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sxveme-2 · 3 years

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blueberry pancakes // bucky barnes

MASTERLIST

Description: A single mother. Juggling being a mom, a full time pediatrician, and a difficult ex who believed now would be the best time to finally be a father. A soldier ripped out of time. Ex-assassin turned superhero. Learning how to balance a new domestic life with handling demons of his past, while facing the trials of the future. a love story began over something as simple as chocolate chip pancakes with hidden blueberries.

Disclaimer: I do not own any original Marvel characters! All canon plots and canon characters belong to Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios. This is an original work. You may not publish it anywhere else

Status: Edited

Note: Takes place after endgame. I have elected to ignore Tony's death and Steve's leaving. Did not happen. Quick Reminder! My works are only published here, AO3 and on Wattpad, thank you.

Chapter Five: The One with the Burnt Pancakes

Warnings: N/A

Word Count: 2516

Coming out of a divorce unscathed was more uncommon than its counterpart. Typically, a bit of baggage attaches itself to one or both parties. No matter whether or not divorce rates are through the roof in today's modern era, it still hurt more than words could describe. Especially when it's due to an affair. It creates this sense of unworthiness, and as though you weren't good enough. And when the pair has a child, it makes it ten times more difficult. Knowing that you'll have to break it to the child that their parents will no longer be together, and that they will most likely spend more time with one in comparison to the other.

But, when your child already has a bit of distaste towards your partner, it can make the blow a little softer. Sure, every mother wants their child to have a relationship with their father, other mom, etc. Whatever the situation is, parents, want that. They want to be able to see their child's face when they see their ex-spouse, but sometimes, there's nothing you can do about it. Especially when your ex never put in the effort, to begin with.

Above all, your perception of love changes. and that's exactly what happened to Lily. She lost all belief in herself and didn't believe she could ever find someone who would love her, along with the baggage that she carried alongside her. And that broken heart that she has yet to mend, and honestly, she wasn't sure if she'd ever find someone who could help. To cup warm hands around the two halves and hold them together until they combined once again.

Other things she deemed impossible, was her sitting in a kitchen with the avengers. Earth’s mightiest heroes. The people that destroyed an entire army. travelled to space. Some even having been ripped out of time and thrown into different roles and periods. These people had stories people couldn't even dream of, lived lives people only wished to be able to experience. And here sat Lily, a single mother of an 11-year-old boy, who lived in a domestic area, and worked as a pediatrician. She was minuscule in comparison to the Gods and soldiers that sat around her.

"So, is Hunter’s father around?" a soft voice asked, an accent dripping from the words. It had pulled Lily out of her thoughts of astonishment, as she tried to wrap her head around what was currently happening.

"Hm? Oh, no," Lily spoke, her voice as soft as the gentle ripple of a pond, while she sipped the coffee they had given her. Glancing up, a few of the superheroes looked at her with inquisitive eyes, wondering where he may be, or if he even was to be anymore, "We uh, we divorced four years ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that," the girl continued. Lily had placed her as Scarlet Witch, or Wanda Maximoff. Hunter adored her. He ranted and raved about how cool her abilities were and how she could probably take down an entire army by herself if she wanted to, "He's cute. I've always wanted kids."

Lily nodded along as the conversation continued around her. She stayed as silent as a sleeping lamb, her green eyes glancing around as she tapped her fingers against her coffee mug. She wasn't sure what they wanted her to say. It had been proven time and time again that Lily was the farthest from a talker. Deep inside of her mind, the little voice of self-doubt had convinced her that no one cared about what she had to say. That the only reason people even spoke to her, to begin with, was because it was polite. But she's also been told that the world around her found that shy demeanour endearing, and mysterious. As if she held secrets behind those sealed lips when in reality, Lily was scared that if she spoke, she'd create secrets. Letting the world in on the pain she hid, that she kept locked away in a vault deep within her mind. protecting herself from being destroyed again.

"...So if you ever need a babysitter," Wanda’s voice sang again, yanking Lily away from her deeper thoughts once again, as though the two were tethered. the young blonde's attention perked up as the young girl continued speaking, "I'm your girl."

Was the Scarlet Witch, offering to babysit Lily's eleven-year-old? As in, seriously? Like to pick him up or come down from upstate New York to deliberately take care of him? If it weren't for the fact Lily rarely left the house, and if she did, it was with Hunter, she may have considered the idea. But Lily wasn't one to go out. The noise that came along with the idea of partying or going out on the town always got Lily's heart beating at a much too fast pace. If she was going out, it was to gen's cafe, or with three glasses of wine down and a whole bottle to go. The world was loud and intimidating, and could easily crush Lily's fragile heart and mind with a simple touch. And where would that lead her? Nowhere good, that's where.

"Oh that's sweet, but I don't typically go out, and when I do, he comes with," Lily stated, lips forming a tight smile as she ran her finger along the circular hole atop her mug.

"Really? A girl that's as beautiful as you must get tons of guys and go out on dates. and I see no ring on that finger," the infamous Tony Stark teased while shifting his weight to look at the blonde, "unless there's already a lucky fella."

A laugh of almost disbelief escaped through Lily's full lips as if the idea of Tony Stark calling her beautiful was too good to be true, "Oh no. my best friend tries but I don't date. Already have my hands full with work and Hunter."

"Where do you work?" Steve's voice now chimed in, pushing off the counter he leaned on as Bucky worked away, staying silent. He hadn't spoken a word to Lily since Steve walked her through the threshold of the kitchen, merely a gruff hi before returning to the feverish work he was doing on the pancakes. It was as though he was trying to make them perfect.

"I'm a pediatrician at Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital down in Manhattan," Lily answered, her eyes averting from looking at any of the intimidating people around her. Why were they so interested in her? Why did they seriously care so much about her personal life? She just brought Hunter here for a tour, not an interrogation...was this what people did? Like...they wanted to learn more about her? It didn't make sense, she was pretty basic. There was nothing special to her, Lily thought.

"Oh, that's awesome. I have a few-"

"SHIT!"

The large outburst caused everybody to immediately turn their attention to where it came from. Behind the counter, Bucky was waving smoke away from his face that seemed to be billowing from the pan on the stove. He burnt the pancakes. Lily felt a small smile tug at the corners of her lips as she watched him throw a towel at the counter, his face turning a crisp shade of red, like a cherry. The moment his eyes landed on her though, his entire body lit up in a hue of pink it seemed. He grew flustered, biting down on this ever so soft lips he had. Lily was only human, she couldn't help but avert her eyes down to the thin layer of skin. And as if on cue, Wanda let her voice ring through the kitchen.

"Damn it, Barnes! I told you not to cook, and you decide to challenge your abilities in front of our guest?" The ginger exclaimed while standing from her chair, going to help the built man clean his mess.

A few of the others in the room whined, and Lily guessed they had been waiting for a bit to eat. She felt a twang of guilt deep within her, as though it was her fault. But it really wasn't, she wasn't the one making the pancakes. no, she was merely answering the personal questions they all seemed to have for her, as well as constantly glancing at the hall or behind her to see if Hunter was on his way back. Instead, he was now outside with Sam, looking at all of the different artifacts and things that weren't able to be kept inside of the compound.

"You much of a chef, Lily?" James Rhodes (Warmachine, she reminded herself), asked. No matter the amount of mental effort it took, Lily couldn't help but allow the tinge of rose to decorate her full cheeks. They seemed to want to get to know her, and she felt almost...accepted? No, maybe more so welcomed, by these beings of immense power and ability. She allowed her shoulders to relax, and her grip on her mug lessened.

"Nothing impressive, but I do know my way around a kitchen," she responded, tilting her head to the side, causing her blonde locks to dance across her shoulder, "Most nights, I try to make homemade meals for Hunt and I. It's important for a child's development." she finished but noticed how all of their eyes were glued to her. Raising her left eyebrow ever so gently, she let a giggle escape from her throat, "but sometimes I give in and order pizza."

"You should help Bucky out, he's never been the best cook. Got used to boiling everything in the forties, so he makes a mean hot dog," Steve teased, sauntering over in all of his Captain America excellence, "Anything else? Completely lost on him."

"It's a good skill to have. But difficult to master, I suppose." Lily shrugged, crossing her legs over one another as she rested her elbow on the glass table, cupping her chin as she sipped the hot liquid in her cup. She couldn't seem, however, to take her eyes off of the culprit of the burnt pancake smell. The way the muscles in his neck rippled whenever he clenched his jaw. How his metal arm glinted as a small stream of light entered through a window, creating a bright reflection. How his scruff along his chiselled chin seemed to be a bit overgrown underneath.

Her mind began to wander momentarily, a gentle and soft vision dancing itself into her brain. Him sitting on a chair in her bathroom, Lily sitting comfortably on his lap, facing him. His eyes sleepy and his hair unkempt. Her skilled and nimble hand resting on the side of his face as she trimmed underneath his jaw, getting those areas he seemed to miss. His lips parted as he seemed to slowly drift off again, as though Lily's gentle hands were willing him to...

A hand waving in front of her face snatched Lily out of her odd fantasy land. She cleared her throat and looked around her, eyebrows knitting together in confusion, as though she had been paying attention to the whole conversation she just missed. Holding her lips inside of her mouth, Lily shifted once again in her seat, attempting to play it cool as the blush that had formed on her cheeks seemed to grow rapidly.

"Sorry, could you repeat what you said?" she asked, her voice weak as her eyes shifted to look at the man behind the counter once again. She couldn't help it...he was beautiful.

"I said you should help Buck out making the pancakes. Most of us haven't eaten, and if you're as good as you say, maybe you can help." Steve grinned, a knowing glint in his sky blue eyes. The way he looked at Lily, as though he could see inside of her head, sent a shiver down her spine. The idea of anyone knowing where her mind just wandered was basically mortifying for her. Being such a conservative person, the idea of that getting out? Yeah, no.

"Oh no I shouldn't...I'm positive he's capable of making pancakes." Lily chuckled, her voice cracking halfway through. This caught everyone's interest, and Lily had to hide her face with her mug as the dark liquid slid its way down her throat.

"He isn't. We don't normally let him in the kitchen. C'mon Lily, show us whatcha got." Steve continued to pry, leaning back in his chair as the others encouraged the entire idea.

Lily's head turned back to where Bucky stood, an almost pleading yet bashful look gracing his perfectly sculpted features. Just the way his eyes seemed to call out for her, was enough to allow the eldest Osborne to give in to the peer pressure of her new acquaintances. That was something Lily believed to be impossible, being friends with these heroes. These people that laid their life on the ground multiple times, saving her and her son by protecting the world around them. She was in debt to this group, everybody was. They've kept them protected for countless years. But how would one even begin to thank them?

"Okay okay, I'll do it," Lily mumbled, finishing her drink before pushing herself out of the chair that probably cost the same amount as her dog. She pulled a hair tie from her wrist and securing the blonde locks at the nape of her neck as she gracefully floated towards the kitchen. Glancing around, she couldn't help but let out a laugh at how expensive the items around her were. Sure, she didn't live in a house with run-down appliances, but these were top-of-the-line, high-end, see-on Food Channel things. A far reach from Lily's budget, "Well, first of all, Bucky, you need to turn on the fan."

After preparing everything to ensure not only safety but also to optimize space and time, Lily turned towards the man she had just moments ago daydreamed of. For a moment, she found herself lost in those steel-blue eyes he had. As though he had captured the moon and made them his own, adding a tinge of the blue from the sky above. How with every flicker across her face, a story was told. The pain and suffering he had endured etched into the dips and creases of his face, especially around those beautiful orbs. A part of her wished that the other members of the group were gone and that she could grip the sides of his face and kiss those lips he kept licking. His tongue darting out to wet them, creating a slight chapped ring around the pink layer of skin.

"Hey if you two are done gazing into the eyes of each other and looking like Hollister models, the rest of us are hungry." Starks’s voice rang, snapping Lily out of the trance the ex-soldier had put her under for a few seconds.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, coke can," Bucky muttered while turning his gaze away from Lily's and focused on washing the blueberries, "I'm just cleaning fruit."

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artist-issues · 3 years

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are you ready for my unpopular opinion?

Read it and respond, if you could make me see differently, because I’m a loyal MCU fan and I genuinely want to see the best in all their films, but...

I’m a woman who’s been here since 2008 and I don’t like Captain Marvel.

I feel like the film was lazy, especially if compared to other MCU films, and her character doesn’t develop. Like, hardly at all. She starts out the film with amazing powers but no memory, and ends the film with even more amazing powers and memories...of being amazing.

It’s like...okay...but what did she have to sacrifice? “Her parents’ love!! Society’s belief in her!! Her memories and time with her best friend!” Okay but Natasha Romanoff didn’t even know her parents and her parental figures sterilized her and taught her to ignore all morality, forget loving her. Not a single Guardian of the Galaxy is believed in by the societies of any world at the beginning of their debut film; they have to earn that. So does Steve. Just look at AGENT PEGGY CARTER. And sacrificing a few years with her best friend? Big freakin’ whoop. Have you seen Steve Rogers’ entire character arc? Or, again, Peggy’s? Our other heroes wrote the book on “time lost;” Captain Marvel just ripped it off for a few years.

What did you she learn? “That she doesn’t have to control her emotions of smile for everybody or be who others want her to be!! She’s a strong, empowered woman and she doesn’t have to prove it to anybody!” Really? Which is it? That she’s a strong empowered woman, or that it’s okay to just be human? Pick one. Both contradicts. Toward the end of the film when she blasts Yon-Rogg she’s all like “I have nothing to prove to you.” Really? Is that supposed to be your character development? That you’ve spent your whole life disobeying your sexist parents, choosing your own family, playing baseball and driving go-karts and working your way into the USAF, all to prove you can be anything you want to be...only to learn that hey, I didn’t have to prove anything? You know what? It’s really easy to say “I have nothing to prove to you” when you’re glowing and capable of flight and unmeasured blasting superpowers. Now, Peggy Carter? Superpowerless, fighting her way into a position of respect in the 1940s and caring more about building a safe world than her own status? Maybe that line would’ve meant something coming from her. Oh wait, it did. “I know my value. Anyone else’s opinion doesn’t really matter.” Steve Rogers? Fighting even when he’s powerless? Standing up for the little guy even when he can’t defend himself as Skinny Steve? It means something, coming from him. But you give me a superwoman who was talented and powerful before she got superpowers and then talented and powerful after she got superpowers, and I’m not inspired. I don’t emulate her; I don’t want to be better. I’m just...bored.

What challenges is she getting ready to face from here on out in this Marvel Universe? “Finding the Skrulls a new home! Leaving behind her best friend to go on a selfless mission!” Yeah? Show me THAT. Show me how she sacrifices for others! I mean, she’s not even given two seconds to feel bad about how she was manipulated by the Kree before they’re assuring her it wasn’t her fault—and by the way, that’s not a strong story either. Tony Stark was a bad guy selling weapons to criminals and had to LEARN the error of his ways through fire. He didn’t start out doing everything right and then continue doing everything right. He has to pay for his past mistakes and struggle to do better from that moment on. I mean, look at Bucky! Bucky was manipulated by his handlers in HYDRA. Talk about a guy controlled into doing horrible things. And does everyone he hurt pat him on the back and say “look, it’s war, we all have things we’re not proud of.” Does Bucky himself hold his head up and declare “I have nothing to apologize for! It’s not my fault!” No. He struggles to understand how to handle what he’s done, fault or no fault. But Captain Marvel? Though she DOES move forward and try to find the Skrulls a new home, they don’t display any apparent bitterness toward her that she has to deal with (other than the one mama-Skrull-and-kids-flinching moment) and she gets to beat up on the race that manipulated her and look cool while doing it. Meanwhile Tony deals with anxiety, relationship trauma with his mentor, his best friend, the love of his life, and eventually his superhero team all because of his past mistakes. Meanwhile Bucky has PTSD, a scrambled brain, and fits in nowhere. That’s not a good STORY, guys. That’s not a relatable role model. She’s not struggling with anything. All the blame is put on her manipulators for sticking that chip on her neck and lying to her—she doesn’t even have to have harsh consequences for that.

And you know what...?

She only has a smidgen of screen time to fly in and save everybody, easy-peasy, sacrifice-less, in Endgame. Endgame is the climax and culmination of 10 years of filmmaking. Why isn’t Captain Marvel a bigger part of it? I’d like to submit that it’s because I’m not the only one who doesn’t care about or connect with Captain Marvel, because her movie was flat.

#Captain marvel #brie larson #avengers: endgame #endgame #marvel #mcu #marvel Cinematic universe #unpopular opinion #captain america #iron man #tony stark #steve rogers #marvel fandom #marvel fan

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peppersonironi · 4 years

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Batfam/Avengers Crossover Chapter Four: Growing Suspicions

Tagging (Let me know if you want to be tagged): @the-fair-maiden-of-fandom

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Category: Gen

Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types

Relationships: Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne, Natasha Romanov & Damian Wayne, Clint Barton & Cassandra Cain, Tim Drake & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tim Drake & Duke Thomas, Pamela Isley/Harleen Quinzel, Tim Drake/Kon-El | Conner Kent, Dick Grayson/Wally West, Roy Harper/Koriand'r/Jason Todd,

Characters: Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle, Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, Barbara Gordon, Justice League (DCU), Alfred Pennyworth, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Clint Barton, Thor (Marvel), Bruce Banner, Peter Parker, Alfred the Cat (DCU), Bat-Cow (DCU), Goliath (DCU), Selina Kyle’s Cat Isis, Kate Kane (DCU), Duke Thomas,

Additional Tags: Batbrothers (DCU), Avengers Meet The Batfam, MCU/Batfam crossover, Crossover, no beta we die like robins, rated T for Jason’s language, I bleeped it out though. Just to be safe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, canon? What’s canon?, Deaf Clint Barton,Deaf Character, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Happy Batfamily (DCU), Birdflash and joyfire are implied/referenced,

Summary: After some questionable comments from Jason regarding murder, some of the Avengers are (understandably) freaked out and untrusting towards the bats. They decide to research their hosts.

