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happy74827 · 11 months ago

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All I Wanted Was You

[Thor Odinson x Female!Reader]

Synopsis: Thor had always been there to protect you, save you, and love you… Until he couldn't.

WC: 3540

Category: Heavy Angst, Some hurt/comfort, mentions of Loki, Hela, and Heimdall {TW warning: Thanos and “evil squidward” — I know his name but I think Tony’s nickname is too iconic}

So I recently rewatched Infinity War, and of course watching Thor cry over losing literally everyone else he cares for in the first 15 minutes of the movie sparked my writer heart {finally} and after listening to Paramore we have this hot mess of angst (also why are all my Thor fics so angsty when he’s the definition of fluff?? I live for the drama I guess)

And just for the record, we don’t talk about the fact that I have thousands of requests and this isn’t even one of them 💀😭

『••✎••』

They say fear lies in the unknown. In the absence of facts and knowledge, the mind creates a world of illusions. If you believe your own fears, they become reality.

So what happens when the thing you fear the most is taken from you? When everything else falls to nothing? When the world is turned upside down?

You're left with a feeling that can only be described as the deepest pain imaginable.

You're left with nothing but your fear.

Your heart was racing so fast, and your breaths were short. You could feel every single muscle in your body tense up as the unnamed alien man dragged you further and further into the unknown.

The trip back to Earth, back to your sanctuary of a home, was nothing but a blur. After everything that had gone down within Asgard, including Asgard's destruction, all you could think about was your lover. Your other half.

Thor.

He was in pain, and not just physically. You had been separated due to his secretive, power-hungry sister, to where he’d left you alone with his kind-hearted people to find his father, only to disappear and leave you alone with the slaughtering of the Asgardians.

The people you’ve met that very day ended up slaughtered by Hela. Some took you by the hand, guiding and shielding you for protection against the God of Death and her henchmen. Others, you could tell, were more than just scared; they were terrified. The ones that were too slow or the ones that decided to fight back were killed within an instant.

You were no warrior. You were a simple, plain human who somehow caught the eye of the mighty Thor Odinson, and for some reason, he was in love with you.

So, while everyone else fought against Hela and her henchmen, you ran. Thor had left you there in assurance of your safety, thinking the search for his father with Loki, of all people, would be too risky for you, but in reality, you would have rather been with him. At least then, if you were to die, you could have been in the arms of the one you love.

Miraculously, you had survived the fall of Asgard and the escape from Surtur. You had no clue how. Maybe you were just lucky, or perhaps it was the grace of the Allfather. Even Heimdall, the man who saw everything, didn’t see you making it out alive.

But, when Thor had found you in the throne room cornered by some henchmen, it became a fact that Heimdall couldn’t see everything; after all.

The moment your eyes had met, the moment you heard the sound of metal against flesh, the moment his strong, powerful, protective arms wrapped around your fragile, vulnerable, weak form, and the moment his lips kissed the top of your head, you were safe.

Safe.

The only time you felt genuinely safe was when you were with Thor. His mere presence made you feel at ease. Like nothing could ever touch you or hurt you because he wouldn't let it.

He would protect you no matter the cost. He’d die for you, give his life for you, and go to the depths of Hell and back for you. He loved you, and that was something you could never understand.

Why would such a mighty god, a king, and a warrior want to love a simple human like yourself? A clumsy one at that.

You weren’t special in any way. You were ordinary.

But Thor, he was extraordinary.

The God of Thunder, a king and a warrior, a prince and a protector.

He was everything you were not.

It wasn't just the physical things that made him great, too, but the things that were inside.

Thor was a good man. A caring man. One who always thought about others and not himself.

Thor had his moments, yes, but no one is perfect. Not even a god. But the thing that made you love him, that made you want him, and the thing that made you feel safe was his heart.

That was the only part of him you could understand. The way he cared. The way he loved. The way he could make anyone smile. The way he could bring light to anyone's dark.

That's what makes a man a man. And that's why you loved him.

Even now, with one eye, a missing hammer, and a lost kingdom, he was still your everything.

And now you were reunited after being separated again. The only problem was the circumstances.

You and Thor had been in an intimate moment. The relief of having you back in his arms, the adrenaline pumping through your veins from surviving such a tragedy, had you both desperate.

He had pinned you against the wall, his hands brushing your hair away from your face to get a better look at you before he pressed his lips to yours in a soft kiss. He was always so gentle with you. The teasing and playful nips at your bottom lip were proof of that.

But the sudden sight of a ship out the large window you’d stared out of moments before the kiss broke your concentration.

Thor had pulled apart almost immediately, the feeling of his beard no longer tickling your face, but the heat of his breath and the sweet taste of his lips was still there.

It didn't take long before Thor was following your eyes, seeing for himself what had pulled you from him.

A sense of dread washed over you when you noticed how he tensed and his grip on your waist tightened. This wasn’t another Asgardian ship; no, this was something far more dangerous. You could tell by the look in Thor's eye, his non-missing eye.

Then, within seconds, he grabbed hold of your arm and yanked you out of the room. Your heart was pounding as you started yelling questions at him, trying to understand what was going on.

But, when he hit the button that sealed the room you were once in and shielded you within his arms, the panic started to set in.

That's when everything began to blur.

You remembered the sound of explosions. The tearing of metal. The screams. The smell of burning.

It all came crashing down.

Loki had come around the corner, and seeing his expression, it didn’t take much to realize what was going on.

If Loki, the God of Mischief and Lies, was terrified, then that meant something big was going down.

Thor was yelling orders, shouting commands. You could barely make out what he was saying, but you knew he was telling you to stay behind him.

Stay behind him.

Always stay behind him.

Then it changed to get the hell off the ship.

Then, to run.

Run.

The last thing you remember was looking back as you sprinted down the halls, seeing your love, your other half, the king, the prince, the protector, your Thor, fighting some creature with his bare hands.

His face was so determined. He wasn’t going down without a fight. You ran to where he had told you to go, the escape pods where Val was helping others into. You got there and saw her eyes. They were wide and full of worry.

Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.

The sound of an explosion brought you back to the present.

Val grabbed you by the wrist and dragged you toward a pod. You could feel the adrenaline pumping through your veins and, your heart was racing so fast, and your breaths were short.

All you could think about was Thor. Where was he? Was he alright?

No.

He was not.

As soon as you entered the pod and Val had closed you in it, it was suddenly torn apart. The supposed sliding door had been ripped from its hinges.

The metal that you rested your back upon started to give, and the feeling of moving forward caused your heart to leap.

You were launched out and onto the floor.

It took a second to gain your bearings. You looked up and saw Val. She was fighting, and you were thankful to see her, but it was a short-lived relief.

The… thing she was fighting, the blue alien, grabbed hold of her and flung her across the ship. She landed somewhere near a pod and didn't move. You remembered screaming for her, but she didn't budge.

That's when the creature turned his attention to you.

You tried to move, but the metal that was supposed to hold the pod in place had you pinned.

You tried to pry the metal from your skin, but your weak and vulnerable body couldn’t break the bond.

The alien slowly moved towards you and, in a swift movement, had ripped the metal away.

He was so close, and you had no idea what was going on, who he was, or what his intentions were.

When you felt his large, rough, and cold hand wrap around the back of your neck, panic started to set in. You wanted to kick and scream, but all you could do was stare at the beast before you.

And thus, you were dragged away from the evacuation site and thrown into a separate area. You came to the conclusion that whoever this was, it seemed to be a metal bender or something similar due to his abilities.

All you saw was a demented blue face with squid-like features, staring down at you as he threw you around like a rag doll.

