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brightnote · 9 months

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How Secret Invasion is Going to End: 4 possibilities (spoilers)

My main theory & how I hope it ends:

At the end of episode five Fury called the real Maria in hiding on the phone/ear piece telling her that it’s go time. G’iah shape shifts as Fury and he gives her his eye patch and the anti-super power serum he had hidden in his grave stone that the is pretending is Avenger DNA. G’iah goes to meet Gravik pretending to be Fury and then it’s all out full Fury v.s Gravik but it’s G’iah vs Gravik super skrull vs super skull and that’s the fight we see in the trailer.

G’iah then hits Gravik with the anti-super serum and he loses his powers and she kills him to avenge Talos and all the Skrulls he was going to sacrifice. Sonya goes to rescue the people in New Skrullos who are trapped in the skrull brain machines and the Skrulls who live there who Gravik and skrull Rhodey were going to bomb. We know Sonya goes there because we see her in the trailer in the ’body room’ for a lack of a better name.

Real Nick Fury and a full body widow veiled Maria In a form we don’t know yet but we have probably seen without realizing it get to Rava / skrull Rhodey in order to stop a bomb being dropped on new Skrullos. We know they succeed in this because we assume probably Rhodey is being held in New Skrullos in one of these skrull machines and we know Rhodey gets out and survives the attempted bombing on New Skrullos because Rhodey’s show Armor Wars is coming out soon! (LOL Marvel you make your own problems with low stakes so please stop sacrificing women for this)

Maria and Real Fury have it out with Skrull Rhodey/Rava and we know that they win because Nick Fury is in the Marvels which the full trailer just dropped today! In this fight with Skrull Rhodey / Rava we learn that Maria and Nick have always known something was up and they have bene playing them. This would explain a lot of the stupid moves we saw in the first episode that I can’t stop yammering on about. Mainly having a public conversation about world famous spy Nick Fury who is supposed to be up in space who is now in Russia very noticeably is not himself, that he is weak and needs to sit this fight out!!! They are saying this in front of Gravik who is at the bar before Nick gets there.

In this conversation Maria says she’s contacted Fury many times and he’s ignored her so why would Rhodey suddenly care about this communication this time? (I know I am making the same point over and over again) But having some type of fake out Maria could also explain why she thinks she can just GRAB A DIRTY BOMB WITH HER BARE HANDS AND UNPROTECTED BODY….this gets me every time. Additionally, I think there is a reason they keep showing us Maria’s death all the time and it’s not just for Cobie’s screen time.

If this is the case, this would reveal that Fury is and was always been three steps ahead like always and is ‘always in even when he’s out.’ And he was doing this sad man act that he had to put on to see who he could trust and to confuse Gravik. This also makes sense because in Far From Home when we see Fury on the phone with Talos he has eye patch on, and he seems like his full Fury self on the phone at the fake beach hanging up on Talos and telling everyone to get back to work. You’re telling me he just hung out in space like a sad dude all alone and grumpy and broken and wasn’t making some epic plan with Maria to oust these fucking evil skrulls? Nah. He didn’t go from eye patch full Fury from Far From Home credits scene to sad man Fury in just two years. There is a play going on here, and it’s big. This would also explain why Maria wasn’t with Talos Fury in Far From Home.

Also, this theory would help explain why Cobie said “I had a lot scenes at the same time as Don” (linked) which we have not seen yet! We only have one episode left! I think this was an accidental slip up when Cobie was interviewing at the premiere (god I hope so tbh) but that’s what she says so did these scenes get cut, are we going to see a flashback or are these in a future project?

But my theory is that Fury and Maria will once again save the day and then the big news story that Nick Fury killed Agent Maria Hill (BY AGENT THEY MEAN FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF SHIELD BUT SURE) will go away because Maria Hill ends up being alive so that story will go away and not lead to any future Nick Fury problems which we know he doesn’t have because the Marvels trailer dropped and he is well alive in them being his witty Fury self just like he was in the end of Far From Home.

