#technically captain marvel related

[cerealboxlore]

I've been thinking about the Freeman Brothers a lot lately; Kit Freeman (Kid Eternity), Freddy Freeman (Captain Marvel Jr--he needs a new name), and Tim Karnes (SABBAC). Their lives and how they became separated are pretty tragic when you think about it.

Anyway.

I drew them (my redesigns!)

I plan to write about them eventually when this semester is done kicking my behind. (Tim Karnes, especially, is getting a full revamp and lore makeover).

[chaoticallyfluffy]

I want more of the JL acting like normal celebrities.

Batman and Chappel Roan working together on a competitive cooking show against teams of Kylie Jenner and Danny Devito, Kanye West and Kesha, Taylor Swift and Superman, etc. They are a surprisingly good team who work together great. They end up winning the whole thing and a bunch of wholesome memes start trending about the two of them adopting you after your awful parents kicked you out. Superman and Taylor Swift are surprisingly a TERRIBLE team. They’re disqualified because they never finished cooking their meals as they were too busy arguing. They are memed to be the parents who kicked you out and desperately need a divorce.

Wonder Woman going on a survivor-like reality show about a bunch of celebrities stuck on an island together and all the contestants are whining about things like “My hair is so frizzy and Chad is SO hot, I don’t want him to see me like this omg” While Diana has already chopped down multiple trees, used the wood to make a cabin for everyone, hunted a wild boar which is currently roasting over a campfire she also made with the leftover sticks and leaves, and cracked the coconuts from the tree. The rest of the show is mostly a normal reality show. The other contestants never have to lift a finger and can peacefully gossip and have drama while being well fed, housed, and hydrated. The only real difference is that every few minute the camera switches to Diana wresting a grizzly bear or catching fish with her bare hands.

The masked singer where there’s a person in a colourful parrot costume singing on stage and everyone has to guess who it is. People have guessed many celebrities like Oliver Queen, Bruce Wayne, or even Lex Luther, but they mostly guessed famous singers because the guy is GOOD and there’s no way he doesn’t sing professionally. He sang songs like “Party in the USA”, “Call Me Maybe” and “Never Gonna Give You Up”. People were going crazy trying to figure out who he is. The time finally comes for the reveal. The man slowly takes off his parrot head and... it’s Batman. The crowd goes wild.

The Flash (Barry) and Green Lantern (Hal) make a podcast and spend the entire time going on long rants about their respective interests. Flash talks about forensic science and chemistry for an hour while GL hums in interest or asks questions every once in a while. After that GL rambles about airplanes and engineering for another hour while Flash enthusiastically nods and adds in related stories every so often. Twitter diagnoses them with autism.

Captain Marvel has a TikTok account where he posts himself trying suggestions from his fans. Some of his most popular videos include him juggling a bunch of chainsaws (perfectly, btw), pranking JL members, bedazzling Mr Minds prison jar with fake crystals and speech bubble stickers that make it look like Mr Mind is saying things like “I’m DUMB”, and his most popular by far, citing The Santa Clause rules to Black Adam and convincing him that since he killed his father technically that makes him his new dad (the horror stopped Black Adam in place mid battle, giving Marvel the perfect opportunity to punch him in the face. The punch has been slo-mo’d and memed to oblivion). His Batman mandated PR team has been begging him to stop for months but in response he posts himself TikTok dancing (terribly) in front of a green screen in the background showing an image of the emails while asking for more suggestions.

If anyone has any ideas like this or fics to recommend plz tell me In the comments, I love the Justice League just casually being celebrities.

[kenandeliza]

a collection of ideas of a post-suspendium Golden Age comics Billy Batson if he ended up in the 21st century (pick any comic continuity

EDIT: IF YOU SEE THIS POST HAVING A WEIRD/REPEATING PARAGRAPH/FORMAT, LET ME KNOW BECAUSE TUMBLR ISNT WORKING FOR MY MOBILE

1.adoption scenario

(If a leaguer wanted to adopt Billy, he’d just show them his birth certificate)

Billy smirking:” Sorry, you can’t legally adopt a grandpa”

2. Billy teasing with a smug boomer voice: “Back in my day, we used to play with atomic machines!”

3. youtube

Billy:thanks for showing me how to use a modern phone (insert friend from 21st century)! But I wonder, where is the tv remote for changing the youtube channel? And Where is the news?

(Friend from the 21st century):*sighs* it’s so over

4. Old friends

Aside from the fawcett city heroes, Billy in this case probably relates more to the older heroes like wildcat, Alan scott or Jay Garrick, maybe they have multiple team ups in the past and would reminiscent over it (the rest having their favorite drinks while Billy preferring his hot chocolate ice cream)

5. Teasing

The younger hero teams who know his identity would teasingly call him a “boomer”, Billy wanted to protest that he technically was born before boomers but they ignored it and still teased him about it.

to the rest of the heroes who didn’t know about his identity, they assume captain marvel is more than centuries old, and thinks this is the reason the kid heroes calls him a boomer.

6. Jokes

Billy: “oh so these memes are like what replaces comic strips i used to read, how nice”

Some of these ideas are taken from the fanfics i’ve written, some just came to me inside my head, but it’s fun to think about it.

(Edited: added more scenarios)

7. Caprisuns

Caprisuns werent invented yet when Billy was in suspendium. After getting out of suspendium, He really likes caprisun.

Other leaguers would be confused, Marvel's liking of caprisun is comparable to Martian Manhunter's love of oreos. When asked about when his capri sun addiction started, Marvel shrugged, "They weren't made before I was born, so it was only recent"

The league is now confused as to how old marvel is. Wonder Woman relates to this with her fascination of ice cream flavors.

8. Billy automatically put on a Mid-atlantic accent whenever he is near a microphone due to his habit and work with Whiz station for his TV segments as well as radio programs.

Whenever Captain Marvel uses a communicator, he unintentionally uses a mid-atlantic accent (this confuses the leaguers, "who is this guy!?"). Some of the leaguers enjoyed listening to his voice

Marvel would occasionally file an audio JL report (yes, with the same mid-atlantic accent) when he's on a hurry and couldn't type it out with his typewriter (he still finds it difficult to use a computer) : "And there you have it, folks! In a nutshell, I managed to handle the There was an outbreak of imps but Mary and I already took care of it, Junior apprehend the acrobat after a terible case of Moonitis, the three of us thwarted Mr. Mind's dastardly scheme to seize control of the sun, and we all prevented Sivana from being promoted to "King of Earth" by hurling his atomic bomb straight into the heart of the sun itself! That's the latest from me, This is Captain Marvel, signing off!"

Leaguer: "Why does he sound like a radio host commenting on a football game?"

Other leaguer:*shrugs*

9. Billy watches a cgi lion movie for the first time

..and thought innocently that there are other talking tigers like tawky tawny.

Some of these ideas are taken from the fanfics i’ve written, some just came to me inside my head, but it’s fun to think about it.

[suzukiblu]

WIP guessing game: help

"I know about Billy, Marvel," Batman says, and Billy . . . blinks.

"You know?!" he sputters. Okay, so apparently his secret identity was just . . . literally never a secret at all, then. Which, well–Batman, so that just figures, really. So actually this is kind of a relief and might even mean that he's fine with–

"Yes," Batman confirms with a nod. "So I understand your current reservations about parenthood."

. . . wait what.

"Huh?" Billy says, blinking stupidly at him.

"I don't know how much of you is still C.C. Batson or what you do or don't remember about being him," Batman says. "But the resemblance is undeniable, if nothing else. Certainly your and your wife's deaths were . . . well, suspicious. And you're hardly the first archeologists to dig up a god or six."

Oh, okay. Well.

This is apparently what Billy gets for his personal mental image of a "hero" being his dad, then, isn't it.

Crap.

"To be honest I've been looking for Billy for a while now, I just didn't want to bring it up before I found him," Batman admits, looking dissatisfied with himself. "My most recent reliable intel puts him in Fawcett City, but I assume you're aware of that, given your evident attachment to the place."

"You're looking for Billy?" Billy asks incredulously. "Why?"