The fifth time he threw you, you landed roughly on the floor, causing your shoulder to make a loud crack noise and the pain to shoot through your body. Your hands landed on something soft, softer than the floor, and when you looked down, you realized the blue thing had thrown you into a room full of corpses.

But it wasn’t just any corpses. The one you had specifically landed upon had been the body of the man you had recently become close friends with, Thor’s friend, Heimdall.

Tears immediately pooled in your eyes, and your breathing became ragged. You tried to sit up and pull your body off of Heimdall in respect, but the pain shooting through your arm and back kept you frozen in place.

The lifeless eyes of the man who saw everything were open, and for once, he was staring at nothing. It was a haunting image.

The tears were now falling, and a sob escaped your lips. You wanted to curl up into a ball and cry. You wanted to scream and shout. You wanted to fight and claw at the alien that took until it bled. But all you could do was lay there, unable to move and weep.

Then, a voice caught your attention. It was deep, and it was coming from the alien that had brought you to this place.

His eyes were no longer focused on you, but they were somewhere else. He was talking to someone.

“Boss,” it spoke, his voice deep and gravelly. You couldn’t bear to look at the being. Not when you were face to face with the lifeless body of the gatekeeper. “There’s a human woman here. A pathetic one, no doubt, but one nonetheless. Should we end her? Or leave her to rot like the others?"

A silence filled the air, and you had no idea what was going on, who he was speaking with, or who was giving him instructions. You could’ve looked. You could have glanced up at the thing, and seen for yourself, but you too were afraid.

Your eyes remained glued to the golden ones that were once filled with light and wisdom.

There was silence, and then a loud, deep, thump. It had startled you, but it wasn't anything like the explosion of the ship, no, it sounded more like a boot or a shoe had come in contact with metal. But, it was loud enough to grab your attention.

You didn’t move. Your eyes didn't stray.

But, your body trembled in fear.

Suddenly, you heard his voice, and it sounded more terrifying than any sound that had echoed in the air prior. It was even deeper, and even more frightening than the other.

“I think not. We have use of her."

He had a deep and gravelly voice, but it was smooth. Calm. Almost friendly.

Then, a large, purple foot, appeared in your vision, and slowly, the purple being leaned down and stared at you. His gaze was strong, and piercing. You wanted to look away, but you couldn’t. You were too terrified to move, speak, or breathe.

Again, it wasn’t human. It was an alien. And a big one, at that.

He had no hair, only a helmet. His skin was purple and he wore strange looking clothing, including a golden glove that had both a bright purple stone and a blue one.

You’ve never seen such a creature before. You thought those dark elves were terrifying, but they were nothing compared to this man.

And for some reason, he was looking at you like you were an ant, and he was the boot that would crush you.

In fact, he was looking at you with pity, and it confused the hell out of you.

But, when his hand moved, and his fingers had touched the soft strand of your hair, you couldn't help but flinch.

The moment his fingers made contact with you, though, you heard a loud grunt. One that didn’t sound alienated or distorted. It was clear, and you could tell who it was, instantly.

Your head shot up, ignoring the pain in your arm, and the moment your eyes met his, everything stopped.

Everything.

It was Thor.

Your Thor. Your everything.

He was in front of you the entire time, and you had no clue.

The tears were falling. They were falling hard and fast, and you couldn’t stop them. And for once, it wasn’t because of relief.

Thor was encased with metal. His arms and legs were pinned by it. He was bleeding from his head, and he was covered in bruises.

He looked like hell and gave off the same energy.

He was struggling to free himself. That’s what the sounds were. The grunts, the heavy breathing, and the loud thumping. He was trying to get out of his prison to get to you. To save you.

The alien was staring down at you. His eyes were dark and intimidating, but his presence was even more so. He was the embodiment of terror.

Then, without any warning, he grabbed you by the throat.

It was an unexpected move. He had picked you up by the neck with just one hand. He had a grip so tight you couldn't breathe, and the pressure on your throat was unbearable.

You could hear Thor screaming. Yelling.

You could barely hear what he was saying. Your ears were ringing, and the pain of the hand wrapped around your throat was all you could focus on.

But, you could see him. You could see him perfectly.

You saw his blue eye and the patch that covered the missing one. You saw the stubble along his chin. The slight scar that was just below the patch. The wrinkles on his forehead.

You could see it all.

And the look of desperation and horror. It broke you.

You couldn’t take it anymore. It was too much.

Then, in the blink of an eye, you felt release.

You fell to the floor and started gasping for air. It was like the moment the alien released his grip on you, everything began again. The world, your thoughts, the chaos.

It was all there, and you couldn’t keep up.

“I see it now.” You heard the voice of the alien say. Your vision was blurry, and your eyes were still stinging from the tears, but you could make him out if only a bit.

He was now standing, towering over you, but he wasn’t looking at you. No, he was looking at Thor; his eyes were focused on the god, which sent a chill down your spine.

When dealing with Hela, you find yourself recovering with confidence. She could’ve easily killed you with a snap of her finger, but when she demanded your name, you had spat in her face and gave a smile.

Even though Thor wasn’t there at that moment, you somehow knew he’d be coming back to put an end to her, and you would be safe. It was like a sixth sense that came and made you stop panicking and running.

And, even though he technically didn’t put her down, he still was your knight in shining armor. It was the same with the dark elves and even with Loki.

They were all terrifying, yes, but somehow, you knew that Thor would save the day.

Now, though, it was different. You weren’t scared or panicked; no, you were terrified.

The fact that Thor was trapped and was physically in pain, the fact that Heimdall and more innocent Asgardians were lying on the floor, dead, and the fact that Loki was missing and Val was knocked unconscious, it had all hit you at once.

You felt like you were suffocating, and it only worsened when the alien spoke again.

“I was questioning why a mortal was amongst a group of Asgardians, how such a fragile being could survive so long among gods. I wondered, but I see it now. You have been blessed by one, and the last, of Odin's children."

The alien's attention was back on you, and the intensity of his gaze had you trembling. He was staring at you, looking through you, and reading you like a book.

"What a pitiful yet fortunate creature you are."

It was like the oxygen had been sucked from your lungs, and when he moved, you found yourself flinching and scooting backward.

He had leaned down again, and his large hand had grabbed the side of your face. The feeling of his skin on yours made your skin crawl, and the urge to vomit was growing.

Thor wasn’t having it. He was thrashing about; the metal that was encasing his body was bending and stretching with each move.

His cries of anger and the desperation in his eyes were heartbreaking. And it was only shut up by the alien who had taken you. A piece of metal flew to Thor’s mouth and held it in place, preventing him from yelling.

More grunts and muffled noises could be heard from the god, but you could no longer see him now. The purple man was blocking your view.

But, despite that, he was still talking to Thor.

"It is a shame, Thor Odinson. I take pity on the both of you, and I apologize, for it seems that fate has not been kind to either of you. But, we must make sacrifices. It is unfortunate that your beloved had to be one of them."

Then, suddenly, the alien turned his gaze back to you, and his dark eyes bore into yours. He was staring directly into your soul.

"Fear not, small child,” he said, his voice sounding almost calm. “You will not have to endure the pain and suffering as I did.”

The words that left his mouth did not give you comfort. It was quite the opposite.

Thor came back into your viewpoint as the purple man had moved, and when your eyes met his, all you saw was a mixture of panic and despair.

Thor's expression had you feeling a type of way. You could feel your stomach sink.

You weren’t dumb. You were far from it.

You knew where this was going, and your mind was screaming, screaming for you to do something, anything.

Run.

Fight.

Scream.

Just do something.

