#villains include kingpin cole

[thestuffedalligator]

I made a spiderverse OC.

Little Webbed Riding Hood, the Spider-Woman from a Shrek/Into the Woods style fairy tale universe.

[guessimjoiningthespidermanfandom]

Blessing in Disguise

Peter Parker x bisexual!reader

Peter Parker x fem!reader

Peter Parker x black!reader

Peter Parker x villain!reader

Warnings: Hospitals, Explosions, depictions of pain, allusions to mania and depression, self harm/unhealthy coping mechanisms, mentions of death and the dead, gambling, potential underage drinking, theft, guns, gun violence, depictions of bullet wounds, and drunk people. 

Word Count: 3.4k

Songs: All the kids are depressed- Jeremy Zucker, Everywhere- Chloe x Halle, Middle Child- J. Cole, She Knows- J. Cole, Breezeblocks- alt-J, Pussycat Doll-Flo Milli, It’s Been So Long- The Living Tombstone, Take me to Church- Hozier, Good Kid- Kendrick Lamar, Death of a Bachelor- Panic! At the Disco, Them Changes- Thundercat, Detention- Melanie Martinez, Recess- Melanie Martinez, Something for your M.I.N.D- Superorganism 

A/N: I actually hate this chapter because I feel like the writing doesn’t flow. I feel like it’s to jampacked with things that don’t do anything to push the story forward. Anyway I hope you still read it anyways. 

Series Masterlist   Previous Part   Next Part

I did the hand sign stating I’d stand. I knew I won for sure this time because I had a perfect hand of 21. The two other people playing against groaned as I was declared the winner yet again. 

Swiping the chips for the 3rd time since I’d been at the casino. I decided to take my wins and make my way to the bar that our “target” was residing. 

I had a hunch on where Carmen was but had no actual idea. I’d just text her. In the meantime I had this grown ass man to make a move on. 

I was like 97% sure I had the right guy anyway. I looked much older than usual tonight due to Carmen being a makeup goddess and I gotta say flirting can get you a long way. 

“Hey,” I spoke, sitting on the bar stool next to the man.

He looked up at me mumbling a quick hey.

“You expecting someone?” 

“Nope,” He popped the ‘p’ “What about you?”

“Same as you,”

“Now I don’t believe someone as beautiful as you is here alone,” He moved his arm that much closer to mine. I pushed out a smile and giggled. 

“I could say the same about you,” We made eye contact for a second “But no seriously, I’m just here with a girlfriend. It was my birthday yesterday but she wasn’t free so we came out today,” I lied. 

“How old did you turn?”

“Twenty Two,” He nodded seemingly content with the answer. 

“So you’re not around here are you?”

“Either you’re a genius or I’m just very bad at blending in, no I’m from New York,” 

“Ah, I have some friends in New York, which part?” 

“Harlem actually but I recently moved to Queens,” I lied again. 

“Oh I don’t many from those cities,”

“If we're being honest I don’t know many people from Queens either my life’s been more hectic ever since I moved,”

“I hear you,” He informed me, leaning on the small backing the stools had. 

We talked for about 15 more minutes, him explaining the switch between New York to Nevada. Then Carmen walked up to me and feigned drunkenness signaling she was done with her job. I made my way back. To the man who’s name I still hadn’t learned. 

“As much fun as I was having talking to you, my friend is way too drunk to be out in public so we should probably head back to the hotel.” I sat back on the barstool turning my legs towards the man batting my eyes 

“Could I possibly use your phone to call an Uber mine is dead?” 

“Yeah of course you can…” His sentence fizzed off at the end in place of where my name would be.

“Ciara,” I filled in “And you are?” 

“Jim” He started handing me the phone.

I used his phone for an entirely different reason than I’d claimed. The project Carmen had been working on was melting the wires together to fix the flash drive that works inside of phones. It hadn’t worked in years.

It took about a minute to duplicate the phone's data. I stuck the flash drive in my bra before going to give the phone back. 

Just as I started moving a loud argument broke out, by the drunk accents I could tell it would soon get violent. Seeing as I had many experiences with an aggressive drunk. I wasn’t going to take my chances and began turning towards the main exit.

 I heard the first shot echo followed by another. Soon everyone was shooting. Including Carmen who I think just wanted an excuse to shoot at people passing it off as “protecting her friends”. 

She was closer to the exit than I was so she slid me the gun and I was able to ward off anyone shooting in our general direction. Not for long though. A bullet lightly grazed my dominant arm’s shoulder; it still dug in enough to do some sweet damage. 

Fuck

What’s up with me? I haven’t been on my A game lately. 

We were also out of bullets. Mostly because we weren’t actually expecting to have to fucking shoot at people. I ducked back down behind the bar trying not to get caught on the broken glassware. 

“I think it would be a good time to do that thing?” I asked. 

She rolled her eyes 

“You know I hate doing it,”

“Well I’m literally bleeding out,” I dramatized pointing to my shoulder. “So if you want to get out of here not in body bags, do the thing,” 

“Alright, just this one time,” She begrudgingly made her way out from behind the bar and away from me. 

