#this is a scott summers fan blog

[kalinara]

(All-New X-Men v1 #5)

As much as I've enjoyed the insinuations about the throuple (and particularly Marvel's cowardly backtracking about it), I do occasionally think I'd like to see the comics address some of the conflict that came before with these characters.

Y'know, like that time Logan proposed murdering an actual child as a trade off to get Charles Xavier back.

It'd be one thing if the adult version of Scott Summers were present during this scene, and we could write this off as yet another dramatic continuation of their usual conflict. But he's not. THIS is just about terrorizing an ACTUAL CHILD.

(Tangentially, I also think it's fascinating how the original motivation for the Schism was Logan being angry at Scott's use of actual children in combat scenarios, in light of his sudden veneration of Charles Xavier, who literally STARTED the trend of using these children in combat scenarios. But that's a blog post for another day.)

[askscottslimsummers]

Part 0: "Ask Away"

Next part: https://www.tumblr.com/askscottslimsummers/760912448093061120/part-1-wake-up-first?source=share

[pinkys-plan]

Hey man. What the fuck?

[gh0stlyb34r]

Welcome to my blog !

About me ! ; the basics

name ; saint , logan , johnny

big age ; 19 ('05)

little age ; 2 - 5

pronouns ; he / they / star / it (+more!)

gender / sexuality ect. ; gay , trans , ace , poly(?)

links at end of post!!

pronouns page | strawpage

About me ! ; my interests

games ; call of duty , overwatch , valorant , hogwarts legacy , jedi fallen order , jedi survivor , red dead redemption 2 , roblox (royale high , dress to impress + more!) , fnaf , poppy playtime , indigo park , forza horizon , resident evil 4 , good pizza great pizza , animal crossing new horizons , mario kart 8 , mario kart wii , just dance , the last of us , detroit become human , spiderman , little nightmares , buckshot roulette

movies / shows / musicals ; star wars , harry potter , marvel , x-men , deadpool & wolverine , the greatest showman , grease , hairspray , moulin rouge , phantom of the opera , annie , hamilton , les miserables , arcane , criminal minds , swat , titains , the batman , high school musical , heartstopper , heathers , young royals , ghostbusters , beetlejuice , into the woods , mean girls , the umbrella academy , nimona , descendants , lemonade mouth , stranger things

youtubers ; pezzy , grizzy , bigpuffer , elasticdroid , gtlive , game theory , warn , aspen , frogger , flats , dawko , ethan nestor , smii7y , blarg , thedooo , beaplays , coleydoesthings , filmcooper , dechart games , hthaze , james marriott , willne

musicians / bands ; taylor swift , hozier , noah kahan , james marriott , mcr , twenty one pilots , p!atd , billie eilish , sleeping at last , the smiths , fleetwood mac , the cranberries , laufey , mitski clairo , paramore , bruno major , depeche mode , chappell roan , novo amor , taylor austen dye , maya hawke , frank sinatra , 1d , 5sos , feels like july , florance the machine , djo , sleep token , lily allen , ghost , lady gaga , gerard way , daughter

misc ; books , lego , monster high , collecting , cds , dvds , posters , flowers , pins , halloween , fall/autumn , deco pacis , colouring

DISCLAIMER ; I do not support the actions of my faves! I hold them all accountable! I do not support JKR , noah schnapp ect!!!

About me ! ; My faves

celebrities / authors ; pedro pascal , oscar isaac , hugh jackman , ryan reynolds , erik j brown , ali hazelwood , tom holland , gerard way , aiden gallagher , kit connor , andrew garfield , ewan mcgregor , hayden christensen , carrie fisher , eddie remain , tom hiddelston , josh hutcherson , david harbour , wynona rider , aaron tveit , matthew gray gubler , maya hawke , natalia dyer , thomas gibson , padget brewster , aj cook

characters ; viktor , jinx , vi , ekko , simon 'ghost' riley , john 'soap' mactavish , kyle 'gaz' garrick , captain john price , keegan p russ , robin buckley , spencer reid , steve harrington , emily prentiss , aaron hotchner , penelope garcia , james potter , remus lupin , sirius black , loki , logan howlett , scott summers , rogue , marc spector , steven grant , obi-wan kenobi , anakin skywalker , luke skywalker , han solo , leia organa , ben hargreeves , luther hargreeves , five hargreeves , newt scamander , theseus scamander , din djarin , wade wilson , danny zuko , ben florian , flynn rider , aziraphale , crowley , nick nelson

My rules ! ; do not interact

nsfw , abdl/ddlg (and variants) , racist, homophobic , transphobic , ableist , zionist , edsh , n@zi , trump supporters , anti agere , anti petre , dsmp/qsmp fans (mainly dream team & wilbur fans)

My rules ; boundaries

when using pet names or gendered terms, keep them masc or gn NO FEM TERMS

DO NOT flirt with me , whether that is as a joke or platonicaly

keep all asks SAFE FOR WORK

more...

Links ; other blogs

writing blog ; @b4bywr1t3s

caregiver blog ; @royaldaycare

Links ; requests and master list

request info / master list / whitelist

Links ; credits

dni banners ; one , two , three

consent banner and dividers ; @kodaswrld

My tags ;

ghostlyblog ; normal posts + asks

ghostlyboards ; moodboards + stimboards

ghostlymedia ; agere media + other photos/videos

🐾 . lo's fictional cgs ; fictional characters that I see as cgs/my cgs

🐾 . lo's fictional faves ; my favourite fictional characters

[junoisthecoolest]

“he said to be cool but, i’m already coolest!”- lana del rey, national anthem hi im juno/junie!!! ✩ (also former @sunny13star secret blog) i like nirvana,clario,charli xcx, lana del rey (fan since like 2014 btw) ,the smiths, conan gray, melanie martinez (not currently though bc of the allegations) alice in chains, weezer, beabadoobee, korn, and deftones im a movie nerd :) my favorites are 500 days of summer,england is mine, scott pilgrim, submarine, the perks of being a wallflower, fantastic mr fox, lady bird, 10 things i hate about you, juno (ironic haha),i believe in unicorns,thirteen, and but i'm a cheerleader im also a show nerd haha, my favorite shows are heartstopper, young royals, skins, gravity falls, and stranger things stranger things- byler and rovickie shipper! im horrible at spelling so bare with me lol! always looking for friends :) love you ₊✩‧₊

[mistyscenter]

Warning Baxter fans, this is going to be really negative about him so get out if you don't want to hear the rambling of someone who has mixed feelings on him. k bye

This about to be a really long post and I'm only two moments in Baxter DLC, but let's get into it

As mentioned previously I'm two moments in into Baxter DLC and my god, I'm already weirded out.

I'm currently playing it with my mc Taliyah, if you're familiar enough with my blog you might have seen them around since they're my favorite mc/ oc. This is important because of the way I'm playing it, because I'm playing as Taliyah this means I'm doing Cove's route since Taliyah is mostly a Cove mc (I say mostly because they can be a Derek mc if I feel like it (note ost of my mcs are ocs of my original story so this is like an au for me)), and god it feels weird dating Cove while playing Baxter version of hang, I'd say it would still be weird even if you're not going to romance Cove for reasons I will discuss later. What's weirding me out is the lack of interactions with Cove "But misty-" you might say "-it's Baxter dlc it makes sense you'd interact less with Cove" you're right, it does, we spend one moment with Cove in Derek dlc if you're not planning to do Cove's version of "soiree" but here's my counter point: Derek is already your friend and Derek doesn't only interacts with MC, and neither does Cove. My issues stem from the fact that Baxter ONLY interacts MC, which I suppose wouldn't be a problem if you're dating him, ig? (it would for me but I'm aro so, don't take my world for granted). Also is just really weird that MC doesn't talk that much with Cove in Baxter dlc because, even if you're not dating him, he's still your friend of 10 years if you're not playing indifferent. In "lemonade" Cove and Mc share stories of when they were young with Derek, Cove and MC actively talk with each other, Mc can tease Cove about eating too much because you've known the guy for 5 fucking years and again, if you're not indifferent, he's your best friend and/or crush. "Lemonade" doesn't feel weird because Cove takes an active part of the story, he doesn't in "Hang" and is weird as fuck.

"Sightseeing" didn't feel nearly as odd because a) is a really good way to introduce Baxter's character and to get the player familiar with him but because of that you do have to play it first or else the rest of the dlc feels weird and b) you had moments where, if you are dating cove, you can bring up how much he means to you and Baxter would even hope for the two of you to never break up, which is actually really sweet of him c: and ironic considering he then says to you that Jude and Scott won't last because they are long distance but it does explain Baxter's views on relationships. It also didn't feel odd because Cove wasn't there and it didn't felt like you were neglecting your friend/boyfriend. And btw I'm not even saying that Baxter's version of "Hang" is bad, not at all is once again a great introduction to Baxter and his character, but it would have benefited from having Baxter interact more with Terry and Miranda or heck l I would have loved to see more of Cove and Baxter interacting so it didn't feel as odd. Baxter DLC feels odd to me because of how much one-on-one time you spend with him, when that's not something that you do in the game with the other LIs.

