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shydaydreamer28 · 3 months

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MCU - PalmerStrange + Salvaging Cleaphen

Unlike my last PalmerStrange post, this IS NOT a rant - just (probably unwarranted) optimism as a Cleaphen shipper.

This is how I see PalmerStrange from the first film to MoM - which I think can add depth & perspective Strange in the future, salvage Cleaphen, while also taking some of the cringe & shallowness out of the MoM version of PalmerStrange.

I said this in my PS post, but them shoving Christine down our throats so hard fucks everything up for Clea as a love interest. When 4/8 years of Strange's MCU time has been Christine-based with her getting this unearned spot as his "one true love", how are we meant to care about Clea coming into his life?

Clea ends up looking like a consolation prize because his actual love rejected him (in numerous universes). With that being the case, how are MCU fans (who are non-comic readers) supposed to truly invest in what was set-up to look like a rebound relationship because they wrote themselves into a corner trying to give Rachel McAdams more spotlight? Lol

That's like if the comics tried to paint Zelma as Strange's true love after we spend decades with Clea. That was a weird relationship by the way. Sometimes she was strictly a student & friend, other times it was written like they intended Strange's feelings as romantic. Lord knows...But either way, it's asinine. Imo you don't (or shouldn't) spend years gassing up a relationship knowing you have no intent of settling on it, then bringing in a new person randomly claiming that it was always meant to be them after numerous prior years depicting it as clearly being someone else.

I am saying the above because it seems clear in interviews from Waldron & McAdams, that they genuinely believe in PalmerStrange as a deep love pairing. Wth their pushing of it, it hurts Clea's romance with Strange in future projects by being brought in as "the lesser" ship.

However, the writing & execution in MoM was so bad, that I can NOT see PalmerStrange the way Waldron & McAdams were trying to sell it. And plus, of course the latter is gonna toot her own horn & hype the main character's feelings for her. Lmao

The first film didn't paint Christine being anywhere near as important to Strange as MoM tried to (badly) suggest.

Being bluntly honest, Strange never really paid much attention to Christine unless he wanted or needed something. I do believe he cared as much as he could at that time in his life when we first meet him, but it seemed more like she was a safety net. I'll expand a bit further down.

But first, lets look at the first non-business interaction between them. This interaction alone tells us everything.

Christine shares her policy against dating co-works which she named after Strange. Strange is glad something is named after him since nobody wants to call the technique he invented "The Strange technique."

Christine corrects him in noting that they invited the technique, which includes her.

Note how Strange promptly rushes passed the part relating to her to talk about how he's speaking at a dinner he wants her to attend with him.

Christine is less than thrilled. Strange says they had fun when they'd go & she has to break it to him that she never had fun because everything is always about him.

This sets the tone right here. Strange is clearly attracted to Christine but he is not at all in-tune with her as a person. When they were dating, Christine went to those events for him - not because they were fun, because they weren't for her. And Strange was so detatched & disinterested in her emotionally, he couldn't fathum that she wasn't having any fun until she outright tells him. Not hard to see why she (we can safely assume) broke things off.

Lets also take notice of how Strange never does anything for Christine.

She bought him a very expensive & engraved watch.

She was the one person to visit with him in the hospital after his accident, and was clearly heartbroken seeing him hurt.

She tried to take care of him after the accident - we see her giving him a shave when he's still hospitalized as well as bringing him food after he's out.

And while her timing was bad, she tried to get him to face the fact that his hands can not be fixed rather than torture himself on false hopes & putting himself in debt because of it.

But she also tries to encourage him to use the time to find new meaning in life.

She saved his life when he was stabbed.

She tried to comfort him after The Ancient One's death.

Lastly, she invited him to her wedding as a good friend.

Meanwhile we never see him doing anything for her. Her wedding in MoM was a chance for him to be supportive & encouraging on her new life chapter.

But rather than do that, his first instinct is to make her wedding about him - using her reception as the time & place to confess that he still has feelings for her.

Not only is this tacky asf, but it shows how little her happiness & best interests are to him when he makes her big day about him. Their relationship was 100% giving and / or sacrifice on Christine's end & nothing but taking on Strange's end. And that has not changed in MoM.

Imo opinion that cements that Strange doesn't love her because he doesn't care enough about her to ever put her first, show her consideration, or do even the smallest kindnesses for her - even after his character developement .

Christine seems to be someone he could always count on to validate & support him whenever he needed / wanted because she was the only person to ever put up with him. For the longest, she may have been the only friend (and possibly lover) he ever had. Or maybe he had more but she was the only one who stuck around. However you slice it, the first film makes it clear, she's the only real friend he had prior to his journey. Nobody else cared about him beyond professional responsibility. And there was good reason for that. Lol

He's so obsessive in MoM, the only way I excuse & explain it is her wedding triggering him and bringing some insecuriies and traumas regarding loss & lonliness back to the surface.

Rather than truly loving her, he's just desperate to cling to the 1 person he's always had for the longest. Her marrying someone else cuts in on their relationship big time. But that clinginess has more to do with him trying to make himself happy & hold on to a comfort source rather than out of any truly deep love for her.

Again, not saying he doesn't care about Christine - but rather his romantic feelings are not based around true love. It seems to be based around how she makes him feel more so than how he truly feels for her. A case of truly loving the person vs. their actions, i.e. "what they do or provide for you."

And even deep into MoM, this seemed to be the case because all of his interactions with Christine center on what he is feeling rather than him trying to truly connect with & understand her feelings. He's had some character development but when it comes to Christine, he still treats everything as being about him, marking very little change in their relationship since the hospital scene in the first film.

He regresses when he's around her. Not because of anything bad on her part. She's so compassionate to him, she's done nothing but sacrifice & give to him which he has now come to expect. When they link up, he's always looking for her to be his comfort, savior, & validation rather than his true love or partner. In response, she humors him & is more patient with him than most would be. But sadly she's inadvertently enabling his behavior.

Cleaphen & Perspective

Now that brings me to Cleaphen & new perspective for Strange. Unlike PalmStrange (lmao that name works on multiple levels), Cleaphen only got 30 sec. of screentime. Lmao So this is based around wishful thinking to build on the above. LMAO

For me, the way to salvage this upcoming ship is establish that his feelings for Christine were not as genuine as he may have thought at the time once he begins to experience & feel the real thing with Clea.

Now usually I am very much against sailing ships by bombing others. A good ship can sail on its own. The thing that makes this different was MCU writing things into a corner to show more Rachel. Derrickson used Christine to give Strange a personal teather to his old life that he'd have to give up at the film's end. He gave them their closure in the first film & was planning & excited to bring Clea in for MoM. But he left, so his vision was burnt to a crisp & replaced.

Disney wanted to do a "What If" episode about Christine, Waldron watched that and continued with giving Christine / Rachel a larger part than what they were supposed to have. Because of all this padding for McAdams, PalmerStrange got stretched way out, leading to non-comic MCU fans expecting a Ross x Rachel get-together after the supposed Will They / Won't They.

Marrying Christine off in MoM gave most people a WTF reaction because it feels anti-climactic to spend 4 years on a ship they made Strange obsessively lovesick over only to not follow through on sailing it. Then we didn't stop at the wedding, we got a variant Christine to tag along in MoM, leading folks to thinking our Strange would get with her. And that doesn't happen - even after his confession PalmerStrange fans expected to at least get a kiss there. Nope.

Now we have 4 years of wasted time on a dead & static romance while making it the center of our main character's existence only to introduce what was supposed to be his real true love in a rushed & half-assed fashion during the credits of his sequel-in-name-only.

So because of the mess Disney made with PalmerStrange, we gotta have some pull back if they truly care about selling Clea as a love interest to be cared about. And maybe they don't. We'll have to see. Lol

Imo PalmerStrange has been overstretched & has done no kind of favors to Strange as this tweet perfectly sums up. Lmao

In addition to doing Strange a disservice, it also drags down Cleaphen. If she's gonna be his lover for the duration of his MCU tenure, then the mess they made with PalmerStrange needs to be cleaned up. But this assumes there's anyone besides Derrickson in the MCU who cares about Strange & Clea's characters.

Starting off, I think his ship with Clea needs to be a very slow burn across multiple films or shows whichever they are invloved in. But it needs to be spread out to provide real development & depth so it doesn't seem rushed & half-assed. Again. Lol PalmerStrange got 2 films and 2 "What If..." episodes. They could at least give Cleaphen 2 films - especially since that's the ship that's supposed to go somewhere. The romance will only ever be a subplot because there's always a bigger over-arching story that is more important.

The following is gonna be how I hink Cleaphen should be spread post-MoM. Lord knows all the MCU projects and films to come. So I am just gonna number things

Film 1 (their very next major appearance)

We need to see them as comrades first. Show them working well together as a good team. Good battle chemistry can definitely be a factor in bonding them during early stages. It would lay the groundwork of mutual respect between 2 mystic fighters & sorcerers.

