#why make Steve’s only character trait needing a girlfriend?

[fullyinconsequential]

Here’s a 3am Steddie rant I think every Steddie lover (and possibly hater) should hear. I have no goal to convert anyone—just to say that the ship did not actually “come from nothing.” Here’s why:

I don’t understand how there wasn’t Steddie foresight in the writer’s room.

So they play it up in season 3 like Steve just can’t get the girl and when he does she’s not the right girl and yada yada yada—cool beans. I love his character arc with Robin, their friendship, her queerness. I love their entire bathroom interaction.

Specifically: “It’s somebody that I didn’t even talk to in school. Maybe cuz Tommy H. would’ve made fun of me, or I wouldn’t be prom king…. First of all, she’s hilarious. So funny. I feel like this summer I have laughed harder than I have laughed in a really long time. And she’s smart—way smarter than me…. She’s honestly unlike anyone I’ve ever met before.”

Traits Robin Also Has that Eddie Shares:

Outcast

Band Kid

The Witty Banter

Eddie’s personality is VERY Robin. Not perfectly so, but maddeningly close.

Another point:

This is just the same person in different gender specific fonts, A.K.A. Steve’s “love interest” versus a guy who called him “big boy” completely unprompted and interrupted a tender moment between him and his “love interest” and complimented him for an entire scene while Steve wore his clothes.

So, really, one of them’s Steve’s love interest and the other is Nancy Wheeler /hj.

I write a lot, and as someone who both writes and consumes an abhorrent amount of media, whoever wrote this down, casted and costumed this way, and allowed for the interactions between Steve and Eddie to be as nuanced as they were (EX: the scene in which Eddie steps forward like he has more to say to Steve before he goes off and kills himself) had to have known what was going to happen. There is simply no way of not seeing it.

And if they didn’t want people shipping Steddie at the scale which they do, here’s what went wrong:

First: defaulting to Steve wanting his ex back is just plain shitty writing. It means you don’t know where to go with the character anymore, and since you’re certain he’s done all the growing he can do, he’s just gonna double back to the conflict he was in in the FIRST SEASON.

Are you serious right now, bro?

Steve’s arc as a character has been absolutely heartwarming to watch. If anything, he’d have been better off given the “I need to figure out how to be happy on my own” narrative. Throwing him back at Nancy is a cop out, a big one.

Second: Eddie. Throwing Eddie in the mix was absolutely a WILD decision, because he looks like Nancy, he banters like Robin, and GENDER IS NO LONGER A PLAUSIBLE REASON FOR AN AUDIENCE TO DENY CHEMISTRY, OR EXPLAIN IT AWAY. Not in the year of our lord 2023, no sir. Not unless you’re going to explicitly state in some way to an audience that these characters are DEFINITIVELY STRAIGHT. And with Eddie, they went as far off that course as possible.

The outcast stuff. The D&D stuff. The hatred of the system. The mysteriously living with his uncle and not his parents. THE HANKERCHIEF IN HIS BACK POCKET.

So essentially, this is what they did:

They took a beloved character, flubbed over his character arc because they weren’t sure what to do with it.

Then, they created a SECOND beloved character, made him likable, lovable, even, and relatable. Then they gave him half and half personality and looks of Steve’s last two love interests. Then they gave us scenes of them together where they showed chemistry, genuineness, and playfulness.

Then they EXPECTED that we as an audience had enough heteronormativity left as a society to say—oh, those two guys aren’t flirting with each other even a little bit because they’re two guys and obviously that doesn’t happen.

WHEN IN THE SAME SEASON WE WATCHED WILL AND ROBIN GO GAY PANIC AND DESPAIR LIKE?????

Pick a side pick a side, are your characters fucking gay or is your audience fucking blind?

Point being, I have some friends IRL who don’t really get this. They think Steve and Eddie hardly interacted enough for there to be romance at all, but I think it’s less about how much they interacted and more about the (unintentional) set up they were given by the writers.

Steve’s a truly beloved character and I don’t know on ST fan that wants to see him just end up back with Nancy Wheeler like his entire character arc was just to “get the girl” and “have six kids.” Which he already has by the way.

Anyway, that’s just my two cents. I’m not advocating for anyone to ship them, I’m just saying it’s honestly a perfectly logical conclusion to make, especially if you CARE about Steve as a character, you know? We want him to be with someone genuine, someone who challenges him to be better, to be different than he was. Nancy couldn’t handle doing that. Robin could, but they’re platonic af.

So why wouldn’t it be Eddie?

Rest in peace, by the way. You would’ve loved this text post.

[wuffgang-ameowdeus-moozart]

I think that the complaints about Vickie are less "she is too similar to Robin" (bc girl literally had half a scene of screentime. we have no idea who she is.) and more "once again there are only two (2) explicitly queers in the show (I will always be a Will should've come out to Jonathan truther) so of course they will be forced together".

She was only barely introduced. It feels a lot like the only reason she exists is so Robin can be with someone. The Duffers already have problems dealing with their current (pretty big) cast, it does not bode well for Vickie's characterisation tbh (I'm sorry, I love him as much as the next person. But Argyle's one (1) personality trait is literally. Weed. So it doesn't seem improbable that Vickie's one (1) personality trait would be becoming Robin's girlfriend. Which would suck for obvious reasons. Also, like. They are already infamous for their treatment of queer(-coded) characters)

It would also take away from stobin time, which is an already established dynamic everyone (if you don't you are simply factually incorrect sorry not sorry) loves. The cast is huge, the Duffers will have to pick and choose who they want to focus on, and it seems way more probable that those will be the established mcs (Will & El especially) and not Robin's side-character love interest. I mean, it would honestly be bad storytelling if they did that in the last season.

Especially since the straight romances are so good. Lumax? Absolute banger. The early Stancy development? So good. Jancy? Pretty sure there's a poll out there about how they are one of the most well-liked couples. Mileven? Multiple seasons establishing groundwork before they even get together. To have Vickie not even be a character before she is thrown into a relationship with the only lesbian feels a bit like a slap in the face. Like, at least Steve had a bunch of character development after the breakup but that can't happen with Vickie because it's the last season and they really have other stuff to worry about 😪 Like, idk, at least everyone else had a choice, which is part of what makes those romances so impactful (lumax, jancy, etc etc), while Robin - on the count of being a lesbian and Vickie being the only other sapphic character - really.....doesn't.

(Plus maybe it's the aro in me speaking, but I found it kinda cool to have a canonically queer character whose story arc is not completely focused on romance for once)

I also think this part of the reason why ronance got so big. Nancy already *is* her own person. Nobody can look at Nancy and say "her only personality is being queer" or "she's only here so Robin doesn't end up alone because we obviously need to pair everyone off somehow". A relationship between them would be another facette of their development, not the one thing that defines them. (Like. Her being bi is literally the only reason Vickie is even in the season. Sorry not sorry.)

But I mean. The season isn't out. We barely saw the two interact. My expectations are already below ground level. Maybe they will surprise me.

[cagesings]

 @heygutlcss​​​  sent:  🔥  (s.tran.ger  th.ing.s)

 st.ev.e  “the  hair”  h.arring.ton  is  not  stupid.  part  of  the  reason  why  i  hate  fandom  culture  so  much  is  how  people  tend  to  diminish  characters  into  one  of  their  traits.  the  soft  one,  the  one  with  trauma,  the  unhinged  one,  etc  etc.  

 often  times  when  i  was  in  the  m.arvel  fandom,  i  saw  p.eter  p.arker  turned  into  this  soft,  sweet,  can-do-no-wrong  boy  who  loves  snuggles  and  is  practically  a  baby,  when  in  reality,  he’s  a  superhero.  he  helped  save  the  world.  sure,  he’s  a  kid  and  he  is  sensitive  (  something  that  i  appreciate  a  lot  because  male  characters  typically  don’t  get  to  cry  in  media  and  be  sad  about  their  losses  ),  but  the  fandom  saw  this  and  decided  that’s  all  he  is.  a  little  baby,  when  he’s  incredibly  powerful  and  kind  and  capable.  did  you  all  forget  how  he’s  very  self-sufficient  by  the  end  of  n.wh?  he’s  not  a  dependent,  little  cry  baby.  

 this  happens  so  often  with  characters  who  are  deemed  “the  himbo”  by  the  fandom  because  that’s  all  they’re  treated  as  from  then  one.  the  dumb,  pretty  boy.  i’m  not  active  in  this  fandom  and  never  will  be  because  it  is  a  dumpster  fire,  but  from  what  i’ve  seen  this  is  pretty  much  how  steve  is  treated.  sure,  he  takes  care  of  his  appearance  and  even  takes  pride  in  it.  that’s  not  a  bad  thing.  just  because  he  likes  the  way  his  hair  looks,  does  not  mean  he  is  stupid  and  vain.  

 steve  cared  so  deeply  about  nancy  while  they  were  dating.  he  tried  to  understand  how  she  felt  about  things  and  he  was  incredibly  supportive  after  barb’s  death.  he  went  to  dinner  with  nancy  and  barb’s  parent’s  to  support  his  girlfriend  in  this  incredibly  emotional  time.  after  he  got  upset  and  some  assumptions  were  made  about  nancy’s  relationship  with  jonathan  at  the  end  of  season  three,  he  went  back  into  the  house  to  help  her.  he’s  not  dumb.  he  knew  something  was  up  and  wanted  to  help  nancy.  was  communication  a  little  shaky  at  times,  especially  in  season  one  in  regards  to  jonathan?  yes.  but  the  boy  is  like  eighteen.  he  felt  hurt.  of  course,  he’s  going  to  do  some  dumb  things.

 throughout  season  two  and  three,  i  get  the  impression  the  d.uffers  saw  all  of  this  calling  steve  a  himbo  bullcrap  and  ran  with  it.  they  dumbed  him  down.  especially  when  he  and  robin  were  drugged  by  the  russians.  that  was  hilarious  and  it  was  really  fun  to  watch,  but  it  felt  like  they  were  trying  to  just  make  him  stupid.  steve  is  activity  involved  in  trying  to  defeat  whatever  was  going  their  way.  he  has  a  close  relationship  with  most  of  the  members  of  the  party  and  understands  emotions  very  well.  

 also  the  scene  where  steve  breaks  jonathan’s  camera  after  looking  through  his  pictures  and  finding  one  of  nancy  topless?  i  can’t  blame  him  for  how  he  reacted?  was  it  good  and  reasonable?  no.  but  he  was  trying  to  defend  his  girlfriend  from  a  pervert  (  glad  that  jonathan  apologized  and  everything,  but  i  can’t  forgive  him  entirely,  it  just  hits  too  close  to  home  for  me  ).  i  don’t  think  steve  needed  to  beat  him  up,  but  i  can’t  blame  him  for  confronting  some  creep  about  taking  topless  pictures  of  his  girlfriend.  

 starting  season  four  tonight,  but  i  have  a  feeling  the  d.uffers  are  gonna  continue  this  crap  into  this  season.  i  would  not  be  surprised  to  find  out  that  they  have  a  personal  bias  against  him  because  he  happened  to  be  popular  in  high  school  and  he’s  pretty  and  gets  the  girls  and  they  didn’t  when  they  were  his  age.  

 the  whole  “himbocation”  of  steve  is  so  incredibly  annoying.  he  is  so  much  more  than  that.  have  you  not  seen  him  beating  up  monsters  and  defending  the  party  members  from  horrors?  sure,  it’s  funny  to  some  extent,  but  the  extent  that  the  fandom  goes  at  to  only  make  him  a  himbo  is  insulting  to  steve  as  a  character.  

[heavycorpse]

“I hate Peggy Carter”.

attention: I don't want to conflict with any of you and aggravate your attitude towards Peggy Carter and I don't want you to hate me for the rest of your days. please, let's be respectful towards each other.

I'm tired of this dull shit directed at peggy.

I really don't understand why you all  okay, not all of you 100% hate Peggy so actively. Not being interested in the character, just not loving her is something else entirely compared to the outright, non-stop hatred that pours in her direction, infecting more and more people in the process.

You say that Peggy Carter is "toxic" because of a one-off episode in Steve and Peggy's relationship in which she shot Steve's shield (although they still continued to respect and support each other), while Tony Stark repeatedly showed self-centeredness, arrogance and selfishness at the very beginning of our acquaintance with him. 

isn't that toxic?  

but what do we have in the end? both of them are heroes in their time periods, in their universes. Peggy Carter was a brave, determined woman capable of fighting back against any enemy.

and Tony Stark was able to reconsider his actions, change himself, his life for the better, he is ALSO a real hero who sacrificed his happy, carefree family life for the sake of saving the whole universe. 

note: we're talking about movies, TV series about them, not comic books that had these characters in. not all people have to kill their time to read absolutely all Marvel comics to know everything and be entitled to voice and reasoning. 

you say that Peggy Carter is still a "bitch" who represents only white women and accordingly she is a true example of white feminism, having a basis for this in the style of: “iN hEr sErIes, PeGgY wOrKs iN a FiEld wHerE theRe aRe oNly wHitE mEn aNd WoMen."

I adore Peggy and always set her as a role model (although I don't think all of her actions are right), but I admit that there really is some problem with her image.

but you have to understand that, in any case, Peggy fought for women's rights the way she could fight. her show was canceled after the end of ONLY 2 seasons, not allowing her to open up properly. and not only her, but also other, no less interesting characters.

also, to reinforce this words, it is worth saying that neither Marvel nor Hayley Atwell support any particular kind of feminism, instead struggling with shitty attitudes toward women in general. think ab it.

you say that Peggy Carter is to blame for preventing the long-awaited reunion of Steven Rogers and Bucky Barnes I just noticed that you also hate Marvel, just because they didn't make Steven and Bucky a canonical couple, although the problem is that Marvel cannot make these characters homosexual.

Marvel focuses on its viewers, on its audience, but in some countries or regions where Marvel everyone adores and loves homosexual relationships are not accepted by society or even are a crime.

also, you should understand that these characters "come from" long-ago comics that have survived to our times and come to life on the big screens. hence the conclusion that Marvel cannot make Captain America and Bucky Barnes a canonical couple, as this is a significant change in their images and it may become something unacceptable to some fans.

but if they do, I'll be glad. I'm not really interested in this two, but I know a lot of very nice people who would be more than happy if they became a couple. BUT IN THIS CASE, I ALSO WANT PEGGY TO HAVE A GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND, OKAY??

if you need proof of these words, just google it. you will find a sufficient number of examples when the creators made too strong changes in the images of all our favorite characters, which ultimately ruined them.

but still, Marvel is not homophobic. in it's cinematic universe there are homosexual characters (love them all!), but this is not their main character trait that should be inserted into every scene, comic book with this character. and that's enough loyalty to people who want to see homosexual characters and to the characters.

I'm very frustrated by these hashtags, in which 60% of audience just wants to cancel Peggy Carter.

Peggy is Captain America's love, and my fav. I really adore this character. you know, at some point in time, I stumbled upon it completely by accident and, to be honest, at first I didn't like Peggy Carter.

in fact, I was very skeptical of her character because “she's so toxic, so cocky, so unpleasant, so ambiguous”.

and those weren't my own thoughts.

these were the thoughts of other people I witnessed. but once in a tiktok I saw a scene of her kissing some blonde (oh my god, Dottie Underwood 🙂🙂) and I suddenly wondered where it was coming from. who it is, and why is it happening. sorry, but it was a shock to me. 

......a pleasant shock.

at first I did not like the series, it seemed boring to me. but then I started noticing situations in Peggy's life when I thought: god, so relatable. then I began to like her clever, sarcastic comments, with which she easily repelled any attacks in her direction. I liked her humor, her resilience, her dedication.

and her quote:

"I know my value. Anyone else's opinion doesn't really matter." became to some extent my anthem.

also, there are a couple of other quotes of her:

"Compromise where you can. And where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye, and say, 'No, you move'."

"To you, I’m a stray kitten left on your doorstep to be protected. The secretary turned damsel in distress. The girl on the pedestal, transformed into some daft whore."

why am I writing this.

I'm writing this because I would like you to try to learn more about her and... be more adequate. because hate isn't cool. I understand that people won't stop hating her from this post, I can't change someone else's opinion at the click of my fingers. and nothing can. and yet... I'm here.

it all also becomes unbearable when you admire this character and surely some person will tell you that you are an idiot who admires this character. it's not normal to insult people online (and in life) just.. because?

there will be people who will say that if I am so sensitive, then I should throw away my computer and never show up here again. but what about you? the fact that someone likes something you don't like hurts you so much that you are ready to wish other people death, tell the most offensive words and turn their life into a living hell. 

I hope that at least someone has read this post to the end and thought about my words. I guess I'm writing this post not so much for haters, but for myself and those who also love Peggy Carter and set her as an example for themselves. a simple reminder to myself and a handful of like-minded people that we are still alive and that we are firmly on our feet and still believe in Peggy.

well. I've finished writing this. I hope i don't suddenly die tomorrow. and if no one reads this masterpiece, then fine. It's okay. Anyway, I said what I wanted to say.