Natasha stood to the side as Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown finished sparring. Everyone else was either watching or warming up. Natasha was part of the former.

Their skill was undeniable. She had no doubt that if it came to a real fight, she might not win. They had fought hard for almost five minutes, though Nat could tell it was all in good fun. Their looks of concentration did not hide the easy-going eyes and smiles.

Natasha was honestly unsure of who would win, but then Stephanie pulled out of a flip a split second early and delivered a kick to Tim’s chest. A moment later she had used his off-balance to bring him to the floor. He quickly surrendered when she sat on him with her forearm to his throat.

“That was an interesting kick,” Tim said as Stephanie helped him up. “I wonder who you learned it from.” He glanced over his shoulder to glare at a smirking Damian.

“I’m sorry Drake, is there a problem? Aren’t we all supposed to help each other improve our technique?” Damian was smirking even more at that point.

Tim snorted then walked off to get some water, grumbling as he went.

Stephanie laughed. “Sore loser!” She high fived Damian.

“Could I perhaps have a turn,” Natasha asked when no one seemed to be ready immediately to fight.

Steve stepped forward. “Shall we?”

Natasha groaned inside. Steve was a decent fighter, especially with his shield, but she had been looking forward to a challenge.

Natasha nodded. “Sure, I’d like a warm-up.” This got some chuckles from the teens.

They faced each other and started to circle for a few seconds. When Nat grew bored, she darted forward and struck his shoulder. He twisted and she used it to strike the back of his knee. She delivered a kick to the back of his head and he was on the ground a moment later.

There were several appreciative claps and laughs from the kids. The rest of the Avengers just nodded. They were used to Natasha beating them up.

“Someone needs a better opponent,” Bruce Wayne said. He didn’t smile, but there was a slight upturn on the corner of his mouth. “Damian, why don’t you take a turn. I know you’ve been itching for a fight.”

The boy smiled dangerously, and several of the Avengers laughed. They underestimated him - most likely due to his incredibly short stature - unlike Natasha. There was something strange about him, She had sensed it from the moment she’d laid eyes on him. And she hadn’t forgotten that he was dangerous.

Damian strolled forward and took his position. Natasha followed suit. A moment later Dick gave the mark to start.

Damian was fast . He sprinted forward in an instant and struck Nat’s gut. She barely managed to block, and wasn’t able to dodge the next blow, this time to her shin. She darted out with a counterblow, but he stepped out with his back leg, bringing his arm up to block. A split second later his back leg darted out to land a blow on the back of Natasha’s knee, bringing her down. He smoothly transitioned into bringing a knee up and jumping into a spinning kick landing at Natasha’s head.

Natasha was on the ground for a moment before she rose and resumed her atack. Damian flipped away before advancing once again. He unleashed a sequence of torso blows followed by a front handspring finished with a double kick. Natasha spun to the side and attacked him with multiple strikes across his shoulders and head.

She could tell his style easily. He stuck with torso and leg strikes due to his height, and only used roundabout kicks, which utilized his leg strength. But he was also holding back. Some of his blows were clearly designed to kill, but had been modified to be non life threatening. Perhaps what had been implied earlier was true: the kid had killed.

The fight dragged on, and Natasha couldn’t find an opening. Damian was ruthless in his attacks, and his form impeccable. There were times when Natasha was clearly losing, but she managed to pull back from the brink and keep going. She managed to get a decent combo in before Damian swiped at her head mid flip. She dodged to the side: a pivotal mistake. In the blink of an eye, Damian was at her. He brought her into a headlock, and Nat had no choice but to accept defeat.

They rose together, to the astonished faces of the Avengers. Tony was especially shocked. Apparently, none of them had ever considered that Natasha could be beaten. Let alone by an eleven year old.

“Great Job, both of you.” Dick said. “I haven’t seen anyone stand that long against Damian in a while.”

Damian smiled at her smugly.

Natasha smiled right back. The fight had been invigorating, and she hadn't had to work that hard before. But for the same reason, it was worrying. The kid taught with skill that would have taken years to develop. Damian had clearly been trained from a very young age, which brought a shiver down Natasha's spine. She had flashbacks to the Red Room. The bloody horror that has been her childhood.

No one should have to face that.

*****

They trained for a few more hours, and the mood gradually returned to whatever could be considered normal. The bats - Damian specifically - had declared the Avengers to be woefully under trained when it came to fighting. They did admit that Natasha was good, and Clint decent, however. They had everynight standards.

Everyone - even Banner, much to his dismay - had been roped into a basic hand to hand combat training routine, modified to fit each person's skill level. Natasha had enjoyed her's very much, but after three hard hours, she was grateful for the shower.

They had rejoined in the kitchen after everyone had a chance to bathe and chat for lunch. Natasha had found more clothes placed in her room, this time black ripped jeans and tank top. Nat wondered who they belonged to, they clearly didn't come from Cassandra, Barbara, or Stephanie.

Nat didn’t worry too much about it though. She just wanted food. Pretty much everyone was there, though Tony was behind her in the hallway. Natasha came and sat down on one of the stools, along with Tim and Cass.

Natasha had no doubt.

Wayne was wearing dressy casual slacks and a cashmere sweater, as was Damian. They truly looked identical. Everyone else was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, or some variation thereof.

“I have prepared a meal for you, do tell me if it is unsatisfactory,” Alfred the butler said as he set some food on the table. Everyone thanked the old man, who only smiled.

Natasha ate in peace, not ignoring anyone, but not partaking in conversation either. Then she heard Jason raise his voice.

“Come on Replacement, you know I’m about as dangerous as a butterfly.” He was speaking sarcastically, though Tim didn’t seem to notice.

“Tell that to Black Mask’s henchmen,” he muttered, taking a bite of salad.

Jason snorted. “That was a long time ago, and in my defense, it was his mother’s f***ing fault!”

Damian sat straight upright. “How dare you-”

“You know it's true Dami,” Dick said. “She is malicious, even for an assassin.”

“Can we not talk about Talia over lunch?” Wayne asked, his hands on his temples.

Damian made his t-t sound once again, and continued to eat. Jason shrugged and launched back into a conversation with Tim.

Nat glanced over at Tony and Steve, who were frowning, most likely due to the mention of Damian’s assassin mother. They would be talking about this later, no doubt.

*****

“Did you hear how casually they mentioned it?!” Steve was saying. He had gathered Tony, Nat and Clint with him in one of the libraries, desperate to talk about their hosts.

Tony was nodding while he replied. “This place seems more dangerous than we first thought. I’m not sure if we can trust these … bats .”

Clint frowned. “But they have not actually done anything to harm us. Sure, their methods are questionable, but they are our only way home.”

“The least we can do is gather information,” Tony said. “But be careful. If they really do kill, then they might harm us for questioning them.”

“But what behavior have we seen that would suggest they would do something like that?” Clint insisted. “Sure Jason swears a lot and carries guns, and Damian sharpened his katana quite threateningly, but that is not cause for mistrust!”

“They mentioned assassins! The kid’s mother is an assassin !” Steve said. “That in and of itself is cause for mistrust .”

Natasha chuckled lightly, and Steve’s eyes widened. The three men slowly turned to their resident ex-assassin.

“I’m sorry, Tash,” Steve said. “I didn’t mean you , of course. You’re plenty trustworthy!” Tony couldn’t help but chuckle.

“But that’s exactly what you said,” Cint snapped, growing defensive.

“Steve,” Nat said, sighing. “I understand your worry, I really do. But I’m honestly not worried about us.”

Steve blinked. “Why not?”

“Because when I fought with Damian I could tell his style. He had clearly been trained to kill,” This gained an outraged ‘ahah’ from both Steve and Tony, to which Natahsa shook her head. “He had been trained to kill, yes, but his style was adapted. It was like he was unlearning everything he’d been taught. And I know how that is.”

Clint nodded his head, remembering when he had found Nat, and the months afterward when she had been taken in.

“You’re worried about the kids.” Clint stated.

It wasn’t really a question, but Nat nodded anyway. “He would have had to have been trained for years to be that skilled. And he’s only eleven …” Natasha shook her head. “They mentioned the mother in a way that leads me to believe she isn’t really in his life anymore. If I were to hazard a guess, I’d say she’s the one that trained him, not Bruce Wayne.”

“So he probably isn't abusing the kid, that’s great,” Tony said sarcastically, though Natasha could still direct the relief in his voice. “But what about Jason and Cassandra? I wouldn’t put it past Jason to kill us, honestly. But Cassandra, I don’t know.”

“He mentioned something like manipulation while questioning Thor, so maybe he didn’t mean to?” Clint shook his head. “But he still talked about it so flippantly. I’m not sure about him.”

Natasha nodded. “I agree. Jason seems the most volatile. As for Cassandra, I am honestly not sure. I haven’t seen her fight, nor do anything violent. But the way she moves … in some ways I think she’s the most dangerous of them all.”

Everyone was silent for a moment, thinking. Natasha sat back, having done her piece. After a while, Tony spoke.

“I think we should do our own research. With a team this large, surely there will be plenty of information.”

*****

There was not, in fact, plenty of information. Tony had found a free computer on one of the desks in the library that was most likely meant for public use - it had a sticky note with the password (IAmTheNight) on it - and quickly set up a search.

They had started with the basics: Batman, Gotham Vigilantes. But there really hadn’t been much. The most they could gather was that Batman had been an urban legend up until he joined the Justice League. There had been sightings going back almost 15 years, which Meant Bruce had started when he was in his early twenties.

Robin had come in a few years later, and was clearly not Damian Wayne. But beyond that, there wasn’t much. Sometimes Robin wore pants, sometimes not. Sometimes Robin was even a girl. Tony could never find anything defininite. There were countless vigilantes mentioned, some nameless, others not. Some showed up for a few weeks, then disappeared.

Finally they found something.

“Ahah!” Tony said as he clicked on an article about Red Hood. “This should be worth our

time.” Tony pulled up the first paragraph, and began reading.

“It is well known to everyone in Gotham that Crime Alley is one of the most dangerous places in our already dangerous city. What is also well known is its protector: The Red Hood. The Red Hood has had a somewhat rocky past with Gotham, but unlike the other vigilantes that haunt the rooftops, it is relatively easy to follow.

Red Hood first came on the scene a few years ago and quickly made a splash. Hood quickly took over most if not all of Gotham’s crime organizations, and began to make immediate changes.

It is reported that all the drug syndicates halted dealing near schools or children. All human trafficking sceeced. Crime was managed, to a point that not even Batman had achieved.

Red Hood enacted a strict law: he only killed rapists, murderers, abusers, and drug dealers - only those who sell to kids.

But we can’t forget about the dark knight. Batman was seriously against Red Hood in the beginning, and there are several documented fights to prove it. Red Hood became the only major criminal to stay active with the bat’s knowledge, and not be defeated.

After a while, though, Red Hood left Gotham. No one is quite sure why, as he had built himself quite an empire. Later on - no one is sure of the specifics - he returned. Details are foggy around this time, but Red Hood started to appear again, back to patrolling Crime Alley. One thing was different though. This time he wore a red bat on his armor, effectively announcing his allegiance.

According to many Gothamites, Red Hood has not killed anyone since his return, and has given up his crime lord status. Some say he protects Crime Alley, and occasionally teams up with the other vigilantes of Gotham. Many eye witness reports say that Hood has a somewhat amicable relationship with the bats, and is clearly one of them. There are also notes of him using rubber bullets, proving even more that he has sided with the bats. Though this is uncertain, as others report he still uses lead, and has even continued killing.

At this point Hood is considered a hero by most of Gotham, with the minority calling him a plague upon the city. The Police themselves have even stopped actively searching for the red helmeted hero - whether this is due to their inability to catch him, or as a sign of friendship, it is unclear. Police Commissioner Gordan has not commented on the matter beyond a vague statement of Hood appearing with the bats when the bat signal is deployed.”

“Bat signal?” Clint asked.

Tony typed furiously for a moment before retrieving the answer. “Apparently the police have an industrial spotlight on their roof with the silhouette of a bat on it which they shine when in need of the vigilantes.”

Natasha smirked. “Overkill much?”

Tony shrugged. “Hey, apparently it works.”

“That’s beside the point,” Steve interjected. “We found barely anything on Jason. Sure it says he doesn’t kill anymore, but that doesn’t mean they can be trusted.”

Clint groaned again. “Let me guess, you want us to investigate the family personally?”

Steve nodded. “Nat, I want you to start, you are the intelligence expert after all.”

Natasha nodded, though inside she was in turmoil. She wanted to trust these people. She didn’t know why, but she felt connected somehow. Like they were similar in some core way.

Steve nodded right back. “Good. Meet back here in a few hours. See what you can find.”

#Avengers meet batfam #dc/marvel crossover #batfam #avengers #batfamily shenanigans #bruce wayne #alfred pennyworth #dick grayson #jason todd #tim drake #damian wayne #duke thomas #stephanie brown #cassandra cain #steve rogers #tony stark #clint barton #natasha romonova

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writtenbyhappynerds · 4 years

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Fanfiction 102- Writing Superpowers

Another week, another lecture. Like supervillains, writing superpowers came up during Fanfiction 101. We see a lot of characters with superpowers, and we have written many many characters with superpowers. Superpowers or gifts or quirks, whatever you call them, can be poorly executed much like characterization; they become vague, mary sue-esque, and they don’t let me as the reader know what’s going on with said character. Defining superpowers is a lot like defining the Rules of the Universe (as discussed in Unit 1 of Fanfiction 101) where defining and setting parameters for superpowers will protect the canon of your characters as well as their validity.

The most important thing you need to do when writing superpowers is to figure out what those superpowers are and what they can and can’t do. I’m very over vague Elsa ice powers that started with being able to freeze things and ended with visions of the past. Magic is the most difficult superpower to write because it is the most freeform, but you have to define limitations, costs and put a cap on those capabilities that don’t involve the OC collapsing from overuse because that’s such a cliche. A great example is The Fairly Odd Parents. Cosmo and Wanda can’t make money, can’t make true love, and can’t kill or bring someone back from the dead. Their time and agency to cast magic on behalf of someone are limited, and they can’t cast whatever magic they want; it has to be limited to what the child they serve wants. Writing setbacks to magic is a lot like writing character flaws. You need to take the time to give limitations. By giving magic limitations you have an easier time creating plot and adversaries for your characters because it’ll be easier to create a character that would really challenge your OC.

A common exception to writing flaws in superpowers is DC or Marvel Comics. I have seen many many times the scene where, “an OC’s file gets passed around and we the audience get to read a laundry list of superpowers including but not limited to fire, ice, air, metal, lightning, etc.” I understand that superheroes in DC Comics have an abundance of superpowers. Look at Wonder Woman or Superman. Do not fall down that rabbit hole. You will struggle to write conflict for your character if you give them that many abilities. Hell, Superman’s own writers struggle to write conflict for him. It’s why he’s the most iconic but ultimately most boring character. On top of that, the “passing around a file” scene is another very overused cliche. I understand that it’s an easy way for the audience to see what the OC can do, but I think we as writers can challenge ourselves to be better than that. In addition, don’t take away the choice to share from the OC. If we’ve learned anything from X-Men, it’s that superpowers aren’t always taken well and some would rather die than be seen as a mutant or a freak. We know that these unnatural abilities are strange and confusing and that the people who have them need time to grow. They don’t need their supervisors outing them to God and everyone. Let your characters share their powers on their own terms. Let them have a special moment with the cast where they get to feel wonderful and special and magical. You’ll reveal more about the OC’s personality and develop a deeper relationship with the cast. Here’s an example.

Let’s say we’re writing Avengers fanfic. Let’s say we give our OC control over light. Here are two scenes that are revealing the same information to Captain America. One is done on the terms of the OC, who we’ll call Astrid, the other is done by Nick Fury.

*****

Astrid led him back to her room. It was like his own, the same size, and the same basic tidings- bed, dresser, desk, chair. While his had been dark gray, as had the rest of the team’s, Astrid’s was bright white. Steve noticed heavy black curtains tucked back from her window. The black stood out against the white of the rest of her room. She had a smile on her face. Her eyes were alight with excitement, and she pointed up at the ceiling.

Covering the ceiling of Astrid’s bedroom were over a hundred hanging crystals. They had different shapes, sizes, and lengths and all swung from the ceiling on thin clear strings. Astrid turned off the lights. She pulled the black curtains out and covered her window which plunged them both into darkness.

“I had to beg Nick for these. I told him it would be good practice.”

“Practice for what?” A light turned on. It took Steve a moment to realize the light was coming from Astrid’s own hand.

“No one’s really told you what I can do yet. I wanted to show you myself.” Carefully, she pulled one of the crystals down and let it rest in the palm of her hand.

Rainbows bounced off the walls. Tiny refractory lights bounced around the room, off each crystal that was a brilliant gem in the darkness. Off the metal of Steve’s shield. Off the brass buckles of Astrid’s shoes. She grinned merrily, a beautiful cascade coming around the both of them.

“It takes me forever to fall asleep. I never want to stop looking at them.” Steve smiled, studying the way the light danced on her walls.

“Yeah.” He breathed. “I get it.”

*****

And the other, done by Nick Fury.

*****

Steve sat at a roundtable with the rest of the team. At least, he thought he did. Looking around, he could see one person missing from the group.

“Where’s Astrid?” Fury and Coulson exchanged a look. Coulson handed over a file and strode out of the room.

“Agent Dawes is currently occupied. We thought it best to tell you without her.” Fury slid the file across the table. “Along with being an Agent of SHIELD, Agent Dawes joined up because of her… condition.”

Steve opened the file. He could see a picture of a much younger Astrid looking back at him. Her date of birth, her parents, everything was laid out before him. When he flipped the page he found page after page of notes.

“She can do what?”

“We don’t have a real name for it yet. Just light manipulation.” Steve kept reading. The reports dated back years prior, with medic referral forms, personal statements, and even more photographs of Astrid.

“Is Astrid a potential threat too, Director?”