After developing mutual respect for one another as comrades, slowly work toward connecting more personally which leads to a friendship. That connection could be in conversation about her family. Perhaps Clea fully introduces herself to Strange revealing the extent of who she is to him - a key thing being that she's Dormammu's niece. We can hear about her family and the emotional conflct she faces coming from such a family whom she once supported.

This would help turn the tables. We'd get someone is sharing their sob story with Strange and he's getting a chance to be the ear to listen and provide comfort to Clea in similar fashion to what he had to do for America. This would already differentiate the relationship from Christine because he'd be required put forth emotional effort in the developmental stages. Unlike Christine, Clea comes with her own regrets and dark history. She's not the Mary Sue with no hardships or wrong-doings. So while Clea can be a source of support for Stephen, he has to be there for her issues as well.

With Clea having her own very clear demons & a VERY dangerous family, Strange would not have the chance to make everything all about him & become complacent in that. If he wants her, he's gonna have to make effort insuring she is emotionally supported & fulfilled as well.

Again, we can't linger on this subplot too long because the film would have a bigger story to be told - but we have nicely continued the ship voyage - showing how they mesh as comrades since the end of MoM, and now moving into friendship in this film. This film this is should focus a bit more on Clea with Strange being a supporting factor to her since she is a major new addition to Marvel & Strange lore. We can be learning about her & building a connection simultaneously with Strange. I hate to say that after Strange played 3rd fiddle in MoM, but even with focusing on Clea, it wouldn't hurt Strange's character as bad as MoM because we are developing a character who is going to be very big & influential in his life. So end the subplot here for this film. Whatever it may be. Lol

Film 2

Next film, shift back to Strange focus. Having clearly become fond of him, have Clea inquires about Strange - his life, family, and if he has a special someone back home. He can give a brief recap of his journey from his first film. After that, he can answer that he had a special someone years ago but it ended because he wasn't the best person at the time.

That is actually similar to the comics. Strange was engaged to a woman named Madeleine St. Germaine, a patient he treated & fell for. As his attittude got worse & more materialistic, she left him. So this can be the scene we get him talking about Christine & the real reason it ended (because everything was about him - not the BS holding the knife bit that they made up for that film). With a bit of romantic interest having seeped through, Clea asks if he still has feelings for Christine based on how fondly he's still speaking of her.

With that question, we can get some perspective and admittance from Strange - that he still cares for Christine as a very good friend but his romantic interest has passed. Why? He now realizes that he mostly loved as a source of comfort & validation rather than as a true lover.

That would be a moment of realization that shows growth & self-reflection. Strange seemed totally ooc during the MoM Christine subplot but the above would give a legit & believable reason for his obsessive lovesick behavior. it would make it seem like a needed transition to prepare him for the relationship to come and help him truly recognize the difference between limerence vs. love now that he is learning to develop relationships and friendships outside of the 1 person he was putting all his humanity & happiness on - all his eggs in 1 basket so to speak. Baskets can be overloaded and break. Christine can't be responsible for a clingy partner using her for their emotional needs while providing nothing in return for her. Again, a very one-sided relationship. With perspective, Strange will see just what kind of effort & devotion true love can pull out of a person.

Now we have to keep the movie going. Because again, this is only a subplot. We have to move back to the bigger story. Imo this is a good place to leave Cleaphen until their next appearance. The seeds of romance have been planted with Strange & Clea being closer as comrades & having connected a bit on a friendship level. We also have both characters established to each other as single. lol

Film 3

Finally, move them into official lovers territory here. How to push it over the edge? We gotta have Strange make that final leap and allow himself to be 100% raw with Clea on an emotional level. We've now had 2 films building an intimacy as comrades & friends, so it wouldn't be unrealisticly rushed for him to be at the point of opening up on the deepest level - especially having mutually developed feelings for her over the course of the previous 2 films.

Clea has learned about Strange's life-changing journey and his history with Christine which he has gained more logical & less emotional perspective on. From here, we have a solid base set for moving the relationship to its final stage. Maybe now is the time to get that big moment we've had put off for 2 solo DS films. Strange has shared his journey into soercery & prior love life with Clea, but what about his family? I don't think it'd be an instantaneous. I could see Clea asking him about it and him brushing it off early on before he finally allows himself to open up to her fully.

And THIS story could finally be the moment we expand on Donna and see the trauma that resides there. But rather than skipping right passed it, show some actual flashbacks this time. Maybe use this story to bring up his brother, Victor and the guilt of also feeling like he failed him. This would also track with his comment to Christine about how he is afraid of being genuinely close to others because he gets scared.

When he finally caves & reveals his family history to Clea, let this be a true scene where we finally see the weight of Stephen letting all this out to someone after so long and then let Clea get the chance to comfort him on his family as he did for her when he revealed her own family drama & issues. Being such a stage ready actor who truly gets into his roles, Cumberbatch would KILL a scene like this. We'd get the chance to see Strange in a very different light, at his most vulnerable, and it's a side he's only revealing to Clea (his future wife). He can start truly opening his heart with her, and continue from there to where Comics Strange made it 30+ years ago. lmao

Doctor Strange 3

Only question, where does DS3 fit into this. Above I gave bullet points for how Cleaphen can develop organically over the course of 3 film subplots. It's still a bit rushed but there's only so much time per film and gotta face facs this isn't a Soap Opera with season upon season to devote to story lines. Getting back to the 3 mystery films, which of those is DS3 and should any of them be?

Rumor is that DS3 is being fast-tracked due to the success of MoM as well as Marvel wanting to get it out before Secret Wars. This is concerning because rushed work is usually never good. Another rumor is that it will adapt Time Runs Out from the comics and be another segue into a big event.

If those 2 things are true, then a romantic subplot probaly won't have much time for real devotion. Strange already had to take a backseat in DS2, and we stiill have Clea to properly introduce. So DS3 does NOT need to take place directly after MoM. Their next appearance needs to start planting seeds for their relationship as well as devote real time to establishing Clea. DS3 is not the place to do the latter because Strange doesn't need to play second-fiddle in 2/3 of his solo films. So that definitely crosses off Film 1 as DS3 possibilities.

Realistically DS3 could be Film 2 or Film 3. But since there is a high chance of it being event-based, I don't see a romance subplot getting handled in a way that is meaningful & satisfactory which leads me to think that all these films need to be appearances & plots that take place before DS3. If it went that way, then we can come into DS3 with Clea & Cleaphen already established - without major character moments & developments rushed in favor of making sure the event threads all get included.

Thing is, DS3 is again being fast-tracked. So unless SW isn't coming out until 2034, I doubt we'll get 3 films prior with Strange & Clea. So DS3 would have to fall in F2 or F3 to have a chance at still working with Clea & Cleaphen in a satisfying way.

I lean toward Film 2 because the suggested subplot events are depthful but wouldn't need to use too many scenes. So we can get the proper focus on that while still keeping pace for the event(s). But on the other side of the argument, what film other than his own could Strange's family and trauma truly be addressed? In a team film like Avengers, he'd already have his screentime divided among 10 other characters.

Would they do a team film that gave him the major subplot that his family trauma would need? I doubt it. So either Film 3 would be DS3. Or Cleaphen & Strange get to a certain point, pause for a bit, then finish up the development in a DS4. Lol Possible, but I never entertained the idea Strange would get a 4th film. I am not against it, but just never saw it as something that would happen.

Best Option

The best option would be to give Strange a mini series. I don't care if it's animated or live action, but his character could use it. Then we could get a lot of depth & development that the films robbed him of, develop his romance with Clea, and be in a good spot to use his remaining films as tie-ins because his development was handled in a tv series and the films can be more business oriented without shafteing the character(s) arc(s) entirely.

Outro

With all that (or similar) being done, we have a ship that has slowly built from comrades to romantic interests with mutual support & investment - much more stable than the last ship Strange was on. We can still accept that Christine is an important loved one in his life while adding a deeper layer to it - acknowledging things like emotional co-dependency instead of accepting bad writing where intended love just looks like limerence with the titular character not being mentally mature enough to know the difference. lol

With a build like this for Cleaphen and an added perspective on PalmStrange being misguided on Strange's end, we can create a ship that looks adult and deep. We can buy why Clea x Strange are good together and what they see in each other. We can have real investment with real character depth & growth - turning the negatives of MoM into positives and still making future plot points work.

Or have Christine & Charles divorce, with the forner coming back for Strange, only for him to reject her because he's in love with Clea. 🤣🤣🤣 They did it with Gwen & Spider-Man, who rejected her for MJ. But I know this won't happen. So lets get back to seriousness. Lmao

With the previous mentioned time & build, MCU Cleaphen looks like a legit ship where Strange truly is with the love of his life (like Waldron said she was suppoed to be) versus looking like a rebound he would instantly dump for Christine if she ever came back.