I seriously think his dlc could have been more interesting if we saw more of him interacting with Terry and Miranda because we don't really see them interacting that much, which is a pity considering that Terry clearly views him as a friend but we don't get that feeling tbf we also don't get that feeling with the entire friend group Terry and Miranda aren't flushed out at all and before anyone says that they were in Baxter dlc, yeah "planning" did give us more about Miranda's family but not so much into her character and yeah it was nice to see Terry being worried about that being the last summer they do something together, but that's it and don't try to bring up that one singular dialogue in step 4 a dialogue doesn't count as character development

This all I have to say for now, I don't really have issues with Baxter step 3 his step 4 is what bothers me, his step 3 is a really good set up for his character I honestly just think you'd have to tweak some dialogue and options and that's it.

Also if you made it this far, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD READ MY TAGS, I genuinely want this to be a discussion on baxter dlc so please please be civil

[ericsprinzessin99]

Intro post, pt 2

(I shouldve made one of these a long time ago, but fuck it we ball) (will be edited, unfinished)

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“I know we're gonna have followers, because were so fuckin’ godlike” - dyl

First introductory part:

꩜⠀ Hai!1!1 Im ericsprinzessin, i usually go by “ab” or “alfa” online (inside joke from discord), im fairly new to tccblr and tumblr in general. Heres a little abt me:

꩜⠀fifteen

꩜⠀blk

꩜⠀cis female, bi

꩜⠀AuADHD

꩜⠀♏️

꩜⠀she/her/hers

꩜ this is a tcc/girl blog with edblr, liftblr, drvgblr and shblr shit in it so tw and antis dni, im pro recovery and help is out there so dont kys n shit :))

Favorites:

(my) Likes: diet coke, iced coffee, 90s, 80s, 50s, 70s, & early 2000s, writing, reading, Marlboros, vaping, pink, nihilism, researching, history (specifically tudor & asian history) , old films/vintage things, dogs, winter, summer baby tees, shopping, cvtting, smoke, fire, purging, shoplifting, my moots <33

Fav cases/perps: columbine (obvi), dahmer, ramirez, ricky kasso, the menendez brothers, apalachee high, sandy hook, v-tech, the hello kitty murder, brenda spencer, alyssa bustamante, billy ray prevatte, okc bombing, killdozer, pekka, aileen wuornos, ect.

Fav/most memorable victims: daniel mauser, cassie bernall, rachel scott, steven curnow, konerak & his brother, fan man-yee (they did her so dirty), tony hughes, ect.

Music taste(tw for bad nu-metal): lana del rey, KMFDM, nirvana, system of a down, hole, MSI, korn, flyleaf, ICP, MCR, tate mcrae, ayesha erotica, arctic monkeys, rage against the machine, NIN, deftones, charli xcx, billie, lady gaga, kesha, PTV, Alex g, mitski, mother mother, chappell, marina, doja, rihanna, the runaways, heart, rob zombie, falling in reverse, warren zevon, lil kim, notorious b.i.g, outkast

games: sims 4, class of 09, cult of the lamb, stardew valley, animal crossing nh, bayonetta

movies: thirteen, girl interrupted, spirited away, howl's moving castle, zero day, duck! the carbine high massacre, freeway (1996), the crush, death in venice, memoir of a geisha, sakuran (2007), freeway ll, lolita (the 90s one), ect.

Xtra:

Dnis:

Not a lot of dnis,

obviously, weird neo-n@zi snow roaches please dni b/c im a lgbtq poc, pls let me live 😭 dont pmo, i block for fun, but jus kno yall are all annoying asf/ mostly wrong & u need to leave that stankin ass room instead of becoming more radicalized, just sayin’ !,

adults free to interact, i wouldnt interact if youre 18+ and uncomfortable with minors saying nasty shit (not a nsfw blog, just a hyper sexuality problem)

Asks: yes, always

Dms: yep, feel free to talk to me :))

Pls interact: columbtards, ppl who sympathize w/ the victims

“Can't stay at home, can't stay in school, old folks say, "You poor little fool", down the streets I'm the girl next door, I'm the fox you've been waiting for!!” - The Runaways

Blinkies!1!!1!:

(Heavy on the last one)

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Thats all!

-ericsprinzessin

[amazing-spiderling]

For the character ask game, Scott Summers and/or Kurt Wagner, #7 & #12

<3

7. What’s something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

Scott: People making jokes about Scott yelling "JEAAAAN :00000" all the time will never not be funny to me. IDK there's just something about people who end up marrying their high school sweethearts that's a little wacky. And as much as I enjoy ragging on the guy, I am glad that the fandom has come around and is appreciating his character development, especially from the last 20 years of comics.

Kurt: I've literally never met an X-Men/comics fan that doesn't like Kurt. Like he may not be their FAVORITE, but he's kinda the unproblematic fave of the fandom, so if you bring him up, the odds of people having something positive to say are pretty high. If anything, I think people are better about criticizing a bad writer or bad production decisions for any wonky characterization, rather than jumping to, "this is why this character sucks" like I've seen them do for other characters in comics.

12. What’s a headcanon you have for this character?

Scott: Wow, my feelings about Scott are kind of a jumble. I haven't read that many comics that focused on him specifically, so I feel like I'm drawing from all of the various media interpretations... I hesitate to make a claim about comics Scott because I'll say something like, "he writes a blog about baking" and someone is going to come in and be like, "X-Factor explicitly stated that he writes about gardening".

Okay, upon a little thought, I do have one. After he was resurrected following whatever the hell was going on between the Inhumans and Mutants in "Death of X", Scott felt REALLY BAD about what happened to my boy Alchemy, and we didn't see it, but offscreen he made sure that Tom was at the front of the line for Mutants to bring back to life on Krakoa. He yelled at Emma about it, too. (That last part probably was elaborated on, but I want to imagine that he was mad about that death in particular, since she used his voice/commanding personality so heavily and ended up getting Alchemy killed without a second thought.)

Kurt: I guess I'm not really sure if this is a headcanon or just like, a gut feeling- but... I don't see Kurt ever settling down, getting married, having kids. Which is kind of a wild thing to say because the man is HUSBAND MATERIAL THROUGH AND THROUGH and Marvel writers who get to take a swing at future versions of the X-Men love giving him a family... but he's always married to some rando who showed up in one (1) forgettable comic from 30 years ago that nobody remembers. It's sort of the problem of having chemistry with everyone, but then maybe not having a "spark" with one person in particular.

My use of the word "spark" here is intentional- as those familiar with his arc during the recent Krakoa era of X-Men comics might have picked up. Kurt creates the idea of a "spark" as a universal concept for Mutants of any/all faiths to embrace, a means to protect the sanctity and respect for the miracle of life. He was one of the few to recognize the need for Mutants to have something outside of themselves to pursue, and it came at no small cost to himself. In fact, he became something of an outsider, observing the community he loved, so that he could better serve them- and that I think is the crux of the issue. His "true love" is not another person, it's the preservation of a dream, and providing hope to all mutants. Even in the alternate world where he married Wanda and they had TJ, the couple lives apart from one another, each a part of their own respective teams because while they loved each other, they realized they could not focus on their duty when they were together. The mission still came first. I don't know that I mean he should join the conventional priesthood (if only because time has shown not enough comics writers are well versed enough in organized religion to write convincing and compelling comic stories about it) but his devotion to the Legionaries was close enough for me.

It's a bit of a double edged sword- I think it's something that makes his character unique, and I could turn this idea over and over in my head endlessly, but it comes at a bit of a cost from a meta perspective. I think part of the reason there's not as much fiction for the poor boy is because he doesn't have really solid canon ship fodder (NightWolves shippers have all my respect, mind you, but somehow it seems to draw a niche crowd?), so he tends to sit in the background like charming blue set dressing. It's okay though, we all still love him.

[differenteagletragedy]

i was reading through your blog and omg musicals!!!! a theater kid, myself, i'd love if you'd write some headcanons about a broadway/musical star mc, if its not too close to your famous mc headcanons! also, i'd love to hear if you think the ol1 boys can sing and who would help mc practice (both lines and singing)! also who would sing along with mc while they're doing chores/housework/etc or if they'd just listen/hum/etc! you can just assume theyre poly with mc for this, if it makes it easier! :)

Listen. Listen. I love this so much. I am also a theatre kid (so much that I am forced to spell it with the "re" at the end) and I have many thoughts.

Also, Bobby from Company is Baxter after he reconnects with MC and friends, with an MC that ends up with Cove or Derek and this is just a fact. Evidence:

This is a video of single Baxter with his ten friends in five couples: Cove and MC, Derek and Tamarack, Terry and Miranda, Jude and Scott, and Qiu and OLNF MC.

ANYWAY.

-- Cove is such a fanboy. He's there to see your shows literally every time he can make it and will be disappointed if he can't come. He knows all the words to all the songs and a lot of the dialogue too. He is so proud.

-- Did you get to make a recording of your show? Try to get Cove to play something else in the car, I dare you.

-- Derek is also a big big fan, he is telling anyone who will listen about how he's your friend/boyfriend/husband. Jorge might have to tell him to chill a little bit but he's just so EXCITED.

-- He will make a point to pick you up after your evening shows. The crew knows him, so he just comes backstage after and will walk with you out the stage door. It's late and people are unpredictable, and he wants to keep you safe.

-- Baxter, surprise, also a big fan! If you started Broadway after the breakup in Step 3 then he may not figure it out, Broadway stars aren't as mainstream as movie or pop stars, for example. But he'll obviously find out when you're brought back together in Step 4 and he'll have some much research to do on you during those lost years!

-- He'll be streaming your recordings and just feeling so many things.

