#duke: “why didn't you ask cassie for help?”

[breadandblankets]

Duke stumbles a bit as the disorienting energy surrounding him fades and the ground turns from solid concrete to gravel.

He scans his surroundings, trying to take in what the fuck just happened. Its then that he realizes, abruptly, that he's not alone.

Stephanie is shorter than the last time Duke saw her, wearing a much worse version of her Spoiler costume. There's a tugging in his mind, puzzle pieces slotting together, and he doesn't like it one bit.

Hey at least you found out that meta's fucking powers huh Thomas?

Great detective work.

Stephanie turns, slower than she should, grabbing a loose brick from the shoddy building facade.

"The fuck?" she says, holding the brick aloft. "Is big bat making boy wonders in a factory now?"

"Yeah, I'm the diversity edition," Duke responds, shamelessly stealing his girlfriend's joke.

"Happy pride I guess," Stephanie's voice is as chipper as ever. "Now back off before you end up like the other boy blunder."

"You'll hit me with a brick?" Duke asks.

"I will hit you with a brick," Stephanie confirms.

"Did you hit Ti-Robin with a brick? Please tell me you hit him with a brick," Duke can't keep the glee out of his voice.

"He knows what he did," Steph says ominously. "I have plans to Spoil, so you can stand there and watch or.... you can help."

Duke has, what some people might call, a chronic inability to say no when people ask for help. His parents raised a nice polite young man, you see, and when a friend who is not yet a friend but will be asks for help; Duke is helpless to say anything other than—

"Lead the way."

part 2

#batfam #duke thomas #stephanie brown #duke: “why didn't you ask cassie for help?” #steph: “who's cassie” #duke: spoiler i know what we're going to do today #my fic #bread talk #idk ive been thinking about duke and steph as narrative parallels and also as friends and that all culminated in brain being like #hey what if time travel #maybe there will be more we shall see #also yes duke pretty quickly figures out its time travel he is a very smart cookie

[dukereviewsmovies]

Duke Reviews: Ant-Man

Hello, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Duke Reviews Where We Are Continuing Our Look At The Marvel Cinematic Universe....

Where Today We End Our Look At Phase 2 By Talking About The First Outing For The Pint Sized Avenger, Ant-Man...

This Film Is About A Recently Released Prisoner Named Scott Lang (Played By Paul Rudd) Who Gets Recruited By A Man Named Hank Pym (Played By Michael Douglas) To Become The New Ant-Man And Help Him Steal A Simiar Suit To That Of Ant-Man That His Protege, Darren Cross (Played By Corey Stoll) Is Making With The Money In His Company, Can Scott Steal The Suit For Hank Before Cross Releases It To The Public?

Let's Find Out As We Watch Ant-Man...

The Film Starts In The Year I Was Born, 1989 As A Young Hank Pym Marches Into The Offices Of The Heads Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Which Includes Peggy Carter (Played By Haley Atwell) Howard Stark (Played By The Guy That Played Him In Iron Man 2, I Don't Know His Name) And Mitchell Carson (Played By Martin Donovan) At The Under Construction Triskellion To Talk With Them About Their Attempt To Replicate His Work Without His Permission...

Despite Peggy Not Knowing Anything About This, Howard And Mitchell Believe That The Pym Particle Is Revolutionary Find And It Belongs To The World And Not Just One Man, This Leads Hank To Resign His Position At S.H.I.E.L.D. And Swear That As Long As He's Alive Nobody Will Get His Pym Particle Formula...

Wow, This Film Could Have Just As Easily Become Ant-Man: The Winter Solider With Howard Stark Just Saying That Line...

But Instead We Cut To Present Day As Scott Lang Gets Out Of Prison And Is Picked Up By His Friend And Partner, Luis (Played By Michael "I'm The Best Part Of This Damn Movie" Pena)

However, Just Because He's Good In These Movies Does Not Mean He Can Replace Ricardo Montellban As Mr. Rourke In Fantasy Island, Blumhouse!