But all you did was stare. Stare at the man that you loved. The man that loved you. The man who had saved you countless times.

But he couldn’t save you now, even when you cried out his name in a soft voice, that frail, humane part of you begging him with your eyes to stop this from happening.

To stop it from hurting.

He couldn’t.

All he could do was look at you, look as you were taken. Look as you were pulled away from him.

All he could do was stare and scream.

It was the loudest, most horrific sound you had ever heard. It was worse than the explosion.

It was worse than anything.

It was the cry of a man who had just lost the last thing that gave him purpose.

It was the sound of a god being torn to pieces.

And it was all because of you.

That was the last thing you heard. That was the last image that burned itself into your brain.

The sound of Thor and his desperate screams was the last thing you remembered.

Everything after that was darkness.

No memories, no thoughts, nothing.

Just darkness.

All he wanted was you.

All he needed was you.

And now, all he had left was the memory of you: that and his broken heart.

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fazgardian · 3 months ago

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Absolute dream come true — I MET WALT SIMONSON, one of the most iconic Thor comics creators. He sketched ME and it was soooooo cool!!!

I was also lucky enough to interview him on our Mighty Thor podcast with my friend Ryan. Truly an incredible couple of weeks for this Thor fan!

#marvel cosplay #marvel cinematic universe #avengers #cosplay photography #marvel #thor of asgard #thor cosplay #thor4 #tlat #thor comics #walt simonson #marvel comics #comic art #comic artist #comic writer #mighty thor #3d printing

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karioke13 · 9 months ago

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They should do a funko pop like this one but with this iconic scene in the Mighty Thor comics

Funko make it happen 💪🏼😎

#marvel #jane foster #mighty thor #funko pop #comics #seriously this would look so cool #pls pls pls funko make it happen #slides them $20 #I��ll give you my entire live savings for this

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sjbattleangel · 1 year ago

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Jane's tired-of-this-crap expression is just iconic! I mean look at it:

The rolling, fed-up eyes say it all.

Lol! Jane Foster is an absolute queen here! Nonchalantly rolling her eyes at Odin whilst rightfully calling out his hypocrisy and bullcrap!

From Mighty Thor (2015) #706 by Jason Aaron & Russell Dauterman.

#thor goddess of thunder #thor #jane foster #mighty thor #odin borson #jason aaron #russell dauterman #marvel comics #marvel #iconic #awesome comic art #odin is an asshole

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earth-93 · 1 year ago

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Mystic’s Musings: New Warriors, the Animated Series

Hey, y'all.

Now that I got the ball rolling on this site, I want to start sharing all my other thoughts and ideas not related to Earth-93 (Though, in the case of this one, it very well might be incorporated into Earth-93 sometime down the line. We'll see). And I figured what better place to start than with the project that not only predated Earth-93, but might have been my earliest, most committed attempt at a fanwork ever: A treatment for an animated series based on the underrated Marvel super-team, the New Warriors.

HISTORY

First, come context, as there is a chance a lot of you might not know the full story.

The New Warriors first made their debut in 1989 in a two-issue arc of The Mighty Thor, where the young heroes sprang into action to assist Eric Masterson in a brawl with the Juggernaut. They would get their own series the following year, developed and written by Fabian Nicieza and drawn by Mark Bagley. Comparisons to the Distinguished Competition's own band of young superheroes have been made over the years, but more than a replication of George Perez's iconic New Teen Titans run, Nicieza described the Warriors as more of a hang-out group who sometimes fought evil and even saved the world: "The New Warriors isn't an official group with a rule book and charter and the like. They're more of a club for super-powered teens. So if Darkhawk wants to hang out on a Friday evening and talk about his powers, then he'll stop by the New Warriors' crash pad."

While the original series had a fairly solid 75-issue run, any attempts afterwards to reboot the Warriors have struggled to find any footing, up to this day. I'm sure you are all well aware of the infamous backlash for the pitch of the newest New Warriors rebrand back in 2020, but you might be surprised to know that was merely the tip of the iceberg for the team's bad luck in continuing their legacy. If not the whole "Snowflake & Safespace" debacle, you probably know of the Warriors as the reckless, fame-hungry super-team who provoked a supervillain into committing the Stamford Incident and kicking off the first Civil War. That and the entire reality show premise of that run was but one of many attempts from the late 90's all the way up into the present to relaunch the team, sometimes with a few founding members but never a full-on reunion, and all have had middling runs if not preemptively cancelled altogether, as was the case for the 2020. This bad luck extends even outside of published comics, with a Squirrel Girl-staring New Warriors live-action series getting canned before it really got off the ground.

The Warriors have existed in this strange comic-book limbo where they can never quite catch a break, yet continue to have consistent enthusiasm backing them to try again a few years down the line. The original run concluded before I was even born, so I was exposed to and became endeared with the Warriors retroactively. Going back to my senior year of high school, I was obsessed with shows like Young Justice and Spectacular Spider-Man. Around the same time, I had come upon the story bibles for Gargoyles and Batman: The Animated Series online, which gave me the drive to try my own hand out at adapting a comic property in the framework of an animated series as a writing exercise. I was too intimidated at the time to write for a big name such as Spidey, not feeling my skill and familiarity at the time was up to the task. I then thumbed through my school library’s copy of the Marvel Encyclopedia, where I first came upon the Warriors. Operating in their own little bubble, not too terribly tied to any major characters or events, they seemed ripe for adaptation, and I slowly collected the original run on eBay. I read the entire first twenty-five issues over one weekend and was hooked. To this day, my friends among fandom spaces know me as the resident New Warriors scholar and defender.

Much like the Warriors themselves, this project has had many stops and starts since its inception. A lot of thought and effort put into it, but never really at any semblance of completion, and almost always back at a time where I was too comfortable with sharing my works with others in the first place. At best, it was more of an idle project to tinker with on my creative off-days, such energy would shuffle around to other endeavors, including what would become Earth-93. But in my boost of confidence with my writing and just wanting to make a habit of getting more material out there, I decided to dust off all my notes and give it a more proper shot. Shout out, by the way, to @spiralcass , whose own #New X-Men: The Animated Series project and minimalist screenplay format lit a fire under me to revisit a similar project.

If this pitch is well-received, it will become the first of a two-part entry; the second of which I will get more in-depth with recurring and supporting characters, as well as an outline to what a figurative first season of storytelling would play out as. But before we get to the cast, allow me to set the stage:

SETTING

The wider world the Warriors live in is early 90's Marvel, full stop. I would like to feel as though we have progressed past the point of making fun of Liefeld's art and can appreciate the quality content in the supposed Dark Age of Comics that existed amid the admittedly still quite embarrassing material that grabs most people's attention when looking back on that era. The Warriors are absolutely an era highlight, and as plotting and research developed the figurative show slowly evolved into a love letter to the Marvel canon as it existed in the early to mid 90's.

That's not to say the art direction to this figurative show would reflect this period or any particular artist, though I would absolutely preserve various designs and specific status quos as homages and signifiers. Reed Richards is rocking a fisherman's vest. Ghost Rider is burning a blue flame. The Hulk can be seen sporting a black tank top, and seems to have gotten his temper under control. Spidey is zipping around in the Ben Reilly suit (Is it actually Ben? We won't know, this isn't Spidey's story). Et cetra.