-- But maybe in Step 3 you've decided to pursue your theatrical dreams! A last summer at home before you move to New York, perhaps. Let Baxter take your headshots for you! He will be so good at it. He will also style you.

-- If this is the case, that you move after Step 3, I don't think Cove will move too. He could! But I can't picture him leaving the California coast. Long distance love. He and Cliff come in to see your big shows.

-- Cliff cries. Cove does too, he got it from his dad.

-- Maybe Derek will blow off a big game because it's his only chance to come see you. He feels bad about it, but he's not going to miss your big moment.

-- I haven't thought about this too much shut up

-- Boys at the Tonys! Baxter is going to KILL IT. I've talked about this with the general famous MC stuff lol, the awards show stuff, but he's going to dress to impress. So will Derek, this is very important and the boy who wore a polka dot bowtie at 13 isn't going to pull out any stops.

-- You're going to have to tell Cove to button all his buttons though, it's not the time for your cleavage baby

-- I think Baxter is the only one who could carry a tune, but he wouldn't try to get technically good. Cove is bearable with his singing. Derek really is not, but he has so much fun with it that no one would ever tell him to stop.

-- They'll all help you with your lines. Derek might actually learn lines instead of reading them from a script so he can help you practice while he's driving or something. And yeah, that's a lot, but that's just who he is.

-- If you're just having fun singing, in the car or doing chores or whatever, then they'll all sing with you. But if they catch you really going for it in the shower or something, they will all just stop and listen because oh my GOD

[fxckn-sxck-fr]

AHHHHHH YOU'VE FED THE MASSES!! But seriously, I stumbled across this blog a few months ago when I was first getting into Scott Summers as my latest obsession (by chance, but I love yanderes). I have to say, I've basically read most things on your blog since then, and you just keep adding more to the list! I really liked seeing the inclusion of Harvey Dent and Reed Richards on the list for the lobotomy stuff. I've also been playing Marvel Rivals and, while I'm not a Bucky Barnes fan normally... I really like the few things you have with him (and everyone else really).

Excited to hear there's an X-Men project coming up! And of course, hoping it features my absolute favorite husband, Scott Summers.

Oh, and do you have any other comic characters that you'd ever write or add to your headcanon lists? (Hoping, dreaming, praying for Dr. Doom and platonic/fatherly Magneto, both are stuck in my head along with Scott.)

Toodles!

RAAAAAAA, THANK YOUUUUUU.

Yeah, I just included Reed and Harvey to my masterlist, so that meant they could sneak into the lobotomy ask. If y’all are wondering why certain characters aren’t a part of the Yandere comic men asks (speaking of which, I should seriously make a masterlist for that now. I didn’t realize it would be so popular), it’s cuz they weren’t a part of my masterlist at the time. I miiiiight make a quick post catching some of the newer additions up. Just ‘cause.

And for the super secret project (that I guess isn’t so super secret anymore)!! I have no idea when it’ll be out, but I think I finally have the exposition concrete enough to start creepin’ it up in here. You might like it, wink wonk.

As for other comic book characters, yeah, probably. It’s just that I have to feel comfortable enough with writing them, ya know? Like, I want to make sure I understand the core of a character before I start playing around with them on my silly yandere blog. Unfortunately, I don’t think Doom or Magneto will appear on this blog anytime soon, as I’m not too big into them, but who knows. I might find a run that compels me.

So… yeah!! I’d say my masterlist updates every couple of months or so. My new additions always start with me going, “ooh… why he kinda…” and then it evolves from there.

[kalinara]

A long time ago, for a former blog, I did a write up of one of my favorite random little X-Men stories, specifically the backup story from Classic X-Men #41-42.

Since, nowadays, it's a lot easier for all of us to go and read random old issues, I thought it would be fun to showcase this story again.

So what's the appeal, you may wonder? Why is this going to be my first (and probably not only) deep dive into a particular comic book story for this blog?

Well, it's a backstory issue. I enjoy backstory issues. And it involves my favorite character. And there's something that newer fans, who may have gotten into the X-Men through other media, like the movies or cartoons (welcome! By the way! 616 is a trip!) may not know, and that is:

Scott Summers's backstory is fucking batshit. And this is one tiny peek into it! Enjoy!

(Warnings for spoilers for a story that came out when I was three years old.)

So what DO we know about Scott Summers's backstory before we start?

We know that, at one point, Scott had parents and one (?) brother. Eventually that total gets a little murky. But at some point, when Scott was about 8-10 years old (retelling vary), they were on a nice little plane trip. things kind of went to hell. Parents were "killed", kids went out the plane with one parachute, the parachute caught fire, and the kids fell. Alex bounced, Scott didn't.

Eventually, Scott ends up in the "care" of a dude named Jack Winters. Jack is pretty awful, using him to commit crimes, and in general is an abusive dick. I have a tag for him, if you want specific examples. Our good pal, Charles Xavier saved Scott from that guy, and well, the rest of the story is known.

This story takes place in between, and the big twist is kind of revealed from the Marvel Unlimited summary, as well as one of my tags to this post. Oops. Oh well.

Anyway, welcome to the "State Home for Foundlings" in Omaha, Nebraska. And even Claremont kind of snarks about the name:

One funny thing about poor Scott's origin is that the orphanage that makes up a big part of it was an outdated concept even as far back as 1986. It's only become more so as the rolling timeline continues on.

I love that we get a nod to that here. Let's just say, though, that there's a reason that it still works when we transplant the events of this story and others to 2007-ish*

(Insert your own time scale here. I chose 2007 because whenever anyone at Marvel is asked about Scott's age, they usually give 27-28 as a bench mark. Does that make sense? No. But that's comics for you. Sixty real life years, twelve in universe years. Huh, for once it divides evenly. I'm going to enjoy that.)

Anyway, we start out with a fight. Initially, it's between a kid called Toby and a kid called Nate. Funny coincidence that name. But our Scott is a hero at heart.

Sadly, he isn't much of a fighter. But I appreciate Toby's read of Scott having a "suicide complex." Kid, you have no idea.

So funny thing about the staff of this orphanage, I'm not sure how many of them actually...exist. You'll see what I mean later.

But we do get to meet one that almost certainly does exist, the new orphanage doctor, Robyn Hanover:

I love her, if only for her use of the phrase "sweet science of pugilism." And that she calls him a "brave young paladin."

Potential fanfic fodder here: might Robyn's profession and particular linguistic quirks have led a young Scott to be more comfortable with Hank early on? Or less?

She does know at least some of the story though, but this bit is rather interesting:

Toby thinks Nate's a creep. Even Scott doesn't like him that much. So what IS Nate like?

We might find out. But not yet, because Scott's got to have a pretty horrible nightmare:

Something interesting about Nate in THIS version of the origin story that's a little lost in some of the other peeks into the Orphanage days, is that this Nate is smaller than Scott, and blond.

It's maybe worth thinking about how, in this nightmare, this smaller, blond child is begging not to be dropped. And it's interesting how one of those faces in the fire is a man with a mustache.

We might want to come back to this in a bit.

So this is Nate. Hi Nate.

One cool thing about Marvel Unlimited, if you decide to splurge for it, is that you can actually zoom in on panels.

This is the first panel, zoomed in close. Neat, huh?

So anyway, Dr. Hanover, being a doctor, is not so inclined to take a ten year old's word for his roommate's condition:

So as an older adult reading this, I find myself noticing things I didn't necessarily notice before.

Like the homophobic tone of Toby's insults toward Nate, in particular. "Sittin' in a tree", "sissy boys". What exactly is Toby accusing Nate of?

So what IS the deal with Nate? This next part might explain it. And then raise a whole lot of questions.

So, that observation that Dr. Hanover had before? About Nate acting like he ran the place? YEAH.

It's probably worth noting that initially, Mr. Sinister's backstory hadn't been established yet. The whole Victorian scientist who spent time among the Nazis and was genetically obsessed with mutantkind and did scary scientific experiments in the basement wasn't what Claremont initially had in mind.

IIRC, Claremont's idea for Mr. Sinister was that roommate Nate was the real thing, an immortal who aged very slowly, and the cartoonish Mr. Sinister was his psychic projection. It's worth noting that even in this version, Nate was chronologically supposed to be an adult, fixated on a twelve year old boy.

And when we take Toby's taunts into account, it's still very strongly...allegorical. Shall we say.

That said, the Victorian Scientist DELIBERATELY disguising as a ten year old boy so he can be Scott Summers's roommate does make it even worse. That said, it provides a really nice explanation as to why "Nate" looks like Alex.

(Reminder: this is the guy that Xavier put on the Krakoan Council. And stood by at least once while Sinister said creepy shit to his "son".)

Anyway, Dr. Hanover is intrigued by Scott and decides to do some investigating. She learns the following backstory:

Scott was brought here four years ago.

He'd been in the hospital for a skull fracture, and spent a year in a coma.

He's never been adopted, because he's got brain damage. We're told it's a "combined effect" of the injury, plus exposure from being out on the prairie in the middle of a blizzard. This leads to my favorite panel ever:

Of course, you should have guessed. I love comics. I really do.

This is when we meet Mr. Pearson, the chief administrator of the orphanage. And I'm not entirely sure how he fits with Claremont's original idea for Mr. Sinister. Since it's pretty clear that this guy is ALSO Mr. Sinister.

