#this is also the classic trope of love interest finds their partner superhero secret life

[gelu-the-babosa-multiversal]

AKHKDAHSFKHSFHJS

It was like a few days back that I said that I wouldn't watch my adventures with Superman but HOLLY SHIT. The tags I follow for Superman and Lois just blew up not straight stopping HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

And when people told me that this was the ¨perfect¨ show now I see post rambling over Lois and Clark's relationship and how they ruined it???

Like, I know so little but from what I see, Lois pulled a Lois Lane by jumping from a high building and Clark saved her exposing his identity as Superman.

Now like I said, I don't know what happens in the ep and in the prior e's, but dear people. Gonna be real with you. Who cares???

I know that the show is not dumb and does not see its audience as dumb. This is character development 101. Like for real, there is so much discussion on this that people are comparing it to the Invincible situation...

My only take from here is that people idolized Clark's and Superman's relationship... but too much. Maybe anyone can give me more context on this???

[briangroth27]

Tomb Raider Review

I had a lot of fun watching the latest Tomb Raider! Having never played the video games and barely remembering the two movies starring Angelina Jolie, I essentially went into this one fresh and thought it was a solid start to what will hopefully become a new franchise. I'm a big fan of pulpy treasure hunter movies, and this certainly hit the spot!

Full Spoilers…

Alicia Vikander is excellent as Lara Croft and she’s the strongest element of the film. The script gave Vikander a lot to work with, showcasing Lara as a charming smartass, a brilliant puzzle-solver, a badass survivor, an orphan determined to survive on her own, and a daughter grappling with the apparent death of her father Richard (Dominic West). I thought Lara not signing the papers that would declare her father dead and secure her inheritance because it was his money, not hers, was an interesting and unique spin on the billionaire orphan trope (of course her reasoning was also—if not moreso—about not wanting to admit her father was dead, which played really well for me). I liked that they didn’t have her immediately turn to his money the moment she got in trouble with the police, which legitimized the idea that she wouldn’t use it even if she absolutely had to. Had Ana (Kristin Scott Thomas) not shown up to bail her out, it seemed Lara was content to be fined/jailed for the illegal street race she participated in and for me, that defeats the “fake poor” criticism I’ve seen online: Lara wasn’t just acting poor until it became inconvenient. The early scenes do a great job of showing Lara knows how to handle herself and has a likable, winning way about her despite her tragic family history, making her a captivating action hero and lead. What really sold me on the action hero part (aside from Vikander’s clear dedication to the physicality of the role), however, is that the film takes time to show Lara getting winded and hurt by her incredible feats and fights, both of which clearly take a physical toll on her; she isn't an invulnerable superhero. Vikander is great in those moments and even better when the movie takes the time to show Lara's reaction to killing someone for the first time. That desperate fight to kill or be killed was extremely powerful and it made me wish other action movies would take more time to deal with the gravity of their heroes taking lives. Lara's connection to Richard was strong, but I wish we'd seen more of their relationship than him constantly leaving her in flashbacks (though that does connect nicely to their role reversal at the end of the film and as I’ve seen pointed out elsewhere, each flashback ends with her being self-sufficient after he’s gone, which is a cool touch). In addition to the gamut of emotions Lara gets to show off and the thrilling spectacle of the gauntlet she's put through once she reaches a secret island, the film is very clear about how smart she is and I loved that she had to use her intelligence just as much as her fists. Vikander makes a meal out of all of this, playing every aspect of Lara to the fullest, and is clearly having a blast. I hope she gets to come back to this role in a sequel.

Lara's search for Richard (and ultimately, her journey towards letting him go) was a good through-line for the film and I liked what West brought to the role. Seeking out the supernatural as a way to reconnect with his deceased wife was an interesting and understandable motivation. However, we didn't need to hear about the legend of Himiko twice and eliminating Richard’s opening narration would've held the mysteriousness of the island of Yamatai until Lara finds out about it. The film doesn’t really gain anything by putting the audience so far ahead of her and I didn’t need to that hook to keep me interested. I did like that Richard’s madness on Yamatai involved seeing visions of Lara reappearing to him after he'd abandoned her all those times in search of the island, but I wish that madness had been turned into a stumbling block for Lara at some point instead of just something he talks about. He could’ve seen “Lara,” only to have it be an illusion that puts him in danger; the fact that he’s apparently cured of his madness as soon as Lara finds him felt too easy.