“We all are. Agent Dawes recognized her own risk ahead of time.” Fury took the file back. “She’s been training for years. She has it under control. Stark and Banner already know about her-”

“I’m the last to know?” Steve said angrily. He looked at Tony and Bruce.

“Hey, not my fault you got here late.” Tony turned back to his phone.

*****

Do you see the difference? See how much more personal the first one is? Not only do we get to see Astrid actually use her powers, but we get a moment of bonding and trust between her and Steve, whereas in the second one her personal information is being divulged on her behalf. Not by her. It’s beneficial to make these superpowers personal, in the sense that the OC should be able to tell people on their own. Let them establish that trust with their team, and don’t shove it off to Nick Fury or Coulson or even Batman. It’s their gift, they need to share it on their terms.

Superpowers and The Rules of the Universe go hand in hand in many ways. What I mean is the Rules of the Universe apply to superpowers as much as they do to timelines and cast desires and canon. When you write superpowers, they have to make sense with the world they live in, and not every OC needs superpowers. If you look at Twilight, you’d most likely have an OC with more subtle, less combat-oriented abilities (see Edward’s mind-reading or Alice’s seer talents). If you give an OC something heavy combat-oriented in this universe it feels a little clunky, and a little more like the Avengers but vampires instead of vampires with talents. On top of that, not every vampire needs to have a talent. It’s totally okay to have a vampire who can’t do anything special. I’m more compelled to read stories with those characters because they seem more realistic. It’s okay to have a character less important to the Volturi than Edward or Alice, or less gifted than Jasper. You can explore their individuality without tying them or limiting what makes them special to “they are a vampire and they have a gift.” Another example is Harry Potter. In that universe, the only extraordinary gifts we know of are Olcummency and Parseltongue. One is something you’re born with, the other takes patience and practice. It would be unrealistic to give a Harry Potter OC additional gifts. It would be rare to give them either of the aforementioned gifts because if something is described as rare in the canon, it shouldn’t include your OC. Your OC is not an exception to something’s scarcity.

Let’s talk about powers themselves. I have several gripes with superpowers, and we are going to discuss all of them. First and foremost, something that kind of shows your own ass as a writer is using the -kinesis phrase of a superpower beyond the common ones people know (telekinesis, psychokinetic, etc.). It looks like you just googled, ‘list of superpowers’, and found atmokinesis and put it in because you liked the description. Who talks like that? No one knows what those -kinesis phrases actually mean we just use them because we think they sound cool. Don’t tell me that the character has atmokinesis, just tell me they can control the weather. You don’t need to use big words to make your gift sound impressive. It’s what they do with the gift that makes it impressive. Going off of this, not every superpower needs to be combat-oriented. You don’t need to give people super-strength, invulnerability, or fire powers for them to matter or be useful. It’s actually more creative and more unique if you take a superpower that isn’t combat-oriented and find a way to make it mean something. The best example is the Tumblr post that will be linked below, where the OC’s main ability was helping. It was helping out wherever they could and trying to make a difference and making the lives of their friends, who had some of the “strongest” superpowers in the universe, better. It is beautifully written, an incredible short story, and shows the value of being there for others versus trying to save the day. If you are writing a character with superpowers, I would absolutely recommend reading it.

Finally, make it make sense. With superpowers, it’s kind of like the old saying, “if you describe a hammer hanging on the wall you better use the hammer before the end of the story.” Don’t describe something that you won’t use. So things like controlling taste, smell, temperature, those are things we never see used in the narrative, so there’s no need for the character to have control over them. If you’re struggling to come up with superpowers, the Editor and I have a few methods we’ve developed over the years to get off of and stay off of the superpower list websites:

I like to have my superpowers mirror the character’s backstory. I have a character who was kicked out of their home at 16 and therefore became a “hearth” where they could bind one location to appear at many, and with the turn of a knob bring the group from New York to Seattle to London. I did this to represent the character making their own home once they were exiled. Another example is a character who was almost killed in a tsunami. They can breathe underwater, and swim impossibly fast. You can give characters with a passion for drawing the ability to bring inanimate objects to life, characters who went to Antarctica as a researcher who came back with ice powers, characters who lost their twin that can multiply themselves, or characters who suffered amnesia that can now modify the memories of others. It’s fun to tie the gift to the story, and to me personally, it feels more cohesive when I do that. However, this isn’t for everyone. When you do this, the character’s superpowers shouldn’t become their whole personality. That should never happen in the first place, but especially here.

Another method we’ve used and we like is contrasting superpowers. If your character is blind, give them telekinesis (Scott 2015). If your character is afraid of heights, give them the ability to fly. If they’re afraid of dogs, make them talk to animals. Learning to get over their fears and weaknesses in the grand journey of mastering one’s powers shows growth, and shows character development, and we should never shy away from an opportunity for character development.

A final method that we’ve recently adopted is genetics. Something you see in Avengers fanfics is that the OC was inexplicably kidnapped and experimented on by HYDRA despite them having no shortage of volunteers as we see in Avengers: Age of Ultron, therefore, the existence of these OCs who are usually kidnapped doesn’t make sense. That is only mildly my business. What is my business is these test subjects having powers that don’t really make sense or that we don’t understand how they got them. It would make sense realistically, that a character who HYDRA experimented on would have powers that affect their vulnerability and less “shoots fire out of their hands.” This is because we can only assume that if they’re not using an Infinity Stone, they’re splicing and combining genes from animals to make a perfect soldier. If that’s your cup of tea, using a genetic connection to explain someone’s powers, go for it. The Editor and I have been using recently is the idea of gifts passing through generations. Let’s return to our new hero Astrid. Instead of being experimented on by HYDRA, having a backstory where she was maybe mugged or is afraid of the dark, or a backstory where she loves creepy-crawly dark spaces, we can say the following:

“Wait… How many people can do what you can?” Tony looked up from his phone to Astrid, who had become engrossed in her newest prism. “Hey! Glow-stick!”

“Mmm?” Tony tossed her his phone. “Oh… you don’t have to friend him.”

“Why isn’t he here?” Astrid stood up and walked back to Tony, handing him his phone.

“Why isn’t who here?” asked Steve.

“My brother Jeremy. He’s like me.” She shrugged her shoulders. “He didn’t want to go. I texted him when Director Fury reached out, and he didn’t want to give up on his Northern Lights project. My cousins said no too.”

“What do you mean, your cousins?”

“Didn’t you know? I thought you knew everything Stark. My gift’s genetic. It’s been in my family for generations. I have my brother, and like, 3 other cousins who can do what I can. I’m the only one who responded to Director Fury’s text.” Astrid sighed. “If my cousin Dixie were here, she’d tell me that means I’m the idiot of the group. C’est la vie.”

****

You can totally make superpowers genetic. It’s something that isn’t done often and is very fun because you can get into subtle mutations or variations of the same power. With Astrid, since we know she controls light, maybe the gene mutates with one of her cousins who can bend light in a way that they appear invisible. Maybe one of Astrid’s children can make the light into solid objects. Try making your superpowers a recessive gene. It could be a fun way to showcase the OC’s support network and give an explanation for their gifts that’s uncommon.

Our final note is that if you are writing a character with superpowers, we want to see the character learn to use those powers. It is so boring to have a character come out of the gate with gifts that they’ve mastered perfectly, OR, have a character initially struggle, but learn and master their gifts in 1 training session. That’s so boring to the reader, because there’s no development, and there’s no struggle. If a character earns their powers and is experiencing the new and wonderful, we want to see that struggle. That way at the end of the story when they have near-perfect control the ending is so much more satisfying because we know what went into that. Look at Avatar: The Last Airbender. The final fight with Ozai and Zuko’s final fight with Azula is the ultimate show of growth and mastery. You clearly see that neither of these boys are the same kids from the beginning of the series. The same is true for Percy Jackson, where all the Olympians have moments where they have powers, but don’t know or can’t use them. Let us see the struggle. It makes the journey more worthwhile. And, speaking of Avatar, no more “can control the four elements.” We’ve all seen the show. We all know the source material. It’s not original and your OC is not the Avatar.

Next week is a big one! We’re talking about diversity. Not only diversity in race but diversity in LGBT, in experience, and how to capture and make your stories diverse, and where it makes sense to have a story that’s diverse.

Xoxo, Gossip Girl

References:

The Ables. https://www.goodreads.com/work/best_book/41929531-the-ables. Accessed 26 July 2020.

https://idontknowartdump.tumblr.com/post/169046958039/inkskinned-writing-prompt-s-at-18-everyone

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langernameohnebedeutung · 4 years

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Marvel ruined MCU with that pisspoor of a movie called Endgame. No quicksilver. At least Ronin was okay could have been better. But all of it was so lame and expected throughout the film.

(warning for those who want to avoid that: this rant includes a lot of negativity and you might want to skip it if that’s not how you want to start your day! Love y’all!)

I didn’t expect them to bring back Quicksilver because I’m pretty sure that he was only in AoU to be sacrificed on the altar of their copyright stand-off with Fox - so maybe they bring him back in the future or maybe introduce Speed, but Endgame is a mess, imo.

Basically, I think it’s the lack of a complex plot that’s also choking the life out of the characters.

(Bear with me for a moment) The thing is, I come from a family that loves crime shows. My parents basically watch nothing else, maybe the occasional French comedy, but they wouldn’t be caught dead watching a superhero film. As a result, I’ve grown pretty weary of crime-shows at some point in my teenage years (because once you watched Monk, Castle, Mentalist, Lie to Me and all the others, you’ve pretty much seen every plot, every solution etc. at least twice.)

But lately, I’ve gotten back into it. I watched for example some Adler-Olsen films and went to see Knives Out with a friend, and that’s when I realised something about films like Endgame and why they don’t work:

A good police procedural is always plot-driven. You have a crime, you need to have witnesses who are connected by the plot, you have characters who solve it in a way that makes sense and that you can follow. In a good story, a plot-twist is actually that - a plot-twist. It has to be a moment where you say: "Ooooh yeaaah fuck that makes sense! God I love/hate it!” it’s not just someone dying or someone betraying someone out of nowhere. It needs a whole lot of fucking plot to make a good plot-twist.

There are logical cornerstones in these stories and if any of them are missing, you end up with something season 4 of Sherlock. Now, a good crime show also has interesting characters that you can get invested in and whose motives affect the plot. A strong plot doesn’t mean you have no space for good characters. In fact, one thing I realised I enjoy about these stories is that because a lot of time is invested into the actual crime-story, you need more time to find out things about the characters and find answers to your questions.

And that’s basically the opposite of what films like Endgame did. Now, I don’t expect some Noir-film about the Avengers finding out who made half the universe disappear and interrogating witnesses who saw Thanos in the ballroom with the glove. My point is, that the challenge of making a film with such high stakes and so many characters is that it needs to have a plot at its core (one that can fill three fucking hours, no less), not jokes and probably an exact number of minutes of screen time every actor gets to say their line. This film is basically the cast holding their faces into the camera in a specific order.

Of course, the superhero genre has conventions on screen, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be a plot. The MCU-Netflix all implement many elements from crime-shows and that’s exactly why we get to know the characters so well. Because we can follow them and see them react to many unique situations. There are also MCU films who did pretty good jobs focusing on their plots: Winter Soldier is basically a spy thriller and we still learnt a lot about the way Steve lives - and it’s incorporated into the plot. We find out what’s going on, how it happend and why and the characters solve the problem. Another example is Black Panther, which is in many ways really set up like a crime or spy thriller: We have a flashback to the crime that caused it all first, we get to know our characters, the main-characters (and the audience) learn why and how Killmonger does it and we understand how he’s stopped. That’s the core of the story and anything else happens around it and is attached to the plot. T’Challa opening his country based on what he learnt in this film is a direct reaction to what he learnt about his his father and uncle and cousin. Captain America going back to live with Peggy after Infinity War/Endgame...does not. We knew he loves Peggy since the first Captain America and if he has the same goal, the same motivation and the same solution to his problem after all these years...that actually shows that you either don’t understand the characters (my explanation) or that you didn’t do anything with him. Except the two films since DID things with the character which Endgame ignored.

It’s something that I noticed happens a lot with sequels, in my opinion (Pirates of the Carribean comes to mind or, again, Sherlock season 4), and I can imagine people arguing: “We watch it for the characters, no one watches it for the plot.” And that’s fair and that can work but that brings me back to my dramatic opening statement: A smaller, contained plot actually says more about the characters. If your plot becomes nothing but a generic string of dramatic moments, your characters’ reactions become generic too.

Your loved one dies: SCREAAAAMING! (or quiet sadness :/ ).

Some big heroic moment? - everyone else stares open-mouthed :o .

The villain does a big bad thing: >:(

DRAMAAATIC SPEECH!

Someone sacrifices themselves :(

- It’s boring.

And the motivations also become boring. If the entire fucking universe is at stake, any differences or problems the characters have with each other begin to fade into the background (or become forced and awkward, like you know, humans arguing about climate-change). So either, you embrace the characters being comically chill about everything (like Thor: Ragnarök did and Guardians of the Galaxy, by making their characters hilariously relaxed about the end of the world) or all you end up doing is stringing bland dramatic moments together. You also have no space for interesting plot-twists anymore, because you can’t build up to them.

Either it’s: something very horrible happens (everyone is shocked) or someone betrays someone (everyone is shocked). My point is, the lack of a complex plot leads to a lack of interesting characters in plot-driven fiction and that’s what Endgame ran into like it’s the end of a marathon.

There is this one really cringe-worthy scene (that they had the sense to cut) where everyone (no matter if it makes sense for the character’s story or backstory or is in keeping with their personality) kneels for Tony’s dead body. Now, this isn’t also awkward, but it also waters down any meaning it has for the characters for whom it makes sense to kneel in that moment. It really goes to show how empty this bitch of a film is.

And that really drives the point home for me (but they kept it up by giving him a huge funeral and adding just a few lines about Natascha’s death). Now, this is not to say that Tony doesn’t deserve having his sacrifice or his actions appreciated on-screen or anything, but it shows that this film is basically a zoo where you get to gawk at the characters, not a story in which they appear. The kneeling-scene is not about Tony’s sacrifice or about who he was. It’s about The DRama! of these scenes. It says nothing about the characters. It says nothing about Tony. It says nothing about Thanos’ crimes. It says nothing about the plot. It’s lazy, but they couldn’t do much else because they didn’t build up to anything more meaningful than kneeling or a funeral to showcase the other character’s sadness and admiration. They can’t focus on any meaningful elements from the plot, on developments in personal relationships - because they didn’t do any of that and ignore any that happened. Everyone is just a sad backstory and 3 jokes in a trench-coat and there is no room for them to grow or develop or form or change opinions in a meaningful capacity. Because a plot won’t allow it.

And here’s the thing: I would have preferred to wait two or three more years for this resolution and get a good answer to the open questions. But it’s all about money, contracts and copyright and not storytelling and that makes it bland.

end of rant :)))

#endgame #fandom #marvel #mcu #negativity #critical #Anonymous

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polarb2709 · 5 years

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How Marvel Destroys Character Arcs. Part Two: Captain America

This is continuation post of a previous piece I did concerning character arcs and Black Widow. If you haven't read part one of this post, you can find it on my page or clicking the link in my bio. Part Three will be Romanogers.

As stated before, SPOILERS FOR ENDGAME AHEAD...

Ready?

Okay.

PART TWO:

Captain America

Captain America had been my favorite avenger -- until Endgame, of course. He had been stalwart in his morals, and Chris Evans managed to give us the impression that no matter what threat was facing the avengers, Cap could handle it. If everyone else had collapsed from exhaustion, given up, and been left for dead, we'd see Cap still standing, ready to face down his foes (which is an exact shot we saw in Endgame prior to his reinforcements). Captain America was a comfort for the audience, a safety blanket, and despite heroes like Thor or Hulk being more powerful, it was Cap that I hung my hat on to get the team through impossible odds.

His character arc is complicated. The writers have a difficult time in moving someone like Cap to grow because what makes him so special is his unwavering belief in fighting for the little guy, in not tolerating bullies, in seeing the world in black and white, what's right and what's wrong, and never wavering from being who he is. In a world constantly changing, we admire Cap who remains steadfast, unfazed by the changing times or the people within them.

In Captain America: The First Avenger, prior to the end of the first Act we get the theme of the movie and the character of Steve Rogers. If you read Blake Snyder's book on screenwriting he says that any good blockbuster movie will have the theme uttered by one of the characters early on in the movie. This time, it comes from Dr. Erskine:

DR. ERSKINE

Whatever happens tomorrow, promise

me you’ll stay who you are. Not a perfect soldier...

HE TAPS STEVE’S CHEST WITH ONE FINGER, LOOKING INTO HIS EYES.

DR. ERSKINE (CONT’D):

But a good man.

Steve clinks his glass with Erskine’s.

STEVE:

To the little guys.

To be a good man. To stay who you are... these are sometimes the hardest things to do in life. What does it take to be a good man? What does it mean to be a good man? And what does it take in this movie for Steve Rogers to stay true to who he is, despite what he is about to experience?

Throughout TFA, Steve Rogers comes into his own as Captain America. He develops a romantic relationship with Peggy Carter and is challenged by his superior to not disobey orders. Steve stays true to himself and does what he believes is right. The perfect soldier, as Dr. Erskine puts it, is a man who has lost himself. He does whatever his superior says. He foregoes his own morals and values for a mission. He would know, wouldn't he? He came from Germany after all, where a soldier, despite being a good man before he dons the uniform, turns into a monster.

I wish that there would have been harder choices for Steve to make to show the audience the difficulty of always being the good man. Disobeying a superior officer is a great way to do that, but it has been done to death in movies. Other ways I can think of are also cliche: him not leaving a man behind, him making a moral choice to not attack a compound if there are civilians inside it. The first noncliche example I can think of is in Wonder Woman -- the No Man's Land scene. She makes the choice to stay and fight for innocents, despite the despair bearing down on her and her friends. Steve (the other Steve, the DC Steve) tells her that they have to stay with the mission, and utters the line: "You can't save everybody." This comes as a bit of foreshadowing, as toward the end of the movie, Steve is the one that cannot be saved. I digress.