I'm not going to show the whole page, but here's some choice bits.

So yeah, Mr. Pearson does not approve of Dr. Hanover's everything, it seems. And he particularly does not like that she's "focusing [her] interest on one child ... to the possible detriment of his fellows".

He gives a speech on not playing favorites, noting that the charges should be treated equally, and that he thinks of the staff and children as family.

Dr. Hanover rightfully thinks he's creepy.

Anyway, I love Dr. Hanover, because she listens to the creepy asshole tell her that she should not focus interest on one particular child and responds to it by immediately asking said child to help her set up her office.

And they even get to bond a little:

Of course, she's a pilot too!

Scott, right now, is pretty cynical about his ability to fly and confesses his pretty terrible headaches. Because optic blasts kind of suck, even before you actually have them. Again.

But they're interrupted by drama. Remember bully Toby?

He's on the roof. Nate, in the crowd outside, doesn't think this is a big loss. Scott disagrees and runs up the fire escape.

Dr. Hanover tries to talk to Nate, and it does not make things LESS creepy.

Not to excuse bullying, or homophobia, but you ever get the sense that Toby might have had a point. Because this shit is fucking creepy. Back away from the twelve year old, Essex.

So it's time for Scott to get a new trauma:

It's funny, but sometimes I think you could actually make a convincing argument that Scott Summers has some kind of very low level precognitive ability. This is somewhat similar to the fire dream above. (Another example might be the dream-execution in Fall of the House of X. Ever notice the presiding judge, sitting with Orchis issues before he joins up?)

Anyway, Dr. Hanover and Scott share a moment on the roof, while the ambulance takes Toby's body away. Scott's rather understandably upset.

Dr. Hanover's a fun protagonist because she doesn't know what the audience does. But she's starting to put some things together:

I like the lowkey horror of this cliffhanger. You're in danger, Doc.

There is an interesting note here though. Scott's apparently confided in her about his nightmares: flames, fallings, and dropping someone whose life depends on you.

We know what that means, but she doesn't. Why wouldn't Scott TELL her about it though, if he trusts her enough to tell her about the nightmares themselves?

-

So the story continues in #42. (The main, reprinted story, by the way, is the Dark Phoenix Saga. Just worth noting.)

We start this one out with a much happier twelve-year-old Scott. He's at the Sage Air Force base, with friends of hers: Rick and Trish Bogart.

We learn that Scott can identify WWII planes on sight, like the DeHavilland Mosquito. Rick and Trish show off another old plane that Rick flew in HIS war. Presumably Vietnam, but if we're rolling time-lining the story, they could mean the Persian Gulf, or even Afghanistan.

One of the reasons I've never minded the rolling timeline is the unique perspective it gives us about history. Have you ever thought about how easy it is to update certain storyline beats? A man in his thirties fought in a war when he was a little younger. Which war? Does it really matter?

There's always a war.

But let's ditch the bleakness for some trauma.

See, the airshow is going really well, and Dr. Hanover's friends are pretty awesome. Rick, who flew in the show, is immediately very friendly and offers Scott a ride in the plane. Scott is initially enthused but freezes up.

And then the skydiving part of the show starts. Parachuters who use smoke for a special effect. And well, Scott's got some issues with burning parachutes.

I love how no one in the crowd seems to care about the screaming child in their midst. Nebraskans are cold, man.

But it's really interesting that Dr. Hanover doesn't know who "Alex" is, isn't it?

How does that work? She's read his file. And Alex was in the crash too, adopted out when Scott was in a coma. There SHOULD be records. Unless you're in an orphanage run by a weird obsessed telepath, anyway.

It's also worth noting that Rick Bogart took special attention to the kid raving about roman candles and burning canopies and is starting to wonder.

Back at the Orphanage, Nate continues to be creepy:

Mostly I included these panels for the art. I love the creepy shadows, and Nate's face at the bottom. This is a horror comic, after all.

Dr. Hanover, by the way, still flies occasionally, and she tells Trish Bogart about Nate.

Unlike a certain bald professor, Dr. Hanover admits she's in over her head. She's a physician, not a psychiatrist. But Scott apparently really wanted to come back to the air field.

Per Trish, Rick's excited too. Apparently he loves kids. Scott's apparently with him, while the girls fly together.

I mentioned before, one of the things I love about this story is getting these outside characters putting clues and observations together. Here, it's Rick Bogart. He's talking with another air force guy, both noting that Scott apparently has a knack for preflight procedure.

And here, we get maybe some explanation as to why Scott hasn't confided anything about his backstory.

That's a little suspicious, isn't it?

Inconsistent memories make sense with Scott's medical condition, but why would he suddenly forget that he was just talking about them? It's almost like SOMEONE is fucking around up there.

Later, Dr. Hanover is violating HIPAA laws by filling her friends in on Scott's medical state. There's one bit that solves a bit of a long-running mystery throughout most of Scott's origin stories.

It's always kind of a running question as to wear Scott got the glasses he has when he's on the streets, and then with Jack. At one point, Jack claims he'd gotten them for him. (Maybe he'd gotten him a replacement pair?)

This at least gives us a basis for the knowledge. I always wonder how common ruby quartz actually is in the Marvel universe.

I do like the line about glasses being "isolating". It's funny to remember that, in the 80s, glasses weren't as common or unremarkable as they are now. I can remember so many YA books or sitcom plots of the pretty girl suddenly needing glasses and her social life was in PERIL. Nowadays, it's just sexy librarian vibes.

Also, we get proof that the records DO mention a brother. But apparently not by name. Why is Alex's NAME sealed?

Another notable thing about this scene is that Rick's been doing some digging, based on some of Scott's statements. Blackbird pilots are rare. Scott's dad was a NASA applicant, and Scott mentioned the cold.

Rick thinks he can find out where Scott came from. And well, even if not...

I love how they're wearing sunglasses indoors. Scott, we've found your people.

Let's pretend the story ends here, for a moment. A poor kid in a creepy place finds a family of sunglasses-wearers who love him, while Dr. Hanover gets to help a lot of other kids.

Or, maybe not.

So what happens now?

That, basically. Dr. Hanover is a zombie. The Bogarts are dead. And Scott remains trapped in Nate's hellish little game.

I love his smirk in that lower left panel there.

But maybe it's not entirely hopeless, as Scott is not an idiot. He resolves to get the fuck out of here as soon as he can. Aw, don't worry kid, you'll make it out...

You've got a lot more trauma ahead of you. You're just getting started.

But at least we get to end the comic with some panels that I've showcased before:

This is one of those sequences that really only works with the idea that the Phoenix is, indeed, a part of Jean Grey.

I'm really glad that they went back to that idea. Because otherwise, we'd all have to deal with the idea that this spectral entity is also possibly a pedophile.

Hey, a fun note to leave you on. Remember how Scott's kid is also named Nathan?

Yep. It's probably best that Cable never find out where his name actually comes from...

[daresplaining]

Your thoughts on She-Hulk ep 8?

I loved pretty much everything!

Yes, so, I was finally able to watch the rest of She-Hulk (I lost access to Disney+ partway through, so it took some finagling) and I do have thoughts! First, as I've mentioned previously, I loved the show overall; I thought it stayed very true to the spirit of the She-Hulk runs I have read (though to be clear, I'm not a Shulkie completist), was really funny (the knockoff "Avongers" merch in that one episode got me. I was on the floor), delivered some sharp commentary on the rampant misogyny in fan spaces and towards media with female leads (often drawing from actual online responses to the show by Comicsgate-types, which was genius), and poked fun at superhero tropes in a way that felt-- again-- true to the character and also mostly in a spirit of love, which is very important. I wanted to start with this because one of the things that kind of drove me nuts while the show was airing was seeing people prioritize the various cameos over the actual fact that freaking Jen Walters, She-Hulk herself, had a TV show, and I loved that she actually broke the fourth wall to call people out on this at one point.

(I'm glad this screenshot now exists in the world, and I'm worried that I might have to pull it out again when Echo's show airs. But hopefully not...)

But the cameos were fun, and felt correct for a show dealing with superhero law and tropes-- you do need a whole bunch of superheroes and villains around for that sort of thing, and I like that they went for an eclectic mix of big names and more obscure characters. Anyone who follows my Iron Fist blog might have seen me freaking out about the surprise appearance of El Aguila, one of my favorite side characters from Power Man and Iron Fist volume 1 (more freaking out will be forthcoming; I'm going to write a post about him when I have two seconds to spare). His MCU counterpart was kind of a parody version of the character, but that was true for many of the D-listers in the show, and I'd never expected to get El Aguila in anything, so I was still pretty dang thrilled. He even had his mutant powers! Amazing! We got MCU El Aguila before, like, MCU Scott Summers.

He also appeared alongside Man-Bull, who is a wonderfully weird Daredevil villain who I also never expected to see adapted. The decision to use El Aguila rather than the more obvious Matador was a little surprising (though I didn't mind at all), but a friend told me that she thought she had heard that they weren't allowed to use the Matador...which is intriguing... Hopefully it's because he's going to be the Big Bad in Daredevil season 4. One thing I was fairly disappointed by was the fact that we didn't get an appearance from Trish Walker, whose modern-day comics counterpart Patsy Walker/Hellcat is very close friends with Jen. However, considering MCU Trish's current situation, I can see why they made that choice. Tonally, this wasn't the right place to continue her story. Fingers crossed, though, for future interactions. Someone needs to get her out of prison!