I covered my ears and closed my eyes as the glass around me rained down and the bar shook. I could slightly hear the cries from beneath my hands. Once she moved back over to me 

“See that wasn’t so bad, birdy,” I scrambled up to my feet ignoring the pull in my shoulder. 

I made my rounds grabbing Jim’s phone, cash, wallets, watches, and anything else that looked expensive from pockets and the ground. 

I stood awkwardly staring at my feet as I slid from side to side with my butt planted on my skateboard. 

“Hi,” I heard squinting my eyes looking up revealing a equally nervous looking Peter

“Hey,” I nodded at him. 

The conversation wasn’t as awkward as I thought it’d be he’d apparently asked Liz to prom and he said yes. Which I was definitely super happy about because why wouldn’t I be? 

Anyway who cares about that anyway. Props to Peter for not bringing up the whole ghosting everyone thing for like a week thing. Because if he didn’t bring it up I was going to act like it never happened. 

We talked about everything and anything. From favorite candies or colors to our beliefs about life after death. I’d found out his favorite candy were skittles, favorite color: red and that he was Jewish but not necessarily religious and didn’t believe in heaven or hell but he believed in the eternity of a soul. 

I’d told him that my favorite candy was F/C, my favorite color being pink and that I didn’t know what I believed in. I believed in a higher power but not that they were inherently good because of all the suffering on earth. I’d told him if they weren’t good and had abandoned us while alive. Why would they care or have any plan for us into the afterlife? I think that part is up to us, and what we believe. I’m trying not to think about death.

Then like clockwork he had to leave before 9 which is funny because it’s like he wasn’t even trying to hide his secret identity. He’d told me he lost the internship and normally his excuse to leave was the internship. 

I just guess that means he no longer has Stark’s backup. He only had it for a while anyway he’d be fine without it again. Actually when I think about it,  from his behavior he’d exhibited as Spiderman in the short few months I’d had the displeasure of knowing him as ‘Thorn’ he’d be weak. He was unconfident, relied on his tools far too much. Couldn’t see himself without the suit. So maybe he was really just going home. So he’d be fine. 

I’d also be fine. No matter how much it didn’t look like it at the moment. I’d be fine. I was always fine. I was fine without my mom, without Rose, without my dad, without Olivia and any one else I’d ever been stupid enough to get attached to. I’d bounce back. I always did. 

It’d taken Carmen much convincing to not sit around and babysit me 24/7 because of my shoulder. She was sure that I’d do something dumb and it would get infected. 

 I was sitting on MJ’s bed getting ready for homecoming. My neck jerked again as Bri attempted to detangle and braid my hair. 

If I hadn’t spiraled into the Vulture, Kingpin and SHIELD, rabbit hole I probably would have taken better care of myself and my hair. 

“Stop moving,” She tsked.

“Stop trying to rip my head off my neck,” I hissed back. 

Bri did my nails back when we were still at her house waiting for MJ to pick us up. She actually did pretty good. I think she would do great at a cosmetology school. She's pretty much into everything: hair, nails, makeup the whole nine yards. She did all of that for me. 

The make up was very simple, but I was still able to get my signature winged eyeliner. Winged eyeliner is something very dear to me mostly because Rose was the first to put me on it and I wore it everyday since. It kinda felt disrespectful to stop at this point.

The only thing left was the dress MJ had gifted me. Her mom bought her a dress but she still refused to wear dresses so she returned it for this one, she opted for a very nice pantsuit she already had. Then Bri's outfit of course matched her boyfriend’s. 

I’ve never really liked school dances they’re always so overhyped, but I go to them all anyways, because then I get in on all the drama. It helped me build up my arsenal of knowledge about everyone. 

I was sitting at one of the round tables near the entrance with MJ, Bri, and Olivia. We had a bottle of “Gatorade” open and out for anybody who wanted to drink it. I was about to drink from it when I saw Liz enter alone. 

I made my way over to her.

“Where’s Peter? I thought he asked you?” 

“I don’t even know he just ditched me,” She let out a deep breath. 

“Aw I’m sorry,” I wrapped my good arm around her shoulder.

 “Well don’t think about that asshole, you’re way out of his league anyway,” I assured her to which she let out a weak laugh. 

“Come sit with me and my friends,” 

 A girl with knockers dancing all along her head came up to before speaking 

“Why are you crying?” 

I sniffed pulling my head from my arms. 

“I miss my mom,” 

“I miss my mom sometimes but I like my grandma too,”

“Where’s your mom?” I asked.

“I don’t know my grandma says she’s sick,” She shrugged. “Where’s your mom?”

“Well my grandma says she’s in a better place now but I know that just means dead,” 

“Yeah my dad is dead too so I know what you mean, I’m Rose. What’s your name?”

“Y/N,” 

“Y/N, that's a pretty name,” She smiled. “You wanna come sit with me and my friends Y/N?”

“Y/N!”

