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deanbrainrotwritings · 6 months

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— BRO, ASHLEY’S HERE

SUMMARY : dean goes all the way to make this slumber party magical, especially for his kids.

PAIRING : dean winchester x fem!reader

CHARACTERS : bruce, wanda, and mavis again as oc children, sam winchester

WARNINGS/TAGS : angst, fluff, swearing, lots of teasing from little kids, kissing

WORD COUNT : 1.2K

A/N : except the reader’s name is definitely not ashley, it’s just a song by attack attack! that has nothing to do with the story, but it’s still a good song. I tried to copy WandaVision when I wrote this, that’s why one of the kids is named after her. and then I just liked Mavis when I was looking up random names online. I was in my feels, I don’t remember when I wrote this, lmao. x

Dean looked at Wanda and Mavis lovingly. Mavis adorably tried to put her colourful butterfly hair clips in his hair. It was longer now, so it wasn’t too hard, but he could tell that Mavis was trying to be gentle when the clips would snap shut between his locks of hair. Some butterfly clips were glittery, some were clear, others were simply different colours and she even had some in her own hair, in the pigtails Dean did an amazing job on.

Wanda giggled as she traced Dean’s lips with some of Y/N’ lip tint, careful not to overstrain his mouth or spill some of it on his and Y/N’ bed. Wanda carefully closed the bottle and grabbed some eyeshadow Y/N bought for them to play around with.

Meanwhile, Bruce was laughing at Dean while wearing his Batman pyjamas, insisting on being named Bruce Wayne as Dean had planned. Bruce was still participating by choosing the colours for the eyeshadow Wanda wanted to apply. Dean laughed with him too, letting Mavis’ baby fingers brush through his hair and put his honey hair into the smallest pigtails that almost matched hers.

“You’re so pretty, daddy,” Mavis told him happily, finished with her work.

“Thanks, honey,” Dean chuckled. Mavis pressed a sloppy kiss on his beard before she sat back on her legs and watched Wanda try her best in blending the lavender and baby blue eyeshadow in his eyelids. She blew softly on some of the extra dust just as Sam and Y/N’ voices echoed through the hallway of the bunker. Bruce was careful not to mess up Wanda as he got up excitedly to greet his mother and uncle.

“Hey, there Bee,” Y/N exclaimed happily. He patiently waited to hug her and instead offered to help her with the massive amount of snacks in her arms. “Thanks, sweetie,” she murmured, handing him a few bags of food as Sam laughed with amusement when he saw Dean.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, Sammy,” Dean grumbled, his face content despite his tone of voice.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Y/N giggled, she dumped the snacks on the bed and Sam placed the bottled drinks on Dean’s empty desk. Bruce copied Y/N and let the snacks fall onto the bed unceremoniously.

“I know, I look sexy, you wanna marry me again,” he flirted, wiggling his eyebrows at her. She smiled and rolled her eyes, Wanda and Mavis both scrambled towards the snacks with Bruce to choose their favourites. Sam started to load the Disney+ app on the television as Y/N kissed Dean’s tinted lips.

“You look lovely,” she whispered against his lips. Her thumb swiped across his freckled cheekbone, and she smiled at him lovingly, a look he easily returned when he took her wrist and kissed it gently.

“I look ridiculous,” he whispered back. He was still grateful and flattered by her words, like always, and she mimicked the kiss he placed on her wrist. She took his own hand and kissed his wrist softly, knowing how much he loved the tenderness of her affection.

“You look like the most incredible father in the entire universe,” she murmured against his sunny and freckled skin. He knew he couldn’t argue with that and he smiled, watching her pull away, dazed and enchanted. She twirled his tiny pigtail with her finger and laughed, watching Sam, Mavis, Wanda, and Bruce picking their snacks and drinks, leaving her and Dean to choose last.

Since it was the winter holiday and the kids had two weeks off, Dean and Y/N compromised to let the kids stay awake a bit late, the most they could do is midnight. It was seven twenty-five, so there was plenty of time to get the Marvel movie marathon going for the rest of the two weeks at night. They’d start in order, with Captain America: The First Avenger which was PG-13 anyway, safe for the kids. Not that they were safe from Dean’s potty mouth.

Eileen was busy, so Sam spent his time with his nieces and nephew without her. Y/N was happy for them, especially now that they've won. Y/N remembered helping Jack taking the variants of Sam and Dean that were in Rio back to their universe and saving Cas from the Empty, but he wasn't quite ready to face his family. Dean was desperate for his best friend. Y/N tried making him understand that Cas needed some time and he’d make his way back to them.

Sometimes Dean was happily caught up in the fact that they were married or pregnant, but sometimes losing the man he considered his brother and best friend was too much. Cas saved him from Hell, Cas was his only best friend. Dean didn’t have one like him before, in all his life, never this deep, this real. Cas was kind to him and he loved Dean, just because. Just like Y/N. Just like Sam. Dean loved him.

Sam squeezed himself into a blue bean bag, massive enough to hold him and Bruce copied him, plopping down on the black one right next to him. He sunk into it, and shimmied playfully before relaxing, and Y/N smiled. She turned off the lights, letting Sam control the settings on the television. Wanda and Mavis laid down on their stomachs at the foot of the bed and Dean went back to where he was, settled against the pillows. She joined him, smiling affectionately, completely amused as he rubbed off some of the makeup.

All of them remained warm in their pyjamas, happily resting in Dean's darkened room, the light of Marvel’s intro illuminating the room and they all felt content. Even Dean, who’d been working on getting used to everything, freedom from all the strings that had controlled him his whole life like a puppet. With Y/N, his kids, Sam and Eileen, it was easier, it was amazing, like a dream. A dream he didn’t doubt anymore. For the first time, he wasn’t afraid, he wasn't worried or stressed, hurt or frustrated.

He looked around the room, watching Sam toast his Coke with Bruce’s Sprite, a little smile grew on his face. His eyes trailed to Wanda and Mavis who giggled quietly, giddy, sharing their snacks and asking if they liked it. His eyes watered because it was real and it was his. He gazed over at Y/N, watching her excited eyes analyse every part of the scene where Red Skull was trying to get the Tesseract. A block of Cadbury chocolate pressed against her lips, invested more in the movie than her melting snack, he wiped his eyes subtly to admire the coruscating rings on her finger, the endless and eternal promise of their love.

She turned to look at him, but he didn’t look away, even though he was crying. And she seemed to know exactly why. Because she gazed around the room quickly, looking for what had stirred these feelings in him, and then she looked back at him before quietly wrapping her arms around him, whispering loving words against his neck until he pulled away.

He kissed her. To him, it was a checkpoint, an affirmation that no one was going anywhere, that he was safe, that they were all safe. Her love was as endless as the universe. He understood it now, how it grew, how it never ended, how ancient and forever it was, and he adored her for it.