"Because he's your son," Batman says. "And because he's a homeless child who's been abused and neglected and needs help. I honestly don't know where you go when you're not being Captain Marvel–frankly I'm not sure if you even exist when you're not being Captain Marvel, given what little I actually know about your powers and your death and your role as the Champion of Magic and just how damn impossible you are to find when you're off-duty–but I'm assuming that wherever it happens to be is not necessarily conducive to providing a stable home environment and being legally dead certainly can't be helping with that, so my original intention was to find the boy and help you arrange some manner of care for and visitation with him. And given the revelation of your relation to Robin, well . . . I'd like to take Billy in myself, if you'd both be comfortable with that. It seems . . . appropriate, under the circumstances."

"You want to foster Billy because I'm Robin's soulmate?" Billy says, absolutely positive that he's misunderstood literally every single word that just came out of Batman's mouth. There is no possible way that he did not.

"It's not exactly out of my wheelhouse," Batman replies wryly. "Although I'll be keeping this one out of the tights, ideally. Though I make no long-term promises about that because quite frankly at this point I'm spoiled for soulmates who insist on wearing capes and I wouldn't really be surprised to turn up another one, especially given that Robin is yours and your own involvement in the superhero community."

Billy stares at him.

"Wait, are all the Gotham vigilantes your soulkids?" he blurts unthinkingly.

"Not all," Batman says. "But, well . . . probably more of them than you'd expect."

"Oh my god," Billy says in disbelief. "And you're just telling me that?! You don't tell people things, you're Batman!"

"I haven't always been the father I should have been," Batman says, and then he pulls down his cowl. Billy chokes, and then chokes again because apparently Batman is Bruce freaking Wayne and his brain just . . . just needs a moment to process that fact, like there is literally any way whatsoever that he could ever actually process that fact. He would've been less surprised to see a Kardashian under that mask, he's pretty sure. At least they've got athletes in the family, technically! "So I'm not going to make things difficult for you with Robin. Clearly he needs more than I'm capable of providing, and I'm perfectly willing to be transparent and to co-parent with you as much as possible. I want Robin to be safe and content and grow up well, and frankly put, Batson, you've proven yourself to be a good man time and again and I trust you to do what's best by our son."

Okay, well, now Billy just feels like dirt.

"You do know what happened to Billy, don't you?" he asks just a little bit desperately, because there is literally no way that this conversation is a real and actual thing that's really and actually happening. "Like, just–everything that happened there? There's a reason he's not in school or the system or with a relative or anything like that."

"What happened to Billy wasn't your fault," Batman tells him, meeting his eyes all quiet and intent and sincere. "And I will do everything in my power to help you make it right."

"Oh no, you're actually like . . . just genuinely a really good person, aren't you," Billy says despairingly, staring at him all over again and really, really wishing he could swear right now.

Maybe he'll just go throw himself into the sun. Maybe that's what he'll just go and do.

The corner of Batman's mouth quirks up wryly. His eyes even crinkle a little, which Billy can see on account of his total lack of cowl right now, oh god.

Billy despairs.

"I mean it," Batman says gently. "It wasn't your fault, and it doesn't mean you can't be a good father now."

"I need to talk to Robin," Billy says, because he definitely, definitely needs to talk to Robin. Batman inclines his head in an accepting nod, because Batman is probably under the impression that Billy wants to go give Robin a good ol' traditional "I know I'm not your biodad but I'm here for you, champ!" kind of speech, and Billy just . . . really cannot explain the real situation to him right now. Or ever.

Can he just lie to Batman for the rest of their lives, maybe? He can just pretend to be his own dad for the Justice League and keep dodging whatever Bat-surveillance happens to be in Fawcett and parent his older-than-he-is soulmate, right? That's a thing that he can do?

That's probably not a thing that he can do.

Although he might be willing to try, at this point.

[restinslices]

I found your twilight post with the Lin Kuei brothers amusing and relatable 🤣

Can you do headcannons on watching marvel movies with the reader? Captain America is my favorite character in the movies lol

The MCU is huge so lmk if there was something specific you wanted to know about

Bi-Han

I don’t see any of them watching a lot of movies so you definitely introduced it to him 

He takes the longest time to finish the movies because it’s not on the top of his list when it comes to concerns 

He’s one of those overly critical watchers so he’s annoying as fuck to watch movies with 

I can see him liking Ultron

Why? I think he’d like the concept of Ultron and understand why he’s thinking the way he is 

The type to agree with Thanos until someone points out he could’ve just doubled the resources 

His favorite Phase is Phase 3 purely because Hela is his favorite character in the entire MCU 

He’s legit upset she was killed off 

I’d say which show is his favorite but I only watched Wandavision and TFATWS so moving on-

I don’t know if I see him reading the comics. Maybe if he’s curious enough 

The Avengers and The Guardians of The Galaxy are pinned against each other a lot, but what does he think?

I think it changes a lot. Depends on his mood

One thing’s for sure; he prefers the OG Avengers 

Not one of those Marvel fans that remembers everything and he doesn’t really stay up to date

Hasn’t even watched any of the shows yet 

Please bring Hela back and stop pissing him off. She ain’t do nothing wrong 

Quick afterthought 

He’s Team Cap

He don’t even wanna listen to Liu Kang. Why the fuck would he agree with the government controlling The Avengers?

Kuai Liang

NOT one of the overly critical watchers so thank fuck 

If he spots something that’s off, he’ll call it out but that’s as bad as it gets 

He likes a mix of villains and heroes

If the villains got a point, then they got a point. That’s just how it is.

He likes villains that can become better people. The pure evils ones he’s like “yeah you suck” but villains that are actually victims or who have done certain things but try to become better, he likes 

Because of that I’d say his favorite villain is The Winter Soldier 

He’s done terrible things but Kuai Liang feels pity for him and enjoys his story 

I think either Avengers or Civil War is his favorite movie 

He prefers the og era of the MCU and I think the Avengers as a whole reminds him of his family (petty as fuck towards each other but there’s ultimately love there) and Civil War was a banger

A situation where there’s technically not a right side is a topic I can see him liking 

With that being said, he is both Team Cap and Team Ironman 

Since he follows Liu Kang I can see him being like “sometimes teams need to be reined in and need someone to follow”

But in the same breath this is the same government that is corrupt and has proven themselves as not trustworthy 

And people could always die before the heroes are able to help

Then there’s Bucky and he once again understands why Steve wouldn’t tell but he also understands Tony’s anger 

He stays somewhat up to date when it comes to the new movies and shows 

He knows when they come out but he doesn’t see them right away 

Tomas

I can see him staying up to date and seeing the movies whenever he could 

Has possibly read some comics too?

Prefers Heroes 

Do I wanna say his favorite character is Spider-Man because the PS5 Spider-Man voices Tomas?

Yes

So that’s what imma do

Does he have a favorite Spider-Man?

I’m not sure. I can see him seeing the positives and negatives of all the Spidermen 

Team Cap for the accords 

Team Ironman for the Bucky situation 

His parents were killed so are we surprised? No

The type to see the positives of Phase 4 instead of just saying it’s shit 

Is it the best? No. But it’s not all ass. Damn.

He prefers the Guardians so when Gamora was killed, his heart was in SHAMBLES 

“Maybe Gamora and Peter can fall in love again”

I have bad news 

Favorite Phase is always changing. Each Phase has bangers and non bangers so it changes day to day 

I know I said he loved all the Spidermen but his favorite movie is probably a Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movie 

Do not tell him the Avengers are more like coworkers than family. Do not fuck up his day 

He likes found family movies so he enjoys the movies that focus on the groups 

[nitewrighter]

I love your take on how Peter Parker would mesh into the DC Universe, especially as the guy that the Forever People and New Gods gravitate towards. When it comes to Spidey getting tossed into cosmic level threats, such as the original '84 Secret Wars miniseries, he's usually the designated "guy everybody underestimates" because even though Peter is a street-level hero by choice, he can punch SIGNIFICANTLY above his weight class. Like taking on "They can smack The Hulk around" heavyweights. Not only that, but he's a scientific genius who can rub shoulders with the likes of Tony Stark and Reed Richards, in spite of being this dorky, wisecracking wallcrawler.