I jumped a bit at the voice before matching it to MJ

“What?” I asked in a harsher tone then necessary.  

“Jeez sorry,” She reeled back “Someone is asking for you named Carmen. They said it’s important,” She waved her phone around. 

My face dropped and I hoped no one caught it. 

I grabbed the phone exiting the auditorium.

“Okay what’s up?” 

“You know Liz’s dad whatever her name is but yeah, He’s gonna rob that plane that’s moving everything from the Avengers tower,” She rushed

“What!?”

Holy shit 

That must be where Peter’s went. So he figured it out too. Kid’s smarter than I give him credit for.

“I’ll send you the location on your phone,”

“Why didn’t you just call me from there?”

“Because you never answer it,”

“True,” 

“Y/N?” She whispered.

“Yeah?” 

“Be careful,” 

“Always,” I smiled. 

I rushed out of the building not thinking about how I could get caught. Near the buses there was the new Shocker lying unconscious. 

I took the webshooter I found next to him. Then made a run for it. Stopping to hot wire the nearest car, I sped to one of the locations that I knew Vulture’s team kept their weapons at. I was throwing everything in the same pile. Getting ready to destroy them. 

Then the door creaked open.

I felt the bed dip as my brother sat next to me. 

“Are you coming?”

I pulled the cover off my face 

“Why should I?”

“Because you’ll regret it if you don’t,” 

“No I won’t leave me alone,” I pulled the cover back over my head. 

“You gotta eat something,” 

“No I don’t leave me alone,” 

“Y/N…”

I knew what he was going to say and I didn’t wanna hear it. 

“She would want you to eat something,”

“Fuck you! How would you ever know what she would've wanted? No one here knew her and now one will ever get the chance to again so just leave me alone,” 

“Y/N-“

“Don’t Y/N me, get the fuck out of my room,” He sat there for a second, stunned “NOW!” 

As soon as the door closed and I flipped back over

I was shaken back into the present only to find that I was pinned under the man who’d entered the room before I zoned out. He reached for the nearest weapon. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was. Which is rare. I have a whole weapons catalog in my brain. Unfortunately for him he couldn’t grab it without giving me leeway to get from underneath them. 

Unfortunately for me I put too much pressure on my arm in the seconds I took to grip my shoulder recuperating myself. The man had fired the weapon he had at the pile of weapons that I stumbled back towards. 

The weapons then emitted purple light before exploding leaving me caught under some wood and concrete as the ringing in my ears only got louder and louder.

The fire around me crackled loudly and I bit my lip.

The smoke was only getting more plentiful.

I started coughing which only got more and more painful.

When I came to myself, I wasn’t choking anymore and the fire around me had died down. I was able to push myself from underneath the rubble holding me down. Not without lots of pain though.

The dress I was wearing was torn completely, holes big enough to see what I was wearing underneath it already. 

So I just took it off.

It wasn’t like I was completely naked I was wearing boxers. Not like I haven’t left the house in a bra and shorts before. Also who gives a fuck I just almost died. 

It was like 35° but I wasn’t cold in the slightest. I was actually kind of hot.

If my phone was accurate the plane had already made it near the edge of Queens and Staten Island. Rushing there I was seconds late as I saw the plane crash after I saw two figures fighting along it. 

There was fire everywhere but I wasn’t thinking. I was just running because I couldn’t make out Peter’s shape and if he was dead- 

I swear to fucking God if he was dead. Not again. I couldn’t handle another death.

Peter was saying something. No, pleading as the Vulture stood tall with his wings still intact. He was talking about how it was a nice try and he doesn’t know what he’s messing with.

Peter might not but I knew what this was. I also knew I wasn’t letting him get away with it. 

The wings started producing visible waves of heat. Then it hit me, what Peter was trying to say. The wings were gonna blow.  I got a head start and lunged towards the man. The element of surprise was on my side. That was until he used the wings to lift himself off the ground. 

Now I was fine with parkour and other activities, but being lifted off the ground by someone else, someone who’d never interacted with me ever, is where I draw the line. Then Peter was shooting a web at the wings. To which Vulture dropped me to go after him.

Oh hell no.

“Give it up Peter,” He continued to get closer and closer as the webs were continuously cut through. 

You know how people say they see in red when they get angry? Well the opposite of that happens to me I just see black. Remembering very little to nothing.

Last thing I remembered was fire just fire. From my fingertips, arms, head. It destroyed the wings in seconds, before they had a chance to blow up on their own. 

Peter webbed up the man before moving out of my sight. 

How the fuck do you get fire coming from your body. 

 Literally what the actual fuck. 

I couldn’t breathe. 

That’s what it was, I was dying, I was probably in some coma and this was a weird hallucination my brain pushed out in its final moments.

Okay this is it. I was dying suffocating in some coma.

Or even worse this wasn’t a coma and I was going to die with my body lit on fire literally.

“Oh my God,” I gasped trying to get air into my lungs. 

I closed my eyes and when I opened them Peter was in front of me in a torn up ripoff suit. 

“Y/N,” He moved trying to catch my eye.

