#would not put it passed the mcu tbh

[morgue-ratt]

not to be dramatic and I am basing this off of., literally two seconds of footage in the trailer but

if they make white tiger (the first EVER Latin American superhero in american comics) a villain in the new dare devil show I will actually kill someone

[descaladumidera]

TW for GotG Vol. 3

I watched Guardians of the Galaxy – Vol. 3 last night and while I think it was a good movie (one of the better ones in recent years, like, I think it was genuinely good), I also think it warrants some trigger/content warnings. So. I will do just that to keep y'all safe (please be careful).

With that said, this will obviously contain spoilers. I will put the general trigger/content warning under the cut and then further down will explain what happens in the movie, so you can pick and choose which triggers you want to know about. And if you have any further questions, you can always DM me here or on Discord and ask. I will do my best to answer them.

I don't claim that I will get everything, though, as memories are fickle things and I'm not perfect.

Anyway, onto the trigger/content warnings:

BODY HORROR/BODY MODIFICATION

ANIMAL ABUSE/ANIMAL CRUELTY

ALCOHOL ABUSE

GORE

(There's also some fighting with more or less fatal injuries, but as this is a superhero movie, I won't go into detail about this.)

BODY HORROR/BODY MODIFICATION

To preface this: This is Rocket's story. So this theme is all throughout the movie and it is graphic. There are a bunch of animals other than Rocket that others have been experimenting on (the otter from the trailer for example). And it's way worse with them than with Rocket. The otter has no arms anymore, instead she has rudimentary prostheses, a rabbit has been modified to have some mechanical spider legs and a mask, a walrus has modified eyes and some kind of wheelchair like thing to get around. This is all integrated into their bodies, these are not removable. There are other animals like this.

You have probably also seen the society of anthropomorphic animals in the trailer. There are scenes in which it gets shown how they were made—it's graphic. The first time we see this they use a tortoise and you can see the transformation and it's not pretty.

Then there's Nebula who gets basically killed several times, her limbs and neck and whole body bent and broken in ways no one would survive. And she fixes herself in a horror like way (remember Wanda emerging from the mirror in MoM? Something like that).

Groot gets beheaded once and the head crawls around like some kind of spider for a brief amount of time (until he regrows himself). Not that bad, but I thought I should mention it.

As said, this is the theme of the movie, this is Rocket's story, and it is pretty damn graphic for an MCU movie. This is also the biggest trigger warning imho.

ANIMAL ABUSE/ANIMAL CRUELTY

Several animals (not just Rocket) get experimented on and killed. They get abused and mistreated and kept in cages. Their bodies get mutilated in those experiments and their bodies get modified. It's a bit of a horror show.

(More details in the body horror/body modification part above this one.)

ALCOHOL ABUSE

Peter gets blackout drunk to the point of passing out in the first few minutes of the movie. He is trying to deal with his broken heart this way and, according to his friends, this is not the first time. But it's the only time we see this in the movie.

GORE

Pretty mild case when it comes to gore tbh., but better safe than sorry. A character's face gets taken off and you see the skull, muscles, and blood beneath it. The character is still talking afterwards (it's pretty much at the end of the movie).

I didn't know if I should put it under gore, but I also didn't know where else to put this. But there is a planet/spaceship/whatever like thing that is a living organism. It looks pretty gross and you can actually see it briefly in the trailer when the Guardians jump out of their ship in the colorful spacesuits. Everything in this place is organic and they cut through the skin in one scene and the sounds are just pretty gross imo. Also, the interaction with this organism is … How do I describe this? Like, sometimes they put their hands on the "buttons", but it's like this semi-liquid goo? And this goes on for quite some time.

[caatws]

Hello, idk if you have been asked this already, but do you think Gunn made it clear that Gamora is not a guardian despite her understanding Groot? And do you think that he made it clear in the movie (and on his tweet) that Gamora and Peter are never getting together at some point despite her understanding why she fell in love with him? I have seen some people claim she doesnt like him nor the guardians, and that Peter doesnt love this Gamora because its not his.

honestly? looking at just the movie by itself, without everything happening irl, i don't think there's enough there to 100%, beyond a shadow of a doubt, prove or disprove gamora being a guardian. i do think the film asserts gamora is at "home" somewhere else now with the way the clip of her reuniting with the ravagers was included in the dog days are over sequence, seemingly to parallel it with mantis and peter leaving the gotg. (also this isn't fully related but i don't think we've ever gotten to see gamora have a group hug with the gotg or emote that way with them and i'm salty lol but 4 years passing offscreen before her death will do that to ya i guess)

i've also seen some ppl interpret the photo of everyone at the end as kind of a Look, She's Still One of Them In-Universe moment, but tbh that photo was giving me cast's last hoorah on their final project in this franchise together Ever more than any kind of message abt the in-universe character relationships. it was giving "omg it's everyone's last day on set in costume together!" rather than canon family photo to me. and i mean gunn may be detailed in his work but he isn't taylor swift lol. we aren't playing 3d chess to decode secret meta messages abt the canon through easter eggs here

standing by itself, again, i think the movie is left pretty open-ended, aside from peter returning in some form without the others in the future, but let's revisit That Tweet again for the sake of this ask:

gunn is saying "you are 100% correct" to op interpreting the film as "quill accepting she isn't his gamora and leting go, while gamora understands how she was able to fall in love with him." i don't think this statement or the storyline suggested in the statement can fully prove or disprove whether peter and this gamora would ever fall in love in the future for certain, but it sounds like gunn probably had no plans to ever put them back together romantically - at least, not with this gamora. (but considering gamora and the rest of the gotg are done in the mcu but peter will be continuing solo in whatever form that takes, i think it's fair to say canon starmora is probably just going to remain a thing of the past)

and to make it clear, i Do think this was a solid arc for peter with This gamora considering the circumstances that vol 3 takes place within. it felt natural and like a rly good approach to grief, which i respected. if starmora had to get some sort canon send-off after one of them died, this was a pretty strong one to me.

the "you are 100% correct" part of this tweet with its implications for starmora was honestly never even part of my focus on or questions abt this tweet personally - it was the "real family" part that had me kinda ??????

bc i think that vibes kinda weirdly with the note the film ends on, since it seemed a lot more open-ended than gamora having a Real or Unreal family. and like i said before, it's the use of "real" here that sets up this binary of Real and Unreal Family or Real and Less Real family, and i think it's more than fair for gotg fans to not respond to the implied binary here very positively! and once we start connecting the irl dots of gunn's tweet with things like the gamora merch situation, the picture it starts to paint does not seem to favor gamora being A Member Of The GotG(TM)

but again, now that most of our gotg canon is done for good in the mainline mcu, i don't think we'll ever have a for-sure answer here one way or another, aside from whatever comes from peter's supposed future appearances

[mildlysardonicthoughtdump]

You know what I miss....

I really miss conversations consisting of equal parts pop culture quotes/references & sardonic mockery.

When I say 'pop culture quotes' I'm not referring to the almost universal but, for the most part, short lived quotes from the likes of The Fast Show, Harry Enfield, Peter Kay, Catherine Tate & whatever Sacha Baron Cohen's latest 'just short enough of offensive to broadcast' character of the month was... whose shows seemed to be simply 'catchphrase generators' meant to give the general public something to shout at each other ad infinitum for a few weeks until they were, inevitably, replaced by the next 'mildly-humorous-at-the time-but-quickly-becoming-annoying' one, two (or if the writers put the coke down long enough...) three word phrase to bounce around the workplace & keep the 'artist' in question relevant enough to beg another season.

No!

I'm talking about the quotes & references from tv shows, books & movies that have become so beloved & iconic, no matter how small the fandom may be, that in certain cases a single word can communicate your love of a particular property to any other fan that happens to be in the vicinity. Say "Shiny" in a packed room with the right inflection & watch the heads of every Browncoat there swivel in your direction. Say "Geronimo" or "Allons y" & you've just let every Whovian in attendance have a brief glimpse into your preference of Doctor.