[galaxyshine24-7]

Things I didn't like about Stranger Things Season 3

Now don't get me wrong I love Stranger Things. Its been such a fun ride and inspired me with its 80's feel and DnD vibe. I adored it and still do, I'm so excited for season 4 and can't wait to see the gang again. However when season 3 came out and I watched it certain things didn't sit well with me. So I guess I'm just getting them off my chest. Now reminder these are my opinions if you think something different that is completely fine. I'm just venting at this point and might view things differently from others. So read on if you want.

Spoilers Ahead

Relationships

My biggest struggle watching this season was how they handled relationships. Either how they where handled, or how they weren't handled, or things I see people overlook when it comes to them that should be addressed. So I shall go down the line on what I didn't like and analyze them.

Nancy and Johnathan

Over the seasons I have fallen in love with Nancy's character. I like how the show played into stereotypical 80's tropes. Nancy was the mean older sister, but soon turned into a badass sharp shooter. In this season her character wavered for me a bit. I still love her don't get me wrong, but I was upset a bit how she handled her and Johnathan's situation at the job.

I felt like neither Nancy or Johnathan really talked about how the other made them feel or really get that they understood anyone's plight with the dialogue we where given.

With Nancy is wanting to get on the case and find out what is happening. She wanted to shut up those rude assholes in her office and I applaud her for that. However during that time I don't think she was truly listening to Johnathan's concerns. Now say what you want about Johnathan, I do feel like at the end of the day that he loves and cares for Nancy and will back her up when he can, but in this case we the audience see him become frustrated when he gets fired from a job he really needs to support his family. Now mind you Johnathan had a bad time at the job too, but him being made fun of is something he has grown a thick skin too has seen in previous seasons. He explains to Nancy that his family doesn't come from much money. Honestly him and Will have the lowest income in the friend group compared to the other kids and to me watching them struggle through the seasons compared to the other kids homes. With Nancy she was going off to college and wouldn't need this job for long with how accomplished she is between the high schoolers we know she is probably the only one with plans on going to college. I was a bit upset she didn't consider Johnathan's emotions and situation beforehand discovering what was going one with the rats.

Now Johnathan isn't innocent either he should have been more compassionate with her problems since this was something she wasn't used too getting in a work place. He should have talked to her more and communicated, heck maybe try to find a different job together. With Nancy she admits to her mom how she was unfair to Johnathan. When she then meets him again they didn't have that dialogue with each other at all, instead a few quick lines that left me in a weird place. It felt unfinished and I was not convinced either really talked through it. It felt unfinished and left a weird taste in my mouth in regards with the two. All and all I just wish it was handled better, but I can say that about most things on this list.

Max and Eleven

Now when these two started hanging out I was excited I think their cute and I'm glade El got a friend who is a girl. Its fun to see them talk to each other and bond going on adventures, however I started to raise a brow at Max's behavior and advice. Now side note I know they are children and they are not going to be right about things like relationships all the time. I get that I really do, however I'm still pissed she gave El terrible advice, and I don't think she was fully held accountable for her and El spying on people which is not okay powers or not. I'm glade they started to find about about Billy, but they weren't looking for that and stumbled upon it from spying on others. Its just something they shouldn't do in general to be honest.

Max supports and cares about El I just believe she wasn't the greatest of friends in terms of relationship advice and how she acted towards Mike and the others. Max was projecting her experience with relationships onto El's and Mike's and it did not end well at all. It was up to El at the end of the day to make her own decisions and speak to Mike to fully understand the situation and talk to each other. I understand why people praise and love the relationship, but also don't see its faults or the problems it had. When I found out Max and Lucas break up every other week I was like "are you serious, and you went around giving El advice, and didn't see anything wrong with that?!" I don't think Max ever talked to El about it or El talk to Max more about it, and then there's the whole thing with Mike that I can talk about later.

I just feel like Max wasn't solely positive in her and El's relationship, and I wished El tried to find answers on her own instead of listening to everyone.

(P.S. When Max showed El Wonder Women which is nice. Max makes a comment when El points out Wonder Women and she said. "This is why you can't hang out with Mike all the time." I first I was like okay, showing El a female superhero is cool. However I got to thinking Wonder Women and El don't have much in common besides being women. Mike gave her Grand Master Yoda and he has more in common with El then Wonder Women does. In terms of powers and such Yoda fits more with El, and El is the wisest and level headed out of most of the kids in my opinion. I'm upset at the writers when they seem to forgot Mike gave her a hero more like her in what she can do and who she is. They should've chose someone like Jean Grey who uses her mind and is a red head like Max, it would've made more sense. She appeared in 1963 so Jean would have fit. Also maybe Mike showed her Yoda and thought more about what he does and says that reminds him of El then thinking about what gender she was. Just a thought I guess.)

The Friends Group

Now with age I understand relationships change and mature esxpecliy through friends. This is shown with Lucas and Mike wanting to hang out girlfriends and Dustin having his own thing with Steve. I can see why the writers did this to have different storylines going on but it was weird. You would think after all they been through, they wouldn't get has distanced as they did. It didn't feel like the group was whole and then at the end of the day Will moves. Mike and Lucas where distracted by their own relationships which I can understand, but the whole argument with Mike and Will was strange. You have these kids who fought tooth and nail to get Will back and they can barely give him the time of day?! I get you have girlfriends and such, but come on. It seemed out of character for this group after so much they went through together and to get Will back. The argument with Will and Mike was heartfelt and you could feel Will's plight and Mike's, I guess I was just upset out how distant it was, and how the kids just brushed each other off for their own drama when we've seen many times that they don't do that to this degree.

Characters

There where many characters I either had problems with how they where written or felt like there could've been more.

Mike

Mike's character I feel like was shit on a lot in this season from characters and some of the fanbase. Now I will say upfront that I like Mike, heck I like most of the characters in this show. They got faults and positives that I can see and understand. This season with Mike I feel like his character didn't get the understanding from the other seasons. He's either the bad guy, or the grumpy kid who brushes off all his friends for El. Mike is shown growing his relationship with El and trying his best to be a good boyfriend and protect her. It upsets me when people don't look at the all aspects of a character and see their flaws and good traits. With Mike we have seen this kid put his fucking life on the line for his friends and become distraught when he loses El someone he loves dearly. Its understandable why he is a grumpy mess during the last season, he sat and tried to reach out to El for 353 days when she left. He lost her for a whole year and never stopped trying to see if she was out there, just like for Will he never gave up.

It doesn't surprise me that Mike wanted to do all he can to protect El no matter what so he doesn't loose her again. However when Max starts accusing him of wanting to control her, basically saying he is trying to treat El like property it made my blood boil. We has the audience saw him fight for El and protect El, and never stop looking for El. Then getting this whole "women are a different species," narrative between him and Lucas. How the writers went about that was weird to me seemed a bit forced. For two guys we know fought along along side El and saw her has equal and feel for her, too oh women are a different species we can't understand them at all didn't make the much sense by how hard they where pushing it.

It kind of sucks to hear people hate Mike. Like if you do that's fine, its all good. I just feel like his character doesn't get a fair review at times. Will gets brought up a lot from what I seen. I agree that Mike was being insensitive and like I said before doesn't make sense to brush off Will like that after all they went through. People like to talk about the whole "Its not my fault you don't like girls." Side note I don't believe Will is gay. If you do go for it, I just see the situation a bit different. Will just came out of a very traumatic event and just wants to go back to normal just like the old times with his friends and the hurt he experiences with them all moving on and being not what he remembered. They where not what they used to be. With Mike he is growing up and moving on and in a fit of anger he tells Will its not his fault he doesn't like the relationships him and the others are forming. Like he saying its not his fault Will isn't growing up, and moving on. insensitive yes, but I can understand where both are coming from and dealing with different problems.

Mike isn't a prefect character, and he makes mistakes. I just felt like towards the beginning of the season till some of the end he wasn't treated the best writing wise.

Max

When I first met Max she was such a fun character I love them bringing her into the group. She is fiery and compassionate and I think she brings something new to the group of kids. I think she still does. In the third season I just had a lot of problems with her and her attitudes.

I have already explained her part in El and her relationship. I guess her attitudes towards Mike and Lucas I was upset about.

Lucas and Max didn't get lots of screen time to showcase there relationship more, but by the whole they break up every week detail and attitudes towards each other I don't think its that solely positive to be honest with the scenes we got.

Her attitudes towards Mike made me pissed off a bit. Yes, Mike should not have lied and Max is right to call it out, but to go to say he is controlling El and these other terrible things. To the audience we know that is not true seeing Mike goes to the ends of the Earth for El and Max knows how deeply her disappearance effected him. Mike stood in front of her and his friends from Max's abusive brother Billy. However in the third season she gets a whiff of him lying its like she has nothing to give him the benefit of the doubt on. When in fact she does. She reduces him to a controlling and lying boyfriend, and yes pushes that idea onto El and it just rubs me in the wrong way. I was very upset with Max and how the writers where treating some moments like something to praise. El dumping Mike was sad and upsetting I didn't find it very funny, but hey that's just me. She had El spy on people esxpecliy the boys and I feel she really doesn't get many consequences for it. However Mike is treated like a monster after getting threatened by Hooper and lying about it. He should not have lied of course, I just don't feel like they got equal treatment for their actions, and yes I know there kids they are stupid at times. I can still call out bad behavior and warning flags.

Billy Hargrove

Billy was wasted potential on the writers part. His character is a very known presence in the last two seasons. When you find out about his past and El reaching out to him, I feel like him sacrificing himself for the group and living could have been such a good example of character growth and getting better, and I feel like his story was cut to short for how much time and effort was put into his character. He was bad yes very bad, but with this latest season you got to see little sparks of his character come out more, his good sides. Billy Hargrove was wasted potential and I really hope they hold the dad accountable for his abuse in the next season, and also the mom. She was a victim yes, but she should not have left her son with to be emotionally and I believe physically damaged by his dad. His death should have consequences that all parties need to hear and see. If they really brush him under the rug I'll be pretty upset.

Alexi

I love his character and I just miss him is all.

That is just some of my thoughts on the third season I hear people say is one of the poorly written seasons of Stranger Things. Has much as I love the things in it. It has some writing issues and characterization where I would have to agree.

Welp those are just some of my thoughts. Love them or hate them its is what it is at the end of the day. I hope whoever is reading this has a nice day. Peace

[fanfic-scribbles]

Dinner Date Masterlist

Overall Story Facts:

Fandom: MCU Captain America/Avengers

Summary: Steve Rogers has a girlfriend– a prickly, generally asocial girlfriend, but they make it work. They have more in common than some people might think.

Quick Facts: Romance – Steve Rogers/Reader – Female Reader

Story Warnings: Reader-insert that verges on OFC, written in 1st person past tense, Reader/OFC (basically POV character) is written as female/bisexual/overweight, bisexual!Steve Rogers, this is a tribute sequel to “Lunch Buddy”

Chapter One: Open Secret – Steve Rogers doesn’t consider ‘being oblivious’ to be a bad trait. His date understands that a little bit better now.

Chapter Two: Boundaries – Testing boundaries is always a learning experience, even when you’re in a relationship and have known each other for a while. Even especially then.

Chapter Three: Crossword – A lazy day in doing puzzles.

Chapter Four: Helloooo Nurse – For when taking care of yourself isn’t enough, it’s nice to have a helping hand.

Chapter Five: Start Stop Slow – Sometimes you just need to take it slow, whether you consciously want to or not.

Chapter Six: Sharing is Caring – Even with Steve incognito, going out to eat can sometimes be an adventure. Still, at least food isn’t the only thing this couple shares.

Chapter Seven: Girls’ Day Out – Natasha just wants to see how things are going, and investigates.

Chapter Eight: One Good Turn – Steve comes home in a bad way, and finds out it isn’t terrible to be taken care of.

Chapter Nine: Friendship Bracelets – Steve has a week of boring meetings. Naturally, he’s all for making things a little more interesting…no matter who it annoys.

Chapter Ten: Comfortable – Steve comes by late one night and you both take comfort in a quiet ritual.

Chapter Eleven: Terms of Endearment – Reasons for why being a couple is difficult #13546: thinking of cute couple nicknames when neither of you are all that cute. Especially when your partner already has a sweet one. Asshole. 

Chapter Twelve: Followed – Humans are pretty awful sometimes. Steve is awfully wonderful. That doesn’t fix everything, but it can ease the sting.

Chapter Thirteen: Fan Club – Team Bonding at Steve’s expense…or is it?

Chapter Fourteen: Trust Issues – Steve can generally be trusted to take care of himself. Generally. But even when he’s reckless, there’s always someone there to watch his back.

Chapter Fifteen: Float – Sometimes you need to lean back, relax, and try to keep your head above the water. Having another person involved in your life, though, can make the usual tried-and-true survival methods a little tricky.

Chapter Sixteen: Scavenger Hunt – Steve’s night starts off not so great, but ends well. A good meal can make things better. By that logic, several meals can make things great.

Chapter Seventeen: A For Effort – Steve struggles sometimes. It’s definitely not world-ending, unless cataclysmic laughter counts.

Chapter Eighteen: Stars in Your Eyes – Steve manages to drag his girlfriend along on an ~*~adventure~*~. She just hopes it’s worth leaving the house for.

Chapter Nineteen: Restless – Nightmares are a bitch, and Steve doesn’t know how to ask for help. It’s a recipe for something, all right.

Chapter Twenty: Buck Up – Steve leaves in a mood and comes home ready to talk. A little. But hey, progress is progress. 

Chapter Twenty-One: Break Down – Let’s talk about grief, baby~

Chapter Twenty-Two: Bad Day – Steve has a good day. Someone else very much does not.

Chapter Twenty-Three: God Bless America – Steve makes someone else’s day. And they make his.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Valentine’s Day – Valentine’s Day is special. Probably moreso when you actually…remember it.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Most Girls – Steve is very attractive. Staking a claim, though, is too complicated. What to do…

Chapter Twenty-Six: Trip Trip – A trip to DC is made, and something new is realized.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Steve Rogers and the Terrible, No Good…Sort of Okay Day – Steve has a Bad Day. It’s nice to have a partner who’s willing to make it better.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: A Celebration of Life – Steve gets an early birthday present, and reflects on good things past and present.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Cold and Dark – Winter is stupid.

Chapter Thirty: Fight Fight Fight – All couples have their problems. Some of them are just a little stranger than others– the problems, that is. …And the couple.

Chapter Thirty-One: Under Cover – Hypothetical plans, nachos, and a nice night in with victims friends.

Chapter Thirty-Two: Domestic Dorks – A couple of dorks have a relaxing day. …Or try to, at least.

Chapter Thirty-Three: The Homemaking Sort – It’s not too hard to make a house a home. As long as you don’t overthink it.

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Mission – Steve goes on a routine mission and ends up confronting the Winter Soldier. It doesn’t end well.

Chapter Thirty-Five: The Mission Part 2 – In the wake of the Winter Soldier's attack and reveal, an important conversation is had, and Steve and his partner decide what they want going forward.

Chapter Thirty-Six: Wake-Up Call – Steve needs to go for a walk, and vent. Sometimes, love means waking up at five am– because anything less would have to wait until at least seven.

[takadasaiko]

In Defense of Howard Stark

The Marvel Cinematic Universe doesn’t have a shortage of layered, fascinating characters. It’s always easy to hyper focused on the ones we love most, and that’s the excuse I roll with for why it’s taken me so long to find my fascination with Howard Stark. Up until the last few months I looked at him through the lense of who he was to other characters. He was Tony’s father, Steve’s friend, and co-founder of SHIELD with Peggy Carter. He filled roles, but I didn’t look closer for a long time. I didn’t have any reason to.

Then came the Great MCU Rewatch that happened post-Endgame. It wasn’t until I had Dominic Cooper’s Howard stacked back-to-back with John Slattery’s Howard that I started to dig into him. We meet a young man in Captain America: The First Avenger, the Peggy Carter short, and two seasons of the Agent Carter series on ABC. He’s brilliant and goofy, rarely serious unless he’s discussing his work. It’s a stark contrast with the older Howard we meet through John Slattery’s version. Either there was a catastrophic miscommunication between the writers, the directors, and the actors on who Howard Stark was supposed to be, or something caused that shift. The moment I settled on the latter, Howard went from a supporting character whose only use was to help round out others around him to a truly interesting, layered and even broken man.  I became fascinated with piecing together that journey. I needed to know what took this man

to a man that his own son described as cold and distant.

I had been using Howard to help deepen my understanding of others, and in the same way, taking a look at those that he keeps close to him and how he treats them helps to shed light on who he is.

Who Howard Surrounds Himself With

Howard wasn’t raised with the same economic and social privilege that he was able to provide to his son in later years. In S1 of Agent Carter he tells Peggy that he was raised on the Lower East Side to a father that sold fruit and a mother that was a seamstress in a factory, going on to tell her how he’d learned to lie to break through the ceiling society had placed for someone like him.

Yet as of S2 of Agent Carter Howard was in high demand at a club that wouldn’t have let him within a hundred feet of if he hadn’t made the fortune that he did with Stark Industries. With that background matched with the contacts he would have made after Stark Industries took off, I think it’s safe to say that Howard knew people from every walk of life.  