Daniel Wu as solid as Lu Ren, Lara’s expedition partner whose father went missing with Richard. I would've liked more to Ren finding out Mathias Vogel (Walton Goggins) killed his father; there seemed to be a lot of untapped potential there. That Lara didn't actually lose her dad could've been seen as unfair in Ren’s eyes too. Why not use Ren being such a parallel to Lara's orphan arc to create some drama and possibly division between them? I also found it movie-convenient that Ren wasn't killed for inciting a worker rebellion that lets Lara escape; even with the justification that he'd be a useful slave, he'd been shot and wasn't at full strength anyway. There really isn't a plot purpose to his being around after freeing Lara from Vogel’s work camp either, so while I liked his character and Wu’s performance and certainly didn’t want him to die, I wish there had been more justification to such a ruthless villain not just executing a problem-causer beyond "he's the co-star." I did like that Ren and Lara kept saving each other, though, and would be up for him joining her on her further adventures. I wouldn’t mind a romance blossoming between them at some point, but I also liked that this movie makes no attempt to even suggest that Lara needs a guy to swoon over.

I thought Vogel not wanting to be separated from his family for the entirety of his search for the tomb was not only a clever parallel to Lara, Ren, and their fathers, but gave him dimension most villains in these films don't get. Instead of wanting to rule or destroy the world—or even just getting a big payday—his biggest concern was finishing the job so he could go home. I didn't sympathize with him—obviously his methods were horrid—but I was glad he had that human quality instead of being some monstrous caricature. Vogel is also used exactly as much as he needed to be (except when it comes to the potential fallout of having killed Ren’s father); he has enough presence to be a threat, but he isn’t overwhelming and felt like the cog in a larger machine he is.

I liked that the film fleshed out several facets of Lara’s life with human connections; friends (Hannah John-Kamen), coaches (Duncan Airlie James), gym rivals (Annabel Wood), coworkers (Billy Postlethwaite and Roger Nsengiyumva), and even a lovestruck customer (Antonio Aakeel) on her delivery route gave the sense that she had a full life (despite the hole her father's vanishing left in her) with a lot of history. Even if they only briefly appeared, it was great that the movie took the time to include them rather than limiting Lara’s interactions to plot-centric dealings with Ana and Croft Holdings. I hope to see many or all of these connections continue in any potential sequels: their reaction to Lara's wealth alone, to say nothing of her new day job, would make for some great stuff. Can she keep her normal friendships and be a globe-trotting archaeologist billionaire? Will she find that she’s become more comfortable without the Croft money? Will she need those grounded connections to keep herself level? Would she bring her friend Sophie along on an adventure?

The film reveals an overarching villain and that felt fresh for a treasure hunting franchise, if not Hollywood's affinity for sequels. One thing I found kinda cool about this setup is that Lara probably won’t be raiding tombs for museums (taking artifacts away from their cultures just because), but she’d be negating dangerous potential weapons, which seems more altruistic in a modern context. I liked the reveal of Ana's true motives for wanting Lara to sign off on her father's death, which convinced me of the viability of evil entity Trinity being at least somewhat run by Croft Holdings. I wonder if Richard's search for the supernatural was the basis for Trinity and if he'd been unknowingly feeding them information until his disappearance. If her father inadvertently started/fueled it, that would make Lara's quest to stop them even more personal. Maybe he reached out to those nefarious connections out of desperation on purpose, which could create an opportunity for Lara to see her father as a flawed man, not just the idealized figure whose only sin was that he was always leaving. I'm interested to see what Trinity wants to do if they get their hands on supernatural (or just very dangerous) artifacts; I hope they're not going to be cliché "take over the world" villains. I also wonder about keeping the size of Trinity as an organization to a scale Lara can stop on her own, but that's an issue for a potential sequel.

I've seen criticisms online that the film is clichéd, and while I'll grant that it doesn't have the most distinctive voice in terms of "action movie dialogue," I still found it engaging and thrilling. It's very solidly of the treasure hunter genre and though it doesn't subvert those kinds of tropes often, it executes them very well. A boat crash, river/plane adventure, and fight through a decrepit tomb were all very exciting sequences. I loved the death trapped-tomb and thought the film's spins on classic traps were fun (as was the minor trope subversion that they were in place to keep someone in, not out). I have zero problem with these kinds of pulpy movies embracing the supernatural elements at the center of their mythical legends—in fact, I usually prefer it—but the more grounded approach worked very well here, honoring the supernatural while maintaining a sense of realism and danger. Even without playing the video game this is based on, I'm a casual enough gamer that I caught homages to modern adventure games, like Lara monkey-barring over a destroyed walkway and stealthily sneaking through the villains' camp. Honoring those source material bits didn't pull me out of the movie at all and I liked those nods to the games. On the other hand, Lara getting her iconic twin guns did feel a little more like fan service than a natural evolution of her character (she never seemed to need guns on her adventure and mostly seemed to favor a bow to picking up dropped guns), but that may also be my unease with what felt like a slight glorification of guns (though granted, this wasn’t anywhere near the gratuitous glorification of AR-15s in Thor Ragnarok). Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a little fan service and Lara can have a different opinion of firearms than I do without me disliking her character. That brief throwaway nod to the games didn't sully the film for me or anything.