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@rominaszh @livingdeadmak @lanassmarty @murdockscumsock @zepskies @candy-coated-misery0731 @the-achievementhunter @kellynickelss @stxrgazer03 @epsilonsagittarii @lyarr24 @spnfamily-j2 @jessllianaquilesrolonworld @globetrotter28 @deansbbyx @lickmybawls (don't change it, it's iconic)

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do not steal, plagiarise, translate, or republish my work on another platform

#dean winchester #dean winchester x reader #supernatural #dean x reader #dean x y/n #dean x female!reader #dean x you #girl dad #girl dad dean #girldaddean #6.6

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buckets-and-trees · 1 year

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hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have

Fandom: MCU Characters/Pairings: Bucky Barnes, Wanda Maximoff, Bucky x gn!Reader, side Sam Wilson Word Count: 2k

Summary: He reluctantly agreed to this in the first place, but a nice afternoon turns into a darker night than Bucky ever could have anticipated. [Takes place after Wandavision and TFATWS but before Multiverse of Madness]

Content Warnings: DARK FIC, entrapment, somnophilia, dub-con, non-con, entrapment, non-graphic sexual situations (p in v), magic, sorcery, trickery…

Additional Notes: Written for @darkficsyouneveraskedfor's Mini March Challenge (literally the Pacific Coast eleventh hour of March 31st, but we made it), featuring a wicker basket and honey jar, a touch of praise, and a flash of voyeurism. I listened to a lot of Lana Del Rey, and the fic takes its title from her song of the same name (and I let Wanda use that as a beat of dialogue).

“Listen, we’re not far from the farm where she’s been staying. I know you don’t know her that well, but in case you forgot, she’s one of the ones who stuck her neck out for you at the airport in Berlin, went to The Raft with me, then went on the run with me and Steve.”

Bucky looked up to the roof of the SUV they were trundling along in. “I know, fine. I know you trust her, I just–“ Bucky broke off and took a deep breath. “After not being in control of my own mind for most of a century, you can’t blame me for being a little wary of dropping by to visit someone whose powers include mind manipulation.”

Sam opened his mouth and closed it again. A beat later, he said, “She’s on our side. I saw her a few weeks ago. I owe it to her to look in and see how she’s doing now and then, and it’d probably mean a lot to her if you came along with me.”

“You’re going to do that? Appeal to my redeveloping humanity?” Bucky rolled his eyes for show but smiled. “Fine. Do we need to pick up a pie or some cookies first?”

Sam grinned. “And you say you have no social skills.”

“What’s this?” Wanda asked, trying to hide a smirk.

“Buck here insisted we needed to bring something if we were going to drop in unannounced,” Sam said, clapping the super soldier on the shoulder and pushing him into the cabin.

“I – well – my ma always said it was the polite thing to do. Not my fault this one has no manners,” Bucky offered, holding out the wicker basket with two loaves of fresh bread and a jar of honey from a local bakery they’d found in the small town nearby.

“Plus, we eat a lot and didn’t want to wipe you out.”

Sam and Wanda both laugh.

Wanda reaches for the basket. “It’s appreciated. Go ahead and have a seat at the table. I’ll put the kettle on.”

When the afternoon sun is casting long shadows across the room as it fights to keep streaming through the windows and Bucky, Sam, and Wanda have demolished almost all the bread, the new Captain America and the Winter Soldier stand up to leave. Bucky had been nervous, but this has proven to be another normal thing, another connection he’s fostering and doesn’t have to worry about. This was good.

“It’s good to see you holding up so well,” Sam said, pulling his jacket back on.

“You don’t need to worry about me.”

“Thanks for putting up with our checkup intrusion,” Bucky added. “You know Sam can’t help dithering over us lost souls.”

“Always wanting to help,” Wanda agreed.

“You know what?” Sam interjected in protest. "There are people who appreciate my efforts."

Bucky and Wanda laughed. It felt nice.

“Actually, if you don’t mind, Bucky, there is something I was hoping to speak just with Sam about.”

“Oh,” Bucky hadn’t expected that, but he knew they had so much more history behind them. “Sure, I’ll just wait in the car.”

He really hadn’t minded leaving them to talk in private. Twenty minutes had been fine. He hadn’t even begrudged thirty minutes, but forty-five minutes seemed a bit too long. They could’ve told him, and he would have gone on a walk or something. Really the only annoyance was letting him think their conversation was going to be quick.

If they were talking for this long, maybe there was a real issue. Maybe he could help.

And now he did need to use the bathroom, so he had a reason to check in that wasn’t indicating the impatience he’d accumulated over nearly an hour.

He rapped lightly on the door with the knuckles of his right hand while opening it with the vibranium one – the reverse would’ve sounded a little more aggressive, even if it would’ve been more convenient.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I–“

Bucky looked around the open living and dining room of the main level. Sam was not here, and Wanda was sitting serenely on the couch, legs crossed, a cup of tea in one hand and a book in the other. Music was playing from a Bluetooth speaker in the corner.

“I was waiting for you to come back inside,” she stated calmly, closing the book, and setting it aside on the end table with her tea.

Without thought, Bucky had already adopted a defensive and alert stance, looking around for any helpful cues and cocking his head to listen for–

A long groan drifted down from the upstairs, cutting across the music.

“Sam!” Bucky moved with his preternatural speed to the stairs before Wanda could stop him and ascended, easily taking them three at a time.

What he saw when he reached the top of the stairs brought him to a full stop, his brows furrowing and his jaw dropping.

“What the hell is–?”

Another deep groan from Sam interrupted him, and no wonder. Bucky needed to look away, he really did, but he couldn’t – nor could he believe what he was witnessing.

On the other side of the lofted room of the cabin, Sam was naked on his back, a dark, misty creature seated squarely over his hips. The creature had its hands planted on Sam’s chest and was pumping itself up and down with Sam’s hands on the creature’s own hips to guide it.

“He is a magnificent sight, isn’t he?” Wanda crooned softly at his shoulder.

It was the tone of her comment that pulled Bucky’s attention away from the spectacle. “Choose your words wisely, Wanda.”

The brainwashing of the Winter Soldier was gone, but the unbelievable levels of control, precision, and restraint that had been honed by the US Army, heightened by the super soldier serum, and finetuned by the Soviets remained and were all that kept Bucky from ripping her limb from limb that instant. The rage was simmering right below the surface.

“It’s little known, but it’s quite a simple enchantment with the result of harvesting power. Copulation, particularly a moment of sexual climax, can generate a great deal of energy. An incubus or succubus draws that energy to sustain themselves, but this creature is an umbrabus, or a shadow of a sexual demon which I can absorb once it’s collected the energy.”

“You’re harvesting energy?”

“Mhmm,” she hums. “There are witches who steal power from other witches. This seemed more elegant a solution, and practically harmless.”

“Not harmless.”

Wanda calmly side-stepped him to adjust the drapes over the window as she responded, “He doesn’t remember.”

Bucky’s mind whirred, rapidly piecing things together what he was seeing with what he already knew and reports he’d read about this woman – back in Wakanda when he wanted to know everything about the fugitives who had turned with Steve and then the recent reports he’d hacked into SWORD and FBI servers to read in the car on the way to the cabin today.

“This isn’t the first time you’ve done this to him.” His hands balled into fists.

“No, it’s not.”

“What do you need the power for?”