But anyway, on to the main focus of this post-- this guy:

They definitely made this Leap-Frog hype-up ad as a joke, because hahaha, who gets excited about Leap-Frog, right? Joke's on them: I get excited about Leap-Frog. I was losing my tiny Silver-Age-Daredevil-fan mind that entire night, even knowing that it would be a while before I'd actually be able to watch the episode. Do you know how amazing it is that we got Leap-Frog in this thing? Leap-Frog in a largely comics-accurate costume? Leap-Frog who was allowed to be Silver Age goofy? Leap-Frog with a CATCHPHRASE? (I'm largely allergic to MCU things being imported into the comics-- if I have to open a Daredevil issue and read "the Devil's of Hell's Kitchen" with my own two eyes ever again, it's going to be my supervillain origin), but if 616 Leap-Frog were to start saying "ribbit and rip it", it wouldn't bother me. In all honesty, I didn't think he quite lived up to the hype. He was essentially a different character, and wasn't tremendously Leap-Frog-y when you got right down to it. But seeing him bouncing around in that green rubber costume still filled me with joy, and gave me hope that this might open the door for other such characters. Other fun, wacky, classic Silver Age villains who are long (emphasis on long) overdue an MCU debut. Stilt-Man. I'm talking about Stilt-Man.

In any case, I hope that anyone who might not have checked out She-Hulk yet will give it a try. It's a fun ride.

Psyche. Okay, yes, I'm also going to talk about Daredevil.

To be brief: I really, really liked this cameo. My interest in MCU Daredevil pretty much died in 2018 with the Big Cancellation, and as many bolts of lightning as I shoot through it (or...Hand ninja I sacrifice for it? I guess that's more on-theme), I haven't managed to revive it yet. It was fun while it lasted, but it's not a version of the character that really appeals to me much in isolation, and at the end of the day, I'm a Daredevil fan because I like the comics.

I also have the same issues with Charlie Cox playing Matt Murdock that I think a lot of people have, though that's not something I really feel I need to go into in this post. On the most superficial and shallow level possible (sorry), he just doesn't look like Matt to me, which is something I was able to overcome in the Netflix shows because when you're watching something for thirteen hours straight, eventually your brain adapts. But getting this brief cameo after having not seen him for four years, it was extra jarring, and it actually threw me out of the story a few times. He walked into the courtroom in that one scene and said he was Matt Murdock, and I'm afraid my immediate reaction was, "Pfff, what? No, you're not." (Also...his American accent has not really improved, which was just something I'd assumed he would have been working on.)

But my longstanding quibbles about casting aside (and to be clear, I love that people like the asker above like him in the role! I think for many people who got into DD through the MCU, he is their Matt Murdock, and I fully respect that), this is the live action Daredevil content that I've been waiting for ever since it became clear that the Netflix show was wedded to its dark, tortured version of the character and would not be touching on many of the other attributes that make Matt interesting to me. If this had come out at least five years ago, I would have gone completely bonkers over it-- and even now, I had a thoroughly great time watching this cameo. I had hoped, but I'd never, ever imagined that we'd actually get the yellow suit--especially after the Netflix show picked the practical-but-boring Man Without Fear/"Trial of the Incredible Hulk" outfit as his origin costume. And you know what? It looked pretty good.

For a "grounded" live action take, I think they did a decent job of translating the feel of the yellow costume while being shackled to a certain expected MCU DD aesthetic as established by the Netflix show's version of the red suit. I particularly liked that...that...

No, I'm sorry. I can't do this. Let me just...

Okay, THERE we go.

As I was saying, I thought they did a solid job referencing this most classic of DD costumes, and I would love to see him wear it in more than just this cameo.

And with the yellow suit came-- my god-- the quippy, swashbuckly Matt I have been longing for. The fight with Leapfrog was fun! The banter with Jen was great! I don't know what else to say! Swashbuckly Matt = Happy Daresplaining. What a relief to finally see that side of his personality make an appearance in this universe, and from an in-character perspective, to see him finally finding that confidence and joy in his adventuring. I hope that the Daredevil show (if it ever actually happens at this rate...) pulls from this; that we didn't just get a lighthearted Matt because She-Hulk was a comedy show.

And the romance was a surprise, but I didn't mind it. It was handled with humor, and it's not a relationship that exists in the comics so it was a fun new concept to play around with. Plus, both 616 Jen and Matt are characters with pretty hefty love lives, so it fits. And even more to the point, as the third asker above mentions, it took a baffling 40 YEARS for Marvel's two most prominent superhero lawyers to even interact, finally facing off for the first time in Soule's She-Hulk run, so I cherish every new scene they have together in any medium because they're great together. I was a little--"worried" is too strong a word, but maybe "cautious"--about how this would be handled from Matt's end, since he's really not a one-night-stand kind of guy. He falls in love easily and dates a lot, but it's dating. He gets attached to people. He clings. But this ended up seeming like maybe not a one-night-stand after all. The last episode seemed to imply that they were still together, so...is this going to be a thing? Are MCU Jen and Matt a couple now? Anyway, it was fun to have a bit of the soap opera-flavored drama of 616 Matt's love life filter into the MCU, because it really didn't come up much in the Netflix show.

In any case, to make a long and much-delayed post short, while MCU Daredevil will have to work very hard to re-earn my interest, I did enjoy this, and loved She-Hulk. I highly recommend it if you're looking for a show that's an all-around good time.

[iamtheunicornwizard]

Tater's Pinned Post September 2024

Hi, friends! Welcome to my bloggyblog. I used to be callmethecat waaay back in the 2010s, but that blog has been long since deleted and the @ was no longer available when I crawled out of the cesspool of my early twenties to rejoin society.

Back then I was a student, but now I'm an English teacher. I'm 28, I got married on Halloween, and I use she/her pronouns. I prefer not to interact with minors or anyone still in high school.

More info under the cut!

I'm into so many fandoms and hobbies, I don't think I can possibly list them all, but here are some of the ones nearest and dearest to my heart.

Hobbies

Crocheting

Reading

Writing

Baking

Video Games

Scary Movies

Shows & YouTubers

Gravity Falls

Invader Zim

Adventure Time

Criminal Minds

Over the Garden Wall

Steven Universe

Blue Eye Samurai

Soul Eater

Hazbin Hotel

FLCL

Game Grumps

Gab Smolders

Jacksepticeye

Markiplier

Movies

Repo! the Genetic Opera

Scott Pilgrim

Girl, Interrupted

Sweeney Todd

Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog (does this count as a movie? a show? w/e)

Insidious

Bands

Ray Bull (huge fan, going to see them live for the 2nd time next month ✨)

Gorillaz

Ninja Sex Party (and pretty much all of Dan's bands)

Weezer

Death Cab for Cutie

Falloutboy

My top 10 favorite songs right now

Ray Bull - I Don't Know Ya

Beach Bunny - Prom Queen

Games We Play - The End

Ray Bull - 2 a.m.

bbno$ - it boy

Clairo - Sofia

Ray Bull - Nevr

Toadies - Possum Kingdom

The Front Bottoms - Twin Size Mattress

Billie Eilish - Birds of a Feather

Video Games (mostly Switch and PC)

Night in the Woods

Sally Face

Stardew Valley

Arcade Spirits

BOTW/TOTK

Kirby & the Forgotten Land

OLBA

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist

Pikmin

FNAF

Papers, Please

Animal Crossing

Books I think about a lot (because I'm bad at "favorites")

Never Let Me Go

The Abarat

JTHM/Squee

Perfect World manga series

Coraline

The Summer Hikaru Died (I am foaming at the mouth waiting for the next volume)

A Little Life - I don't think this is one of my favorites, but I recently read it and can't stop thinking about it, so on the list it goes

[zalrb]

i HATE how scripted delena's porch kiss looks. it's meant to be this spontaneous, "i just can't take it anymore" moment where he kind of catched her off guard and sweeps her off her feet. yet it just looks like nina is waiting for ian to finish his lines and then walk to her so that they can hold their lips together for the count of 10. it bother's me so much. if you're gonna do it, do it right. olitz is coming up on the blog recently and i HATE them too but at least they do this shit RIGHT

Yep. The blatantly scripted/contrived nature of DE scenes has been talked about quite frequently on here. I find the most egregious to be the shirt rip in 5x16:

The thing about ripping clothes for me is that it’s hardly ever done in a way that seems realistic or natural, like there’s no reason for why Elena couldn’t just take off his shirt

with the rain kiss being a close second:

It was random AF. They were just outside and it started raining and they stayed in the rain for literally no reason. It was such a contrived kiss, like it was clearly made to be fan service instead of there actually being any kind of context.

Like Nathan for Haley in the rain because he wants her so much

With Scott and Kira, there’s a storm and they just have to see each other anyway after spending a summer apart 

The O.C. was purposefully trying to recreate an iconic kiss with Summer and Seth

Pam and Jim, it happens to be raining, they’re at a gas stop, it’s not the most romantic environment but Jim can’t put off proposing to Pam anymore, he has to do it now 

and DE it’s just … she purposefully stands outside in the rain for ... WHAT reason? The aesthetic??

Then there's the egregious bridge dance

just throw it all away.

Delena being bad at the "just can't take it" vibe has also been discussed

[lil-venom]

New intro!

(Sorry for disappearing for awhile, I have been busy with school, but summer vacation has started for me so I'm back in business for awhile!)