Aside From My Bitterness Over That Movie, Luis Picks Up Scott And Immediately Tells Him About Some People He Met But Not Interested In Doing Another Heist As He's Going Straight For His Daughter, Despite Jobs Not Coming Easy For Ex-Cons...

But Knowing He Has A Masters In Electrical Engineering, He's Like How Hard Could It Be? Turns Out Pretty Hard As The Job He Can Get Is Working At Baskin-Robbins....

Yeah, But It's About To Suck More When The Corporate Heads Of B&R Discover Scott's Criminal Record And Fire Him, Despite His Manager Liking What He Did To Get Thrown In Jail...

Returning To Luis' Apartment, Scott Meets Luis' Friends Kurt And Dave, Who Like What Scott Did As Luis Tells Us That Scott Used To Work For A Company Called Vista That Were Overcharging Their Customers For Millions And He Tried To Tell The Heads Of Vista About This But He Got Fired Instead. So, Scott Hacked Into Their Security System Transferred Back The Funds To The People They Stole It From...

But Not Happy That Luis Is Telling His Life Story To These 2 Guys, Scott Asks What He Wants Which Leads Luis To Tell Him About A Job His Cousin Told Him About But Still Saying He's Out, Luis Drops It...

Meanwhile At Pym Technologies, Hank Pym Arrives To Meet With His Daughter, Hope Van Dyne (Played By Kate From Lost) And His Protege, Darren Cross, Who Makes A Big Announcement That Pym Technologies Is Working A Battlesuit Called The Yellowjacket That Is An All-Purpose Weapon Of War That's Capable Of Altering The Size Of The Wearer For The Ultimate Combat Advantage...

And Despite One Board Member Against It Because Of What Our Enemies Could Do With It, Everyone Seems On Board. Talking With Cross Afterwards, Pym Begs Him Not To Do It Because There's A Reason He Buried These Secrets, But Looking To The Future Of The Company But Not Cross Exits As He Talks With Mitchell Carson About Selling It To Him First...

Going To His Daughter's Birthday Party, Scott Gets An Uncomfortable Welcome From His Ex-Wife (Played By Judy "I'm A Bitch In Everything I'm In" Greer) And Her New Husband (Played By Bobby Cannavale) Who Tell Him To Leave Until He Gets A Job And Can Pay Child Support...

Now, No Offense I Know What Scott Did Was Illegal But In My Opinion What He Did Wasn't Bad Whatsoever, He Stopped A Company That Was Stealing Millions Of Dollars From Alot Of People, Hell, Even The Manager At Baskin-Robbins Called Him A Freaking Hero For What He Did And She Should Know That What He Did Helped Alot Of People...

But No, Instead She's Condemning Him For It And Him A Damn Criminal And For That I Say Screw You, Scott Has Every Right To See His Kid...

Meanwhile At Pym Technologies, Cross Kills The One Board Member That Went Against The Yellowjacket By Using A Gun That Turns Him Into A Miniscule Pile Of Goo...

(Sighs) Yes, Folks This Actually Happens We Have A Gun That Can Turn People Into A Pile Of Goo, What's Next An Alchemy Machine That Can Turn Dog Shit Into Gold?

And Don't Write In The Comments That That Thing Already Exists In Comic Books, I Already Know It Does It's Just The Point Of How Stupid This Is...

Taking Hope Out To Dinner, Her And Cross Talk About How Hank Pym Is A Failure As Both A Father And A Mentor, Before We Cut Back To Scott, Who Decides To Do Luis' Job After Realizing Nothing He Does Will Ever Work Out...

So, Luis Tells Him...

(Start At 0:41, End At 1:54)

So, Getting The Necessary Supplies And Coming With A Plan, They Go To The House, Dealing With The Phones Around The Area And The Alarms In The House They're Breaking Into. But When Scott Reaches The Safe, He Has A Hard Time Breaking Into It...