“Aw, you’re too inquisitive,” she cooed, and stepped closer to him, reaching out as if to stroke his cheek, but he jerked out of the way. She still kept the small, serene smile on her face. “Don’t you worry your pretty head about it – that’s what they told me so many times.”

Bucky couldn’t stop the open glare that formed on his face.

Wanda just laughed.

“I could tell you, but you won’t remember anyway. Like I said, he doesn’t remember. You won’t remember anything more than maybe a dream,” she said in a way he knew was trying to reassure him, but he was not naïve enough for that. “Let’s just say hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have.

“I can give you anyone you want,” she continued. “I gave Sam the woman he’s been dating and about to start introducing to people as his girlfriend back home. I always wondered… perhaps Steve?”

Without even thinking he had the redhead slammed up against the wall, lifting her by her throat in less than an instant. “Steve? You didn’t do this to him – to them, did you?” The rage that had been simmering now surged like fire through every vein of his body. Wanda had been with Steve, Sam, and Natasha for the better part of two years.

“No,” she eked out, “I did not know the breadth of my abilities then.”

She squeezed his forearm to get him to let her down, and he slowly acquiesced, lowering her to stand of her own volition again but kept enough pressure on her throat to keep her pinned. He might believe that she wasn’t practicing dark magic on his friends before Thanos. The report filed by a Monica Rambeau claimed Westview was grief with good intentions that were put right after Wanda realized the harm she’d caused – created. James Woo from the FBI had reported a similar view. But that was months ago…

Wanda licked her lips, then one of her hands moved up to draw patterns over his hand still on her throat. “Who do you want, James?”

Bucky shook his head. “No.”

Wanda tilted her head. “There’s certainly someone who must have caught the eye of a handsome soldier like you,” her voice lilted sweetly. Saccharine.

Bucky clenched his jaw as your face flashed in his mind, clear as day.

“Ah.” Her eyes gleam, and he feels the dread tighten in his stomach. “What a lovely creature.”

She began to whisper an incantation, and the words are far from the ten cursed Russian words that overruled his own agency for decades, but the dread it conjured was the same.

“No,” he plead.

Then there was the soft weight of a hand on his shoulder, and he whipped his head to see another dark, shadowy being. But as he grabbed the hand to remove it from his shoulder, the umbrabus transforms into a striking approximation of you.

He dropped his grip on Wanda, but otherwise he was now frozen, watching the shadow you. You weren’t naked, but nearly, in only too-tempting swaths of dark blue satin and lace. The being stepped forward and caressed his cheek, and he closed his eyes and didn’t jerk away as he had when Wanda reached for him, but he did try to turn his head and refuse the soft touch. He tried, but he couldn’t.

“Oh, James, there’s no harm in it,” Wanda said. “You can’t stop me from getting what I want, and this world has already taken so much from you, so why not get something you want?”

One hand of the umbrabus – he had to remember it wasn’t you, he had to – trailed delicately down his neck and along his shoulder while the other gently came to rest on his hip. It inclined its head toward him, then moved in and pressed hot lips against his throat. He groaned.

“It will hurt no one,” Wanda continued to speak, “no collateral damage, and you deserve a little happiness.”

The umbrabus’s fingers moved from resting on his hip to hook into the waistband of his jeans, and tugged him toward a bed Wanda conjured just a few steps away.

“Pleasure and happiness aren’t the same thing,” Bucky protested.

“Maybe not, but you will still feel it.”

Was he tumbling willingly onto the bed with you, no her, it?

Because he didn't want this. This isn’t you circling your legs around his waist and pulling his head down to kiss you. He'd only spoken with you a few times, and he didn’t want the falsification unfolding here to supplant the reality he had been looking to slowly build with you.

“And to think of all the strength and stamina you will give me as a super soldier,” Wanda whispered in his ear, trailing a finger down his spine. Where were his clothes? “The only one of your kind left, you will be such a good source of power it will be difficult to let you go, but I promise I will. I’m not the villain, after all.”

He sank into you

“Yes, doing so well for me,” she says softly.

And he was lost.

READ: writer's commentary for this piece for the Dark Forest Fest

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#dark smut #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x gn!reader #wanda maximoff #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes fanfiction #let wanda be wanda #aspen wrote something #dark!wanda maximoff #gn reader

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lokiondisneyplus · 8 months

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Marvel Studios has reshuffled the release dates for its slate of television shows.

What If…? Echo, and Agatha: Coven of Chaos, now titled Agatha: Darkhold Diaries, are among the titles receiving new dates. The move comes amid Hollywood’s strikes as well as a general pullback at Disney+.

The writers strike began May 2 while the actors went on strike July 14, significantly impacting production and development. At the same time, sources say Marvel wants to focus its efforts to make each title an event for fans and audiences. The studio has decided that spreading out its content is a more prudent strategy.

It’s a far cry from last year’s San Diego Comic-Con, when Marvel unveiled plans for Phase 5 and Phase 6 of its movies and television shows. 2023 particularly heavy with shows, with five planned. (Only the spring’s Secret Invasion, October’s Loki and as The Hollywood Reporter can reveal, What If…? season two remain of that plan for this year.)

THR poked around the Marvel scheduling changes and here’s what sources say is the new rundown:

As previously announced, Loki season two will be the only show to hit this fall, debuting on Disney+ on Oct. 6. Despite what some call superhero fatigue, expectations remain high for the Tom Hiddleston-Owen Wilson-fronted series that centers on alternate timelines. The season two trailer had the biggest digital debut of a trailer for any Disney+ series, and season one remains the most-watched Marvel series on Disney+.

The second season of Emmy-winning animated series What If…? will debut around Christmas Day, although it should be noted the animated show is not a holiday-themed series. Like the namesake comic on which its premise is based, What If…? is an anthology series that looks at key moments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and how they would look in different timelines. Jeffrey Wright returns as the voice of the Watcher, the alien narrator. What If…? was originally slated for an early 2023 release.

Echo, a spin-off from last year’s hit Hawkeye, was originally announced for Nov. 29 but has now shifted to January 2024. The series stars Alaqua Cox as a one-time head of a criminal organization who returns to her hometown in Oklahoma to come to terms with her past. The series, which centers on a character who is deaf and of Native American descent, is described as having a grittier and more grounded tone than some of the other Marvel series and will feature appearances by Daredevil and villain The Kingpin. As previously announced, all the episodes will drop at the same time.

Next on the schedule will be X-Men ’97, the animated series that acts as a spiritual and tonal continuation of the classic 1990s series that aired on Fox. The series, first announced in 2021, was originally planned for a fall 2023 debut but will now premiere in early 2024 The show is being described, by sources who have seen it, as retro and a love letter to the original. A season two remains in the works.

Agatha, the WandaVision spinoff starring Kathryn Hahn, was originally announced for a winter 2023 release has been pushed back to early fall 2024, where it will serve as a lead-up to the Halloween holiday. The show, which completed its filming before the strikes, was previously titled Agatha: House of Harkness and then Agatha: Coven of Chaos before falling on its currently name, Agatha: Darkhold Diaries.