At the end of TFA, Steve makes "the sacrifice play" and puts the plane into the ocean and now we are shown what it means to be a good man (in the writer's eyes): to sacrifice for the greater good, no matter what. In my opinion, there wasn’t as much of an arc to Cap’s character in TFA. At every moment, no matter what the circumstance, Steve made the choice true to him, to being a good man. It's great, and we the audience can get behind it, but how does one grow a character that is already so defined from the get go? His arc actually never wavered; it never progressed. And for a movie involving compromise and evil, that's good, but...

When we get to Winter Soldier, Cap is now in the modern world, 70 years later, and is faced with the changing landscape of truth and trust. We first see a little banter between him and Widow, which quickly turns to a strong conflict of morals and mission. Natasha collects data from the ship while Steve was assigned to saving the passengers aboard. Steve was unaware of Natasha's mission and is appalled. This is compounded by the fact that Steve is no longer a soldier, where choices are laid out clearly: he is a spy, working for Shield. It conflicts with every aspect of his character. When we hear the line "he's a man out of time" it isn't just about him being temporally in a different setting, but that his values and morals are of another era. We want him to hold onto that, but we also want to see him grow.

Instead Cap becomes the anchor with which other characters grow around him. He learns to trust Natasha, sure, and the two develop a more intimate connection, but the real growth here is Natasha herself: by the end of the movie, she accepts her dark past, releases it to the public, and establishes trust with someone other than Hawkeye. Bucky goes from being a controlled spy to setting himself free, all because of Steve's friendship and the bond that they had when they were young. And as for Steve, his growth is centered around moving on from the past, and accepting his place in this new world, but this arc isn't really completed until Age of Ultron where he says: "I'm home."

Actually the exact lines are:

Steve Rogers : I don't know, family, stability. The guy who wanted all that went in the ice seventy-five years ago. I think someone else came out.

Tony Stark : You alright?

Steve Rogers : I'm home.

This is the first clear indication that Steve has left the desire to return to the 1940s behind him. He's established himself as an avenger, a leader, and as a trainer in the SHIELD facility with Natasha. And for all the crap Joss Whedon got for AoU with Natasha, he hit the character arc of Cap right: when you go through something like that -- a crucible of sorts -- it changes you.

Even civil war was a steady continuation of his arc -- for the first time ever Steve hid secrets from a friend to protect him, or maybe, to protect himself. He bled into the shades of grey of this new world. And those choices had consequences. AND HE HAD PEGGY'S FUNERAL, WHERE HE KISSED SHARON CARTER, her great niece or whatever. More on this later, but in Infinity War he really didn't have an arc because he didn't have time for it, but Endgame...man Endgame did some damage.

The Choice:

For those reading, you already know what Steve does at the end of Endgame. He says he wants to take Tony's advice and actually live, so he goes back in time, creates an alternate timeline, and spends the rest of his days with Peggy. He quantum leaps back to the main timeline and hands his shield to Sam. It's a touching moment, but for some of us the scene (like Nat's death) fell flat.

This is the kind of stuff that drives me nuts because at the end of Endgame, none of the choices prior ever mattered. None of the things Cap actually did or said in any of the other movies mattered, because his final choice is the complete antithesis of his character arc. The writers talk about whether or not his choice was fan service or not. Yeah, it was. And that's what is really difficult about writing comic book stories or stories like the Harry Potter franchise: the pressure to please fans sometimes overrides the appropriate arc for the character.

Just as bad: it contradicts the main theme of Endgame: there are some things we have to accept. In the promos we hear Peggy's voice" "you know none of us can go back..." a line harking back to Winter Soldier. Things cannot be the same.

Steve Rogers says: "Some of us move on, but not us." And that if one were to try and change the past, there will be serious consequences. Natasha's death coincided with that theme. So did Tony's. But Steve? Steve had no consequences. So not only did he violate his arc, but his choices also violated the theme of Endgame.

I would have been happy if Steve had gone back to the past, but that choice had SERIOUS consequences -- like we saw a clip of the Ancient One saying like there are multiple timelines branching out in all different directions or something, I don't know, but to have him make that choice -- a choice that retcons his character arc -- and to have NOTHING happen is a hard pill for me to swallow. Or have him go back, dance with Peggy, but then leave. If his home is the avengers, the ones who sacrificed so much for him, the ones who have spent the last 15 years with, then he needs to stay there, retire, but stay in the present. His actions don't make sense. They would if Peggy had been an ever present figure throughout his movies, but besides Winter Soldier and Steve seeing a photo of her on a wall, we don't see that. We see him kissing Sharon Carter, flirting with Black Widow, spending years with her underground and developing an intimate relationship. Not once do we see Steve reflect on missing Peggy and longing to go back through Winter Soldier, Ultron, and Civil War. I'm taking the nightmare Steve had in Ultron (where he danced with Peggy) as an interpretation as just that: a nightmare. It was all the things he actually feared. In the scene the implication is very strong: he knows he can't stay here, he knows it isn't right.

It's not that Cap is being too selfish, because I think Cap also deserves one big helluva win; it's that his selfish choice conflicts with everything we've come to know about him. What would have been great, and would have fit his arc from Ultron and the theme of Endgame, is if Endgame had Cap wondering about going back, debating it, considering the possibilities and tempting fate, but then realizing all the family and home he has here, and fully embracing them as his family (kinda like how Natasha did). Cap then would have accepted the cards life dealt him and he would have acknowledged that that you can't go back, because going back would be living in the past, metaphorically and literally.

#romanogers #capwidow #captasha #captain america #black widow

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msawesomegeek · 4 years

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Avengers Infinity war/end game review

A/N: So quarantine happened, and I finally got around to watching movies again, now including giving the MCU one last chance. And spoiler alert... It didn’t truly deserve it. Also spoiler alert, and also this is two three hour reviews crammed into one, so it is gonna be a little while.

Also also, while I have seen most of the movies in the marvel cinematic universe, I have not seen Dr. strange, guardians 2, into dark world and Captain marvel.

So let’s start off with Infinity war, it had some genuinely good moments. The only plot and character arc that was outright annoying was Bruce’s. It was good it had real character developments, and a lot of relationships that were great. I thought it was funny to the right extent, and serious when it needed to be. Honestly I could have done without a lot of scenes but I understood the fact that all characters needed some screen time to be fully developed. But like, did we honestly care that much about the romance with Vision and Wanda to need the scene before them being attacked more than just a quick establishment of them kissing? I enjoyed the emotional scene genuinely, the Peter and Gamora scene was heart wrenching, and showed Thanos devotion to his goal. I had a little hard time believing he loved her enough to it being enough of a sacrifice, but it still worked.

The big scale battle was kind of annoying but I will get into that later.

The cinematography was fine, I enjoyed how colourful they allowed space to be, and that the lighting for the most part was not grey and gritty.

There were a lot of plot holes in this movie, like why did Thanos forget all the crazy powers he had in the Gamora Peter scene and not use it in the battle later? The problem with this is also that power differences is so weird, and non consistent. Like in the battle with Thanos, strange, Spidey and Tony, how do any of the three heroes have a chance against someone who can manipulate the rules of reality? Like Strange, maybe, but the two others? Not a chance!

The stones themselves raise a lot of questions. Like if he can control time and space, why not bring Gamora back the second the gets the soul stone? Or go back to a time when the rule that you have to do that does not apply. And in End Game, why not just kill baby Thanos? Why doesn't he go back in time to make sure the avengers do not get in his way in the first place?

The Loke death in the beginning felt so... Pointless? Seriously? Why has Loke been apart of anything in the MCU up until now? His arc has been pointless, and when he dies it is within the first 10 minutes, so it’s like: Oh, Loke is in this. And he is dead again. But because he has been “Dead” before, it does not resonate! And that is a general annoyance I have with these two movies, the stakes are non-existent. We know which characters have movies coming up, so we know who is going to survive in the end and who doesn't. So when they die, it doesn't have any impact!

So the movie is pretty good, it has some real emotional hits and some genuinely funny scenes, but it also leave you confused during some scenes. The thing I enjoyed the most about this movie, is the fact that Thanos won. The fact that the good guys lost, is amazing! Because after seeing them win challenge after challenge over 20 films, it was great to actually see our heroes lose, actually lose.

Onto End Game, to say that this is the worse of the two is correct. The movie for a two parter movie does hold up as movies on their own, which is great considering how all other movies split into two parts are as stand alone movies.

The colour grading in this movie is just weird, and a lot of times, it is weird looking at and clear that it was shot on a green screen, and usually an unnecessary green screen, for my taste. This combined with lack of playing with colour in this movie, everything just visually seemed gray and boring. No shots were interesting, they never played with the pacing of anything, it was all just regular film making, which is okay, but honestly bland. Even the composition of the everyone avengers assemble shot is so messy it does not evoke the amazing comic book front page style it could have been.

End game has a lot of big problems, and I might go into more of a ranting terrortory than actual reviewing, and for that I am sorry. But it has a lot of problems. The character arcs are so rushed and you never get time to absorb anything emotionally or care about anything that is going on, because then we immediately cut to another character, and we have to be completely invested in them. Thanos role in this movie was weird, while the first half of it was earned the rest of his part in the movie seemed forced. But what I think both movies got wrong about Thanos, is that they cut out death. Which is a shame, because a big part of his character and motivation is his love affair with mistress death. Hell they even put it in as an easter egg the first time we ever see Thanos! And his philosophy combined with his love and romance with death, would make sense, but they completely missed that opportunity. Which would also give more impact to him killing people more than just morals, and make him a more dimensional character.

The three biggest problems this movie has is pacing, tone and character arcs. Along the same lines of infinity war, the pacing is a little better in the first movie, but all over the place in End game. And the problem is because the pacing is so quick and everything needs to progress so quickly, everything just seems so rushed, and everything that was supposed to be an obstacle was basically solved in a super easy barely an inconvenience kind of way. The problem with the pacing is also that it rushes the characters. Meaning every time something happens to any character, any tension and character development, hell even emotional impact that could have had is cut short to cut to another characters arc. And even if it is not like that, the harsh editing in the movie ensures that any emotion any scenes hold is immediately undercut by something. Like, wow Hawkeye has lost all sense of morals and Natascha can't talk sense into him, but his surface is beginning to crack, that is interesting, let’s immediately cut from that to Thor opening a beer!

The only things that were actually given any kind of consideration to the pacing in this movie was when Scott came back, and the funeral scene, and maybe the fight scene in the end. Every thing else in this entire movie is so weirdly paced! Like, oh boy the stakes are high, I wonder if we will ever be able to figure out this time travel thing. 5 minutes later, Iron man comes out of a car and deus ex machina’s the entire thing. Like why? This should be a bigger issue? Oh no, we lost the one infinity stone, but we don’t have enough Pim particles to travel back anymore times. Simple just travel back to world war two, steal them as you conveniently get into a heavily guarded area while remembering that the love of your life exists while also without much trouble steals and have a cathartic moment with your father who dont know its you, so you can conveniently get back. That whole sequence is pretty cool, but is undermined so many times by being resolved too quickly, making you wonder what the point of it being a conflict at all was?

Which brings me to its second biggest problem, tone. This movie unlike the first one that balanced things pretty amazingly, cannot decide whether it wants to be dramatic action or a comedy, and it ends up being neither. I cannot stress enough how much I hate the jokes in this movie! The jokes are good, hell they are funny (though the Thor got fat jokes needs to leave and never come back. (although that big Labowski reference can stay, but it is on thin f*cking ice.) The other movies had fun moments, this genuinely felt like I was watching a parody movie half of the time. Yes the jokes are funny, I laughed out loud at the america’s ass jokes, but that joke felt like a meme that was somehow left in the final cut. The problem is, whereas the other movies, usually only used the comedy as a relief in certain scenes, it allowed other scenes to be genuinely emotional. It knew when it was appropriate to joke around. It did actually get it right a few times, the whole “hi peter” introduction between cap marvel and Spidey, was in character and genuinely appropriate to the situation, and funny, that scene worked. Where it did not work, was when Tony got back from space, part of that scene was amazing! It was a broken Tony confronting people he did not agree with about the fact that they lost and that he was traumatised and that he told them something like this could happen but they did not listen to him! And it just cuts in-between him being mad as hell and sad as he should be, to be cracking jokes two seconds later. And I hate that scene! Because it did not understand that it was not the time that it needed to break the tension it could have been an amazing and heartwrenching scene that eventually led to Tony giving up his super hero career and setting Tony and Steve on the path to forgiving each other. But no, it was constantly undercut by comedy. It was like they forgot that scenes were allowed to be emotional and not have any quick wit in it and still be good. The tone was just messy all the way through and seemed like I was watching two movies that had been mashed together into one.

The last problem this movie has is character arcs. Besides the undercutting of the emotions of its character in order to make jokes. This movie also seemed to forget who these characters were. It has a problem that many films like it has had, which is too many characters in one film. Every character is never given proper time, we like them because we know them, but this movie does nothing to further their relationships or own growth. The time jump, screws a lot of things up. Like I did not mind but why give Hulk the power to control Hulk then? (His arc through the entire MCU) and not right as he grabbed the stones, him through them being given the knowledge that Hulk isn’t the disease but the cure. Why not make his arc matter to the plot?! (like it did in the first avengers which was though a pretty deus ex machina, solution still a development that coincided with the plot!) The whole Natascha, Hawkeye fight was good, it meant something and it reminded me of their fight in the first Avengers that showed how good friends they were. But the quick editing ruins Nats death so much. This plays into pacing as well, but we are never given any kind of time to be sad about Nats death. Yes she was a minor character, but she was a character we cared about. If they could only have spent a few more seconds at Hawkeye realising what is happening, and being sad about Nats sacrifice in the soul world, and then picking up the stone and being like, I will finish this for you Natascha. That was all the writers needed to do, it would take two minutes more, but it would have allowed her death to mean something more. Hell Coulsons death was given more screen time in the first avengers than someone we have spent so many movies seeing and caring about!

I honestly wished that they had followed the comics version more, and in infinity wars, introduced Thanos, then wrapped up all the original avengers character arcs in that film. Let the snap happen and let Thanos also kill the original Avengers. Then let End Game be about the devastating loss, and the second squad (Black Panther, Scarlett, vision, Captain Marvel, Peter, Strange and part of Guardians & Ant-man) Struggle with their personal grief about losing their friends and mentors, finding the courage to band together and fight to go and defeat Thanos. I would have loved that so much more, mostly because it would give them a chance to lose and have these newer avengers actually mourn them all properly, while also being able to properly process it, and then decide to pick up their torch and finish what the original avengers started. But sadly we got this mess.

Also, I really need to rant about one particular thing in both movies, and honestly it has been a long time coming, but if I have to look at one more giant CGI henceman battle, I will walk out of the movie theatre! This is in both infinity war and End game! I do not care! I hate those big CGI lord of the ring type battles. Why? Because, yes it makes it all look grand, but it also make it look pointless. I don’t care about any of the people they are fighting I care about the villains and the heroes, characters I have spent time with. Why does Thanos send, wizard what's his face and other CGI dude in the first place? I do not care about his henchmen! I do not care about their meaningless fights with their meaningless goons. Why not instead of this giant battle in Wakanda and on the planet in End game ending battle, have all of our previously established villains, such as Loke, Hella, Thanos, that dude from guardians, whoever is the villain in captain marvel and doctor strange. Be the people they fight? Why not make it a few villains that we actually care about be the villains they are fighting, and instead of them punching random fools they could actually fight people who pose an actual challenge to them. Giving everything more meaning and not just, look how many CGI extras we can afford. It is not fun anymore! I have had it! Fight fewer but harder bad guys! That way the fight has some actual stakes and meaning!

If you have made it this far, wow, impressive. I also imagine that it is very clear that I thought there was a lot of problems with these two movies. I will not say I hated them. They were not flaming piles of garbage like suicide squad, but they are also not anywhere near as good as the first guardians movie. In the end, they were entertaining. Were they, I am willing to sit through these six hours ever again entertaining? Abso-f*cking-lutely not.

I have before given up on the cinematic univers and come back to it and this was me actually hoping it would be great movies that everyone said they were, so I could get back into Marvel super hero movies, but sadly, they were visually pretty stale, tonally, pacing and characterly a mess, and not the finale to 22 films I had hoped for.

I give infinity war 8/10 stars

And End game 3/10 stars.

Send me a message if you agree, disagree or just wanna talk about movies (or have any recs for what I should see next) Until then

- Geek out.

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carynsilver · 5 years

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Marvel 20 Questions

I wasn't tagged, but I saw this on @musette22‘s Tumblr and decided I wanted to play. Thanks!

1. Favorite solo film? It’s so hard to choose. It would be easier to list my top five. :-) But, I have to go with Thor: Ragnarok, because it is funny and heartwarming and I love it. Plus I have been a sucker for Thor since his first movie. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a really close second, though.

2. Favorite team-up film? The Avengers. It was so cool seeing all the characters we’d watched in the solo movies come together for the first time. Marvel really did the solo movies to team-up movies formula right--didn’t rush it like DC did. The payoff in that first Avengers movie was great. Plus a good villain, high stakes, and a plot that I didn’t have problems with. A good mix of humor to action. Love it. Also, I’m really partial to the AUs where the Avengers all live on their own floors in the tower, and that is the movie that sets that up (even if I’ll forever be sad that they did nothing with it).

3. Favorite female character? There are a lot of BAMF chicks in the MCU, but my absolute favorite is Peggy Carter. She is strong and gorgeous and knows her worth, even a time that is worse that today about allowing women to have that value. I liked her in the first Cap movie, but I loved her even more in the Agent Carter TV series. While I like the Peggy/Steve backstory, I like Peggy better on her own. Darcy Lewis is a really close second favorite--only second because, while I liked her in the Thor movies, it was fic that really fleshed out her character, while Peggy got all that character development on screen. But we’ll see how things go with Wandavision. Maybe Darcy will get the more developed character in cannon that she deserves. (I guess the Netflix shows no longer count for the MCU, huh? Because Jessica Jones was pretty awesome, too.)