What I'm talking about are book series from the likes of Douglas Adams & Terry Pratchett. Tv shows such as Scrubs, Firefly, Doctor Who, Animaniacs, Star Trek, Red Dwarf, Freakazoid & Tiny Toon Adventures. Renowned films ranging across genres from The Lost Boys & The Crow to Blazing Saddles & Ghostbusters. The Back to the Future Trilogy, Star Wars, Flash Gordon, Con Air, Rocky Horror, Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, Every Monty Python movie... all the way to the more cult end of the spectrum such as Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse to barely known flicks like Airheads & Ski School.

Despite the different mediums & genres, the main thing that all of these have in common (as well as many others not mentioned) is that they're all so damn quotable. Incidentally, another commonality is that the majority were created & aired in the 1970's, 80's & 90's. Whether it was due to my age at the time I initially watched them or because the writing & performances were just better back then I don't know... but, with the possible exception of Game of Thrones & certain movies from the MCU,... there just don't seem to be as many movie/tv lines that embed themselves in the mind these days. (As I type this there's actually a Writer's strike going on... unlike the previous one back in the 90's(?)... I wonder if these guys actually deserve the raise tbh)

Take something with a fairly wide fanbase like, say, Red Dwarf. Any casual watcher who enjoyed it at the time will happily call you a Smeg Head if you happen to mention the show in passing... those of us whose fandom is a little more 'rabid' could tell you what Kryten says the apple is when Lister is teaching him to lie (in the episode 'Camille')... *answer at the end of the post for anyone interested... not that anyone but me will ever read this drivel.

The point is that even the most casual of fans can throw out quotes to the above at the drop of a hat...

To get back to my original point (it had to happen eventually)... the conversations I miss having were with friends who were far more than casual fans. These were friends with whom I could throw out an obscure line from an episode of Freakazoid & they'd instantly come back with the response... completely screen accurate... with the perfect timing & inflections. Someone could be getting increasingly frustrated about a printer spitting out endless blank sheets of paper & another friend would comment that "Mr Flibble's very cross"... instantly, the mood of the entire room would lift as we all giggled our collective tits off & the quotes bounced back & forth like tennis balls. I miss standing at the lift with my old next door neighbour (an absolute authority on all things WB animation) & waiting until one of us inevitably cracked & had to say "Elelator go down the hole" which would be instinctively followed by the other uttering "I push the button... my turn, not your turn, my turn... I push the button"!

There's a certain type of person that loves their fandoms (obsesses?) enough that these lines so easily drip into their subconscious & become an integral part of their lexicon, especially when surrounded by the like minded.

I used to spend a lot of time with these people. It was comfortable. Conversation was light & easy because we 'belonged'. Unfortunately, life happens... people drift, circumstances change, new situations create changes in social circles... we end up with different groups &, often, struggle to find that 'belonging' again. Not because these new groups aren't nice, kind, sociable & welcoming people... but simply because they're not 'our' people. We can always find common ground if we try hard enough but it's often not enough common ground to sustain any meaningful communication & certainly not the 'light, easy & comfortable' communication that makes you feel that you are part of the 'tribe'... warm, welcomed & wanted... we, inevitably, end up on the outskirts of these groups, unable to get past much more than a greeting & a minute or 2 of small talk before moving on. We find ourselves, over time, with fewer & fewer invitations to social gatherings &, possibly worse, we find ourselves not wanting to go anyway.

These days we have the wonderful dumpster fire that is the internet. We can find all of our fandoms & shared interests with a tap. We find 'our people' are everywhere... in all the remote corners of the world. The friends we've drifted from are right there on social media. But.... it's just not the same as being there, in the room, making casual, off-the-cuff, random references to a common love, in the complete & total knowledge that the person next to you just 'gets it'... & you... & I miss that!

The sardonic mockery that made up the remainder of these conversations is another story entirely... maybe one day.

*the apple in question was described as "The Bolivian Navy on maneuvers in the South Pacific"

[astromechs]

Along with women are not interchangeable, I hope more people come to understand one woman's success and happiness is not dependent upon some other women losing out. You also don't have to put down or dismiss one woman's value to uplift other women. I think people are gradually doing better about this in real and fandom life but it still creeps back up.

Keeping all of this in mind I wanted to ask if you feel that Gamora's arc between IW and Vol 3 would have benefited from more diverse voices and opinions behind the scenes? Of course no group is monolithic but I look at Black Panther for example and I think there are nuances to how the film and it's sequel were approached that wouldn't have been there without more diversity behind the camera. I'm not saying people wouldn't have gone through with IW but maybe there would have been more exploration of the aftermath and more nuances to vol 3.

Also, the 5 years that passed for Nebula and Rocket didn't pass for Peter, Drax, Mantis and Groot. That means there should have been some major adjustment issues for the team with them missing so much and Rocket and Nebula having a whole host of new experiences. The movie was so big on pointing out Gamora missing experiences and that causing differences and the need to readjust, but it ignored that this would be true for the other characters. This is another area where I feel like they could have used a voice saying this isn't consistent and can actually be tied into Gamora's story to round everything out.

this is a problem with a LOT of hollywood productions, and not just the mcu, but the lack of diverse voices and opinions behind the scenes really shows here. all of the people with any creative input on gamora's story in the mcu since the initial drafts of the first gotg film (and tbh, most of who's written her in the comics) have been cis straight white men. they don't understand the experiences of a woman who's been a victim of abuse; they don't see the implications of what they've created with an abuser throwing his victim off a cliff and some cosmic entity validating that as love. they don't see the undertones in the story with thanos played by a white man and gamora played by a woc.

we need more diverse voices behind the camera everywhere. not just here. everywhere.

[crystalsatin]

“there’s no more ways you can surprise me since you looked at me different” – ant pile, dominic fike

⋆·˚ ༘ * pairing – peter parker x fem!reader synopsis – dating peter parker headcannons warnings – me bullying peter, british spellings vic’s notes – I wrote this with mcu!peter in mind, also these are kinda shit post type – headcannons

can’t cook to save his life

think you’re gonna have a cute baking date night? WRONG! he’s so bad you get frustrated and banish him from the kitchen

despite lacking in his kitchen skills, he’s a great boyfriend in almost every other aspect

you mentioned you like flowers? he buys them for you. talk about a movie you like? it’s his new favourite movie, too!

absolute sweetheart, may raised him right (ty queen)

he’s definitely a lot sassier than people think he is, I could talk about this topic for hours.

obsessed with everything about you tbh

he could listen to your voice for hours, stare at you until his eyes dry up because he doesn’t want to look away from you, cherishes anything you give him, he’s just in utter shock that a gorgeous person like you would even know he exsisted

#meganerd

don’t bring up star wars, science, or anything nerdy around him. he will ramble about it for ages before awkwardly realising he’s kinda making an idiot of himself

but it’s okay because you think it’s cute (I secretly do too, shush)

dad jokes, puns, and pop culture references are all he knows

when you first met, he accidentally let a stupid dad joke slip and he thought he completely messed up any possible chance he had with you

then you cracked a smile, and he nearly passed out (from embarrassment + how beautiful you are)

says he’ll “only help you” with homework, but you know that means he’ll end up doing it for you completely

knows literally nothing about girls, so he’s always asking questions (especially if you’re doing makeup/skincare around him)

“what’s this?” “what’s that?” pointing at everything and nearly knocking stuff over

he literally has superpowers, how is he so clumsy???????

he’s an academic weapon, but no common sense

cannot tell when you’re trying to make a move on him, either he’s actually blind or still in heavy denial that someone could be interested in him

if you know about him being spider-man, of course he takes you swinging, but he takes you to the best spots to watch the sunset. he only wants to give the best to you 🙏🙏

tries to compliment you but all that comes out is a mumbled mess (he’s such a nervous wreck)

will literally try anything to get you to laugh

he tries his hardest to stay cheerful around you, but on the odd occasions when he breaks down it’s the most gut wrenching thing ever

(i’ll never forgive you marvel for what you did to him.)

he’s actually a very fun person

when he eventually gets over his nerves, all he want’s to do is hang out with you and take you to the coolest places he knows

may showing you his baby pictures and he’s sat there entirely red

lol 🧍‍♀️

massive animal lover, he’s not a dog or a cat person because he loves them all equally

walks in the park after school>>>

if you handmade him anything (paintings, jewellery, etc.) he’d protect it with his life

he’s such a cutie, I wanna put him in my pocket

[pollydoodles]

I saw a great post recently that broke down a theory (that I’m happy to accept as canon, personally) that Nat was never on Tony’s side.