There were the less savory types:

Joe Manfredi and Howard grew up together and the mobster had no trouble reaching out to Howard years later for help when his kinda crazy girlfriend Whitney Frost went over the edge and into territory even he was uncomfortable with.

And while we may not know how he met Obadiah Stane, the other man wormed his way so deeply into Howard’s life and career that he was poised to manipulate his son after his death.

We don’t know a lot about those other than the fact that Howard wasn’t opposed to shady characters.

There’s something interesting in the more positive friendships that he keeps though.

Edwin Jarvis is a fascinating character. Howard’s butler is that and more. We see him stick with Howard through thick and thin. Through countless girlfriends that he was the bearer of bad news to

through disagreements, and he was with the Stark family long enough that Tony was influenced by him enough that he based his AI system off of him. Jarvis himself tells Peggy the story of how he met and came to work for Howard Stark in S1 of Agent Carter, shedding light on yet another layer of the complicated man:

Jarvis met his wife Ana during the war. She was Hungarian. Moreover, she was Hungarian-Jew in the middle of Europe overrun by nazis. Jarvis fell hard, but the general that he worked for wouldn’t help, even though he could have done so easily. So Jarvis forged his signature. He was found out and would have been tried for treason, but Howard - who had had business dealings with the general - stepped in and used his influence to save not only Edwin, but Ana as well.

There was no indication that Howard expected anything in return, but Jarvis remained loyal and steady.

And then there’s Peggy.

I could go on for days about Howard and Peggy’s friendship. I love it dearly, and feel that we need more friendships like it on television.

He flirts with her, he teases her, but in the end he respects no one quite like he does Margaret Carter.

Howard is a self-admitted liar. He felt that he had to become one in order to break free from the ceiling that society put over him in his youth. He doesn’t trust easily and, even when he does, he still hides behind a quirky, playboy mask meant to obscure anything of any real depth under frivolous layers. To get to the level of success he found himself in at such a young age he had to build up an imperviousness to others’ opinions of him. He flaunts in most cases, but, for better or worse, he does care about how Peggy views him.

She’s the one he turns to to clear his name at the beginning of the first season of Agent Carter and the only one that can talk him out of the mire of his own deepest regrets at the end of the same season.

The funny thing is that, for all his determination that he doesn’t really care how people see him, Howard seems to keep people closest to him that will keep him in check. Jarvis and Peggy, especially. They don’t pull punches and they call him on his shit.

If it’s a conscious choice or even a subconscious one, Howard surrounds himself with people that will hold him accountable. I’d put good money on the fact that Maria did too.

The Way He Treats Others

One of our earlier introductions to Howard is in Iron Man 2 where Tony tells Fury that his father had been cold and distant. He never told Tony that he liked him, much less that he loved him.

Fury indicated that he knew a very different man, and through Dominic’s Howard we (the audience) meet a very different man as well, which leads me to think that Howard struggles with expressing real, honest feelings rather than actually having them. It makes sense, given his explanation at two different points in the first season of Agent Carter that, to break through the barriers society had tried to force on him, he’d learned to hide behind lies and an indifference to what others thought about him. We see that that often leads him to come across as shallow and arrogant. He doesn’t, and seems not to even know how to express those truer feelings except in very rare circumstances, but we see glimpses in the way he treats people.

Edwin and Ana Jarvis are a fantastic example, as mentioned earlier. Here were people that he didn’t really know, people that he owed nothing to, yet he went out of his way to protect them. He used a favour that he could have hoarded away for more selfish purposes and gave it to them to save their lives. In return he was given loyalty, but there was no expectation on that.

Howard holds true to his playboy persona as well as, if not perhaps better than his son would in later years, but despite the flirtation (which he always manages to work into their conversations), Howard shows time and again the respect that he holds for Peggy Carter. While she’s fighting for her colleagues’ respect in the post-war SSR, she’s the one Howard reaches out to to clear his name. She’s the one that he trusts to protect him when his life is on the line. And when she needs help, it’s hers for the taking. A flight that the Army won’t take because it’s too dangerous? All Peggy had to do was ask. Twice when she needed a place to stay, he offered his own home(s) to her, and in S2 he dove straight in to help her on her case without any hesitation.

In S2 of the Agent Carter series we meet Jason Wilkes, a brilliant scientist who works for a company that becomes the center of the season’s investigation. The rarity of being a black man in his position is used against him when his company sets him up as a scapegoat. Not only is Howard eager to help him, work with him to clear his name, and reinstate his corporeal form (long story, but if you haven’t seen the Agent Carter series I highly recommend it!), but he sets him up in Stark Industries after all is said and done to help him run the Malibu labs on a new pet project.

For all of his faults and complications, Howard has a trend of helping to support and even protect those that the society of his time is set against. A Jewish woman and her fiancé facing the nazis, a brilliant female agent fighting enemies as well as men around her that have faith in her failure, and a talented black scientist whose company has used and thrown away when convenient.  We see the kindness in his actions, in the respect that he gives others that society would prefer not to be bothered with.

So how did he miss the mark so badly with his own son? He gave him things, opened doors for Tony that he’d had to force open himself, but (at least according to Tony) he missed expressing any sort of affection for him. Personally, in light of the other relationships that we actually get to see as they’re taking place, I’m inclined to think that he didn’t know how to express his love in a way that an already struggling child could understand. He tinkered on cars with him and he built an organization that would keep the world (and his family) safe. Perhaps to Howard, more importantly, he kept his distance, thus allowing his son the chance to grow into his own man. Someone not quite like him.

The thing is, even if it went against everything he wanted, there was no getting around that. Just as I imagine that Howard inherited a few more traits from his own father than he would have ever admitted to, Tony inherited some from him. Both the good and the bad.

Howard’s Personality Traits

Marvel is a parallel haven. In many ways the universe that they’ve created feels like one long, fantastical TV show with 3+ hour episodes. One of the perks of that is the multiple nods they’ve made and parallels they’ve drawn. It’s through those parallels that I found between Howard and Tony that sunk me deeper and deeper into exploring Howard’s personality. Robert said it best:

(gif made by and borrowed from @erikisright​)

Much in the same way that we meet Tony in Iron Man 1, the Howard of Captain America: The First Avenger and the Agent Carter short and series secures himself behind a mask of indifference to public opinion. He has a good time and doesn’t give a damn who knows it. When focused on work, he’s focused

but as soon as the war’s over he’s living the life of the playboy millionaire. He spends his time gallivanting around as much as inventing. He flaunts it. His money, his success. It’s the mask he hides behind to protect himself from the world, and the one that he feels like he has to hide behind. Afterall…

There’s no question that Howard has his fair share of less-than-desirable traits, but as we’ve discussed, he has some good ones as well. One that I found surprising, personally, is that he takes responsibility. Maybe not in his personal life (sorry, Jarvis, but it’s on you to handle Howard’s breakups apparently), but in his work. If he feels that he’s fallen short, he owns it, repeatedly to the point of putting his own life in danger.

In the first season finale for Agent Carter, after spending eight episodes on the run to clear his name, he waltzes himself into the SSR to give the full story and offer himself up as bait. It’s his fault, he tells them, despite not designing the invention stolen to cause harm, it’s still his, and he’ll own up to his responsibility there, both at the time and the damage it had caused during the war. In S2, after an invention fails, he offers himself up to go in and switch it on manually (putting himself at exceptional risk) because he ‘designed it poorly’. He doesn’t get the chance to do it, but he’s ready and willing to.

On the flip side (and also a trait that took me by surprise) he gives credit where it’s due.

Despite having to lie and possibly claw his way to the top, he’s consistently willing to both offer a hand to those that he can as well as make sure that he’s acknowledging their contribution, despite the fact that he believes that many successful scientists steal other people’s work for themselves. 

Tony must have come by his tendencies to fixate by way of his father. Much like his son, Howard shows time and time again that he leans into his obsessive personality. It ranges from a hyper-focus on work to coffee to a good time by any means he can find it, and even to the guilt that we see him holding onto in those few private, honest moments we catch a glimpse of.

We see it in the way that he held onto the guilt over what happened to the Russian soldiers at Finow when his Midnight Oil was misused and ended up killing hundreds of Allied soldiers. He did everything he could to set the situation as right as it could be set - he faced down the general that had stolen the oil only to get his ass handed to him, forced the general to step down, ended a seven-figure contract with the Army, and created a vault to better protect designs and inventions that could hurt innocent people - yet we see how it still weighs on him years later.

I think it’s the guilt at never being able to find Steve that eventually shifts him from Dominic’s Howard to John’s. That lively, goofy man is broken year after year by the failure of not being able to find or save a man that he holds up on a pedestal. He fixates on it to the point that his own son feels that he cared more about Captain America than him. Really, there’s so much in this theory that I’ve had battering around my head for the last couple of months or so that it deserves its own post. I’ll put it on the writing docket.

All in all, Howard Stark is an easy character to overlook or to flatten out with partial information. The Agent Carter series does wonders to add depth to him by giving us time to get to know him. Time that we don’t get through newsreels and the off story that Tony tells.

Part of an interesting character is their layers, both the good and the bad. Much like Tony, I feel that the more I learn about Howard Stark, the more I come to realize that he was a man trying his best. Sure, maybe his best didn’t match up in a lot of ways, but I think there’s something to be said for each generation of Starks doing just a little bit better than the one that came before them in whatever way that they can.

[lesbianrobin]

☕️ steve’s beautiful character arc

god bless you for sending this ask also i am so sorry this is gonna be long as FUCK and it’s not gonna be REMOTELY coherent

TL;DR: steve’s arc is the second-best in the show behind el, largely because he maintains his crucial traits and motivations while changing his actions and beliefs to try and be a better person

okay to start off i’m obviously biased as fuck because steve is my main hoe and i love him to death. that being said i genuinely think steve has the most solid character arc in the entire show save for el, and i think the biggest factor in that is the fact that joe keery has been so involved in the shaping and direction of steve’s character ever since he was cast. obviously every actor brings a lot to their character, but what’s unique about steve is that he was initially meant to be a true villain and die in s1, and joe convinced the duffers to change that. joe’s done an excellent job of keeping steve’s most basic traits consistent as the writers developed his character so that Steve feels real.

what makes steve’s character arc so good and believable is that, at his core, he... doesn’t really change That much? throughout the show, his defining character traits never really change: he’s loyal, he pays a lot of attention to other people and what they think of him, he’s more of a doer than a thinker, he has some issues with his father, he doesn’t have a personal vision for the future so he tries to stick to the designated path of “success,” and he wants to be a good person. what changes isn’t necessarily his intrinsic motivations, but his actions and thought processes, which makes for an excellent character arc!!

to start off with: controversial opinion, but i don’t think steve was That much of an asshole in s1. he was definitely an asshole! he just wasn’t evil or a total piece of shit like b*lly. he was just a dickhead high school kid, yknow? he was short-sighted, selfish, and didn’t take anything seriously. at the same time, he clearly cared a lot about other people (and what they thought of him)- demonstrated in little things like him sharing his lunch with his friends without them even asking, and the fact that he went to apologize to nancy after he blew off her concerns about barb because he was too preoccupied with not getting in trouble. he goes along with the crowd and does whatever he thinks he Should do, like letting tommy and carol vandalize the marquee (i can’t recall the exact dialogue but i think he says like “i shouldn’t have let carol do it” or whatever anyways it wasn’t his idea but he didn’t stop his friends). the fight with jonathan is steve’s only real Asshole moment for me. obviously he was dismissive of barb being missing which was shitty but he had no real reason to think that barb was dead yknow? he was approaching the situation from the stance of a teenager in a small town where bad things don’t usually happen. he was blinded by his own petty concerns of getting in trouble, and while insensitive to nancy, i think it was an understandable offense for a teenager (and one he apologized for).

and... since i Must address the camera thing... i personally think steve 100% had the right to break jonathan’s camera. of course he said some shitty things that he didn’t need to, and a lot of people argue that since jonathan was taking pictures of nancy, steve had no right to be outraged on her behalf, but i disagree with that argument. just because nancy was willing to forgive jonathan doesn’t let him off the hook! he was in steve’s backyard, taking pictures of an intimate moment through steve’s bedroom window. steve’s privacy was violated just as much as nancy’s. so, even if you don’t think that “sticking up for nancy” and being protective of her was a valid motivation, i still think it was justified. so yeah anyways.

back to the fight!!! steve lashes out and says like the meanest shit he can think of to jonathan because he’s so deeply hurt by nancy’s perceived betrayal and he Wants to get into a fight, which goes along with his deep sense of loyalty, preoccupation with what other people (his shitty friends mostly) think of him, his tendency to do whatever he’s “supposed” to do, and his desire to act rather than sit around and ruminate. some guy sleeps with your girlfriend, you’re supposed to kick his ass, and if you don’t then you’re a pussy, and if you can’t hit him to let out the anger and heartbreak then you have to sit in it and think about it and feel it. so basically what makes steve so cool is that these traits of his fuel both his biggest mistakes and his biggest hero moments!!

what many people see as steve’s total 180 at the end of s1 is actually, in my view, very consistent with his character up until that point. he went to nancy’s house to apologize earlier in the season, and this time he does the same thing for jonathan, because he’s realized how shitty he was and he knows that he doesn’t want to be that guy. once he’s there, he’s worried about nancy (consistent with prior protective/concerned behavior), and of course he chooses to run back inside! he cared enough to look up jonathan’s address and go to his house at night just to apologize after jonathan beat the shit out of him just hours ago, which is pretty serious- as someone who clearly feels guilt pretty deeply and wants to make things right, someone confident in his athletic ability, someone who thinks he might love nancy wheeler... why the fuck would he not go back in the help them?

his development in s2-s3 is a lot more about, like, being better to himself than it is about being better to others like it was in s1. at the beginning of s2, he basically defines his future in relation to nancy and his father. after he gets his heart broken (and i’m not gonna go into why he and nancy were incompatible bc that’s a whole other post and this shit is already ungodly long) and loses his “king” reputation, dustin and the other kids give him something to believe in, fight for, and care about. something that has nothing to do with the prescribed outline for success (popularity, sports, marrying a nice girl, working in the family business) that steve’s been basing his whole life on. he still misses nancy by the end of the season, but he’s realized that their picture-perfect future was never gonna happen, and he’s content with her finding her true happiness even if it’s not with him. also when he takes dustin to the snow ball he’s super encouraging and when he notices that dustin is feeling insecure, he shuts that shit DOWN and reassures him that he looks amazing which is just... so precious...

as he finds people to care about and things that bring him real joy in life (basically the kids and robin), steve also grows more and more expressive throughout the show, dressing more stylishly/flamboyantly, allowing his hair to become more and more wild, and goofing around/laughing a lot more. he’s basically a fucking angel in s3 and he finally lets go of all the high school bullshit that he was allowing to define him! he’s still very loyal, still pays very close attention to the people around him and how they feel, but now this is less about protecting his reputation and more about being a good friend. much like how he reassured dustin in s2, he prioritizes robin’s comfort and happiness during the bathroom scene in s3. he still acts fast in a pinch and tries to do the right thing whenever possible, always taking responsibility for his mistakes, and even though he doesn’t have a vision for his future, he’s okay with living in the moment and enjoying his life even though he hasn’t attained traditional “success” of any sort. he still has all of the same core character traits as he did in s1, he’s just learned how to be kinder, less selfish, and less concerned with fitting into a certain mold.

so yeah uh this was a goddamn mess and i’m sorry and i hope it all makes sense!!! thank you again for asking lmao

[moghedien]

Joanne is the best character in Rent fight me

ok so basically Joanne is the best and most well developed character in Rent and it comes down to the fact that her entire motivation in the show is that she’s gay and just wants to help. 

Joanne is weirdly the character that you get the most background info on. We know she’s a lawyer that went to an Ivy League school. We know that the cases she takes on are largely charity/social issue related. She still talks to her parents, who are both in politics and/or law, but things aren’t super great with them. In a 45 second voice mail, her parents tell her 1) not to bring her girlfriend to her mom’s confirmation hearing, 2) don’t wear Doc Martens, 3) do wear a dress, 4) also wear a bra. So basically, her parents probably just aren’t thrilled that she’s gay. And their political affiliations probably are a part of it, as evidence by Maureen feeling the need to tell them that Newt Gingrich has a lesbian sister. 

So we get all this context about Joanne which is like, a ton more than we get for any of the other characters. Which, I guess makes sense because Joanne definitely has the least reason for sticking around with them? Like she has a very good job, her family has money, and she didn’t even know any of the other characters until Maureen sent Mark to go fix her equipment. Up until that point, Joanne was literally just taking time away from her actual cases to help her weird theater girlfriend do bad protest-performance art (but don’t worry, the Murget case turned out well because Steve is great). 

Joanne and Mark sing about how Maureen is Drama and a cheater, and Joanne gets paranoid about Maureen cheating her. But then, oh look Maureen actually does cheat on her in La Vie Boheme so the paranoia is justified. So Joanne will probably just go since has literally no other connection to the rest of the characters besides them being her now ex-girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend and ex-roommates, right?

No, not only does Joanne come back, she takes time out of her week to research how she can help Mark and Roger keep their apartment when they get locked out. And she shows back up with rope to help them break back in. A full week after she broke up with Maureen. Why does she spend time helping her ex’s friends who she met literally once? 