But With A Little Water And Nitrogen, The Safe Blows Open...

You Bet Your Ass It Rules, Bill Nye...

Going Inside, Scott Finds No Money But He Does Find What He Believes To Be A Motorcycle Suit But Is Really The Ant-Man Suit...

Grabbing The Suit And Getting Out Of What We Realize Is Now Hank Pym's House, They Consider The Heist A Failure And Move On. The Next Morning, Scott Looks At The Suit And The Helmet And Decides To Try It On...

Noticing Buttons On His Hands, Scott Shrinks For The First Time...

(Start At 1:15, End At 3:41)

Freaked Out By What Happened, Scott Returns The Suit To Pym's House Only To Be Arrested By Police, However, While In Jail, He's Visited By Hank Pym Who Says That He's His Lawyer...

Apologizing For Stealing The Suit, Hank Tells Him That He Was The One That Caused Everyone To Give Luis That Tip And That He Has 2 Choices Go To Jail For The Rest Of His Life, Or Wait In His Cell For Further Instructions...

So, Going Back To His Cell, He Waits Until Something Happens Which It Eventually Does When 2 Ants Bring In A Shrunken Ant-Man Suit Only To Make It Large So Scott Can Wear It...

(Start At 0:28, End At 2:41)

Getting Lightheaded, Scott Passes Out...

Waking Up The Next Morning In A Fresh Set Of Clothes, Scott Awakens To See Hope With A Bunch Of Tropical Bullet Ants On The Floor...

Is How A Normal Person Would Probably React...

Saying That Her Father Wants To Talk With Him Downstairs, Scott (When He Stops Being Afraid Of The Ants) Goes Downstairs To Meet With Both Hank And Hope, Who Reveals That She Had Scott Arrested By The Police...

Admitting That He's An Admirer Of Scott's And Really Liking What He Did With Vista Corp And His Vault, Hank Offers Scott A Job To Break Into Pym Technologies, Steal The Yellowjacket And Destroy All The Data After Telling Him About The Pym Particle And Darren Cross And Why It's Important To Stop Him...

Knowing That He's Good But Not That Good, Scott Suggests That They Use Ants Or Call The Avengers To Deal With It But Unfortunately, The Ants Aren't Much Without A Leader And He Doesn't Want The Avengers Involved Because Of Tony Stark And What His Father Did At S.H.I.E.L.D. To Hank Years Ago...

Dropping In On Her Father And Scott, She Tells Them That They Now Have Days As Cross Has Perfected His Formula So Hope Decides That She's Doing It As She Knows The Place Better Than Anybody And She Knows How Cross Thinks But Hank Is Absolutely Against Hope Doing This...

With Scott Asking Why He Doesn't Do This, It's Not Because He's Too Old For This Crap But Because Wearing It Has Taken It's Toll On Him, Thus Scott Is The Only Option Saying That This Is His Chance To Be The Hero His Daughter Thinks He Is...

And So, The Training Begins...

(End At 4:08)

Continuing His Lessons By Introducing Him To The Fire Ants Which He Uses To Get In And Out Of Places And Making Specialized Discs That Make Things Large And Small, Scott Faces One Problem And That's Controlling The Ants...

Running Out Of Patience In Scott's Training, Hope Decides To Leave Only For Scott To Follow Her To Her Car Where She Tells Him That She Only Became Apart Of This For A Chance At Making Peace With Dear Old Dad But She Still Thinks That He Doesn't Trust Her..

(Start At 2:06, End At 2:27)

However, Scott Manages To Convince Hope That Her Father Does Trust Her And The Reason He's Wearing The Suit And Not Her Is Because He's Expendable And Hank Would Rather Lose The Battle With Cross Than Lose Her...

Apologizing For Calling The Police On Him And Asking About His Daughter, Hope Suggests To Focus On Cassie And How Much He Wants To See Her And It Works...