4. Favorite male character? Oh my gosh. I love both Thor Odinson and Bucky Barnes SO MUCH--it’s nearly impossible to choose. However, I have to use the rule that I used for favorite female character, and give Thor the number one spot because his character’s awesomeness is fleshed out on screen. While I still think that his first movie could’ve used a bit more middle (more time than just one night on Earth to grow and change into someone who would give his life for others), I’ve loved watching Thor’s character grow and change over the years. He tried so hard to be a Gryffindor, but he’s really a Hufflepuff. While he would’ve been an all right king due to training, he doesn’t have the heart for it, and I think he finally realized that. He is so much more than muscles and a weird accent--he’s loving, supportive, and really smart; he forgives; he’s just an awesome guy. Bucky has that whole tragic redemption arc, which is great, but they really cheated his character out of development on screen after CA:tFA and CA:tWS. Like with Darcy, a lot of his development comes from fic and head cannons. I’m really hopeful for the Falcon & Winter Soldier TV series. Maybe now Bucky will finally get the character development he deserves!

5. Best canon ship? I’m not really tied to many of the cannon ships in the MCU. I liked Tony/Pepper a lot; probably because they got a lot of screen time, and Pepper is another favorite BAMF MCU lady. Scott/Hope is also pretty good. I would’ve said Thor/Jane, except then they broke up. Maybe they will resurge to the top of the list when we get Thor 4.

6. Best non-canon ship? I love so many non-cannon ships for the MCU! I like Stucky, Stony, WinterShock, WinterHawk (but only with the more comic-esque Clint who is deaf and a disaster; not boring family man movie Clint), WinterIron (but only in no power AUs without the Bucky killed Tony’s parents angle), ShieldShock, TaserTricks a bit... Basically any ship with either Bucky or Darcy in it would have a chance, and even though I don’t love cannon Steve all that much, I like a lot of ships with him in fanfic, too. Weirdly, I never read fic about Thor or Peggy--maybe because they are so fleshed out in cannon, I don’t need more from them.

7. Favorite actor? Man, another rough one. I love Chris Hemsworth and Sebastian Stan so much. I think I have to go with Sebastian on this one, though. Chris is great, hot, and I adore him, but Sebastian did so much with a character that had relatively little screen time overall. I mean, Bucky was in five movies, but in a lot of them he was there more for the action than the actual character development (which makes me sad! he deserves more!). But the fact that he took a smaller, supporting character and made him one of my favorites in the whole universe says a lot for Sebastian’s acting. Like, a lot of actors can make you love a character when they are the main character in multiple movies, but how many can do it from the sidelines? (**crossing my fingers for lots of good Bucky in the F&WS show!**)

8. Favorite actress? Gotta go with Hayley Atwell here. The way she played Peggy was masterful. I also really love Kat Dennings, though. Second only to Hayley.

9. Favorite director? Taika Waititi, hands down. He should do all MCU movies from here on out. Prior to him, it was Joss Whedon for his great work on the first Avengers, but Joss let me down with A:AoU.

10. What was the first MCU movie you ever watched? Iron Man. Aside from Spiderman: Homecoming and The Incredible Hulk, I watched all the MCU movies in theater in the order they came out. We are dedicated Marvel fans that way. :-)

11. Which MCU movie have you watched the most? Hmmm... I’m honestly not sure. I’ve never specifically counted viewings. I know the top contenders would be Thor: Ragnarok, Ant Man, The Avengers, Thor, Captain America: the First Avenger, and Iron Man. I have definitely watched every MCU movie except the Spiderman and Hulk solo films more than once, though.

12. Favorite super-suit? I think I’d have to go with the Iron Man suit. I mean, it’s by far the most useful, and it has Jarvis (or Friday) inside. And it lets you fly! That said, if we take it as most attractive suit, then I’d be torn between Steve’s navy and white suit (sans cowl) from the beginning of CA:tWS and Thor’s suit when it bared his arms (the long-sleeved version was weird looking).

13. Favorite weapon? Mjolnir, by far. Even though it creates some weird questions/plot issues, I love the idea of a weapon that only someone with a worthy heart can use. I think my favorite moment in End Game was when they paid out on that bit from AoU and Steve busted out fighting with his shield and Mjolnir. Steve and Thor fighting together with the hammer and the axe was fabulous. I do also like Cap’s shield, even though it’s a weird choice. I’m really looking forward to Thor 4, if the rumors are true and we’re going to get to see Jane use the hammer. That will be excellent!

14. Favorite origin story? Oh, another hard one! I am a sucker for a good redemption story arc, so I think Bucky/Winter Soldier edges in for the win here. Overcoming 70 years of brainwashing and mind wipes for his best friend, struggling to get back to human again, and then trying to make up for some of the wrongs from the past (which I hope is where we’re going in the F&WS show) is excellent. Though, Thor’s journey from spoiled brat to someone who is willing to sacrifice himself for others to king to someone who realizes that he isn’t the best king and is willing to hand the crown to someone else for the good of the people that he loves is a really good one, too. I also like tiny anger-ball Steve taking a risk to become a hero with a good heart. Didn’t necessarily agree with all his choices later, but did like the origin. Solid third.

15. Favorite villain? Definitely Loki. His arc in the first Thor movie is great. And knowing that in the first Avengers movie he was affected by the mind stone adds a great layer. Plus watching him continue to mature and grow until he finally was willing to be there for his brother in Ragnarok. That was a great arc, and the character toes that line of gray morality but redemption that is so compelling to watch. His death was the worst one to me in IW/EG--I really thought he was pulling some other con, and I’ll forever be sad they dropped that thread. I hope that his show is good, and I’ll give it a chance, but I’m still bummed that we’re going back to post-Avengers Loki and losing all that character development from Thor 2 and 3. :-(

16. Favorite fight sequence? Honestly, the action and fighting are probably my least favorite parts of these movies. I know, that’s atypical, lol. Like, they are the less interesting bits I have to put up with to get the character growth I want from my superheroes. Often, the action sequences go on too long. Shorter action sequences would allow them to both keep up momentum and put in more character development, but no one in charge asks me. :-P That said, I like the action sequences best when they show character development, and the best one for that is the highway fight in CA:tWS where Cap and co. fight the Winter Soldier for the first time. No one in the whole movie had challenged Steve that far, but the Winter Soldier truly put him in danger for the first time, and his friends, too. The Winter Soldier was menacing, and then paired with the Bucky reveal at the end. Best action sequence. Though I do also love the Revengers vs. Hela in Ragnarok when Thor finally gets his full lightening powers down and crashes into the battle. He is so OP now, but in an awesome way.

17. Favorite line from any of the films? I love that bit in the first Avengers movie when Thor snags Loki, Tony flies out after him, and Nat tells Steve not go because they are basically gods. I love Steve’s line of, “There’s only one God, Ma’am, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that.” That one cracks me up even now that I’ve watched it so many times.

18. Favorite scene from any of the films? Pretty much any scene with Darcy in it is a favorite. Her stuff in the first Thor movie is gold. I also like Bucky and Steve’s goodbye scene at the beginning of CA:tFA.

19. If you could pick an Infinity Stone to keep, which would you choose? Huh... I don’t know that I’d want any of them. I guess, if pressed, I’d choose the Space stone because I think it would let me teleport. The Time stone/time travel seems interesting, but I’d be afraid I’d mess up the timelines.

20. Which Disney Plus MCU series are you most looking forward to? Falcon & Winter Soldier, hands down. Though, when I heard Darcy would be a character, that jumped Wandavision up to second place.

I think that @virtual-insomnia would enjoy this. :-)

#avengers #meme #thor #bucky barnes #darcy lewis #peggy carter #mcu

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theperpetualnight · 5 years

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My hella long review and thoughts on Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Warning – spoilers ahead.

For the past 11 years Marvel fans have grown up watching the mighty Avengers on screen together and apart. These films become more than just films when they come to an end, they become a part of our lives – they are a part of our lives, just as much as the cast and crew. Whether you were 12, 20 or even 32 when you went to the cinema in 2008 for the first MCU film, as the years went by you continued, and today you went for the final time. These characters are not just some fictitious superheroes, they are our role models and people whom we looked up to and learnt from. Steve Rogers taught us to never give up, Tony Stark taught us compassion, Thor Odinson taught us bravery, Natasha Romanoff taught us to be strong, Clint Barton taught us loyalty and Bruce Banner taught us to accept ourselves . So rarely do films have the opportunity have such a deep emotional connection with audiences. We know these characters, we know their stories and we experienced their journeys as we were growing and maturing. So it suffices to say the stakes were very high with this one. After 11 years we needed an ending which did justice to the characters, their stories and the challenge which has been building up for the past 11 years.

In Endgame we are drawn into the depressive state each Avenger is in after losing to Thanos and losing their loved ones. This immediately captures our Avengers in a new light, in a state of struggle unlike anything before and even hopelessness. Audiences here can sense the more serious tone of this film and even more so the finality of everything that is to come. Having decided to kill Thanos once and for all, the Avengers travel to find Thanos and within the first 10 minutes or so, Thor (having learnt from Infinity War) takes his hammer to Thanos’ head. This is the first act trigger a series of references to the previous films.

“I can do this all day”

After this moment we move five years forward. Whilst Tony is happily living his married life with Pepper and daughter Morgan, Thor is now overweight and hiding away playing Fortnight. Following the events of Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scott returns from the quantum realm to realise what has happened and from there hatches a plan – the Time Heist. Realising the Pym particles can in fact take the Avengers back in time, they decide to steal the infinity stones in the past before Thanos gets to them. This is the heart and soul of the film. The one thing missing from MCU is time travel. Time travel in film can go in two ways, either it will be a disaster or in the case of Endgame – poetic cinema. The reason time travel works so well here is firstly because it is the natural progression for the film to take, and most importantly it gives each of the original six Avengers their moment. The stand out moments in particular are: Steve going back to 2012 Avengers where he’s having to fight himself saying the famous line “I can do this all day” to which present Steve replies “Yeah I know,” as you can imagine given the gravity of that line and situations in which we have heard this, here it was simply hilarious. This is how to add comedy elements to what is a gripping, emotional, action-packed drama. Another stand out scene is the homage to the iconic and I mean ICONIC Winter Soldier lift scene. As audiences eagerly anticipate another fight where Steve will diminish the Hydra agents – instead he simply whispers “hail hydra” and escapes with the mind infinity stone. This was again hilarious and pure genius. Bravo! As Tony and Scott lose the Teseract, Tony and Steve decide to go back to the 70s to retrieve it as well as the Pym particles. Here Tony finally comes face to face with his Father. After the father issues we see him go through in the early films and the father figure he has become to Peter Parker – these scenes provide a powerful moment as Tony comes to peace with his Father. In the meantime Steve accidentally ends up in none other than Peggy Carter’s office where he earnestly looks through some blinds, revealing Peggy herself. Endgame does not holdback in pleasing fans whilst successfully executing these emotional moments in such simplicity.

Over in Asgard, Thor is able to speak to his mother once more and retrieve the aether, though it is with Clint and Natasha, audiences will shed their first tear (or full blown cry if everything else already had them tearing as it did me) as they both go after the soul stone. Fans will recall from Infinity War to get the stone you need to give a soul – a simple exchange. As Clint and Natasha fight out who will be the one to sacrifice their life, ultimately it is Natasha who takes the fall – literally. And it is here audiences are left speechless as we see one of the first original six Avengers fall to their death. This was nothing short of heart-breaking, but yet so powerful given the history of the dynamic duo, there was no better way to close the arc of their friendship.

“There has not and perhaps never will be something of this magnitude ever again on screen.”

As the remaining Avengers return safely back to the current time, Thanos from the past finds out about their plans and invades the current time period. Each Avenger takes their stab at bringing Thanos down, but ultimately it is Steve and his half broken shield which stand alone facing Thanos and his vast army. Unlike most of the MCU films, Endgame should be appraised for its cinematography, one of the many beautiful shots include this scene. if anyone would have the guts to take this on by on their own, it would be Cap. But then we here “on your left,” revealing Sam and Bucky and then slowly all of our lost Avengers appear as Doctor Strange motions them to the war ground. In this moment Steve calls out “Avengers Assemble” – music to the ears of fans, at last we hear the phrase. This begins the most epic battle in cinematic history. It is exhilarating, it is breath taking, it is edge of your seat cinema, there has not and perhaps never will be something of this magnitude ever again on screen. The entire build up of the film makes this fight the spectacle that it always deserved to be.

Of all the brilliant moments during this battle, there is one which again will be historic in film forever. As Thor struggles with Thanos, we see his hammer rush to hit Thanos only to swing back past Thor and into the hands of… CAPTAIN AMERICA. Audience erupts, cheering, clapping. if MCU was building up to anything in the last 11 years it was this moment. Iconic and legendary. I had goosebumps watching this scene as Steve yields Thor’s hammer. There truly are some very special moments in cinema such as the “i am your father” from Star Wars – where something happens which no one expects, where your mind and body at once feel this rush of sensation, where the magic of cinema is truly felt – with Endgame we had the privilege of experiencing this. This is not something you will get on a second viewing. I think the sheer gravity of that has to be recognised and of course the brilliant execution of this entire scene. Fans have always known Steve is worthy and there are no words in the english language to describe what was felt by all to see this moment for the first time.

The battle comes to a close with Tony taking the infinity stones, “I am Iron Man” he says, as he snaps his fingers. The power of the infinity stones being unbearable leads us to the death of Tony Stark. As the character who is known to act in his own self-interest and is deemed to be selfish. Tony does the most selfless act bringing his arc to a successful close. There was no other way this could have panned out, this brings Tony’s character full circle, we see the growth and development throughout the years, and the empathetic, selfless man he has become. As the character who started this entire journey it is right for him to bring it to an end. Given all this, and the love fans have for Iron Man and Robert Downey Jr – this again is of course the tear jerking scene. Followed by his funeral which was executed with perfection, brining back Harley from Iron Man 3.

Though what is arguably one of the best character endings in any film franchise of this scale has to be given to Steve Rogers. The writers truly knew what they were doing with this one. As Steve prepares to go back into the past to return the infinity stones, he exchanges an all too familiar line with Bucky, “don’t do anything stupid until I get back” says Steve, to which Bucky replies “how can I, you’re taking all the stupid with you.” Of course fans will be very aware of the role reversal since Captain America The First Avenger taking place here. As Steve travels to the past, everyone awaits for his quick return, though Steve has other plans. He does indeed return but having instead gone back lived his life with Peggy, he returns an old man. The film ends on Steve Rogers finally getting that dance with Peggy, with “It’s Been a Long, Long Time” playing over the scene. Marvel fans will know this is the exact same song which Fury plays in Steve’s apartment in Winter Solider. Being a fan of Marvel and in particular Captain America, this is the pièce de résistance of the film. Through every single film featuring Steve, we are constantly reminded of their tragic romance, and the dance they never shared, finally and I mean finally, Steve gets the ending he deserves. As the leader of the Avengers and the character who puts everything on the line for the greater good, there could not be a greater way to end his arc. This was perhaps the only part of the film where audiences would have cried out of joy, to see this iconic (I know i’ve used this word so many times) moment happening at last. And of course it was a brilliant ending to the entire film.

If I was to make any change however, to truly tie Cap’s story up in a bow, it would be to provide more screen time between him and Bucky. I think where this film fails is providing Bucky with justice. The relationship between Bucky and Steve is of paramount importance in all three Captain America films, we see how deeply connected these characters are. They are life long best friends and are willing to die and kill for each other. There is no other relationship of this magnitude in MCU (in my opinion anyway), they are a fan favourite and given the past films they are the dynamic duo with such a strong bond. There were moments in the film where light could have been shed to show us this beautiful friendship once more. Firstly, in the battle scene mentioned above, instead of Sam saying “on your left” I believe it would have been much more powerful to instead have Bucky entering saying “we’re with you until the end of the line.” This is undoubtedly one of the most crucial and memorable quotes from the entire MCU which was missed (though I have changed the “I” initially in the quote to “we”). Finally, and for this reason only am I prevented from giving this film a 10/10 is that, as Steve returns in his old age, it is Sam who has the finals words with Steve. Given the relationship with Bucky, it would have only been right for him to have the final words with Steve before the shield is passed to Sam. This would have been the ending Steve and Bucky deserved.

Ultimately, what has been achieved with this film is beyond brilliant. I am struggling to find the words to give the film justice. The level of attention to detail in this film is unlike any other I have ever seen. To be able to successfully, in almost every single scene pay homage and reference to the previous films was just remarkable. I really believe this is very difficult to do successfully, in a way in which not only brings audiences nostalgia but a new and fresh level of excitement. This coupled with the way in which Endgame mirrored Infinity War is what astonished and amazed me most about this film. And this is why I believe it is poetic cinema. Superbly structured into three acts, where not only do we see the characters we know and love having to push themselves one last time; we see them grow to their very best potential, their defining traits in the small moments, and their evolved relationships with each other. How such character development and nostalgic moments was married to a gripping and exhilarating narrative, which was equally character and story driven (not to forget the great score and cinematography) is an accomplishment in itself. Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo, all provided sensational performances. Arguably the best superhero performances we will see. This is their swan song, and had it been theatre I am sure every single member of the audience would provide them with a standing ovation.

“It was a rare cinematic experience, amplified by the fact that it was 11 years in the making. To be a part of that, is to be a part of film and cinema history.”

There are certain times in your life when you watch a film and it resonates so deeply with you, that when you leave the cinema it stays with you. It’s as though you have a chemical connection with the film, you are simply left in awe and wonder. I call it movie magic. So rarely do we get to experience this with a film, that when it does happen, we wish we could collect that moment into a snow globe and have the ability to dip inside and out of it, to feel all that again. And just when you think this may never happen again or when you have accepted the rarity of it, a film comes along and you are able to revel in that feeling once more. Avengers Endgame is that film. It was a rare cinematic experience, amplified by the fact that it was 11 years in the making. To be a part of that, is to be a part of film and cinema history.