Because she’s gay and likes to help. 

We know Joanne comes from an Ivy League wealthy background. And we’ve gotten enough context at this point to know that she’s at odds with that. So a bunch of wannabe bohemians, half of which are gay? Yeah, she’s gonna want to hang with them. Better yet, a bunch of wannabe bohemians (that are 50% gay) that need her help. Fuck yes, she’s hanging out with them. Joanne is nothing if not a sucker for helping others. Look at her legal background. Look at the fact that she got sucked into stage managing for Maureen with literally no experience. Look at the fact that she spent all of La Vie Boheme letting Maureen push her into packing up. Being an overly helpful lesbian is either her best trait or her fatal flaw. Probably both. 

Joanne literally just wants to be gay and helpful in peace, and you know where she can do that? With Maureen’s friends. The only awkwardness between her and Mark when they met was that Joanne was literally the Other Woman in his and Maureen’s relationship. And they came out of that meeting liking each other. The first time she met everyone else was during La Vie Boheme. You know, when they were all singing about how great the gays are? Joanne literally comes in, breaks up with Maureen and is like “but I’m with the rest of yall ok.” 

Anyway, Joanne isn’t one of the artsy, wannabe bohemians, but she’s super duper into them. Evidenced by the fact that she started dating Maureen in the first place (honestly how/where did they meet because there is not way they’d ever run in the same circles because they dated. omg did Maureen get arrested for something and Joanne defended her in court?? probably). The fact that she seems to be an outsider in their struggles but sticks around is super compelling, especially since she never judges or romanticizes their lives. She just decides that they’re her people even though she totally does not fit in. 

But yeah, she does, actually kinda fit in? Because she’s gay, and they’re all totally cool with that. Way more than her family is. They’re even cool with her being the woman that Maureen cheated on Mark for. Also, she’s not struggling like they are, but she can help them. And being a bunch of artsy bohemians who skirt the law (outright break it in some cases) they’re probably more than happy to have a successful lawyer on their side. So yeah, she does actually fit in, in her own way. 

In summary: Joanne is a helpful lesbian and therefore the best character. 

[pass-the-bechdel]

Marvel Cinematic Universe: Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Does it pass the Bechdel Test?

Yes, once.

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Seven (30.43% of cast).

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Sixteen.

Positive Content Rating:

Three.

General Film Quality:

Significantly flawed, and well-known in fandom for it. Unpopular opinion? I still think it’s better than the first Avengers film.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) UNDER THE CUT:

Passing the Bechdel:

Natasha and Laura pass in a single-line trade. It’s sooo close to not counting.

Female characters:

Natasha Romanoff.

Wanda Maximoff.

Maria Hill.

Helen Cho.

Peggy Carter.

Laura Barton.

FRIDAY.

Male characters:

Tony Stark.

Steve Rogers.

JARVIS.

Thor.

Clint Barton.

Strucker.

Pietro Maximoff.

Bruce Banner.

Ultron.

Sam Wilson.

James Rhodes.

Ulysses Klaue.

Heimdall.

Nick Fury.

Erik Selvig.

Vision.

OTHER NOTES:

Everyone talking about Strucker like we already know who he is...

The “Shit!”/”Language!” gag was funnier before they hung a lantern on it. Not least because it takes almost a full minute before Tony harks back to it (fifty seconds, actually. I checked). If you’re gonna make a Thing out of it, you gotta follow up immediately, not after fifty seconds of cutting around to different character intros and action shots and a whole lot of other dialogue. 

Urrgghh, ok, I’m going to break my standing rule about not discussing source material, because we gotta acknowledge the colossal wrongness of re-writing the Maximoff twins - canonically Jewish Romani - as willing volunteers in a Nazi science experiment. It gets worse the more you think about it. There are a few things about this movie which generated significant negative outcry, and this incredibly offensive decision is one of them.

Tony and Thor fighting over who has a better girlfriend does have a certain charm to it. If you’re gonna have a testosterone-off, it might as well be about how great your partner is.

I got a zero out of ten on this out-of-nowhere forced romance crap with Natasha and Bruce. We’ll come back to this later.

“I will be reinstituting Prima Nocta,” Tony declares, as he prepares to lift Thor’s hammer and thereby theoretically take charge of the Nine Realms. Primae noctis (believed to in fact be a myth) refers to a supposed Dark-Ages law that granted lords the ‘right’ to take the virginity of any newlywed peasant woman who lived on their land. So, this is a wonderful little rape joke from Tony (or, y’know, not so little, since primae noctis in reality would make Tony a serial rapist). Ha ha ha ha. Hilarious. Good one.

I’m really mad about the parts here that are total garbage, because mostly, the revels sequence has a nice low-key quality to it, good solid team dynamics. 

I can’t fucking believe that they played the ‘and then Bruce falls with his face in Natasha’s cleavage!’ gag. I cannot believe it. Is this a disgusting frat-boy comedy from the nineties?

Honestly, Tony, just shut up and admit that you KNEW from the get-go that it was wrong to try and make Ultron happen (that is why you kept it secret from everyone else to begin with); don’t try to defend the decision now that you’ve got a ‘murderbot’ on your hands. Take responsibility for a bad choice instead of talking shit about how you had to and everyone else is just too short-sighted, damn it! 

Andy Serkis is delightful.

The Iron Man/Hulk fight absolutely KILLS the momentum of this film. It goes for way the fuck too long (eight minutes) and has no narrative significance at all. Pro tip for action scenes: they should always be driving the story somewhere. You can pull off eighty minutes of action so long as your plot is advancing alongside/within it.

Also, Iron Man causes a huge amount of additional damage during this fight, in the service of the aforementioned pointless action. His efforts to minimise Hulk’s effects are extremely poor, and calling in his relief organisation to clean up after the fact does not negate that. 

Gotta love that throwing a wife and kids at Hawkeye at the same time as we suddenly start pushing this Natasha/Bruce thing. That’s not transparent at all. I also understand this to be a major deviation from Clint’s identity in the comics, and very unpopular with fans for that reason, but regardless; reinventing him as a family man to reset the romantic blather after baiting fans with the possibility of Clint/Natasha in the first Avengers movie is such a shitty move. I was not invested in the ship myself and would have loved to have them reinforce the just-friends relationship between Hawkeye and Black Widow, because there are not enough platonic friendships between compatible men and women in fiction, but 'they’re not interested in each other because they’re busy with someone else!’ is a weak reinforcement indeed. Less forced romances, and definitely less token wifey who exists for no other Goddamn reason at all. This comes out of nowhere, and not in a clever-surprise kind of way.

“You still think you’re the only monster on the team?” Natasha says, after telling Bruce about her sterilisation. This earned a HUGE backlash, and for good reason - despite all arguments about how what Natasha meant was that her being raised to be an assassin makes her a monster, the direct implication of her words as they are phrased and as the discussion is structured is that her inability to have children makes her monstrous, and that’s deeply offensive. It’s also completely in keeping with a narrative which is often played out against women, in which their value as people is attributed directly to their ability to produce offspring, so it’s not even like this outrageous implication of monstrosity - the corruption of what it means to be female! - is that unusual. It’s awful, but not unusual. Add on the fact that 1) Natasha’s nightmare-flashes specifically foregrounded her sterilisation over all other details of her training, supporting the idea that she believes that it’s what makes her irredeemable (instead of, y’know, all the murdering and stuff), and 2) this is Joss Whedon’s work and he is OBSESSED with highlighting the womanhood of his female characters and treating it like their defining trait while also variously punishing them for it, and you’ve got every reason to interpret this terrible fucking line as exactly the heinous thing it (presumably, unwittingly) seems to be. 

Steve ripping a log in half with his bare hands is the funniest thing in this whole movie.

Thor’s brief side-adventure with Erik Selvig is pretty out-of-place. He just...goes for a swim in a convenient magic pond that Selvig chances to know about. Seems normal.

Ultron is full of such boring, empty rhetoric. Reminds me of Loki in The Avengers, with all that sound-and-fury. 

I love Paul Bettany.

Man, they sure do find Natasha instantly. It’s almost like making a damsel-in-distress of her who needs to be rescued by the team was completely meaningless...

Breaking my no-BTS rule (since I already have done for this movie at this point) because it’s well-known how Joss Whedon ordered Elizabeth Olsen not to show exertion or ‘ugly emotion’ on her face in this film, because God forbid she compromise her attractiveness by being human. Joss Whedon is not human; he’s fucking trash. 

The final fight sure does just, y’know, get to a point where it ends. They really did not ratchet up the tension over the course of the Sokovia conflict, it just goes along until it stops (also, they say Sokovia is a country, but then they never call the city anything else, it’s just Sokovia. Is the city conveniently named after the country (very confusing), or is it a city-country, like The Vatican? I kinda assume it’s option three, which is that no one bothered to care because it’s just some fake European placeholder anyway and we’re not supposed to notice such a dumb oversight).

“I was born yesterday.” This is the best quip in this whole thinks-it-is-way-wittier-than-it-is movie.

Helen Cho deserved better than to be a prop rapidly dismissed and then just trotted past at the end for an ‘oh, she survived, btw’. 

Back when I reviewed the first Avengers movie, I said that I considered that film to be heavily overrated, so maybe it’s not such a surprise that I actually like this one better. The two primary problems I had with that first film were the overly simplistic plot, and the fact that most of the characters were OOC compared to previous films, and this movie does do better on both scores, so I feel more engaged by it, and less annoyed. That said...this movie has still got a lot of problems, and those include iffy characterisation and a plot with various holes, nonsensical complications, and conveniently ignored or smoothed-down dynamics. When I say I like this movie better than the first one, I mean just that: I like this better. That does not mean I am here to sing its praises. 

The tacked-on romance is part of the problem - for Clint as well as Natasha (but especially for Natasha). After Hawkeye was so heavily under-used in the first film (and his slightly-ambiguous relationship with Black Widow was the only human element that made him a character instead of a prop), Age of Ultron attempts to compensate by giving Clint a personal life, in the form of a magically-appearing heavily-pregnant wife and a pair of nameless children. The function of this family appears to be 1) to give Clint a reason to not be interested in Natasha, and 2) to ‘humanise’ him by giving him something to fight for and get home to, because we all know nothing legitimises a character quite like some otherwise-irrelevant dependents. Want a man to seem lovable and important? Give him a pregnant wife. That’s what women are for, anyway, right? To enhance a man’s story? In this case, to provide a man whose purpose in the story has been contested with insta-personality, because ‘he’s secretly a family man, ooh, twist!’ is way better than having to spend time on giving him something to do in the plot that is actually meaningful in some way. Great logic. Makes Hawkeye super dynamic, right? 

Natasha, unsurprisingly, is hit much, much harder. As the only female avenger and one of only two prominent female characters in a cast which has seven-to-nine male characters of equal or greater importance/screen time (YMMV on whether or not you think Fury and Vision count for that list), the pressure is already on for Natasha to be served up a quality narrative, because if she doesn’t get one, well...she doesn’t have six-to-eight alternative characters to pull the weight for her gender. The best solve for this problem would be to avoid the ‘Token Woman’ cliche in the first place, but since we missed that boat...not having the personal story of your only primary female character revolve completely around her womanhood and her catering to heteronormative expectations of a love interest would have been a good choice. This weird, forced, chemistry-free thing with Bruce Banner? Was the worst thing they could have used to define Natasha’s presence in the film. It sticks out like a sore thumb every time they have an awkward interaction, and it leads in to that atrocious ‘monstrous infertility’ element (though that particular egregious mistake could have been included with or without a romantic blunder, it...probably wouldn’t be, and we’d all be the better off). Even the Hulk-whisperer part of the relationship - while not awful on its own with all the unnecessary romance and Unresolved Sexual Not-Tension removed - serves to highlight Natasha’s female-ness by making her the soft maternal figure for the team, because God forbid one of the other male members of the team be asked to ASMR-speak to the Hulk while delicately caressing his hand. If Natasha’s presence in the first Avengers film leaned too heavily on her gender identity as a defining trait (and it did), this movie doesn’t fix that problem at all: it doubles down on it. 

The good news for most of the excess of male characters is, they by-and-large don’t feel as OOC as they did in the first film. The boorish romantic entanglement aside, Bruce Banner is still a naturalistic character highlight (all credit to Mark Ruffalo, who probably doesn’t know how to turn in a bad performance in the first place), and Thor’s dialogue is way less ridiculous this time ‘round, so he lands a lot closer to his personality from previous films simply by virtue of sounding like the same guy (unfortunately, the plot does not have the faintest idea what it wants to do with him as a character). Steve Rogers is still being written as if being Captain America is his character, which is a fundamental misunderstanding of his identity, albeit one which conveniently allows him to behave in a stereotypical self-righteously bland manner, thus avoiding the need for any nuance in his perspective or actions. This borderline fanfic-flamer ‘Captain America is my least favourite character so I’m going to write him as a boring stick-in-the-mud and then hopefully no one else will like him either!’ approach doesn’t grate quite as badly as it did in the first Avengers, and it can’t cancel out the innate level-headed charm of Chris Evans, so as disappointing as the bias is, it’s still a better balance here than it was last time. The one character who is not so flatteringly handled, however? Also happens to be the one who was arguably handled best last time, and unfortunately, he’s the one who is essentially treated as the ‘lead’. 

The big problem for Tony Stark is that this movie is not interested in digging in to the pathos of any character, it’s all-flash-no-substance on that front, and Tony really, really needed a less heavy-handed slathering of ‘afraid of what might come (feat. messiah complex)’ to motivate his actions and reactions in this film, because without any exploration he’s basically just a billionaire kid playing with matches. If this were an Iron Man film (either the first or third one, anyway), we’d get into some tasty deconstruction of Tony’s mental state and confront his hubris, etc, and - crucially, most crucial of all, it’s a mainstay of all his past stories in the MCU - Tony would own up to his mistakes, listen to the advice of those around him, and take contrite steps toward fixing the problem not just in the direct sense of ‘beating the bad guy’, but also in the personal and emotional sense of working on his own flaws and making amends with the people he hurt along the way. This movie offers none of that. To begin with, Tony’s ‘I know best and I will not be taking any questions’ approach to creating Ultron feels like a significant step backwards in his character development so far (Iron Man 3 was specifically about addressing his PTSD and associated tumultuous emotions surrounding the fear of imminent alien invasion, so his reactionary and secretive behaviour in this film feels particularly out-of-touch with a mental reality Tony has been explicitly working on for the past couple of years); Tony is actively aware that it’s a bad call and thus hides it from the other Avengers until it’s too late, and then he’s bizarrely unrepentant about his mistake. Worst of all, he actually attempts to repeat that mistake, only worse, late in the film (the fact that his idiotic ‘mad scientist’ pep talk actually convinces Bruce to help him again is the weakest character moment for Bruce outside of the aforementioned romance crap). The plot rewards Tony’s second, far worse mistake, in the creation of Vision, who turns out to be ‘worthy of wielding Thor’s Hammer’ and whatnot and conveniently provides every necessary skill to defeat Ultron in a deus ex machina so overt you could use it as a textbook example, so even though Tony had absolutely no way of knowing that he’d get a good result this time and almost every reason to believe he’d just compound the existing problem, his reckless disregard for the literal safety of the planet is treated like a good thing because it happens to work out this time, and they just kinda sweep under the rug the fact that Tony is playing God (and being uncharacteristically stupid and selfish about it - in other films, Tony is normally only reckless with his own safety, and it’s when his actions spill out into unintended consequences for others that he realises the error of his ways and cues up a positive learning curve; it’s what makes him palatable). At the end of the film, once Ultron is gone and Tony has thrown some dispassionate wads of cash into ‘relief efforts’, he strolls and quips and eventually drives off into the sunset in his expensive car, with nary a mention of, I dunno, maybe a little guilty conscience? Maybe a hint of having learned a valuable lesson? The closest he gets is just suggesting that it might be time he retires from Avenging, but neither he nor anyone else lets on that there’s a need for serious self-reflection. The Tony Stark in this movie is the nightmarish male-fantasy version of the character, the playboy with the cool tech and no limits who does whatever he wants and then...literally rides off into the sunset in the end, no muss, no fuss. He’s kinda like a complete reversion to his original self, pre-Iron Man, frittering money around and designing weapons of mass destruction while convincing himself he’s bringing peace to the world one explosion at a time, but that Tony has no business here, seven years of character development down the track.