Clues from outside the series: one last piece of evidence i have is that in her Vanity Fair interview after episode 1 of Secret Invasion Cobie said she had a meeting with the director after reading the script and said the focus was “how do we make this believable?” why wouldn’t we believe it, Cobie?? Is there some special reason it needs to be extra believable? Grasping at straws here and Cobie did say to her knowledge Maria Hill was a goner (but she was quick to note her availability for any future projects if Marvel would have her....) TBH I kind of wish they held off on this interview until after the whole series was over. In addition, new reports just came out that Cobie was allegedly paid 4 million for her work in Secret Invasion. I know she has A-list fees (and rightfully so because she’s good even in terrible projects) but 4 million for one episode? She has to be in episode 6!! (This really makes me LOL though because after the first episode people were like Cobie has the worst agent in the business how does anyone get killed off from Marvel!?!) and now I am like damn girl, get your money!!!! They couldn’t afford to pay her for all six episodes and that’s why she got the ax? lmao.

In addition to this Cobie was slated to appear at ComicCon in Amsterdam in August (although this doesn’t look like this happening now!) but she regularly goes to Amsterdam where her Dutch father lives (she posts it on IG all the time!)

CASE CLOSED, what do you think? I know this is a re-read for many of you but it is much neater and compact LOL and I had to get the Far From Home stuff in here.

THEORY 2

Real Fury goes to fight skrull Rhodey (Rava), Rava is trying to murder the president (which she might succeed because there is a new casting of the US president in the Marvels I think!) Fury tries to stop this and then Rava shapeshifts into Maria during the fight to fuck with allegedly Nick’s broken psyche and he has to shoot her AS MARIA! Except this time it is real Fury shooting a fake Maria! I would hate this but it would be pretty savage which Rava seems like she is and my guess is she is the one who set up Maria and wanted it on tape, and she was clearly working with Skrull Ross. Maybe we will get some clarity on this whole thing. And at least we would get more time with Maria’s hair cut. Or remember when Rava said “i used my last political capital to get Maria HIll’s body back from the Russians”? I always thought that was a guilt trip Fury line but maybe Skrull Rhodey actually did save Maria only to use her later against Fury?

I really want these Rhodey and Maria scenes to happen sooo c’mon something is gonna happen!!

THIRD ALTERNATE THEORY that I give a 0% chance to but it would be cool:

Remember when everyone was convinced there were two Nick Fury’s? Maybe there really were/are two Nick Fury’s through out the series except one is not a skrull shape shifting into Nick Fury one is actually Maria in the new Widow’s Veil which shifts the whole body and does explain some of the gaps we are seeing and weird behaviors we are seeing with Fury. But there is a reason why they have Fury do that line about the full body widow’s veil. So at one time there could be three Fury’s: G’iah, Maria, and actual Fury!! I would expect in a shapeshifting spy thriller there would be more shapeshifting of spies… so … this could be one and it could be very cool.

FOURTH “THEORY” AND HOW IT’S ACTUALLY PROBABLY GOING TO END BECAUSE MARVEL IS AFRAID TO SLAY.

Nick Fury (real Nick) fights Gravik with G’iah’s help and they get Gravik with the anti-super serum. Sorry but that is NOT avenger DNA. Unless it is Avenger DNA and Fury gives it to G’iah to beat Gravik. Or it is real avenger DNA and then Fury just wrecks it somehow. They don’t don’t anything about the bombing of New Skrullos (but we know Sonya does go there from the trailer) the bomb just doesn’t happen cause the president remembers what Fury said to him and fires skrull Rhodey.

Maria is really dead and nothing happens about that or her death being made public and there his no explanation about anything that happened in the first episode and we get absolutely no closure on this.