She’s a spy, she’s a double agent, she’s smart enough to understand what the Accords could mean at their worst and she’s got a history that means she’s not emotionally swayed like Tony by the potential outcome of the Avengers taking action.

Moreover, she’s never once stood against Steve before and in fact with her inside knowledge of Project Insight and the reveal of a hydra-infiltrated SHIELD, she’s far more likely to take Steve’s view than Tony’s.

Hence why she was so quick to step aside for Steve & Bucky at the airfield.

Regards Clint, I’d say for me it’s a toss up between him being like Nat - they have similar backgrounds and both would have been affected by the SHIELD fallout - or that he just trusts in Nat so much that (assuming we take the first part of this post to be true) he’s following her directions.

The other aspect I’d take into account is that Wanda is effectively under house arrest and could be subject to worse if the Accords come fully into force. Barton is the Avengers’ daddy, it’s been shown time and time again - he collects up Wanda, he feels deep guilt over Pietro, outside of the MCU he’s essentially recruiting Kate Bishop.

Regards Scott, he’s a guy who took down a corrupt corporation and went to prison for it. It’s not something that we see on screen, and it’s not referred to in CW, but it’s quite a core part of his character (at least in the original film). I feel like Scott could easily equate the Accords (and Tony, to an extent) with a corrupt corporation. But yeah he also has a serious case of fangirling over Cap. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that he’s also swayed by the fact that Cap - who took down a corrupt organisation and let the world know about - is taking this view.

T’Challa probably did believe in the Accords - we’re not shown this, but he’s there with his father at what’s supposed to be the signing. His father speaks about the importance of the Accords (which tbh is deeply interesting given he��s happy to publicly shackle the Avengers whilst knowing full well that his own son is an enhanced individual). But at the point of the airfield, T’Challa is there because of who he perceives to be the cause of his father’s death.

That has to be his main motivation because he’s willing to uncloak himself as the Black Panther (or at least as an enhanced person, given the deep secrecy around Wakanda and its history and practices) for the sake of going after Bucky.

Whatever he originally thought about the Accords is eclipsed by his initial desire for vengeance (which he of course later recognises and puts aside).

Regards Bucky - I don’t think that man even knew about the Accords. Perhaps in passing if he was catching the news, but that fight at the airfield wasn’t even about the Accords for Steve & co - it was about getting to Siberia to deal with the additional WS threat.

By this point Steve’s not fighting about the Accords - I think he’s almost forgotten about them, save for the fact that it’s an obstacle the course of what he’s trying to do - he’s fighting to solve the problem and save the world (again).

So actually in spite of everything I’ve just written, there’s a good chance that Cap’s team aren’t even really thinking about the Accords at this point - they’re thinking about the mission, and what’s needed.

But yeah - this is why CW is such a great film - there’s so much to dissect and ways you can look at it. I’m constantly intrigued by what people see or don’t see in this film and the characters.

Absolutely RANT about the sides in Captian America Civil War:

In CACW you have two teams:

Team Iron Man/Tony:

-Vision

-Rhodey

-Peter

-T'Challa

-Natasha

Team Captian America/Steve:

-Bucky

-Sam

-Wanda

-Scott

-Clint

Half of the 12 did not give a DAMN about the actual accords.

The ones who did:

Tony, Steve, Rhodey, Natasha, Vision, and Sam. They, at some point, cared about the accords.

In contrast, Bucky, Wanda, Scott, Clint, Peter and T'Challa did not care. They, minus Wanda, weren't even in the room when the accords were brought up.

Only Steve, Tony, Natasha, Vision, Wanda and Rhodey, aruged about them.

Now the motives, starting with team Tony:

Tony - the accords, he agreed to them

Rhodey - the accords, he also agreed with them

Natasha - agreed with the accords, literally saying, "If we still have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer"

Vision - agreed with the accords

T'Challa - Blamed Bucky for the death of his father, wanted revenge, and joined because Tony was fighting Steve who was with Bucky

Peter - Looked up to Tony, and was talked into this.

Now, Steve's side:

Steve - disagreed with the accords

Sam - disagreed with the accords

Wanda - disagreed with the accords as well but hated Tony more. She spent her youth hating him for the death of her parents, and didn't like that he had her confined to the facility

Clint - Held some guilt for what Pietro did for him and felt obligated to helping Wanda, and Renner said, "Cap was the first guy who called. Let's just get the job done so I can get home to the family. " On why Clint sided with Steve.

Scott - Looked up to Steve and Clint, on Steve's side, was the first guy who came to him.

Bucky - childhood friends with Steve, and Steve was trying to help him. Basically, Steve had his best interest and believed him about the other super soliders and about not killing T'Challa's dad.

Out of the 12 involved, only 6-7 fought over the accords. 7 depending on if Wanda was fighting over the accords or against Tony more. So let's say 6.5 as a solid number.

Peter and Scott were quite literally, first come, first serve. The guys they looked up to ask them to fight on their side.

T'Challa was fighting for revenge, and Wanda was on some level fighting out of anger towards Tony. Both were fighting because of a personal issue they had with someone on the other team.

Clint was both fighting because he felt like he owed it to Wanda and because Steve got to him first, similar to Scott and Peter.

Bucky, as said, was fighting because Steve is his friend. He trusted him the most, believed him, and was willing to help him with no strings attached. i.e., very personal reasons

This is to say, only about 50-54% of the people involved were actually fighting over the accords. That other 50-46% of the people, were fighting either because they were told to by someone they looked up to, or for a very personal reason.

I'm also typing this because I hate seeing those, "Steve had a ride or die team, and Tony had a group of people KINDA on the same page." No. It only appears that way because T'Challa was very personal and frankly didn't care who he was fighting with for most of the actual fight so long as he was fighting Bucky, and Natasha had a moment of conflict because she was close to both Steve and Tony and broke and helped Steve, she still agreed with Tony about the accords. She was just in between a rock and a hard place. She wasn't going to win regardless.

Idk, I love Civil War, and it's so interesting when you rip it apart and dissect it.

[phoenixyfriend]

Widows on Kamino (MCU Crossover)

I watched the Black Widow movie last night. I have. Thoughts.

There's this fairly short scene, maybe two thirds of the way through, that just made me want Natasha and Yelena landing in Kamino like... goddamn.

It's a moment where there's a room full of Widows (like a dozen) training gun stances and going through what's probably meant to be a gun kata? They move completely in sync through some fairly complicated moves, and it's eerie as fuck because they are almost entirely silent, the lighting is creepy, they have no emotions on their faces, etc. Nobody's got it up on YouTube yet but it fucking gripped me.

(I am, in fact, an entire lesbian who likes creepy shit, so I loved that scene, but that's because I thrive on the idea of dangerous women being spooky.)

I just can't stop comparing Red Room bullshit to Clones bullshit. They are VERY DIFFERENT bullshit and the sisters would have Many Opinions on things, both the training style and the decommissioning and also what family means because ahahahaha their family is. Uh.

[gestures at the entire movie about their sense of family being fucked up]

Natasha knows what's going on, Yelena never really got around to watching Star Wars (she saw the original trilogy during indoctrination so she could more easily pass as a local when undercover, but knows basically nothing about the prequels).

There is a language barrier, as is right and proper.

Natasha has just enough cards to tell Yelena to stand the fuck down because most of their training is useless here (anything involving hacking, impersonation, piloting, etc.) and what isn't useless is still going to be largely ineffective (two women versus Jango Fett, 75 Mandalorians, and however many clones are trained enough to put up a fight, not going to end well), so they need to play nice.

(Yelena doesn't recognize that they're in Star Wars, but Natasha puts together Jango's face with the Mando armor and familiar aliens and goes Ah Shit.)

So uh. They definitely end up in cells.

Like they're not putting up a fight and seem more confused and defensive than anything, which, okay, they showed up out of nowhere in a flash of light and landed in the middle of a bunch of Mandalorians, the easy interpretation there is "they don't know how they got here, AND they don't speak Basic, but they have a healthy and sensible fear of Mandalorians."

But they can't just. Get rid of these ladies. Not until they figure out where they came from/how they got here. If there's a leak or a new piece of tech that lets people just get into Kamino, and these two were a test run...

By the time they know enough Basic to actually discuss things, I feel like they're just kind of... there?