So, Scott Can Now Control The Ants...

Going Back Inside, Hank Finally Opens Up To Both Hope And Scott Telling Them About How His Wife, Janet Who Was His Partner And Hope's Mom Really Died Saying That In 1987 Some Separatists Had Hijacked A Soviet Missile Silo And Launched An ICBM At The United States And The Only Way Into The Internal Mechanics Was Through Solid Titanium...

Damaging His Regulator When Attempting To Shrink Between The Molecules To Disarm The Missile, Janet Sacrificed Herself By Going Subatomic To Disarm The Missile And Save Billions Of Lives...

Saying That He Didn't Tell Her Because He Trying To Protect Her Saying That He Lost Hope's Mom But He Didn't Mean To Lose Her And So With All Forgiven With The Father-Daughter Duo, Training Resumes...

About Getting Everything Down Pat From Jumping Through Keyholes To Working With Ants, The Final Phase Of Scott's Training Commences When Hank And Hope Have Scott Steal A Prototype Signal Decoy To Counteract The Transmission Blockers In Pym Technologies From One Of Howard Stark's Old Storage Facilities Which Just So Happens To Now Be The Avengers Training Ground...

Telling Scott To Abort The Mission, He Tells Them That He Doesn't See Anyone Superpowered On The Ground So Scott Decides To Land On The Roof Only To Run Into The Falcon (Played Again By Anthony Mackie)...

(Start At 0:57, End At 3:31)

Believing That Scott Almost Jeopardized Everything, All Is Forgiven When Scott Gives Hank And Hope The Tech They Want, But Going Out To The Living Room, Hank Finds Darren Cross Waiting To Tell Him That Pym Tech Is About To Become One Of The Most Profitable Operations In The World Because Of The Yellowjacket Suit And He Wants Hank There To See His Moment Of Glory...

As Cross Leaves He Asks Hank What He Saw In Him All Those Years Ago And Why Did He Push Him Away, Hank Says He Saw Himself In Cross, A Little Too Much Of Himself Unfortunately...

Believing That Cross Is Baiting Hank, Hope Suggests Calling It Off But Knowing That There Would Be Risks, Hank Refuses. Getting A Phone Call From Cross Shortly After That, He Tells Hope To Get The Assembly Line Up And Running And States That He's Tripling Security With Full Sensors At All Entrances And Adding Air Vents With Steel Micro-Mesh...

Wondering How They're Going To Get Scott In Now, Scott Suggests Using The Water Vent If They Can Decrease It, But Knowing That Her And Hank Will Be By Cross, Scott Decides To Bring In His Own Team On The Mission, By Making Luis A Security Guard That Will Lower The Water Pressure So Scott Will Be Able To Get In, Having Kurt Hack Into The Power Supply To Kill The Laser Grid And Making Dave The Getaway Guy...

Despite Hank Not Liking This, They're All In As Hope Gets Luis' Credentials In The Pym Tech System. The Next Night, Scott Enters The Sewers Once Luis Is Inside Of Pym Tech. Eventually Lowering The Water Pressure, Scott Manages To Get Into Pym Tech With The Help Of Some Fire Ants To Which He Boards Ant-Thony Afterwards And Takes The Vents...

However When Scott's Ex-Wife's Husband Discovers That Pym Pretended To Be Scott's Lawyer, Him And His Partner Decide To Take Hank Downtown To Question Him, But Before They Can, Dave Steals The Ex-Wife's Husband's Car So Pym Can Enter...

Meanwhile Scott Uses Bullet Ants On A Guard So Luis And Hope Can Enter The Hardware Room To Place The Signal Decoy Inside Of One Of The Server Boxes...

Once Hope Leaves, Scott Moves Into Position To Get The Ants To Fry The Server Boxes So Nothing Can Be Backed Up Before Going To Formula Room To Set Charges To Blow It Up, Only Thing Left Is For Kurt To Shut Down The Security Grid So He Can Grab The Yellowjacket Suit, Which He Manages To Before Him And Dave Are Arrested By Scott's Ex-Wife's Husband...