Ironheart, a show focused on genius-inventor Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) first introduced in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, was to have dropped this fall but that is now off the schedule. It finished shooting but its completion is affected by the strikes.

Daredevil: Born Again, a continuation of the Netflix series in the MCU, was expected to debut in spring 2024, paused in mid-production amid the strikes. Wonder Man, starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, was also paused in mid-production.

It is unclear where on the calendar the three series will end up.

#marvel #disney+#loki #agatha: darkhold diaries #echo #what if...?#ironheart

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xmcu-fietro · 1 year

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so marvel’s just released deleted NWH footage with matt murdock but still won’t release the wandavision deleted scene that has Fietro/Peter/Ralph in it. I mean, I’m certainly not complaining about more daredevil content, but c’mon marvel! I know you have more quicksilver content somewhere that you’re just dying to release....please give the fandom a crumb of content.....

#remember when they released that vid of zemo dancing ~for the meme~ but still wouldn't post the wandavision scene even though tons of people #were mad about the ralph twist and wanted to see the deleted scene #(my guess is they won't post it bc it would be weird for a random guy to have powers and they still want to hide that he's peter for #some reason)#peter maximoff #quicksilver #xmen #matt murdock #daredevil #wandavision #wandavision finale #ralph bohner #peter maximoff truther #spiderman nwh

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possibleplatypus · 2 years

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Steve rogers is not real y’all need to relax

Oh boy 😂

At first I thought anon was a Disney stan or casual MCU fan who doesn’t want to see MCU criticism...

And then I thought maybe anon is concerned about my mental health since I can sound a little unhinged (though I prefer the term “passionate”) in my posts...

After thinking about it I’m pretty sure anon is the former, but just in case you’re the latter, I assure you, I’m fine. The stuff I post on Tumblr really has no effect on me in my life outside of Tumblr. I never discuss the MCU with my family. I don’t go shouting at strangers on the street about how much Disney has screwed up. I have much bigger concerns outside of what I choose to blog about. Rest assured that Steve Rogers, no matter how much I love him, does not consume my every waking thought.

But anon does bring up an interesting point: Steve Rogers isn’t real, so we shouldn’t be angry when we feel that his corporate owners have ridiculed him. Steve Rogers isn’t real, so we shouldn’t make a big deal about it when his corporate owners disrespect him. Steve Rogers isn’t real, therefore he can’t be disrespected, and we should just relax and let everything that’s been done to him roll off of our backs, like water on a duck.

I know Steve Rogers isn’t real. Everybody knows. He is a fictional comic book character created by Jewish men to inspire action against Nazis during World War II. He isn’t real, but you can’t tell me that his influence also isn’t real. He isn’t real, but he tells us that all of us, no matter how small or unloved by society we are, can rise to the challenge. We can be heroes and fight for something bigger than ourselves. That inspiration, and that message, I think, is very important.

Steve Rogers isn’t real, but our love for him is. And I don’t think you should belittle this love. You might as well belittle the love that others have for other franchises that are meaningful to them, other storybook characters, other video games, other hobbies that “aren’t real.” Why is our love not valid and worthy of note? I am sure anon loves things that I don’t love-- things that aren’t “real.” I would never tell anon to “relax”-- unless they’re hurting themselves, or hurting real people. (Honestly, the fans who tell other fans to kill themselves over fictional characters are the ones who need to relax 😬)

Steve Rogers isn’t real, but Disney’s impact on popular culture is. How real? A quick Google search told me that the MCU earned over $25 billion worldwide. 25 billion dollars, can you imagine that? $25,000,000,000. Google also tells me that in 2021, the Walt Disney Company held assets worth a total of over 203.61 billion U.S. dollars. That is more money than the GDP of some countries. That is certainly more money than most of us will see in our lives, no matter how hard we toil. That is power. That is real. That is power to buy politicians and influence real lives, such as in the United States when Disney supported backers of the Don’t Say Gay Bill in Florida. And Steve Rogers is just one small cog in the MCU machine, which is merely one cog in the bloated Disney monopoly.

I make blog posts that get reblogged maybe over a hundred times if I’m lucky. Usually they never hit triple digits-- it's a good day if I get a dozen likes. Most of these posts are really vent posts-- I vent my frustrations with likeminded fans. Compare that to Disney churning out dozens of movies and shows nonstop, and how much am I doing, really? (Honestly, Disney should be the ones told to relax-- they’re burning out VFX artists and churning out subpar content.)

Forbes tells me that the Loki series was watched by 2.5 million households when it debuted. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier debuted to 1.8 million viewers. WandaVision, to 1.6 million. That is real power.

She Hulk apparently had 1.5 million viewers. 1.5 million people watched Jennifer Walters wail and moan about how tragic it was for Steve to die a virgin. That’s Disney wailing in our ears, anon. That’s Kevin Feige and his extremely real insecurities telling us that it’s tragicomedy for a man to not have sex. And it doesn’t matter if you’re an ordinary man, or a hero who helped save the universe-- they’re still going to laugh at you. And I can tell that it’s wrong, but how many others are going to have their misguided beliefs reinforced? How many people will feel inadequate if they don’t have sex? We do not live in a bubble. We are constantly bombarded by messages from without telling us to have sex, or don’t have sex, or have the right amount of sex, etc. It is a toxic mindset that they are perpetuating, and I don’t think it’s wrong to call them out.

So Steve Rogers isn’t real. But the love that his fans have for him is. And the love that we and other likeminded fans have for the MCU translates into very real power for Disney-- the power to influence popular consciousness.

So-- maybe we should stop loving him, in order to stop supporting Disney? That’s difficult, considering how much Disney owns (and they weren't his original owners to begin with). They are a Hydra of their own making, inescapable, choking the life out of popular culture, swallowing up studios and VFX artists. And besides, Disney doesn’t want fans like me. They don’t want fans that criticize their writing, that tell them they’re not funny, that call them out when they’re toxic. They don’t want fans that have queer readings of characters they insist absolutely have to be straight. So I think that fans like me are something they desperately need.

This quote from Neil Gaiman is very apt:

“We who make stories know that we tell lies for a living. But they are good lies that say true things, and we owe it to our readers to build them as best we can. Because somewhere out there is someone who needs that story. Someone who will grow up with a different landscape, who without that story will be a different person. And who with that story may have hope, or wisdom, or kindness, or comfort. And that is why we write.”

Somewhere out there, someone needs Steve Rogers' stories, even if he isn't real. And Steve Rogers deserves better stories. We deserve better.

I will love Steve Rogers for what he was made to be-- a symbol of inspiration, a bulwark against fascism-- and not what Disney wants him to be-- a cash cow for people to point and laugh at. And I’ll relax when I want to, thanks.

(Fun fact: the second comic of Steve is from a She Hulk comic. Can you believe that? From standing up to Nazis to being laughed at for presumably dying a virgin. I know what Disney values.)

#mcu #steve rogers #asks answered #disney #long post #pretty sure that anon rolled their eyes and noped out seeing how long this answer was but that’s okay lol #she hulk critical #as an aside it's really easy to not engage with critical posts if you don't want to #keep scrolling block the tags or block me #I think we'd both be happier 😂

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kaylatoonz · 1 year

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I drew this when I first found out about the Knuckles series we're getting in 2023 (I'm still kind of sad we haven't got any news yet).