There will also be two major events prior to the events of the series which will significantly shape the wider world:

OPERATION: GALACTIC STORM

As the Kree-Shi'ar War begins to encroach into the Sol System, the Avengers bring on every active member they have and split into three teams. Two will enter space and sneak into both sides of the alien war to try and diffuse the conflict while one stays behind to protect the Earth. It is a prolonged effort out in space, where every hero fights and negotiates with everything they have, and it all ends up doing nothing when a bio-bomb is released that decimates the majority of the Kree race. Not too long after the heroes discover much to their horror that the bomb as well as the war itself was orchestrated by the Kree's leader, the Supreme Intelligence, who deduced that a mass culling of its people was a necessary action to jumpstart Kree’s stagnant evolution.

This revelation shook the Avengers to their core, and while some just wanted to go home, others refused to leave until justice was served. This faction of Avengers, led by Iron Man, stormed the Supreme Intelligence's base and killed the being in retribution, while the opposing Captain America-led faction stood their ground. The heroes returned home splintered, and returned to find the Earthbound team having fallen into dysfunction.

All of this would have happened less than a year before the Warrior's formed, but it would still radically reshape the superhero community. Cap and Wasp remain leaders of the Avengers proper, holding down a new, more oddball team as many veterans stepped away following Galactic Storm. Some joined Iron Man's Force Works team in California, who took a more proactive mission statement to their duties rather than primarily intervening at the moment of crisis. Others had taken up employment at the recently expanded Heroes For Hire, and a few outright retired.

THE TAMING OF TERRAX

The Sphinx was an immortal wizard who sought to find a means of finally ending his overlong life. He menaced the hero called Nova, believing the Xandarian Worldmind might have the answer to his query, but upon tapping into the vast knowledge of the Worldmind, Sphinx swiftly changed his directive and sought to steal this power for himself and ascend to godhood. Nova failed to fight back against the Sphinx, necessitating the intervention of the Fantastic Four. The Four in turn found themselves bargaining with Galactus to overpower the Sphinx, and the eater of worlds cajoled the heroes finding him a new herald in exchange for his intervention.

Desperate, the Four targeted Tyros the Tamer, the brutal ruler of a small planet, rationalizing he is more deserving of such a fate than others. Imbued with the Power Cosmic, Tyros became Terrax, gaining an incorporeal form that took solid shape of whatever solid matter the planet he strikes down into is composed of. Galactus slew Sphinx, hurling him into a time loop where the immortal’s consciousness would be worn down to almost nothing, and for punishment of bringing both Xandar and potentially the entire universe to the brink, Nova was stripped of his powers and sent back to Earth as an ordinary teenager, Richard Rider.

Just a few years later, Terrax would break free of Galactus’ bonds, and crash into Manhattan, demanding the Four face him, or else he would bring the city down to rubble. It was then that six superpowered youths would take the call to protect New York...

MAIN CHARACTERS - THE WARRIORS

NIGHT THRASHER

Mix:

Fistful of Steel - Rage Against the Machine

Cult of Personality - Living Colour

Bring Da Ruckus - Wu-Tang Clan

Re-Ignition - Bad Brains

Life Goes On - House of Pain

Dwayne Taylor’s comfortable childhood as the son of a philanthropist was violently upended one night when his parents were gunned down in the street right in front of him. Taken in by his father’s war buddy Andrew Chord, Dwayne spent his adolescence honing his body and mind, channeling his grief and rage into becoming the Night Thrasher, New York’s newest costumed vigilante. Initially, Dwayne formed a partnership with the brother-sister duo of Midnight’s Fire and Silhouette, and for a time the three struck out as a trio patrolling the streets of lower Manhattan. A gang bust gone awry left Silhouette critically injured and Dwayne barely escaping with his life from the wrath of Fire, who blamed Dwayne for his sister’s paralysis. Dwayne retreated to Madame Tai, his and Chord’s enigmatic martial arts master, dejected over his failings, to which Tai merely scolded her pupil further before instructing him to lick his wounds and try again.

When he did, Dwayne decided to dream bigger, accessing SHIELD and Hellfire data to find candidates to a super-team that could match the iconography of the Fantastic Four. Dwayne’s candidates understandably did not take well to Dwayne’s method of recruitment, assembling them at a meet-up through vague, threatening messages and testing their skills through direct combat. When Terrax suddenly menaced the city, the quartet were able to put their enmity aside for the sake of others, and through Dwayne’s tactical skills they succeeded in fending off the cosmic threat long enough for the F4 to take him down. The public gave the more famous team with the success over the fight, but none of them could deny they had a synergy capable of great feats. Dwayne propositioned the group once more, this time far less abrasively, and thus the New Warriors officially came together.

Dwayne is steadfast, focused, and wildly competent, though a lot of that is not wholly authentic to who Dwyane truly is. He takes any failure very personally, and has low tolerance for it with those around him. Dwayne starts off treating the Warriors more as soldiers than as teammates, to which most of them manage to tolerate with for their own reasons. This will come to a head part way through the first season, when Speedball’s mother comes under threat by a gang of eco-terrorists, and instead Dwayne is attempting to keep the Warriors on track to his ongoing plans to strike back against Midnight’s Fire. The few people whom Dwayne trusts to be vulnerable with is Chord and Silhouette, who even then Dwayne is more talking at while she remains in the coma her injury left her in. That slowly changes the more he works alongside the Warriors, and finds the affirmation that Madame Tai never provided. As the season goes on, Dwayne uncovers the conspiracy behind his parent’s murder and the devastating reveal of who had been manipulating the direction of his life into the present. With the Warriors’ help, Dwayne fights back, but in that victory he also loses that razor-sharp focus which had largely allowed him to operate through the trauma left unresolved. By the season’s end, Dwayne will pass along leadership duties to Namorita as he takes some time off with Silhouette to more properly find himself.

FIRESTAR

Mix:

Do You Wear The Mark - Danzig

Mary-Christ - Sonic Youth

Velouria - The Pixies

Crush - Smashing Pumpkins

Angels of Deception - The The

Angelica Jones’ mutant ability to generate microwave heat first manifested through the intense grief of her beloved grandmother passing away when Angelica was fourteen. Rather than a certain man in a wheelchair entering the scene, the Jones household was instead visited by Emma Frost, the villainous White Queen of the Hellfire Club but known by the public as the headmistress to the esteemed Massachusetts Academy. Angelica’s father, well-meaning but unequipped and overwhelmed as how to nurture his daughter and her newfound powers, hastily agreed to Frost’s offer to take in Angelica and properly tutor her. Though Emma initially planned to enroll Angelica into her clique of mutant students she dubbed the Hellions, once Emma estimated the sheer scope of Angelica’s microwave powers, she instead took the young girl directly under her wing. Over the course of her adolescence, Angelica was desensitized to violence and had her devotion to Emma solidified through entrapment and emotional and psychic manipulation, all in the service of Angelica being made to be a literal nuclear option for Emma, should her feud with her fellow Hellfire members necessitate it.

Angelica was discouraged from socializing with her fellow Hellions to ensure Emma’s direct control. When a rogue student Emplate fled the Academy, Angelica went against Emma’s orders out of her utter devotion and tracked down Emplate herself. During their fight, Emplate used his powers to unearth Emma’s exploitation of Angelica that had always been in her periphery, but could no longer deny. Her entire world shaken, Angelica was driven into a blind rage and stormed back to destroy Emma’s personal office back at the Academy. She left for home, threatening Emma to never come near her again. Angelica attempted to return to her old life, but the years of abuse had turned the shy but kindly young girl into a sullen and withdrawn teenager, unwilling to let other people in and distrustful and resentful to even her father for allowing Emma to come into her life in the first place. Then came the fateful evening where she came home to an empty house and a vaguely threatening message left by Dwayne. By the end of that night, Angelica was forced to use her powers for the first time in months for the sake of the city.