“Y/N, Y/N breathe…”

I couldn’t really process his words. My mind was clouded with fear, fear and anger. 

Before I knew it I was hitting my head so I wouldn’t hit anyone or anything else. It’d been a coping mechanism I used ever since I was 3. 

Peter reached for my arms reeling back after his hands came into contact with my boiling skin. 

“Y/N you have to calm down,” He moved in front of me.

I stopped moving my hands but it was still difficult to breathe.

The monitors beeped all around me and if I closed my eyes  and concentrated hard enough. I could convince myself they were birds. 

I could tell from the patter of the knock on the door that it was Rose. 

“Come in!” I called out.

She picked up the clipboard examining it. As she did every time she visited. Luckily for everyone there was no nurse she could bombard with questions and criticism. 

“How are you feeling?” She asked. 

“Itchy, like my guts are on fire,” 

To which she replied by singing the chorus to Girl on Fire. 

“Anyway,” she brought us back after our laughter. “I got you pizza today since I’m sure you’re tired of McDonald’s,”

“I don’t mind McDonald’s actually, anything is better than hospital food. Well actually, their chicken strips aren’t that bad,” 

She placed the box down on my lap. I lifted up the lid and was hit with the smell of the many herbs. I pat by my legs signaling she could sit down. She wiggled into the spot that the bar of the bed allowed. 

“What are we watching today?” 

“Uh…” I clicked on the TV “Vampire Diaries?,”

“That show is still going?

“Yeah, I don’t think it’ll ever end,” 

Somehow the show turned into us dancing around the cramped hospital room.

We spun like the ballerinas in the broken jewelry box I got from my mom. Arms flailing around. The air conditioner made a rattling noise and a half eaten pizza on the bed. The situation was probably extremely weird or unpleasant from any other perspective, but because it was her it was perfect. 

It was like the moment in rom coms where the camera zooms into the main characters dancing as the rest of the characters are put out of focus and they stare into each other’s eyes. I closed my eyes. 

When I opened them I saw Peter’s eyes above mine. 

His hands were immediately on my face making my look straight at him. 

“Are you okay?” He breathed out. 

I sat up feeling a pounding in my head and a pull in my lungs. I was met with the fact that I was definitely not on the ground. I was actually very far from the ground on some ride on the pier. My mouth was dry so it took me a minute to get the words out and when I did it hurt my throat.

“Yeah ’m okay jus’ tired,”

“Okay, well don’t go back to sleep because I think you have a concussion,” 

“You’re acting like I died or something, how long was I out dang,” I joked I always hated when things got too serious. 

“Uh probably...30 minutes? I don’t know I don’t have a watch,” He sniffed and that's when I realized he’d be crying. 

“Were you crying? I knew you cared about me,” I smiled “It was only a matter of time before you fell in love with me, I’m irresistible” 

He laughed weakly wiping his eyes “This isn’t funny,” 

I looked up at him and started uncontrollably giggling. Soon Peter was laughing too.

The moment was interrupted by a squad of police cars pulling up. I absolutely did not want to get down but my tired muscles betrayed me. I was extremely exhausted.  I literally could not move. I just had to go wherever Peter decided to take me. I honestly think I might have a few broken ribs. Nothing I haven’t dealt with before though. We stood off to the side watching as Vulture was stuffed into the back of one of the cars. 

“So Spiderman?” I smirked.

“Uh.. no?” He said as if he’s questioning himself. 

“It’s okay, I won’t tell anyone I’ve known for a while now,” I twisted my body to face him hissing as a sharp sting shot through my body “You're not very good at hiding it,”

“Hey!” He cried out “But seriously you can’t tell anyone,”

“I already said I wouldn’t, but if it makes you feel better I’ll pinky promise you, and everyone knows you can’t break a pinky promise,”

“Alright,” He sighed.

I tried to move closer again and was stopped by the pain in my sides. 

“Okay well, the offer still stands, you’re just gonna have to come over here,”

Taglist:

@tomdiddlyumptious

[daresplaining]

hey, thanks for the awesome answer on matt's hero allies! :D turning it around a bit -- what about the heroes matt has clashed with? the most obvious are frank (for a given amount of hero) and tony (superior iron man, i am looking at you, but there's of course civil war), but what about any others with whom he's butted heads?

   No problem!

   Superheroes fighting superheroes is one of the most popular comics tropes, so Matt has fought a whole bunch of good guys over the course of his career. We’re not including everyone here, but we’ll try to cover all of the usual suspects. And since you didn’t specify whether you wanted to hear about ideological disagreements or physical ones, we’ll talk about both!