But again, all wishful thinking to lessen my MoM hate and still be able to enjoy the idea of Cleaphen in the MCU.

I doubt we will get anything close to deep in any future films they share. 9/10 when we finally see them again, they will already be married with the entirety of their relationship progression having happened off-screen.

#marvel #mcu #stephen strange #dr. strange #doctor strange #marvel cinematic universe #multiverse of madness #marvel mcu #Clea Strange #Cleaphen #spouses supreme #Pairings #Shipping #character analysis #dr. stephen strange #marvel comics #comics

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jackiequick · 11 months

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—Character Study (Part 2)

Click here to check out part one - Amelia Parker

— Stella Strange 📞

Warning: There is some sadness, death, miscarriage, bullying, and etc. in her life. Don’t like, don’t read or just skip a few parts. :-)

Full Name: Estella Sophia Romano-Strange

Nicknames: Stella, Ella, Elle, Dr Romano, Cruella, Miss Strange

Date of birth: May 27, 1988

Nationally: America

Ethnicity: Half Latina - Puerto Rican with a mix of Columbian in her family.

Place of Origin: Manhattan, New York

Age depending on the year: 26–32

Gender: Female

Height: 5’4

Sexuality if anyone cares: Straight

Specie: Human with some magic

Jobs: Doctor, Hairdresser, Baker and Mom (cause being a parent is a full time-job!)

Any Heath Conditions & such: Estella has stress, anxiety and struggles with her self image a lot. She also has Tremor, which is a neurological disorder that causes shaking movements in one or more parts of your body, most often in your hands. It’s usually triggered by her stress, hate, anger, certain events and etc.

Relationship status: Has been engaged before and dated in the past but never was truly joyful. Currently she’s in a pretty nice stable relationship (2015- now 2018)

The Family

Dad: Stephen Strange 🩺

Mom: Elizabeth Romano 🧁

Brother: Leonardo Romano-Strange 📖

Half Brother: Thiego Carlos Strange 🪄

~~~~

Early Years 🗽

Estella grow up in a household that leaned towards both American and Latin America. She loved being able to embrace both cultures every once in a while. She loved being Puerto Rican because it allowed for plenty of opportunities in the future!

Estella grow up eating plenty of meals, listens to different music and dancing Salsa and Bachata, exploring the streets of Washington Heights with her brother, visiting her country once or twice and much more. The girl enjoyed it a lot!

She learned English first with her brother Leo, since her mother feared that with Spanish, they will get make fun of like she was or possibly get confused a lot. When in reality it could’ve help a lot. Elizabeth and Stephen didn’t care at the time, as long as they were happy and healthy, and they were for the most part.

As years went on, the parents became more busy with work and life. Once Estella’s teenage years hit, she was mad fun of a lot. Due to her stress, height, looks, being her in brother’s shadow cause she wasn’t as smart as him and her anxiety levels not allowing for her socialize every often.

It even went far to be bullied for how she looked and it’s something she still faces. Estella knew she’s Puerto Rican and be proud of it when she possibly can, but outside of her home, she wasn’t showed the respect for it. Because to the world, she wasn’t the true Latina...

They had no respect because she was Half Latina. It was stupid. They told Stella to her face, that her mother married a white man for privilege reasons.

Saying that she had a lighter skin tone and a more of “America accent”, that her fizzy curly hair was a mess, bullying for not knowing Spanish that well has peers, quizzing the poor girl to see if she “knows her stuff”, not having the curves and or fiery stereotypical passion one would have. The list went on!

She was faced with being too latino for her America friends and too white for Hispanic ones. Every time she had to fill out paperwork or was asked her nationally or background, it felt like it always a battle to prove herself. It wasn’t really acceptable back then, and sometimes she stay late nights crying because of the simple fact that she didn’t fit into society’s eye of being Latina.

What made it worse was that no one helped truly helped. Her parents were busy. Leo was always off doing his own thing, being a lawyer, going on dates and or trying to one up his little sisters in academics, cause for a lot of men in the world, you were always fine.

But for a woman of her background, it was always a consent fight! When she tried to play it off cool or snarky slightly rude comments to protect herself, she ended up with the rude nickname Cruella.

It made her feel worse, wanting to change herself. So in result, Estella stayed having to try and prove her worth. Academically and ethically. She wasn’t the smartest one her classes or the one brightest for certain activities because her stress and anxiety would take over. But she always good with people! So she tried studying harder and grow her network with people in the city. Estella worked at her Tia’s Hair Salon, spending afternoons studying and grew her connects with everyone she met at that very salon.

She loved it for the most part, but Estella’s parents said she needed a strong career that would pay the bills and she wanted to help people. Estella was so focused on making parents proud, she would later on forget to actually make herself happy and proud! Never got a moment to actually fully love herself, putting that aside to go into the medical field.

~~~

Doctor Love Years 🥼

Estella Romano Strange decide to go into the medical field, to help people, make families smile and explore her surroundings. It took years of studying, stressful nights and choosing which filed to go into, finally focusing on GENERAL, while also dabbling in PEDS and OB/GYN. Because she loved children, especially the new parents faces when they meet their babies. It was a always sight to see.

Yes, she was once again in another family member’s shadow, not just her brother. Her father’s shadow, because he was a genius Nero-Surgeon who tend to sometime use magic to heal as the years went on. Always being recognized because of her dad or being told off, because of something else that happened.

It annoyed the hell out of her, sometimes being taken advantage as well by doctors, nurse and even by patents. At least she had her moments because of some peers actually were nice people, helping each other and of course seeing the babies in the NICU.

One day after a long night shift in late 2011, the paramedic's wheeled in a blonde man who was injured after saving a few families during a fire. It was pretty brave of him, Stella along with a few doctors took care of him quickly.

Her and the others worked fast on getting him cleaned up and stitched up, knowing they would have to keep him 2 days or so. It was a rush, that made her feel like a hero..

The blonde man was asleep and woke up in a hospital bed confused with a headache, seeing his arms wrapped in bandages. His vision was a little blurry as he pressed a button to alert the doctors. One of doctors, Dr. Ross, made Stella on call to check on him for rounds. Estella walked in with her low bun and blue scrubs, having removed her white coat earlier that day due to the heat of the hospital.

“Hi.” She said softly, putting her clipboard on the bench and check up on her patent’s vials, “How are you feeling?”

It took the blue eyed blonde man a moment to speak, “I’m alright..I think?”

“Headache?”

“Yeah..”

“Thought so, we’ll get you meds for that.”

“..what happened?”

He watched Dr. Romano take a seat nearby a stool to explain to him, that he was hero saving those people from the fire. His eyes watched the way she pushed her brown hair back, her sweetly gentle smile and the ways her eyes wondered every so often retelling the tale. He found it cute and said, “I was a hero?”

“Yeah, you were.” She replied with a smile, “Do you remember you name and anything related?”

“Riley..Overstreet. Riley Overstreet.”

She smiled, watching the way he made a silly face, as if it was obvious that he knew what his name was. His blonde hair was long and messy, his soft blue eyes wondered around the room trying to figure out what to say next.

“Good. Okay good, why were you saving those people? Is that job? Sounds cool..” She asked with a soft smile.

Riley chuckled, “I was a firefighter but I decide to go into the Air Force. I was supposed to meet a friend of mine but got distracted with the fire..”

“We tried contacting yours closes contact, no one answered..but someone named Sam Wilson picked up and said he will be here shortly.”

“That’s my wingman, Sam. Yeah, he’s a friend..”

“Okay good.”

Estella got up and got him the medication, examining his wounds and cleaning up a few bandages. She smiled and enjoying how nice he during the whole process, she found him adorable and charming. Riley watched in glee on being taken care of so well, finding her sweet and cute. “What’s your name?” He spilled out blushing and grinning softly.

“Huh?” She said, before leaving the room as it hit her blushing, “Oh! Sorry I forgot that about that..”

“It’s alright, I couldn’t read your name on the clipboard so...”

“Doctor Estella Romano..Strange..?”

“Sorry to a bit sound rude but..you don’t like your name very much, do you?”

“Not at all..not really...but you know how you never get a choice for that..”

“I like it.”

Riley had a small smile on his face thinking of a nickname or two for the doctor who helped saved him. Then he said, “Stella..Ella..”

“Ella?” She asked repeating the nickname, liking that it was simple and cute.

“Yeah..Dr. Ella.”

“Okay..Lt. Riley “Timeless” Overstreet..I like Riri..”

She walked out with a smile as he played against the pillow with a goofy grin. Little did Stella know, she just get her angel that day. Riley was a blushing happy guy with a love for music, determined, caring, fearless, friendly, easy on the eyes and saw the person for their true colors. The light inside of them, the good in their eyes.