Name; Anthony

He/they

16, Minor (I'm fine with adults interacting with my blog, just don't be creepy)

Age regressor, toddler regressor

Huge MCR fan

My discord is fifthperiodmassacre if any1 wants to chat

DNI

NSFW blogs, ABDL, ddlg/ddlb

Terfs, homophobes, transphobes

Pro shippers/ comshippers

Will do;

Agere headcanons

Oneshots

Anything like that :3

Fandoms;

Zero day

Ride the cyclone

MCR

Scott pilgrim

Fall out boy

[popculturebuffet]

Batmarch Finale: Batman (1989) Review: At Long Last Joker Dancing on Parade Float

Hello all you happy batpeople and it's time for the finale of Batmarch! It's been a fun ride that really made me love the character again and it ends here with something i've been wanting to do since the start of this blog: IT's time to talk about Tim Burton's Batman, the 1989 classic blockbuster that created the first superhero movie boom, solidified the caped crusader as a dark brooding vigilante in the public eye, and gave us not one but two iconic scenes of joker dancing to prince music that live rent free in my head forevermore.

Batman took almost a decade to get going, with Producer Micheal Uslan, a comic book historian who taught a succesful course on comics as literature, wanting to take batman back to his earlier days as a mysterious figure of darkness. His timing was great as by the late 70's when he started his crusade for the caped crusader, Batman had been on a course back to those very roots thanks to the works of Neil Adams and Denny O'Neil. Comic fans ate up a darker batman and Batman returned to being a creature of the night.

The problem was for most audiences.. he was a creature of camp. While I adore the Adam West Batman, i'm honestly shocked i've only covered ONE episode of that gloriously goofy series, it left a mark on the character, with everyone assuming "Well that's what batman is". It's a common trait in comic book adaptations: TV and Movies reach a wide audience. It's why most people think Scott Summers is a plank of wood instead of a tatctical genius with a lot of baggage.

Thus studios either flat out rejected them or wanted a comedy in the vein of the adam wast show. Or rejected it for reasons like "It would be called Batman and Robin and we just had a film with robin in the name tha tbombed" or "It and Annie are both "from the funnie" pages and Annie just bombed (yet did INCREDIBLY well on home video)"

Thankfully the film got rescued as, with John "Giant Mechanical Spider Peters" getting on board, he suggested they do what they did with superman: promote the hell out of the film and the script they had and hope someone buys into the hype. Sure enough it worked as Warner Bros picked up the film and to my suprise they already owned DC Comics, the rights simply got sold off for the reasons film rights to properties often do

So Warner was eager to get the property back in house and profit off it.

With that it was time for a full script by Tom Mankiewicz who based it largely on Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers short but memorable run on Detective Comics I wasn't aware of till doing research for this review, but now happily own. Rogers was even brought on to do concept art. The script went through NINE revisions according to wikipedia, but all were based largely on tom's original. Directing wise Joe Dante and Wes Craven were both considered and i'd loved to see what their version of the film would've been like. Ivan Reitman also was, but wanted a comedy starring billl murray with the studio eyeing eddie murphy for robin.

Thankfully the success of Pee Wee's Big Adventure lead Warner Bros to go with their new golden boy, who was just coming off production of another soon to be hit, Beetlejuice, Tim Burton, pictured here looking like Batman's goth best friend he takes in the batmobile to get him out of the house.

I'd pay so much to see that version of this movie.

Burton wasn't a comic fan , but upon getting the project was a fan of recent hits The Dark Knight Returns and The Killing Joke, and was fascinated with what batman could be. Meanwhile Warner brought in Englehart himself to make a draft. Burton then brought in Sam Hamm, a rookie screenwriter and HUGE fan of the character who quickly proved to be the perfect fit, tightening up the screenplay: he removed Robin (something no one was sad about as he was a studio mandate), replaced Silver St Cloud (Bruce's love intrest during the Englehart Run) and Rupert Throne with Vicki Vale and Carl Grissom and the script was set.

So casting began. After a number of more traditional leads were considered, Burton went with Micheal Keaton at the suggestion of Peters, who felt Keaton has the tortured quality batman needed. It was a great call as he fit both sides: he was stoic and comanding as batman, but as bruce was perfectly absentminded, as if he was far away, yet still charastmatic and likeable. It was a good contrast and also made it easy to see why no one suspect this guy was batman.

Unfortuantely the fans.. were not pleased. Yes even then peopl ewere liable to throw hands over casting decisions before seeing them proper. I've not been imune to this: I liked Ben Affleck but wasn't sure he fit batman, only to be proven wrong when he was easily one of the saving graces of Batman V Superman and it's regretful he couldn't be batman in a better movie.

Fans worried that Keaton , who up to this point had mostly been in comedies, meant the film would be camp like the tv series and film again, to the point this MADE HEADLINES. The studio even breifly considered reasting, but burton held firm.

If your curious other actors considered were Pierce Brosnan (who had no intrest in doing a comic book movie), Mel Gibson (dodged a bullet there), Kevin Costner, Charlie Sheen (Another bullet dodged, too much tiger blood to be a bat man), Tom Selleck, Harrison Ford and Dennis Quaid. None of these really.. feel right, and it's burton's first choice before realizing Keaton was it , the green goblin himself Willam Dafoe, that woul'dve worked with what he was going for. None of these actors are bad, even sheen and gibson are good actors just..awful human beings, they just don't fit the part. Sheen in paticular feels like the worst timeline and I pity the earth that got saddled with frat bro batman.

Naturally every hero needs a good villian and while another row of talent was considered, the studio and Peters heavily pushed for Jack Nicholson over other competiors such as Brad Douriff, Tim Curry, and David Bowie, all versions of this film i'd LOVE to see in some other timeline. That said Nichelson was the perfect choice.

How they finally nailed him down is my faviorite story I found from the documentary: So Nicholson was open to it, liking the part but to lock it down wanted them to meet him for horseback riding. Burton , nature's perfect indoor kid, was naturally deeply uncomfortable on a horse and i'd pay good money to get the picture they claimed existed of Tim Burton on a horse with Jack Nicholson. I find it fascinating in of itself that Jack Nicholson rides horses and has a deep love of horses. That's a thing that fits, but just never occured to me. The most uncomfortbale horse ride ever netted him the part and Nicholson trusted burton completely on set and spoke highly of him in the documentary.

The final main cast addition came due to , of all the possile reasons, a horse riding accident. No it wasn't tim burton himself, but Sean Young, who'd been cast as Bruce's reporter love intrest Vicky Vale and had to bow out, replaced by Kim Bassinger.

Rounding out the cast we have Robert Whul as local reporter and only one digging into this batman case Knox, Cool School owner and operator Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent, Pat Hingle as Comissioner Gordon, acting legend Jack Palance as crime boss and the joker's boss Carl Grissom, and Tracey Walter as Joker's NUMBER. ONE. GUY. Bob.

Promotion for the film was something unique. Nowadays we're used to big, omnipresent ad blitzes with our blockbusters, a huge swath of adds to let you know THIS FILM'S A COMIN. YOU CANNOT ESCAPE THIS FILM. I DON'T CARE IF YOUR AMBVILENT ABOUT ARTHUR AND THE KING YOU WILL GET 20 ADDS FOR IT JACOB. THE HYPE MACHINE HATH SPOKEN.

To start Jon Peters helped cut a teaser trailer, wanting to get SOMETHING out to show that no, this wasn't going to be like the Adam West show stop calling me about it dennis. The trailer was only a minute and a half, had no music behind it, something I only found out, and is clearly just whatever clips they had that were ready. You can find it here. It's throughly intresting.

It also.. works. While it's only a short teaser, it gets across what this film is, shows both joker and batman enough to get hyped, all while not spoiling the film. Granted they probably didn't have enough footage yet TO do that but still, it's a well done teaser with only one or two bits feeling like their just.. thrown in there and given the time crunch to get this in front of a teast audence, I can salute that it's still works.

And it worked MASSIVELY. People bought tickets JUST to see this teaser, bootlegs of it sold like hot cakes. It was meant to get people hyped up for what this film actually was.. and it DID, erasing doubts Keaton wasn't batman and showing people just what they were getting.

Warner then went all in promoting the hell out of this film, to the point Marvel's she hulk did a parody of this where a new super heroine does a simliar add blitz: There was cereal, tiger games, merchandising of all kinds. It was a huge gamble as if the film failed to live up to the hype... it'd be a joke NOTHING could live down, would sink the careers of everyone involved from production on down, and possibly destroy warner.

Naturally though.. it didn't. The gamble paid off. It's almost like if you actually RELEASE a film and have faith in the creators, you'll make money. The film was a massive success leading to three more films in this series and a mind boggling 11 theatrical and 60+ total films JUST starring the batman. That's not getting into team movies.

So join me under the cut as we see if , after 35 years of excellence, this film still lives up to the hype in a genre now packed with classics.

Bat Class and Bat Style:

Starting out with the style of the film, it can't be overstated the sheer impact this film had on Gotham city as a place. Before this it was mostly a standard city, just more of a crime hole than most. It was weird reading some of that very Steve Englehart run I mentioned and seeing Gotham. .as a pretty standard metropolis, if not obviously THE metropolis.