Anyway, I had the idea that they could introduce Amy and Rouge to the series and connect it to the third film.

Thinking about it now I don't think this would work because not everyone going to watch the show (they either don't have Paramount + or they feel the need to). So introducing two new characters in a series that not every movie fan going to watch would just alienate certain audiences. (This happened with my family when we went to see multiverse of madness. My older siblings didn’t see Wandavision so my twin sister and I had to explain a lot before and during the show).

So the best way to solve this is to have the show be a prequel that covers Knuckles' adventures before coming to earth. The last few episodes can be set in the present time (hinting at or building into the sequel).

Rouge is a thief who has stolen a jewel that looks oddly similar to the master emerald that Knuckles has been questing for. with this being his only lead he sets off to bring justice to the thief and honor back to his tribe. Along the way, he meets a pink hedgehog on her own journey who pauses her own quest to help him (Amy can't leave anyone behind who needs help, it's just not in her nature😁). This confuses him but he allows her to follow him (Amy may have unintentionally contributed to knuckles being too trusting😬).

After a wild goose chase between a thief, warrior, and wanderer Knuckles realizes the jewel is not what he's looking for so he returns it to its rightful owner (or it gets destroyed 😂).

Rouge having the most fun she’s had in ages sets her sights on Knuckles and even more on the Master emerald/Chaos emeralds. (Knuckles let slip about a jewel much greater than the rock she stole🤦‍♂️). Eventually they meet again in the next film her siding with Shadow to get her hand on the Emeralds.

As for Amy, she offers to be his friend and continue helping him on his journey. Knuckles declines Amy's offer and insist they both finish their quests alone. Amy tells him she senses their paths will cross again and she hopes by then he'll be more open to friends. (it's a bad and good thing that Knuckles took this to heart, based on how the second movie with his 'friendship' with Eggman and later friendship with Sonic and Tails).

In the third film, they can introduce Amy and Rouge in similar fashion Tails did with Knuckles (when they got chased by Knuckles) and the echidna lore (please use this art style again for any lore😭)

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Knuckles vouch for Amy for helping him once and tell Sonic and Tails how she would be a valuable ally. (Though he's a bit uncertain if she was ever his friend because of what happened with Eggman. Luckily Amy proves him otherwise.) He refers to Rouge as being complicated... suggesting they should keep their guard up at all times when confronting her.

I think doing it this way would allow the series to serve as extra content rather than required content to understand the movie. Either way, I hope we get something good from the Knuckles show we're getting in 2023.

Bonus:

I think Sonic would be peeved that Knuckles knew another hedgehog and didn't tell him.

Sonic: You knew another hedgehog that didn’t want to kill me and you didn’t tell me!!!😡

I also think Amy's quest may have something to do with Sonic or a prophecy of a future threat they must face together (fourth movie tease).

#amy rose #movie amy rose #sonic movie 2 #sonic movie 3 #knuxouge #procreate's chalk brush is my favorite #I tried working on one layer per character Never Again #i like how it turned out #Knuckles the series #sorry if there’s errors #Youtube #knuckles the echidna

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animebw · 5 months

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So I've been stewing a bit with the whole concept of "MCU Fatigue" after my disappointment with The Marvels, and I think I've come to a realization.

See, most people when they shit on the modern MCU act like they're been putting out tons of terrible stuff. But looking at their track record, that's not actually true. In fact, I'd argue that the majority of their Phase 4 and 5 output has still been above average. The only real misses I'd count are FATWS, Dr. Strange 2, The Marvels, and maybe What If if I was feeling particularly uncharitable (and I guess Secret Invasion, but the bad response kept me away from that one so I've never watched it myself). Other than that, Marvel's still putting out a lot of good stuff.

The problem is they're not putting out a lot of great stuff.

Like, we need to take a step back and realize just how fucking insane the MCU's track record used to be. They didn't just put out good movies on a regular basis that put every other franchise to shame, they regularly released some of the most iconic superhero blockbusters of all time. They cranked out all-time classics on such a consistent basis that at this point, at least half of the top 20 greatest superhero movies of all time list would be taken up by MCU projects, maybe more. That's how they built trust with the general audience; not just consistency, but the promise of greatness. People flocked to the MCU not just because there was a near guarantee of a well-made fun time at the cinema, but because that was a strong probability you were going to see something truly spectacular.

Seriously, just look at the studio's track record through Phase 2 and 3. Iron Man 3, Captain America 2 and 3, the first two Guardians movies, Thor Ragnorak, Black Panther, Infinity War and Endgame... you could argue that over half of their movie output from this period was unqualified home runs. And sure, maybe Thor 2 was a dud and Avengers 2 was disappointing, but it didn't matter because there was always the promise of another masterpiece waiting in the wings. People weathered the occasional misstep because they could trust the MCU to always find its way back to greatness.

But now consider: how many all-time bangers can you name from Phases 4 and 5?

Like, I can name a few. Wandavision, Black Panther 2, Guardians 3, Spider-Man 3, maybe Ms. Marvel if I pretend episode 5 doesn't exist (and I've heard Loki season 2 was also great, but that's another one I haven't seen yet). But the ratio of Big Deal Events to Just Another Marvel Thing has gotten much steeper. Between the movies and the Disney+ series, Marvel's cranking out more stuff than ever, but it hasn't been cranking out landmarks any faster than it used to. It's just shoving a lot more padding between the properties that really set the world on fire. And it's training the audience, unintentionally, to no longer associate the MCU with guaranteed smash successes every other weekend.

And I still like most of the MCU's current output! But I don't love it as much as some of its older stuff. Black Widow and Shang-Chi are good, but not quite great. Eternals I will defend to my dying breath, but it was destined for cult classic status. Love and Thunder I would argue is actually pretty fantastic, fuck you fight me, and Quantummania is fine, you guys, but I wouldn't die defending them the way I would, say, Iron Man 3. And as much as I enjoyed Hawkeye, Moon Knight and She-Hulk, you can only watch so much Pretty Good TV before it starts to feel like a chore.

This deluge of content hasn't resulted in tons of more Great Marvel Stuff. It's just resulted in tons of more Good, Okay, and Not That Great Actually Marvel Stuff. It's resulted in audiences feeling like you can't trust Marvel to regularly crank out classics that change the way you view superhero media. And it turns out, it gets a lot harder to justify spending so much time on such an overstuffed time-sink of a franchise when it can't guarantee you a steady stream of masterpieces on a regular basis.

Especially with so much more of it coming out now in such a painfully short timespan. Even in Marvel's busiest years, they used to max out at three movies per year and a couple spinoffs like the Netflix shows that you didn't need to watch to feel up to date. You went out to the movies a couple times a year and were basically guaranteed a good movie every time, and that was it. Now, though, with the Disney+ content, it feels like a constant battle to not fall behind, to keep up with tons of stuff you're just kind of enjoying to justify getting to the increasingly few nuggets of true gold. This stuff would need a track record just as good as the Phase 2/3 days to justify sitting through so much of it, and it just... doesn't. And the second you drop off from exhaustion, it's already roaring ahead and leaving you with too much to ever reasonably catch up on if you're not prepared for a couple days of heavy bingeing.