Fury and Varra make up and kiss cause everything is cool with them now apparently despite Varra’s earlier betrayal but he gets a happy ending cause he’s a man! And then Fury wipes his hands and goes back up to space. He finally gives Carol Danvers a call and that’s the lead in to the Marvels. Then in the Marvels we get a flashback to Maria and Talos being murdered so all of the audience who isn’t watching this show is like oh what wait they dead? What?! Why are they dead? And not a thing happens with any of that.

This would be the most disappointing outcome but this is my guess cause it’s the most boring and stupid and probably most likely because Marvel is so slay-phobic right now, but I pray it’s something close to my first theory with a joke being that Fury fighting alone is actually him fighting with people shape shifting as him such as Maria and G’iah.

Please tell me what you think!

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superectojazzmage · 1 year

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What are the most insane bits of comics deep lore you can think of? I remember there was a post listing a highlight of some of the crazier bits, like how the Human Torch canonically killed Hitler, but it'd be nice if you made your own.

That was my post lol. But there are some more I can think of.

To solve the problem of characters with war-based origin stories becoming dated to real history and thus walking chronology headaches, Marvel introduced a completely fictional war — the Sin-Cong War — that replaces the role of most real world conflicts in the Marvel Universe. Mr. Fantastic and Thing’s originally stated history as WWII vets, Punisher’s past as a Vietnam veteran, Iron Man’s getting his chest injury and Juggernaut his magic gem in the Korean War, Professor X serving in the same war with his step-brother Juggernaut, and much more have been reworked as occurring in the Sin-Cong War, which is best described as “what Nam would’ve looked like in a world of superheroes”. The main exceptions are Captain America, Nick Fury, Namor, and Wolverine, all of whom have various excuses that allow them to keep their WWII service as canon.

Doctor Strange is immortal. It’s almost never brought up in adaptations, but in canon, the ritual he underwent to be officially named Sorcerer Supreme involved him being granted biological immortality by the Vishanti, meaning that he no longer ages. This has had the odd effect of making Strange yet another exception to the whole “comic book time” issue; he canonically became Sorcerer Supreme in the 70s and that has never changed at any point.

Black Widow is also functionally immortal, thanks to a special anti-aging serum she receives periodically (the same that Nick Fury uses), allowing her to still be written as somebody who was a Cold War spy, even as the comics progress into the 2000s onwards.

Black Panther once got called a race traitor by an African-American man for hanging out with white superheroes, much to his bafflement.

Spider-Man and Mysterio once walked into a theater in their secret identities at the same time, failed to recognize each other, and spent the entire time having a geeky conversation about their love of old movies.

When Grant Morrison wrote Magneto as being very evil in their X-Men run, other writers went tripping over themselves to retcon it away because of what I can only describe as a deeply parasocial relationship with a fictional supervillain. The original story involved Magneto disguising himself as a made-up new superhero named Xorn to infiltrate the X-Men and destroy New York. The retconned and now canon story involves Xorn’s evil twin brother pretending to be Magneto pretending to be Xorn doing that.

There’s a minor Spider-Man villain named Facade who was supposed to be the crux of an ongoing mystery plotline but poor reception led to Marvel scrapping those plans before Facade’s identity could be revealed. The result is that the comics now have a running gag of Facade showing up randomly every few years but never getting to reveal his name.

Man-Thing is not just a swamp monster that burns people when they’re scared, he is the guardian and manager of the Nexus of All Realities, a mystical location where the borders between realms is thin and dimensional teleportation is very easy. The Nexus is located in Florida.

Jubilee is canonically one of the most powerful X-Men, as while she mentally limits herself to small pops and fireworks to fight crime, she can actually generate massive and long-lasting explosions capable of devastating entire city blocks, something proven when she accidentally obliterated the Mandarin’s castle in a moment of panic. It has been speculated that she could make a new sun if she really put her heart into it.

Similarly, the most powerful member of the Fantastic Four is Invisible Woman, because her forcefield powers are so game-breaking strong that she can use them to blow up Celestials with a thought.

