned.

Peter laughed, “He’s kind of strong regardless of that.”

-

A few weeks went by as you started to get used to living here. You became friends with Ned and Peter, along with MJ, who had started to tag along whenever you brought her into the conversation. You joined the Academic Decathlon team, and also started to become friends with a few of them there. You mostly hung out with Ned outside of class, going to his place and building some Lego sculptures as you two watched old timey shows on TV.

Peter would sometimes join along, always appearing to be sweaty for some reason. You and Ned would tease him about running errands for Tony Stark, but Peter would brush it off and say he was just busy a lot now. You met his aunt, May, who was such a sweetheart. She had squealed in joy when Peter said you were his friend, which made you all laugh.

“Peter typically only stuck with Ned all the time! I’m just so happy he’s growing up and getting more friends in his life.” May remarked afterwards.

You introduced May to your mom one day since they both had similar interests. May’s job with a charity organization had connected her with one of your relatives out of state, which led to her connecting more with your family and you. It felt like a small world when you found out about her connection!

You, Ned, and Peter (and sometimes MJ) started going to a deli near the school to finish up some homework and then hang out and decide if you guys would go to Ned’s place or Peter’s place, since both you and MJ lived a bit further away from the school.

You got pretty close with MJ, outside of the group when both Ned and Peter would hang out to do stuff together. MJ was someone who really recognized there was something different about you, when she caught onto the fact you’d randomly know if there would be something special about the day.

She had mentioned it in conversation once and then kept quiet about it after you got a little antsy about the fact she was onto your secret.

“Yeah, I see when you blink out of our conversations sometimes and come back looking a bit different. It’s like you went somewhere, didn’t you?” MJ said, to which you quickly laughed loudly and brought up another subject.

She would wink at you whenever you randomly say not to do something or go somewhere. It made your heart jump a little in concern, but it made you happy that she didn’t do anything else about it.

Sometimes, just you and Peter would be hanging out when Ned’s family needed his help with something, and you and Peter would quietly stay together in Ned’s room while he went and helped. It was never awkward, but it felt peaceful and you two got along great.

He talked about Star Wars a lot and even lent you one of his special edition versions of the second original movie. You would bring up a lot of random facts you learned about Star Wars, something you’ve started doing to see if Peter also knew that much about Star Wars, since you were a fan.

Sometimes he would bring up some inventions that he was thinking of. When you responded once to one of his ramblings about making something stretchy and sticky, with “Isn’t that what Spiderman uses?”, he turned red and apologized about being nerdy with science.

You didn’t think he needed to apologize for something that seemed to make him genuinely happy, and when you said that he laughed and said it was a bit of a habit. He seemed to talk more about stuff that made him happy after that and smiled more openly around you.

-

You had an appointment today to talk about moving your English class to an Advanced Placement English class with your counselor, which was lucky because Peter had an appointment with the same counselor today as well. You both walked together to the office, and you sat down outside the counselor’s office while Peter walked in first since he had his appointment before you.

You pulled out your phone to scroll through as you waited. After ten minutes or so, you glanced up at the sound of a chair scraping against the floor.

“Okay Peter, you seriously have to consider at least hanging onto a few extracurricular clubs if you want to be taken seriously for consideration of a scholarship to Ivy League schools. I know you have your internship with Stark Industries, but you should keep your options open.” The counselor spoke up loudly as the door opened.

You stood up when the door opened, smiling at Peter as he walked out the door. He looked a bit upset, but still smiled back, “Your turn. I’ll wait here for you.”

You nodded silently, wondering if he was alright. You’d speak to him after your appointment. The counselor welcomed you in by saying your name.

“Hi, it’s good to finally see you again after emailing you a few weeks ago. So, how are you settling in? Do you like it here?” She asked as you sat down, and the door closed again. You shifted in the chair as you set your bag down on the floor.

“It’s going well, I like it here. I’m actually friends with Peter.” You nodded back towards the door, and she smiled in understanding.