Batman is where , to my shock, Gotham was first portrayed as this art deco 40's style hellscape, a city of old buildings with the crime built into it's very foundations: a city of frequent nights, heavy shadows and plenty of places for an up and coming here ot perch and brood. It's an atmosphere that almost feels consuming: you can't escape gotham and it won't let you. It's a monster as much of a city. Batman the Animated series would build on this, making this what gotham was: a city with it's dark history seeped into it's stone that feels massive and endless, like no matter how much batman does the city is almost too big for him to ever fully save.

The rest of the style is after the 40's, a nice nod to batman premiering JUST before they started in 1939. We have large flashes on the cameras, reporters in suits the like.

I also realized this wasn't just a cool style choice, it's a thematic one: Most of Gotham wears these types of clothes, fitting with how Gotham is: a city with a long proud history.. but one it finds itself stuck in. A lot of those men in suits are either helpless goverment types who WANT to make things better but can only do so much like Gordon or Dent, or outright corrupt men like the various mob bosses who control it from the shadow. Even Knox , who tries to go for the scoop, is stuck in the old behaviors of sexisim, hitting on his photographer and creative partner vicki a lot nad being a possesive dick about her romance when it's none of his damn buinsess.

The people who may actually change this city are the ones who come off more with the time: Bruce most of the time wears looser suits or , in one scene casual clothes. The one time he dosen't is to fit in at his own party, to blend in so well Knox and Vale don't even notice he was behind them for a whole scene. When he's himself he's awkward, but also kind and charming. When he's his truest self batman he's calm, intmidating and of course dressed in a lot of rubber. He dosen't fit with Gotham.. but by doing so he can change it for the better.

Vicki is diffrent, fitting in a bit better but her hair and styles tend more toward practical, often wearing her glasses which look neat. Wish I had a pair like that. She brushes off Knox's comments, dosen't want anyone taking ownership of her and rightly calls bruce out for ghosting her (Granted he's also right ot try and get her to stop for one minute so he can tell her she's batman). She's trying to change it more by simply finding the batman, but it's still someone diffrent.

Finally we have the Joker, who stylistically dosen't deviate greately as jack.. but once he becomes something else, he changes. he wears the suit sure... but it's a bright purple with a giant boutiner. He wears makeup, but it's barely covering and by the time of the art heist there more for a joke than actual cover. His attempts to fit in are really more a joke than an actual attempt. Napier never really fit in... he simply stopped putting on the pretense once he became the joker.

Joker's moderness also comes through in othe rways; his biggest scheme heavily involves the rise of cosmetics and the television, using his then modern Smilex adds to stow paranoia. He vandalizes classic art for funsies to a dope prince song. And for his final masterstroke he captalizes on the greedhead nature of the 80's: he correctly figures if you throw enough money at people they'll forgive anything, and throws a ton of money into the crowd in the film's best scene, capering and hamming it up as he prepares to kill them all by luring them into one place. It's telling that the only two places in the film itself Prince's songs show up are with the Joker, who embodies the excess of the 80's while still having his classic 40's born design.

And since we're talking about him...

The Devil in the Pale Moon Light

Nicholson's joker is fantastic. I wasn't big on him for a long time.. but I realized on rewatch it wasn't the performance. Nicholson fucking nails it, having that manic energy hid with a genial calm that makes a good joker to me, that sort of charisma where you geninely can't tell if you'll end the scene as his NUMBER. ONE. GUY. or with a bullet in the belly. He's hammy as hell when he wants to be, deathly calm when he wants to be, and the only one who truly understands himself always.

Nicholson's joker strikes me as a mad Performanceartist, an interpretation I like: his jokes are carefully crafted pieces always done for a terrified audience of some kind. Only one of his kills or crimes post putting a smile on that face dosen't have an audience, Grissom, and he STILL puts on a show for him, shooting him to opera music while giggling like a mad man. Every other crime is a big show, which isn't inconsitant for joker. Every joker has theater kid tendencies, this joker is just the one who has the most thespian energy.

His schemes are also fantastic, props to Burton and the writers: their the right mix of operartic performance art and ghastly crime. From defacing a museum for the attention, to the utterly brillaint smilex ad which parodies the hell out of 80's ad trends and is one of the best joker scenes in media, perfectly capturing his sort of scheme, this versions love of a good performance, and the time it was in. The poor editing and his "Chances are you already own some" and the laugh after.. it's genius. Every piece is great. I also love the pen stabbing which I didn't really pay much attention to before but the mimes, the awesome as hell outfit, the "Uncle bingo" line.. it's so damn fun and the mundanety of the stabbing, feather quill or not makes it a shocker

The two best though are the ones embeded on my mind from childhood to present day: THe art scene is awesome and I love the way he says lawrence, with him just getting into general dicking around shenanigans because it's fun, saving a picture because it's horrifying. I also love his dickish "date" with vicky where he just calls all her glamour photo's crap. You can tell Jack Nicholson is loving EVERY second of this. Granted who wouldn't love grooving to Party Man, which is a truly awesome song. Prince didn't half ass it for this album and while his inclusion is a clear studio mandate Tim Burton didn't seem enthused about in the documentary, Burton still made it work perfectly. It's really hard to not make prince work granted, but it's still flawlessly used.

My faviorite scene of the film though... is Trust aka "Jack nicholson fucking destroys while riding on a blimp" Those hand moves, his expressions, bob and lawrence's grins as they throw money, the banger that is Trust behind him. While Partyman is good and really fits Joker, Trust is a fun banger jam that fits the party atmosphere of Joker's final gambit. The sight of joker throwing money everywhere while mugging is just.. peak joker and one of the best moments of the character and in superhero cinema period.

While Nicholson's joker is mostly celebrated there are two big points of contention, two elephants in the room to tackle.

The first is the fact we get Joker's name at all, that we know anything about him before he became joker as a huge part of his mystique is being this mysterious murder clown who just.. fell in a vat one day and that's all we know before he started chasing batman.

I prefer his past to be a mystery, it adds to the charm and the terror of this guy... but on this watch I felt the Jack Napier version still really works. Nichson does a good job making both Jack and Joker feel like two very diffrent people: Jack was a fairly unambitious hood who WANTED to run everything, but had no real plans for it, content to screw the bosses mistress and be done with it. It's easy to buy into corrupt cop Eckhart's view Jack has no future.. because he didn't. The second Grissom found out what he was doing, he set Jack up to die. Jack ONLY escapes ace chemicals alive due to pure luck: Gordon got informed in time to take over and stop a potetial execution and Bob turned out to be the best guy ever and held said Gordon hostage to get batman to let Jack go. And even then Jack's own impulsiveness nearly killed him, falling into the vat. He's ONLY alive because of sheer luck and knowing a good back alley doctor using tools he got from a dentist who mysteriously died a few decades back.

Jack is an impulsive trainwreck.. the joker.. is Jack with all his inhibitions stripped.. and tha'ts why knowing Jack works. Jack was a pretty common hood: even the Wayne murder, we'll get to that shortly, was just buisness as usual. Jack had ambitious DREAMS, but seemed content to just wait for Grissom to die naturally then take his empire.

Joker by contrast is a mad artist: he sees gotham as his canvas, a toy to play with. He has all of jack's greed and drive, but none of his hesitance to act on it. He's impulsive but unlike jack, he thinks out his impulsive plans. He wants vicky kidnapped, but has his minons bring her, has a bunch of stuff ready and has a whole music video ready after. He barges in on her apartment but brings goons just in case. He's still impulsive enough to be the joker: He dosen't have a plan b for the parade, the pen stabbing comes off as "wouldn't this be neat let's do that", but it's still more than jack ever thought. Jack is truly gone: vestiges of him remain in his new self, he makes sure Grissom dies and wants to control gotham.. but he's now got the higher calling of mayhem: ruling gotham isn't because it's there.. it's because it's FUN. It works because it shows just how FAR joker can go, going from a midly high level enforcer, to a mad god whose only stopped by batman yanking hard enough. Jack works because, ala killing joke, it shows a mostly normal person becoming something far worse. The Joker has an origin and it informs him a bit.. but who jack was is gone by the joker and it's fascinating watching hwat he became.

So that brings us to the OTHER big change: Jack Napier killed Batman's parents. Now this one I agree was a bad idea: the tragedy of the wayne murders. .is that it was just some guy. Some random hood, sometimes named joe hill, shot two innocent people and doing so broke a child and created a bat. It being his future arch enemy feels contrived. Like IT HAD to be someone important because it was his destiny to be a vengeful orphan man! It can't have been just some guy it had to be a number one guy yes yes. It misses the point entirely and it just feels dumb and that reveal clouded my judgement. Jack on his own isn't bad but making him batman's parent's killer is just.. too much. That part sucks but everything ELSE about Uncle Bingo rules and one bad decision, that writer Sam Hamm swears wasn't his idea and came after it was in Burton's hands so blame accordingly, shoudln't negate such a fine performance.

Let's Get Nuts

Speaking of fine performances, let's talk about the Batman of the hour himself. While I went Joker first, Keaton's batman is awesome and has gotten it's due praise over the last few years.

Ironically a lot of what fans hated about him, his everyman looks and not being "muscular" are what make this bruce work. Much like Robert Pattinson's brilliant turn after, this is a Bruce who doesn't really socialize. Unlike Pattinsons he does put in the bare minimum, throwing parties and such... but it's clear while bruce is a known philanthropist, he's not really a big name figure in gotham beyond that. He's an inconspcious guy, so much that Vicky and Knox dont' even notice him or realize it is him. And that suits what he does great: he's so nondescript that once people start looking for batman they won't look there.