Conan the Barbarian, Count Dracula, Frankenstein, Godzilla, the Micronauts, and Rom the Spaceknight are all canonically real people in the Marvel Universe. G.I. Joe and the Transformers are also real in an alternate universe.

Doctor Doom once got extremely drunk while having a portrait of himself without his mask made and went on a very long rant about his mommy issues to the famous painter he commissioned for it. After learning what he did and also deciding that the painter’s brushwork left much to be desired, Doom disintegrated the man with a death-laser, which caused his paintings to receive a sudden spike in price value.

To give perspective on how hard it can sometimes be to keep a character permanently dead in Marvel nowadays… a writer once had Wolverine finally kill Sabretooth by maiming him beyond even healing factor repair and then decapitating him with a magic sword that was explicitly stated would purge Sabretooth’s soul if it so much as even touched him, and it was repeatedly and thoroughly stated and demonstrated that this was the real Sabretooth and not a clone or robot or anything like that, and a later writer supported this by showing Sabretooth’s soul in Hell. Less then a year later, Sabretooth was back and the new writer justified it with “Wolverine killed a clone”.

Similarly, when Marvel killed off their version of Dracula (see above), they included in that issue a supposedly legally binding document proving they couldn’t bring him back from the dead. He is now back from the dead.

Hercules has to regularly fight off accusations that his sidekick/best bud Amadeus Cho is his “eromenos” — that is to say, his submissive and breedable gay lover.

Moon Knight has recently purged New York of vampires by luring them all to a dinner party, using the fact that he’s technically the priest of the moon god Khonshu to consecrate all the water in the building into holy water, then activating the sprinkler system. There were no survivors.

Doctor Doom is not actually a doctor. He flunked out of college following the accident that scarred his face and the “doctorate” he now holds is one he unilaterally gave to himself after taking over Latveria.

Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman’s son Franklin is destined to become the next Galactus. If something goes wrong and he can’t do it, the role will be fulfilled by Mr. Immortal, a superhero with no power except coming back to life everytime he dies.

Scarlet Witch and Vision’s children, Wiccan and Speed, are technically not their children. They were born separately to different parents, but are the reincarnated souls of twin boys that Wanda once believed she had given birth to years ago but didn’t. Confused? You should be.

The planet Earth is sentient and sapient, being known as the Machine by the Eternals, who were created by the Celestials to maintain it. The Earth is a Trekkie.

Professor X is actually much younger than how adaptations tend to portray him, being only about in his mid-forties at oldest by this point in the comics. Magneto is significantly older then him, despite the tendency of people to assume they’re the same age.

Cyclops once stole a guy’s bike to save the world.

Deadpool is romantically involved with the personification of Death and thus regularly cucks Thanos.

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ill-tell-you-what-i-wanda · 3 years

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loved loved LOVED black widow 🖤❤️

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brightbeautifulthings · 2 years

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Not Easily Conquered by dropdeaddream & WhatAreFears

"I won't be in the history books; that's for you. But I loved you first. As long as they get that right, I don't care what they say."

Year Read: 2022

Rating: 5/5

About: In 1945, Bucky Barnes falls from a train in the Alps, the only Howling Commando to give his life in service of his country. Later that same year, Steve Rogers jumps from a plane and swims to shore in freezing waters. In 1947, he marries Peggy Carter. In 1966, thirteen love letters written by Bucky Barnes are discovered and sensationalized, and Steve's marriage fractures. Decades later, separated from his wife, he discovers the identity of the Winter Soldier. Canon-typical triggers, including: death/character death, torture, blood/gore, severe injury, brain-washing, war, captivity, guns, violence, needles, homophobia, racism, grief. You can read it on AO3.