“Aw, I’m glad you guys get along. I see here you’re also in the Academic Decathlon as him. Are you enjoying that? I think there’s a trip in two weeks! Are you going?” She asked a few questions and you fiddled with your fingers as you answered.

“Oh yeah, I’m going there and yeah, it’s really fun. Everyone’s pretty sweet in the group.” You answered back.

“Well, I’m happy to hear you’re settling in nicely. So, you wanted to move classes to a higher placement? I thought I saw you had a little trouble with reading in your file, do you feel ready to move to a higher class?” She asked, and you almost flinched at the question, being reminded of your visions. They happened more often while you were reading, and during school, that caused a few problems.

“Oh, it’s getting better, I think I can handle it. I just have a little trouble with reading out loud sometimes, I have trouble focusing on the words.” You explained, avoiding outright telling her the reason why you had trouble with that.

“Okay, well we can always have accommodations be made for you if that ever becomes a problem in the classroom, but I think it’s good we met up, so we understand where you want to go now. I’ll place you in the advanced class and I’ll email you in about a week to check in on how it’s going. I’ll send you your new classroom number and your new teacher’s email address. You’ll start going to the new English class tomorrow, does that sound good?” She spoke and you nodded along to what she said.

“Yeah, thank you. That’s all good!” You responded happily.

“Well, I think that’s it for this meeting. Thank you for coming in, I’ll see you later. Let me know if you need anything or want anything, dear. It was nice to meet you.” She said as you started to get up.

“Okay, thank you again. Bye!” You started to leave but she quickly gasped, “Oh wait! I forgot, give this paper to Peter for me, please. Thank you again.”

You took the paper she was holding and walked out the door, smiling politely at her. You didn’t look down at the paper, fearing it was something private and only for Peter, so you gazed up and walked towards the chair Peter was sitting in.

You hold the paper out in front of you as Peter gets up from the chair. “Hey, did it go good?” He asked, as you hand him the paper.

“Yeah, I got into the class I wanted.” You nodded, then added on, “Oh yeah, she wanted to give this to you, she forgot to give it to you before you left.”

Peter blinks down at the paper and sighs, then drags his bag down his shoulder, onto his arm and opens up the zipper.

“Shoot. I got to show this to Aunt May.” He said as he grabbed a folder from his bag, He flimsily opened it and started to put the paper into the folder. Just then, the door opened loudly from the other side of the office, causing Peter to flinch and drop his folder and papers.

He groaned loudly and leaned down, and you leaned down with him, helping him pick his stuff up. “Oh, is this all the stuff to study from the team?” You asked, seeing a few papers about some subjects’ you guys have been studying for.

You pick up one of the papers and hand it over to him, his fingers sliding against yours as he accepted the paper and your eyes glazed over as a vision hit you when you were unprepared. You stayed frozen in the moment, trying to blink off the vision but none of that worked, especially since it hit you so strongly this time.

At first, all you saw was darkness and heard deep rumbling and cracks, then you refocused your eyesight, blinking at what appeared to be a person struggling underneath rubble. You gasped as you walked forward in the vision, noticing it was Peter, your friend. He was stuck, struggling, and heaving as a piece of huge concrete laid atop him.

“I gotta get out of this, I gotta…” Peter gasped, over and over again, trying to breathe in fresh air. Blood was leaking down his face, and he was slurring his words, and you knelled down near him, your heart pounding harder than ever before.

“Peter!” You cried out, trying to help him but you couldn’t, you were ghost like in your visions. Your vision turned black, as if staring at the ocean during a dark night, waves of worry hitting you.

Your body hit the floor before Peter could even react, absolutely surprising and worrying him as your body lay down. Your eyes were closed, and you were incredibly pale, looking sickly. Peter quickly dropped his things, calling out your name as he picked you up.

“Oh my! What happened?!” The counselor gasped loudly, as she stepped into the room.