His whole thing is that when he's around other heroes, because Peter is so secretive about his secret identity, others tend to make wild assumptions about him that Peter never bothers to correct them about, because he is just that short of being Batman-levels of paranoid about his secret identity being uncovered and having it or his loved ones used against him. He's ALSO the one who believes the best in everybody, regardless of what they might think of themselves. He holds his peers to a certain standard, so when they betray that standard, and betray their fellow heroes, THAT'S when Peter gets pissed, and you have moments where he solos like... the ENTIRE X-Men team or something to that effect.

It's why Wolverine, despite being an extraordinarily violent individual, considers Spidey a friend, because Peter genuinely believes that Logan can be so much better than he believes himself to be.

He's like this hodgepodge of Billy Batson, Dick Grayson, Jimmy Olsen, and Bruce Wayne all rolled into one wisecracking package.

I think it also helps that Spider-Man very easily slips into the role of someone who speaks out on behalf of those who are marginalized because, at his roots, he's from a very economically unstable background--he's usually having to negotiate his superheroism with a job that barely keeps a roof over his head, and I think one of the things that makes Spider-Man such a beloved and relatable characters is that, his connection to the world of superheroes doesn't actually protect him from the very mundane, everyday threats of existing in capitalism. He has to worry about keeping a roof over his head, he has to worry about keeping a roof over Aunt May's head, he has to hold MJ's hand while she sobs over community theater programs for local kids get shut down or how she didn't get that callback because even though she's immensely talented she, quote, 'doesn't have the right look.' So he's also this natural advocate of people who get passed over by life in ways all these Marvel heavy hitters don't even think of.

Captain America: Why didn't [Villain of the week] just do [very obvious Lawful Good solution]?

Spider-Man: Because No Child Left Behind shut down 5 different schools in his area, he's in a food desert, a drug arrest for a drug that is now legal is still on his record and actively affecting his hiring prospects, and during the decades you were on ice lawmakers have been steadily killing all the local and federal support programs and antitrust laws you enjoyed in the 40's.

Captain America: Ah. Yeah. That'll do it.

So I think the Forever People (and by extension, the Hairies), being kind of a love letter to counterculture themselves, would be a great team-up for Spidey. Again because they're technically aliens and lack a lot of Earth context, everything about our planet is amazing and new and groovy to them! I think it would be a good blend of characterization, again, with a Spider-Man who's definitely getting severely burnt out and struggling with the sustainability of being Spider-Man and existing as Peter Parker.

Jack Kirby's notes on the Hairies also definitely overlaps with his philosophies on the Forever People, so I'm definitely putting this in here:

Kirby is literally so passionate and insane. But I love the idea of a very exhausted and jaded Spider-Man putting it on himself to be a guide and protector for a polycule of mind-blowingly optimistic space-hippies and somehow healing in the process.

(This is the vision) (Also maybe Spidey gets to get fused into Infinity-Man with all of them at some point. Infini-Spidey. Working name.)

[marvels-meme]

do you have any more Marvels related head-cannons? your last ones were amazing!

I'm always happy to share some headcanons!

Since Carol is basically indestructible, Monica and Kamala will just throw random things at her. This includes books, phones, hard light crystals, waterbottles and one time a microwave.

Monica is the only one who has a drivers licence. Carol can drive but hasn't renewed her licence since the 80's. Kamala can't drive but is amazing at Mario Kart and always insists that she can drive a car as long as Coconut Mall music is playing whilst she's driving it.

After learning what Ao3 is Carol starting reading fanfic about herself because she's nosy.

Monica writes Star Wars fanfiction. Like the longfic, super well written, very lore invested kind.

Monica is a god at making powerpoints. She knows every tip and trick there is.

Kamala created a Minecraft realm and forced convinced Monica and Carol to play with her. The two of them have no stuff because they're absolutely shit at it and just freeload off Kamala's multi millon block megabase which has every item, build and farm known to man.

Carol did a "Captain Marvel answers the Internets most searched questions" interview, except she answered the questions super cryptically and just made everyone a billion times more confused.

Monica technically keeps her identity a secret but she doesn't wear a mask. Like she'll take selfies with fans and say "Yeah my name is Monica" but whenever the government try and approach her she's like "Wdym. My name isn't Monica. Prove that my name is Monica."

Kamala is one of the people who are like "I'm gonna learn a new language" and signs up for seventy Memrise courses and then forgets about them. She has started Basic French Animals seven times.

Carol is warm. Space is cold. Whenever they're in space, Monica and Kamala try to find not-so-subtle reasons to hug her because she's basically a heater.

Kamala wanted to adopt a flerkitten but her ammi said no. Monica adopted the flerkitten instead and Kamala insists on giving the flerkitten at least 2583057 treats whenever she visits.

Monica uses her powers to reach through people whenever they're in the way instead of asking them to move. It's a little bit unsettling because you could be stood in front of an oven and she'll just stick her hand through your stomach to adjust a dial. She finds it hilarious though.

Kamala made an official Ms Marvel TikTok. Someone dared to comment that she didn't know Captain Marvel, so she posted a TikTok of Carol falling down the stairs. It went viral and got 12 million views.

[ordinaryschmuck]

I think the reason why you often see more game/show/movie announcements for a random Marvel character you never heard of where DC primarily focuses on Batman and Batman related characters is because...Marvel built more trust with the obscure.

All the way back when they started the MCU, Marvel didn't have the rights to its more iconic, recognizable, and, more important, marketable characters. Spider-Man went to Sony, X-Men and Fantastic Four went to Fox, and even the Hulk was technically owned Universal. By the time the MCU was being conceived, Marvel only had its C-listers and D-listers. No one even HEARD of characters like Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, and ESPECIALLY the Guardians of the Galaxy before the MCU. Even characters like Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor, characters considered Marvel's big three nowadays, characters who the MCU relied on, weren't as huge as DC's big three. Meanwhile, DC had access to ALL of its characters, relying on its most recognizable IPs like Batman and Superman...And, oh yeah, I guess Wonder Woman was there too...Sometimes.

But the biggest seller was always Batman. Because how could he not be? He looked cool, he had an impressive rogues gallery to make toys of, and is everything for DC as Spider-Man was to Marvel. Both Batman and Spider-Man could sell anything. But Marvel technically didn't have the FULL rights to Spider-Man and DC...didn't bother with its other characters. Batman made bank with his videogames, movies, and TV shows to the point where they could sell a Gotham prequel series to Fox and STILL make a lot of cash. Why bother making a movie about Aquaman or The Flash when it likely won't sell as well as BATMAN. Sure, you got a Green Arrow TV show on the same network as a Superman prequel series, but that didn't change how most of DC's other projects weren't connected to Batman in someway.

Teen Titans was a show that starred Robin, Batman's sidekick. Same with Young Justice. And the only time kids got introduced to other DC characters, it was for a campy show like Batman: The Brave and the Bold where BATMAN teamed up with a hero a week. Which would have been a smart way to bring other characters into the light, but it's still connected strictly through BATMAN. Even now, DC has what is best described as a Batman problem. The Flash was a movie that featured two versions of Batman, one of them bringing in nostalgia through a past Batman movie instead of focusing on an old Flash product. And with the last few years, the only video games were Batman related, with Gotham Knights starring Batman's sidekicks and that Suicide Squad game starring Harley Quinn, a BATMAN villain who goes to kill BATMAN that's actually the same BATMAN from an old BATMAN game.

And yeah...I love Batman. We ALL love Batman. He's the coolest character ever conceived and it's the easiest thing in the world to make a movie about him. It might not be a GOOD movie sometimes, but it's at least a movie that'll make billions. But with this over-saturation of Batman, it left DC unsure if they can make anything big WITHOUT him. Because how can they be sure it'll succeed without their signature character that gave them a shitload of money?