Like. "Oh yeah. Those two. We don't know what they're doing here, but tbh neither do they, and we don't really want to kill them at this point because one of them took Jango down in a spar last week--only once, don't get me wrong, Jango still won two out of three, but that's still better than most people--and now everyone's trying to get pointers on how the hell they fight because it's really different from most people here, y'know?"

They get folded in as trainers and then after like a year they go up to Jango like "Hey, we're going to tell you our shared Tragic Backstory, and also your future, and then we're going to bully you into Not Being The Worst"

I want to say that at some point Jango got like. Weirdly invested in Natasha and doesn't recognize that he has a crush.

ALSO Yelena low-key teaches the boys to do the Widow Pose to mock Natasha. She already makes fun of Natasha's tendency to pose in the movie, of course she's going to teach a bunch of clones how to do it purely to mess with her older sister.

This post has the scene with the mocking, and gifs from multiple movies that have Natasha doing The Pose.

This post has a more extended section of the mocking scene, and the later incident where Natasha does The Pose on a catwalk in the snow, and Yelena calls her a poser from the helicopter.

[Image desc: a gif of Black Widow as seen in Iron Man II, doing her classic 'about to fight' pose in a white hallway. End desc]

[Image desc: a gif of Black Widow, as seen in Black Widow (2021), in a white catsuit, coming down a rope from a helicopter and landing on a narrow grated walkway in a similar pose. There is visible snow and several individuals in black uniforms, carrying guns. End desc]

[Image desc: Immediately following the prior gif, Black Widow in the pose and dramatically lifting her head. End desc.] (above also by mcufam, same gifset, just not showing up in the gifsearch)

[Image desc: a gif from Black Widow (2021), where Natasha, casually dressed, turns to question someone off screen. The subtitles are as follows: Yelena (offscreen): Why do you always do that thing? Natasha: Do what? Yelena (offscreen): That thing you do when you're fighting. End desc]

[Image desc: a gif immediately following the last one, showing Yelena Belova, casually dressed and in a gas station store, dropping into a pose that mirrors Natasha's from Iron Man II. The subtitles have her saying "This thing that you do when you whip your hair..." End desc]

[Image desc: a gif from one of the final scenes of Black Widow (2021), where Natasha is performing a variant of the pose while sliding backwards on what appears to be a large solar panel. She (and the solar panel) are falling dramatically from a great height, and there are clouds and other debris in the background. She’s staring in determination at someone off-screen.]

[theravennest]

Let’s Talk About Shang Chi...

I just got back from seeing Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. I had a great time with it. Just a lovely experience.

The fights were dope. The music was rocking. The actors’ performances really sold me on everything. I loved all the Xianxia elements. Y’all know fantasy worlds are my JAM!

But it was the characters that really drew me in. Every one of them were pitch perfect for me. The final act got a little jumbled, imo, but the characters and their dynamics were so good that it was enough for me to completely forgive and overlook the somewhat messy final battle. 

The story had a lot of heart. It was so personal and so anchored in real emotions. I highkey fell in love with all the main characters. I love their journeys and their complex  and grounded relationships with each other. I really liked the movie’s examination of grief, loss, and pain and the lengths people will go to in the wake of being overwhelmed by those feelings.

Let’s dig into it! This is gonna be a whole discombobulated mess, I just know it. lmao

***Spoilers below the cut!***

I really felt for Shang Chi, Xialing, and Wenwu struggling to figure out how to be a family again after they were all broken in different ways by the loss of Mama Ying Li. And each one of them trying in their own way to heal from it, some to extremely destructive degrees. 

How Wenwu treated his kids after being consumed by grief and violence was so utterly messed up but in two completely different ways. 

He treated Xialing like she was anathema, like she was literally nothing. Even when they were older and she had grown into an adult, he barely spoke to her in the entirety of the movie, could hardly even look at her. Partially because she looked like her mom and he retreated utterly from the pain of that, and partially because he constantly underestimated her in favor of her brother. This, of course, seeded the resentful tension between Xialing and Shang Chi from the start.

I’m a real sucker for sibling dynamics, as you all know. They’re my favorite types of family-oriented stories. (Side note, I really love the way the MCU has dedicated several stories to sibling relationships. It’s like my favorite thing in the MCU as a whole.)

I completely ate up the harsh and tricky relationship between Xialing and Shang Chi. Shang Chi completely let her down when they were kids, for her POV. (Not really his fault, he was a scared and traumatized 15 year old. Totally understandable.) But there is something to be said about the fact that she was also a child. A child dealing with her mom’s death too AND her dad’s aloofness. Then she was utterly abandoned by her brother. It’s no wonder she never quite forgives him, even though they mostly team up in the movie. They still have a lot to work out between them.

I really loved that she took on leadership of the Ten Rings at the end. The moment Shang Chi said she was “dismantling” their dad’s empire, I knew what was up. Though, the softy in me does hope that eventually they can find true reconciliation between them. I’m excited to see what we’ll see from her in future movies as a potential enemy of Shang Chi. It’ll be really interesting to see how Shang Chi tackles having to go up against his little sister.

And Shang Chi!!! OMG! Let’s talk Shang Chi and Wenwu now. When Wenwu drop kicked him into the ground and started the blame game for Mama Ying Li’s death like bro!!! I was so heated. He was 7 years old. A whole baby! She died because your thousand years of violence and conquering shit finally came home to roost. 

But that one line when Wenwu said Shang Chi’s 7 year old self “just stood there and watched” while his mom was killed actually revealed so much about Wenwu’s character. (The cutting way Tony Leung, a literal legend, delivered that was masterful, btw.) 

I actually think that it was the first time Wenwu has ever verbalized that he blamed Shang Chi for Ying Li’s death. Like maybe he’s always felt that way and all this time he was partially punishing Shang Chi for what he thinks of as a failure to protect or help the woman who meant so much to them.

Like, yes, he was training Shang Chi to take his place with him in the Ten Rings as an assassin but maybe he also wanted Shang Chi to kill his mom’s murderer as penance for letting her die in the first place.

Of course, it’s clear to see that Wenwu was absolutely shifting his own feelings of conflicting guilt onto his kids. Guilt that his past as a warlord is what got her killed. But also guilt that he put down the Ten Rings in the first place when if he had stayed a warlord, this never would have happened. But also the bone deep knowledge that if he hadn’t put down the Rings, Ying Li might never have stayed with him and loved him in the first place.

When Shang Chi threw it back at him that Ying Li probably wouldn’t love the person Wenwu had returned to, Wenwu looked so shook up. Phew! Perfect emoting from Tony Leung in that moment.

Honestly, Wenwu was having a very tragic and confusing time of it in this movie. Which is probably how that creature from beyond was able to find a crack in his psychic defenses and lure him to the gate. I had a lot of empathy for him even though I disagree so much with what he did to his kids, emotionally.

I really respect the fact that the movie never lost that sense of compassion for all of their feelings including Wenwu. I also respect that the movie really gave them space to grieve not just the loss of Ying Li but also the resulting dissolution of their happy family.

It’s just too bad that Wenwu’s grief made him push his kids away instead of pulling them closer. He completely emotionally abandoned them. A thousand years of power and supremacy yet he was broken because he never in that time fully learned how to process his emotions in a healthier way and his kids paid the price. They could’ve leaned on each other and on the love they found with Ying Li to help them get through but alas that’s the tragedy of the movie. 

I really wanted somehow for Shang Chi to make it through to his dad before he went too far to come back again. I genuinely did not want to see Wenwu die at the end. I wanted him to live and see Shang Chi’s changing dynamic with his father continue. I wanted to see him finally acknowledge his daughter as his true heir and see her accomplishments (dark though they will likely become considering the “softer” version of her is the one that ran an illegal fight club in Macao lmao).

Though I am happy Shang Chi got through to him enough at the end for Wenwu to save Shang Chi’s life, willingly pass the rings onto his son, and somewhat accept his own death after a thousand years of life. That was such a poignant moment between them. And I wonder if in that instant, Wenwu had the thought that in dying he’d at least see Ying Li again.

(Side note: I really hope his soul and the souls of everyone that got eaten were freed when Shang Chi killed the monster. I really want them to be able to move on to the next phase of existence. I really hope they weren’t destroyed after being eaten. I want Wenwu to reunite with Ying Li even in the afterlife, gotdamnit! Sue me, I’m a romantic.)