Thank you to the Russo Brothers, to Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner and of course Marvel and all the cast and crew, for allowing us to be a part of this and for being a part of our childhood.

9/10

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shellheadtmark2 · 5 years

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actually, that raises a good point (i say, like everyone sees what i’m talking about - it concerns mcu canon divergence, there you’re all caught up). at what point is it too much divergence? like it’s no big secret that after the move my plan was to make 616 my main verse (you can check that one off the list, it’s the first verse tag and i intend to do hella more writing in it and have been, much to unpopular demand), and it’s no secret i’ve been less than satisfied with the mcu for a good long while now. from phase two, actually, bc to me that’s when everything started that death spiral.

but what if...i decided to go completely divergent. from im3 forward. keep maybe everything after as an alternate verse - but not my first choice considering - and then just...rewrote everything else. this isn’t even about endgame this is about everything from phase 2 onward, and i could write an essay on why, sure, tony’s characterization has been solid (except for endgame and infinity war at points, and...other things, too but we’ll wait to get into that) and that’s only bc rdj is the second biggest tony stark stan after me (and he can fight me for that title honestly), but the story as it’s progressed has made no fucking sense. i disagree with tony being such a focal point, he’s never been that in the larger avengers as a whole, other people get their turn, as it should be. i disagree that civil war was a war in that it was like fifteen people fighting in a parking lot. ultron was kind of a joke. bucky deserves better. steve deserves better - and maybe acknowledgement that while he’s a Good Man, he’s also kind of an asshole (and i say this with a deep, unyielding love for steve, but yeah, he’s kind of an asshole and yet still deserved way better). pietro deserved better (i mean it’s not like he was one of the early avengers in classic marvel or anything).

idk if this is a poll or a psa or me thinking out loud or what, but i’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. about keeping a secondary mcu verse that follows anon and going off and bringing the development more in line with phase one and where it originally felt like it could have headed. or maybe not, maybe i’m still hankering for a group verse that’ll just fix everything. where the tower can actually be made use of and all the groups cohabitate the same world bc my suspension of belief on that - when i know certain friendships should exist - only stretches so far. which...i’m a person who willingly reads comics about a guy with a bazillion dollars who punches giant lizards in the face while flying around in a metal suit. that says something.

it’s not even about bringing it more in line with 616 - ults isn’t in line and i’m still considering adding ults tony. it’s more make it stand alone from 616, but make it actually make sense and contain an integrity of character i, personally, feel like has been deteriorating. idk. it’s a thought. it sounds like a fun challenge, honestly, but it’s a thought i keep circling back to which usually means it’s something i need to take care of.

more on this story as it develops.

#★ array . ooc / hey there mister tin man #★ array . misc / do you walk in the shadow of men who sold their lives to a dream #// anyway sorry for the word vomit i just #// keep thinking about it #// about where do you draw the line where does it become too off in left field #// not negativity just #// thinky thoughts #// but i'll tag it anyway #cw negativity

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proofthatihaveaheart · 5 years

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2019 fic recs

it’s been a long time since i did a fic rec list so i put one together with some of my favorite fics from this year (and then forgot to post it for a month oops). i’ve been reading in a lot of fandoms so there’s a bunch of variety in this one. also because i read a ton of cap marvel fics earlier in the year, i’m going to do a separate list for those

[1 Coco, 5 Good Omens, 1 Lucifer, 5 Marvel, 1 She-Ra, 3 Steven Universe]

Coco

Work of All Saints by anistar_e (210k): Her mother sends her a letter, after. We cannot help you, Imelda, it says. You are the consequence of your actions."This is not my fault!" Imelda shouts.-Imelda Rivera (b. 1899 - d. 1969), a story that includes but is not limited to: the finest music school this side of the Santo Domingo, three traveling musicians and the mess they made of love, the twice-cursed assassination of Venustiano Carranza, all the patron saints, and ninety-six ways a man can try to cross a bridge. (A masterpiece of character, world-building, development, just everything you could possibly want from a fic and a novel, it is a grand epic that is personal in scope, truly spectacular)

Good Omens

A Stone’s Throw from Jerusalem by RC_McLachlan (Aziraphale/Crowley, 2k): "Are you honestly going to make me listen to bebop in my final moments?” [Absolutely beautiful with just the right amount of aching heartbreak and pining, and this acute awareness that they live on different scales than humans.]

damn.nation, now available on itunes by anistar_e (10k): When lowly tempt-pusher Amphora (formerly of Stairwell 7B North, before she Fell,) gets the notice that end times are nigh, she gleefully quits her job and cancels her Netflix subscription and takes her place among the legions of hell. // This, it turns out, was a bad plan. [The character work is so strong, she paints such a clear vision of Amphora and it’s very easy to fall in love with her. This is the best example of outsider POV of OTP that I’ve seen.]

Salinity (And Other Measurements of Brackish Water) by drawlight (Aziraphale/Crowley, 3k): It's an odd thing, getting on after the End of the World. Crowley takes to sea-watching. [This fic reads like poetry, it’s absolutely beautiful with a very good central metaphor. Also Crowley cooking.]

stars, hide your fires by fishycorvid (Aziraphale/Crowley, 3k): He can feel the pull of the riptide, even in water like this, only a few centimeters deep. The constant, assured call of the ocean: you came from me, and, one day, you will come back. Crowley smiles to himself at that, the water rushing insistently against his fingertips. He hadn’t come from the sea, of course. But he doesn’t think he’d mind much if he had. / “Crowley.” / He goes still at the sound, eyes falling closed. [Beautiful missing scene, I love the emotions and the imagery and the descriptions of the Pacific Northwest and how this fic is just them.]

vintage demon art, vape pens, & other treasures by kyrilu (Aziraphale/Crowley, 1k): Love, Anthony J. Crowley is aware, is a very foolish thing. He’s seen humans do stupid things based on love or lust, whether it’s tacky Disney movie themed weddings, internet catfishing, or matching couple shirts. [I love this, it’s formatted as several short vignettes about the pair and how Crowley very much doesn’t feel love - except he does, he loves an angel. It’s delightful and beautiful and poignant.]

Lucifer

And There Was Light by ariaadagio (Lucifer/Chloe, 143k): When Lucifer Morningstar is found half dead in the desert, Chloe Decker is determined to find out why. The problem is ... not even Lucifer knows the answer. As Chloe's world is flipped upside down by incontrovertible evidence of the divine, Lucifer grapples with feelings of violation and futility. God's meddling has started a chain reaction, but to what end? Deckerstar. Fits with canon through S2. [I love this beautiful masterpiece of a fic. Excellent characterization, spectacular plotting, and a very delicious slow-burn, this fic deals with Chloe finding out Lucifer’s divinity while Lucifer deals with fate and free will and having his wings again.]

Marvel (Misc)

Adjectives Assemble by SugarFey (26k): Natasha wants to find that rare edition of The Master and Margarita before her rival at the Russian language bookstore does. Kate is distracted by the cute barista next door. Carol and Jessica dance around each other. Maria just wants to keep her business afloat without being bothered by pesky police officers or high school art teachers, no matter how polite they may be. Another average day at Adjectives Assemble. [Multiple ships and POVs, lots of awesome ladies dealing with feelings and trying to save an indie bookstore, it’s just a delightful fic to read.]

in oakland by hupsoonheng (Sam/Erik, 11k): in the summer of 1998, the good reverend wilson is shot dead, and darlene wilson runs away from her grief all the way to oakland, california, taking her oldest with her. sam hates her, he hates oakland, and he definitely hates the pretty-eyed neighbor boy who's been volunteered to show him around. it's up to him to make the most of his new situation, but he might need someone to push him. [Not a pairing I ever expected to read, but it’s handled so well, the development of their friendship and then love over the course of a single summer in Oakland as teenagers, like cinematic magic, I couldn’t help but cheer for them.]

Morning Glory by capsicleonyourleft (Tony/Steve, Carol/Jess, 2k): There are a great many things Tony loves about Steve Rogers. His propensity for getting up at the asscrack of dawn, however, is definitely not on that particular list. [Domestic fluff with cute moments, good characterization, and character dynamics that nail them.]

One of the Basic Skills of Civilization (Eddie/Symbiote, 1k): Eddie attempts to civilize the Venom symbiote. [Eddie tries to teach Venom manners by way of Miss Manners. Things don’t go as planned. It’s hilarious and sweet and has a great joke about Amazon]

we were emergencies by gyzym (Clint/Natasha, 37k): It's not about being unmade; it's about remaking, one aching step at a time. [This fic is a classic in the fandom and it’s truly stunning. The way it handles trauma and trust and love is phenomenal, you learn to live with it but it never goes away, and it’s truly the best Clintasha fic.]

She-Ra

plays well with others by Cosanova (Adora/Catra, 4k): Catra may have left the Horde, but that doesn't mean she's ready to join the Rebellion. [Did someone ask for awkward villain redemption? I love this fic and the way Catra navigates the people of Brightmoon and figuring out her feelings for Adora.]

Steven Universe

I Want to Understand by CoreyWW (gen with Steven/Connie and Amethyst/Peridot, 59k): After stopping the Cluster, Peridot must face her next challenge: adjusting to life on her new planet and learning about humans that populate it. Knowing just how out of depth Peridot is, Steven enlists Connie's help in getting Peridot used to humans and acclimated to Beach City. Considering Peridot has no social skills whatsoever, this goes about as well as you'd expect. Funny episodic "Peridot in Beach City" adventures about how Peridot changes over time. Diverges from canon after The Answer (Though by coincidence, the premise of story basically makes this "Log Date 7 15 2: The Series") [What makes this fic so good is the characterization and dialogue. It’s very accurate and the chapters themselves feel like they could be from the show. I especially love the development of Connie and Peridot’s friendship, in addition to Peridot’s own growth and self-reflection.]

Favor for Your Four-Chambered Heart by anistar_e (Jasper/Lapis, 77k): "I don't get it," she says flatly. / "Don't get what?" / "You said we needed to be in peak physical form. What for?" / "Oh!" Peridot perks up. "For harvesting." [Never Let Me Go AU.] [Jaspis isn’t a pairing I considered reading for until I came across this fic and it blew me away with how good it was. This fic hurts, the themes of freedom and self-determination in a world where your only purpose is supposed to be to die for others are beautifully handled, and I love the way all the relationships are written, dynamic and complex and messy. People make mistakes but they’re allowed to grow and become better, and it’s really just so good.]

Set Me Free by cym70 (Lapis/Peridot, 23k): Being roommates gives Lapis and Peridot a lot of time to get to know each other and, despite their rocky history, they might just be able to make something entirely new. [A gorgeous, in-character fic about Lapis healing and falling in love with Peridot. The dialogue is so good, you could really hear their voices, and I love the careful development of their relationship. My favorite Lapidot fic.]

#my current fandom reading trends towards su and she-ra so expect more of those in the future #and maybe i'll find the motivation to write again #i sure hope so anyway #fic recs #monthly fic recs

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themagiciansreccenter · 5 years

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Author Spotlight: @quellthefire

Every week we interview a writer from The Magicians fandom. If you would like to be interviewed or you want to nominate a writer, get in touch via our ask box.

First things first, tell us a little about yourself.

I’m a 26 year old queer woman who probably obsesses over fandoms more than is healthy. I went to school to study bones and infectious diseases, but ended up working as a barista and really love it most days. At some point I hope to go to mortuary school. I’m hopelessly obsessed with Marvel as well, and have been writing a lot of Steve/Tony fic lately, in addition to my usual Queliot.

How long have you been writing for?

I started writing fanfic about 12 years ago, but only recently got back into it after a years-long hiatus.

What inspired you to start writing for The Magicians?

I was so captivated by the friendship and sexual relationship between Quentin and Eliot in Season 1. At the time I never imagined the writers would develop it to the extent they have, so writing fanfic seemed like the only way to explore that relationship in the way I wanted to.

Who is/are your favourite character(s) to write? What it is about them that makes them your favourite?

I absolutely love writing Eliot. He’s my go-to point of view. There’s such an opportunity to explore feelings of lust and inadequacy, and I love writing about Eliot being awed that Quentin wants him. I also love writing banter between El and Margo. It gives me a chance to be snarky and crude and write lines of dialogue that make me laugh. And recently, I’ve been trying to challenge myself to write from Quentin’s perspective more, because I really love his awkward/excited stream of consciousness style of talking.

Do you have a preference for a particular season/point in time to write about?

I tend to veer towards a non-defined point in the middle of season 1. I absolutely love writers who dig deep into show plot points, but I always end up writing scenes where the point in time doesn’t matter nearly as much as the conversation and emotions that are happening.

Are you working on anything right now? Care to give us an idea about it?

I actually don’t have any Magicians stories in progress at the moment, because I need to fulfill some obligations for fic challenges in the Marvel fandom, but I’ve got some ideas for exploring post 4x05 Queliot. Much of my writing has had an angsty bent to it, so it’s been fun thinking about fluffier concepts.

How long is your “to do list”?

Ehh let’s not think too hard about that. It’s kinda daunting, but I’m slowly working my way through it. I tend to be very spontaneous in my writing method, and I’m trying to challenge myself to write things that are longer than a single evening’s worth of work.

What is your favourite fic that you’ve written for The Magicians? Why?

“Feelings are for Pussies and the Aesthetically Challenged” is probably my favorite right now, and also has had the biggest response from readers. It was originally intended as a one-shot, but basically every comment asked me to keep going, and that was such a cool experience to get ideas from readers and use them as inspiration to write two more chapters. I’m really proud of how many people seemed to enjoy it.

Many writers have a fic that they are passionate about that doesn’t get the reception from the fandom that they hoped for. Do you have a fic you would like more people to read and appreciate?

“Eliot and the Art of Sharing” for sure. It’s one of the first Magicians fics I ever wrote, and it’s kind of an odd one, but it holds a special place in my heart because it’s when I started developing the way I write Eliot and Margo’s friendship.

What is your writing process like? Do you have any traditions or superstitions that you like to stick to when you’re writing?

I tend to be very in the moment. I’ll get an idea and sit down on my couch or in bed to write for a couple hours, which can be quite difficult since I use my phone. I’m bad about writing at night before an opening shift. I’ve spent a lot of late nights I should be sleeping working on a story in the hopes of getting it posted. Waking up at 5 am for work sucks the next morning, but it seems to be how I write my best stuff.

Do you write while the seasons are airing or do you prefer to wait for hiatus? How does the ongoing development of the canon influence and inspire your writing process?

I joined the fandom in November of 2018, so I don’t have a lot of experience with the show airing, but I definitely wrote more on hiatus. A lot of my work exists outside of current canon, so I think the emotional aspect of whatever is currently happening with each new episode affects my writing much more than the actual plot.

What has been the most challenging fic for you to write?

I struggled to complete “Dancing on My Own” partly because it was such an introspective look at Eliot’s inner thoughts. I found myself channeling a lot of my own anxieties and intrusive thoughts, and that was difficult to write, but I think it really paid off to take a step back from writing it to give myself space to decide what I was comfortable with sharing about my own mental health struggles. I’m so proud of how it turned out.

Are there any themes or tropes that you like particularly like to explore in your writing?

I’m a slut for writing any fic where the two people in the ship are pining for each other, but are too scared to make a move. Add in the cast of background characters who start to realize what’s happening, and that’s my jam.

Are there any writers that inspire your work? Fanfiction or otherwise?

Fanfiction-wise, @ohmarqueliot, @sadlittlenerdking, and @adjovi are the people whose writing I first fell in love with in this fandom, and I keep coming back to their work. Outside of fanfiction, I’ve learned a lot through playing Dungeons and Dragons with a group of friends about character and world-building, and while it’s not traditional writing, there’s such a collaborative storytelling aspect to it that has massively influenced how I approach things.

What are you currently reading? Fanfiction or otherwise?

Right now I’m reading a lot of post 4x05 Queliot fic, (especially anything fluffy or smutty), as well as a lot of Steve/Tony MCU smut.

What is the most valuable piece of writing advice you’ve ever been given?

I saw Neil Gaiman give a lecture a few months back, and he told the audience that when he’s struggling to write that he makes himself sit at his computer and he tells himself he can either write or do nothing, but those are his only options. He said that usually he’ll get bored of staring at the wall pretty quickly, and start writing to save himself from the tedium of nothingness. As silly as it might sound, it totally works for me. It’s like a little hack for my brain that overrides the anxiety of starting a new story.

Are there any words or phrases you worry about over using in your work?

I definitely describe characters blushing far too much, and find myself using the same phrases a couple paragraphs in a row in most stories. Reading outloud as I edit helps a lot with that.

What was the first fanfic that you wrote? Do you still have access to it?

The one that immediately comes to mind was based off of Tamora Pierce’s “Protector of the Small” series. As a middle/high schooler I really loved her books and identified most with Keladry, the protagonist of that series. It was a post-series fixit fic resolving all the stuff I wish had happened. I tried finding it a couple years ago but couldn’t. I also wrote a lot of awful James/Lily Harry Potter fic back in the day, so that was probably the first stuff I ever wrote.

Self-edit or Beta?

Self-edit. I’m far too impatient to not post stuff the same night, and I get very stressed about other people editing my work. I’d like to eventually be able to handle having a beta, but I’m not sure if it’ll happen.

Comments or Kudos/Reblogs or Likes?

Yes please! I’m definitely the kind of person who closely monitors that stuff, as much as I hate to admit it. Comments are my favorite though. I absolutely love hearing from people who’ve read my work

Smut, Fluff or Angst?

I mostly read smut, write angst, and fluff is the sweet spot in that venn diagram.

Quick & Dirty or Slow Burn?

I’m impatient and usually go for Quick & Dirty, both in my writing and reading preferences, but I’ve been getting more into the delicious tension that is Slow Burns.

Favourite season?

Season two

Favourite Episode?

This is probably super cliche, but either 3x05 or 4x05.

Favourite book?

The Magician King

Three favourite words?

What the fuck

Want to be interviewed for our author spotlight? Get in touch here.