Peter shrugged, feeling panicked, “I think she fainted! Can I take her to the nurse?” He looked down at you, softly putting his hand near your wrist to check your heartrate. He sighed in relief to see it was mostly normal, just a little lower than an average teen’s heartrate.

“Of course, please do.” The counselor responded and Peter picked you up completely, leaving his stuff on the floor for later.

He took you to the nurse’s office as fast as he could, putting you on one of the beds in the corner of the room. He explained what happened to the nurse as he started to freak out a little more, sitting down next to your bed.

“Should I do anything to help? Can I call her mom? I know her, she’s really good friends with my Aunt. Is she going to be, okay? Can I stay here with her during class? I don’t want to leave her alone, especially if she’s hurt.” Peter rambled, putting his hand near yours and holding onto it tightly. He didn’t want to let go, he was worried.

The nurse sighed, “Well, you can stay, go ahead, and call her mom for me. She should be fine. It sounds like she might have just had a little fainting spell. Maybe she has really low blood sugar, but we’ll know when she wakes up.”

Peter thanked the nurse and called your mom, explaining what happened. In the meantime, you slowly started to wake up, still reeling from what you saw.

“Peter!” You gasped as you started to fully wake up, and he squeezed your hand softly, “Hey, how are you feeling?”

You felt horrible and scared for him, your eyes searched up and down his face, trying to see if there was any blood there, but you knew it was going to happen in the future. You were terrified. “Are you okay?” You still had to ask, still scared by what you saw.

“Wait – what, of course I’m okay! Are you? You fainted! Do you need some water? I called your mom and she’s coming by to pick you up from school so you can stay at home. Are you feeling alright?” He rambled, face slowly red from not breathing in.

“Mm, good. You need to stay safe. I’m okay, just… tired. Didn’t get much sleep last night.” You lied to him. His face contorted worriedly, as he squeezed your hand once more and you tried to smile at him.

“I promise I’m okay Peter.” You wanted to say it was him that would not be okay, that he needed to stay safe, but you couldn’t. You were glad your mom was coming to pick you up. She was one of the only people that understood your visions.

She didn’t have them, but having grown up with her mom having visions, she knew what they were, and understood that they were passed on through the family. In fact, she was probably going to ask you once you guys were in private if things were okay and if you guys needed to do anything.

There was only two other times your visions had helped prevent tragedies and emergencies.

The first time was when there was an earthquake in California when you and your family lived there, and the vision warned you that the large tree in your backyard would collapse against the house and severely injure you and your dad. You had the vision eight days before the earthquake, and you all made sure to be away from where the majority of the earthquake would hit.

The second was during your cousin’s first birthday party, where she had reached out and grabbed the lit candle off the cake and dropped it into a bush, where a large fire started and caused an explosion in your uncle’s house. You got that vision after touching the birthday invitation note, ten days before it happened.

They both terrified you and your family. And you were so very grateful that you guys managed to avoid it.

You hoped you’d be able to prevent this from happening. You tried to look for clues of your vision to see where it happened and when it would happen, but you hadn’t really gotten over the shock. You’d look over it when you could, but for now you couldn’t really recall the details.

You really didn’t want Peter to get hurt so badly like this. And since this was such a big city, it probably would hurt multiple people, instead of just Peter. You were terrified.

You blinked back into focus when Peter said your name, and you looked over at him. “You good? I’m really worried about you. You seem really sick.” He asked worriedly.

You shook your head, “It’s fine, I promise. Thank you, Peter. Really, thank you for helping me and bringing me here. You’re a good person.”

He blushed slightly as he gazed back at you, “Of course. I know we just met this year, but we’ve become really close, so I just wanted to make sure you’re alright. I care about you, you know?”

You felt your heart flutter slightly at his kind words, “I really care about you too. You’re special to me.” His eyes widened at that, and his hand unknowingly went slack in yours, and you quickly added on, “Uh, you and Ned and MJ… yeah. Really special.”