Let’s talk Simu Liu’s performance here for one second. He was incredible throughout. I completely bought into this strange but so real feeling that while he has a lot of anger towards his father, so much hurt, he also felt a lot of heartache and love for who Shang Chi wanted him to be. And the strange desire to want to help a man who emotionally scarred him so badly.

Simu really brought both sides of Shang Chi’s journey to life. Like, he was tying to find his own path, reconcile with the mistakes he’s made in the past (his sister, killing his mom’s murderer), and facing up against his father’s ideals and expectations. But there was also a side of Shang Chi’s journey that was about finally understand both his sister and his father’s point of views, and of learning/embracing his mother’s history. 

That moment by the lake when he revealed to Katy that he had actually killed the man who killed his mother. Whew boy! The emotions were so poignant. Simu Liu played it like *chef’s kiss* beautiful.

Speaking of character choices, I really rate this decision to have him actually go through with the assassination. It puts Shang Chi in an interesting position emotionally and somewhat morally. Instead of having his breaking point be him unable to kill as his father wishes, it’s instead the feeling of guilt and shame that he actually did kill the man.

I wonder if he felt a sense of satisfaction before the disgust and shame settled in. Because Shang Chi literally watched his mom die, he probably initially wanted to help his father hunt down the man because of that bit of dark need for vengeance. Until he got it, and felt ashamed to fully face his mother’s memory afterwards.

I’m interested to see how future Shang Chi movies and Simu will dig into and unpack that little bit of darkness these events instilled in the character.

Let’s talk Ying Li for a second here. This woman was incredible. An incredible martial artist, for sure, a mystical guardian and warrior...but she was also just an incredible person in general. Mama Ying Li was so self-assured, so steadfast in her convictions. She struck me as someone who knows exactly what she wants and is never afraid to reach for it.

Fala Chen portrayed her with such grace, warmth, and strength of character. It was extremely easy to see why Wenwu fell in love with her. She met Wenwu, a literal thousand year old warlord, and through shear strength of character led him to put down his weapons and his empire to make a home with her.

This man threw away his entire shadow army of assassins, threw away his whole plan to literally demolish her village in the pursuit of power...in order to play Dance Dance Revolution with her and their kids. (The highlight of their romance and the family flashbacks, for me, tbh.) 

And I know it’s not necessarily...positive BUT there is something...hmmmm, crunchy in the fact that Ying Li so completely altered Wenwu’s life by simply loving him that when she died he was willing to raze the whole world to get her back, damn the consequences.

Trying to properly explore toxic and negative turns in previously loving family dynamics is such a difficult task to take on. I really liked the complexity of the Xu family. All the actors really sold the family side of things. It was an almost tangible thing how much you could see how the love they felt had turned bitter and painful over the years.

The final battle was epic and mind blowing (There was a fucking DRAGON flying around for gods’ sake!) but I do wish it had stayed a little more grounded for longer in the beginning of it when the Ten Rings were fighting the Ta Lo warriors. I wanted to see more of that fight before they had the turn to becoming temporary allies against the soul suckers. It became a little too much of a CGI mash, for me, in some parts of it.

Still, the emotional beats held and the core of the story of this grieving family trying to hold on to the tatters of their world stayed consistent even through the final battle. I can forgive a lot because of the strong sense of character and connection there.

Plus, it’s a comic book movie. Spectacle is the name of the game and at least this one had cool fantasy beasts and dope fight choreo. 

Anyway, I’ve rambled enough. Let’s wrap it up here. Suffice it to say, I had a wonderful time with this movie. I’m ready for the next one!

[redwingsupportgroup]

Hello there! ♥ Your work on TLs for TFATWS is a gold mine, especially for someone as obsessed with details as I am. I'm trying to write a husk of something about Lemar: the poor thing needs some happiness. I found a really nice TL of him and John by captainpikeachu, but I'm trying to get to something more focused on him. I have a few notes myself, but I would really welcome your perspective (as in, when do you think he was born? What kind of insight do we have on his life?) Anything would help!

(hey, I tried my best to collect the most information I could about Lemar generally, which is very hard, so bare with me if I didn't make much sense. I couldn't really find the TL you told me about on that blog, so if info were repeated or a few things were opposites, then I'm sorry in advance, these are just what I could collect from my own research)

Lemar Hoskins was born in 1987 — in Chicago, Illinois.

Lemar and John attended Custer's Grove High School together in Georgia, and were the same age.

based on John Walker's interview in Episode 2, he says he was already Two years out of West Point when Steve came back. to graduate West Point you need Four years, this means John and Lemar were both 24 years old in 2011. therfore born in 1987.

now, I assume Lemar's family moved from Chicago to Georgia any time in his childhood. and just settled there.

in the comics, Lemar has a brother called Leon, in TFATWS they chose to give him a nameless sister. you could hc him having both or either tbh.

his parents own a flower shop "Hoskins Family Flowers", it means Lemar has at least a mild knowledge on flowers and probably helped the family before graduating high school.

after graduating high school, Lemar enlisted in the army immediately, and didn't attend West Point with John, based on his uniform. so, he was 18.

he had training in combat, and is a skilled marksman.

as shown in TFATWS he spoke English and German.

now, to move to his ranking in Army. as mentioned in his MCU profile, Lemar is a Sergeant Major.

in the American Law, it takes you Ten years of service to rank a Sergeant Major. it could take more, rarely less, but based on your skill and tour service you could be promoted earlier. this means Lemar took every tour he was assigned and was highly skillful.

based on the information we have that he enlisted when he was 18 and passed away when he was 37. his promotion could have taken a bit longer than Ten years, but that's up to you to hc in your fic.

John hints at them having several tours, since they mentioned Chile and Afghanistan, it's safe to say they were deployed overseas.

an oversea tour takes anything from 24 to 36 months (two years - three years) and he spent 19 years in army (let us at least take out 3 years for vacations, injury rests or whatever) he could have gone on five tours maximum.

Lemar died in 2024 which means he was 37 years old.

in the comics he was married, nothing of that was hinted in TFATWS, but again, if you're giving him a happy ending, you could use this info.

I hope you find this useful and be able to put it to use <3

[majorxmaggiexboy]

idk if i’m actually going to attempt to participate but i still want to make a little list of Tober/Tember prompts and ideas of what to do with them. also tagging @f-ro-g bc New Pack. Every time i do one of these i start forgetting every media i’ve ever consumed so we’re going to see if i can at least get more than like three different fandoms on here. Might or might not come back through and flesh these out with actual details later on.

Whumptober Ideas

1) All Trussed Up and Nowhere to Go/”You have to let go”/Barbed Wire/Bound - Hadestown, full stop. The whole prompt is Hadestown. It’s in the lyrics, even. It is this post that makes me finally notice the “Keep on walking and don’t look back” line in Wait For Me and i’m so angry right now

2) Talking is Overrated/Garotte/Choking/Gagged - I’m thinking a rewrite of my first Three Musketeers fic just because it was funny the first time around and also wouldn’t take much Effort. Next.

3) Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones, But.../Taunting/Insults/”Who did this to you?”

The Bradmadge Brawl of S2E1 but with passion and malice next question

4) Trust Fall/”Do you trust me?”/Taken Hostage/Pushed

Nothing springs immediately to mind but i’m leaning toward Psych or The New Pack

5) Red In My Ledger/Betrayal/Misunderstanding/Broken Nose

*slams hand on table* New Pack. Mordaunt. It writes itself.

6) Touch and Go/Bruises/Touch-Starved/Hunger

On-Drakon we’re going to give Arman and Mira some love even if only two people on this website even know them.

7) My Spidey-Sense is Tingling/Helplessness/Numbness/Blindness

TASM just for the sake of it? Undecided

8) Coughing Up a Lung/Pneumothorax/Exotic Illness/”Definitely Just a Cold”

Ben Tallmadge and the Delaware Dive next question

9) Rumors of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated/Presumed Dead/Blind Rage/Tears

Bucky it’s your turn babe

10) Oops, I Did It Again/Hospital/Flare-Up/Ice Chips

Ben you’re going back in the Delaware it’ll be so funny

11) Just Keep Swimming/Adrift/Drowning/Dehydration

Personally i think having a third Ben vs. Water fic would be the funniest possible move but Grimaud or Mordaunt could also work here

12) It’ll Be Fun, They Said/Torture/Made to Watch/Begging

Jean-Olivier comes to mind but hmmmmm there was also that one TURN S3 au that could work

13) That’s Gonna  Leave a Mark/This Is Gonna Suck/Burns/Cauterization

Hmmmmmm OH! OH! Raoul! The New Pack. Done.