But As All That Goes Down, Cross Takes Hank And Hope To The Yellowjacket Room Where They Meet With Mitchell Carson Who Is Revealed To Be Working With Hydra Along With Darren...

So, Yeah, When Scott Falls In...

Again Begging Cross Not To Sell To Hydra As If They Get The Weapon, They'll Use It To Spread Their Chaos Across The Globe, Cross Doesn't Care Saying That He'll Sell Them The Suit But Not The Formula...

Telling Carson's Men To Kill Hank, Hope Tries To Convince Cross That The Particle Is Messing With His Brain Chemistry And That It's Not Who He Is But Too Far Gone, Darren Decides To Kill Hank Himself But Not Before Scott Breaks Out And Deals With Carson's Men But It Doesn't Stop Cross From Shooting Hank...

With Cross And Carson Trying To Get Away, Scott Follows Them With Cross' Guards Along The Way While Hope And Hank Escape In A Gigantic Tank Keychain...

(End At 3:33)

Arrested By His Ex Wife's Husband, They Soon Hear Over The Radio Of A Disturbance At The Home Of Scott's Ex-Wife And Daughter...

Yes, It Turns Out Cross Survived Being Zapped By A Bug Zapper And Has Kidnapped Scott's Daughter, Cassie Who Thinks Cross Is A Monster...

(End At 4:34)

But Despite Killing Cross, Scott Went Subatomic But Managing To Find One Big Disc, He Places It Into The Regulator And Becomes Big Once Again, Reuniting With His Daughter...

Letting Scott Go As He Saved Cassie, He Returns To Hank's House Where Hank Asks Him To Explain What He Saw In The Subatomic Realm, But Having No Memory Of The Experience Whatsoever Hank Lets Scott Go So He Can Make Out With Hope As They Start Their Relationship...

Invited Over By His Ex-Wife And Her Husband, They Tell Scott That Any Evidence That He Escaped From Jail Was Somehow Erased So Scott's A Free Guy Now...

But Getting A Call From Luis, He Tells Scott That His Cousin Ignacio Told Him That Some Writer He Met At A Bar Where Stan Lee Is The Bartender...

Stan Lee Cameo!

A Minute There I Thought This Was Going To Be The Only MCU Movie Without A Stan Lee Cameo And (I Know Stan's Dead Now But) I Would Have Loved To See A Show Where Stan Lee Played A Bartender...

Anyway, The Writer Tells Luis' Cousin That Falcon Is Looking For Him, Ending Our Movie...

We Get A Mid-Credits Scene Where Hank Shows Hope An Advanced Prototype Wasp Suit That Both Hank And Janet Worked On Together But Now Hank Realizes That They Weren't Working On It For Janet But For Hope To Someday Follow In Her Mother's Footsteps As The Wasp...

We Get A Preview Of The Next Film, Captain America: Civil War As We See That Cap And Falcon Have Captured Bucky (But None Of That Matters Now As I'm Going To Be Talking About It in The Next Review)

Anyway, That's Ant-Man And It's Okay...

The Story's Interesting And The Characters Are Decently Written However, This Is One Time Where I'll Admit That The Villain Is Okay But Didn't Seem Like A Major Threat Unlike Some Of The Other Films In The MCU But Either Way I Say See It...

Well, With Phase 2 Behind Us Now We Move Onto Phase 3 Next Week With Captain America Civil War, Till Then, This Is Duke, Signing Off...

#Ant-Man #Paul Rudd #evangeline lilly #corey stoll #michael douglas #bobby cannavale #judy greer #Marvel #marvel cinematic universe

[sqoiler]

Steph: Tim and Kon, sittin in a tree.

Dick: K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

Kon: for the last time, Tim and I have never made out!

Tim: It was just mouth-to-mouth!