Not tha this secret identity being in danger is a big issue at first: Batman's experinced here, but also early enough he's just a myth: Only Knox thinks he's real and even he has no idea what this guy looks like. The criminals know, but both bruce and batman are unknowns at first and prefer it this way.

Bruce is a kind, gentle, down to earth guy: he quickly wins Vicki Vale over.. simply by showing an intrest in her work. It's subtly contrasted with the other two men in her life: Knox first notices her legs, hits on her mildly agresively and is a possesive tool, while Joker outright claims her and tries to kill bruce for stepping on his territory. Bruce wins Vicky over.. because he sees her as a PERSON and not boobs or a prize to be one. Basinger and Keaton have really great chemistry and while the two don't get a ton of scenes together, you see why Bruce takes to her so quickly.. and why he pushe sher away. His war on crime is ALL he has, and he dosen't want her getting caught in it, ironically taking away the agency that brought him to her. It's only when he realizes HOW much she means that he tries to open up. Then a clown shoots him but you know , thems the breka. It's telling when Alfred, to finally break this will they or won't they stalemate, brings her down he's not the least bit mad and is honest with Vicki and continues seeing her.. until she didn't come back for the sequel but that's a review for another day. A christmas day.

I bring up the relatoinship because it's what defines bruce, and while romances can be rushed in these movies.. this one works and fleshes bruce out. It creates a nice divide between the man he thinks he should be, the creatue of the night who scares a cowardly and superstitious lot, who dosen't flinch in any situation and is always calm.. with the all too human bruce who simply dosen't want to be alone. Well he has alfred but he can't rely on his dad forever.

As batman.. there isn't a ton to talk about as he's mostly stoic and badass. Keaton does a really good job of that.. but there's not a ton of expression other than "scowling and it's only in his final confrontation with the joker, his parents murderer he really emotes with pure unyielding rage. It's not bad.

There is one aspect that needs to be talked about though: This batman.. kills. It's a divisive idea as by this point batman's no killing rule was in place... but it's one I get Burton not using. He and those around him based this film on the earliest works, and in those.. Batman had no issue killing if he had to.

It works for me largely because Batman isn't wontonly killing: he uses the machine guns primarily to clear the way and presumibly, like the dark knight returns which is where Burton probably got the machine gun, their likely rubber bullets. The only person he truly tries to kill repeadetly is Jack. Not at the plant, as while it's said he drops him .. it really dosen't come off that way. It's left ambigious if batman did it on purpose or simply COULDN'T hold onto jack much longer. The only person Batman truly wants dead.. is the man who created him. Any other kills are mostly just life or death struggles. I prefer batman not to kill... but one who does so judciously still fits the character.

Finally before we move on we have the way his origin's done: While I said I didn't like the jack part the film tries to treat this as some big mystery.. with the problem being even in a post adam west pre burton world.. most people probably knew batman's parents were dead. It works to a point, but out of all the things in the film.. it feels like padding. We know why he's doing this, we're just waiting for Vicky to catch up and i'd be fine with that but ther'es juts.. nothing really added. She finds out his parents died. A matter of public record he didn't really bury. The only shocking reveal she finds is who killed his parents, which while a decen tswerve, couldv'e been hidden until the reveal. It just.. pads the film slightly, but not so much it obstructs it

The People of Gotham

Now for our side cast. Starting with our third lead we have Vicky Vale, she of the 80's hair, neat glasses and inconstient spelling in this review. Kim Bassinger does a great job with the character and they do TRY to flesh her out: she's been both a war reporter and a fashion photographer, is great at her career and while enamored with Bruce only takes his shit so far.

That being said while I do LIKE Vicky, it's largely down to the performance: Bassinger is a talented actress and i'd like to see her in more films. I mean i've only seen her in this, Wayne's World 2 and bits of Cool World. She did fine in all three, it's just clear she has talent and I hope to see her make a comeback if she wants. She makes a character given just enough sparkle.

That being said... plot wise.. Vicky's just there for exposition and as an object. They give her some depth, being a former war photographer, but the film's unintrested in exploring her as a person, instead having her explore bruce.

And get put in danger three diffrent times. I mean she only gets kidnapped once but it feels like she's mostly there to get scared or romance bruce. The romance plot IS important as it fleshes Bruce out as a person... but it's telling it's mostly to flesh HIM out. Vicky and him have chemistry.. but again that's because her actress is that good. I can kinda see why she didn't want to return for the sequel, and feel bad that her replacement of sorts got way more with her character. Vicky.. deserved better.

Onto Alexander Knox, who is probably confusing those of you who haven't seen the film. Knox is a reporter and is intended as mild comic relief at times. In practice he's aged like fine cheese on a sidewalk covered in radioactive ants and pudding. His first words upon seeing Vicky "Hello Legs"

He then offers to do nudes and in general just.. tends to hit on her often, while she clearly just wants to work with him and is only putting up with her bullshit because she's so clearly used to sexist bullshit and come ons at this point. I DO think some of this is intetional as there's a contrast in how he greets her and how Bruce greets her: Knox recognizes her work, but is mostly interested in

While Bruce you know.. sees her as a person. That said Knox.. is also creepily posessive, telling her not to go out with bruce, not getting what she sees in him, and clearly being jealous. He's just kinda there to set up that batman's been a thing and is mostly seen as a myth then ceases to be relevant but sticks around the film anyway. He does go after some guys with a baseball bat but it's too little too late.

Finally out of our heroes side, we have Alfred. Micheal Gogh dosen't get a ton to do, but really owns the roll, giving you the impression of a man who simply dosen't want to see his surrogate son spend his whole life in a cave. he says as much outright but you can see just how HAPPY he is that Bruce has Vicky and how much he dosen't want him to loose her. He dosen't get to do much.. but his one big action was a source of contention for Sam Hamm, as it was added after. Alfred takes Vicky to the batcave. In Hamm's words "That would be his last day of employment"

Alfred... is Bruce's dad. Not biologically, that we know of, but he raised Bruce. Even by this point in the comics it was clear Alfred was just as much a faithful retainer as he was Bruce's dad. Bruce would get mad about something like this.. but he'd never fire Alfred as a snap judgement, especially when Bruce WAS GOING TO TELL VICKY ANYWAY. Alfred likely knew this. All Alfred did was eliminate a step. It wasn't like Alfred invited his acapella group, the Alfredpellas, down there.

We then have Alicia. Alicia dosen't get much to do as this script REALLY wasn't intrested in women but is intresting. My friend Jess the Vampire pointed out when we watched this she's kind of a proto harley quinn: someone deeply intrested in the Joker despite how he abuses her. At first it's fairly equal: Jack gives her attention Grissom isn't and him becoming joker shocks her but isn't bad. Then he horribly scars her as an art piece, and abandons her for Vicky and the sheer trauma causes her to throw herself off a building. It's a tragic story as she didn't relaly do anything wrong, she just had bad taste in men: first Grissom then Jack then Joker. It's not as layered as poor harley, but it's a good first draft and adds to what a monster Joker is. He just makes her into his horrifying art then throws her away when he's done.

Finally out of the major characters we have Bob. Bob is a quiet MVP in this film, Jack's best friend and #2 and Joker's Number. One. Guy.

What I hadn't noticed before is even pre joker.. Bob is LOYAL to Jack. He gets Eckhart not to shoot jack, and most importantly saves Jack from Batman at Ace Chemicals, holding Gordon hostage. From the go he's invauable to his bestie, helping make up for Jack's impulsivness. And while Jack just kinda shrugs, as he tends to, Joker recognizes this. He instantly makes Bob his NUMBER. ONE. GUY. and unlike grissom, who only said it in jest and as a veiled threat, Joker really seems to mean it. He has Bob stalk vicky for him, lure her to the musuem, all creepy shit sure but all stuff Joker needs vitally done and trusts Bob to do without any ulterior motive. And he does. Bob's also just fun: he capers a lot during partyman and is one of the best parts of Trust, his expression as he's throwing money gives me life. It also makes his death tragic. Bob was not a good guy, again he stalked a woman because he was told to.. but he was loyal and friendly.. and joker kills him simply because he got pissed off. His death is, fitting the joker, hilarious, just the casual way he asks for a gunt hen shoots bob with it, but it's a sad end to a NUMBER. ONE. GUY.

The rest of the side cast.. is pretty one note. Gordon is just the police chief, something that carries over to most other versions we've seen on film, Dark Knight being the exception. He has a great moment at ace chemicals but does fuck all the rest of the film except light up the bat signal. Harvey Dent is there to set up a future role that never comes for Billy Dee Williams. Grissom is memorable thanks to Jack Palance's delivery of "NUMBER. ONE. GUY. ", but otherwise is just a standard gangster man. The rest of the cast is mostly there to do plot and they do do it well but don't do much else.

Conclusion: And with that Bat March comes to a belated end. I enjoyed this review as it made me take a close look at a film I loved... and ended up loving it MORE. Batman has rough edges, some due to age some due to simply being one of the earlier comic book movies, but it' sstill damn good even today. It's a classic, a fun ride with banger performances, a lot of detail and deft direction from Burton. If you haven't watched it in a while, please do. If you have.. well do anyway it's that good.

Thanks for reading and thanks for enjoying batmarch