Thoughts: Sometimes I read a novel that's so well-crafted and so beautifully written that I think no matter how good I get at this, I will never be able to write something this good. I've long thought that a lot of fanfiction is better than some published novels, but this is the first time I've ever had that feeling about a fic. No matter how good I get at writing, I'll never be able to write something this beautiful, and that's okay because dropdeaddream & WhatAreFears have already done it. Agree or disagree with the ships or the plot choices, I think everyone can agree that the writing in Not Easily Conquered is poetic and heartfelt, and it has hands down some of the best quotes about love I've ever read in my life. Since AO3 still won't let me underline things, I kept a list in my notes of all my favorite lines that ended up being over two pages. I wrote them on my whiteboard, sent them to my Marvel partner in suffering; people translate this fic into other languages and get these words tattooed on their bodies--that's how beautiful they are. Whatever Ellen and Emily are up to these days, I hope they're still writing. 10/10 would buy your novels. 💛

The story is ambitiously plotted and spans a number of decades, following Steve through the discovery of Bucky's love letters in the sixties through the Vietnam War to his learning that Bucky is the Winter Soldier and moving up the timeline on CA:TWS a bit. I really enjoyed this alternate imagining of a Steve who did get to go home after the war, marry his best girl, and have a life, and... it goes about the way anyone with a clear understanding of Steve's character imagines it would. (Sorry, I got distracted giving that Endgame Steve pod person the evil eye). He might not fit into the twenty-first century, but he didn't fit that well in his own time either, and it's hard to watch a character I love flounder so hard in a world that doesn't seem to have a place for him anymore. He's so lost for so much of the story.

I'm a Stucky shipper from way back, so The Thirteen Letters was easily my favorite section in the trilogy. Bucky's voice is perfectly captured, and there's enough pining and angst in there to fuel a fandom for decades. It's also so much fun to get a closer look at the Howling Commandos in that section; Jim Morita is a prince, and you can't change my mind. Peggy is more difficult to pin down, given that she does a lot of questionable things in this story (and in the MCU, if we’re being honest), but I enjoy her complicated characterization. I can see it being a problem for Steggy antis though because there is a lot of Steggy in this fic. I'm not personally a fan, but I think it works for the purposes of the story, and I'm in love with their daughter, Katherine. I also loved Natasha's characterization and the creative ways other characters like Tony Stark and Nick Fury are worked into the plot. In the ice for seventy years or not, some people are just meant to be in the same story. I blew through it in about two days, and the only thing I wanted to do when I finished was start it over again immediately.

#book review #fanfiction review #not easily conquered #dropdeaddream #WhatAreFears #stucky #steggy #fanfiction #5/5 #rating: 5/5 #2022 #anti endgame

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thejakeformerlyknownasprince · 4 years

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I have seen many, MANY discussions/debates about ca:cw and I have never seen anyone mentioning that Rhodey's injury was a metaphor. How did you get that idea?

Short answer: I’ve actually read a lot on the subject. I’m teaching a media studies class right now called “What Can Superheroes Tell Us About Psychology?” (because that’s the kind of shit you can get away with at giant universities) and hoo boy are superhero narratives More Ableist Than Average. Anywhoo, a few of those readings:

I’m quoting hard from the chapter “Hyper-Normative Heroes, Othered Villains: Differential Treatment of Disability in Marvel” in a book on disability studies because it’s free. A relevant passage:

“These metaphorical portrayals all fail to engage with disability as a social category and as an individual identity, thereby ignoring its context… Nick Fury’s missing eye does not change his aim with distance weapons (e.g. Captain Marvel) or piloting software. Instead, it recurs in the films largely in metaphorical lines such as Fury’s commenting on the death of a friend with ‘I just lost my one good eye’… One character in Avengers even questions the lack of accessibility in Fury’s multi-monitor computer console, and Fury’s assistant simply answers that he must turn his head more often to compensate. The franchise thereby emphasizes that Fury’s missing eye is only a metaphor for his discernment and ability to see details that others have missed, rather than a truly integrated part of his character or even an accurate portrayal of that disability.