But let's go back to Marvel. Starting a cinematic universe without their most popular IPs was a risk. They SORT of had the rights to the Hulk, but...there was no way Hulk would have made more money than a Spider-Man movie. If they wanted to make a successful franchise, Marvel had to put more faith in its other characters, allowing to make good movies and hope that enough people would be interested to see more. And...it worked. Iron Man was a hit, Thor and Captain America got people interest, and the big pay off was the box office smash that was The Avengers. Everyone started to know these characters and it didn't stop there. Guardians of the Galaxy became popular enough to be another big franchise for Marvel, Black Panther became the most popular Black superhero after Blade (another Marvel character), and people were left BEGGING for Spider-Man and the X-Men to join this universe so they could see their old favorites interact with their NEW favorites. And that just...never stopped. Marvel kept pushing more and more characters to the spotlight, with it paying it off for them.

Before 2014, NO ONE would consider buying a Guardians of the Galaxy game. But due to the MCU's revamping of those characters, it was enough to make people willing to do so. And in a few years, we're getting games based on Iron Man, Captain America and Black Panther, and JUST Black Panther, all because the Marvel had enough faith to turn this C-listers into A-listers. As for TV shows, we've got connected MCU stuff like Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel, but also a really good and imaginative cartoon with Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.

Now, to be fair, it's not paying off for Marvel, especially with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels causing the studio to lose bank. They're even thinking about cutting back on riskier stuff and focusing on their bigger franchises. Which...honestly sounds dumb to me not only because the MCU was founded on taking risks, but also because DC is exactly what you get when you focus on JUST the money makers. We're still getting nothing but Batman and Batman related characters or movies/universes that references nothing but Batman. To the point where I just want DC to retire Batman for a year, maybe TWO tops. Marvel proved that you can make a hit if you let other characters than the most marketable one. Even if it fails like The Marvels did, it's not because Captain Marvel isn't as iconic as Iron Man, it's because the movie wasn't as well-written enough. It was a fun time, sure, but not as strongly written as other MCU films. And that's what DC needs to learn and Marvel to remember: It's not about who's the most popular, it's about strong writing.

Hopefully we get more attention on lesser-known Marvel and DC characters in the future.

[mybrainisoveractive]

Ahem ahem I present to you, not in any order, some words/phrases/ideas I associate with these fandoms (including things from fanfics & memes):

Percy Jackson- baby seal eyes

- Percy 'imma just insult the Gods' Jackson

- literally any demigod memes or/and water related memes (tho technically can be used for H2O)

Naruto- Sasugay

- that one drawing of Sasuke sitting with his fingers interlocked and just staring

-the bad timing pause effect on Sasuke (distorted body in an 'S' shape and arms in an inverted 'C' shape) with the caption 'I can see you! ' in a black box with the caption: S A S U K E he can see you'

White Collar - Neal NO!

- Mozzie making ridiculous theories

- crossover with Batman/DCU

Danny Phantom- little ghosty

- little baby man (LBM)

- literally anything green and/or glowy

- vivisection (AO3 tag)

- crossover with DCU/JLA/Batman

Merlin BBC (TV Show) - Arthur 'I must be lucky! ' Merlin 'hell no, that was me'

- clotpole (actually spelled 'clotpoll' outdated slang term for idiot/dolt)

- 'your Royal Pratness'

- Gay but Not Gay aka very very Close Platonic friends

- crossovers with Harry Potter (AO3)

Lout of the Count's Family (LCF) / Trash of the Count's Family (TCF) - Cale 'i want slacker life' , never really actually had the opportunity to Slack, half of which is his own fault

- Cale 'lemme just stab myself with a stick through my heart'

- ✨Misunderstandings✨

- 'cough cough.. oh shit there's blood'

The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System (SVSSS) - Shen 'I need to hug the thighs of the protagonist' Yuan

-Bingpup

- 'I can't be OOC!' That is Still OOC anyway

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint - Self-insert Fanfic

- Kim 'im gonna sacrifice myself' Dokja/Kim 'im Yoo Joonghyuk' Dokja

- squid

- dumpling

- Sunfish

- regression

- existential crisis

- space time continuum

Jujutsu Kaisen (JJK) - death, death and dead

- Gojo aka the one with expensive eyes (and everyone simps for it)

Demon Slayer - Muzan 'he dies, she dies, everyone di- oh shit' Kibutsuji

Attack On Titans (AOT) - Eren 'im gonna kill all titans as revenge! But also..Like you know.. (✨becomes a titan✨)' Yeager

- Levi aka (also) the one everyone simps for (who is also a germophobe)

Case Closed (CC)/Detective Conan (DC) - teen ➡️ child

- teenchild blends in but still comes across murders and help solves it

- Teenchild also goes to teen-pretending-to-be-adult (dead dad)'s heist.

-Teenchild has crush on teen who is taking care of teenchild

- Teenchild is canonically called shinigami

Untitled Goose Game - a normal everyday murderous Goose

- 🪿 🔪

Batman- Furry Combat Brigade

- too many goddamn universes to keep up

- Bat 'i work alone' man/ Bat 'adoption problem' man

- alive ➡️ dead ➡️ alive

- Tim's lost spleen/ Tim Drake's Missing Spleen tag on AO3

Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) - war, war some more war

- Ironman vs captain America thingy

- wrinkled grape with stones

-Some time travel thing

-ironman with stones

Harry Potter - 'you are a wizard, Harry! ' 'you are a hairy wizard! "

- annual murder attempts

- 'did ya put ya name in da goblet of fire?!!?! ' Dumbledore asked calmly

My Hero Academia (MHA)/Boku no Hīrō Akademia (BNHA) - we do not talk about the ships, there are no ships sailing anywhere, not today, not in my mind, especially not the weird ones, please

- weird powers

-how did some students get in class 1-a?

-some people simping for Aizawa (his neck? I think)

- midnight's death 😔

- Aizawa's leg

- Hawk's... Everything(sad boi)

二哈和他的白貓師尊/The Husky and His White Cat Shizun/Erha (2ha)- sad backstory

- similar to SVSSS but sadder (probably cause of the different povs)

- love triangle (I think?)

Alex Rider - child spy

- Bombs✨

-quite a lot of dead people for a teen book

-child assassin

-pickpocket

Special mention(s):

-Hellblazer #247 (John Constantine)

-badly explaining all of omniscient reader in 6 minutes (YouTube vid by ferd) (if you want to know about orv without being spoiled but confused)

- So This is Basically My Hero Academia (YouTube vid by JelloApocalypse)

[wlwsuperheroine]

I just finished ms. marvel the show for the first time. so short answer is: wowwww but long answer is: it has some positives and negatives.

Let’s start with negatives.

Changing Kamala’s powers. I know kamala isn’t as popular as some long time heroes but embegging is her whole gimmick! It’s like if someone took Peter Parker and gave him the powers of a snail and was called snail-man. And her powers are so cool too. I was so excited to see CGI stretching and polymorphic powers, you can do the hands part via literally iPhone camera, how could the whole marvel budget didn’t cut it?? No we got to have… light, for some reason. I’m just scared that other adaptation are going to do the same like in some new comics or games or something, I really, really hope not

Misrepresentation. This one is debatable, because as Muslim, the bar we have for American shows to represent us isn’t even on the floor, it’s lower, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that they didn’t 100% mess it up. But still there are so many minor technicalities, that might seem minor for someone outside of the religion/culture but for those are part of it, it’s a really big deal. Like some scenes, doing wudu with nail polish on, posting in the masjid, a dad telling his son to stop praying, so many words used in the wrong context, the whole djinn concept just shows that there was no Muslim opinion taken into consideration during filming.

the so many love interests. Like, 3, seriously, one wasn’t enough?? There shouldn’t even be one, but I digress. And just all the scenes involving the romantic subtext of each one literally made my blood boil. Literally this whole point could summarised to just the boys, they were so unnecessary.

And now let’s get to the positives, because despite the points made previously, I really enjoyed this show.

The representation. As I said before, it’s perfect, but it’s not bad. Then again, the only thing we share is us being Muslim. I’m Arab where kamala is Pakistani and these things heavily affect how people practice Islam, and also I live in a Muslim, Arab country where almost everyone is Muslim where kamala live the US, a place where she’s a minority. So of course there will be differences between our experiences. But I love how many arabic phrases were spoken during the show, the Eid scene, the masjid scene, the whole wedding episode. It was all so good and nice and representative.