14) Under Pressure/Crush Injuries/Beaten/Force

It says Force and Force is Star Wars so naturally this is Mando’s number.

15) Feed a Cold, Starve a Fever/Delirium/Fever Dream/Bees

Ben Tallmadge guess what....

16) On a Need-to-Know Basis/Recovery/Scars/Aftermath

I’m thinking the Psych Not-Ghost AU would work here but there are certainly other options.

17) Field-Care 101/”Please don’t move!”/Hemorrhage/Dread

Might go with something Leverage right here just because i just watched Leverage. Nothing’s jumping immediately to mind. Warm Bodies could also work though.

18) The Doctor is In/”Now smile for the camera!”/Doctor’s visit/CPR

I’m thinking Reid just because Dr. and i’ve never been able to write Doctor Who so. What other Doctor characters are there. McStuffins isn’t in the running here. Oh! We could do something MCU, Bruce is a Doctor isn’t he? God can you imagine Dr. Hulk trying to

19) Just a Scratch/Bitten/Bleeding/Stabbing

Didn’t ... d’Artagnan once utter the phrase “it’s just a scratch” in relation to someth.....first episode, i think? Great so we have a winner, good job everybody.

20) Lost & Found/Trunk/Trapped underwater/Solitary Confinement

Weirdly Mando is the first character to come to mind. Someone beat me to 80% of my other idea but there’s potential.

21) That’s Where the Blood’s Supposed to Be/Bleeding Through Bandages/Pressure/Blood-Matted Hair

Let’s be real the only two options for this one are Bucky or Eliot and they’re virtually the same character so where does that leave me

22) They Made Me Do It/Cursed/Demon/Obsession

*vague wave* Merlin ?

23) You Break It, You Buy It/Auction/Ransom/Pursuit

That one 3M au with Athos and the big mix-up and the Oops and all the...stuff, yeah. That works.

24) One Down, Two to Go/Self-Induced Injuries to Escape/Flashback/Revenge

Holy sh- i didn’t see this one initially. I mean? Jean? Ow.

25) Hide & Seek/Escape/Flight/Hiding

Psych? Orrrrr....TGM?

26) You Will Go Down With This Ship/Fallen/Waterfall/Trap Door

I’m trying to think of literally anything i’ve ever read or watched that’s got a ship in it ummmmmmm hey what if we interpret “ship” as yeaaaah let’s do another Mando one that’ll work

27) “I’m Fine, I Prom...”/Passing Out/Vertigo/Collapse

I mean..... .... ... is there a character this doesn’t work for though? Wait. No actually let’s do Childermass since he gets that what is it an allergic reaction to magic? I mean i know Segundus gets like that to so....ha let’s make it be Both of them.

28) It’s Not Just In Your Head/”Good, you’re finally awake”/Nightmares/Panic

First thought is New Pack but it might take some pondering.

29) All Work and No Play/”You’re still not dead?”/Too weak to move/overworked

it’s like Civil War but with Bucky and Jean-Olivier having an all-out brawl good lord it’s an either/or situation.

30) Digging Your Grave/Major Character Death/Left For Dead/Ghosts

*shot of choc milk* the exact TURN AU i was Just thinking about yesterday,,,

31) Hurt & Comfort/Disaster Zone/Trauma/Prisoner

I feel like i need to put Gwynplaine here just because he hasn’t had a turn yet

Alt. Prompts

1) Losing Control

Arman. Very obviously extramuch Arman definitely. Let’s have another one with the involuntary dragon himbo.

2) Threats

*chin hands* trying to think of a character who gets threatened a lot. will circle back. I’m actually thinking Psych again but idk.

3) Caning

Ro we’ve genuinely discussed about 16 different variations on this one i think it’s Time

4) Mercy

MORDAUNT MORDAUNT NEXT QUESTION

5) Forgotten

Is it time for Jack Frost of all people to make an appearance or is this just Bucky again

6) Head Injury

It would be real easy to just put the headbonk au here but i’m going to try to show some restraint and do a different headbonk story

7) Screaming

Going to assign Gwynplaine here just because he really has been neglected in this lineup and also it would probably be good for him to vent a little bit in this manner

8) Comfort

Someone’s going to get petted like a cat and i just haven’t decided whomst but when i do it’s over for everybody

9) Self-Sacrifice

What do i even say to that i Feels like another New Pack but it’s still up for grabs tbh

10) Trapped

Tempted to pour one out and just say Bucky but idk idk we’ll think of something this is very much a first draft stream of thought general idea planning session

11) Near Death Experience

It would be hilarious to just put something like Meet Joe Black for this one but WAIT NO NO GO BACK ACTUALLY WARM BODIES LET’S DO WARM BODIES

12) Regret

It’s gotta either be Psych or TURN

13) Tragedy

My first thought is to do a damn Hannibal fic without ever having actually watched the show just because i’m still angry about how i read it ended but considering that i only know the characters’ voices from tumblr chatposts i feel like that’s not the best venue to

heck we might just do New Pack

14) Battlefield

Either TURN or New Pack or....the song’s a little bit dramatic for a Bucky but actually....unless? no....but Maybe,

15) Anxiety

Every character i’ve ever cared about could potentially fit right here so :/ Arman could have 3rd ficlet but again, literally every character, i,,,,,they’ve all got anxiety X’D

[ultfreakme]

I don’t think MCU knows how to write romances, which is why Steggy just fell flat after CATFA and I have a hypothesis. 

MCU’s target audience is everyone. Mass appeal to really get the cash flowing. But this is a franchise based on comic books and there is this stereotype that cishet men and boys are the ones who predominantly consume this stuff. Also superhero movies have some specific expectations and roles they should fulfill, like epic fight scenes, being toTalLy mAcHo, saving the day, saving the damsel, whatever. 

Female characters aren’t exactly....characters in these films(at least at the start), they are props and ideas to be sold. It took 10 years to make Black Widow a character, an Avenger in her own right rather than side character. The aforementioned mass-appeal thing means any sort of romance needs to meet some criterion so little to no one gets uncomfortable(according to MCU standards)

Romances are heterosexual

They need to be obvious to viewers

Neither of them can engage in anything more than kissing. 

Okay it needs to be the milquetoast thing ever. The heterosexual romance falls flat because one of the people in the relationship doesn’t have a character. The ‘love-interest’ who is often female and just something the hero is guaranteed to have doesn’t inspire any sense of tension because literally everyone knows how the relationship will go. 

Weird thing is the female characters are actually well-written enough before they become a love interest. When they are put together with the male character they are supposed to love, any defining personality trait just gets dulled down. 

Peggy is pretty badass on her own, but the second she’s made to interact with Steve, she goes from character to prop. Something like that happens with Jane in Thor- she’s this well-known astrophysicist who is smart as fuck, kinda dorky and awkward but she like....she just fades into the background whenever she’s with Thor. Why would she be interested in him after about 2 days of knowing him? Why would she love him for 2 years and wait around after knwoing him for such a short time? How does that work? I get a passing friendship and worry but romantic love is going to take way more. 

Thing is the second a ‘love-interest’ is assigned, the relationship escalates so quickly it doesn’t feel real. For some reason they HAVE to kiss if they even just look at each other. There’s no place for a slowburn where an actual dynamic is built.

And this is where they accidentally create very compelling male relationships. Steve and Bucky’s relationship spans over all 3 Captain America movies and is there even in the Avengers movies. It takes a long, long time- we get time with them, we get to see how the relationship influences each other- how it changes each other. That’s what makes it so compelling. 