While we’re talking iffy characterisation, we should also segue into plot, and that’s something we can do easily enough by looking at our villain, Ultron. Calling Ultron an actual character feels...ambitious. He’s a CGI robot full of empty rhetoric and, you guessed it, more of those quips that this movie has in place of any meaningful dialogue. I’d call him self-fellating, but he ain’t got nothing to fellate, so instead he just blathers a lot in a manner that sounds vaguely poetically intelligent but is, upon a moment’s consideration, just vapid nonsense (much like Loki in the first Avengers, as noted above, but at least Loki had the benefit of a flesh-and-blood actor delivering his lines with conviction; James Spader does solid work as the voice of Ultron, but trying to make a CGI robot who spouts a school-kid’s attempt at edgy philosophy sound like a genuine menace is an uphill battle). Speaking of genuine menace, I assume the reason the film is called Age of Ultron is because A Couple of Days of Ultron Causing Disturbances in a Handful of Specific Locations was too much. For all the big talk (and there is..so much), Ultron doesn’t get up to all that much trouble, most notably in the sense that he apparently has his code all over the internet and yet he doesn’t bother stirring up a single ounce of chaos with that ungodly power. Why bother including this as an element of the character if it achieves zero story? Is it purely to make Ultron seem ~unstoppable~ because he keeps downloading into new robots? Because it didn’t really land, y’all. They try to play it like a big victory for the good guys when Vision burns Ultron out of the ‘net, but in context it’s meaningless because he didn’t do anything while he was there. Pretty much everything about Ultron was all talk, little to no action - even a whole bunch of the trouble he did cause happened off-screen, with Maria Hill just popping in to let us know that ‘there are reports of metal men stealing shit’. Cheers, cool. And you know, Ultron makes a song and dance about how he’s going to save the world by ‘ending the Avengers’, but then he...does not pursue that at all. He tries to make himself a pretty body, the Avengers thwart him, and then he enacts a doomsday machine to destroy all life on Earth. Like every other aspect of the character, the whole ‘end the Avengers’ schtick is just white noise, there’s no meaning in it. Ultron is just a same-old-same ‘What if Artificial Intelligence wants to WIPE US OUT?!’ cliche, and maybe that’s what he was in the comics too, I don’t know, but it’s the job of the film to tell that story in a dynamic way, and they had two and a half hours to do it. And yet.

There should be more to this than a nondescript placeholder villain concept and a series of action set pieces that just kinda happen until they stop. At least the first Avengers had some variety in each of its action sequences, using the location and the different skills and weapons of its antagonists, whereas this one is just ‘there are robots and the good guys punched and shot them until they were all broken, the end’. Even making the city fly in the end doesn’t actually make it interesting, not least because the characters spend most of their time running around the (weirdly, perfectly stable) streets not having to deal with any consequences of being up in the air anyway, and the doomsday device is too nebulous to ratchet up any real tension about figuring out how to deal with it. The conflicts with the Maximoff twins have at least some spark of life in them, but the characters themselves are treated to an over-simplified and very contrived narrative arc that uses what they do and what they know more as plot devices than as details of actual people’s lives, leading to a cheap death for Pietro so that Wanda will be distracted enough to abandon the big ol’ doomsday button, and it’s just all so convenient. There’s no heart in any of it, and it makes the moments that try to have heart all the more embarrassing and out-of-place (don’t even get me started on what a prescribed attempt at tugging the heart-strings it is to have Hawkeye name his magnificently well-timed newborn after Pietro, because DAMN). When I said I liked this movie better than the first Avengers, I meant just that: I like this better. That’s not to suggest that it is significantly better in any sense, because it isn’t, and I can’t even argue that this one has a better story, because honestly, it doesn’t. The first film made more sense, it was just less interesting to watch, and the things about it that were contrived were contrived in different ways. The first film was weaker and more irritating on character, and character is always the most important part of a story for me, so as annoyed as I am by the major character blunders in Age of Ultron, I’m still not as annoyed as I was after The Avengers. That is damning with the faintest of praise; this is just not a particularly good movie, it makes a poor use of its cast at the best of times, delivers a sub-par action extravaganza, and the script is not half as witty as it gleefully convinces itself that it is. It comes as no surprise, I’m sure, that I am very glad a certain writer/director departed the franchise after disappointing everyone with this outing. I say I like this better than the first Avengers, but gee, it’s a close call.

[pebblerage]

Whatever Happened to Joanne Russell?

Oh boy, rambling about a character only a select few knows about are we?

So as you probably know, comic book heroes often have a handful of love interests. Batman who have characters like Catwoman, Talia al-Ghoul, Barbara Gordon and justice itself, right? 

Well Jack Ryder/Creeper is an odd case....

If I were to describe Jack Ryder’s (and by extension Creeper’s) love life, I would bluntly say that it freaking sucks. This isn’t too surprising if you look into it, as neither one of them have such a positive reputation with their peers and their questionable behavior may be a turn off. Creeper’s terrible flirting skills doesn't help either, no matter how hard he tries.

So has he ever had a significant other? 

I guess, but they are all pretty much exes. There have been four women in Jack’s life I guess you could call “love interests”. Let’s go through them!

1# Vera Sweet

I’m just gonna say it now. 

Jack and Vera have a very weird relationship.

If you look up profiles of her then there’s a decent chance it will label her as a love interest, like her wikipedia page for example. This is also mentioned on her Comic Vine page but it does also point out the weirdness of it all, as the “love” part did not really become official until the Creeper 2006 mini-series (like almost 40 years after her debut in 1968). There she is established as Jack’s ex-girlfriend.

So what was she prior to that?

Back in Beware the Creeper Vera was more like an obstacle, someone that Jack found annoying and tried to avoid most of the time. Not much of an love interest really, but it is possible that she would've been like Gwen Stacy - starting off disliking Jack but ends up liking him later. Unfortunately, as Beware only lasted six issues, this development never came to pass.

Then there’s also this panel from issue #6

I’m pretty sure that this was added to say “yeah Vera was supposed to be the love interest, but we didn't get that far”.

One amusing thing I noticed about her in this series is hat she is a bit of an attention seeker, doing things for publicity and the like. This is a trait Jack kind of absorbed in some later stories, for better or for worse. 

Anyway, what about after this series? Well she had a small cameo in Brave and the Bold #178 at Jack’s current work place, and the two seemed to be on better terms with each other. Until the end I guess when Jack steals the anchorman job (to expose the bad guy) she wanted. I say “I guess” because we don’t really see her confront Jack about it, only her angry reaction.

Vera has also apparently dropped the whether-girl job she had back in Beware and is a reporter here. Why I don’t know. She also feels a bit...mature(?) when it came to her personality. I can’t explain it but she felt less like a spoiled brat here then in Beware. I’m guessing it is because of her more appropriate reactions and behavior to things.

Next is the Creeper 90′s series and oh boy. This is the series that reveals some very questionable things about their relationship. Like that Vera has apparently stabbed Jack at one point.

When did that happen?! 

Why did that happen?!

Don’t expect Jack to tell because he has no reaction to it. No fill in for the reader, no comment, no nothing! It is like he has no problem with it. Did Creeper’s healing factor cause him to see stab wounds as small potatoes or what? Like a “eh, I’ve been through worse” kind of attitude? On top of that he also mentions later that Vera put him in a body cast for six weeks for calling her “Swetowski”, which is apparently her real last name. How great.

Later after Jack had his shower, he walks out without tying his bathrobe, leaving him completely exposed. Now remember that they weren’t explicitly stated to have been in a relationship in the past until the 2006 reboot, unless you want to see Jack’s “I used to let you borrow my toothbrush” line as proof or something. So Jack is basically walking out naked in front of a previous co-worker, without a care in the world.

Even better. Not only is Jack apparently fine with Vera seeing him nude, it’s not even Vera he meets outside, it’s his shape shifting nemesis Proteus who has taken her form. Even when Jack gets suspicious he still doesn't tie his freaking bathrobe.

I’m not sure what this says about him, but Vera later travels to Paris, leaving her out of the series until issue #10 when she comes home and comments on Jack cleaning the apartment and being polite as him “finally snapping”. Also that kiss on the cheek is the most romantic moment these two have shared so far. How this meeting would have gone if Jack wasn’t under the influence of the “wonder drug” he was taking at the time i have no idea.

So we finally get to the 2006 mini-series, that comic that finally established them as exes, and what caused the break-up?

Cheating! On both fronts even!

Granted they seem to be on a bit better terms here as Vera lightly smacking his cheek is the most violent thing she does to him, something i doubt pre-Infinite crisis Vera “I will put you in a cast” Swetowski would have done if she caught Jack cheating on her.

We also get some scenes with Vera as she admits that she still likes him so its not like she hates the guy or anything. She even gets jealous when she finds red hair in Jack’s apartment, thinking he has a new girlfriend.

The funny thing is that the red hair from that “red headed tramp” she talks about actually belongs to Creeper, or his red boa to be precise.

Unfortunately the same dedication isn’t replicated on Jack’s part, but to be fair he was kind of caught up in a pretty intense situation. Like getting along with Creeper, because it’s “we” now, something Creeper often repeats in this series.

Well as this relationship triangle is looking weirder and weirder its probably best to close this part as Vera sadly hasn't appeared as of late. Most likely because Jack Ryder/Creeper isn't a very prominent character in the DCU, and when either one appears they are usually a supporting character, giving Creeper related characters even less of a chance to show up.

2# Vicki Vale

Maybe Vera worrying about a redhead wasn’t too far off, as in the event Bruce Wayne: The Road Home we learn that Jack and Vicki Vale apparently have been together at some point. When did that relationship take place? Who knows! But they seem to be on pretty decent terms, as Vicki even calls Jack when she has a problem. Jack also calls her “Red”, because that’s the only nickname a redhead is allowed to have in the DCU I guess.

I’m not sure who Jack is referring to here though, but it’s probably Vicki as they’re supposed to talk about journalistic ethnics here and Jack talks like she doesn't care about the people she writes about. Also her reaction may also indicate that Jack’s remark was directed towards her. If that was supposed to indicate that she cheated on him or something i have no clue because unfortunately, the Outsiders issue of this arc is the only time these two interact in a comic so we are still a bit in the dark about them. I’m kind of surprised that they haven’t interacted more often as they are Gotham’s most prominent reporters after all.

3# “Furious” Fran Daye

To be honest, I was a bit conflicted about including Fran here as she was basically just a Vera replacement during the World’s Finest comics Steve Ditko made during the 1970s, Fran’s debut year being in 1978 with World’s Finest #249, but if Comic Vine feels the need to call her a love interest I guess that leaves me with no choice.

Like Fran’s Comic Vine page says, her and Jack’s relationship is pretty much just a role-reversal of Jack and Vera’s relationship, especially the one they had back in Beware the Creeper. Instead of Vera annoying Jack, it’s Jack annoying Fran, mostly by being a troll. 

Unless I missed something, I picked up little to no romantic tension between them. Unless you go with the “the boy shows that he likes the girl by being a dick to her” or the “main guy hooks up with the main girl”  logic they don’t appear to love each other at all. They’re more like rivals and it sure is intense as Jack often drags Fran into his antics when he tries to catch the villain of the week, something Fran often complains about. Also, thanks to Ditko’s art style she often looks like she wants Ryder dead or something.

As Fran sticks to these World’s Finest stories we haven't heard from her since, actually making me believe that Fran kind of got absorbed into Vera Sweet’s character as the two where kind of similar. This could also explain Vera’s personality shift from spoiled brat to lady with buttons you don’t want to push.

#4 Joanne Russell

Well here it is! The main course of this thing. That one that this is named after. So who is Joanne Russell? 

Well we can start by going through her introduction in Adventure Comics #445 from 1976. 

It’s a pretty simple story about Jack trying to solve some kind of murder story occurring in “Humboldt Institute”, with Ms. Russell being one of the victims there. We learn that she works as a physical therapist and that she is paralyzed waist down after a very strange car accident. We also learn some other stuff, but let’s save that for now.

Jack jumps the gun after a interview and declares it to be a murder case to boost ratings. This upsets Ryder’s boss who tells him to find evidence for his claim or the hospital will sue him. It especially doesn’t help when his boss later tells him find evidence that can pin-point the Creeper as the culprit - because everyone hates Creeper, you see.

Since he is the main character it turns out he was right, and that a strange robot, with the very threatening name “Manfred”, is actually wandering around killing people, and Joanne seems to be a special target. 

As the story progresses, it turns out one of Joanne’s colleges named Vernon Maddox is the creator of Manfred, and has telekinetic powers which is how he controls the robot.  

Why does he want Joanne dead? Well he doesn’t really, but his subconscious has other plans and commands the robot to kill Joanne while he’s sleeping.

After that the story goes pretty straight forward and it’s just Jack trying to keep Joanne safe from Manfred. But then we come to the ending.

Joanne learns that she too has telekinetic powers, and with that, she regains the ability to walk and that is how Manfred gets defeated. She and Creeper walk into the sunset or whatever, the end. During the course of the last part Joanne managed to figure out Jack’s secret identity, but she promises to keep it a secret.

But what is that?

You can interpret this in a few ways i’m sure, but to me it sounds like DC wanted people to write if they wanted Creeper to have a love interest or not. If we say that was the intention, then oh boy, the idea of Creeper having an significant other must have sparked some kind of uproar or something, because Joanne’s very next appearance in World’s Finest Comics #252 (1978) begins like this.

The sucky part is that Jack gets over it really quickly, just swears revenge by finding her killer (which turns out to be her assistant), and that’s pretty much it! Never mentioned again! 

But for real though, what the hell really happened here? I doubt I can solve this mystery, but I can offer you some speculations I have about this (because I have no life) and let you come to a conclusion yourself.

So I did take a look at the letters that came in subsequent issues of Adventure Comics to see if someone expressed some kind of dislike for Joanne. I don’t think I saw any, but I did notice some people not being too keen on the story itself for various reasons. Not to say it got no praise in these letters or anything, I’d say it was about 50/50, but still.

This message outright states that the story didn’t do so well..

Maybe that’s why Joanne got the axe? Because she was associated with a story that got a mixed reception? I dunno, that sounds kind of stupid to me, but the comic book industry chooses to do some dumb stuff a lot sometimes so what do I know.

Anyway, what about another suggestion? So the Adventure Comics three-parter was written by Martin Pasko, while the World’s Finest Comic stories were written by Creeper’s creator Steve Ditko. Maybe he didn’t want Creeper to have a love interest so that’s why he killed her off? 

According to this letter, Ditko is pretty speedy when it comes to writing. Maybe that resulted in him not realizing that Jack and Joanne where supposed to be a bit closer then how he portrayed it as? Because he didn’t do a full background check on Joanne, he thought she just was some random character who just happened to know about Creeper’s true identity so he thought “Oh I can write a murder story about this!” or something? And because he was the creator of Creeper, DC just let him kill her?

So we have five possibilities.

DC getting a bunch of angry letters from people who hated the idea of Creeper having a significant is still on the table. If they got them, I doubt DC would’ve actually added such messages to the comic’s letterers page.

The mixed reception of her introductory story got her axed.

Mr. Dikto didn’t like her/the idea of Creeper having a love interest he didn’t create, so he killed her to end a possible relationship.

Ditko didn’t get the memo so he thought Joanne was some throwaway character he could use in a murder mystery story. 

DC just kind of lost interest in it and dropped the relationship.

Whatever the reason was, it certainly effected The Creeper later as he never has had a present-day love interest ever again after this. Seriously, all the previous ladies are all his exes - none are in a relationship with Jack in present-day but Joanne (sort of). It’s like DC established some kind of “no-love-interest for-Creeper-clause”. All Jack is allowed to have are exes and that’s it! Also, because all of these stories mainly takes place before Creeper became his own persona (which is why I used both Creeper and Jack’s names a bit interchangeably here), you can actually make the argument that Creeper has no love life at all. All of the exes, plus Joanne, only really interact with Jack and when Joanne was with Creeper, it was still technically Jack because Creeper didn’t officially split from Jack until the 2006 series. And even then, Creeper didn’t talk or interact with Vera in that one, Jack did. The closest we got of Creeper having a love interest was when he went after Harley Quinn in BTAS, but that sure didn’t carry over to the comics where the two haven’t even officially met each other. 

There is Serene, but I doubt  people are going to counts her as a “love interest” for special reasons. Does Maxima count as a Superman love interest? She is probably the closest equivalent I can think of, but I’m not very good at the Superman mythos. 

Anyway, I thought Joanne had the potential to be pretty interesting supporting character if given some time to develop, and could’ve been a fun love interest to Jack. Even if her being his girlfriend maybe didn’t sound so hot for some people, couldn’t she at least have been his friend or something? I think Jack and Creeper could use some because they barely have any. The fact she is rarely ever mentioned makes me kind of sad because I did kind of want to see more of her, but it’s highly unlikely DC remembers her when Creeper himself doesn’t get the spotlight very often.  

I have probably spent too much time on this.

[amysgiantbees]

Avengers: Endgame Spoilers

Much like Avengers Infinity War, my feelings on this film can most succinctly be put that overall I found it average to infuriating but there were some truly wonderful parts in between that I’ll always enjoy. I’ll come to this later but here are some notes on my feelings on Avengers Endgame...

THE GOOD

Wanda and Captain Marvel (but I still needed more of them)

Wanda and Captain Marvel fighting Thanos

Steve wielding Mjölnir

Valkyrie on a pegasus

King Valkyrie

Carol’s haircut

Rhodney and Nebula bonding!

Nebula and Tony playing paper football!

Pepper fighting in an iron suit

Sam is Captain America! (He better be Cap in the films, not just this new show, I know the MCU has a history of keeping the TV shows and films separate but please not in this case!)

THE BAD

Bruce dabs. I just can’t.

Clint’s hair and tattoos

Thanos’ ecofascism being justified by the narrative in certain ways like with Cap’s look on the bright side about the environment line.