He quickly smiled softly to your words, but his eyes seemed a little duller than they did a moment ago. “Yeah, of course. I feel the same way about you. And them too, I guess.” He shrugged at the end silly, causing you to chuckle just a bit.

A knock at the door caused both you and Peter to look over, to see your mom walk in. You grinned at her as she came in, and silently nodded back to her when you saw the silent question in her eyes.

She signed you out of school for the day at the nurse’s desk, “Thank you for taking care of her.” She said to the nurse, but she snorted and pointed over to Peter.

“This boy here is the one that really cared for her. They’re so sweet, what a lovely couple.” The nurse said sweetly, and you coughed as Peter’s hand moved out of yours swiftly.

“We’re not a couple!” You yelped out at the same time Peter said, “Not together!”

Your mom and the nurse laughed at the two of you. “Oh, it’s alright, either way, you guys seem close. I’m glad my daughter has met someone so kind.” She said to Peter in a grateful tone.

Peter’s ears turned red at your mom’s words, and he nodded back, “Oh yeah, she’s kind too.”

“Hm, well anyway, say goodbye to Peter. I’m taking you home to rest. I can tell you need some rest.” Your mom said towards you, and you nodded and glanced over to Peter as you slowly got up from the bed. He helped you up, using his hand to support your back as you stood up.

“Thank you again. You’re really sweet. I’ll see you tomorrow maybe. I’m not sure if I’ll go to school tomorrow.” You spoke in a low volume to Peter, who smiled sweetly at you. You wanted to reach out and hug him, but you held off.

“Yeah, it’s no problem and text me after you get some rest! I’ll tell Ned and MJ you went home today.” He responded. You and your mom left the office after a few more moments, and Peter watched as you left.

He couldn’t help but worry about you, wondering why you fainted. He was scared to see you look so sick at that moment. It was also at that moment that he realized how much he really cared for you, much more than a friend would care. Either way, he was happy you went home to rest. He just hoped you’d feel better soon.

[sciderman]

this might be an unpopular opinion but actually i think that in homecoming mcu peter was very well characterized? i thought he brought the sass and was very headstrong and i think that's why that film is my favorite out of his, he was throwing himself into situations without deliberation with just a very restless and agitated feel to him at points, and actively driving the plot forward in a way that to me felt very baby peter. i think that fanon (like irondad, woobifying him in fics etc) has contributed to a perception of him that isn't super strong in actual canon. i also think the writers would benefit from reading your tags on that post lol, cause mcu spidey is at his best when HIS choices are actively driving the plot, and at its weakest when hes reacting to things happening to him like in far from home. there's potential for spidey 4, there's a lot of room for angry, broken, but hopeful peter, and i'm sure the mcu will disappoint me but i am a fool and live in hope :')

i guess you have some kind of a point there, and i can see the point you're making - but – i think where it doesn't work is that we never actually get an inkling as to why peter's restless and agitated. why he cares so much about being a hero. why he wants to. when like, in civil war he actually kind of didn't want to get involved with the avengers. he was blackmailed into it. so why that 180?

no consistency in the mcu. no consistency at all. i hear that writers don't even consult each other between movies, and i believe it ,, considering how much whiplash i consistently get from mcu character motivations. (constantly thinking of civil war where hawkeye tells scott "you might go to jail for this", and scott says "yeah well what else is new" nonchalantly, like he didn't just fucking have an entire movie where is whole motivation was "i do not want to go to jail because i want to be with my daughter." what the fuck?? what the fuck mcu??? what the fuck?????????? the mcu does this with literally every character too. tony destroying all his armor in one movie and the next one making ARMOR FOR THE WORLD??????????????? 180s just across the board. we're gonna do a thing and then 3 seconds later we're gonna do the exact opposite thing. i hate the mcu.)

in the comics we entirely understand why peter is agitated and restless. we've seen it. we see his justification literally on the front page of his first appearance in amazing fantasy #15.