I think the same can be said for Stony too(though okay I don’t ship it but I’m sure them going from begrudging allies who sorta hate each other to friends over the span of multiple movies with various ups and downs is what makes them so cool to witness). And less popular, but ThorBruce- they aren’t love interests but they start of with a tenuous alliance, which becomes friendship and eventually a strong friendship where they count on each other. SamBucky too(hating each other-> friends with the same guy and having the same cause -> friends and this also happens over multiple movies and a TV series)

They are allowed to be friends first, their relationships develop naturally because they are allowed to be characters first, their traits and existence are not compromised to shoehorn in any relationship. 

And they’re all SLOWBURNS. 

Jane & Thor would’ve been more compelling if in the first movie, they were allies on the verge of friendship, in the second their friendship becomes more established and it was slowly built up throughout the avengers movies. That way there’s more weight in the break-up, in the struggle of long distance and dating a god.

Same with Peggy and Steve. The thing with Steggy though, is that the franchise killed any potential for it with the time travel and burned it down in CATWS and AoU(Peggy says you can’t go back to the past to Steve and says he needs to live in the present- a present which she can’t be a part of. And Steve says whichever part of him that wanted the white picket fence and family died 70 years ago). Steggy set itself up to be a past Steve needed to leave behind for positive development. 

The Steve-Peggy relationship was opened and closed by CACW and they opened up Steve’s relationship with everyone in the 21st century. 

Sharon Carter doesn’t work because it’s Steve clinging to the last of his ties with Peggy(also that is PEGGY’S NIECE MAN WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING). Also we don’t know shit about Sharon at that point. They should’ve kept her an ally and friend and maybe built up a friendship between the two based on their grievance over the fall of SHIELD and Nick Fury. Steve would’ve worked better as a mentor figure to Sharon tbh. 

okay rant done

[illyanapryde]

I posted 3,960 times in 2021

187 posts created (5%)

3773 posts reblogged (95%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 20.2 posts.

I added 134 tags in 2021

#anti wanda maximoff - 23 posts

#anti wandavision - 21 posts

#mcu - 17 posts

#wandavision - 15 posts

#wanda maximoff - 15 posts

#marvel - 13 posts

#scarlet witch - 12 posts

#anti mcu wanda - 7 posts

#elizabeth olsen - 6 posts

#!!! - 5 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#tbh it’s probably better that i don’t know the 616 eternals because i would get angry about every change that gets made to it in the mcu 😭

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Okay I’m getting real fucking tired of all buckynat fics being centered around bucky’s trauma, and how natasha helps him with his trauma. she’s literally been through just as much shit as him. for fuck’s sake they were tortured/brainwashed/mind controlled by the same organization. stop making natasha this stoic mother figure to every man. she’s not bucky’s mother. how about a fic where he helps HER through HER trauma? believe it or not she’s allowed to have feelings too

71 notes • Posted 2021-09-21 02:41:55 GMT

#4

Quite possibly the worst part of the Maximoff family being whitewashed in the MCU is that most of the MCU fandom knows that Wanda and Pietro are Romani and Ashkenazi Jewish in the comics, but they simply choose to ignore the MCU’s bigotry and continue promoting and supporting their content because apparently whitewashing is excusable when it involves your comfort character 😒

91 notes • Posted 2021-11-30 01:36:51 GMT

#3

It will never not bother me that the MCU put white people in crappy costumes and had the nerve to pass them off as Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, two Romani-Jewish characters that are meant to be people of color

95 notes • Posted 2021-07-25 23:19:48 GMT

#2

The fact that Eastern-European Romani actress (who is also a feminist activist) Franciska Farkas was RIGHT THERE along with Mihaela Dragan, Alina Serban, Alba Flores and many other Romani actresses who would have been great in the role but J*ss Wh*don went with a white American actress who says anti-Romani slurs still makes me seethe with anger to this day

109 notes • Posted 2021-08-29 16:37:12 GMT

#1

Never forget that Wanda and Pietro Maximoff are people of color in the comics

357 notes • Posted 2021-09-25 22:07:40 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[rockthistowninsideout]

10 characters - 10 fandoms

Have done that already but why not find out if I don’t have ten more favourite fandoms/characters. The first post, funnily enough, also initiated by you, so thanks for tagging me @citrus-cactus!​

Choose 10 different fandoms and pinpoint your favorite character from each one. Then tag 10 more.

Characters I remember from the first post are Taichi Yagami, Dorothy Williams, Urs of the Snows, Charlie Weasley, and Bella Cullen, so I won’t be looking at them again.

Digimon Franchise

Sora Takenouchi. As mentioned in similar posts, she’s one of my favourites because we were so similar. We both like football/soccer, Taichi Yagami, we are the mom friend, in later years we stand more on the outside observing than throwing ourselves straight into the action.

Lukas (ZDF)

Lukas Lenz. Title character of the German tv show, he struggles with career, body images, family, and maybe also with sexual orientation. The show in general is surprisingly progressive for the late 1990s in German public tv, but deals with topics like queerness, teen pregnancy, single-parenting and much more in a very light but never disrespecting tone. The discovery of the last year for me.

The Invisible Library series

Peregrine Vale. As much as I’d like to be badass like Irene or able to transform into a freaking dragon (an absolute dream tbh) like Kai, I pick Vale. He seems stiff but has actually no problem at all to roll with whatever crazy and illegal stuff Irene throws upon him. It’s also super funny how they drag him into nearly any adventure no matter which world it happens in. 

(Please take this stock photo as a placeholder as noone has drawn/otherwise visualized him [in a way I’d agree with] on any platform, unfortunately.)

Pacific Rim

Mako Mori. She has her own diversity test. I think that says it all. (Everything about her agency and bravery has been pointed out before.)

Ku’Damm 56

Rudi Hauer. A pity Eva hasn’t stayed with him, the cute goalkeeper from the GDR team, but has decided on marrying an old abusive doctor. I get that Rudi was married and lived in a different (hostile) state. Still, better than having to prostitute herself to escape her husband’s iron grip.

Castle

Kate Beckett. One of those female characters that walk a tightrope between being unbelievably hot’n’badass and just being a trophy wife for a goofier male character. Luckily, she never falls, and also passes the Mako Mori test, meaning that many of her actions don’t revolve around a man but her family and the tragic story that includes. And underneath all that coolness she reveals, after a bit of tickling by Castle, that she can be just as big a doofus as he is.

(The only thing I don’t get, just like in Rizzoli and Isles or any superhero movie, is that she wears heels most of the time when she has to frequently run after criminals.)

MCU

Peggy Carter. Period clothing, especially mid-century, is always a plus-point. And Peggy pulls it off meticulously, even in the thorniest situations. While I’m also a big fan of women getting messy when things get messy, Peggy’s perfection highlights that you don’t have to become a man to succeed in a man’s world. I know that Marvel/Disney is a money-gobbling machine (and assholes) for putting the very interesting concept of “What if..” behind a paywall but I’m absolutely in love with buff Captain Peggy Carter. (Won’t become a member of Disney+ just for that, though.)

In aller Freundschaft: Die jungen Ärzte

Dr. Elias Bähr (Bährchen). My reaction towards him can be pretty much summed-up with *heart eyes*  - big ones! He’s soft and caring, which makes his angry moments even sharper. A little awkward, he’s the number one friend among the assistant doctors, which makes it a little difficult to lead them after his promotion. A well-rounded character. The only problem is that one shoe-horned affair he was supposed to have because, actually, dear show runners, he’s asexual if you haven’t noticed.

P.S. Don’t get me started on his swinging hips!

(I would like to add a gif I made showcasing exactly that but tumblr doesn’t let me upload it...)

Zootopia

Benjamin Clawhauser. I’m not exactly invested in the Zootopia fandom but as so many others I’ve locked Benjamin Clawhauser in my heart. Yeah, with his abundant appettite he’s the butt of more than one joke. Yet he’s unapologetically himself, both for his love for donuts and for Gazelle. I also don’t want to deny him his loving relationship with Chief Bogo.

Adolars Phantastische Abenteuer

Adolar. I was obsessed with this show when I was around twelve years old (just like Adolar). So obsessed that I started talking like him which very much annoyed my family. Now I’m only using a couple of catchphrases here and there, whenever a word triggers my memory. But I do remember that I also wanted to build my own inflatable spaceship and started looking around on what everyday items I could turn into equipment. Even now I wouldn’t mind travelling to an interesting planet without any obligations whatsoever. 