Namor

    Namor the Sub-Mariner is one of those people who Matt has fought on only a few occasions, and always due to some key misunderstanding. Namor has nothing against Matt, but he doesn’t have much respect for surface-dwellers as a group and doesn’t hesitate to use force to get his points across. And Matt, though outmatched by the super-strong Namor in every way, is still willing to try and fight him when he starts acting like a threat. Though these two don’t run into each other that often, Namor gets a spot among Matt’s notable opponents because of his appearance in the beautifully badass Daredevil vol. 1 #7 (excerpted below). In this early Daredevil story, Namor tries to hire Nelson and Murdock to sue the human race for denying Atlantis access to the surface world. When the legal system fails to help him, he turns violent. Matt tries to keep him from hurting anyone, and despite getting the everloving snot beaten out of him, he refuses to stop fighting– earning Namor’s respect in the process. (Netflix show fans, this issue is the hallway fight of Daredevil comics. Read it.) Of course, this beatdown doesn’t prevent Matt from trying to fight Namor again, 70 issues later– with similar results. You have to admire his tenacity.  

Caption: “But, once again, the power of the Sub-Mariner is greater than any could suppose, and it is he who recovers first– while the Man Without Fear, despite his insulated gloves– lies weak, and dazed, and helpless…! Yet, how can one measure the limitless courage of a fellow human? Although on the brink of unconsciousness– although racked with pain and fatigue– still the sightless crusader reaches out–!”

Matt: “Come back! You– you mustn’t fight the others–! They’re innocent– mustn’t be harmed– mustn’t–!”

Namor: “I have fought the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and other super-powered humans, but none has been more courageous than he, the most vulnerable of all!”

[Daredevil vol. 1 #7 by Stan Lee, Wally Wood, and Artie Simek]

Elektra

    Conflict is, of course, at the heart of Matt’s relationship with Elektra. He does team up with her quite a bit, but always with the uncomfortable awareness of her willingness to kill. In the beginning, when they first reunited as adults, this was a huge factor in their interactions, with Matt wanting to reconnect with Elektra yet horrified by her chosen profession. Elektra, for her part, tends to do most of her killing when Matt is not around, and she has gone through several phases of her life (lives?) where she has tried to weed out that aspect of her morality. But these experimentations with a no-killing code have never been permanent, and by this point Matt has acknowledged that there’s nothing he can do to change that. As a result, they don’t tend to argue about it as much as they used to.    

Matt: “You’re going to jail, Elektra. You’re a killer… a cold-blooded assassin… and I’m taking… you… in…”

[Daredevil vol. 1 #175 by Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, and Christie Scheele]

Wade Wilson

    Everything about Deadpool, from his banter to his body odor (not to mention his casual approach to murder), is offensive to Matt, meaning that even when they’re not outright physically fighting, they are almost always at odds. They do actually team up from time to time, but Matt never enjoys it. Deadpool’s feelings toward Matt aren’t quite as clear, but he spends a lot of time complaining about Matt’s sense of humor– which always vanishes the moment he comes into contact with Wade. (Yes, Deadpool writers, Matt does actually have a sense of humor.)

Matt: “You’re a complete lunatic. You hear voices. You think people are always watching you…”

Wade: “Hi, kettle! Meet black! You dated Typhoid Mary and used to run the Hand.”

[Deadpool (2012) #11 by Brian Posehn, Gerry Duggan, and Mike Hawthorne]

Carlos LaMuerto

    Carlos (AKA Black Tarantula) is another antihero-type figure with whom Matt occasionally clashes on issues of morality. The two meet in jail, where they develop a tenuous alliance that leads to Matt helping Carlos find work once he gets paroled. Much later, Carlos becomes an invaluable friend during Matt’s attempt to take control of the Hand. But in the beginning they have their disagreements. Carlos wants to be a hero and to make his neighborhood safer for those who live there, but with his criminal background and intimate knowledge of the street gangs he finds himself fighting, he is aware that sometimes effective solutions require breaking a few laws. Matt respects the legal system far too much to be a fan of this approach– despite the fact that he himself breaks laws every day as Daredevil.

Carlos: “You gotta be kidding me, man. I have needs, Murdock… my neighborhood has needs. You wanna hand this over to some crooked cops… when it could be doing some good?”

Matt: “Not our call, Carlos… we’re not here to play Robin Hood.”

[Daredevil vol. 2 Annual #1 by Ed Brubaker, Leandro Fernandez, and June Chung]

Clint Barton

    Matt and Hawkeye rarely interact on-panel, but they do have one big fight in Daredevil vol. 1 #99– which just so happens to be one of the greatest DD issues of all time, so we had to put him on the list.

Matt: “Hey, now– cool it, William Tell. Can’t you see you’re upsetting the lady?

Clint: “My eyes are as good as yours, fearless.”

Matt: “I’ll just bet they are.”

(Oooooooooooooh.)

[Daredevil and the Black Widow vol. 1 #99 by Steve Gerber, Sam Kweskin, and Stan Goldberg]

Peter Parker

    As we discussed in the other post, Matt and Peter are really good friends, but writers sure do love having them fight! Most of their battles are good old fashioned supervillain manipulation (their very first encounter involves the Ringmaster mind controlling Peter into fighting Matt), but others are ideological and personal. Like all close friends, they have their squabbles. Peter, no matter his age, tends to feel like a kid among the older superheroes, and he hates feeling like he is being talked down to or ignored. He and Matt have clashed before on the topics of crimefighting, justice, and on how best to deal with big-time villains like the Kingpin.  