the world mocked timid teenager peter parker. so peter wants the world to see the awesome might of spider-man. there you go. that's why he put on the stupid tights. we get it. two sentences and we get the whole schtick.

we pointedly do NOT get to see what kind of kid mcu peter parker was before the spider-bite. we never get to know. we do not know what changed. he doesn't even talk about it. not even freaking once. he never laments that he used to be weak. he never expresses the sentiment that his life has improved now that he has powers, or even what having powers really means to him. just a "i've got powers now. guess i have to become a hero. i guess." there's no motivation for him at ALL. power doesn't mean a thing to him. he's just some kid who has powers i guess and who else is kind of super? uh? tony stark?? yeah okay i wanna be tony stark i guess.

IT ALL MEAAAANS nothing!! ! ! ! ! ! nothing fucking at all!!!!!! it's actually SO SO missing the point of spider-man entirely to not pay any mention at all to who peter parker was before the spider-bite. that lives in him every day. it's an ANXIETY that lives in him every day of his life. it's something really important for you to know about peter. in every issue spider-man is IN, this anxiety manifests in some kind of way, in everything he does.

we never see what's changed for him, how it affects his dynamic with his friends, with aunt may, with anyone. it's barely a source of tension for him because actually, his secret identity is thrown around like it's a joke. it baffles my mind how much the mcu misses the mark with spider-man, actually. whenever i think about mcu spider-man i discover some new way they misunderstood spider-man. i didn't even think about how much is missing from just the omission of pre-spider-bite peter parker. it's such a vital part of spider-man's motivation that's been wiped. his motivation in the mcu is so, so vague. his motivation is the same as any kid who has seen an iron man movie. "hey that guy can fly. i want to fly too. and i want to buy iron man action figures and i want a cool suit too." uhh?? yeah?? what kid doesn't?? lame. lame and weak. mcu peter parker doesn't have a unique personality trait to differentiate him from any 10 year old who's watching these movies. weak and lame.

[thatstheproblemwithnapkinman]

i want to preface this with a few things

dick grayson is my favourite character. i am not here to slander him or talk bad about those who like him

fanon is what got me into dc. i have grown since and now have a substantial comic collection (at least for the few months i've been collecting). i still enjoy fanon but i am a canon person

with all of that said...

a pointless rant about dick grayson in fanon

sources listed at the bottom

this discourse surrounding dc, the batfam in particular, has really been irking my lately. i don't know why, it just has. i see so much around these characters and the way fans interact with each other here on hellsite and on tiktok (i avoid twitter like middle-aged cis white british dads avoid talking about their feelings) and i just wanna scream about it

the erasure of dick grayson's character

dick grayson isn't a himbo

this is particularly common in fanfictions given that the barrier of entry is non-existent but the idea that dick is a silly, ditzy, idiot that can't cook is arguably the complete opposite of his character

i have a feeling this idea stems from the nature of dick as nightwing, the cracking jokes whilst fighting, the appearance of not taking things seriously (when he in fact does, just not as outwardly as the likes of batman). this in and of itself is ridiculous given that a similar character, peter parker aka spider-man, also crack jokes and honestly is very similar to dick in the way he is as a hero, and yet, for the most part, is still taken seriously and isn't diminished to the same level that dick is

which could come down to public knowledge of the character

let's be honest, the majority of the public could tell you who peter parker is, have probably seen at least one live action iteration of the character, if not all 3 iconic versions (maguire, garfield, holland) most (and please forgive me for using generations) millenials and gen z can define their teen years based on which spider-man was coming out. which they went to the cinema to see. all live-action appearances are:

the amazing spider-man ('77-'79) played by nicholas hammond

spider-man (also japanese spider-man) ('78-'79) played by Shinji Tōdō

spider-man (1, 2, 3)('02, '04, '07) played by tobey maguire

the amazing spider-man (1, 2)('12, '14) played by andrew garfield

spider-man (homecoming, far from home, no way home)('17, '19, '21) played by tom holland

given that dick has just as many live action appearances, stretching back to before spider-man had even debuted in the comics:

the batman serial ('43) played by douglas croft

the batman and robin serial ('49) played by jonny duncan

batman ('66-'68) played by burt ward

batman forever ('95) and Batman & Robin ('97) played by chris o'donnell

titans ('18-'23) played by brenton thwaites

EDIT: in my excitement i never included the first comic appearances of either character. dick debuted on the 6th march 1940 in detective comics #38, peter debuted on 5th june 1962 in amazing fantasy #15