When Sam Wilson, The Falcon, came in see his friend, he met Stella and soon enough started a friendship with her while he was there. The two grew close over a week of seeing each other in the hospital. He took her out to brunch after seeing Riley.

Sooner or later, Sam noticed the look on Riley’s face and encouraged him to ask Stella out. And ofc course, she said yes to that date.

-> We love and fall but we eventually get back up again.

The two dated for a very long time. Date nights, morning cuddles, gifts, walks on the beach, jumping out of a airplane together, meeting the parents, having fun with Sam and the list goes on. Riley made Stella feel loved, smart and way smarter than she seem. Stella made Riley feel brave, loved and as if he was on top of the world. Most of all they were comforting each other, til the end of the line.

They fought and made up, that’s normal part of being a couple. And, of course Riley had long deployments but they made it work perfectly, and one day after he returned home..he proposed.

And Stella said, yes. The two planned on good size wedding with Sam being there as Best Man, buying a huge house with a dog, a piano and guitar in the living room, and a move up in their careers.

Then the fallout happened...

--> Warning some sadness, mention of miscarriage & death

They found that Stella was pregnant, they were happy, brought toys, clothes and planning everything out. Sam, Leo and both of their parents were excited! But she miscarried after a few weeks or more, she blamed herself crying into Riley’s arms for weeks.

They both cried. Riley didn’t blame her or anything, he didn’t put the blame on anyone. He knew what it felt to lose a loved one and it hurt losing a child, but life happens. He loved his soon-to-be-wife and knew they can try again one day and or adopt a child.

They got better and felt a lot stronger, yes it still hurt at times but had each other’s backs.

It was good until Sam and Riley went on another deployment. And only one one of them came back...Riley was a pararescueman working with the 58th rescue squadron alongside with Sam Wilson until he was tragically killed during a mission. Sam lost his wingman and best friend, while Stella got lost her soon-to-be-husband that day...the two grew closer as they could over that lose. They were heartbroken but rise up again soon enough even if it still hurt sometimes.

Months past, she still had episodes where she fell horrible and cried. She didn’t even go to therapy as much as Sam and her mother, tried to push her to go. She only went to two session then never returned back to the office. Stella pushed a lot it down and kept working at the hospital, becoming cruel, sad and a bit mean in the process..

The years that changed her life forever 💥

Time past, 2014 hit. Everything was fine, the family was working around the clock and disagreed on plenty of things, even if they seemed to be perfectly fine. They still loved each other, but one night flipping everything upside down. Stephen Strange and his family were invited to a party nearby one of the highest hills on New York City to wine and dine, to even see him possibly win an award.

So they went, Leo was excited meanwhile Stella was overthinking it all but their mother settled both children down. At the party, they met The Felton family, Miss Rochelle Felton caught the siblings eye, mostly Leo’s as the pair spoke on the balcony for a while. Stella stayed chatting with her mother and or Rochelle’s adopted mother, who critiqued strongly the girl, asked confusing questions that annoyed her and or completely complimented her outfit. She looked over shoulder to see her mother and father on the dance floor most of the night.

Stephen had to leave early due to issue at The Hospital and to meet a friend of his (Wong). Elizabeth decided afterwards that they should head home as well, Leo tossed his little sister the keys to the other car and the three drove off. The siblings sat in the front discussing that party, their social life and their careers as their mother stop them, they settled down a bit. The radio was also playing, everything seemed alright as a strange feeling hit Stella but before she can voice her concerns, a huge truck came out of nowhere…

The truck crashed into their car, sending them off course and into the large lake nearby, the impact was so bad it left the family unconscious in a state of pain and sorrow. Cuts, bruises, glass, gashes and more laced the trio’s bodies. Sadly the impact of the accident occurred in a matter of minutes, it must’ve been hours until they were found and taken to the hospital. One only heart stayed beating and broke that night…

—> Warning: Some sadness, a bit depression mentioned, no self esteem, injures and lose

Stella wake up the next morning in a hospital bed in confusion, pain and tears. She was told everything by the doctors and nurses, that she was the only one that sadly survived the crash, that her heart rate dropped plenty of times and they almost lost her but due to a miracle she lived to see another day. Her injuries were damaging mainly to her hands and arms. The girl sobbed wishing it was her brother and mother that survived, not her. She wished they didn’t go to that party in the first place but it was too late…

She fell once again into a state of madness, high anxiety and misery, a bit depressed more often then not. Stephen comforted his daughter when he wasn’t working and noticed her self esteem downgraded. Stella’s self image fell down a rabbit hole, while attending some physical therapy for her hands.

A few surgeries, some physical therapy appointments and self esteem issues grew. Every time, Stella thought she was getting better, she fell a few steps back. Time past and she stopped going, she got annoyed..

Sam arrived in New York, before leaving for Washington D.C. and spoke to her. He held her and gave her as much encouragement and comfort that she needed.

His last words were to keep fighting because everything happens for a reason, whether we know it or not.

And that’s exactly what Estella needed cause that night, she left her house after less than a few weeks of being alone, finding Wong and a few other sorcerers to try and heal herself.

Due to Stella being a time crunch, wanting to return back home in time to back to her life and be alongside the only family she had left, she didn’t waste much time. She spent time, effort and pain training to work up her strength. Pushing herself despite Wong’s best efforts to watch her heath, she eventually listened to him as her hands very slowly healed, scars closing but plenty of cuts remained as she trained with him.

Eventually Estella discovered a few rooms in The Sanctum Sanctorum, that peaked her interest and Wong told her stories about them. The girl was in awe, she even smiled a bit after plenty weeks of frowns. Estella had ideas but kept them to herself for the time being. After a couple of nights, she seemed much better health wise to say the least but still closed off. Stephen noticed sitting down across from her, “You need to get out.”

“Wait what? Why?” Stella said practiced a mini trick using a few pin pong balls.

“You need friends, a life outside these four walls.”

“No I don’t, I have you and your buddy, Wong...besides, my only friend is working and the others never existed.”

“I’m serious, Estella. You need to get out of here, find a few things to do, explore the city, fall in love again and-”

“Daddy, no. I don’t want to! My life after that night fell over, my career is down the drain, my fiancé less than died a year ago, the city bores me, my hands are…and...I hate how I look, feel now..”

Stephen kneeled down wiping his daughter’s fallen tears and kisses her forehead, noticing how she hide her face, arms and hands. Her self esteem wasn’t the same and she needed a change.

“My daughter is smart, kind and beautiful. I’m sorry for everything that has happened. You deserve to be happy and explore your surroundings.” He said softly.

“But I..what if I hate it?” She asked.

“You won’t.”

“And what about..”

Before she had a second to even finished her sentence, a portal opened behind her chair, pushing her out and into the streets of Washington DC. She tried opening the previous portal but it was locked and she realized she forgot her ring. “Damn it!” She yelled, then walked down the streets mumbling, “..I've haven’t here in a while..”

~~~~~~

With time, she found herself at SHIELD headquarters, meeting Maria Hill, Agent Parker and a few other faces. Estella met The Avengers one by one, finding herself introduced to The Young Avengers at the time. She grew fond of all them, keeping to herself.

Over the weeks, she grew friendships with the older Avengers. Tony, Bruce, Natasha, Clint, and Steve. Thor was off world. She was able to use her skills to the test discovering Rochelle’s mutation with Nat, training with the group, meeting Sam again, discovering The Winter Solider and fight Hydra.

~~~~~

A lot happened, they all moved to New York City remodeling Avengers Tower, growing together as a family. They made friends along the way, love was in the air, they lost a few members and gains some new ones. Especially Stella.

It was during the late summer after getting settled in The Tower, she tried to return back to work as a doctor. Even if she lost plenty of strength with her time off and recking her life’s work in the fire during her depressive episodes, yet she deicide to return. Everything was good until a week later she met him.

Her half brother. Thiego Carlos Strange.

Neither one of the siblings knew that they existed due to Stephen not wanting anyone to know. Until Melissa Wallace spited out the facts. She wondered if her mother knew or was it before her parents got together? Stella wouldn’t get that answer and for some reason, she wasn’t mad at Thiego. Upset with not knowing earlier, hell yes but mad? No. You can’t blame the children for their parents wrong doings. She just needed time and with that time, she grew to truly love her brother. She became his number one fan and loving but annoying little sister.

Stella noticed how careful, protective, humorous and curious her brother was toward a lot of people. She saw how much Thiego looked like their father depending one how he act, other times she spotted differences.

The girl was very closed off, questioning herself and considering a lot things during that time in her life, but around Thiego she felt, safe and loved, she returned it whenever she could! They encouraged one another as well.

No one was fighting for attention, running off to do something else, proving who’s the better sibling and such like her relationship with Leo was. Yeah sure Thiego and Stella argue, become annoyed and get into trouble that’s normal sibling do.

Remember when I talked about The Older Avengers becoming like family to her as well? Well at first glance you wouldn’t think it but she grew a close relationship with some of them.