The action throughout the film was solid and surprisingly brutal. The only sequence that I thought felt extraneous was Lara's chase after—and then flight from—a trio of muggers in China, but it was a well-structured chase and did include a moment of Lara hesitating to leap off a dock after them, showing some early limits to her derring-do. That chase also coincidentally leads her to Ren, and he could've been introduced as belligerently drunk (entertainingly so, for sure!) to Lara by herself without having to scare off the thieves. Otherwise, the action was great and had a really nice variety to it. There were only four or five shots where the CGI was noticeable; in the other action sequences it was totally convincing (if there at all). The sense that they were doing practical stunts (even if they weren't) and the danger in Vikander's expressions definitely helped sell the impact of the injuries Lara sustained as she narrowly escaped death over and over.

Despite a few missed opportunities for greater interpersonal conflict among the heroes and perhaps a need to punch up the dialogue beyond what's expected of this genre, Tomb Raider is a blast! The mystery is cool, the action is great, and Vikander is outstanding. I'd definitely follow her on another adventure and absolutely recommend this one!

 Check out more of my reviews, opinions, and original short stories here!

[jeezusgut]

OTP Writing...

So, I might write another post about how shitty the Mon-el character is after this because I read two random people post defenses of his character, one of which was comparing how the fandom is unfair towards him but forgives other characters for the same supposed mistakes, but then again that would probably just be preaching to the choir, and, seemingly, those that love the character, for whatever reasons, probably won’t change their minds. Thus I am still undecided on that one, but for now here is a pseudo rant about writing. Enjoy.

Okay, so this has little to do with my distaste of the character and more with my complete bafflement of the writing on Supergirl. We, the audience, are told, and yes I am specifically saying told for a reason, that Kara and Mon-el are in love and supposed to be the main romantic relationship of the show. Ok, fine, but then why are they written so poorly and as though they are not the endgame of the show?Stick with me for a minute. Again not arguing for another ship, simply criticizing narrative choices of the writers. 

One of the basics of television writing, particularly when it comes to romantic pairings, is the “slow burn.” Virtually every program since the 90′s has had this as a writing trope, and it’s not just for romantic pairings. There is a reason why the villains have overly complicated plans that take an entire season to bear fruit. Just like, there is a reason why the couple everyone wants to get together takes at least a season, if not longer, to finally do so. Examples, off the top of my head without looking anything up, Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Smallville (twice), House, Bones, The 100 (also twice), The Adventures of Lois and Clark, and the list goes on and on. Hell, just look at the rest of the shows in the Arrowverse: Barry & Iris took 1.5 to 2 seasons, Oliver & Felicity took 4 season, and there really isn’t an OTP in Legends but Sara and Leonard kind of had a thing in S1 and that still took a whole season to develop. Yet, Kara and Mon-el took, like what, 9 episodes to get together with little to no development between their characters or on a personal level.

Furthermore, television writers love their idiotic “love triangles” for drama, or, at the very least, they will include someone else as potential competition or to cause drama amid their favored pairing. Again, looking back at the examples above, every single character in one of the main couples on those shows at some point dated someone else while already being defined as an interest or potential for the other. That wasn’t the case for Kara and Mon-el, and no Eve doesn’t count because it was one date where Mon-el apparently just talked about Kara the whole time, so there obviously no real intent or interest there on his part. In fact, the SG writers specifically broke up Kara and James, the S1 male lead/love interest whose relationship with Kara was slowly developed throughout all of season 1 culminating in a date and potential for more, before Mon-el even really showed up. That is a weird choice on the writer’s part. I mean, wouldn’t it have made more sense and been a more “dramatic” story for Mon-el to be an obstacle that eventually supersedes James. 

As in, James and Kara are having trouble reconciling their romance with their new positions as boss and employee along with finding time with their superhero activities. Then comes along Mon-el who needs Kara’s time and attention as she is the one who best understands what it is like to find your world destroyed and you stranded on a whole new one with unimaginable abilities. And while things with James are becoming increasingly difficult, Mon-el is just easy. Sure, he’s a bumbling idiot who doesn’t understand Earth and its customs, but he’s trying. Plus, he shares the burden of carrying the memory of a civilization, even if it is not one he’s proud of, like Kara, and they bond over that. From there, you have the classic “love triangle” with two potentially beneficial choices for Kara: the human she has grown to love who holds the promise of a great future or the alien who has become her closest friend and confidante and holds the cherished memories of everything she’s lost. I mean that seems like the kind of drama that the writers claimed they wanted without making one of the characters a total shitbag. Instead, we got random arguments, incessant lying, narcissistic beliefs, constant put downs, and very few “cutesy” romantic moments.