Steph: wait

Tim: oops

Dick: are you saying that you have put your mouth on Kon's?

Damian: don't be vulgar, Grayson

Tim: yeah, okay, Kon SAVING MY LIFE is not making out

Cass: awww, you save each other!

Kon: we're teammates. it's what we do.

Cassie: he never gave ME mouth-to-mouth....

Kon: you never needed it!

Duke: how do you....even know mouth-to-mouth?

Kon: all heroes should know it!

Kara: yeah okay but who taught you?

Kon: I learned in the Teen Titans

Cassie: Teen Titans never taught me....just saying...

Kon: stop being gross!

Dick: Are you saying that being gay is gross, because if so, I am very disappointed in you--

Kon: THAT'S NOT WHAT I SAID

Jason: 's what it sounded like

Tim: Kon calling people who are gay gross would be hypocritical

Steph: and why is that, Timbo?

Tim: uh

Kon: I'm bi, okay?????

Kara: interesting. And how does Tim know this?

Tim: we're friends. We talk.

Steph: let me guess. It's 3 am, neither of you can sleep, Kon creeps into Tim's room--

Kara: Kon sits on the end of Tim's bed, they stare into each other's eyes--

Cassie: Kon says, softly, staring at the moonlight lighting up Tim's face--

Duke: "I'm bi, Tim."

Dick: "Bi....for YOU."

Tim: THAT NEVER HAPPENED

Steph: sureeeeeeee it didn't

Donna: that's how Dick came out as pan to me

Dick: sort of. I mean, I didn't say I was pan for her, but there was the moonlight, and the beds, and the 3 am part--

Damian: that never happened, Grayson

Donna: oh yeah it did, punk

Jon: I wish I had a friend I was that close to

Kara: why, Jonno? you got something to tell us?

Jon: No! I just wish I had a good friend...

Steph: Damian, you're such a terrible person, look at his little face

Damian: how is this about me, now? I thought we were talking about Drake and the clone!

Cass: we can talk about both

Jon: no, no, it's not Damian's fault--

Jason: that he's a little punk? yeah, it is

Damian: can we please go back to talking about Drake and the clone's mating habits?

Tim: JAY HOW DID YOU COME OUT AS BI?

Jason: walked up to the guy, made out with him, and said "hey, Roy, I'm bi" and he said, "That's funny, your pants were saying--"

Kara: OKAY JASON THERE ARE SMALL EARS HERE

Damian: Danvers is right, nobody wants to hear about you and Harper's disgusting habits

Steph: right, let's talk about CASS and Harper's disgusting habits!

Cass: Harper Row is the most beautiful girl to ever exist.

Steph, Tim, Kara, Dick: awwwwwwww

Duke: this doesn't mean you're off the hook, Timberly

Tim: suRE IT DOES!!!

Cass: no, I'm pretty sure we never learned where Kon learned CPR

Kon: Tim taught me, okay????????????????

Dick: I KNEW IT!!!

Steph: did you make out??

Kara: was it romantic??

Tim: NO!! We used a dummy, just like how we learned it with Batman!

Cass: oh

Donna: boring

Cassie: I expected more from you

Barbara: If it helps, I found footage of them on a rooftop last week....

Tim: NO NO NO

Kon: THAT NEVER HAPPENED

Steph: BABS MY HERO LET ME SEE

Tim: NOOOOOOOO

[everything descends into chaos]

Bruce: You asked why we never have family get-togethers, Clark. This. This is why.

Clark: I'll admit I wasn't, uh, expecting that. At all.

Diana, eating popcorn: I was!

#i have no idea what this is #harpercass #timkon #jayroy #stephanie brown #dick grayson #duke thomas #cassie sandsmark #donna troy #tim drake #kon-el #cass cain #jason todd #damian wayne #kara zor-el #kara danvers #jon kent #barbara gordon #diana prince #bruce wayne #clark kent #omg why