The shared universe model is fucking hard. Every studio's failed attempt to copy Marvel's playbook is a testament to that. The fact it even maintained its cultural domination as long as it did is nothing short of a miracle. Because it turns out, even being consistently good isn't enough to maintain the level of trust and engagement necessary for such a long haul. You need to be consistently excellent. You need audiences to come away from every other event singing your praises as the new gold standard of blockbuster cinema. And the second you can't maintain that standard anymore, all that goodwill slowly bleeds out as more and more people decide that the effort it takes to keep up with everything is no longer worth the reward.

Does the MCU recover from this? I don't know. At this point, what it needs to do more than anything is slow the fuck down instead of overloading audiences with too many shows and movies to keep up with. Maybe it's not the dominant cultural force anymore, but with a little patience and willingness to sacrifice quantity for quality, it can at least re-establish itself as a franchise worth sticking around for. Marvel used to be special; with a little luck, maybe it can be again.

#marvel #mcu #marvel cinematic universe #not anime

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gentlemewn · 1 year

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WELCOME HOME OC YIPPEEEEEEE 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

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Edit: I FORGOT TO MENTION THIS-- Simon is based on the book “Libray Lion”, a cute little book I would recommend!

Edit #2 (12/15/2023): HIS NAME IS NO LONGER ‘SIMON’- it's now Harvey! ‼️

⚠️⚠️oooooooo two spooky drawings oooooooo 👻

*ahem*...

I bring you, ✨Simon Lionheart✨! He is the Librarian of the Neighborhood and the twin of Truly Lionheart! Truly is a teacher, I‘m not sure what subject though, he is my IRL friend’s OC!

Speaking of which, when I first decided on making an OC, i’d like the concept of a lion so I made Simon but when I remember that my friend had a lion WH OC, we decided to make them twins. They also came up with the name for my furry friend so, credit to them for most of the ideas! OH and here's something funny, when I showed them Simon they commented that his voice would definitely be John Mulaney because of his I drew him feminine-like and that one audio of John talking about insecure hips. I like the thought, is funny but matching for Simon, but I also like the thought of his voice more Scottish. A soft Scottish accent to say the least. Something like Old Time Hawk on TikTok! I love his consent, it's very comforting and I love his content! OH, OH, the little gray dog in the last drawing is another WH OC, they're based on my little stuffed animal dog I got from an airport! <3

Anyways... Simon is a gentle and a nice guy. He's not much of a social mammal but doesn't mind a conversation. Then again, he won't say much. But I promise, he has great topics to say than just literature! There will be times when he’d read out to the neighbors or the children/viewer, however, the stories are a bit picky or rather random. That's only because Wally is present, if he isn't, Simon would leave out hints or riddles about the darker side of Welcome Home. Yes, he's aware of the whole thing but the way I describe it is a similar way to WandaVision. It's a good show, my third favorite Marvel series!

OKAY BYE--

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#welcome home #welcome home oc #welcome home puppet show #welcome home arg #lionoc #puppet oc #oc #stuffed animal oc #soxsodi

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agentem · 10 months

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Which Disney+ shows do you think work as a week-to-week series and which do you think are better to binge all at once?

Like I think "The Mandalorian" has a good stand-alone feel to most episodes, except the finales. Like you feel like something was accomplished week-to-week. So that works as a series.

"WandaVision" and "Loki" greatly benefitted from the speculation and buzz of fans between episodes. So I think those worked as a series.

But sometimes the creatives come out and say 'this is a six hour movie.' (I know they said this about "Falcon and the Winter Soldier" and "Secret Invasion".) And I think, "then release it all at once. That's not how TV works.

I don't think studios have a handle on the best way to present streaming content right now.

#disney+#mcu #secret invasion #falcon and the winter soldier #wandavision #loki #the mandalorian #disney

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agentnico · 5 months

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Loki - Season 2 (2023) Review

Ke Huy Quan is literally jumping from multiverse to multiverse. At this rate he should only be allowed to appear in projects about the multiverse, as one can never get enough of hearing him fast-talk sci-fi mumbo jumbo exposition. Ke Huy Quan - never change your wonderful weird self.

Plot: Season 2 of Loki follows the death of He Who Remains, with Loki desperately trying to figure out how to keep the multiverse from unraveling into another war and hold the TVA together.

I hear that the new The Marvels film is a turd. In fact, as of late all that Marvel has been doing is turd after turd, as if the entire studio had suffered a collective food poisoning and is now regurgitating and also releasing crap out of their bowels. Since Endgame they have really struggled, with of course some exceptions such as WandaVision, No Way Home, and Guardians Vol. 3 sticking the landing, but those are far few amongst a plethora of oversaturated dull superhero content. In this day it's all about quantity over quality, and the cracks are finally beginning to show with the negative critical response and diminishing box office returns.

So I am more than surprised to reveal that the new season of Loki that has just completed its run on Disney+ is actually really good. Great characters, solid storytelling, exciting twists and turns, well-done visual effects (another aspect lacking in other recent MCU projects), an exhilarating music score, and great production design - it's all there. I read somewhere that season 2 of Loki is the first MCU project to not undergo any reshoots, and it shows. The writers evidently had a solid plan from the beginning and stuck to it, and thus the results show. What a plan it must have been. I can only imagine what kind of Charlie Day-level board of post-it notes and interwoven lines they would have had to organize the time-dealing narrative. The writers really manage to deal with a big-scale multiversal time-traveling scope, yet at the same time succeed at keeping things grounded by focusing on the character development of its central cast.

I had mixed feelings about the first season of Loki. I enjoyed some ideas, the Tom Hiddleston/Owen Wilson pairing was enjoyable and the visual palette stood out. But there was plenty of useless filler, the character of Sylvie annoyed me to no end, and it only truly found its footing in the last couple of episodes. Oh, and Richard E. Grant's cameo was great, but when has Withnail not been good?? In comparison though Season 2 feels like a full-fledged pay-off to the events of the first season. So much so that it never really felt like any episodes had unnecessary junk in them. Each episode was filled with lots of stuff going on, with the show moving at a very fast pace. I'd say the first half of the season takes some time getting into, so the showrunners could have patched it up more, but the second half definitely balances it out. The production design also seems to have improved this season. The set pieces were all very well designed, and the detail put into the look of the TVA felt like this show had the budget of an HBO Max Game of Thrones-type series.

The cast are all great. Luckily there is less of Sylvie (no offense to the actress) and that weird Loki-to-Loki romance subplot is largely ignored thank the heavens. Also the writers must have taken on the feedback from the previous season and have now given us more buddy time between Hiddleston's Loki and Owen Wilson's Mobius. Those two together are hilarious, and share some of the best moments this season. Tara Strong gets more chance to lean into the creepy element as the eerily cheerful voice of Miss Minutes. Ke Huy Quan and Eugene Cordero manage to deliver the scientific exposition in an entertaining and breezy way, even if what they re saying doesn't always make sense, but like who's looking for logic in the MCU? Gugu Mbatha-Raw returns as Renslayer, and honestly, the season could have done without her. The writers seem to desperately want to include her, but her character has hardly anything to do. Rafael Casal as a rogue TVA agent also didn't work for me. The chap's acting was way too over the top and silly.