(i am not talking about animated appearances as for both peter and dick they are much less known to the general public than live action)

i'd say i was surprised to see the same number of appearances, but by comparing when the show/movie came out, you can see a clear difference

every live action spider-man project listed has occurred within the past 50 years, with the movies being in relatively consistent from 2002 onwards. dick grayson is more sporadic, 2 appearances in the 40s, again in the 60s, again in the 90s, and finally in the late 10s. no wonder he's less well known when you have to go back to the 90s for a movie version and even then it isn't really dick grayson (in terms of characterisation)

most people can tell you there's batman and robin, and maybe just maybe they can tell you robin is dick grayson, but that's about it. mention nightwing and they blank. and don't even try to tell someone that there's been more that one robin, it won't end well

i can hear people yelling "but dick is a sidekick and peter isn't"

yes, that is true, but dick hasn't been a sidekick since the early 80s, after he'd been around for over 4 decades. that's a pretty old sidekick. but yes, this does hold some merit but given that dick is a lot older it's interesting. and with the most recent live action appearance being titans, a show that spends the first 2 seasons exploring dick's journey from sidekick to standalone hero, it does pose some questions

that was a long tangent to basically say that an equivalent character in personality isn't erased so much in fanfiction because they have more recent and bigger exposure (probably)

also, random, but in my research i came across this list of best teen heroes and look

fig 1. image showing spider-man and dick grayson in positions 1 and 2 relatively in a fan voted list of best teen heroes, spider-man having 3446 votes and dick grayson having 3191 votes

anyway, back to the rant

a wayne family adventures (WFA) tangent

i see people blaming WFA for this but i really don't think that is the case. he may not be the same as his comic counterpart but he is not out of character. everything he does is still very much him. examples include:

comforting duke after ana broke up with him (ep. 10)

helping damian make a friend (ep. 24)

being torn between his brothers (ep. 27-28)

teasing bruce after zatanna made him superman (ep. 54)

teasing helena into swapping weapons (ep. 63) i just like this one

organising everyone back to the manor when he realised alfred was left on his own during thanksgiving (ep. 68)

picking the rainbow suit for bruce (ep. 77)

talking to a little girl who just lost her parents (ep. 80-81)

annoying wally (ep. 84) birdflash time

helping duke with the kidnapping threat (ep. 99) also like this one

competing with jason over lian and roy (ep. 108)

making tim do all the work in his apartment (ep. 111) + haley

comforting and helping damian when he doubts himself (ep. 113) arguably my favourite episode

ok that was most of them BUT seriously WFA is not the problem here

there's no "fix" for this, i just wanted to tell people to stop blaming WFA for everything wrong with new comic fans; you can enjoy WFA and enjoy the comics, the aren't mutually exclusive

WFA doesn't erase him, they just choose what to show in the limited time you get with him. the only thing i remember being "wrong" is that dick can't cook (ep. 17 - top chef)

and yeah, WFA does play into the golden retriever vibes fanon dick has... in one episode, specifically the haley episode (ep. 111) see below. if it takes 111 episodes to fall on a fanon trope, i think that is fine. if you want to include ep. 17, that's 2 episodes out of 116! that's pretty good going. even the comics have more ooc moments (see the current nightwing run)

fig. 2 screenshot from wayne family adventures showing dick grayson smiling and saying "thank you" whilst a tail wags in the background

fanfiction

unsurprisingly, fanfiction is probably to blame but don't think i'm blaming authors (i kinda am but stick with me here)