My favourite thing about the show honestly is how artistic and stylised it is. They weren’t very consistent with it, but it was still good. All the different fonts and styles for the ms marvel intro was so amazing, I want to screenshot every frame. The credits are so well done too. When they want to show how daydreamy kamala is and there’s doodles around and different pieces of media incorporated in that. It was all so creative. The intro captain america scene was one of my top 5, to be honest

I love the costume design, especially kamala’s. They were all so modest, obviously. But they also showed Kamala’s personality, through her drawing and patches and just the colours and everything. They were so many stars and bolts, It’s just so similar to how I dress.

The progression of her relationship with her mom. I genuinely think that there’s no greater or stronger or closer bond between two people in this whole wide world than between a mother and her eldest daughter, and this show is only one of the many many examples of that. And it’s so relatable and realistic, like her mom being overprotective and hovering because that’s the result of generational trauma and how her mom was too distant, and she was just doing her best and just wants the best for her daughter and Kamala is such a sweet girl. So many of their scene together made my heart melt.

Centralising not just family, but the matriarchs in the family was such a smart move. because mothers truly are the ones who make families and heritage and everything is always tied back to them. Something something the souls of mothers residing in their daughters. The whole partition train episode had me bawling my eyes out.

The rest is just some things I love about kamala generally in every adaptation/timeline/universe

I just really love how unapologetically nerdy and dorky kamala is. She’s such a fangirl, she loves comics and superheros (usually women) and of course captain marvel. And she engages in that, she draws and make projects and her whole room is decorated in what interests like her. I just really love people like that, both fictional and in real life. (I may be projecting but I feel like it’s giving adhd, like it’s giving hyperfixation.)

Showing the brown girl experience of idolising older white women and wishing that we could do everything they do, but still believing that we can’t because of a variety of reasons but then overcoming that and doing the things you wanna do your way anyway

Just how good kamala is. She’s so polite but still speaks her mind respectfully. She helps people all the time even when she doesn’t have to. she’s always so nice and sympathetic to everyone. And even though she can become a giant, that is her greatest strength because people always want to repay her goodness and they always want to help her back. And it’s just so heartwarming.

[redhoodinternaldialectical]

5, 16, 20?

Linking the original ask post cause it took some digging to find it again lol

Something you see in fics a lot and love:

B-boysss... kissing :3

lol okay uh the overwhelming majority of what I read is jaytim that's rated Explicit, so there's, ya'know, a lot of patterns in there that I've self selected for, but attempting to get into a more meaningful answer, I really like the way that fanfic repeatedly digs up old shit and uses it as a catalyst for characters to gain greater intimacy with each other. The constant reinvention and re-contextualization of Jason and Tim's various fights is neat to me

A tiny detail in canon that you want more people to appreciate:

Oooh I'm gonna throw up the post I already made about the guy Jason manipulated into playing puppet for him

But that feels like cheating so I also want people to appreciate the asymmetrical aspects of the OG spoiler outfit, because I adore it so. I am a SUCKER for shoulder pads/spikes and 80s asymmetrical outfits.

Your very first fandom:

That's... actually pretty hard to answer.

The first online community I truly got involved with is City of Heroes. Loved playing the game when it was live, and I role played in the Homecoming servers for fourteen hours a day, seven days a week, for about five years. I still play every once in a while too! If you see Dread Captain Bones, David Drakal, or Cowboy Cline around, those are me :3 The only issue I have with saying it's this one is that I'm not entirely sure this counts as a fandom?? It really is more a role playing community than anything like a fandom for the game itself, most people only very lightly engage with the setting and it's considered a tad crass to get any of the named canonical characters involved with your character's story lines.

We could very technically count Naruto simply because that was the first one I ever tried to find fanfic for but uhhhhh... I started with ff.net with a super dark E rated fic because I thought E meant for Everyone and bounced off it so hard. I'm very sorry geisha AU naru-sasu fic I read when I was like thirteen, I tried so hard to like you, but my PTSD was not having it lmao

There's also half decent arguments to be made for Marvel comics, Doctor Who, or Vampire the Masquerade simply because my parents are/were such massive nerds lmao

Both of them did a lot of LARP and one of my favorite pictures of my mom is her as either the Sheriff or the Prince of our city ripping someone's heart out via a sponge soaked with fake blood :3 so yeah I def grew up learning about the clans and the lore and such

And this is very much a Marvel household lol My parents used to do story time with me about the X-men, and like they are completely accepting of my metal head and queer stuff, but I feel like it hurts my dad's soul just a little bit that I ended up being so into DC and so uninterested in Marvel. Whenever we talk about some of my (not romance related) plotlines for my DC fics he'll substitute in vaguely equivalent Marvel characters because he simply cannot be asked to dedicate braincells to DC characters lmao

Me: "I'm really looking forwards to writing out how the super geniuses and stuff push the limits of what Jason and Tim did to the diseases."

My Dad, knowing FULL WELL that I am not including any Marvel characters in this fic: "Oh yeah, Reed Richards would go nuts trying to figure that shit out."

My dad also collected Doctor Who episodes, like the ones from 1963 all the way to modernity, I grew up watching the black and white stuff, and for sure tumblr did expose me to Superwholock, through I never felt like I was a part of that.

It might actually be DC comics itself that's my first fandom! I just never really interacted with any sort of online or fandom space directly until Boostle dragged me into DC fandom's sphere of influence.

Anyhow I hope my ramblings were interesting/entertaining and thank you muchly for the ask! :3

[cultofstan]

✨Silver Spotlight: Robert Maverick (aka. The Second Red Hulk)

Robert Maverick is an American army general from Marvel Comics, most notable for being a core member of the U.S.Avengers (from the book of the same name). The book only had 12 issues but the team and Maverick were utilized in the Avengers No Surrender event from 2018. His main superpower is that he has a biological button graphed into his arm that allows him to transform into a Hulk-like being for one hour everyday. Additionally, since he is an Army general, he has combat experience with both weapons and his hands.

Sadly, there isn’t much to his character other than being the old army guy that follows orders and likes beating up whatever bad guys the team face off against. The closest thing we get to a stand alone issue for the character is issue #4, where Maverick is sent out on a solo mission to a stop American Kaiju and unexpectedly teams up with Deadpool, but the book makes fun of the flatness of this new Red Hulk rather than try and utilize the situation to flesh him.

Worse, the series takes a major shift in focus half way through due to being affected/related to the massive Secret Empire event, resulting in Maverick being relegated to a background character that gets his powers messed up as a result of being forced into his Hulk-state for longer than his body could handle. After Secret Empire and during Avengers No Surrender, Maverick only gets utilized in one major way: a fight with the real Hulk which results in Maverick losing his ability to transform into the Hulk completely (and basically being killed off since it’s repeatedly stated that his heart can give out at any moment due to the strain becoming the Red Hulk forced on him)

A huge reason why Robert Maverick interests me is because he serves as a perfect representation of both how the members of U.S.Avengers got treated after the All New All Different era of Marvel ended and how older characters in general get treated if they don’t fill the mentor archetype or comedic relief archetype. (That and he’s a hot DILF, which y’all should know by now I’m a sucker for) Focusing specifically on that second form of representation, Maverick doesn’t make any meaningful or enriching connections with his team members over the course of his existence. His fight with the Hulk serves to create tension for other character actions in Avengers No Surrender and make it so he can’t really be used anymore. All things considered, there was a massive missed opportunity to have an older character learn to be a hero in a way that was never possible before in their life. That’s something you just don’t see very much of. Heroes like Captain America and Doctor Strange are technically on the older side but they’ve been heroes for pretty much their entire adult lives. It would have been fascinating to see someone who had never been in the world of superheroes come in at an age when most people become stuck in their ways of living and see how a new set of powers and responsibilities forces them to change into something better. Considering Maverick was an active Army General, it would have been double cool to see him utilize and contrast his history in the military against this new history as both the Red Hulk and a member of a superhero team. Ultimately, imo, Robert Maverick was a cool character that deserved a lot more love and dedication put into him. ❤️

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #578

Top Ten Non-MCU Characters to Bring Into the MCU

So I had two lists planned for the next couple of weeks, and for some reason I was really looking forward to writing them – they seemed like simple, fun things, that didn’t require as much thought or analysis as all the “Best Of” stuff, or even the Lego stuff (I think I found that one difficult just to narrow it down!). And then, wouldn’t you know it, Things in the News happened and I decided to make a last-minute swerve.