She grew closer to mostly the girls. Rochelle, Liane, Amelia, Luna, Hill and Natasha became very good friends with her. Eventually so would Cassie, with the young girl seeing her not just as a friend but a mother figure. They all grew together as people when the time came, learning and showing one another a few things.

Another being Bruce Banner, she adored how he worked, so focused and gentle, the love he has in his heart, the perfect level of patience and his humor was just as great. Honestly Estella was inspired to be like him in some way.

Love Again? 💞

Like any grieving person in society, it hurts like hell, you feel empty and like you lost a part of you. Well that’s how Stella felt after her fiancé and half of her family died, it left her heartbroken. It felt like one thing fell on top of the next, the memories are sometimes still fresh in her mind depending on the day or dream like state she would be in…

Until Stephen push her though that portal to where she meet The Avengers young and old. Like I said beforehand, Stella’s heart softened around them and eventually started letting her guard down as time went on. As from her friendship and family she made, her heart wasn’t still emotionally involved when it came to romance of it.

Estella Romano didn’t care for it or didn’t even tried searching knowing nothing will truly replace her former lover, until certain blonde and brunette came along. Steve Rogers and Logan Howlett.

Firstly she met Steven Grant Rogers week one of her trip of Washington D.C. back in 2014. Within the second half of that same week, she found herself opening up to a man that she didn’t think twice of. She didn’t care for Steve Rogers one bit thinking he was some blonde patriot cheeky smile and a strong history if she wasn’t prepared to learn about. Oh sure he was hella cute, she would give him that but she saw Steve as a friend just like Sam. They got along very nicely, two were practically near each other’s eye-line every once in a while and talked for more than a hour together each day.

Eventually within time feelings towards each other started to grow. She was smile brightly, laugh at some of his jokes and tease him every chance she got. Rogers made her feel safe, loved and there was someone looking out for every once in a while. For Steve, it’s like he was given a second chance to be happy, he felt cared for and drawn to her like he wanted to keep her, loved from this horrible world. but sadly the two were so dumb and afraid to notice what everyone else was saying. Until one night…

Stella set a promise to help Steve find Bucky with Sam’s help. Sam decided to searched in other locations and then headed home to rest, however the two decided to stay up instead. The two were in the lower level of The Tower alone, it was dark inside the room and the only light was the computer as they tried finding the locations.

Steve was pacing the room as the pair talked frustrated and annoyed. Eventually he sat down next to her, resting his hands on the table and said, “We spend days doing it Sam’s way…we can just do it the old fashion way of searching for someone instead..”

Stella was typing away and hushed him, “Shhh I’m working, it settling..it say he’s in New York now, so he’s close.”

“Okay, he can be anywhere..I’m sorry, it’s just—I’m just inpatient. I spent weeks searching for a friend who I thought died, i just want to make sure he’s alright…”

“I get it that you’re impatient about this and so am I gonna tell you right now you’re gonna see him again. I know how it is, to lose someone you love very much..or to just worry that you’re not gonna see him again. But you’re given a second chance here.”

He smiled at her kind words. Being a soldier, I’m going for one fight to the next, sometimes he can get very impatient and needs someone to keep him grounded at times. Steve couldn’t be happier with Stella and Sam’s help with finding his friend, the man couldn’t thank them enough. Moments like this, he didn’t see the same Stella who’s either annoyed and worried about a situation. The blue light from the computer screen and the gentle rain outside made her look calm, understanding and focused on the task at hand.

She looked over at him every now and then smiling softly as they discuss the possibilities of the circumstances their in. The woman could be doing so many things at the moment and procrastinate her work, but instead she decided to help him out. Stella didn’t see the uptight and confused super soldier but instead a gentle man who just wanted to see his old buddy again. He was seemed relaxed, understanding and clearly agreeing to the tasks but his muscles were tensed, underneath everything Steve Rogers was just a simple guy who wanted to do the right things.

—

It was getting late and the two were getting tired, but it can definitely be shown on their faces how determined they really.

Stella kept searching up the location of where The Winter Solider could be until she find it. She grinned and said, “Oh my god-I got it! I got his location. We got it.”

“Really?!” Steve sat up after reading the files to see the pin on Bucky and smiles* “You really did find him..wow! This is-this is..”

His epic excitement, relief and pride washed over him, Steve Rogers didn’t think as leaned down and press his lips onto hers. It was a a shock and she hesitated for a quick moment then smiled pecking his lips. It lasted a couple of seconds before breaks off the kiss.

“W-what was that for..?” Stella asked taking a breath, noticing a light lipstick stain on his lip. She felt a rush within her, blushing a bright rosy red, very embarrassed.

Steve chuckled and blushed embarrassed. He hesitated realizing what happened and simply shrugged, “I-I don’t know..just overwhelmed with all these emotions…I’m sorry.”

“N-no, it’s alright, I get it. But uh, we’re not gonna make this a thing right?”

“What? No! No, I wouldn’t dream it off. It just happened, right? Unless you..”

“Unless I feel like..you know what towards you? That’s ridiculous, it just happened..”

“We should uh, forwarded this to Sam..”

“Y-yeah! Exactly then straight to bed...s-separate rooms and stuff..my bad. Was that your first kiss since 1940s?”

“Not exactly no, I kissed Natasha for a mission once but I wouldn’t count it truly. Was I your first kiss since 2012?”

“..maybe? I mean, I went on a date or two, but it wasn’t anything major.“

Steve smiled softly and nodded, slightly blushing a bit however thankfully to the darkness of the room, no one can see. Stella chuckled softly and blushed a bit forwarding the email to Sam. Afterwards the two headed upstairs agreeing that the kiss mean nothing else but purely tiredness and excitement from getting one step closer to the case. Because it was nothing.

Time went on, fighting robots, aliens and plenty of other stuff. Domestic life with The Avengers, plenty of their friends noticed the way they slowly became closer and how life was flipped upside down. Thiego HATED that Cap looked at his sister sometimes, Stella joked that he wanted to date him as he would roll his eye jokingly. No one was good enough for his sister!

Steve went on to date Sharon Carter, while Stella had a short lived relationship with James Logan Howlett. The two met at a bar one night and hit it off rather quickly, seeming to having a mutual understanding of the past, present and future. Just wanting a break from it all and live in the moment.

Logan was the bad guy in a leather jacket and bad reputation with a kind heart and complicated life. Behind the rage and stubbornness, she saw a man running around and trying to figure out his life. Logan saw something in her, a woman with too much patience and some cruelty within her from being put down in the past.

The two would go on dates by meeting up at the park, drinking and partying a bit, cuddles in bed and late night talks. Nothing serious, more or less causal.

It was funny actually, the same time Stella was dating Logan Howlett, her brother Thiego dating Scott Summers. When the siblings and their friends found out, it was hilarious and awkward for everyone. But like i said, it was short lived as Logan admitted to cheated on Stella as she returned home in tears. Thiego comforted her saying she didn’t need a man and should try to focus once again on her studies.

—

Time kept moving forwarded, Stella forgot about trying to search for love once again and return to studying, being in the medical field. Steve ended his relationship with Sharon Carter, deciding to stay as friends, focusing on The Avengers and his works at the super solider leader.

The two grew up a bit as people, comforting each other when the worse hit, fighting aliens, supernatural beings, robots. Hell, even The government officials and SHIELD when The Accords hit on everyone. Maria Hill caused The Avengers to pick a side, it broke them apart. Steve and a few others refused to sign the paperwork ending up on the run from SHIELD. Stella signed the paperwork to cover Team Cap’s ass and provide them from being caught.

Steve and Stella fought long and hard over The Accords, the placement of the team and the reason behind everything. A few kisses were stolen and screams were heard. Team Cap ran and hide, while Team Iron Man search and ran themselves into tunnels becoming separated from each other. They all missed each other, noticing how everyone fell and practically almost killed themselves to prove who’s right.

Eventually The Avengers and SHIELD found out who was truly behind all of this mess however, it wasn’t the same after that. People grew apart, families cried, betrayal between friends, couples broke up while also stayed together. Slowly everyone got better, it hurt but they got there.

He found her one morning in the elevator after not seeing each other for a while. Stella didn’t want to see him, afraid of the risks of their relationship and the future, Steve however was willing to risk it and love her no what matter. It was

It was hard, annoying and slightly heartbreaking speech of emotions between the pair, Stella crumbled as her walls fell as Steve poured his heart to her, feeling sorry that they were drifted apart and didn’t take a chance earlier. She admitted how she feared if she fell in love again, the world would hear and she would be crying all over again. She felt like she wasn’t enough for the super solider...

“If I did anything right in my life it was to find you. It was when I gave you my heart and didn’t even know it. But when I see you smiling and standing in that door all the feelings come rushing back...” She said wiping a few tears that ran down her face.