Firestar might be my favorite characters in the whole team, and I love the backstory that Tom DeFalco had crafted for her after the decision to make her canon to the main Marvel universe. With that said, there was always one glaring thing about her that was one of my least favorable aspects of the original Warrior’s run, and that is that, for the most part, there’s no real impetus for Angel to continue with the superhero life. In both her origin story as well as the first few arcs of the series, she is portrayed as having overcome the trauma inflicted upon her by Emma Frost and is by all accounts a well-adjusted teenager. I always felt what Angel went through would have created far deeper repercussions than her initial depictions would have let on, something that Angel’s more recent depictions in the Krakoa era appear to be aware of.

Committing to that, I decided Angel’s initial arc would be while she is still very hesitant to use her powers offensively even as a hero, she nonetheless agrees to join the Warriors because, at that time, there’s no one else she can confide in how having superpowers has affected her life. Eventually, Emma will reenter Angel’s life and will finally overcome her menace for good, but in the following episode Angel will realize how hollow her victory truly feels, and it will take more than retribution to fix her problems. From this, Angel steadily opens herself up a bit, which in turn allows her to better empathize with her teammates. She can better recognize the pain in Dwayne’s eyes, and how the brutality in his combat might stem from more than a bad attitude. She sees Vance as less of a stuffed shirt and a boy scout, and how his own trauma shaped who he is. And she becomes more receptive to Nita’s efforts at becoming a friend. In effect, Angel becomes a happier, more well-rounded person thanks to being a New Warrior.

NOVA

Mix:

Tear It Up - Queen

Take Me Home - LOUDNESS

Love Gun - KISS

Fire Your Guns - AC/DC

Turbo Lover - Judas Priest

Richard Rider was just an average teenager before he was the unexpected bystander to Nova Corpsman Rohmann Dey’s crash-landing onto Earth. Mortally injured, Dey entrusted his powers and duties of interstellar peacekeeping to the young man, and for the next several Rich years went on high-flying adventures as Kid Nova, the human rocket. One day, however, Rich squared off with a villain far stronger than him, putting both the treasured Worldmind of the Nova Corps home planet Xandar and with it the safety of the very universe. As punishment, Rich was stripped of his rank and sent back to Earth, where he found out his prolonged time out in space left him severely behind on his schooling. No powers and no diploma, Rich is slaving away at a dead-end fast food job when Dwayne leaves his meet-up directions. Unlike Angel or Vance, Rich has no powers to test out against Dwayne, to which Dwayne retorts that his research has led him to believe Rich’s Nova powers are still within him, but as a fail-safe in a life or death situation. With this, Dwayne hurls Rich off the roof, and though Rich does find himself once more encased in his Nova armor, it was not for the reasons Dwayne stated. Rich attempts to fight Terrax on his own, but realizing how rusty he has become, allows the others to assist in spite of the power gap between him and them.

Rich will slowly mature into the seasoned hero some of us know him to be. His time in the Warriors is that awkward middle ground between that and being the plucky new hero on the scene, a broad archetype I like to call the Washed Up High School Athlete. Having fallen so low and then seemingly reclaimed his lost glory, Rich has a bit of an ego about him. Additionally, Rich is inarguably the most experienced in the superhero game than any other Warrior. He’s gone out to space multiple times, has had tons of team-ups with major players, and has had his own robust rogues gallery. Rich’s arrogance, however, doesn’t come from an overestimation of his abilities—no, he learned that the hard way in his battle with Sphinx. Rather, it comes from the flip-side of an insecurity to prove that he’s still worthy of being Nova. He’ll pall around with Speedball, develop a teasing friendship with Justice, and butt heads repeatedly with Thrash. Part of which stems from a desire to lead the Warriors himself, but as he slowly learns humility he will concede that just because he’s the power house doesn’t mean he deserves to be running the show. This is when his bond with Nita strengthens, who previously rolled her eyes at Rich’s flirtations, but shows due respect and encouragement once Rich slowly began to take things more seriously.

JUSTICE

Mix:

Something I Learned Today - Hüsker Dü

Everything Turns Grey - Agent Orange

Outside The Trains Don’t Run On Time - Gang of Four

Life Goes On - The Damned

Lawless - Social Distortion

Vance Astrovik grew up in a lonely household, with his mother having died when Vance was young and his father emotionally distant, unsupportive, and generally scolding and abusive. A chance encounter with a strange man in the park, who advised Vance to “focus” his frustrations, allowed him to first tap his mutant powers of telekinesis. As Vance got older and his father’s abuse became physical, Vance lashed out with his powers before running away from home. Vance enrolled into the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, lying about his age and utilizing his telekinesis to imitate super-strength, to make a living on his own. After winning a streak of matches under the persona of “Marvel Boy”, Vance was set up with the UCWF’s highest-profile contender: The one and only Thing, who like Vance was at the time also living a life on the road, struggling to find himself. Seeing the eyes of an angry, tortured young man staring back at him struck a chord with Ben, and he very quickly threw the fight against the promoter’s demands. Ben let Vance use him as a big, stony punching bag to let out all his emotions, and when the match was over Ben approached Vance more earnestly.

With the senior hero’s help, Vance slowly started to get his life back together. Vance went back to New York with Ben, where he split his time between a contract with the Heroes For Hire while also catching up on his missing education. For the first time ever, Vance’s life was stable, and through the Heroes For Hire he was even able to live out his dream of being a superhero, though he longed for the gung-ho adventuring of the profession that didn’t seem to be around in his generation. It was that type of longing that made Vance the most amenable to Dwayne’s proposal, despite his unorthodox method of recruitment. When up against Terrax, Vance was directed by Dwayne to use his telekinesis in a more intangible way, and pooling his powers with Speedball’s, ended up becoming an instrumental force in disarming Terrax and saving the day. Vance’s enthusiasm continued into Dwayne’s second attempt to assemble a team, and was the first one to agree.

Vance is the fanboy of the team, who loves all things superhero. Rather than having the plucky enthusiasm a character like Robbie might instead bring, think of Vance as the type of fan who is somewhat embarrassed or even ashamed to be a fan among his given friend group. He’s reserved and stoic a lot of the time, but the moment he’s in his element or encounters a fellow fan in the wild, a switch just goes off in him and his enthusiasm comes out. Ergo, Vance could potentially be the point of exposition in a given situation (Because he's done the research on his down time) but only if other team members such as Dwayne (The tactician) or Rich (The senior most hero) aren't around to exposit themselves, or might just be drawing a blank on the matter at hand. This close-to-the-vest behavior is extremely indicative of Vance at the beginning. He is reserved yet courteous, bashful yet determined. He believes the most in the Warriors, but because of his fledging confidence never volunteers to actually lead.

He will start the series utilizing his powers more like Superboy, "tactical telekinesis" and all, but the more the series goes along and the more emotionally available Vance becomes, the more his mind becomes open to the more intangible aspects of his powers. Vance is patient towards Dwayne's hostilities, but less so with Rich's braggart behavior. He geeks out over Namorita at first, badgering her with questions over her famous cousin, but learns to reel back and respect Nita as a person and as a hero in her own right. He gets along well with Bobby in their mutual enthusiasm, though Bobby is significantly less mature and far more rambunctious than Vance might prefer. The only team member Vance actively comes to blows with is Firestar. They start out fundamentally disagreeing on helping others being a duty to people with powers such as themselves, but once Angelica’s abusive past comes to the forefront, it allows Vance the ability to unpack the baggage from his own abuse. He apologizes to Angelica for his confrontational attitude from before, and the two develop a bond and understanding unique from the rest of the team.