The time travel plotholes. I do not understand time travel at all in this, feel free to explain if you do. Also, Thanos not having knowledge of anyone due to time travel really took a lot of impact out of the climax for me. My biggest issue with the time travel logic in this though is how can Nebula kill her past self? 

The limited time given to emotional character arcs is a real issue for me. For a movie that goes on for so long, I felt like more attention would be given to this and less to action. Like having characters that had rivalries with members of Thano’s Children never confronting against them again.

Thor never mentions Loki. He never grieves him. He was meant to actually legitimately be dead in this one so it would have been nice if not only there was more emotion and time spent on the scene with his mother but if he said goodbye to Loki during it too. Or told Freya to check in on Loki for him, make sure to tell him he loves him form him. I know she is destined to die but if they’d come earlier in the day and let there be time to do all of this it would have been more emotionally satisfying I think at least.

I HATE fatsuits. The fat jokes and the jokes at the expense of Thor’s panic attacks and mental health are REVOLTING. It’s just sad and frustrating that they decided to throw out all of Thor’s character development from Ragnorok for a few cheap laughs. His fat suit doesn’t even look real. It doesn’t match his neck and face and he doesn’t move right. Shockingly enough you move easier when it’s your own skin. This article and the author sum up my thoughts on all of this really well: https://medium.com/@kivabay/the-centr-of-controversy-cba6f23c692e. Also, Bay has a really great quote unrelated to Thor but also sums up another issue I have with the film and I just want to highlight it here, “ I also couldn’t help but view the movie with the knowledge we pick up on the internet about who is leaving the MCU, making the character deaths feel melodramatically goofy and like executive-level calculations.“

Also, somewhat silly critique but doesn’t Thor need special Asgardian beer to get drunk not “mortal” beer in a can. Damn, Thor was just poorly thought through. And I could almost find him fighting against Thanos with zero weight loss aspiring if the whole idea of Chris Hemsworth portraying him and every other way he was handled wasn’t disgustingly terrible. Fat Thor as an idea is amazing. I’d love to see him portrayed as such in the comics as long as he’s treated with respect. 

They can’t just have the film be cathartically separate and contained they have to hint at more film’s with the “Where’s Gamora” mystery ready to go and Thor joining the Guardians. They have been advertising Homecoming for months and have the next few years of movies already planned, people aren’t under any illusions that there won’t be sequels. Just let it be self-contained. Especially since it’s already so long. 

Just personal taste thing here but the “Avengers Assemble” bit was too cheesy and the ruin of the Avengers mansion was a boring background for the battle.

Dr. Strange was wasted stopping that tsunami. Did they need that? It was such a boring use for him in the battle. This battle had so many heroes but it felt like it really used their powers significantly less creatively together than any other battle previously. 

Why weren't Fury, Carol and Maria all standing together at Tony’s funeral with their arms around each other like everyone else? It was really strange and took some of the emotion out of the scene, they’re close to each other. It could have been such a beautiful moment and tied the whole Captain Marvel “Where’s Fury?” scene together if they had them beside each other with her smiling sadly at him or leaning against him. They’re friends and it would be nice to see Fury further fleshed out and more three dimensional. 

I don’t mind that Loki is dead but it does make me retroactively annoyed that “You... will never be... a god” was seriously his last line. He had nothing nice to say to his brother before he dies? So he really did die trying to use a knife on someone who can take on the Hulk. I hope that at least in his show that’s coming soon he’s genderqueer and given the opportunity to properly show off his magic. I feel like his magic has never been displayed properly or used in particularly interesting ways so far.

I would have rewritten the scene where Banner and Rocket look for Thor. Banner, Thor and Valkyrie’s interactions are stale and strange. It would have been better (so as not to erase all of his character development) if he was still dealing with his PTSD or the loss of his people poorly but was at least trying to help the Asgardians. But then show Valkyrie having to help him and being the clearly stronger leader due to being able to deal with this grief better after having experience working through grief from losing her Valkyries. She could also be helping him with his alcoholism instead of judging him since she has been there! It would have shown her mentor abilities and kingly traits. You could still have him join the Guardians in the end but now he’s just less negligent. Then he isn’t passing a burden for convenience but because he recognizes Valkyrie was there for his people when he couldn’t be and is the better, more loved leader. Instead of what should be a great moment for Valkyrie that she’s shown as earnt and is deserving of it just seems like Thor was like “Well it turns out ruling was too hard for me I’m going to f*ck off to space now look after them for me.” Still, love that she gets to be king. 

Did I mishear her name or is Clint’s daughter not called Kate? Why aren’t we getting Kate Bishop? I know she isn’t Clint’s daughter in the comics but they’ve changed people’s backstories before and after seeing Clint training with a young girl in the trailer I was just really excited for her. I love her character in the comics, but maybe she has a name change here? 

Also, why does Clint go overseas to fight people? I’m sure there are more than enough bad people in America for him to fight for YEARS. There are Neo-Nazis for F*CKS SAKE. It just seems racist to imply he’d have to look in places predominantly occupied by POC to find bad people. Also, that Sword scene was strange. It felt really unnatural and fake like it belonged in a completely different movie. 

Also, little nitpick but I just found it to be a weird moment when that kid Ant-Man talks to didn’t say “What do you mean?” or “How do you not know?” I get not wanting to talk about the snap but how could he not be mildly curious or confused as to how someone seems to be ignorant to the biggest tragedy in world history.

Also, I really would have loved if the final battle had more consequences. More deaths and injuries. I think it would have been more realistic and added more to it. I especially really would have loved it if they had shown Clint getting injured in such a way that his hearing was permanently damaged. It would be nice to finally have him have that important comic book trait. 

Also, that scene where Joe Russo, a straight man, plays a gay man is bullshit. Let us have gay superheroes. That is such a pathetic attempt at representation. Make Loki Genderfluid, make Carol a wLw, Give Okoye and Valkyrie a girlfriend or acknowledge they’re wLw. 

Furthermore, I understand that the shot of all the women at the final battle was probably foreshadowing A-Team but I don’t think the creators realised that, One: it makes it look like they’re trying to hide that they killed the only original female member of the Avengers while giving all the men satisfying endings. Two: that there are A LOT fewer women than men but also that there’s enough of them that more of them really should have been featured before then and had more time spent on them. Just so many women yet so few films focussed on them. Furthermore, for those people who don’t know about A-Team it also just feels like a moment of pandering.  

Look, Black Widow has never been one of my favorite characters but she deserved better. As soon as she was proclaimed infertile in Age of Ultron it was a death sentence because what use is a woman who can’t reproduce. She didn’t even get a funeral. Clint should have died. The snap forced Natasha to fully commit to her found family and lead the Avengers for years. The snap sent Clint into a debatably racist murder rampage. Natasha did something good after the snap it gave her more purpose. Clint’s purpose was to bring his family back and he could still do that by sacrificing himself. It’s honestly far more satisfying to see Natasha get her happy ending than Clint because Clint’s ending is just far too similar to his story in Age of Ultron. It is just hilariously underwhelming when everyone else has an emotional ending just to have Clint’s be a regurgitated version of him retiring with his family in Ultron. Also, Natasha dying for guilt over some vague bad that’s she’s done in her past that we know nothing about is so unsatisfying. This video I feel also sums up a lot of my feelings on this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A81p1N2gnNY&t=649s. Also from a monetary standpoint, not that Disney needs more money, but there’s way more demand for Black Widow films than Hawkeye. Just why Hawkeye, no one gives a sh*t.

More so I’m not against Tony using the gauntlet but I think it got in the way of Nebula having a fully satisfying conclusion to her arc. At least one woman should have had a satisfying, fully realised arc. It would have been great if Nebula got to finally kill Thanos but honestly, I wouldn’t be as mad at it if she hadn’t got wrongfully blamed for doing it by Thanos or had her arc conclude in an otherwise satisfying way. She gets abused further by Thanos for something she never did and never gets an opportunity to even just face him and confront him about ANYTHING. 

Also, Vision is barely mentioned in the film. Which wouldn’t be so frustrating if he wasn’t the reason why an ENTIRE ARMY of predominantly black people was sacrificed in Infinity War. They had to save him because they all apparently cared so much about him but can’t remember to mention him more than once afterward. 

I really hate that they were so scared of spoilers that they didn’t let all of the actors read their scripts ahead of time and cut out massive chunks of their scripts and didn’t tell them who they were playing against. I would rather spoilers than poor acting that ruins the timelessness of a film. This is meant to be epic! 

[moonlitcryptid]

Wanda : High School Reunion

Pair: Wanda x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.5 K (sorry it’s so long whoops)

Summary: (Y/N) gets a letter from her old high school about the upcoming reunion; an event she would be more than willing to miss, but after certain events, she is dragged back to her former hell where she was taunted for being “different”.

Warnings: Some cursing. Derogatory terms (dyke & fag). Please do not use these terms in real life. Any homophobes can kindly get the fuckity fuck outta my life and off my feed.

A/N: I’ve decided to make a series about the Reader’s HSR. Most will be genderneutral unless specified (like this one).

        “That was exhausting!!” (Y/N) exclaimed, flopping onto the couch once the team arrived back to the tower after an important mission in Europe. Clint just laughed.

        “You always say that, squirt!” He yelled back, going over and ruffling (Y/N)’s hair. “No matter what, whether it’s fighting aliens to changing the channel on the TV!”

        (Y/N) huffed, “Well I mean it! We spent over a week in Europe to stake out our targets, and when we finally tried to raid their base, that happened to be the day that all the nearby branches were meeting for tactical training! And don’t call me ‘squirt’! You do it just because I’m younger! Ugh, I just need a nap. Or a drink.”

        The Avengers agreed, each of them cringing after remembering the poor planning and how we were almost out-numbered. Tony came in, their mail in one hand and some sort of alcohol in the other. “I’ll drink to that.”

        He started passing out the envelopes and packages. Clint got a postcard from his kids (aww), Thor and Steve got some packages, intrigued by the wonder that is Amazon, and (Y/N) got a simple, small white envelope. And with that, most of the team went their separate ways.

        “What is that?” a certain Sokovian woman asked, leaning over (Y/N)’s shoulder from behind the couch while Pietro rushed over and sat next to her, giving the same questioning look.

        (Y/N) has always been closer to the Maximoff twins since they arrived. Maybe it was due to the fact that she joined barely a month before they joined, so they were all newbies and learning the ropes together. Being a rather enhanced being herself, (Y/N) grew the closest to Pietro. They would often race and compete and just have fun.

        While she didn’t have the super-speed that Pietro had, (Y/N) did have gigantic wings; courtesy of Hydra experiments to discover whether humans could adapt animal traits for battle. Of course, what they didn’t see coming was that with the animal experiments came with enhanced sight, hearing, and strength. Using her abilities, she seized an opportunity when they were transferring her to another facility. From there, she made her way to New York to seek guidance from the Avengers. The rest is history.

        (Y/N) shrugged, just as curious as the twins. She didn’t bother examining the envelope and just ripped it open, pulling out a piece of white cardstock with fancy golden lettering. She barely finished reading the second line before she scoffed and tried to rip it.

        “Wait!” Wanda yelled before the speedster grabbed the paper from (Y/N)’s hand and gave it to his lovely sister to read aloud. (Y/N) protested and tried to rip it from her hand, but Pietro held her back. “‘Dear (F/N) (L/N), come join in on the fun as the Class of 2008 regroups in our lovely Faybrook! Dance, laugh, and reminisce about the golden days! We hope to see you there.’”

        They just looked at (Y/N), who finally used a wing to shove Pietro aside to grab the letter and rip it up.

        “Why did you do that? Don’t you want to go?” He asked, him and Wanda sharing the same stare at her. (Y/N) just shook her head.

        “Nah. It wouldn’t be worth my time, trust me.”

        “Oh come on! A chance to see all your old friends and classmates? And I’m sure you were very popular and just as charming and beautiful as you are now!” Pietro grinned. Wanda nodded, imagining what a high school version of (Y/N) looked like and repressed a blush. However, she still shook her head, falling onto the couch and groaning.

        “Try nerdy and quirky with acne, big owl-eyed glasses and a maximum of 5 friends. High school wasn’t the… nicest time for me. In all honesty, I only enjoyed 20% of it. I mean sure, my teachers were nice and my parents were cool, but…” She stopped, remembering too much from her past. The twins urged her to continue, but her demeanor grew cold. “You know what, forget it.”

        She rushed off to her room, slamming the door behind her and staying in the rest of the day. The twins knew they hit a nerve and grew worried, but let her heal.

-1 Month Later-

        The Avengers had been called to handle what was believed to be an alien threat building in Georgia, but it turns out a SHIELD agent who was visiting NYC stole some of Thor’s Asgardian alcohol and falsely reported to Fury that aliens were pooling in a major city. What he failed to report was that the aliens were ‘pink, scaly bipeds with the head of a horse with 3 eyes and only spoke in Japanese.’ Needless to say, the Avengers went there for no reason and the agent was reprimanded.

        They were packing all their stuff back onto the Quinjet; everybody but one. (Y/N) just sat at the entrance of the ship, staring out into the sunset sky. Just over the horizon, maybe 20 miles from here, was the place she used to call home. She debated in her mind. Should she go check it out? Was it even the same since before she left?

        (Y/N)’s thoughts were interrupted by approaching footsteps and a light pat on the shoulder. She jumps a little bit but relaxes when she realizes it’s just Wanda. They both smiled at each other as Wanda sat down next to her.

        “Is everything alright?” (Y/N) heard her ask, her Sokovian accent soothing to her. (Y/N) gave a slight nod and tilted her head to look at her.

        “Of course it is. We avoided another boring mission and we’re about to go home. Why wouldn’t everything be ok?”

        “You look… distressed.” Wanda put a hand on (Y/N)’s knee, to which she blushed and put her own hand on top. “If you need anything, even if it’s just to talk, know that I’m always here for you.”

        (Y/N) gave a smile of acknowledgment and leaned her head on Wanda’s shoulder, the twin moving her hand to run her fingers through (Y/N)’s hair.

        Before long, the team was ready to leave.

        “Hey, Red and Birdie, you ready to head out?” Tony yelled at the two women at the end of the jet. Wanda nodded, but (Y/N) just stood up before turning to her friends.

        “Actually, Tony, I think I’m going to spend some more time here. Just a night. Go on and head back to the tower. You know I have my own mode of transport.” (Y/N) said, winking at the billionaire at her last remark. The Avengers were confused but knew that she was a grown woman and she’d be fine. Wanda just looked at her, a little worry in her eyes. (Y/N) grabbed her hands, trying to push down the urge to pull her into her embrace. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

        She said her goodbyes before walking away, not looking back. Wanda wished she did. Just for her.

        (Y/N) flew those miles back to her hometown; Faybrook. A small town just close enough to the city to not die of boredom, but a place where everyone knows just about everyone. That’s not always a good thing. Just being in the area again gave (Y/N) unwelcome memories. She knew she needed a stiff drink.

        Of course, there was only one bar in town, so she headed there. Ollie’s Night Shack. The same neon lights that blinded her as a child were still there, maybe a bit dimmer, but everything looked exactly the same. She walked in, not caring that she was still wearing her Avengers tactical uniform. As soon as she plopped herself at the bar, she heard the whispers and felt the stares. She looked at the clock. It wasn’t even 7PM, didn’t these people have better things to do than judge?

        (Y/N) ordered a whiskey, but didn’t drink it. Just swirled it around the glass. She saw some familiar faces. No one bad, but not outstanding characters either. However, it was just enough to make her regret coming. She should head out before -

        “Holy shit, no way.” She heard a voice say before whoever owned it sat next to her. (Y/N) turned and grinned when she saw a friendly face. “I can’t believe you actually made it!”

        “Well, I’ll be damned! If it isn’t Sammy! How’ve you been? Where’s your brother?” She replied, still shocked that the dorky kid she knew grew a good foot taller than her. She felt a hand clap on her back before the seat on the other side of her was taken.

        “His brother is right here acting as this smart-ass’ plus one. What’s up hot stuff? God look at how you’ve grown! Found a girlfriend yet?” (Y/N) just laughed and shoved him.

        “Shut up Dean!  Now, back to what Sammy-boy said. What do you mean you ‘can't’ believe I made it’?” They looked at each other, then back at her.

        “You mean you’re not here for the reunion?” Dean asked. Her eyes grew wide and she looked around again, scolding herself for not noticing the banner that said “Class of 2008”.

        “Shit… I forgot that was today. Of course they hold it in this place.” (Y/N) sighed, realizing she should’ve left with the team when she had the chance. After an hour of talking with the brothers and catching up (without all the details of their jobs of course), along with catching with some others who passed by, (Y/N) wasn’t feeling as regretful. That is until they walked in.

        The Plastics. A name given to the group because of a certain movie, but it still applied. The four girls that made it their mission to make (Y/N)’s life on Earth a living hell. Just because she was different. Of course, where there’s bait there are sharks, and (Y/N) sure felt them circling. It was only a matter of time before they took a bite.

        “Well well well. If it isn’t (Y/N). I love your suit! Very dyke chic!” Leader, Bridgett, said first, her goons- Alexis, Katie, and Naomi- chuckling behind her. Not even five minutes in the door and already reformed to the high school days. Lovely.