Steve smiled softly, bring her in close, “If one thing I know now, your the person I didn’t know I needed in my life. If I said once, I will say it again, you will be the death of me. And also be the very few lights in my life..”

"And you are mine. How did I end up with someone who will deal with me now matter what, I will never know? But I do know is that I love you..”

“Now i got one question. Can I kiss you?”

"Thought you never ask.”

Steven Grant Roger brought his lips up to the girl, gently pressing them onto her in such awe and relief. Estella Romano Strange leaned in, returning the kiss without a doubt, resting both hands on his chest. The warmth of their bodies and the heat rise causing the pair to remember they were still in an elevator.

The two started to finally date after that, enjoying their time together. Hugs, kisses, cuddles, cheering the other on and supporting each other, embracing the craziness of their lives. Late night talks, acting like an old married couple at times, wondering about their future in heroes, and so on.

Friendship and motherhood

Was all of this in the cards for Estella? Maybe? Maybe not? She wouldn’t get the answer to that for a while. She was never given a chance to wonder what she wanted for herself, it was always do this and do that, remember to make your family proud. It was always the question, if she was doing the right thing, for that she let fate decide.

But she knew the things that she loved to do, spend time with friends and wanting to give her love to other people. Simple as that. Even if it meant doing one of the girls hair, making lunch to everyone and or just giving the person attention. That’s how she built friendships with the ladies and gentlemen of the household.

Plenty would say that Stella has a “feminine touch” or “motherly vibe” to her, like she knew that to say or do, sometimes. Making The Avengers Compound feel like home. It just came naturally to the girl, seeing her mother and some of tias treat everyone, somehow she embraced it without knowing.

Plus it helped that she tend to sometimes follow Bruce Banner’s lead with how much of a caring, patience, loving and quick on his feet of a father he tended to be. Him and Hulk set the sweet example, she admired it. Dad Bruce, Papa Hulk and Mama Stella. Somehow the one plenty of parents in the household. However, she wasn’t a mom or even a aunt exactly to the group.

Until one month, it was like Stella saw a rather quick shift in the air. The warm weather, sweet treats, cuddly sweaters, couples walking left and right, and the kids playing in the park. Girl got baby fever, it finally hit her...

She didn’t know how it happened, but it did! Stella thought it was a phase, she’ll get it over it. But the more babies she saw in the hospital, the kids with their parents and young teenagers in the malls walking past her. As well as the Young Avengers running down the halls everyday. She decided it was settled.

One morning after breakfast, she sat next to the man who practically was her husband at this point. “..how do you feel about kids?” Stella asked, scrolling on her phone.

Steve looked up from his notebook and paused doodling, taking him a moment to process the question. “Uh, I love them. Why?” He asked with a smile.

“How do you feel about us having some?”

“I like that idea. Wait would we like have our own biologically? Or foster care and adopt? Cause honey, that waiting list is long.”

“What I'm hearing is a yes.”

He scoffed and chuckled, “Yes. Honey, how long have you been thinking about this?”

“Two weeks..?”

“Two weeks?! Please tell me, you didn’t file for adoption without my permission and we have a kid coming here today?”

“N-no! I’m not crazy!”

He gave her a pointed look, “Stella.”

“I didn’t!” She replied crossing her heart, promising that she didn’t.

“Okay, just checking. This is a rather big commitment and I'm here it.”

The two spend days discussing the matter and how they would like to go about it. Stella even went to Bruce for his advice and hoping he could sign some paperwork. Luckily after a talk, he was on board. Little did Bruce Banner know that Stella’s future kids would see him as their amazing uncle.

Weeks past and nothing from the adoption agency. Stella wanted for the call and wondered if she was too late to file for kids. All she wanted was to give a child a nice life and plenty of love, hell even be the embarrassing mom.

Until one afternoon, she found a kid trying to steal from her shopping cart as he ran out of the store. She tried to stop him, but she was too late. That same teenager would be brought into the police department and such to be question. Stella was called in to watch over the teen who glared at her, but she made it work.

She asked, “What’s your name?” The brunette finally looked up and said his name, “Bradley James...”

Stella gave him space while they were at the police department to talk to her, as she signed paperwork for him and finally after a while he did, cracking a few jokes. He smiled and she told him the plan for the week, he listened thankfully.

The first few days were hard, having not took him to The Avengers Compound right away, more to her spare apartment in the city. Steve was out for a business trip during the time. Bradley was tricky, not eating healthily, staying up late and tried sneaking out once or twice. He even made a mess of the living room, Stella had enough and decided to sit him down for a talk.

The two talked for a least an hour, Bradley explaining what was going on and how they ended up here. Stella even admitted, “I’m here because I care..and I'm not here to replace your mother, but just so you know I will make sure you’re alright.” He hesitated before he cried into her arms as she hushed his sorrows. It was a long night and the following days were something else. But Stella knew, “I want him.”

Sooner or later the rest of the kids started popping up. Such as Kendall, who came one day after a small accident downtown, resulting in a few people getting and one of them being him. He was already an lost boy who needed a home and got hurt that day, so Stella and Steve brought him home a few days later. The couple may have some annoying teenagers boys now in their hands but they love them nonetheless.

Stella even became a auntie (or Tia as she’s called) in the result of Riley Banner-Marsh and Gia & George Romanoff being born. Her and Steve were more than happy to become aunts & uncles to those children, even if they drive them crazy sometimes.

—-

As of right now, Estella Romano Strange is happy and healthy for the most part. Girl needs therapy for some reasonable days. Aside from the stressful days and nights that happen every once in a while, she is doing alright.

—

That’s all for now, I wish I could write more but my brain is tired haha. Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoy it! ☀️

Tags: @blueboirick @msrochelleromanofffelton @drspencereidhotch @gaminggirlsstuff @topgun-imagines @superspookyjanelle @meiramel @gcthvile @eliohasmyheart @rooster-84 @halesfavoriteharlot and etc

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1neverendingstories1 · 2 years

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Doctor Strange 2 Spoilers

Can I just say how much I love the frustratingly static humanity of Stephen Strange and the sheer relatability of his films?

Yeah I know I know they’re actually very complicated films packed with totally new concepts and artistry and reality. But Stephen is so human. He is an arrogant man, built upon a throne of validation and sorrow that he refuses to yield. He’s brilliant, he’s lonely, he’s stubborn, he doesn’t actually change. I haven’t seen him change. “Oh but ‘Stories he abandons the path to healing his hands and becoming a surgeon again! He sacrifices (what’s speculated to be) years of his life dying at the repetitive hands of Dormammu!” Yes that most certainly is a change in lanes but he’s still in the same car; the world around him changed but he didn’t. He’s still arrogant, and stubborn, and lonely, and gentle. He’s shockingly gentle.

I have heard a lot of people use this as a criticism on Stephen’s development. To be fair of course, he is in a superhero movie he should change mid movie into a man people could look up to in order to be rightfully seen as a hero, right? I don’t know. I find his lack of “practical” betterment as it should be. Doctor Strange 1, in my opinion as someone who has no life experience that can be likened to Stephen’s, wasn’t about Stephen becoming a hero, it was about a person letting the escutcheon of vanity bleed and become vulnerable. Preferably for niceness in this case. Because Stephen was already kind, he didn’t need to learn that. He was a surgeon who held peoples lives on the line and refused—refused—to be the one responsible for their detriment. “You want me to screw up my perfect record?” “When I became a doctor, I swore an oath to do no harm. And I have just killed a man! I am not doing that again.”

And after seeing MOM, this really drives the point that he has always shielded people from truly “seeing through him” as The Ancient One would say, and therefore hasn’t actually changed just that much further. He let himself be consumed with the god complex of a rich-successful-surgeon because if he was a god then he wouldn’t fail to save anyone, no one including himself could be unlucky. Like his sister, his sister who died when they were just kids playing on a lake. Who he doesn’t talk about. Who he “failed to save.” “You want to go back to the delusion that you can control anything. Even death.”

At the end of the film, he doesn’t go back. Obviously, it’s a first installment of the new marvel hero franchise. But then we see him in Ragnorkak, and could have, let’s face it, easily “killed” Loki by making him fall into giant monster’s stomach, but instead he talks it out with Thor and helps them find Odin and leaves them be. He only wanted to make sure there wasn’t a threat. Such a simple goal, find the threat (Loki, Thanos, a bullet in a man’s brain) and eliminate it (help Thor and Loki, give up the time stone and die again, rush into emergency surgery). And I don’t have the time to get into him in IW and Endgame, and the affects on his sense of authority and ego shown in the chapel in MOM, and quite frankly I don’t think I’d do it any justice. He held the fate of half the universe with his shaking hands and with the questions of “what if I just looked at one more reality, one more outcome, what would I have found? What if it didn’t have to be that way and I stopped too soon? I caused so much suffering, I know it was worth the survival but should I be forgiven?” I’m still trying to figure out how that would be for him.