#the magicians #the magicians rec center #author spotlight #author: quellthefire

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anneapocalypse · 5 years

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Anne watches MCU: Captain America through Age of Ultron

My trek through the Marvel Cinematic Universe has continued but I really slacked off on making posts about it after the first, uh, three, so here's a catch-up post!

And as a note, I am watching the films in release order, but for simplicity's sake I'm grouping some origins and sequels together here.

Spoilers for everything through Ultron, as well as some mentions of Civil War and Captain Marvel.

Crossposted from dreamwidth.

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) & The Winter Soldier (2014)

Captain America to me marks a turning point in the MCU, the moment when these films reach a level of sincerity and groundedness that will become a standard in superhero films. And as such, the Captain America series is one of my favorites within the Marvel universe. World War II has also long been an interest of mine, so it's no surprise that I enjoyed the first film so much.

And when Steve reawakens in the modern day and becomes one of the Avengers, carrying on the ideals that made him who he is, I love that too. I would say Winter Soldier is as much an Avengers movie as it is a Captain America movie (the same has been said of Civil War) because once Cap enters the present day, you can't really have Cap without the Avengers.

In the hindsight of having recently seen Civil War, think this is partly because Steve, more than any other Avenger, is defined by his relationships to other people. His friendships, his rivalries, his loyalties—these are what make Steve Rogers who he is, both in the past and in the present. Steve's whole life is shaped by his friendship with Bucky Barnes. His first thought upon waking up in another time is not of the world he has lost but the people he has lost. And his new friendship with Sam Wilson is easily one of the most delightful moments in The Winter Soldier.

I will say that my primary disappointment with The Winter Soldier was that it wasn't really an origin story for Bucky Barnes. There is not a lot of character development for Bucky himself—it is still very much Steve's story. But the focus is again on Steve's relationship with his old friend, and his refusal to give up on Bucky ultimately saves them both.

And I think that focus on relationships is also what makes Captain America a favorite for me.

The Avengers (2012)

I really wish I had written about this movie when I first watched it, because my memory of it is now very much colored by having seen Age of Ultron and Civil War since. Attempting to set that aside, I did enjoy this movie when I watched it, though not quite as much as I enjoyed Captain America.

The Avengers is absolutely not a standalone film. This is definitely the point at which the MCU truly becomes a shared universe, and the origin stories we've had so far are really not optional for understanding these character dynamics.

The tension between Steve and Tony does make sense, both for the characters themselves and as a kind of meta commentary on the evolution of the Marvel universe: Tony Stark's layers of defensive irony set against Steve Rogers' straightforward sincerity.

There are other character beats that work for me in this movie as well. We get the best character development for Natasha, given that she doesn't get her own movie. (CRIMINAL.) That she successfully plays Loki, out-tricks the Trickster, is a truly beautiful moment. Ruffalo's Bruce Banner establishes pretty clearly that he is not Ed Norton's Bruce Banner. And Tony/Pepper manages to grow on me a little bit.

Loki as a villain is... okay. I think it's pretty clear by the end that his plan was never really about dominating Earth, but about causing chaos—which he does, pretty successfully, and in the hindsight of Civil War, said chaos has some far-reaching effects. That part works for me. On the flip side, I really hate mind-control MacGuffins; I think they're a lazy means of getting characters to do whatever the plot requires without having to justify the characterization in any way or deal with the aftereffects, and in my opinion Marvel overuses this trope to death.

Hawkeye as a character is absolutely wasted in this movie, as we have no idea who he is before he is controlled by space magic.

This ties into a larger issue with the Avengers series that, again, feels much more prominent after seeing Civil War: the Avengers aren't a team. Not really. They're a group of solo superheroes attempting to work together. This would be fine for a first Avengers film if the plot were about building them from a group of loners into a real team. But this film isn't about that. It's about dividing them before we've really seen them united. We are told, and not shown, that Natasha and Clint are close friends; beyond that, who on this supposed team actually have a reason to care about one another? And by the end, what has this film really accomplished in terms of building a rapport and making the Avengers feel like a team?

I think the fact that they end the film sitting around a table eating shawarma in stone cold silence says it all.

Iron Man 3 (2013)

The third Iron Man movie begins to bring Tony Stark a little more in line tonally with the other Avengers. Tony loses none of his distinctive character, but his experiences are treated more seriously in this film, with Tony suffering from PTSD. It also explores how the events of Thor and The Avengers have challenged Tony's arrogance as a former lone-wolf superhero driven by technology and his own extreme wealth.

By this movie I'm pretty well over Tony/Pepper. Pepper loves Tony, she cares about him—but she never seems happy with him, only constantly stressed, and as a viewer who loves Pepper, it's honestly not fun to watch. This is something I think Nolan's Batman series better understood; there's a reason Rachel doesn't wait for Bruce. The genius billionaire superhero is a terrible boyfriend. Marvel, unfortunately, doesn't really want to acknowledge that. For Pepper to be happy with Tony, Tony needs to change, and Marvel doesn't really want to change Tony. For Pepper to leave Tony means the hero doesn't get the girl, and Marvel doesn't want that either. So we're left with this tiring, unsatisfying relationship, and I'm super over it.

To add insult to injury, Pepper gets superpowers and doesn't even get to keep them.

The MCU has a Women Problem, and it's really, really obvious in this film. I do like parts of it very much; it's undeniably enjoyable to watch, and I like a lot of what it does with Tony. But it's also representative of some of the cracks in the Marvel fresco as a whole.

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Darcy is the most fun character in the Thor movies at this point, and to be honest I kinda like her more than Jane.

The Dark World is another fish-out-of-water story, only this time it's Jane that's the fish. I didn't hate this movie, but it didn't make a huge impression on me, as evidenced by the fact that I can't find any notes for it. :P I enjoyed the stinger of Loki being alive at the end (I knew he was going to be, but it was still fun to watch), and I was pissed they killed Frigga (one of my favorite characters in the Odin family).

And once again, we have a female character infused with a force of tremendous power and she isn't even allowed to keep it. Are we noticing a pattern here, whereby with men, superpowers are celebrated no matter what kind of horror they went through to get them or even how much they hate themselves for having them (hello, Bruce Banner), but for women, superpowers are a horrible curse they need to be rescued from?

Yeah, Marvel has a women problem. NEXT!

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) & Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (2017)

Along with Captain America, Guardians is tied for my favorite series within the MCU. It is unapologetically fun, yet still sincere in its own way, striking a fresh and unique tone for the MCU.

These two movies are excellent and in my opinion, do a much better job of showing a band of loners becoming a team and building a rapport and learning to trust one another than Avengers did.

There is no character among the Guardians I don't love, and the restraint with which Quill and Gamora's relationship is handled (in that they build a friendship, rather than making Gamora Peter's prize for becoming the hero) is damn refreshing. Drax is simultaneously hilarious and sincere—in fact his humor comes from his innate sincerity. Rocket Raccoon exemplifies the kind of insecurities all the characters must overcome to work together. And both Gamora and Peter show self-reflection and growth in the second film, Peter by facing down his own ego, Gamora by acknowledging what her sister Nebula went through without denying her own suffering.

These films, especially 2, are all about relationships, including complicated and troubled relationships, and that's probably why I love them.

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Age of Ultron was a weird watch for me.

There were things I liked about it a lot, Natasha's relationship with the Hulk and Clint finally getting some long-overdue character development especially. And yet I came away from this movie feeling more tired than anything else. There were some good character moments, but the story did nothing for me.

Most of all, though, I think my exhaustion stems from how deeply formulaic the Marvel films have become at this point. They're just really, really predictable. I'm already tired of AI-centric plots not thinking of anything more creative to do with their premise than "It tries to wipe out humanity/take over the world I guess." This story feels utterly phoned in.

And even in terms of relationships, this film doesn't really hold up. For one thing, the whole setup of the film is the continued tension between the Avengers, most prominently Steve and Tony, which has never really been resolved. Tony going rogue and activating Ultron isn't so much a betrayal of an established trust as it is simply highlighting the fact that there isn't any.

Meanwhile, Natasha and Bruce are bungled... badly. Much has been said about the conversation in which Natasha seems to be saying that being infertile makes her a monster. A generous reading can attribute this to bad dialogue, appearing to frame the "monster" remark around Natasha's infertility when she is meant to be remarking on the fact that her greatest strength is as a highly efficient killer. But in light of Marvel's Women Problem, that reading really isn't any better. In some ways it's just as bad or worse, as it once again frames power in a woman as a curse rather than a gift. Either way, it's not really a valid comparison to Bruce's specific angst, which is unique to him: he is possessed by a power he not only never wanted, but cannot control.

(No wonder people are confused when Carol Danvers doesn't have to be brutalized to become powerful, or hate herself for being so. It breaks the rules. And thank the gods for it.)

One bright spot in this film is the introduction of Wanda Maximoff, the most powerful heroine we've yet seen in the MCU. Vision, by contrast, feels like a fairly pointless character to me. I feel like everything he did could've been done by someone else, and he's only here because he's in the comics.

I’ve also watched both Ant-Man and Civil War this week, and took copious notes this time, so expect posts for those films soon.

#anne watches mcu

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riplever · 5 years

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Ranking the characters and movies at the end of MCU Phase 3

I’m so glad I procrastinated on posting this until after Spiderman Far From Home came out because Mysterio.

Top six (current) favourite heroes - this always changes when new movies come out:

Peter Parker - this is bolstered by the fact that Tom Holland is an excellent actor, and is clearly the best at breaking hearts

Thor - he’s becomes ever-more endearing because of the drastic character transformations throughout seven movies

Shuri - she fills the role of the “tech genius” but is also fully fleshed out, excited about adventure and extremely supportive of her brother

Tony Stark - a hero, a father, a human.

Carol Danvers - I’ve never craved for a “female” superhero; I felt like heroes in all shapes and forms were relatable as long as they were heroes. But her fiery introduction during the peak of the MCU, her fun-loving confidence, take-no-shit sense of duty, her trust and loyalty in friends... I‘m comforted by the presence of a figure as prominent in the media as she is that I can... use to justify some of my own life choices wow this got personal

Scott Lang - The sweetest guy, best teammate, most optimistic and gets his priorities straight... His sunny exuberance was a much-needed counterweight to the somber solemnity of Endgame. He’s a really important (and overlooked) guy

Favourite character from each franchise:

Iron-man: J.A.R.V.I.S. First ever AI that I’ve developed a ridiculously strong emotional attachment for

Captain America: Black Widow in The Winter Soldier. Best hair and costume, most espionage activity from her of all the movies

Thor: Thor. He’s so interesting because he’s differs so much in all the MCU movies he’s since been in. His portrayal is of a truly multi-faceted character, with unpredictable highs and lows, and I think that makes him more human and real than a majority of the other characters

Ant-man: Hank Pym. He’s got a tragic reason to be so bitter and untrusting of others... I think he reminds me of Bruce Wayne

Black Panther: Shuri, the best Disney Princess

GOTG: Rocket. Gamora is a close second because her abusive, twisted relationships with Thanos and Nebula is fascinating. But for a small furry animal Rocket is fast on his feet, good at everything, a genius, and also he’s an asshole who manages to keep his friends

Spider-man: Spider-man! He’s young, new to the gig, and already been through a lot of shit.

Captain Marvel: Carol is kinda my favorite but this seems like a good place to talk about Talos, who stole the show with his charisma and multi-layered personality and motivations

One character you’re most like: Valkyrie. Doesn’t take no shit and is nobody’s romantic interest. Insists on acting sober when drunk. Fun and robust battle partner. Honest and forthcoming in her opinions, but quite hard to get a full grasp on

Best BFFs or right-hand men/women:

Rhodey to Tony - he gets bonus points for sticking by Tony’s side from the start. And picking himself up after his accident to continue superheroing

J.A.R.V.I.S. to Tony - I, too, developed an emotional attachment to Tony’s first and best AI system over the course of all his movies. He’s the perfect mix of sarcastic wit and caring butler

Natasha and Steve - more on this later but they’re the greatest opposites and yet also the most similar. Has me forever wondering if there could - or should - have been more

Natasha and Clint - that’s Vormir-verified pure platonic soulmates right there

Maria to Carol - I resonated very strongly with the depth of their platonic love

Valkyrie to Thor - I was quite pleased when they didn’t turn out to be a romantic pair. I like for my MCU movies to continue challenging conventional storytelling expectations

Best mentor-mentee relationships:

Hank Pym to Scott Lang - Pym is a vulnerable old man, flawed but still with the potential for heroism, which makes him the most interesting teacher for Scott, a former criminal. Together they tell a impactful story about redemption and second chances

Tony Stark to Peter Parker - so much has been said about them, but their back and forth dynamic is just a really funny and endearing thing to see

Tony Stark to Harley Keener - the first one to inspire Dad Tony. I liked how Tony respected and genuinely befriended him, and have been waiting for his return ever since IM3

Mar-vell to Carol Danvers - an employer so passionate, genuine and sincere that they truly inspire you? Can’t relate, but goals

Shuri to T’Challa - all heroes have sidekicks but Shuri provides unfiltered judgement and all kinds of valuable knowledge from fashion to lifestyle to culture to weapons and gadgetry

Ranking the best villains of MCU stories - while trying not to let personal attraction towards their characters get in the way:

Mysterio - This one was something else. Getting to know him in FFH completely reshuffled this list. His resourcefulness and abilities makes all fights 100% personal and I would never, ever want to fight him. He gets first place for tapping into a personal fear of mine

Vulture - A good man forced into a corner. The increase in pressure brought on by the reveal that he’s the love interest’s father... Intimidating like no other, especially through the rear-view mirror. He seemed like he should have been in a heavy-duty drama thriller

Thanos - the Lawful Evil. It was shockingly easy to feel sympathetic towards him and his cause even as I was rooting for the heroes to win in Infinity War. The greatest villain to hate

Killmonger - Intelligent, handsome, magnetic man who’s hard to fault, because the root of his anger is just. Holding out for him to make a return because he’s too capable a person to pass up

Hela - the most stylish MCU villain ever. It sometimes feels like the MCU movies never really dared to look stylish until Ragnarok rolled around

Yon-Rogg - Ambiguously presented character who has malicious intent but is not completely evil. In fact, he’s like 74% a good friend and teammate/leader. That’s what makes him so duplicitous: that his problematic aspects could so easily slip under the radar

Honorable mention: Rebecca Hall - there’s something about her eyes, the way she looked at Tony with folded arms, her weary but piercing judgement that I have never forgotten after all this time

Hottest character/looks/outfits:

Killmonger in a black robe and golden necklace as well as in full Golden Jaguar habit in Black Panther

Black Widow’s straight hair in The Winter Soldier, followed by the fiery blonde-red braid in Endgame

Mysterio’s hair - the most perfect beard ever, showing off a fantastic jawline, and what bright, blue eyes. There was this fan theory that really got into my head right before I watched the movie - that he was possibly an alternate dimension Peter Parker from the future - and the moment where he put the Stark glasses on... he looked exactly halfway between RDJ and Tom Holland in both looks and age

Hela’s war helmet and skin tight suit and infinite pointy weapons

Best powers/abilities/weapons:

Captain Marvel’s photon blasts, super strength, super speed, stamina, immortality, everything. She’s like a god. But mostly I love her photo blasts and love imagining throwing one of those off in a fight myself

Hela - her ability to manifest limitless weapons in split seconds is an unstoppable power. A real god. I’m starting to see a pattern in the kinds of abilities I want to have...