        “Gee, thanks, Brie. Maybe I could give you some numbers. I know some girls that would love you. They would love making a bitch like you their own” She retorted, smirking a bit at their faces fell. This bait learned how to fight back. Something they didn’t expect. Something lead bitch couldn’t accept.

        “Of course a dumb fag like you would have other lesbian’s numbers! Probably the only way you can live is passing yourself around for a quick buck!”

        “First of all, I’m not a lesbian. Yes, I’m interested in, but not limited to, girls. And at least I get some action! Your dry spell must be like the Sahara desert at this point.” One of her minions stifled her laughter, and Bridgett was having none of it. Her anger boiled over as she grabbed (Y/N) by the hair and threw her down onto the bar floor (ew). Now all eyes were on them.

        “YOU’RE NOTHING, YOU KNOW THAT?! YOU’RE STILL THE SAME LITTLE NERDY DYKE FREAK FROM 10 YEARS AGO WHERE THE ONLY THING YOU WERE GOOD FOR WAS TO DO OUR HOMEWORK!!” She was about to punch (Y/N) when a strong hand stopped her. She looked back and almost stopped breathing.

        “You see, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” A certain metal-armed super soldier said, malice in his voice. The twins rushed over to (Y/N) to help her up as the rest of the Avengers came through the doorway. Wanda wrapped a protective arm around (Y/N) and glared at the girls, who were now scared shitless that Earth’s mightiest heroes came to her rescue. (Y/N) could see red whisps form in the air; she knew Wanda was getting really mad. She put her hand on Wanda’s face, forcing her to make eye contact.

        “I’m fine” (Y/N) said. Wanda calmed down and gave a quick scan over her body to make sure she was telling the truth, and then she brought her in a bear hug. (Y/N) was shocked, but she melted. After reassuring her, (Y/N) turned to her former bullies, who were now being mentally slaughtered by her friends. Her family. She stepped up, grabbing the attention of everyone.

        “H-How…” She couldn’t even finish.

        “You see, while you were here living the boring life a trophy wife and only pretending to be rich - even though we all know it’s the money from your 3 divorces - I went out and saved people. I did something worthwhile with my life. I found a team that I can actually call my family. Hell, I fell in love! Although I whine and come home with wounds every day, I can honestly say I fucking love my life. Why must you waste yours?” Bridgett couldn’t even talk anymore as (Y/N) rendered her utterly speechless. Partly from the speech, and partly from the fact that during her speech her wings had spread out, going from wall to wall. “Now… Get out.”

        They scrambled to leave, almost running into Tony - fully decked out in his Iron Man suit. She folded her wings back and took a deep breath. After those years of torment, she felt amazing getting back at them. Her friends looked back at her, absolutely proud. Tony and Clint looked like proud dads, Nat looked like she knew she had it in her. Everyone just grinned.

        Wanda hugged her tightly again, laughing as (Y/N) decided to twirl her around. (Y/N) felt on top of the world, and Wanda being there only amplified it. They stopped for a second, looking into each other’s eyes. In the heat of the moment, (Y/N) swooped down and stole a kiss from the Witch. She quickly realized what she did and backed away.

        “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to - well I mean I did - well not really, but -” Now (Y/N) was the speechless one.

        “Shut up and kiss me, Lyubov*.” Wanda grabbed her face and brought (Y/N)’s face to meet hers. The kiss couldn’t have lasted longer than a minute, but it was long enough for all the hidden feelings to bubble to the surface. All the love and passion they felt for each other was said in that one kiss. They could’ve sworn they were the only ones in that room - in the universe, even - if it wasn’t for the howls and hollers from their teammates and some of the bar patrons.

        Wanda pulled away first, resting her head against (Y/N)’s. Both of them grinning like mad women. Some of the team came by and congratulated the two women before enjoying what was left of the reunion with Tony buying a round of shots for the entire bar. At least now (Y/N) can say she was genuinely happy she came to the reunion.

*Lyubov = love in Russian. I did google translate sorry if it’s wrong. ;-;

[lostinthe-pines-blog]

Senior Fear Ch. 2 - Fears Revealed

This is a multi-chapter story about Autumn with the Hartfeld Gang. Halloween quickly approaching they attempt to celebrate. As they begin their senior year the dynamics will change like the weather, will they be able to face their fears, both commercial and literal?

NOTE: This is a fictional story based on Pixelberry’s Choices App. *Books The Freshman, The Sophomore, The Junior. I am not affiliated with Pixelberry nor do I own the rights to their original characters or story-lines. This story will alter certain story-lines.

TAGS: (I’ve tagged anyone who followed my last multi-chapter Chris fic. Please let me know if you’d like to be removed.) @jared2612  @katurrade @annekebbphotography @emerald-bijou @jellybean-marshmellow @jollybouquetangel

The smells in each coffee shop all a crossed the world are unique. They are based off of which way the beans are roasted and even more uniquely what the most popular drink to that shop is. The campus coffee shop always had a distinct smell of dark roast coffee. Probably to ensure these hard working college students had enough energy to get through their mornings, days and even late nights. Besides the collection of money for tuition and books the coffee shop was one of the biggest money makers on campus. Everyone flocked here, it wasn’t just MC and her group of friends; it was everyone. But when the shop was quiet, it was dead silent. Zig had spent many hours sitting alone surrounded by the white walls with peeling decorations, and today was no different.

“I’m taking my 15.” Zig spoke to his young redheaded freshman coworker after the morning rush cleared out, “To be honest, it will probably be a 20.” As he walked out the back door of the shop he pulled out his phone scrolling through a group text including his entire extended family. He’d missed maybe 50 messages throughout the morning. He sat on the curb behind the shop, reading updates about his young cousins first weeks of school and his grandma’s chemo treatments. He sees and fears how short life is just in those few text messages and thinks carefully about where his life is headed. All of his best friends would be graduating this year… she would be graduating this year.

His mind wanders to her, her laughter fills his thoughts. Her smile comforted him even when he was imagining it. He pictures her vibrant grin close to him her lips leaning to meet his own. He’s instantly pulled out of his boyhood day dream when he hears his name being called.

“Zig!! Good to see you!” Chris shouts reaching a hand to help Zig stand. Chris stands tall above him, a gym bag tossed over his shoulder, his smile unnaturally inviting.

‘It’s almost like he knew.’ Zig says in his head before officially responding to the quarterback himself. “You too Chris.” he responds flatly, taking Chris’s hand and standing at his side, hoping Chris wouldn’t catch on to his disappointed tone. How was he supposed to explain that Chris had interrupted a fantasy daydream he was having about Chris’s own girlfriend.

“How was your summer, you stayed behind for school right?” Chris genuinely wondered. Chris was very fond of Zig, they owed each other a lot. Zig was the perfect candidate for Chris’s ‘Second Chance Scholarship’. Without Zig, Chris would never have had the elevation he needed to launch the scholarship and gain the trust of the schools leaders. And with out Chris, and his scholarship Zig would probably still be the lost, street wandering, misunderstood rebel his DNA made him.  Chris had truly given him a ‘second chance’.

“Yeah, I took a few extra classes, hoping to catch up on things I missed. You’re all graduating this year, I’m hoping I’ll be in my final semester by this time next year.” he responds proudly. He knows the polite thing to do would be to ask Chris how his summer was, but he holds his tongue not wanting to here tales of MC and Chris outside lighthouses on the beaches of Maine.

“Zig that's great, really. I’m so glad everything has worked out for you.” Chris responds letting silence fall between them. There was always somethings so secretive about Zig, Chris didn’t bother to find out what it was. He always just assumed it was one of the many characteristic traits of the Ortega family. “Well, I guess I’ll see you around.” Chris responds taking a few steps away. Knowing their parting was awkward to more than just him he turns back. “Zig, if you ever need anything, MC and I will always be there for you.” he says nodding his head and turning away again heading off to the football field.

Zig looks back down to his phone realizing his break has ended, his time to day dream was over. He lived in fear that Chris would find out about his thoughts, or that MC would find out an reject him. He loved her so dearly but feared them both so deeply. He shoves his phone angrily back in his pocket and heads back into the small coffee shop frustrated and not rested at all after his twenty minutes.

MC carries her book-bags crossed the quad, thinking of yesterday's memories with Zack. Forcing herself to stay positive to not think about all the ‘lasts’ she would be having this year. Living in the moment, even if the moments were killing her. Her eyes wander to the falling leaves and Halloween Decorations that were starting to appear around the buildings. While she’s walking she feels someone approach her from behind, turning to check her paranoia she quickly spots two of her closest friends. “Kaitlyn, Abbie!” she yelped.

“Happy Halloween!!!” Kaitlyn yells hugging her friend

“Kaitlyn it’s September 10th” Abbie protests “There’s still 11 more days of summer!”

Kaitlyn rolls her eyes playfully “Yeah summer ended the second I put down five hundred dollars for books to classes I don’t actually want to take.” she responds playing off her friends reminder.

MC can't help but grin at her friends bickering. She loved them dearly, but always found herself in the middle of their senseless fighting. Abbie and Kaitlyn knew each other just as well as Zack and MC, they had a friendship bond that only the grueling years of classes and homework can bring. “Happy Halloween” MC responds back to Kaitlyn “And Happy end of Summer” she offers a response to Abbie as well.

“Happy Hallo-Summer!” Abbie jokes getting nothing more than a pity laugh from her friends of four years.

“So I heard you’re hosting the Halloween Party this year?” Kaitlyn asks satisfied with the decision.

“Chris and I are, yeah…” MC trailed remembering being ‘volun-told’ to run this party rather than volunteering. “Zack so graciously bestowed that duty to us.”

“Well what are you guys going as for Halloween? I don’t know how you’re going to top Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor from last year” Abbie giggles. Abbie was clearly envious of Chris and MC’s tight bond. Especially after the events of Junior year, her relationship with Tyler was rocky. She feared the end of her relationship was near. Junior year left petite curly haired artists to wonder what commitment was actually like, and she saw it in her friends picture perfect love.

“We haven’t talked much about it, but I’m sure we will think of something!” MC responds sensing the yearning and almost jealousy in her friend.

“Okay it’s our last Halloween Party! Please make it the best one yet!” Kaitlyn cheers “I’m talking spiders skeletons, blood, gore, I need all of it okay! It’s Halloween and I won’t stand for cutesie jack o lantern and candy cutouts!” Kaitlyn protests the parties of years past.

“You’re welcome to decorate if you’d like Kaitlyn, Chris and I honestly have no idea what we’re doing.” MC explains continuing to walk crossed the quad, her friends quickly following her lead. “I’m going to meet up with him now should I let him know you’ll take decorations?”

“YES!” Kaitlyn exclaims so excitedly she almost sounds angry. “This will be the best Halloween party yet!”

“One condition Kaitlyn, no clowns!” MC says sternly back to her enthusiastic friend.

“Wow okay Mom, no clowns… Why?” Kaitlyn asks arms crossed defensively against her chest.

“Because I’m terrified of them.” Chris’s voice responds as he approaches them.

“What!” Abbie spits “The start quarterback of the Hartfeld Knights has a fear?” she teases him as Kaitlyn join gawks at him shocked.

“Yes.” Chris responds almost proud of his fear. “I hate clowns, and they don’t belong in this holiday, they can stay at their circuses.”

MC is quick to wrap an arm around Chris, to not only support his fears but to let his body heat calm her own. Calm her fears of losing memories like this after the years end. They were like a well oiled machine now. Their movements with each other keeping them in-sync, pushing and pulling perfectly together. She looks up at her radiant love, three years and she still felt like she was looking at him for the first time. His blue eyes shining in the autumn sun. Her stomach twisting peacefully when his eyes meet hers. She’d never been one for public displays of affection but being with him she understood why people did it, though she’d hold back to make sure her friends were still comfortable around them. Looking into his eyes was like having a full conversation, the rings of his bright blues clearly telling MC how much he’d missed her today.

“Alright then” Kaitlyn responds in acceptance, “No clowns… anything else I should avoid?”

“Tyler is afraid of Zombies…” Abbie trails softly

“Tyler?!” Kaitlyn reacts confused “Tyler, the comic book, video game nerd? Is scared of Zombies… I’m pretty sure he was always watching Walking Dead freshman year…”

“Yes, he likes Zombies but he’s actually terrified that they are real. When those rumors about the bath salt zombies came out he freaked out.” she explains for her sheltered boyfriend.

“Those weren’t rumors” Kaitlyn protests “they really ate people's faces..” her tone so casual it’s almost disturbing. Creating silence among their friends.

“Alright Kaitlyn... “ Chris chimes in awkwardly. “I trust you’ll be able to decorate perfectly without Clowns or Zombies..” he laughs tightening his grip around his lover. “I look forward to seeing it but for now would you ladies mind if I stole MC for the evening.”

Abbie and Kaitlyn look to each other shrugging. “Go for it.” they say in unison while quickly hugging MC goodbye. The sounds of their bickering fading away as the get farther and farther from Chris and MC.

Once the pair of friends was out of sight Chris looked quickly down to his beautiful best friend. Her hazel eyes and auburn hair almost glowing from the sunset. He was forever entranced by her beauty. Chris wasn’t afraid of showing emotion, he’d never understood the male stereotype of being hard faces and strong. He loved her, she weakened him, strengthened him and surprised him all at once. He wasn’t ashamed of letting his love show. After staring for a long moment he pressed his lips to her forehead softly.

“How was the first day of classes?” he asked quickly beginning to lead her on their long walk back to their apartment. MC had started classes while Chris had only had to report to the field for credit today, their days had held very different challenges.

MC rolled her eyes “I’m getting severe senioritis and it’s only day one. Though, my French Literature class did have a surprisingly intriguing syllabus for the first semester!” feeling her excitement taking over she beings to explains her course load. “We are going to start in the 19th century, a weird choice for a literature class since normally they want to fill in the history of writing. Anyways we’ll be reading at least 5 major books just this semester and a collection of poems by Charles Péguy from the ‘modernism’ period!” MC noticed a blank stare on her loves face realizing she’d let her excitement get the best of her again. “Sorry.” she laughs embarrassed burying her face into his strong shoulder. Pulling back immediately at the smells coming off of him. “Yikeeees! Chris!”

His laughter so loud she could feel it vibrating on his flawless skin. “MC no one asked you to stick your face there.” he mocks. “I didn’t have time to hit the shower before meeting you, I figured I’d do it when I got home.” he teases her moving to acknowledge her embarrassment from before. “Also, you shouldn’t be sorry” he says reassuringly. “Look I don’t know french, or really much about France or their writers but I’m excited for you to teach me about it.”

As they continue walking through the falling leaves and setting sun she’s silent, he’d tried his hardest to validate her excitement from before but he can feel her body tense up, this wasn’t the first time he’d noticed this in the past weeks. The first time he felt her turn to stone around him was on their long drive back from Maine. He didn’t want to pressure her or force her to talk to him if she wasn’t ready. But something had clearly been eating at her. As they arrived at home he opened the door letting her walk in first. The smell of their house familiar, a mix of MC’s morning coffees, Chris’s laundry detergent and the vanilla scented wall plug ins mixing together to create the scent that was so authentically theirs. Without a word MC heads to their room closing the door. An off behavior for the girl who was beaming only a mile ago. He decided to let her have her time taking a quick shower alone, though he’d hoped it wouldn’t be.

MC sits on the bed remembering again Zack asking her to live in the moment, but every sight reminded her that things were beginning to end. When she was feeling the most comfortable her mind would wander to where she would be in a year. Would she be happy, would she be with Chris? She was only 22 years old. Her whole life was ahead of her but she was terrified of what that actually meant. She lays staring at the ceiling of her room as she had so many days before. She barely hears Chris enter, not letting his presence pull her from her thoughts.

“MC, you have to talk to me.” his voice speaks low, finally addressing her odd behavior from the weeks before. Chris lays next to her staring at the ceiling trying to grasp an idea of what could be on her mind.

MC finally turns to him tears filling the brim of her eyelids like a glass of water to full to carry. Taking in the sight of her it isn’t long before he’s buried her face in his clean bare chest. Her mood swings were new to him but he tried his best to love them as much as he loved her. An un-measurable amount of time passes before she even speaks.

“I’m just sad.” she says softly before pulling away to look into Chris’s trusting eyes. “Everything in my life is going perfectly, yet I’m sad.” she sighs. “I’m afraid.”

“You have nothing to be afraid of MC.” Chris responds quickly

“Of course I do, I’m afraid of what will happen after this year, where will we all be?” she asks “I know I want to be with you, but we are twenty two years old, how can we even ensure that we will last a lifetime?”

“Do you doubt us?” Chris inquires calmly, trying not let her anxieties become his own.

“No!” she yells through a whisper “I don’t doubt you. I know that I’m going to lose people this year but I also know that I can’t handle losing you.” her eyes meet his finally letting her tears break through.

He holds her close hoping his heat can calm her as it had so many times before. He breathes deep feeling her move with every rise and fall of his chest. He thinks of how to respond, how to assure her he wouldn’t leave her. Through a breath of laughter he finally speaks.

“I would rather face 10,000 clowns than even face the thought of losing you.” he explains kissing the top of her head gently.