Tagging @utrinque-paratus​, @born-deaf-blind-and-numb​, @rooonil-waazlib​, @deltermeemer​, @wrathbite​, @earanie​, @thiswomanwearsglasses​, @farisya-yodalmighty​ and anyone who’s in the mood!

[alirhi]

chapter 9

Title: Winter's Frost Chapter: 9/? Fandom: MCU Rating: R to be on the safe side Pairing: Loki/Bucky Summary: Loki never told anyone the real reason he became so obsessed with Midgard. Much better to let them think he wanted to hurt his brother than draw their attention to the one thing in the universe that makes the God of Mischief truly vulnerable.

WARNINGS: not much, tbh. Notes: I know I'm glazing over a lot of the arguably more interesting stuff, but like... this is supposed to be a romance fic, not action XD I'm not really interested in torturing Loki; he's been through enough in MCU canon.

It turned out that, outside of Sakaar, Loki had only been gone for a matter of weeks. Three years of peace and domestic bliss hiding beside a trash heap amounted to only weeks of anyone even knowing he was gone. No one on Asgard even cared; he was shown the way Thor and his people celebrated his demise, and he didn't even bother to question if the images were real. He knew those people well enough to know that they didn't give a damn about him one way or another, without Thanos and his little show.

For a while, Thanos truly had the perfect leverage. For as long as Eira was trapped there with him, Loki played the part of the obedient, if snarky, servant. As arrogant fools always did, their guards grew complacent over time. He put up the occasional fight for show, to keep them from seeing through his ruse, but he was only biding his time until he could get his innocent child out of harm's way.

With no other option to keep her safe, Loki sent his daughter to the only one he knew he could trust to protect her, whether she wanted to or not: The woman on Midgard, Darcy. They'd never met, never interacted; Darcy had no powers and no tangible connection to him. No one would think to look at her while hunting for Eira. She was the perfect guardian, and better, she'd care. She'd be flustered and confused, but if a child appeared on her doorstep with no warning and only a brief note for explanation, she wouldn't hesitate to do whatever needed to be done.

She's in danger, he wrote simply in the note he instructed his little girl to pass on. Tell no one. I'll collect her when I can.

He paused, staring at the page, and then added, Don't screw this up, Darcy.

There. That should do it. If she had any questions, well... That was just too bad. It wasn't as if he'd be there to answer them, and Eira was sharp for her age, but she was still just a toddler.

He had exactly one shot at this. The minions were idiots, but Thanos would surely feel the power surge and know what he'd done. He just hoped the little girl would be too little to be traced. Shoving his pain and fear down as far as he could, Loki forced a brave smile for the light of his life, kissed her chubby little cheek, and when their captors weren't looking, stole the scepter and used it to send her away.

"Aegir," he whispered, "Freyja... You've been no friends of mine, but she's innocent. Watch over her. Protect her. Please."

He wished he could see the look on Darcy's face when it hit her that she'd just become foster mother to a demi-goddess.

"That was a very stupid thing to do."

"Really?" Loki smirked as he handed the scepter back without a fight. It was no good to him at the moment. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Thanos snorted, rolling his eyes. "That little girl was the only thing sparing you immeasurable pain."

"If you think seeing fear and uncertainty in my daughter's eyes wasn't the worst thing I have ever suffered, you clearly don't love your daughters." Lifting his chin, he did his best to stare down his nose at the giant, smirk still firmly in place. Eira was safe; if they could trace where he'd sent her, they'd have gone already. He had nothing left to fear from these barbarians. "A child isn't a bargaining chip. Nor is she leverage. Now... Where were we?"

Thanos studied the cocky Trickster for a moment, and then chuckled. "You think I can't find her." Shaking his head, he strode forward and grabbed Loki's jaw, gripping just tight enough to hurt. "I don't want to find her, Loki. I don't care. She was a means to guarantee your cooperation, but there are other, bloodier ways. I always get what I want. I am inevitable."

With a grimace, Loki wrenched free of his grip and made a show of casually straightening his clothes. "I might've pegged you for a spoiled brat. You truly don't understand how to take 'no' for an answer. You should really speak with Thor; perhaps one of you could beat some humility into the other."

"Your stubbornness is tiresome."

He grinned. "I've been told that a time or two."

Unimpressed, his captor growled, "There's no reason for you to resist. Bring me the Tesseract and Earth is yours to do with as you please. It's a very simple trade."

"I know better than to trust simplicity," Loki pointed out with a sneer. "Especially from someone who's after that much power, who abducts people and uses their young children as leverage. Whatever you're truly after, I'm not interested in helping you to get it."

Thanos sighed, turning to walk away. "I've had enough of his chatter. Break him, then. Don't call on me until it's done."

As the henchmen eagerly moved in on him, Loki grinned and braced himself for a fight. "This won't be like last time," he warned them. "I've no need now to hold back and spare my daughter the sight of your violent, gruesome deaths. So... Who's first?"

He was rusty, and had gone soft, but he wasn't completely helpless. Two of his attackers were down before they knew what hit them, expiring in pools of their own blood. He had a third by the throat and was gleefully choking the life from him – this one, he recognized as the insolent cur who'd dared to grab his daughter on Sakaar – when it dawned on him, too late, that he should probably have spared some attention for Thanos' other hand when he'd had Loki in a similar grip.

Burning pain radiated out from his shoulder, and he watched tiny bolts of electricity shoot down his arm and into his opponent, shocking and incapacitating them both. Well, if he had to be taken down in such an undignified fashion, at least the laws of physics were on his side and he'd taken Eira's abductor down with him.

The last thing Loki saw before he lost consciousness was one of the aliens callously kicking his half-dead ally aside and stooping to lift the prone, twitching God. The electric current had stopped running from the device stuck to his shoulder, but it was still frying his nerves and leaving him helpless.

He'd grown quite tired of that feeling.

_____________________________________________________

Next Masterlist

[zafirosreverie]

ZAFIRO SPEAKS NINE LANGUAGES ?! Ok, Missandei of Narth we know it's you, is that serious?

I also read your preference for twins (i'm a bit later) and the descriptions of them growing up are beautiful. With Carla and Ursula, it's R dealing with three kids (a super smart one in Sullie's case), and the embarrassed boy thinking that Carla wouldn't let him paint his nails; we don't have gender stereotypes in this house/fanfics

Now, Agatha... My beloved wife, she is so happy, Agnes deserves a family, God, as I hope she has a good future at MCU. Children trying to get her attention even before they were born

The children being so fond of Eve, after so long feeling lonely, I imagine the kids arriving from school:

- MOMMY! - they run from the door

- Hi, little ones - R opens her arms, ready for the little ones to squeeze.

They pass right by the reader, hugging Eve in the kitchen. Poor reader, but we always encourage attention to Eve, this woman needs love.

When Jen found out, I think she would almost pass out. She never wanted children, now would she have two? But it would be no different than how she would act with just one. Jennifer "kids are gross" Barkley is hilarious and yes, we will respect her choice of life, I also like to see the participation of other characters from the respective franchises (Leslie and Ben, Wanda and Monica, Amanda and Julian)

I also like to think of twins always ready to defend each other (if you're going to break the sound barrier, take your twin with you)

In the end, Zaf won: now my view on children is more positive and my heart is more soft. Thank u, for that baby age, now that the next one comes, since Mama Z is well and happy to write, obviously 💓💓

-🌆

Ahhhhh this put a huge smile on my face 🥰🥰🥰

1-Missandei? Me? Pfff...(shhhhhhhh no one is supposed to know 👀)

2-ahahahah Ursula and Carla would be WORSE than the twins tbh xD also, no, we don't know about gender stereotypes in this house/fic

3-Agnes/Agatha deserves everything tbh. Y más le vale a Marvel no tocarla ni arruinarla 7 ^ 7r. Also, the twins would fight for her attention and you bet magic would be involved. But they'd also be protective of reader bc...human.

4- WE ALL LOVE EVE AND SHE DESERVES ALL THE LOVE!! I don't think reader would mind tbh, she knows her wife deserves it and would totally encourage it. Reader can always have the dog/cat/pet for herself while Eve has the twins xD

5-yeah, Jen would probably feel her soul leaving her body xD but she'll act the same as if it was just one: you take care of them until college.

6-It wasn't the intention, but I'm happy you have a more positive view of children 💖