i don't think writing a comic canon charatcer should be required, but i do think writers should disclose when they haven't read the comics. from experience, i get not annoyed, but have a "ugh" moment when i read a fic and the character is ooc, but if the author has stated in the notes that they haven't read a comic and the character is probably ooc, i am still going to read the fic

ooc or not, if a fic has a decent plot, at least 6th grade (UK year 7) level writing, and not "want to punch them in the face" characters, i'll enjoy it. throw in a popular trope and it'll be a favourite

and if you tell people "hey, this is probably ooc from the comic canon" they can't get mad or blame authors... just saying

i mean the whole reason this is "the problem" is that people get mad over ooc in fan works. like i'm sorry, have you read gotham war?!?!? the current nightwing run?!?!? lots of ooc in the comics themselves

tl;dr

fanfiction is the root of all evil

no, but seriously, dick's, mis-characterisation is a product of his prevalence in media, the material people have, and a lack of disclaiming ooc in fanfics. the last point could be a solution, but honestly expecting fanfic authors to do that is ridiculous

this rant was for nothing, hope you enjoyed wasting your time

i did tell you it was pointless

(i should've called this section a conclusion bc the word count is 1559 and that is insane. it's literally longer than the essay i have due in next week that i'm only half way through)

(also, this was supposed to be the first part of a longer post about how dick is over-sexualised but at that word count i'm splitting it up)

sources

list of live action dick grayson

list of live action spider-man actors

used for dates of spider-man films in the correct order

wayne family adventures

[practically-an-x-man]

👑🏆💋💔🩹⚙️ for Katherine, Spider, and Gia?

Thank you so much!!!

OC Background Relationships Ask Game

👑 - Person who raised your OC and/or was important during their formative years

Katherine: Her mother and grandmother

Spider: His mother, father, and two younger sisters

Gia: Her parents, older brother, younger sister, and her extended family in Greece

🏆 - Best friends (past, current or future)

Katherine: Emília Mendoza (her friend in art school) and Jace Scott (her roommate in NYC)

Spider: His film colleague Amina, roommates Newt and Ginger, and climbing buddies Ghost (Jaxon), Dart (Sophie), and Sparky (DJ)

Gia: Several online friends, though she doesn't know any of their real names (and they don't know hers) and tends to keep personal talk to a minimum- that's about all her anxiety will allow her, at first.

💋 - First kiss

Katherine: A boy she went to Homecoming with, her freshman year of high school

Spider: A girl at summer camp, between 7th and 8th grade (he climbed up a tree and swung himself upside-down so they would do a "Spider-Man kiss")

Gia: One of her girl friends, senior year of high school (about a half-dozen of them were having a sleepover and learned Gia still hadn't had her first kiss, so they dared her)

💔 - Exes

Katherine: That same boy she went to Homecoming with, who she dated for only about 3 months

Spider: Assorted lighthearted flings of various genders, briefly dated his roommate Newt before they realized they were better off as friends, but never had a particularly serious relationship bc he was so caught up in his work

Gia: None, Kate is her first serious relationship (she realized she was a lesbian late, realized she was ace even later, and then her trauma from HYDRA got in the way of any other relationships she might've sought out)

🩹 - Someone who was a source of trauma

Katherine: Her high school bullies, Jason and Ezekiel (Zeke)

Spider: Do the Death Angels count as a "someone"? The whole silent apocalypse is really the main thing in his life that could be considered genuinely traumatic

Gia: Her younger sister Yadzia - it wasn't her fault by any means, but her leukemia struggle and later death definitely resulted in some trauma for Gia that she never really worked through

⚙️ - Coworkers/boss (krewe/other charr outside of warband)

Well, this is an interesting lineup for this particular question XD

Katherine: Artist on commission, but mainly works with museum directors like Dr. McPhee

Spider: Also a freelancer, works with a variety of film directors and studios

Gia: Owns her own flower shop and works alone