Now, this is a list about the MCU, and obviously there’s one very big MCU-related story that broke this week that I shan’t be commenting on. For a start, it’s miserable and dark and depressing. But also, I'm not really sure how I can spin that off into a list. However, I have managed to find a list on some of the other Hot Marvel News of the week!

Because this week two things happened: one, Liv Tyler was announced as joining the cast of Captain America: New World Order as Betty Ross, Bruce Banner’s love interest who was last seen in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk (okay, technically she was last seen in an episode of What If...?, but she was voiced by Stephanie Panisello). She joins a cast that already includes two characters from a film that was once regarded as Marvel’s black sheep/red-headed step-child (whichever is the least offensive term for “a film everyone more or less was forgetting about”), further bringing into focus hazier elements of the periphery of MCU continuity. At the same time, filming has commenced on Daredevil: Born Again, a series which establishes categorically Charlie Cox’s eponymous hero as an MCU character, after the (again) haziness of his decade-old Netflix shows. And, here, we’re still left to wonder what’s canon and what’s not; Daredevil, Kingpin, and the Punisher are all confirmed, but at least one Netflix-era actor has been recast, and there’s been no word on whether Daredevil’s biggest supporting characters, Karen Page and Foggy Nelson, will be headed to Disney+, or whether those roles will be recast if so. And – and! – that’s not even factoring in the other headlining Netflix heroes, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and probably somebody else.

So! In the interests of all of that – and surprising myself with the revelation that I've not already done this list – here I present ten characters from Marvel properties of yore that I would like to see categorically pop up in current MCU continuity. Now, some of my usual stupid rules. For a start, I'm not saying “main characters, main timeline” here; no, I don’t actually mind if some of them are variants who we just see in, like, Secret Wars or whatever. And I've tried to avoid just mining the Netflix shows and Agents of SHIELD. And most importantly, I'm not here to fan-cast or bring back X-Men characters. True, Logan would have popped up here, had he not already been confirmed for Deadpool 3; but I think we know that both the X-Men and the Fantastic Four are coming very soon, so as fun as it might be for James Marsden’s Cyclops or (ha!) Chris Evans’ Human Torch to emerge from a portal in 2026, I would rather they spent that time establishing the new, definitive, canonical versions of those characters. Similarly, I'm trying to avoid “joke” characters. Like, do we really want David Hasselhoff’s Nick Fury in a main MCU movie? I get it’d be funny in Deadpool 3, if he’s bouncing round the multiverse, to encounter the Hoff in an eye patch, maybe with Dolph Lundgren’s Punisher to boot. But for the most part here I'm trying to imagine characters being properly integrated into a film or a series, even if it’s just for a one-off, like No Way Home. There, the multiversal characters from Marvel’s past were used excellently, bringing a good deal of nostalgia, excitement, and resonance for those who remembered them from Before; but also serving the plot of that film and servicing the current incarnation of Peter Parker. They didn’t feel like fan service, or if they were, it was very well done. I think the risk of bringing back beloved versions of characters from prior films is that it wouldn’t serve them very well – an argument I think you could make about Professor X in Multiverse of Madness, even if I personally enjoyed that cameo (as much as I really love Patrick Stewart, though, part of me feels it should have been James McAvoy for some reason).

Anyway; enough of all that nonsense. As you can see, I am once again thinking about this too much. So let’s get on with it: ten characters from not-the-MCU Marvel who I'd like to see incorporated into actually-properly-the-MCU Marvel.

Quake (Chloe Bennet, Agents of SHIELD, 2013): Agents of SHIELD steps on the toes of MCU continuity too many times to be considered wholly canon, but I don’t see a reason why there couldn’t have been a similar SHIELD team in “our” universe. At the very least, Bennet deserves a chance to mix it up with the Avengers. Her character arc is the backbone of the series as she grows into a leader and a hero, and frankly she’s just pretty cool. The idea of SHIELD secretly having another, covert team of powered heroes is a pretty good one, and I think you could just plonk her into the MCU without much in the way of exposition. Alternatively she could be a “normal” agent who eventually discovers she’s got some kind of “mutation”. Diddle-iddle-ee-dee-dee…

Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter, Jessica Jones, 2015): I nearly didn’t include her because I think it’s inevitable she’ll show up. Alongside Daredevil, Ritter’s Jones was one of the absolute highlights of the Netflix run. She makes perfect sense as a street-level hero alongside the likes of DD, and would work well bouncing off, say, Hawkeye (especially Kate Bishop). Ritter’s morose performance – Wednesday Addams meets the Hulk – is probably my favourite of all the Netflix-era characters, and it’d be great to see her back.

Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen, Agents of SHIELD, 2013): again we have a character who doesn’t need complicated introductions; May could just be introduced as a long-standing SHIELD agent (or, I guess, maybe working for SWORD now?). And mainly the reason for reintroducing her is because, frankly, Ming-Na Wen is absolutely kick-ass and needs to be in stuff more often. She’s already the only person who’s got the Disney Holy Trinity (Princess, Superhero, Star War) and placing her in the for-realsies MCU would absolutely cement that.

Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst, Spider-Man, 2002): this one I guess would have to be a bit different because a) we already have “an” MJ, and b) you’d need her alongside Tobey Maguire’s Peter, who we already know exists in a different universe. But I want to see that universe! I want to see Peter and MJ, now in their mid-forties, married with a kid who – get this – has spider-powers. This is literally the plot of a comic! More than one comic! Honestly, a Disney+ series or even just a movie about “Spider-Girl” with Peter and MJ as her parents. Honestly, just do a loose adaptation of Renew Your Vows. But seeing Dunst back in such an iconic role would be tremendous.

Karen Page and Foggy Nelson (Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson, Daredevil, 2014): for some reason these two core characters have yet to be confirmed as being in Daredevil: Born Again. I think this is a shame, and I hope it’s just part of some kind of plot or whatever, and not that they’ve been written out of the new continuity or recast. Woll’s Karen was really the big love of Daredevil, much healthier for him than Elektra; and Henson’s Foggy was his conscience. I’d rather we had a simpler, pared-down take on the story, with Matt and Foggy as lawyers and Karen managing their office – like at the start of the old Daredevil show. Plus now they’re part of the wider MCU we could get a great scene with Foggy and Happy Hogan – two actors who’ve played Foggy Nelson, in the same scene! Hilarity ensues.

Laura Kinney (Dafne Keen, Logan, 2017): See, it’s not all Netflix and SHIELD. We already know that Wolverine himself is coming back, but timelines being what they are I think we can safely assume that his daughter Laura – aka X-23 – who first appeared in Logan will not be returning. Unless! She does! What if, right, our mainline MCU Logan – who we’ve never seen – has already fathered a child a while ago, and when she appears, that’s our Wolverine? After all, Laura has adopted the mantle in the comics. And having a female Wolverine would avoid the poisoned chalice of any actor who’d have to follow in Hugh Jackman’s shoes by reinterpreting the character. And, most importantly, she flippin’ rocked in the role at a very young age. Now with a few years and His Dark Materials behind her, I think she really could be one of the anchors of a new age of the MCU.

Luke Cage (Michael Colter, Jessica Jones, 2015): and now we go screeching back to Netflix. What can I say? The vast majority of the characters they introduced over there were great. They really did nail the casting, and Colter’s Cage is a part of that. The chemistry between him and Ritter was fantastic, but also he was just such a cool, stoic presence next to the angsty Daredevil and the grumpy Jessica. And there’s not much more to say than that, in my opinion; like Jessica Jones, I think he’ll appear before too long, but what with starring in his own action movie franchise it’s possible he’ll be less able to return in the near future. Still optimistic though!