Yondu’s Yaka Arrow - unconventional weapon, lightning fast, sick red trail, I would love to have something like this but I can’t whistle. At all

Black Panther’s Habit - he’s basically invulnerable. That’s the best suit technology ever: that he can let physical impact ricochet off him back onto his attackers

(Impossible?) Dream teams:

Thor + Hela + Loki - you know that post that was going around about how if Odin had actually been a good father, Thanos would never have gotten so far? I felt that on a personal level. If the Odin-children trio had been functional they would have proven the might of the godlike Asgardians. Also I would throw in a + Valkyrie

Peter Parker + Harley Keener + Morgana Stark - the Iron Man legacies + Ft. Happy, their energetic caretaker

Favourite character development: Thor, indisputably. His changes are massive, physical, metaphorical, and I greatly appreciate Chris Hemsworth’s increased input in the character. Also him going from settled, at peace and in control at the end of Ragnarok to gritty disappointed anger in the beginning of Infinity War was... one way to set the tone, I guess

All-time favourite duos/pairings:

Peter Parker and Tony Stark - Peter steals the show as Tony’s pseudo-son, probably thanks to the fact that he’s Spider-man and perfectly casted for the role

Thor and Loki - given the severity of the consequences of Loki’s actions, it’s even more delightful to know that certain sibling dynamics remain a constant no matter what

Gamora and Thanos - this is different from all the others because this one is abusive. The most powerful connection explored in Infinity War, which got me to rewatch the GOTG franchise post-Endgame in order to figure out the when and how Gamora became independent of his influence. Her fear of him had defined their relationship from the outset

Carol Danvers and Nick Fury - Didn’t think that Fury could smile in happiness or crack jokes until this movie

Peter Quill and Yondu Udonta - all the proud, sly little smiles Yondu made but kept out of sight from his abducted son

Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes - I am ecstatic for their announced TV show and already know that they will kill it base on their actors’ real-life chemistry

Best romantic pairings or should I say interactions since this list applies to all the people that have locked lips:

Steve/Natasha - they might not have been lovers, but they loved each other. Does the fact that they weren’t lovers make their love for each other purer? This is number one on the list because they truly are my OTP. Would love to see what his journey to Vormir to return the Soul stone was like

Tony/Pepper - she’s been with him through thick and thin, and they’ve been together from the literal start to end of the Infinity Saga. I have great respect for how she didn’t try to influence his decision in Endgame because she trusted that he would have already considered the same things, knew what he was doing, understood what a hero needed to do, and really understood him

Peter/MJ - they’re so dumb and cute together. I sincerely hope they remain young and happily awkward. I’ve come to realize that I’m so very into the MCU’s Spider-man precisely because his story isn’t overwhelmingly angsty. His “normal” friends and family are completely understanding of his double-life. His superhero friends believe in his abilities and want to push him to greatness. He’s got a great support system around him

Peter/Gamora - Gamora’s always had a soft spot. It’s sweet that a mediocre dumbass like Peter is able to bring that side out of her. Neither is overly concerned about the other’s family background, physical prowess so the relationship ends up being kinda chill

T’Challa/Nakia - I support people who are equally matched in intelligence and strength getting together. What a power couple

Scott/Hope - Their pairing is as conventional as any dumb-guy/serious-girl pair is in movies, but the nicest thing about the Ant-man franchise is how important family is to these superheroes. They’re less solo, one-man acts and more integral member of a family unit. And that’s so unconventional for superheroes it just becomes a pleasure to watch them all happy together

Unsubstantiated romantic character pairings I’m hopeful about - I’m hoping for a past much regretted fling between Peter Quill and Carol Danvers to be revealed - I think they’ll look pretty hot together. That Kree girl he was with that almost ripped his throat out with her teeth sounds like it could be Carol. Their personalities don’t seem to match at all which is exactly why whatever chemistry they had would never have lasted for longer than a night

Best crack ship pairings - I don’t tend to form these ones when canon relationships are so well developed, but:

Steve/Tony - When they reconciled and were acting like good teammates again, quipping about what’s the best suit for Steve’s ass, improvising their mission while very deliberately not including Ant-man in the convo... that’s extremely married. Why so exclusive? It was kinda gay, fellas. I felt like the real-life affinity of the actors were coming through in their characters in their scenes together

Steve/Bucky - Using “Bucky’s alive” to throw himself off when he was in the fight with his past self... My jaw dropped. And Cap’s decision at the end... Either they talked about it off-screen or Bucky just intuitively knew. This is also pretty gay and married, fellas. Would have swayed me if they hadn’t kept reminding me about Steve pining hopelessly after Peggy

Top five six movies - which leaves Infinity War off the list:

Thor: Ragnarok - built Thor up while also tearing him down. Hilarious, fun, right mix of comedy, drama and action. First film to make the Asgardins feel godly. Funnest movie of the year

Black Panther - the best Disney Princess! Best Lion King live-action! Gray morals handled most expertly of all MCU films. Best royal fantasy drama

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - excellent spy thriller, Nick Fury’s best depiction as a spy whose “secrets have secrets”, and the Widow/Cap kiss. Best spy genre film

Iron Man 3 - showed off the man without the suit, showed off Iron Dad for the first time, and the thematic message of karma, fallout, and butterfly effects is the loudest in all these movies. Best Tony Stark biopic

Spider-man: Homecoming - buoyed by Tom Holland’s excellent acting and the heartwarming father-son dynamic between him and Ironman. Best coming-of-age story

Captain Marvel - fun and entertaining movie about reclaiming one’s identity, while also being a deconstructive take of the many kinds of friendships. Best sci-fi/aliens on Earth story

Most memorable quote: “Why? Because I said so!” - Tony Stark to Peter Parker, from Thailand

Best MCU story thematic messages:

Iron Man 3 - “We create our own demons”

Thor Ragnarok: Physical effects aren’t needed to define your identity

Iron Man trilogy - Mental breakdowns happen to all of us

Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 1 & 2 - Family can stretch from one end of the universe to the other

Spider-man Far From Home - There’s no running from life!

Most underrated films for reasons?:

Ant-man and the Wasp is underrated for it’s overarching themes of family, leading on from the previous Ant-man, as well as father-daughter relationship themes, and the motives of a villain simply wanting to get rid of chronic pain

Iron Man 3 is underrated despite defying established superhero conventions and stripping the hero down to his essence/humanity (before Ragnarok made it cool) and telling an all-too-familiar story about mistakes, karma, and mental health

Age of Ultron is overlooked and people forget the fun and juicy team bonding moments that the movie was full of, like the party scene in the first act

Thor: The Dark World is understated despite all the charming sibling banter we were treated to

All-time favourite place: Wakanda. Black Panther was the first superhero movie that crafted its fantasy setting so loving and realistic and beautiful that I physically wanted to go

All-time favourite scene: Yondu’s funeral in GOTG 2. One of the deaths with the greatest finality in the MCU. From the personal effects they each laid on his body, the kaleidoscopic cremation, the golden ash like a star dust river ejected into outer space, and the unique fireworks displayed by the many different Ravager ships that’d showed up. That Rocket had gone the extra mile to summon those guys and even shed a tear... Powerfully moving stuff. What a way to honour a death.

Best battle: Spiderman vs Mysterio. It was heart-breaking and soul-crushing in so many ways. The amount of control Mysterio has - even post-mortem - is, alongside his business-sense, almost worthy of admiration. His direction in setting up specific illusions tailored towards Peter Parker was profoundly disturbing and I loathed how there was not a single physical sense Peter could trust, how surreal and repulsively confident he was, how disgusting his betrayal was, and after all that, backing Peter into a fucking high-speed rail - that kind of was the tipping point for me. This movie shocked me unlike any other MCU films in the past. How are they ever going to top this??

Best performances -

Tom Holland, who really shines in emotional climaxes, such as of Homecoming - “Come on Spider-man!” - goddamnit - Infinity War - “Mr. Stark?” - and Endgame - “Tony?”. Like chill man you don’t have to make the entire theatre weep every single time

Scarlett Johansson’s superior chemistry with Cap, Hawkeye and Hulk’s actors throughout the movies. I really dig how her connection with them were so powerful that they could all be interpreted as romantically ambiguous. Wished there had been a bigger nod to her and Tony’s relationship, given that they were the first two MCU Avengers to be shown on-screen back in IM2, and the first to become acquainted

Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of Tony Stark’s anxiety in IM3

Jake Gyllenhaal stole the show. And that’s speaking as someone who adores Tom Holland’s performance as Spider-man. Mysterio’s motivations were pretty comical (or comicbook-like) but his portrayal was what sold the character as 100% serious and made him so menacing with his illusory powers

Zoe Saldana throughout Infinity War, especially when she was furiously beating Thanos’ arm as he dragged her towards the edge. The emotional punch from that scene was further compounded by Josh Brolin’s Thanos

Best actor interview partners -

Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan - the amount of love and praise Mackie lavishes on Sebastian and the way Seb reciprocates it sold me on the prospect of them doing a buddy-cop movie way before they even announced their Disney+ show

Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth - sarcasm on top of sarcasm when they’re combined. You know they get along great when they’re way more toned down and heartfelt when grouped with others

Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Holland - makes me wish that Ryan Reynolds could be there in the mix. Both these guys exude youth but in very different manners. It’s quite amazing to see their chemistry as a result of that

Paul Rudd and Jeremy Renners - Interviewer: Can you talk about the tone of the movie Endgame? Paul: Well it’s a B-flat, which is a very rare tone for a movie- Jeremy: hums in G

Best single character moments for everyone - I try to do my best with a hazy memory of all the other films - in no particular order:

Carol smiling at Stan on the train

Minn-erva flatly telling her “No I just never liked you”. Alien lady after my own heart

Maria quickly judging Nick after the Kree tech scanned him and declared him a negligible threat level

Peter Parker stuck under rubble and saving himself by becoming Spider-man

Ned’s first excuse when caught by a teacher that he was watching porn

Quentin Beck going completely still in body and smile after Peter Parker walks out of the bar

Aunt May not appreciating Tony Stark’s outright advances

Peter Quill’s smile when his friends finally understood one another and the Guardians team started to take shape

Gamora whenever she’s scolding people

Nebula rejecting the last rations so that Tony could have them

Yondu coming clean about ‘the other Ravagers wanted to eat you’ story to Quill

Adult Groot’s smiles

Rocket being completely fine about being referred to as a rabbit. Might suggest that deep down he’s always wanted to be soft and cuddly

Loki transforming into and mocking the hell out of Captain America

Thor squinting and saying “Is he, though?” to Banner about Banner

Valkyrie falling off her ship and then shooting up the aliens about to abduct Thor with her arms/ship blasters without breaking composure

The Grandmaster disparaging Thor and “Ass-guard” in every sentence he speaks to him

Shuri driving over a dead body in the car and worriedly asking about it

T’Challa casually lying and assuring her that it was nothing

Nakia getting tricked by T’Challa into admitting that she does thinks she would be a good queen of Wakanda

Okoye roasting Ross in one language and then another in front of her king

Peggy unloading multiple rounds into his vibranium shield after seeing Steve flirt with a random female officer

Bucky being a hot exasperated cocky jock best friend in the first movie - and me not realizing he was the same actor even after the reveal of the Winter Soldier’s identity in that movie

Banner’s dark and depressed humor in the first Avengers “What does Fury want me to do, swallow it?”

Natasha smiling at Steve in the car while she judges and asks him if that was his first kiss after getting unfrozen

Clint almost shooting Quicksilver and telling himself “No one would know”

Pietro shitting on Hawkeye because that’s just his way of making friends

Wanda always leaning and resting on Pietro back when he was alive

Strange’s broken and quivering fingers right after he woke up from his surgery

Sam raging to Fury about not getting the carrier to the right building floor that he’d jumped from

The legendary balls of Nick Fury to inform people to their faces that he thinks they aren’t shit

Tony’s armor getting supercharged in his first hostile encounter with Thor

The look on Pepper’s face when she tells Tony she’s allergic to strawberries

Rhodey attempting to show off and beat the baddies with the Hammer-tech “ex-wife” special mini missile only to have it fizzle out in the water at their feet

Scott‘s A+ relationship with his former wife and her new husband, and all three of them caring for Cassie

Hope sucker-punching Scott with her sunniest smile

Luis the eternal sunshine

Thanos shedding a tear while dragging Gamora off the cliff without looking at her

Lastly just one unpopular opinion: I don’t like and never warmed to nor cared about Vision because I miss JARVIS. I miss him being Team Tony. With the information that Tony named his AI after the actual Stark household butler... that he was with Tony from the day he started committing to being Iron-Man... I refuse to believe that Tony doesn’t miss him, and found it odd that he never referenced his original AI affectionately after losing him in Age of Ultron. Or that none of that carried over into his non-existent relationship with Vision (who even shot and paralyzed Rhodey? wtF)

And lastly my actual favourite Marvel character: Deadpool.

#mcu #avengers endgame #avengers #character rankings #spiderman far from home spoilers

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beyondthedreamline · 5 years

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You reblogged a post from my side blog about Thor! It made me happy because I’ve been following you for 2 years and I really respect your opinions. I was starting to doubt my righteous anger because I saw people say that those who didn’t like EG!Thor were fake fatphobic Ragnarok!Thor fans, no matter their reasons. I am glad to see we share the feeling of disappointment, even though I’m satisfied with Thor’s final development as a big bearded warrior and looking forward to the rest of his story.

Thankyou for that! I appreciated your post very much because itarticulated a couple of points that had bothered me a lot. ApparentlyI still have feelings on this subject, so be warned, you’re in fora bit of an essay now.

Firstoff, I care a lot about Thor as a character. I love Norse mythology,I love Douglas Adams’ The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, Ilove nearly every iteration of Thor as a character that I have everencountered and I love him as a superhero. I enjoyed all of thestandalone Thor movies very much. I have more mixed feelings aboutthe Avengers ensemble movies, but there was no member of the team Iactively did not like and I kept up with most of their solo moviestoo, because I enjoy superhero films as a genre and because theMarvel universe is a very rich playing ground for a whole range ofstories.

Therewas a lot of emotional investment in these last two films –Infinity War and Endgame are the conclusion to years ofworld-building and character development, weaving in dozens ofbackstories and in jokes, all the hellos and goodbyes and moments ofcatharsis that we have been waiting on for years. That is a massive askof any storyteller and there were always going to be disappointments,because with the best will in the world there is no chance ofpleasing every viewer. And this is fandom; perfection is unachievable and disagreement isinevitable. The best we can do is handle disagreements with grace and respect one another’s perspectives.

All.That. Said.

Forme, Infinity War andEndgame failed pretty much everycharacter, one way or another. Other people have written eloquent posts on theway these storylines failed the female characters of the franchise,whose motivations are mostly subsumed by the wants and needs of themen around them. Gamora ismurdered by the man who abducted and abused her, but her death isframed as hissacrifice, a way to advance hisjourney. ClintBarton becomes a grief-driven vigilante serial killer in otherpeople’s countries, but he gets absolution and Natasha ‘red in myledger’ Romanoff dies the martyr’s death in his place. PeggyCarter, furious brave Peggy Carter, becomes a literal trophywife in a goddamn Gordion knot of time-travel nonsense. SteveRogers brought war onto thesoil of a peaceful and well-defended African nation and a whole armywas sent out to fight because he couldn’t face losing a friend, butat the very end he ditches every single friend he’s got in the 21stcentury in order to experience a white picket fence of a happy endingthat erases all of his character development since TheFirst Avenger.

Andthen there’s Thor. Over the course of his three solo movies, he’slost his mother, his father, his brother (multipletimes), his girlfriend (thankgoodness she’s still alive, but it looks like she got Darcy andEric in the break-up), his planet,most of his peopleand all peace of mind.Throughout that litany of suffering, he is kind. He is patient. Hegrows as a man and as a leader, listening to the knowledge of thepeople around him in order to make decisions that benefit everyone,not just himself. He isintelligent, though often underestimated even by those closest tohim. He is capableand resourceful and a friendto anyone who needs him, the very definition of what a superheroought to be.

I’mgoing to talk about schema here for a second. A schema is a cognitiveframework. It’s a psychology term referring to how we organiseinformation based on preconceived ideas. Stories shape perception,telling us what is good and what is bad, what can happen and whatcannot. There is a very narrow pre-existing framework defining what asuperhero can look likeand it’s a shock to the system when that gets challenged. I wasshocked by seeing a fat Thor, and I’m glad of it – it means I hadto think more criticallyabout my personal preconceptions. Thiscould have been a wonderful storyline,dealing with PTSD, bodyimage and negotiating self-perception in the wake of grief andregret. It could have been apositive portrayal of a fat superhero, which outside of maybe comics– which I don’t read and can’t speak for – is absolutely anew and needed thing. It could have offered a vital reminder that howa person’s worth and strength and skill is not bound to theirphysical appearance.

Itdid not do that.

Asyou pointed out in your post, Thor was turned into a sidekick. Morethan that, he was turned into ajoke that revolved around his weight and his trauma, like he was notentitled be anything other than brawn.While Tony Stark gotan emotionally charged reunion with his long-dead father, Thor’sdialogue with Frigga soundedlike a badfirst draft, a scene rushed through with no respect for eithercharacter. He calls her ‘mom’; she tells him to ‘eat a salad’.He walks straight past Loki, the brother he wept over time and again,who died under absurd narrative contrivance about five minutes ago byAsgardian standards. Steve Rogers wasallowed the time to starewistfully at a woman he once lovedbut Thor wasrushed through his own reunion like he waswasting everyone’s time by being sad.

Thoris not permitted to contribute to the narrative in any meaningfulway; where every other lead Avenger hits a beat, however dubious orminor, that establishes theirpurpose in the story, Thoraccomplishes nothing of significance in strategy, battleor reconstruction. The powerdisplayed in Ragnarok and,in a more hit-and-miss style, in Infinity War, isabsent in Endgame. Hissignature weapon is actually handed off to another Avenger. He’snot even allowed to remain a leader of his people. And, look, I loveValkyrie as a character, but she spent centuries as a boozed-upmercenary enslaving gladiators for a glam-rock despot and it took theactual apocalypse to get her to give a damn about the fate of Asgardagain, so the idea that Thor taking a few years off to grieve in away that only harmed himself somehow makes him unfit to rule is atruly staggering double standard. Instead of continuing his growth as a king, he gets shoehorned intosomeone else’s franchise to bicker pointlessly over who gets tomake any decisions at all. I don’t know if Chris Hemsworth is upfor making more movies with Marvel, but I do not trust them to give Thor ameaningful arc any more. Where can he go from here?

Thiswas not an ensemble movie – this was the last Iron Man movie, withCaptain America taking second billing and every other characterscrambling for scraps of narrative significance. Endgamemademe resent characters I usedto like. Italienated me from a series that used to be a source of comfort.It hurts. Not as muchas it did, because I’ve emotionally checked out of the MCU for now,but apart from any other consideration, that level of storytellingfailure offends me.

Iwill acknowledge that Thor’s hair was very good in the big battlesequence. That’s one of the few positive things I have to say aboutEndgame. Great braids.

Youknow what I’d have loved? I’d have loved Wakanda to offer asylumto Asgardian refugees and for a miniseries to revolve around theircross-cultural community building. Two advanced civilisations reelingin the wake of recent upheaval but working together to build a sharedfuture, and Wakanda actually getting something out of it for onceinstead of taking a hit on behalf of the Earth. Shuri would adoreAsgardian tech and she might get to ride a flying horse, whichshe deserves; T’challa andThor would have a lot of common ground what with the disappointingfather figures and modern warrior king lifestyle. Thorwould get heavily involved in agriculture and have fun playing crashdummy for Shuri’s wilder experiments. He’d arrange a travel visaso that Jane Foster could come and play with all that beautiful shinytechnology and they wouldn’t get back together but they would befriends, like they always were underneath the first glow ofattraction. Loki would be there, because to pretend he’ll stay deadat this point is just an insult to our collective intelligence, and he wouldimmediately imprint on Queen Ramonda like an extremely defensive,resentful and heavily-armed duckling.Valkyriemight get to talk through her complicated feelings about duty andbetrayal with the Dora Milaje, particularly Okoye, who couldempathiseafter the Wakandan royal family’s disastrous power struggle.Wakanda could send outintergalactic ambassadors, headed by Nakia, to start playing a rolein the wider universe. The other Avengers could visit sometimes, ifthey behaved themselves.

Soif you’re wondering where Thor goes next for me personally, that’sthe answer.

#asks #superheroes #thor #meta #endgame negativity #that turned into a rant and actually it feels really good to have channelled all my frustration into something approaching coherence #fatphobia #sexism #racism #storytelling

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