Yes, Mon-el made her breakfast once and started drinking club soda, but that was about it. If memory serves, most of the moments that could even be considered romantic revolved around some tragic event or circumstance. Kara telling Mon-el that maybe he was enough for her was because she just got fired from her dream job. Oh, and she was already frustrated a week or so later and had to be rescued by Lena. Mon-el finally telling Kara the whole truth and confessing his love for her was because she, rightfully, broke up with him over his lies and wanted nothing further to do with him. Also, he broke into her apartment for the third time to do so which is really creepy. Them reconciling was because some random villain of the week forced Kara into an alternate world that required her to follow a preset system of rules and directions to get out to show her how wrong she supposedly was, and just how much she, supposedly, was in love with Mon-el. Kara’s confession of love came when Mon-el was being forced off the planet after the Daxamite invasion. That is the first time she says those words. Now, to be fair, couples on other shows, including the Arrowverse, also fight and disagree, but they also have basic, healthy interactions that outnumber said fights and disagreements that don’t revolve around tragedy and discord. And if they do they actually focus on the romantic relationship.

This brings me to the opener of Season 3. The episode begins with Kara having a dream/episode. In her dream/vision, she is walking in a field on Krypton. A few seconds in, Mon-el comes up behind her, and they kiss. Pretty straight forward scene. Makes sense, she misses her boyfriend and is still not over him. However, from there Kara breaks the kiss off and sees a figure in the distance. This figure is then revealed to be her mother, Alura, and Kara immediately walks over to her mother and embraces her fully with Mon-el being a blur in the background. So, the writers are tying Mon-el’s departure to the loss of family and home in Kara’s mind. That is a very strange narrative decision if your intent is to present Kara and Mon-el as the primary canon relationship. I mean, Barry and Oliver have also experience great tragedies. Barry lost both his parents because of his powers. Oliver has also lost friends and family due to his choice to be a vigilante. Yet, when both their respective love interests were harmed, attacked, or taken, there was no overlap or association with anything else. 

Oliver didn’t think of his father drowning or his mother being impaled with a sword or Tommy being crushed or any of the other loved ones and/or lovers he lost when he held Felicity in his arms after she was shot. She was the only thing on his mind during that time. Throughout all of Season 3, Barry never thought about his mother’s, father’s, or anyone else’s death as the shadow of Iris’s impending demise got closer and closer. Their loved ones were about to die and they only thought about them. On the other hand, Kara’s loss of Mon-el seems to be intrinsically tied to her loss of Krypton, and not just from the example given. Practically every time Kara delved into the loss of her boyfriend in the first episode of Season 3, it was either tied to Kara’s great loss or quickly moved passed.

When Kara finally begins to open up about her emotional state and allows herself to be somewhat vulnerable, she goes to J’onn. Yes, he is Space Dad, so it kind of makes sense that she would talk to him, but, once more, from a narrative standpoint it’s an odd choice. If Kara’s primary defect, for lack of a better term, is the loss of her love, particularly the fact that she feels responsible for it, then the obvious choice for her to speak to would be Lena, the only other character who has gone through something similar. Would it be difficult with the whole not knowing the Supergirl secret? Sure, but that would also open up the writing for potential humor amid the heavy topic. Instead, Kara goes to J’onn, the only other person in this world that shares the loss of family and civilization with Kara. Furthermore, their conversation revolves around the loss of family, not a romantic partner. J’onn mentions how he misses his daughters (not his wife or M’gann) after being prompted by Kara. And Kara discusses how she dreams of Mon-el being with her mother. Again, why write this dialogue and scene if you are supposedly trying to show how devastated Kara is about losing the, supposed, love of her life?

Then, we have the picture and phone scene. This is the second time that Mon-el becomes a blurry background for Kara when she “faces” prominent women in her life. In the opening dream, Kara goes to her mother while Mon-el becomes blurry in the background. In this scene, the pictures of Kara and Mon-el together become a background blur as she texts Lena, her best friend and new boss/partner (?). It’s also interesting to note that during the episode, Kara repeatedly states how she is going to only be Supergirl from now on to not face the emotional turmoil of losing Mon-el, and in two out of the three scenes where Mon-el is visible, he becomes a blur to make room for women in Kara’s life that have no knowledge or real connection to her Supergirl alter ego, but are prominent in Kara’s (Zor-el and Danvers) life.