She lets his words comfort her for a long moment before responding her breath vibrating off the skin of his neck. “Things were just so much easier before, when fear didn’t control me. When I could be certain of what my future... what our future held.” 

“Fear doesn’t control you, you control you. And I’ll support all over your decisions even when they are wrong.” he says calmly “I love you MC” 

“I love you too.” she says her tears thick in her voice. It felt good to finally admit her fears, to admit her thoughts that had been locked in her mind for weeks. 

[techmaestro]

Comics and the MCU

In the years I’ve been playing MCU Tony, I’ve noticed things about how the characters are different than their Comic counterparts. I don’t read the comics, mind, but by this point, I’ve had enough exposure and played with enough people who are from those verses, that I’ve reached some conclusions.

Interesting conclusions. 

The short of it is this: MCU Howard is basically Comic Tony if he’d been born in a different era.

Now I’ll throw out the long-range version of this. See, this thought started several months ago when talking to someone who plays MCU Howard and Ults Tony. I play with both, and they do a wonderful job with their characters, so I agree they know what they’re talking about. Many of the things I love about how they play their Howard are things that are rather universal to MCU Howards I’ve dealt with over the years, so it’s hardly just theirs.

You see, we were talking about Tony vs Tony and just how the different types of Tony usually are entirely dependent on where a Tony comes from, and how bewildering it is to see Comic things thrown overtop an MCU Tony. Because MCU Tony is a different creature. Yes, they all have the armor in common, that’s a Tony Stark thing, but there are many many things that are different between them.

So, I’ll start at the beginning and let you draw your own conclusions, shall I?

The very first, most pivotal thing that pops into my head is Steve. 

MCU Tony views Steve as an aggravating friend slash brother figure that he had to live up to as a kid that his dad adored. He trusts him right up until he can’t, and he expects it to be reciprocal when it clearly isn’t. Yes, there is mutual respect, but they’re not actually close, and while Steve would trust Tony to defend the Earth, he never once considers he might come down on his side when it comes to defending a friend. 

Comic Tony, from what I understand, is a whole other animal in Steve’s general direction. They’re close, they have an unwavering bond, they count on one another even when they’re at odds, and Tony actively loves and is somewhat of a Cap fanboy, a sentiment which is returned to a degree. In essence, from the word go, Tony was on Steve’s side and did everything he could for him, because of course. On top of all this, he looked for Steve for a long time before finding him, because that was just what he needed to do.

Now I’m going to point out MCU Howard’s view on Steve. Howard was instant friends with Steve when they met up properly, and there was a touch of proprietary affection there because Howard helped make him into the person he was. He was his friend, they joked with one another, trusted one another unshakably, and when Howard lost Steve it affected him for the rest of his life. He searched for him in every spare moment, something which affected his relationship with his son. He loved him and practically says as much during the Agent Carter series, which is a point that can’t be stressed enough. 

So, moving on from that point to point two. 

The Company.

Now, I’m a little hazier on Comic Tony’s position on a lot of things to do with this one, and I can’t for the life of me remember if he shut down weapons like MCU Tony did. Was that a thing? If he did, it was certainly far later up the timestream, and definitely not when he came back because he kept Iron Man’s identity a secret. I do know that he built world ending horrors of weapons because he felt it was the best way to deal with certain problems. We also know that he was a very very astute businessman who enjoyed that part of the company, and never actually let go of it while he had a choice about it, because why would he?

We all know MCU Tony got out of the weapon business pretty much at his first real reason to, and never hid being Iron Man. He stopped building horrors on purpose (yes, I admit that Ultron was fumbled badly but he had help with that one), and basically turned to defense rather than offense as his primary weapon. Of course, then there’s the whole ‘here Pepper have my company’ thing which we can all agree that Comic Tony would probably never have done. Not while he was still alive or capable anyway.

And then we have Howard in the MCU. Howard who builds weapons he calls ‘bad babies’ and hides away because of their sheer destructive possibility, who built his company from nothing because it was something he wanted. Howard who ran the company for more than forty years without even seeming to give a hint he’d hand it over to Tony before someone pried it out of his cold dead hands. Howard who was comfortable with the idea of being in a war and staying on that track even after though his first love was planes, once upon a time.

Speaking of love, that brings me to point three of this mess. 

Relationships. 

Everyone knows that Comic Tony is a relationship disaster. He’s a serial dater, with many long and short relationships in his past that usually ended badly for one reason or another. He has a rather vigorous sex life, he takes bets and is comfortable wandering down the street naked because of them, and in general he never really stops, though he’s devoted as can be when he’s with someone.

MCU Tony, while having been with a lot of people, never really dated. Sure, he’d have one night stands, and the fact that he calls Maya an ‘ex-girlfriend’ because of one says a lot about how ill-equipped he is when he gets serious with Pepper. He’s never done this before, and he has no idea what he’s supposed to do. He’s loyal, devoted, and generally content to run with it once he’s there, but it’s still his first real relationship, and that matters. 

Now, back to MCU Howard. In Agent Carter, we learn very quickly that he has a wild sex life, he dates people all the time at varying amounts of intensity, and eventually he ends up with Maria, his wife, and has his son, who never sees his dad’s wild party side, so we can only presume that Maria might very well be why he stopped. After all, Howard used to regularly throw parties and invite in a bunch of half-naked women to run around at the drop of a hat. While not orgies, one should account for the times.

And then the last point. Superhero nonsense and SHIELD.

Comic Tony ends up in charge of an organization like SHIELD briefly, SWORD which I hear was British, as well as SHIELD itself at some point. He’s political, he’s meticulous, and he goes out of his way to make sure that the superhero community is sorted out. He’s one of two people who really got the superhero ball rolling. In essence, he’s a very important person in the super spy and superhero arenas. He likes being in charge of all that, and he has an aptitude for it that he uses.

MCU Tony, bless his heart, is not a politician. He wants nothing to do with running a spy anything, barely wants to be involved with the team at first at all, and most certainly is not a politician. If he was a politician, there was no way he would have been so far behind the curve with the accords. The poor man had no idea what was going on until far too late to do anything about it. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t trying, but he was late to the game, and out of his depth. He’s a businessman, not a politician, and it shows.

MCU Howard, well, let’s just start with him having been accused of treason and still coming out the other side with enough clout to build SHIELD in the first place, shall we? Who does that? He’s a consummate liar, self-admitted, who does anything and everything he must to get where he feels he needs to be. This doesn’t make him a bad man, no, but it does make him ruthless, a trait that his son simply isn’t as good at and Comic Tony is. 

Conclusion, when looking at all this?

MCU Howard is a reflection of Comic Tony. We don’t know what his childhood was like, how good or bad it was, and yes, he wasn’t a very expressive parent to Tony, but he didn’t hurt him either, and we don’t see anything that indicates that he was a drunk the way Comic Howard was. No, he was more likely a severely awkward product of his times that learned to not be as open as he’d been when he was young, which is, interestingly, something that MCU Tony learns as the MCU goes on as well. We can see that in progress.

MCU Howard takes many of Comic Tony’s best traits, and sometimes his worst ones as well, and uses them. They were just set in another era, one with different values than even Comic Tony would have had to deal with, and shaped the man who ended up with them differently. 

All of these Starks are still Starks, they’re still all ridiculous, liable to be kidnapped geniuses, but when people throw down a bunch of Comic Tony headcanons all over MCU Tony it doesn’t make sense, because they’re rather different people. Now, if you look at it from the perspective of MCU Howard being the reflection of Comic Tony, and MCU Tony being the product of that legacy, it’s a different, far more fascinating story.

Sure, the name Tony Stark is still irrevocably linked to the title of Iron Man, but the hows and whys and approach differ wildly, as well as how it’s handled. The core things of who the characters themselves are is a little more important than just what they do, I think, and I thank you all for reading this fascinating parallel that’s become obvious to me over time. 

And that my friends, is all I’ll say about that. For the moment anyway.

P.S. Edwin Jarvis. Enough said.

[sulietsexual]

Its been a while since I asked you meta related things so I just had a random idea - top 5 characters which you just dont understand, top 5 ch which are well writen but you cant connect or like, top 5 ch storylines you would like to alter, top 5 traits of your disliked chracters that you like, top 5 traits of your loved characters you dislike, top 5 ways your disliked characters contributed to the main storyline that youre fine with. For males and females separately so theres room for thought :)

Top 5 Characters I Don’t Understand

Male

Wesley Wyndam Pryce - okay, so this is only from mid-Season 3 onward, but I cannot fathom Wesley’s actions in stealing Connor, consulting with Holtz and doubting/not believing in Angel to the point where he didn’t realise that Angel would do everything in his power to protect Connor. Then his self-righteous attitude post-kidnap is appalling, the fact that he acts like the wronged party and refuses to acknowledge his own wrongdoings and never apologises for his actions all drive me crazy. Just can’t.

Luke Danes, I mean, buddy, pull it together. You say you want Lorelai, yet never make a move and then bitch about her boyfriends and act like a jerk. You say you’re “all in” and then you run at the first sign of trouble and make Lorelai feel like she did something wrong. You tell Lorelai you want her to be honest with you and then you hide your daughter from her for two freakin’ months. You say you want to spend your life with her, yet you shut her out of it. Like, wtf??

Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III, omg, why is he such an abusive asshole? Why does he treat every woman he’s with like crap? Why does he treat Mellie as if she’s insignificant and stupid? Why does he act entitled to everyone’s time and affections? Why does he continually try to give up the most powerful position in America? Why doesn’t he have any ambition? Why does he resent anyone who does??? I don’t understand.

John Winchester. Dude’s always going on about how he “did the best that he could”. Nope. The best he could would have been to raise his boys in a stable freakin’ environment, not push adult responsibility onto his eldest, not treat his youngest like an outcast/freak for wanting a better life and actually being an adult and being there for his boys. How does he justify the way he treated his sons? Don’t get it.

Finn Collins. Dude, you cheat on your girlfriend, neglect to tell the girl you’re cheating with that you even have a girlfriend, don’t tell your girlfriend you cheated on her and expect both girls to still want you? Plus the whole massacring eighteen unarmed people and then ignoring their bodies as the girl you want walks in horrified and look at her as if she’ll love you for your actions? Yikes.

Female

Lorelai Gilmore, she constantly puts her mother down for her privilege and sense of entitlement, yet displays the exact same behaviour. She rejected Chris, then bitches about how he “wasn’t ready”. She thinks all her behaviour is cute but it’s actually really annoying. And she honestly seems to believe that her parents were the absolute worst parents in the world, when it reality they were really good to her and always try to be a part of her life. Pull it together, woman!

Octavia Blake, why does she blame her brother for everything? Why is her solution always violence? Why does she proudly cannibalize people? Why does she think she knows more about a culture she’s been a part of for two seconds than the people actually raised in said culture? 

Nancy Wheeler. Why does she want Jonathan so badly? Why does she screw over Steve? What makes her neglect her brother and run off with the guy she just banged? Why doesn’t she think through the consequences of her actions? Why did she offer her brother zero comfort when his friend “died”? What made her think it was okay to chase down Jonathan while he was picking out a coffin for his brother’s funeral to talk about Barb? Girl drives me bonkers.

Joey Potter, so many of her actions make no sense. She pines after Dawson for years and then breaks up with him for literally no reason. She blames him for telling her the truth about her father, after repeatedly saying they need to be honest with one another. She can’t decide between two guys for years. She constantly rejects Pacey yet picks him in the end. She believes she’s entitled to be a bitch to people just because she’s had a tough life.

Aria Montgomery, if your creepy-ass relationship really so important to you that you would lie to your friends and family, threaten your parents, risk your partner going to jail, threaten to walk out on your family and basically cease to exist outside of your boyfriend? Yikes.

Going to put the rest under the cut, otherwise we’re going to end up with a post a mile long.

Top 5 Characters Who Are Well-writen But I Can’t Connect To or Like

Male

John Locke, a great-written character who drives me up the wall with his over-zealousness and delusions of grandeur.

Spike, he really does have a great character arc and characterisation but his over-exposure and the fandom’s adulation of him drive me crazy, plus I hate how his narrative overtakes Buffy’s.

Jack Shepherd, such a great arc, such an amazing journey but his douchey behaviour and the way he treats certain characters means I just can’t like him.

Perry Cox, I find him amusing and do occasionally like him but his lack of self-awareness and overall mean attitude and sexism bugs me.

Dean Winchester, so well-written with a great arc but also abusive, violent, self-righteous, sexist and overall annoying as hell.

Female

Regina Mills, her redemption arc is sloppy but her characterisation was always strong and she’s a fantastic villain, which is why I love to hate her.

Robin Scherbatsky, very well-written with a great arc (until the finale) but I just cannot like her, probably due to her arrogance and meanness.

Rachel Green, now, I don’t hate Rachel or anything but she’s one of my least-favourite Friends characters and I’ve never been able to connect with her.

Katniss Everdeen, a great-written character whose personality I find very hard to reconcile and who I just cannot connect with.

Kate Austin, great arc, great characterisation, full of traits I can’t stand and makes choices that make me want to throttle her.

Top 5 Characters Storylines I Would Like To Alter

Male

Neal Cassidy, he was done so dirty by that damn show!

August Booth, another one screwed over by OUAT and there was so much left to explore with his character!

Dean Forrester, I really hate how much Gilmore Girls dumbled down and assassinated his character.

Boyd Langton, Dollhouse’s weird out-of-nowhere reveal that he was the bad guy completely changed his character and he didn’t deserve that.

Jake Ballard, he deserves better than being second-choice for Olivia Pope.

Female

Laurel Lance, who deserved the fucking world and got nothing, I would change so much about her storyline and eventual fate.

Mellie Grant who, like Laurel, deserved so much and got shit.

Emma Swan, who was character assassinated in order to box her into a toxic ship which decimated everything about her.

Juliet Burke, who should have lived and had a happy life and finally made it off that damn Island!

Effy Stonem, who deserved better than to be sandwiched between two guys who treated her like a prize and blamed her for their rivalry, not to mention the shitty “friends” who used her as their scapegoat.

Top 5 Traits Of My Disliked Characters That I Like (I’m not going to pick my absolute most disliked characters for this, but just 5 characters I dislike in general. Also, probably can’t come up with five for each, so I’ll go with as many as I can list).

Male

Going with Wesley again - love his intelligence, his surprising confidence when he allows himself to show it, his thirst for knowledge and his goofiness.

Spike - I like his bravado, his confidence and his loyalty.

Dean Winchester - similarly to Spike, his bravado, his loyalty and his confidence, as well as his humour and love of fun.

Luke Danes - I like that he’s good at the big gestures, I like his snark and his homebody nature.

Jess Mariano - I like intelligence, his snark and the fact that he sorts himself out later on in life.

Female

Anya Jenkins - love her work ethic and the fact that she handles money well and knows how to budget, save and invest.

Betty Cooper - she’s got gumption, I’ll give her that and she is intelligent and hardworking.

Felicity Smoak - like Betty, she’s intelligent and has gumption.

Cassie from the Animorphs series - she’s compassionate and does try to understand people, which I like.She also has a lot of empathy.

Alison DiLaurentis - she is ruthless and strategic and highly intelligent, all of which I admire, even if her actions are truly sociopathic.

Top 5 Traits Of My Loved Characters I Dislike (again, this may not reach five but I’ll do my best)

Male

Angel - his tendency to make decisions for others, his jealousy, the way he can completely cut off those he cares about.

James Ford - the way he lets his self-hatred affect others, his self-centredness, the way he can be deliberately cruel at times.

August Booth - he lies way too much, his self-hatred, his selfishness.

Neal Cassidy ………….. nope, I love Neal too much, can’t think of any traits I dislike.

Charles Gunn - the way he diminishes himself for others.

Female

Prue Halliwell - that damn pride, her self-righteousness, her judgmental streak.

Juliet Burke ……………. nope, as with Neal, love her way too much to dislike anything about her.

Lana Lang - her Mary Sue traits (this lies more on the writing of her character than her), her tendency to project her own feelings onto others.

Lilah Morgan - well, she’s an evil bitch, but you’re supposed to hate her for that, so I more hate her actions than her herself, such as when she gives Cordy the visions which almost kill her or when she sends people to drill into Lorn’s head.

Jo March - her lack of propriety at times, her judgemental streak, her refusal to adhere to convention (at times)

Top 5 Ways My Disliked Characters Contributed To The Main Storyline That I’m Fine With (I am running out of steam and not sure if I can come up with 5 males and 5 females, so gonna combine them for this last one and again might not make it to Top 5)

Alison DiLaurentis - I like her as a villain, her murder kicks off the whole series which worked well, and I liked that she works as a foil for all the girls, in particular Hanna and Mona.

Spike - love him as a villain in Season 2, love that he works as a foil for Angel in AtS Season 5, liked him stirring things up in Lovers Walk in Season 3.

Regina Mills - love her as a villain, love her as the Curse Caster, liked her dynamic with Emma, liked her as a foil for Snow and Emma.

……. I actually might be out, as usually when I hate a character it’s because of the way in which they negatively impact the storyline.

Whew, I’m knackered. Hope you enjoy my answers, even if they’re not 100% what you asked for!