Though, maybe it’s comparable to how he was before. Questions he might’ve had before we met him. “If I had just said no to the lake would Donna be alive? Should I be forgiven for failing to save her? If I save other’s lives, would I still have to feel guilty? Would I feel better? Would they be better if I helped?”

And then we see him in NWH. He sees Peter hurting, in need of help, this kid has his future threatened and needs it fixed, and there’s no one else to do that than Stephen. His goal was so simple. Help Peter. Fix it, for the kid, because he’s good and he deserves it. Stephen was prepared to forget Peter, that means Stephen wouldn’t get praise or gratitude he could appreciate from Peter. He was trying to be kind, and he was gentle. But then the spell messes up, and he’s stern and stubborn, and acting all knowing like a god scoffing at a mortals pleadings for a different judgement. And then Stephen has to help Peter, the only way he knows how, destruction. He’s the same as he’s always been.

And now MOM, where his only goal, the entire movie, was to help America Chavez. To protect this kid, not to fail her when she needed help, when she had no other options than to ask him. “Well I could help but so could 50 other people.” “Come on Wong. Hasn’t he been through enough?” Stephen did everything he could think of to protect her, even messing with pizza poppa because he harassed her about the food. He was increasingly gentle with her. She was scared, Stephen could definitely understand the feeling and Wong telling Stephen that America reminds him of a younger Stephen, kind of makes her feel like family. Something Stephen has been afraid of from the beginning with Christine, and after his sister, being vulnerable, taking care and being taken care of. The most dangerous thing Stephen can imagine; happiness.

Stephen doesn’t really change all that much to me. To me he’s the same man from the moment we met him, until perhaps when he fixes his watch with his hands. Not his magic tying a tie for a wedding that is self induced torture because he failed to be the man Christine needed. His hands, his scarred, still shaking hands, fixing a watch he chose to keep broken so he never forgot his shortcomings. Put it in a box: the threat of tempting what ifs. “What if I had opened up more? What if I had really went back to my old life? What if I missed the reality where I didn’t have to leave for five years and could’ve been with Christine?”

I love Stephen, he’s so human that he’s annoying. I am aware he has many faults, and I’m not saying anyone has to like him or agree with me. I just happen to think he’s neat. Or maybe I’m just a marvel narcissist apologist.

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doctorstrangeaskblog · 2 years

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Doctor Strange Comics Analysis/Summary #1

//As an October project such as Inktober or Fictober and to celebrate Halloween, I'm starting this series in which I analyze and summarize the Doctor Strange Comics. And since today is the FIRST EPISODE, let's start with something easy and pretty much isolated. I will use some screenshots of the comic to illustrate my analysis/summary, however, it's FAR from being the whole work, this doesn't replace the experience of reading the full comic, which contains many more pages and details.

DOCTOR STRANGE: MYSTIC APPRENTICE

Publication: 2016 Status: Ongoing (probably cancelled since there is just 1 issue) Important note: This works like a prequel and a mid MCU Doctor Strange 1 events, with some things that happen in this comic possibly being canon, such as how Stephen learned how to astral project.

My general rating: This comic is 5/5 stars to me. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Art: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 Story: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 Characters: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 Entertainment: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 Impact/consequences to the lore: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5

This comic gives us a flashback talking about Stephen's origin (neurosurgeon, accident) and his first days of training in Kamar Taj. We're introduced to Master Grem, so specializes in martial arts. It's important how this story shows Stephen isn't a genius at all- he struggled so much to learn basically everything, including combat. He also had to train his body so he could stand the training sessions. It's also shown how Stephen is VERY VERY determined, to keep asking for fighting sessions despite knowing he's not ready and that he probably will get a beating. Just the SLIGHTEST progress he makes is enough to motivate Strange to keep going. There is emphasis at how Stephen DEVOURED the books and learned teleportation, however, struggled SO MUCH to learn astral projection.

The story also shows how Stephen's hands offer a big challenge for him when it comes to pain. It's also important how Stephen learns lessons about combat AND philosophy too, such as attachment, skill, focus and more. It's interesting how some ideas focus on concepts like the practical importance of tools, making a dialogue with how people sometimes give more value to the "fame" an item can have instead of the effort and actual purpose of the item (like when you buy a course thinking that just buying it will be enough to make you pass the exams you wanted to pass).

There's also this interesting view about how our own mind can be approached as a tool. In fact, this implies about having INSIGHT of our own thoughts and emotions instead of simply living and reacting to our own thoughts and impulses. It's an idea often explored in meditation and Mindfulness, where you practice identifying your thoughts, organizing them and having control over them, so you can be aware of your own prejudices, perceptions and ideas.

We also see how Stephen flirts with Wong and is totally ignored how Stephen kept reading ALL the books he could find when studying a determined spell or subject, in this case, astral projection, which he was failing awfully until that point. According to the character details and environment, we can connect how this comic is heavily based on the MCU Doctor Strange 2016 movie, so it's very likely these events happened off-screen in the MCU, even if this comic is not considered MCU canon officially/explicitly by the movie writers/directors. This issue could be adapted into a 10 minute animation/live action short, the comic is very well directed, the elements such as colors, angles, expressions, environment and dialogues are very well executed/used.

It's also shown Stephen is suffering from intrusive thoughts and flashbacks with some mood swings, which might imply he's suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which also is getting in the way of his focus. Despite not having a story that PHYSICALLY goes forward as many fans keep wanting and wanting in movies and series, the story does advance A LOT when it comes to PSYCHOLOGICAL aspects of the character his struggles, his limitations, his determination and so on, and that's why I consider this work very relevant. We have many comics and stories that treat Doctor Strange in a shallow superficial way, while actually he's a character who's extremely complex and full of layers. I personally love comics that manage to explore such detains of the psyche of the characters. Since this comic book issue is centered on Stephen mostly and not on other characters, I think the approach about his training and evolution were very nice.

It's interesting how Stephen's mental environment also is set, the blue is used as a visual resource to indicate his sadness. He does care about how others see him, it does feel like other sorcerers underestimate Stephen because of his arrogance and his limitations. It's established he trains late at night so he can be alone.

It's made CLEAR his hands HURT a lot whenever he moves them, even to do magic. He trains to the point of exhaustion and one of his biggest limitations is that he can't let go of the past- he keeps comparing himself to his past self, keeps giving focus to the things he CAN'T do. He does use what he learned as a support to keep advancing though.

He took months to master astral projection, pushed his mental and physical limits, apparently way more than most sorcerers usually did on a daily basis, his motivation almost the same level, if not, as obsession.

Another Master who is introduced to us is B'sso. He seems to focus more on meditation and knowledge than combat. It's made clear how Stephen's thoughts are very objective and straight to the point, so he keeps insisting on finding direct answers, however, since feeling and learning is extremely subjective, he struggles when it comes to learning how control and feel his own mystic energy (astral energy) since each person might learn how to channel it in a different way, with different emotions.

It's shown how Wong had a very important role in Stephen's Mystic education. He teaches Stephen he has to let go of pride and accept that he doesn't know, that the key to learning when you're stuck might be to reset the whole thing and start anew, trying approaches you still haven't. Through the story we see Wong has a crucial role also by guiding Stephen through the TONS of books, so Stephen start reading them in a more efficient order, helping him organize his reading and not walk in circles. Strange's studying gets to the point that he's basically the LAST and ONLY student reading at the library so late at night, Wong being his only company there for DAYS. This helps to illustrate how Stephen is practically doing overtime when it comes to his studies- he's doing nothing else out of his life, studying 3 times more or even more than all the other sorcerers.

The comic also implies Stephen returns some books to the shelves in the wrong order, what amuses Wong. When Strange manages to astral project, he does it by relaxing/quitting the constant effort and deciding to take a nap, in which he finally manages to feel his astral form right between the state in which he's awake and asleep. After Strange learns how to astral project, he keeps flying high up in the sky, loving the sensation, finally feeling achieved. It's very cute.

Other two important facts are shown/suggested in this comic. The first one is that Stephen did his best to learn astral projection (which is advanced) as soon as possible so he could astral project to study at night as his body slept, using more time to study even more. (That possibly has consequences in long term, but I guess Strange would do that some days and just sleep in others). The other thing is that there's a panel where it's illustrated Stephen wearing a robe that looks like the Cloak! So if that specific panel actually is showing the Cloak (in the form of a robe), it means that AFTER the events of Doctor Strange 1, despite having been named Master of the New York Sanctum by the Ancient One before she passed, Stephen still continued to practice like the other students, as to formally complete his training (he was an advanced student but not Master yet in DS1) so THEN he took the actual role as the Sanctum Guardian. Meaning that in the end of DS1, when he leaves the Eye of Agamotto back in Kamar Taj and leaves with Wong, he hasn't taken his place at the Sanctum yet. That would only happen later on, by the last scene of the DS1 movie where he's walking up the stairs, wearing different robes (the ones he's wearing in Ragnarok), maybe now as the official New York Master, since his Master training is complete, he only studies to specialize now. Maybe the robes we see in Ragnarok are some sort of ceremonial robes made for Stephen as he took his place at the NY Sanctum. Strange might have taken from 2016 to the events of Thor Ragnarok to actually become a proper master, with his training complete. That said, after that, Stephen, now as a master, would get to choose his own robes/clothing, and he chooses the slightly lighter and different blue robes we see in Infinity War, we can assume he wears that one daily, until he gets killed and gets brought back 5 years later, then he chooses a different style of robes for himself, still blue but with some red, made of denim and with some leather details.