Naturally one must touch upon the Majors problem that Marvel is facing. They are really leaning into Kang as the Big Bad with more set-up than Thanos has ever had, yet the actor playing him is in some serious legal trouble. So will be interesting to see how Marvel gets out of that one should the court find Jonathan Majors guilty of the accusations, but nevertheless let's talk about Kang in this show. The essence of Kang is felt throughout the entire season, and naturally, some variants are involved. Primarily the character of Victor Timely, and look, I'm hearing many rave about Majors' performance as Kang but I'm not buying it. As Timely he's this blubbering awkward scientist who comes off way too over-the-top. At the end of the season Timely does find his groove and I actually began liking him, but as a Kang variant, he's not threatening at all. In Ant-Man as the Conqueror, he is just this macho man with a big mouth but not much else to him. And then all those variants in the Quantumania credits scene where they're all dressed up as if they are part of the circus, and then many of them screaming like apes.....like c'mon. He's supposed to be the Big Bad, but whatever Majors and the writers are doing, I don't get it. Except when it comes to the Loki season 2 finale...

So the finale of Loki season 2 is easily some of the best television work Marvel has done, at least in regards to the Disney+ shows. It brings not only the events of the entire Loki show to a satisfying close with a sense of finality that hasn't been felt since Avengers: Endgame, but also gives Tom Hiddleston's character such an incredible arc, from seeing how he started out back in the first Thor film, and how his intentions and persona have changed, yet the irony of life still plays its part and where his character ends up at the end of season 2 of Loki was really awesome. In fact, it's such perfect closure to his character that I don't believe we need to see him again. I get that the Marvel machine would naturally want to bring him back down the line, however… I don’t think it should happen. As much as I do love Tom Hiddleston as Loki, I think sometimes things need actual endings. And it was such a fitting yet tragic arc for Loki that I think adding anything else to the character, whether a multiversal variant or what have you, would only cheapen what they accomplished last night. As for the aforementioned comment about Kang, in this finale episode was the first time where we actually witnessed a Kang variant have some real power that could have big ramifications. Not the kind of cheap physical macho stuff they had in Quantumania - nope. In the Loki season 2 finale his power was more of knowledge and skill, which depending on how they take it from here could be really interesting.

Loki season 2 is a visual and narrative treat for any sci-fi time-travel pop culture fan and is very much a reminder that when the time and creative effort are put into a project, Marvel still has the potential to deliver. It is a shame then that these occurrences are happening less and less, but nonetheless, this show is worth celebrating. Also, we finally got to see Owen Wilson's Mobius on a jet-ski! That is what I call fan service done well!

Overall score: 7/10

Season finale score: 8/10

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cozykali · 1 year

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MCU Multiverse Explained

I have seen some confusion in the MCU fandom regarding the multiverse, specifically the difference between an ‘alternate universe’ and a ‘timeline’. I wanted to create a crash course for you. I plan on updating this as we get more content in the Multiverse Saga.

In Avengers Endgame, the Avengers figure out time travel thanks to Tony Stark’s ‘Mobius Strip’ and Hank Pym’s quantum tunnel when Scott Lang returns from the Quantum Realm. Although it had been 5 years for those on earth, Scott had only been in the Quantum Realm for 5 hours as time moves differently in that demotion. The Avengers decide to go back in time to retrieve the infinity stones from the past to undo Thano’s snap.

When Bruce Banner goes back in time to retrieve the time stone from the Ancient One, we learn that altering the past does not change the future, but instead, it creates another timeline. She says, “If I give up the time stone to help your reality, I'm dooming my own.” We understand now (thanks to the Loki series) that this is likely because the TVA (Time Variance Authority) will show up and eradicate the branched timeline.

At almost the same time, Steve Rodgers attempts to retrieve the Tesseract, which contains the space stone, from the Battle of New York. However, Loki escapes with it then he is captured by the TVA soon after.

In Loki season 1, we learn the TVA is a bureaucratic society that controls the flow of time. If there is a branch in the timeline, they have a window of opportunity to capture whoever caused it (AKA a variant) and reset the timeline before it reaches a certain threshold. If left unchecked, it will branch off and cause a Nexus Event. A Nexus Event is the birth of another universe or reality.

In the final episode of Loki, we learn that the TVA is run by ‘He Who Remains’. He has isolated the current MCU timeline (AKA the sacred timeline) to prevent a multiverse war. He explains that he is from earth, born in the 30th century, and he discovered the multiverse. At the same time, other versions of him were doing the same but some had ill intentions. He is killed by a Loki variant named Sylvie. In doing this, she unlocked the multiverse.

Now the sacred timeline no longer exists without He Who Remains. All the work the TVA has done has been undone. It didn’t just change future events, but past events as well. Every timeline that branched off can now become a Nexus Event, creating another universe.

In the show, What if…? We learn there is a being that observes the entire multiverse called The Watcher. He can view all of time and space but is unable to interfere until the existence of the multiverse is threatened by Ultron.

In Spider-Man: No Way Home, we get introduced to the multiverse again. Different versions of Peter Parker (and his villains) are transported to the current MCU timeline due to a spell that Dr. Strange performs that does not go according to plan. These are not alternate timelines of Peter. Instead, they are Peter’s from totally separate universes that the current one would not have had access to when He Who Remains was alive.

At the end of WandaVision we see Wanda, now the Scarlet Witch, reading a book called the Darkhold. Then, in Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, we learn that she has been using the Darkhold to study the multiverse to find her children that she lost using a method called ‘Dreamwalking’.

We are introduced to a Character named America Chavez, who has the power to travel through the multiverse. Wanda wants to harness America’s power. In this story, we get to see brief images of what some of those universes look like. Some are very similar to the main timeline (referred to now as 616) and others are incredibly different, like a world where everything is made out of paint.

Also, in Multiverse of Madness, we learn about a phenomenon called an ‘Incursion’. This happens when two or more universes collide, resulting in the annihilation of one or all of them. In the post-credit scene, we are briefly introduced to a sorceress, named Clea, when she approaches Stephen Strange. She explains that his actions have created an incursion and needs his help to stop it. They enter the ‘Dark Dimension’ which we saw in the first Dr. Strange film when Stephen entered it to face Dormammu.

We have seen an incursion once before in What if…? when Dr. Strange becomes Strange Supreme. In this universe, Stephen loses his love interest, Christine Palmer, in an accident and tries to undo it using the time stone. We learn from the Ancient One that her death is considered a ‘Universal Point in Time’ and cannot be undone. His attempt to do so results in the destruction of that entire universe.

Let’s circle back to He Who Remains for a moment. In Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania Scott, Cassie, Hope, Hank, and Janet are trapped in the Quantum Realm which is a subatomic dimension that was explored briefly in the previous Ant-Man films. Here we meet a variant of He Who Remains who goes by the name Kang the Conqueror.