NAMORITA

Mix:

Train of Thought - a-ha

The Blood - The Cure

Another Part of Me - Michael Jackson

Dazzle - Siouxsie And The Banshees

Raspberry Beret - Prince

The “little cousin” to the tempestuous prince of Atlantis, Namorita is the daughter of Namor’s maternal cousin, Namora--more precise, Nita is her mother’s own genetic clone, conceived in such a way due to Namora’s hybrid physiology rendering her infertile. Namora died when Nita was still very young, killed in a coup against Namor orchestrated by his treacherous cousin, Byrrah. Namor was exiled and Nita was lied to by Byrrah and his conspirators that it was Namor who was the betrayer who left her mother to die. In spite of the loss of her mother and apparent betrayal of her cousin, Nita otherwise had a happy childhood as princess to the Atlantean throne. She was trained in combat by the warlord Krang, educated by the sorceress Llyra, and nurtured by the lady Dorma, all steps made to endow her with the skills necessary to be Byrrah’s eventual successor. Only when Namor returned to Atlantis decades later to challenge Byrrah for the throne did Nita understand the truth of her family, and she gallantly assisted her older cousin in reclaiming his birthright as Atlantis’ king.

Still, the revelation left Nita troubled, and Namor recommended to his little cousin that some time away from Atlantis might help her clear her head. Namor arranged for Nita to live with Betty Prentiss, an old friend of his who had long retired to upstate New York. Nita grew to love Betty as a maternal figure, so much so that she took Betty’s name as part of her surface-world identity. Betty’s health began to fail, but she urged Nita not to hold herself back on her part, stressing that she was ready to brave the rest of the world. Nita was living in New York as a part-time college student, part-time sidekick to Namor’s new adventures, the day Terrax attacked the city. Though she was not among Dwayne’s initial recruits, she charged in and fought the good fight regardless, and it was her mastery in the water which barred Terrax from recomposing his physical form long enough for Rich to absorb his Power Cosmic directly and launch Terrax back out of the atmosphere.

Out of all the Warriors, Nita is the one who comes in the most put-together. She’s the oldest—literally. Despite physically and mentally still being around college-age, by non- Atlantean conditions she is in her 40′s—and unlike the others she joins the Warriors not out of a claim for fame or fill some existential void, but because she thought it would be fun to have a group of super-teens to become friends with. In the team’s earliest outings, Nita’s fun-loving nature comes off as flighty and vicarious to some, but as the Warriors grow more seasoned Nita demonstrates repeatedly how dedicated she is. When the chips are down, she does not make light of the crisis at hand, and is swift and unforgiving in her actions. The two big things that get under her skin are deception and not properly valuing the loved ones in one’s life.

Nita is transparent and unapologetic in who she is, but that’s not to say she has all her issues of self-esteem squared away. Even in her time in Atlantis as next in line for the throne, there was always a pervasive contempt aimed at Nita, for no fault of her own than that she shared the pale skin of the betrayer, Namor. Additionally, later on Nita will discover the nature of her conception which will briefly throw her into an identity crisis, fretting on whether or not she is a “real” person. She constantly brings her other team-members up, yet rarely asks them to do so for her. So when Dwayne steps down by season’s end, it’s not Nita who volunteers to fill his role as leader, but her friends and teammates who rally behind her.

SPEEDBALL

Mix:

Stand Together - Beastie Boys

Molly’s Lips - Nirvana

The Farther I Go - Mudhoney

Lexicon Devil - The Germs

Scenario - A Tribe Called Quest

Slacker Robbie Baldwin was working late at his custodian job at a local research laboratory when he became an accidental witness to an illegal testing of experimental energy. Robbie was bombarded with this kinetic energy, endowing him with extraordinary powers, not only generating and projecting this energy but also using it to launch and propel his own body as a kinetic force, all while his body is rendered immune from physical harm. After making a splash in his hometown of Springvale, Connecticut as the local hero Speedball, Robbie decided to strike out in the superhero capital, New York City, only to quickly realize he was a big fish in a small pond. He even attempted to make a big splash to impress the Avengers and talk them into taking him in, only to be politely but firmly rejected by Captain America himself. Robbie was nearly ready to pack it in when he just so happened to be in the city on the day of Terrax’s attack. Though at first Robbie sought to distract Terrax and keep his rampage out of the way of civilians, he rolled with Dwayne’s direction to combine his powers with Vance’s, which gave a massive blow to Terrax’s physical form and won the heroes an edge that helped to secure the fight.

At sixteen, Robbie is the youngest of the Warriors, and by every measure the least experienced and most immature. That excitement manifests in his powers, to which Robbie has to actively exert himself to calm down and lessen his generation of kinetic energy. In his earliest outings back in Springdale, Robbie was more a showman than a proper superhero, and that class clown persona carried over as a New Warrior. Next to Namorita, Robbie is the one with the most unabashed excitement towards being a superhero, and through that ends up becoming the heart of the team. His pluckiness allows him to easily chum it up with Rich and Nita, and his light-heartedness shines through to even the most jaded members of the group, such as Angel and Vance. He’s the biggest wild card for Dwayne, but keeps him on board for his untapped potential, a call that brings Dwayne to blows with Chord and Tai, one of many as the Warriors continue to operate.

Dwayne volunteers to train Robbie in combat as a compromise with his mentors, an arrangement Robbie isn’t initially receptive to but commits to once he understands how important it is to keeping him on the team. For outside of simply wanting to strike out as a superhero, Robbie seeks any excuse to get out of his house, as his parent’s constant bickering and intrusive opinions on what Robbie should do with his life make Springvale nigh insufferable. Getting to and from the Warriors in New York and his home in Springvale, all while concealing his identity to his parents, is a strenuous to maintain, but Robbie keeps at it. This dedication eventually pays off, granting Robbie a focus and determination that not only allows for a greater application of his powers, but makes him a more capable hero that he would have been without the support of his fellow Warriors.

GENERAL GUIDELINES

The team are rarely all together at once.

This is both a tool to alleviate the burden of handling up to six main characters at once, as well as taking writing cues from previous shows such as Teen Titans 2003 and Justice League in juggling their own large casts. Additionally, I feel like this would help sell the Warriors' status as being a bunch of kids with their own lives and priorities. Dwayne is rich and has his own personal pilot, sure, but Angel lives in New Jersey, and Speedball in Connecticut. Rich and Vance sometimes have their own hero-work to do, as does Nita when adventuring alongside her cousin. The plan is to use this status quo to the story’s advantage, focusing generally on up to two or three characters at a time with every episode, building up on their relationship with one another in addition to individual one-offs. Whenever the Warriors are fully assembled, such as the series premiere or the season finale, it's made that much bigger of a deal.

The team is not trying to replace an established super-team, nor do they regularly rub elbows with more famous characters on a regular basis.

Not to say it never happens, but cameos should be used sparingly, especially for the first season. The Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men and Heroes for Hire, and any other big names are all out doing their own things, and so will the Warriors. Team-ups with the F4 and Avengers are planned in this first season, but that and any subsequent team-ups should always happen organically and contribute to the episode’s plot.

Every Warrior starts out incomplete in some way, and becoming a team and befriending one another slowly helps them realize their potential.

Their initial formation, banding together to fight Terrax, happens completely by accident, and not before Night Thrasher attempts to form the team forcibly, hacking the private information of Firestar, Justice and Nova. Even then, there is a period after Terrax’s attack where the group rarely see each other, and some assume it was just a one-off thing. But all six are compelled to work along with one another, and make that initial agreement with Thrash following Terrax’s invasion, based on a very specific shared circumstance: They are all young people with superpowers that have affected their lives, for either good or bad, and they don’t have anyone in their personal lives to relate to or confide in. That’s what keeps them coming back despite in some cases living across the city or whole states apart, and that budding friendship with people they never would have engaged with otherwise helps each member of the team become more complete individuals in the process. That’s the biggest through-line of this series.