This was the first episode of analysis of the Doctor Strange Comics. I hope you liked! Please tell me your thoughts and until the next episode!

#doctor strange #doctor strange comics #comics #marvel #mcu #analysis #comic books #comic book #doctor strange comic #benedict cumberbatch #dr strange #stephen strange #meta

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obsessor-of-beautiful-things · 2 years

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I find it funny how Jekyll calls Lanyon a "hide-bound pedant", because if there's anyone who's bound to something named "hide", it's him.

#the HYPOCRITE #rls was the funniest motherfucker on earth #jekyll and hyde #mr hyde #the strange case of dr jekyll and mr hyde #dr jekyll #dr lanyon #analysis #literature #gothic lit shitpost #gothic lit memes #english literature #doctor jekyll #the boys

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doctorofmagic · 1 year

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Doctor Strange and the supernatural characters pt 1 - Nico Minoru

Since Nico will soon be featured in v6, I decided to start with her. For context, let’s do a quick review on her character.

Nico Minoru is a member of the Runaways, a team of teenagers that found out their parents were part of a cult called The Pride. Their goal was to perform a ritual to release the elder gods called Gibborin, who would feed on the souls of the entire world and claim it for themselves. The Runaways saved the world, but their parents died in the process. As a consequence, their hearts never recovered from that trauma, which only worsened due to the following betrayal of one of their teammates, Alex Wilder. The TV show is more or less loyal to the characters, but there are heavy differences in case you’re wondering (and one of them is Nico’s character development, which I’ll explain in a second).

Nico comes from a powerful japanese clan of wizards and her weapon is/was The Staff of One, which she stole from her evil parents. It turns out this artifact is actually an ancient sorcerer called The One, who was challenged by Nico’s ancestor. He lost the battle and thus was turned into the Staff. Nico only learned about that recently in the last Runaways volume, when The One came out and revealed himself.

In the past, Nico was forced to draw her own blood to summon the Staff out of her body, but after making a (terrible) deal with The One, she no longer needs to harm herself in order to summon the staff. In exchange, The One releases a drop of his own essence into Nico’s soul, one at a time. On top of that, her staff allows her to perform spells only once, failing whenever she tries to repeat them. But this is not the only issue with Nico and her magic.

She went through a VERY traumatizing experience along with her teammate Chase in Avengers Arena, when Arcade kidnapped sixteen teenagers and created his own Battle Royale scenario. She lost an arm and actually died there, but the staff brought her back, boosting her magic powers and giving her a new artificial arm, although turning her a little more violent. Her mental health was severely damaged there, and so she decided to never speak of that incident ever again.

Following this event, in Avengers Undercover, she infiltrated Zemo’s organization along with the survivors of Murderworld. Their first goal was to rescue Elsa Bloodstone’s little brother, Cullen, unaware that he actually wanted to stay in order to find Arcade and get revenge for Murderworld.

Meanwhile, Nico was welcomed by Daimon Hellstrom (please don’t ask), who was working under Zemo’s leadership (please don’t ask²). Daimon summoned the soul and body of Alex Wilder back from hell (since he was dead) so they could train magic together. Alex’s true intentions were never revealed, but I do suspect Daimon was using him to waste Nico’s spells and also make her vulnerable since Nico had a relationship with Alex before his betrayal. She later realizes that it’s useless to train her magic skills because she wouldn’t be able to use them a second time in battle, accusing Alex of manipulating her.

After that, Daimon teleported them to a hall where Arcade was hosting a murder game. They did kill Arcade, finally getting their revenge, but he just a meat doll created by Daimon. Zemo manipulated them all so he could lure the Avengers while he attacked S.H.I.E.L.D. and framed the kids.

Turns out Daimon was not only manipulating Nico but Cullen as well. Daimon taught Cullen how to control the monster inside him, unaware that his true intent was to put it under his control (please don’t ask³). Since Arcade was still alive, they proved their innocence, although another emotional scar was carved into their souls.

(”oh, but aren’t they teachers at Strange Academy?” you may ask. YES, they are! Marvel’s continuity, am I right?)

Later on, Nico also joined the A-Force team, which sadly didn’t last. But she became good friends with some of the members, such as Dazzler and Singularity (her relationship with Carol became sour due to a terrible event called Civil War II, although they were able to come to an understanding).

Lastly, the Runaways reunited once more, facing new challenges concerning their found family. The volume was sadly cancelled, although it brought huge changes for Nico. She asked Karolina to take The Staff of One with her to space, which depowered her magic abilities significantly. The consequences are seen in Midnight Suns, her last appearance, where she constantly struggles with self-worth and self-doubt (just like a certain magician we know hehe).

That’s what leads us to the next topic: her personality.

Nico is the very definition of a bi disaster. One of her most infamous bad habits is the fact that she’s always trying to kiss almost every member of her team in order to cope with her loneliness, whether they’re single or not. The thing is, the smallest sign of affection is enough for her to get involved with someone, and at the worst possible times (for instance, after burying a friend). Don’t get me wrong, I love her and I’ll protect her. But I can’t pretend she doesn’t have the same bad coping mechanisms than Stephen did when he was trying to forget Clea. And that’s what stood out the most to me as a Stephen stan, opening my mind to ideas of how they can bond.

The thing is, Nico constantly feels alone and insecure about her own capabilities. First of all, there’s the leadership issue. After Alex’s betrayal, she was forced into leading the Runaways, although she canonically states she never wanted that in the first place. It’s a responsibility she was never ready for.

Secondly, there’s the trust issues. Their parents lied to her all her life and tried more than once harm her. She was in love with Alex and then he betrayed everyone, constantly inserting himself into her life and making it a living hell over and over (sometimes quite literally). She trusted Doc Justice and he tried to murder the Runaways in order to promote himself, even though she swore she’d never trust adults.

And that’s a super interesting point because... The very premise of the Runaways is that adults are bad. They refuse to ask for help because the Avengers and the X-Men failed them over and over. This is why Nico never asked for Stephen’s help like Illyana did. And yet... It seems that this is about to change in v6.

I don’t really know where writers are going with their relationship, but I do hope that Stephen realizes that The One is slowly infecting Nico’s soul. That’s a good thing, believe it or not, because Stephen can be a good role model to Nico and a bridge for her to work on her trust issues regarding adults. He can teach her how to get rid of The One’s grip and also teach her safer methods to perform magic. Friendly reminder that Wong also taught her a spell or two.

Overall, I believe that the Strange Academy was a fresh start to her because Nico doesn’t really have a purpose. Karolina is her first stable relationship, and she’s off to space to deal with Majesdanian stuff. Besides, if Nico is considered to be the “mother” of the Runaways, Chase was the “father”, and he was taken to the future for a reason yet to be explored in future stories. Point is, she needs an adult figure to reassure her. The Midnight Suns was another good addition because she was able to open up with Illyana and find comfort and self-worth.

Personally, this is truly touching and meaningful because, as I always like to put, the magic community has something quite special going on. Their connection runs deeper because of the soul/spirituality. And that’s why I have huuuuuge hopes that Stephen will be able to reach out for her. It’s been shown that he keeps in touch with her whenever magic is involved, not to mention the school itself.

It’s true that they barely interacted in the past, mostly because Nico is always neglected when it comes to big magic events (Last Days of Magic, Civil War II etc). Strange Academy was another missed opportunity, but there’s room now thanks to the team of v6.

This is what I’m looking forward to, honestly. Even with limited powers, Nico is quite creative, although her self-destructive tendencies get in her way, which is exactly what v4!Stephen used to be. I’m pretty sure he’d see himself in her and would do his best to support her. That’s Nico’s opportunity to bond and grow as a character, to work on her trust issues, to heal from the trauma she’s been through and create healthy relationships, not only when it comes to Stephen, but the magic community as a whole. Friendly reminder that he taught magic to both Jericho and Illyana and almost became Billy’s and Wanda’s mentor.

So this is it. As you can see, the potential and background are all there. I’m really excited to see what comes next for them and I do hope they’re able to create a nice and sweet bond in the next issues!

#nico minoru #sister grimm #doctor strange #stephen strange #marvel comics #analysis

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