Kang has a ship that allows him to travel the multiverse, but the engine (AKA power core) of his ship is not functioning. We learn that this variant of Kang was banished here by the ‘Counsel of Kangs’ and he is trying to escape. Ant-Man enters the power core to repair it for Kang to save Cassie. Here he is trapped in a paradox where every probability becomes a reality creating countless versions of himself. He eventually fixes it with the help of Hope. They defeat Kang as he is seeming sucked into the power core himself.

The credit scenes show the Counsel of Kangs (including Rama-Tut and Immortus) announcing that the Kang they had banished to the Quantum Realm is dead. Then we see Loki and Mobius, in the early 20th century, find another Kang called Victor Timely, setting us up for Loki season 2.

So, that’s the facts and basically everything we know so far in the MCU about the multiverse. I do briefly want to get into my opinions and interpretations.

When He Who Remains was killed, it altered the reality of the current timeline in other ways as well. Not every branch in the timeline can cause a Nexus Event or a new universe. Some branches may end naturally on their own, or eventually re-join the timeline they started from.

We know that the events of Endgame and the time heist they performed were part of the sacred timeline and were supposed to happen. I have seen some people asking what [insert character that was introduced in Phase 4] doing during the events of Infinity War and Endgame. My theory is, they did not exist then.

Let’s take America Chavez, for example. She has the ability to travel across universes. However, there is no way she would have been able to reach 616 as the timeline was completely isolated from the multiverse thanks to He Who Remains. Plus, if she did somehow reach it, she would have been swiftly pruned by the TVA.

I have another example, in the sacred timeline, a meteor containing vibranium crashed into earth, eventually creating the Kingdom of Wakanda. However, it is possible that a branch in the timeline means that two (or more) vibranium meteors crashed into earth allowing Talokan to emerge. When the sacred timeline existed the branch involving the second meteor could have been reset. Instead, the timeline branched out and re-joined the current timeline instead of creating another universe. This could be why Namor was not around during Thanos’ attack.

There are, of course, other possibilities as well (Namor might have been among the snapped, or did not want to reveal himself to the surface world) but there is a possibility Talokan only exists due to the death of He Who Remains. The same could be theorized about other characters like Shang Chi, the Eternals, and Moon Knight.

Anyways, I’m excited to see where the Multiverse Saga takes us next! Let me know your thoughts.

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pastamansta · 10 months

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Occasionally, I think about the film that "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (2021) is not.

While I had my fun in theaters, while I enjoyed getting to see Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire all get to share the screen, while there is a lot of good in the film... I always find myself wondering about the film that we didn't get. While there's been a few talks about what the original draft for a sequel to "Spider-Man: Far From Home" (2019) looked like, there's never been definitive answers. However, it seems obvious to me that there wasn't much setup for the direction that the end of the trilogy took. This isn't exactly shocking, however. After all, it's hard to imagine watching just the Watts trilogy without knowing anything about the greater MCU. "Spider-Man: Homecoming" (2017) is a very different film than the one that follows it, mostly due to the non-Spider-Man films that came between the two, especially the films where Spider-Man still had to make an appearance.

Lots of films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are like this, however. "Iron Man 3" (2013) notoriously ends on a dramatic send-off, one that would have to be ignored by the time of Iron Man's next scheduled appearance; "Avengers: Age of Ultron" (2015). "Ant-Man and the Wasp" (2018) has a similar problem. If there were any fans of Ant-Man that weren't fans of the larger MCU, I'm sure they'd be wondering why exactly he was put under house arrest. That's not to say that the films don't mention what happened off-screen, they actually do a totally adequate job of re-capping previous entries, but that's to say that it's hard to picture why exactly the characters were taken in the directions they did when you don't watch the films... that they barely appeared in. These films were not just not made to be watched without becoming invested in the entirety of the MCU, they're nearly impossible to understand without.

This problem is made far worse by the introduction of the series. Now, you don't just have to watch twenty-six films, give or take a disputed entry or two, to understand the latest Spider-Man film... You also need to watch a six-hour series, "WandaVision" (2021) and a four-hour series, "Loki" (2021). That's intentionally discarding "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" (2021) and "What If…?" (2021) as "truly option" content.

While I can't promise that the original draft, one that had not yet considered the MCU's coming fixation on the idea of the "multiverse," would be any more or less entertaining, it might, at the very least, feel more consistent than the film we received. Whispers of a film with Kraven the Hunter and/or Scorpion, hired by J. Jonah Jameson to take down the masked menace at any cost, sounds like a film that could reasonably come after Spider-Man's dramatic clash against Mysterio and more dramatic world-wide unmasking. To me, consistency means a lot, especially when you've got something good on your hands.

Funnily enough, though, "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (2021) is not the film I'm here to talk about.

I'm going to lightly criticize "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" (2023) and then lock my doors.

The sequel to "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" (2018) is one of the best films that I never asked for. Dramatic, high-concept, and more ambitious than I expected, even from a sequel to such an already ambitious movie, I can't help but wonder if it's too much.

The original film is so charming, funny, and easy to enjoy. It's perhaps the best starting point for anyone who's never seen a superhero film before.

So... why isn't the sequel another one of those? A lot of the film is dedicated to small, intimate discussions between Miles and his family, or semi-philosophical debates between dozens of variants of Spider-Man clashing over the concept of "canon events." Does this not feel somewhat out of place when you think about how the first film was so casual that it introduced Spider-Noir as a near-parody gulper of egg creams, when the actual Spider-Noir is best known for taking on a Vulture who cannibalized Uncle Ben and a Doc Ock who... well, you can research that yourself. Of course, I loved the endless references and throwbacks and reveals and action and spectacle... but is this really a sequel that feels like the first?

I've heard so many people criticize the film's ending, the hidden "See Part 2, Coming Soon" that soils what was otherwise a "perfect experience," but... what else is there to expect? It's not a family-oriented comedy with some stunning, dramatic moments anymore... It's just another epic, just another "Avengers: Infinity War" (2018) and, frankly, as much as I like it, I'll always be disappointed.

However, I can't just end on that note.

I have to push my luck.

I have no doubt that some, upon reading this, would ask, "Then what direction should the sequel have taken?"

Well, we've got six mains; Miles Morales, Peter B. Parker, Gwen Stacy, Peni Parker, Noir, and the pig. What's a proper threat for a team of six Spider-Man variants to go up against that every director of every Spider-Man film and every company that's ever owned the rights to Spider-Man has daydreamed about, but called "too ambitious" to portray on the big screen? I'll give you a hint; it was set up in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" (2014), teased in the after-credits of "Spider-Man: Homecoming" (2017), and even worms its way in to "Morbius" (2022).

If you can tell me honestly that you prefer the idea of the sprawling epic we received to a fun, in-line sequel where the main cast returns to go up against a multi-verse spin on the Sinister Six, then we'll just have to agree to disagree. In the meantime, I'm heavily disappointed in this future winner of the 96th Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Bravo. Well done. Five stars. I'm let down.

#spider man #across the spider verse spoilers #film

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