Peter: “Y’know, I used to like you… respect you! But, now you’re pulling high school pranks and standing up for creeps like Kingpin!”

Matt: “[…] What bothers me is, the man is right! Kingpin is evil… he shouldn’t be allowed back in New York! I wish things were that simple!”

[Amazing Spider-Man vol. 1 #287 by Jim Owsley, Erik Larsen, and Julianna Ferriter]

Steve Rogers

   Matt doesn’t fight Steve as often as he fights Peter, but it’s a pretty close thing. Cap is another character the writers seem to love flinging at Matt, and vice versa. They don’t dislike each other (they actually like each other quite a bit), and their fights are always circumstantial– usually the result of mind control or some other artificial judgement impairment.

Steve: “So the little devil wants to fight, eh? Then let’s!”

Matt: “Whew! Nearly took my head off! As if I needed any more evidence that Cap’s gone nuts!”

[Captain America vol. 1 #375 by Mark Gruenwald, Ron Lim, and Steve Buccellato]

   The big exception is their fight at the beginning of Daredevil vol. 3, in which Cap tries to take Matt to task for his actions during “Shadowland”.

Steve: “I gave you time to turn yourself in. My patience is up.”

[Daredevil vol. 3 #2 by Mark Waid, Paolo Rivera, and Javier Rodriguez]

   Matt picks up on the fact that Steve is on edge here because of unrelated personal problems, but he also does genuinely have a good reason for going after Matt. Demonic possession notwithstanding, Matt turned into a city-wide menace during “Shadowland”, and we’re of the opinion that there wasn’t nearly enough of this kind of fallout from it.

The Punisher

   Frank is, as you mention, a longtime frenemy of Matt’s, and we’ve talked a lot already on this blog about their fights. But we also wanted to highlight Matt’s great ideological clash with another Punisher: Rachel Cole-Alves. Rachel, a Marine whose husband is gunned down on her wedding day, teams up with Frank to enact her own retribution against the criminals responsible. As he has for years with Frank, Matt tries to get her to see that there are other ways to deal with loss.  Like Frank, she is dismissive of Matt’s advice, and Matt is not a fan of her perspective on loss-fueled retribution.      

Rachel: “You know what gives me the strength? My loss. We’re alike that way, I imagine. Admit it: nobody who’s a stranger to that particular pain could ever be as driven as us.”

Matt: “…Don’t you ever say that to me ever again. That is a repellent statement. It’s a vomitous insult to every cop– every fireman– every soldier alive who steps up to fight for those who can’t! I am sorry for your loss! But if you genuinely believe that only the death of a loved one can motivate a human being to take up a cause… then get your pathetic, cynical ass out of my way so I can do my job!”

[Daredevil vol. 3 #11 by Mark Waid, Marco Checchetto, and Matt Hollingsworth]

Luke Cage

   Matt and Luke are close friends, and they don’t tend to fight much, but we wanted to include him on the list because Luke is one of the primary superheroes who always steps up and speaks out when Matt messes up. His unwillingness to take nonsense from Matt started way back when they first met. Luke is very difficult to impress, and while he does hugely respect Matt, he also holds him to a high standard, and isn’t willing to let him off the hook for perceived errors of judgement.

Luke: “…You could just as easily admit to who and what you are– Because, yo, man, who you are means a lot more to people than you realize. You are an inspiration to handicapped people… and it ain’t got nothin’ to do with your costume and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Be a man! Stand for something more than just a pair of tights. ‘Cuz– what’s going on now? Just don’t want no part of it. This is you, Matt. This is your life. And we both know that every story has a %$#&bag in it. And right now, it’s you.”

[Daredevil vol. 2 #43 by Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev, and Matt Hollingsworth]

Max Coleridge

   Max (AKA the Shroud) doesn’t run into Matt nearly as much as you’d expect, given that he’s another of Marvel’s very few blind superheroes, but he is one of Matt’s main antagonists throughout Volume 4. (Note that the term “antagonist” does not mean “bad guy”. It describes any character who is working at cross-purposes with the protagonist.) Max doesn’t have anything against Matt in particular, but his creepy obsession with locating his ex-wife interferes again and again with Matt’s efforts to drive the actual bad guys out of San Francisco. This leads them to continually butt heads.

Matt: “What have you done now, Max? You’re crazy, you know that? Every time I trust you, it bites me. You’ve exhausted my patience.”

[Daredevil vol. 4 #15 by Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, and Matt Wilson]

   There’s also an element of territoriality to their clashes. Matt sweeps into San Francisco under a huge spotlight, having just outted himself as Daredevil, and Max feels threatened and overshadowed by his larger-than-life presence in the city.

Max: “I won’t mince words. This is my turf. There’s no room for you in this city. Leave.”

Matt: “…Nice you meet you, too. You might want to dial back the attitude, though. I have a real zero-tolerance policy when it comes to bullies.”