Ghost Rider (Gabriel Luna, Agents of SHIELD, 2016): yeah, okay, Agents of SHIELD again, but this one is a bit different. It’s not one of the main characters and it’s someone who absolutely could handle a spin-off. In fact, you could just ignore everything in SHIELD and re-introduce the character entirely. Luna’s take on the character was cool but troubled, his performance more nuanced and internalised than the raging demon of hellfire played in the movies by Nicolas Cage (hellfire has its time and place, of course). Plus if Luna is Ghost Rider in the MCU, then that frees up Cage to be someone else! Someone totally bananas! Mephisto, anyone?!

Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick, Iron Fist, 2017): there’s one big Defenders character who I’ve not listed here, and no surprises. I feel a bit mean, but out of the four stars it is Iron Fist who feels most replaceable, the one that’s less attached to a given actor. I don’t blame Finn Jones too much; I do think he was miscast for a couple of reasons, but also he suffered in a slow and slightly boring story that was too reminiscent of then-recent seasons of Arrow (it didn’t help that he looked and sounded a bit like Arrow star Stephen Amell). However, the breakout star of that show was Henwick as Danny Rand’s girlfriend Colleen. She believably kicked ass in the fighting scenes and was also both tough and tender as required. I’ve no idea if it has any basis in comics history, but maybe if they wanted to bring back Iron Fist as a character but not Jones himself, perhaps Henwick could step into those shoes?

Blade (Wesley Snipes, Blade, 1998): yes, it’s true, Blade – the character – has been recast and is going to appear in the MCU looking and sounding like Mahershala Ali. This makes sense, because Snipes is sixty years old and has a bit of baggage, so snagging a younger Daywalker is probably a good move. However, Snipes was also fundamentally attached to the role, a role that is – arguably – a major catalyst for the MCU in general, predating both the X-Men and Spider-Man franchises that established Marvel’s cinematic bona fides. So I think it'd be brilliant if they found a way to honour Snipes’ legacy in the role, either in some kind of Secret Wars cameo or perhaps a miniseries set in a different corner of the multiverse. I still think it’s a shame that they didn’t do something along the lines of bringing Snipes back as Blade but having his daughter be the star of the show, but never mind I guess.

So there we are! A bunch of Marvel characters. I didn’t add one of my big hopes – that Emma Stone plays a live-action Spider-Gwen – because I’m not sure if that’s the same character or not really, and because I’m not sure where she fits beyond a cameo in Secret Wars, which is something I was trying to avoid. Yes, there’s a big SHIELD/Netflix focus, because really if you’re bringing in all-new X-Men and Fantastic Four casts, there are only so many other avenues for long-term roles in the MCU. But never mind! I liked those shows so it’d be nice to see them come back. To some degree.

Sadly no room for FitzSimmons either.

[692blog]

mcu tiktok: finding your super-family

the marvel cinematic universe, or the MCU, is the universe that most marvel movies inhabit; begining with iron man in 2008 stretching to the most recent guardians of the galaxy movie in 2023.

what this means is that every movie, no matter whom it is about, takes place in the same reality as the other superhero films. the first avengers film is the capstone of this concept, with all of our favorite heroes uniting to fight together.

the avengers, 2012, marvel studios. photo: handout/reuters

the mcu fandom is massive, with the 'marvel cinematic universe' tag on fanfiction website archive of our own hosting almost 500,000 pieces of writing. (the most popular fic, with over a million hits, is an 'extremely nsfw fic' from the perspective of a character named groot, who only says 'i am groot' in varying cadences and is also a tree.)

technicalities aside, what the mcu has done to fandom at large is immense. the sheer amount of characters, relationships, and fantastical superpowers are fertile grounds for fans to stretch their creative muscles.

because of these characteristics, the mcu community on tiktok is huge. what makes this chapter of fans unique not only to its platform but also to its fandom is the presence of short, video povs.

these mcu tiktoks are very similar to the dracotok videos previously discussed - muted audio, captions, superimposing into movie scenes, etc. dracotok and mcutok, because they are both based in popular films, require the watcher to self-insert themselves into the story.

something distinctive to marvel povs is that while they do oftentimes encapsulate romantic relationships, what they highlight the most is the use of a trope called found family.

a found family is, at its simplest, a family that you’ve created yourself that isn’t blood related to you. think close friends, spouses, mentors. the concept of ‘found families’ has its roots in the LGBTQ+ movement, where people found their own families that love and support them, because their blood-related ones might not.

when it comes to the mcu, the found family trope is usually applied to the avengers cast. iron man, captain america, black widow, the winter solider, spiderman, the list goes on. with the amount of trauma that these superheroes go through, they are irrevocably bonded and thus a found family is born.

the avengers found family concept originated in the copious amounts of fanfiction written after the initial 2012 release of the film, and has evolved to fit new fandom spaces, like long-lasting media always does. common tropes included hawkeye (clint barton) working his way through the vents of the avengers tower like a hamster, thor (thor) having an obsession for poptarts, and steve rogers (captain america) being a secret artist.

i reached out to one of my former roommates, a former avid marvel fanfiction reader and someone who would like to remain anonymous, to ask why exactly some of these tropes existed. they responded to my inquiry with:

the idea of domesticated avengers was super big... there are so many stories of them living together and being roomies. and then in 2013 the humor was a weird mix of like just general internet mustache humor but also the general trend of making like tough scary characters seem like big softies.

in the modern day, a lot of the mcu pov tiktoks focus on these fabricated domestic relationships. while romance is there as well (you would be hard pressed to find a fandom space that does not revolve around it), there’s a substantial population of family-focused content (content about families, not content that is family-friendly).

these videos tend to play out a situation wherein y/n (your/name, the ubiquitous protagonist of all fan content) is the focus of a problem or joke, and the mcu cast around her (it’s always a girl) reacts accordingly.

like dracotok before it, these tiktoks do not usually have audio dialogue. there’s text up on the screen overlaying clips from the movies, with a trending audio backing.

for the mcu, these audios tend to be in one of two categories: badass montage music, or a hilarious dialogue snippit to emphasize the sarcastic nature of y/n’s relationship to the avengers. some newer tiktoks use AI voice generators, but they’re not very popular as they balance the precarious line of what content is deemed 'canon' and what can be manipulated.*

popular mcutok tropes include:

1. tony stark (iron man) as a father figure

notice the call out: "for all my daddy issues peeps out there" - an accurate callout, as most desire for a found family comes from the lack of a foundational accepting one. being accepted despite being 'too much' is attractive to a lot of watchers, as extreme fans (of anything) tend to be condemned as 'too much'. also, if the line "your beauty never ever scared me" seems out of place for a marvel movie, it's because the line is from mary on a cross, a song by heavy metal band ghost. it's also the audio playing in the background of the tiktok, so, instead of whatever he was originally saying, tony now comforts someone who previously thought they weren't worth the trouble.

2. y/n is injured/suffering/otherwise hurt and hiding it

the caption summarizes another popular trope: y/n not wanting to 'worry anyone'. pretending to be fine but actually being the opposite is commonplace for heroes (and traumatized young adults), so imagining someone, especially your favorite character, taking notice and worrying over you, fills a gap of previous neglect the watcher may have.

3. an avenger (in this case, captain america), as a concerned older sibling

the use of movie clips shows the round robin of characters (minus, thankfully, captain america) taking a drink to admit they've kissed y/n. this tiktok hints at a promiscuous, but fun, adult life with the avengers. one that includes kissing and drinking games - a y/n life filled with respect, and more importantly with a found family trope, familiarity.

3. y/n is a badass superhero

this tiktok includes non-marvel movie clip (scandalously, it's a clip from DC's suicide squad) - to showcase y/n's super abilities. again, with emphasis on power and respect, y/n initially seems like a normal girl, but has backing by captain america and is obviously important enough to be interviewed by some sort of nondescript agent. it gives an air of effortless power, something the avengers embody and y/n tends to perpetuate. per usual for tiktok, there's a dramatic song playing in the background. this time it's all the good girls go to hell by billie eilish, which includes the lyric "don't say i didn't warn you". a lot of these tiktoks have dialogue following the lyrics of songs playing in the background, even if it makes the whole piece sound stilted and awkward. the untouchable cool that comes with your own backing track is one of the hallmarks of marvel movies that permeates even the micro-media of tiktok.