#fanfic #comics #marvel #Marvel Comics #new warriors #firestar #nova #namorita prentiss #speedball #night thrasher #90s #fantastic 4 #The Avengers

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doctorofmagic · 2 years ago

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May 2023 Solicitations: Doctor Strange confirmed appearances

DOCTOR STRANGE #4

Jed MacKay (W) • ANDY MACDONALD (A) • Cover by Alex Ross

Clea Variant Cover by DERRICK CHEW • VARIANT COVER BY CHRISTIAN WARD

MEET WONG…AGENT OF W.A.N.D.!

Wong and magic super-spy Pandora Peters are reforming S.H.I.E.L.D.’s covert mystical organization. Their first mission? Find a supernatural serial killer who not only destroys magic but eats it! Who is this horrifying monster? And what future danger does it spell for Doctor Strange?

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

WARLOCK: REBIRTH #3 (OF 5)

RON MARZ (W) • RON LIM (A/C)

Variant Cover by MIKE HAWTHORNE

Adam Warlock and Doctor Strange must escape Soul World! But in order to do that, Adam will have to fight Eve head on! Without the Soul Gem, does Adam stand a chance?

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

ULTIMATE INVASION #1 (OF 4)

JONATHAN HICKMAN (W) • BRYAN HITCH (A/C) • FOIL VARIANT COVER BY BRYAN HITCH ALSO AVAILABLE

NEGATIVE SPACE VARIANT COVER BY JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER

VARIANT COVER BY PEACH MOMOKO • VIRGIN VARIANT COVER BY PEACH MOMOKO

VARIANT COVER BY ED MCGUINNESS • VARIANT COVER BY RON LIM

VARIANT COVER BY SARA PICHELLI • VARIANT COVER BY RUSSELL DAUTERMAN

BLANK VARIANT COVER ALSO AVAILABLE

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE BEGINS!

Superstar creators Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch team up!

The Illuminati must form once again to stop the Maker from his plans to destroy – or perhaps rebuild – the universe, with Miles Morales at the center of it all! Bryan’s work on THE ULTIMATES helped redefine super hero comics for the 2000s - wait until you see what he and Jonathan have in store for this decade! Including new data pages by Jonathan Hickman - plus exclusive behind-the-scenes material on the world-building that has gone into this project!

56 PGS./Rated T+ …$8.99

SON OF ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS: MARVEL TALES #1 (reprint)

Written by STAN LEE & LARRY LIEBER

Penciled by JACK KIRBY, DON HECK, STEVE DITKO & BILL EVERETT

Cover by NICK BRADSHAW

VARIANT COVER BY PEACH MOMOKO • DOG VARIANT COVER BY CHRISSIE ZULLO

VIRGIN VARIANT COVER BY NICK BRADSHAW

Relive the debut appearances of even more pop-culture icons as we celebrate the legacy of the House of Ideas with MARVEL TALES! In INCREDIBLE HULK (1962) #1, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby unveil perhaps their most tragic hero of all. Is the Hulk man, is he monster…or is he both? In JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY (1952) #83, Larry Lieber joins Lee and Kirby to bring the mighty Thor from Norse myth to the Marvel Universe! In TALES OF SUSPENSE (1959) #39, Lee, Lieber and artist Don Heck introduce Tony Stark – and show how, to save his own life, he must build the invincible armor of Iron Man! In STRANGE TALES (1951) #110-111, Lee and Steve Ditko present the psychedelic world of Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts! And in DAREDEVIL (1964) #1, Bill Everett teams with Lee to show how blind youth Matt Murdock becomes the fearless adventurer known as Daredevil!

104 PGS./Rated All Ages …$7.99

Despite the many solicitations, I don’t think it will be a busy for Stephen (at least, on the confirmed appearances) because, well, Ults will be confused on Miles Morales, not the Illuminati. And the other one is just a reprint. Stephen will be certainly more featured in Warlock, which is nice to see again since they share a history. And that’s it!

(also furry!Stephen sos)

#doctor strange #stephen strange #marvel comics #marvel solicitations

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mask131 · 2 years ago

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Cold Winter: Heimdall

HEIMDALL

Category: Norse mythology

Heimdall (or Heimdallr if you want to stick more to the original Old Norse spelling) is one of the most famous Norse gods, frequently popping up alongside other iconic Norse gods such as Odin, Tyr, Thor or Loki. But in truth… Heimdallr is a very mysterious figure full of enigmas and that we haven’t entirely deciphered yet. Let’s take a look, shall we? And as usual, we’ll take a look at the Eddas.

THE POETIC EDDA

We know from the first of the Eddas that Heimdall dwells in Himinbjörg, a well-built house where he joyfully drinks mead and “holds sway over men”. Heimdall is described as the “watchman of the gods” or the “warder of heaven” – a thing that Loki uses against him during the flyting of the gods, claiming that Heimdallr was condemned to a “hateful life” as the watchman of the gods, who will forever have a “muddy back”. Described as the brightest/whitest of all the Aesir, and clearly depicted in stories as living among them, he is yet said to own the gift of foresight “just like the Vanir”. And it is this gift of foresight that apparently led him to suggest the idea, when Thor’s hammer got stolen by a jötunn wanting Freyja in marriage, to disguise Thor AS Freyja… Yep, this whole thing was Heimdall’s idea.

When Odin consults an undead völva to obtain knowledge of the future, she describes to him Ragnarök and mentons that Heimdallr will play a role in it – it is said that when the “sons of Mim dance” and when Yggdrasil starts burning, Heimdall will raise his horn, Gjallarhorn, and blow it so loudly even the dead in Hel will quake in fear (Gjallarhorn seemingly meaning “the horn of Gjöll”, which is one of the underworld-rivers of Norse mythology). And then comes a strange passage of her prophecies where she says that Heimdall’s horn (or “hearing” depending on the translation) is hidden under Yggdrasil – and it seems to be linked to a pledge (or wager) made by Odin and to a mighty stream/muddy torrent/foamy river-fall, which itself is tied to the pledge of Odin… It is overall a very strange passage that confused many scholars. For some it simply means that the horn is hidden near the underworld river it bears the name of ; for others it means that Heimdall left his ear in one of the rivers under Yggdrasil the same way Odin sacrificed one of his eyes in Mimir’s well… And just as mysterious are actually the opening lines of the völva’s prophecy, when she asks for all “the holy races/sacred children”, born out of Heimdall’s sons both high and low/great and small, to be silent and listen to her. What are those “children-races” of Heimdall? Well… for some people it might be humanity.