So, is Karamel canon? Yeah. Will it remain so? Probably, and I say that mostly because the two lead actors are dating and not because the relationship is a high point of the show or anything. I suppose the fact that the pairing will remain canonical is what baffles and concerns me when it comes to the writing. Next episode has Psi, a powerful fear based villain, and I’m assuming Kara’s fear will somehow revolve around losing Mon-el, but if the writers once again tie that loss to the loss of Kara’s family and Krypton, I will just be even more confused. Because, honestly, at that point, the writers are just intentionally being obtuse or are just bad writers. And with the CW, it’s kind of hard to tell.

[chrissheridan552]

Best storylines- Captain America

Some of caps most famous and well known storylines are:

'THE SECRET EMPIRE'

Before they did the controversial story line of the same name that turned cap into a hydra agent and took over the world we got the original secre empire, a lot of what would become familiar Cap tropes were introduced for the first time during writer Steve Englehart's classic  run, including the idea of multiple caps, the notion that Steve Rogers could abandon his costumed identity in order to find himself which would later be somewhat overused as the years go on.

'CASTAWAY IN DIMENSION Z'

Captain America stories that alter Steve Rogers’s status quo have been par for the course for decades as it is with most superheros, a constant cycle of trying new things that the decades old characters have never done before, but this story took him somewhere he’d never been before (at least in his solo stories) an entire different dimension. what i really liked about this story was it showed what cap could be as a father as he met a clone of the man who put him in that dimension arnim zola and raised him for years before he was rescued. this could be read at any time as it places steve out of the main marvel universe and showcases what cap can do without the avengers and his usual roster of backup.

'CAPTAIN AMERICA NO MORE'

The writer of this run Mark Gruenwald is one of the best talents to ever work on the character, due to the social commentary elevating the book into something more than just a superhero punching bad guys. Gruenwald’s magnum opus on the character was the sprawling epic Captain America No More, a story line which spanned a then-unheard-of 18 issues compared to the modern day were one story line can last over 50 issues if done right.

this story was about cap being forced into retirement after refusing to be bound by the government and their rules, similar to his argument that caused the civil war in the mcu. This was a groundbreaking premise at the time as Captain America very rarely spoke out against the government that he admired so much. While the government scrounged to find his replacement, Cap began to work outside of the law and adopted a new identity, The Captain. 

Captain America No More is a amazing bit of comic work that deconstructs the personality of the hero and reconstructs him as a vastly improved and more interesting character which would give a user of my site a great understanding of the character.

'MAN OUT OF TIME'

Written by mark waid this story focus on a fasinating part of the captain america character: The culture shock Steve Rogers must have felt after waking up in the modern world after disappearing during World War II which i think would be facinating for new readers and give them a really good understanding of the man behind the mask whilst also touching on the orgin of the hero in a new light, exactly what im looking to include in my site.

‘CIVIL WAR’

One of the best bits comics i think ive ever read period is that of civil war, when i was younger all i collected was spiderman, and it was around the time civil war was going on so spiderman had tie ins, books that were not the main story but related to them. I remember when spiderman was still on the side of tony stark and captain america appeared to him a the rooftop asking him to switch sides, i think it was one of the first times i had actually ever read captain america in a proper comic and instantly knew just how important he was to characters like spiderman.

Civil war showed the marvel universe spilt into two waring factions over the Superhuman Registration Act, a bill that would force all heroes to disclose their identities to the government and become agents of the United States. some of the heroes sided with the pro registation iron man the others with cap who said supporting the bill was giving up their fundamental freedoms.The tale was emotionally charged and showed just how unwavering Cap really is with his belief and gives you a perfect showacase of the character that stands up for what he belives in no matter the consequneces and shows the love other characters have for the man as it tears them apart having to fight him.

'THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA'

Following the events of civil war captain america is assassinated on the steps of the courtroom he was supposed to have his trial in. after his death his partner bucky barnes who resurfaced during the events of winter solider ( the story that i mention next) takes up the mantle of captain america, it is a look at caps life and what he was all about but perhaps the end of a character (even though he returns soon) maybe isnt the best place for a new reader to start

'THE WINTER SOLDIER' 

The winter solider showed the return of caps old partner bucky barnes in a tragic way. Bucky was thought to be killed in the incident that froze cap in the ice, as it turns out Bucky was captured by Russian scientists after his plane crash in the '40s and was brainwashed into becoming a killing machine.