4. an even more do-it-yourself trope; the creator posits a situation and doesn't tell you who the watcher is supposed to be. in the comments, the watchers guess at their own pov - almost like a community suggestion board.

in this tiktok, tony, while hanging out with the other avengers, hears an enrapturing voice coming from inside his house.

notice the description: #POV: ??? - the woman's face is never revealed, all you see is a cunning smile with perfect teeth.

and the comments:

people are writing multiple sentences to set up this situation, ending comments with numbers, indicating is more written as a reply. these watchers are almost micro-dosing fanfiction, quickly typing out a pov for others to enjoy before scrolling on. casual watchers who might not normally comment can read these situations while the tiktok plays over and over again in the background. this not only creates more engagement, but allows the watcher to think of the video from multiple povs as they listen to the audio repeat itself.

overall, these tiktoks are a symptom of the very basic human desire to belong. while the avengers are superheroes, the heart of these povs are love and support - your dad comforting you, your older brother worrying about your love life - the super strength and flying robots are just added bonuses.

*one of my favorite pieces of academic writing ever, "Disappointing Fans: Fandom, Fictional Theory, and the Death of the Author" by Lesley Goodman for the Journal of Popular Culture, expands more on this concept.

[spirit-small]

you don't have to believe the things i tell you but listen to me when i say this comic has everything you want. it's got sizeshifting in all scales and directions. she literally goes between subatomic and like 30 feet tall. she talks about how she shrinks for comfort because she always felt like she was taking up too much space. it's got quirky girls doing questionable science. it's gay. the main character is aroace (hinted and coded within this comic but explicitly confirmed in later appearances). industrial-strength mommy AND daddy issues. mental illness (she's explicitly bipolar and pretty autism-coded). found family. blood family that's the dumbest and most unnecessarily complex relations imaginable (how exactly are you related to the robot your robot brother put your mom's brain into so he could marry her? i don't know but it's a question this book dares to ask). imagine going your whole life knowing who your dad is but him having no idea you exist and then he dies almost immediately before you finally break out of assassin prison school to go meet him. but then his ex-wife just kind of adopts you. and she's not your mom and she's really not even technically your stepmom anymore because they divorced years ago so she really has no obligation to care about you but she does.

look at my panels boy

i know trying to break into the world of american comics can seem extremely daunting. and to an extent, it is. and nadia is a character whose existence is kind of based in lore from one issue of Tales to Astonish from 1963. but her story absolutely works independently of anything else from the larger universe. All you need to read are:

Unstoppable Wasp (2017) #1-8

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) #1-5

Unstoppable Wasp (2018) #1-10

Wasp (2023) #1-4

That's it. 27 issues. You could literally get through it all in a day or two. If you want more, she's been on the Avengers and the Champions and made guest appearances in other random comics, like Ironheart and Captain Marvel, and she also has an original novel, Unstoppable Wasp: Built On Hope, if normal text reading is more your speed. I might put together a complete reading list if there's interest but the above is the bulk of her content.

Thinking about how Unstoppable Wasp has literally everything g/t fans want in a story but literally nobody talks about it because it's a mildly obscure American comic book that only ran for 18 issues and isn't possible to adapt to the mcu

[redrobin-detective]

how quickly the glamour fades

 “What do you think the Captain does in his down time?” Wally asked, squirting a large amount of cheese whiz onto a cracker and eating it. He was still getting used to being the Flash, being in the Justice League alongside his uncle’s friends. They’d helped him grow as a hero and a person over the years and now he was one of them.

“I don’t know, Cap is always working,” Hal said, taking a bit of his pizza. “The guy never quits I’m telling you. If he’s not here, he’s putting out fires in the jungle or fighting space-magic-tentacle monsters or working with an apron at the soup kitchen. I don’t think he knows the meaning of ‘down time’.”

“We all have to take a break sometimes, even gods,” Wonder Woman said with a raised eye brow. She didn’t technically chastise him but Hal’s shoulder crept up to his ears anyway. “Marvel is the personification of the Gods’ will on Earth. He may not require physical rest I’m sure he must take moments to collect himself but it is, surely, none of our business.”

“I didn’t mean any disrespect,” Wally said hastily. “I’m still new here, trying to figure everything and everyone out with these big shoes to fill.” He cleared his throat and glanced over at the door Captain Marvel had exited out of a few minutes earlier. “I don’t know Marvel well, he was just a reserve member when I first met him and now we’ve moved into big leagues pretty much at the same time. I guess I’m trying to get to know my fellow newbie, he seems like a really nice guy, someone you’d want to talk to outside of work.”

“Yeah good luck with that,” Hal snorted and preemptively winced from the force of Diana’s glare. “What? Look, I love the big cheese as much as the next guy but he’s hard to pin down! He’ll smile and chat up here at the Watchtower no prob but he won’t go out for a drink, he won’t attend any of Bruce’s fancy parties. Barry used to practically beg the guy to come over and have some of Iris’ cooking and he turned him down every time.” A brief moment of silence as Hal coped with the sudden, casual mention of his best friend. “He’s friendly but not sociable.”

“Perhaps he needs time alone, away from all this,” J’onn said, walking in to stand by Diana. Without being asked, she reached into the cabinet and pulled out his favorite cookies. It could have been telepathy or simply years of love and experience. “As you mentioned, he spends much of his time battling the evils of the world, both the grand and the mundane. He may need solitude to cope.”

“Isolation doesn’t heal anything,” Wally grumbled, playing idly with the cheese whiz can. “The Titans taught me that there’s strength in community. I won’t begrudge the man some alone time but,” he sighed and set the can down. “I don’t know, he smiles like Dick does sometimes, when he’s keeping all the hurt inside. I think he could probably use someone to talk to.”

“He’s a god or something, it’s not like we can relate to him,” Hal sighed. “I’m with ya, Kid. I’d be over the moon if Cap ever decided to hang out after the battle was done but he’s just not that kinda guy.”

“Your kindness is appreciated, Wally but Marvel is entitled to his privacy. Should he ever need that listening ear you suggested, he of course knows he can come to us.” Diana smiled. Wally smiled back but still didn’t feel completely settled. There was something about Captain Marvel that never felt right, like he was only seeing a funhouse mirror version. His smiles were too perfect, his lines so cheesy, almost practiced. In a way, he almost didn’t feel real and that the real person was hiding behind this perfect cardboard cut out they all knew.

“Yeah, okay,” he frowned before perking back up. “Did you guys catch the game last nigh-”

“Don’t get me started squirt my team looked like they were sleepwalking, not playing.”

Hundreds of thousands of miles away in Fawcett City, a boy was cold and he was hungry.

“Achoo!” Billy Batson sneezed. “Ugh either someone’s talking ‘bout me or I’m coming down something.” He sniffled, wiping his nose on his threadbare sweater sleeve. “I don’t even know which is worse.”

It had been warm on the Watchtower when Bill, well Marvel, had finally left. The halls had been crowded and there’d been plenty of food and company. It would’ve been nice to stay but that wasn’t the way things worked. Cap didn’t need food to stay full or heat to keep him warm. He enjoyed the conversation but it felt so empty with the large wall he had to keep around his other life. It was safer this way, for him and for them.

The weather was turning cold and the shelters would have stopped giving out food by this late hour. Another night spent shivering and another night without a meal.

“It’s fine, you’re fine,” Billy chattered to himself as he slowly made his way back to the abandoned apartment he’d been sleeping in. “They don’t need to know about this, won’t care about another homeless kid. You’re lucky you get to know them as Marvel, you’re lucky to have Marvel.” He squeezed his eyes shut to fight back tears. It was an honor, a blessing to have the power to help people but oh did it hurt sometimes.

He wished he had someone to talk to about this but all he had was Tawney and the empty throne of the Wizard. There was the League but he couldn’t risk it, Marvel’s good standing was the only way they let him be active without giving away any details. They wouldn’t listen to him anyway, if they knew who their powerhouse really was. The illusion was hard to keep up sometimes but it was all he had.

All the way home, he hummed a tune he’d heard Black Canary humming while doling out portions of pizza and thought of the way Wonder Women’s gentle strong arms had felt around his shoulders and the sound of Lantern’s loud laughter and imagined that he wasn’t alone.