For you see, there is a tale in the Poetic Edda called the “Rigsmal” about a god of the Aesir called Rigr (or Rig). Rig is an old, wise, mighty and strong god. As he was walking on a seashore, he came to the farm-hut owned by a couple known as Ai and Edda (Great-Grandfather and Great-Grandmother). They offered him shelter, and a meal of poor, rough food. That very night Rigr slept in the couple’s bed, right between the two, and then left in the morning. Nine months later Edda had a son, who was swarthy/dark-colored. He was named “Thraell” (thrall/serf/slave), and he grew up strong but ugly. He married Thir (slave girl/bondswoman) and they had twelve sons and nine daughters, all named after ugliness and swarthiness. From them came the lowest of humanity’s social class: the serfs. When Rigr later encountered a pleasant house inhabited by farmers/craftsmen, Afi and Amma (grandfather and grandmother), he repeated the process – except that they gave him a meal of good food, and their son born nine months later had a ruddy complexion. Named Karl (churl/freeman), he married Snör (“daughter-in-law”) and they had twelve sons and ten daughters, all named after neatness and good quality. From them came the free farmers, the craftsmen and the herdsmen. Rigr finally performed his strange sleeping-rite on a third couple: Fadir and Modir (Father and Mother) who lived in a mansion and offered the god a splendid and excellent meal. Their child was blond, bright white in color, and named Jarl (earl/noble). When Jarl was grown up enough to start handling weapons, hawks, hounds and horses Rigr returned and the claimed the boy as his son – he gave him his own name, Rig, made him his heir, taught him the secret of the runes and advised him to seek lordship. Jarl conquered eighteen wealthy regions, married Erna (“brisk”) daughter of Hersir (“lord”) and had twelve sons, all given noble names meaning “son” – and they were the ancestors of the warrior-nobility of the Old Norse.

Why am I telling you this tale? Because the prose introduction to this part of the Poetic Edda claims that Rigr is none other than Heimdall. Such an angle thus would explain the völva’s words earlier as designing Heimdall as the “ancestor of humanity”, and by extension there would be a whole poetic signification of Heimdall being “warden of both gods and men”. And it is all fine and good but… scholars have actually started to wonder if this prose introduction to the poem wasn’t an old misunderstanding. After all, the prose introduction itself presents this tale as being “old” and its very presence is here to explain to the modern readers that the previous generations who told the tale of “Rigr” really meant “Heimdall”. But… when one looks at the story, Rigr seems rather to be Odin. A god wandering on earth among men, taking on a different name and identity… a “builder of world” creating an entire society through his actions… a god who favors warriors and nobility, and who teaches RUNES out all things to a human! In fact, later in the story, the youngest son of Rigr, named Konr, is described as becoming an expert not just as rune-craft but also at other forms of magic, such as being able to understand the speech of birds, to quench fire or heal minds – which in turns, gives him the title of “Rigr”. All these powers are clearly those of Odin, who like Konr (who “inherits” is name) is a warrior-sorcerer. So… Did ancient people mixed the gods together? Was the tale wrongly attributed to Heimdall when it was Odin’s? Or… is it possible that the “original” Heimdall, Rigr, was somehow “absorbed” by Odin? It is a common theory among Norse scholars, that most of the Aesir gods either were aspects of Odin that separated themselves from him OR that instead Odin as a mythological figure built itself by absorbing the other gods of the pantheon… Anyway.

THE PROSE EDDA

The Poetic Edda leaves us with a strange deity. Between the divine and the human, the celestial and the chthonic, the Aesir and the Vanir, Heimdall is an ambiguous figure… What did the Prose Edda made out of him? How did it build Heimdall as a more “understandable” character?

Well, Heimdall is described in there as the “white As” (As as in, the singular of Aesir), a great and holy god with teeth of gold, also called “Hallinskidi”, “Vindhler” and “Gullintanni” and who was birthed by nine maidens, all sisters. Yep, all nine of them gave birth to him – they are his Nine Mothers. The dwelling of Heimdall, Himinbjörg, is said to be near Bifröst, the rainbow-bridge allowing entrance into Asgard, the domain of the gods. In fact, if he lives there it is because of his job as watchman of the gods: he guards the Bifröst bridge from the jötnar by sitting every day on its edge. It is said that Heimdall requires “less sleep than a bird”, that he can see through night as if it was bright day – and that over a hundred leagues. His hearing is also extraordinary as he can hear “the grass growing on earth, the wool growing on the sheep, and all things louder”. He owns Gjallarhorn, a horn that is so loud it is heard across all the Nine Worlds when blown. He has a horse named Gulltoppr, and it is said that the head is often referred to as “Heimdall’s sword”.

He is called “son of Odin”, “Loki’s enemy” and “recoverer of Freyja’s necklace”. Indeed, it is known that Heimdallr fought against Loki for Freyja’s legendary necklace, Brisingamen – the “famed rainbow defender, ready in wisdom” battled against “Farbauti’s sin-sly offspring” at Singasteinn, the “singing stone/chanting stone”… Oh, and did I mention they were both in the shape of seals? Unfortunately we don’t know more about this mythological event, merely talked about in references, so it is unclear how both of them turned into sea animals or how Freyja’s necklace ended up in such a strange situation.

What we know however is what will happen to him at Ragnarök: as the enemies of the gods will gather on the plain known as Vidrigr, Heimdall will blow into Gjallarhorn, which will awake all of the gods and prompt them to gather at an exceptional thing (a “thing” being an Old Norse judiciary and political gathering, a reunion of the entire community to take decisions impacting it). It said that when the gods will fight their enemies, Heimdall will have to face Loki and they will kill each-other – but Heimdall will raise his horn and blow it once more… when Yggdrasil, after the battle, will be devoured by the flames.

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And this is it. This is all we know about Heimdall – and people have been trying to solve the puzzle that he is for a VERY long time.

One element that has been put forward is Heimdall’s liminal nature. He is a guardian of border and frontiers, a watchman over a bridge – and if he is Rigr, he first manifests in the story on a sea-coast and then travel through roads. All are liminal places, and Heimdall is even the one who’s horn will announce the start of Ragnarök, THE biggest transitional event of all Norse mythology.

Another theory that has been put forward is that Heimdall is some sort of ram-god. Indeed, people have pointed out that several of the god’s alternate names, “Heimdali” and “Hallinskidi” both are used to designate ram and sheep ; this, added to an insistence in describing the god’s teeth (who are apparently made of gold), the fact he is said able to hear “the wool growing on the sheep”, and the link between head and sword were all used as proof of his ram connection (not only is the head said to be “Heimdall’s sword”, there are also talks in Prose Edda of a sword called “Vindhler’s helmet-filler”, which basically means “Heimdall’s head”… and the “sword” of a ram is his horns, that he bears on his head.

But one of the biggest mysteries of Heimdall is without a doubt his Nine Mothers. In the Poetic Edda, Heimdallr is described as the son of nine mothers who were all sisters, a claim taken back in the Prose Edda (which adds that the father was Odin). There is a certain poem that is often invoked as describing the true identity of Heimdall’s Nine Mothers – it is the “Völuspa hin skamma”, but note that if I did not include it in my main look at Heimdall it is because nowhere in this poem is Heimdall named in one way or another. The poem merely tells the birth of a “mighty god” from nine sisters, and how the boy-god grew up strong nourished by “the strength of the earth”, “the ice-cold sea” and the blood swine or boar. The Nine Mothers are here described as jötunn maidens who gave birth “at the edge of the world”, and each is given a name: Angeyja, Atla, Eistla, Eyrgjafa, Gjalp, Greip, Imdr, Jarnsaxa and Ulfrun. This entire description has notably led people to believe that the Nine Mothers of Heimdallr are actually the same as the “nine daughters” of Aegir and Ran, a duo of jötnar sea-gods who had birthed nine jötunn maidens personifying the waves (even though they are given different names than those listed above).

But this just muddles further the complex heritage of Heimdall… Descendant of jötnar, and yet counted among the Aesir, and yet said to have the powers of the Vanir… He basically bears the traits of all three divine groups of Norse mythology. And no, him being called a son of Odin doesn’t clarify anything because that’s done in the Prose Edda – and the Prose Edda turned basically all of the Aesir into sons of Odin. Just like Tyr – who went from the son of a jötunn in the Poetic to a son of Odin in the Prose.

#cold winter #norse mythology #norse gods #heimdall #heimdallr

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