[Daredevil vol. 4 #2 by Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, and Javier Rodriguez]

Natasha Romanov

   Natasha is another person who gets the honor of appearing on both lists. We’ve talked before about the combative nature of her relationship with Matt. They are great friends, but their time as partners (professional and romantic) was rife with tension and arguments as they tried to negotiate the power dynamics of their relationship. After the initial honeymoon phase ended, Natasha came to realize that she was being pushed to the side. Matt is a domineering, take-charge kind of person, and he was treating her like a sidekick. Natasha, concerned about what this would do to her image as a crimefighter, and unhappy with being overshadowed and underestimated, was quick to confront Matt whenever he grew too self-centered.

Natasha: “It suddenly struck me, Matt, that for the past few weeks– I’ve been your partner– You never thank me– never accept me for what I am– a person– someone apart from you– someone who acts and reacts for her own reasons– not just for yours! I’ve been your partner, Mr. Murdock– but you haven’t been mine!”

[Daredevil vol. 1 #91 by Gerry Conway, Gene Colan, and Tom Palmer]

   This tension eventually led to their break-up, when Natasha decided that she needed some time to herself, and to work independently again. This, it turns out, was a wise choice. They still have the occasional argument, but since they’re no longer living and working in such close proximity, their friendship has been much less turbulent ever since.  

Nick Fury/S.H.I.E.L.D.

   Matt has always had a chilly relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D. He isn’t a fan of subterfuge (unless he’s the one initiating it, of course), and he and his friends have had a lot of bad experiences with the organization. He doesn’t tend to actively fight them– and he’s actually gone on missions for them a number of times– but he’s also stood in opposition to them, most recently by representing Bruce Banner��s interests while Maria Hill had him on retainer. There’s an alternate universe in which Matt becomes a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent instead of a superhero, but obviously that’s an exception…

Fury: “Get your signatures later, Piercey! You and Dugan clear this room– me an’ the lawyer got to go at it one-on-one!”

Matt: “What happened to that infamous S.H.I.E.L.D. know-all, see-all, colonel? It’s ex-lawyer, nowadays– not that that’s going to save you from seeing me in court! Harassment, assault, kidnapping– I’m going to hit S.H.I.E.L.D. with so many civil and criminal suits you’ll wish you never rebuilt this spook city!”

[Daredevil vol. 1 #298 by D.G. Chichester, Lee Weeks, and Christie Scheele]

Ghost Rider

   Matt has never really known what to make of Ghost Rider, but he does know that the whole Penance Stare thing creeps him out, and that he’s not a fan of Ghost Rider’s absolute and unyielding approach to justice. Physically, Matt isn’t much of a match for the spirit of vengeance, but that doesn’t stop him from trying to stand up to him anyway. It never ends well.

Ghost Rider: “Vengeance has been served… but not in the way I had intended… I was attracted to this man because of forces at work far beyond your ken, Daredevil– and in your zeal for so-called “justice,” you prevented me from learning the truth about the murderer you seek when you interrupted the Penance Stare.”

Matt: “His fingers… his fingers are in my mind!”

[Daredevil vol. 1 #372 by Joe Kelly, Ariel Olivetti, and Christie Scheele]

Wolverine

   Another in the long list of killers who Matt occasionally teams up with. Their disagreements are pretty standard…

Matt: “But we’re not God, we’re not judges, we’re not killers! He’s almost dead, he’ll probably die! His own fighting will have killed him, not you! Don’t make it you! Don’t do it, Wolverine!”

Logan: “He wants my brand of justice– not yours! Blast! I want to kill him!”

[Daredevil vol. 1 #249 by Ann Nocenti, Rick Leonardi, and Christie Scheele]

   …except for that time Wolverine was brainwashed and broke into Matt’s apartment and started insulting him. That was new.  

Logan: “Listen to you, Murdock: talking like you’re some kinda superhero– Ever wonder why they didn’t ask you to join their fancy teams, big shot? Ever wonder why you always work alone? ‘Cuz you’re blind. Handicapped. Oughta hear the sick jokes they crack behind your back–”

[Wolverine vol. 3 #24 by Mark Millar, John Romita, Jr., and Paul Mounts]

Himself, that one time

Matt: “This is impossible!”

Stick: “Maybe it is. But that’s not gonna stop those three… impossibilities… from taking you apart!”

[Daredevil vol. 1 #349 by J.M. DeMatteis, Cary Nord, and Christie Scheele]

[kartiavelino]

Akinosho’s ‘Dre’ takes center stage on new season of ‘Power’

Rotimi Akinosho is returning to “Power” as ambitious kingpin Dre, who takes a leading role on the Starz series heading into Sunday night’s Season 5 premiere. As the new season kicks off, Dre is preparing to take over the drug cartel in a power struggle with his former boss, James “Ghost” St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick), and his ex-friend Kanan (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, also the show’s executive producer). “I want to be the best villain on TV. As an actor you want to make people feel, even when the show isn’t on,” says the Nigerian-American Akinosho, 29, who joined “Power” in Season 2. “So the fact that I can affect your emotions this way is the best feeling in the world.” On last season’s finale, Dre solidified his relationship with the Jimenez siblings, Alicia (Ana De La Reguera) and Diego (Maurice Compte) in a bid to become a feared leader. “I think Dre would be the best boss because he’s the most cerebral,” Akinosho says. “He’s underestimated on how smart he is, and that gives him his own power. He’s in his 20s and has his own restaurant and his own club — and I think he’s doing everything faster than Ghost did at this age.” Paul Schiraldi Akinosho says there’s much more going on between Dre and Ghost than meets the eye. “The misconception is [that] Dre does not want Ghost to get killed. He basically says, ‘Leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone,’ but that’s just in [Sunday’s opening] episode,” he says. “Dre is like, ‘Look, there’s gonna be a problem if you want it but I don’t want this problem.’” When asked about how it all ends up for Dre this season, Akinosho has a simple answer: “It ends how I want it to.” Aside from his role on “Power,” Akinosho is also an accomplished R&B artist — he’s opened for Jennifer Hudson and appeared in Keyshia Cole’s “Trust and Believe” video — and plans to drop his next single (as yet untitled) later this summer or early in the fall. “Music means more to me than acting because I grew up doing music and music is me,” he says. “I know what I’m up against in terms of breaking the stigma of the ‘actor/singer.’ But I love competition and I want to break all barriers.” Akinosho is also set to star opposite Erica Ash in “Singleholic,” a big-screen romantic comedy whose cast includes Vanessa Williams, Tyson Beckford and Stephen Bishop. “It’s about this woman who is having a hard time finding love, and the character I play is someone who’s an artist — he’s a real-deal painter and he wants to be with her,” he says. “So we’ll see whether she chooses him or not. Basically he’s the best choice for her, but you know how things happen — you don’t always go with the best choice in life.” Akinosho, meanwhile, is adamant about not being labeled — which explains his comedic videos on Instagram, winning him the nickname of “Mr. Sexy Nigerian Buttascotch” and celebrity fans including Snoop Dog and Wiz Khalifa. “I wanted to go into another lane and it just made sense to do my Nigerian accent because every time I did it in a clay mask people laughed,” he says. “So I just thought about this character and if it works it works. If it doesn’t it doesn’t. I want to impact the culture in any way I possibly can.” “Power” Season premiere 9 p.m. Sunday on Starz [embedded content] Share this: https://nypost.com/2018/06/29/akinoshos-dre-takes-center-stage-on-new-season-of-power/ The post Akinosho’s ‘Dre’ takes center stage on new season of ‘Power’ appeared first on My style by Kartia. https://www.kartiavelino.com/2018/06/akinoshos-dre-takes-center-stage-on-new-season-of-power.html

[adamwatchesmovies]

2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)

The people who made 2 Fast 2 Furious had no idea the franchise would get to be as big as it is now It makes sense then that this is the follow-up to The Fast and the Furious. It’s exactly what I expected it to be. The film is a teenager, and not in a good way. It’s trying way too hard to be awesome, many of its actions are puzzling and it shows potential while proving itself to be quite stupid.

Former LAPD officer Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) now makes a living racing the streets of Miami. When the FBI forces him to help them take down drug lord Carter Verone (Cole Hauser), he brings in his own team of experts to get the job done: childhood friend Roman (Tyrese Gibson), mechanic and race organizer Tej (Ludacris), speed demoness Suki (Devon Aoki) and the sultry Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes).

The biggest problem with this film is that the plot is completely worthless. The drug kingpin thing has been done time and time again. It doesn’t help that Carter Verone is a dull villain. He doesn’t have an ounce of charisma or charm. He’s just an excuse to have our heroes drive around and dodge bullets while placing Brian undercover once again. Actually, a lot of 2 Fast 2 Furious is reminiscent of the first film. We’re introduced to the Miami race scene, we get a couple of characters that are compelling (and others that aren’t, those ones you know exactly where they’re going), there are many shots of beautiful women lounging along in their bikinis, and we’re given a “forbidden” love plot that threatens to compromise Brian’s entire operation. Like I said before, it's the sign of a series that doesn't have many aspirations that it's mostly trying to recapture the success of the first by copying it.

While the newcomers to the franchise are not as immediately magnetic as Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel, not appearing in this film!?) they do have their charm and thankfully, a little bit of Paul Walker goes a long way. Once again, the film delivers when it comes to the stunts and racing action. There’s also something mouth-watering about seeing these amazing racing machines as presented here. When the characters fawn over the engines, the rims, the various techniques used to make them go faster than ever before you start caring about what's happening.

You can enhance your viewing experience by watching the “Turbo Charged Prelude” to 2 Fast 2 Furious, likely included on the DVD (if it isn’t, check on the disc for the previous film). Had the franchise stopped here, it would be a hard sell. It’s just not as fun as the first one. But I’ve got faith that something better is on the way. Up next, Tokyo Drift! (On DVD, March 19, 2017)