“8. This treatment of disability as metaphor persists throughout the MCU. In Captain America: Civil War, superhero War Machine incurs a permanent spinal injury while fighting on behalf of his best friend Iron Man. Later on, rival superhero Hawkeye… ‘You gotta watch your back with this guy. There’s a chance he’s gonna break it.’ The film then equips War Machine with a fantastical prosthesis that essentially nullifies his disabled experience through giving him the same range of motion as his non-disabled [abled] teammates, entirely without side effects or need for maintenance. The MCU films thus present disability as a metaphor for inner morality and characterization. War Machine has few experiences of being a disabled man through his spinal injury, but is instead emotionally ‘disabled’ by the damage to his social standing he has incurred through his friendship with Iron Man… The MCU thereby offers no critique of ableism or inaccessibility, instead continuing to localize disability as a problem with the body and the individual.”

Death, Disability, and the Superhero: The Silver Age and Beyond by José Alaniz is also a fantastic resource, and you can buy it for money here or hopefully find it at a library if you have no money. A few of the relevant points from his book:

Superhero stories often treat disability as a “problem” that must be “solved” through in essence nullifying the disabled experience of the character(s) through superpowers that run directly counter to the disabilities and/or fantasy “cures,” e.g.

Daredevil is blind BUT navigates the world in a way similar to sighted people due to his “radar sense,” meaning that he doesn’t get to have a lot of the lived experiences of blind individuals

Don Blake is mobility impaired and uses a cane BUT his cane transforms into mjolnir and imbues him with the power of Thor, meaning that he spends most of the story moving like a nondisabled person

Hawkeye is hard of hearing sometimes in some of the comics, BUT he often gets magical cochlear implants from Tony Stark that cause him to stop being hard of hearing

Characters that are disabled and remain disabled tend to be villains whose villainy is either implied or stated to come directly from their bitterness over being disabled, e.g.

Doctor Doom hates that he’s scarred by an explosion so much that he wants to take over the world to get revenge on the Fantastic Four

The Lizard only transforms himself because he ignores all scientific and ethical boundaries in his desperation to stop being disabled

Doctor Poison is described by herself and other characters as a “monster” for failing to (unlike Wonder Woman) conform to White Western conceptualizations of female beauty

Characters like The Thing, She-Hulk, and Bizarro have the potential for some really interesting disability narratives. However, the same publication pressures that prevent permanent injury or death to the characters also prevent the inclusion of “serious” “real-world” issues like discrimination unless it’s metaphorical (e.g. anti-mutant fearmongering as a metaphor for anti-AIDS prejudice).

The Big Damn Foundational Text on the intersection of disability studies and media studies is Narrative Prosthesis: Disability and the Dependencies of Discourse by David T. Mitchell and Sharon L. Snyder, and you can pay money for it here but it’s also available at a lot of libraries. Anyway, a couple of relevant points from that book include:

Disability portrayals abound in literature going back to pretty much the dawn of history, but most of those portrayals suck ass because:

Most disabilities are treated as metaphors rather than demographic characteristics, which means that the disabled character doesn’t get connected to other people with disabilities (including those in the real world) and offers no commentary on ableism — if Richard III’s spinal misalignment is just a metaphor for him being “twisted” inside, it doesn’t allow readers with spinal misalignment to identify with him

Disabled characters tend to exist to teach lessons to nondisabled characters rather than having their own journeys — Tiny Tim isn’t a person in A Christmas Carol, he’s an object lesson for Scrooge

Many disabled characters either get “fixed” so that they look outwardly “normal,” or their “ugliness” is used to make concrete the abstract “ugliness” of their personalities

Disability is treated as a “problem” that demands an explanation – Captain Ahab’s prosthetic leg and Joker’s facial scarring are treated as automatically demanding the question “why are you like this?,” even though no one would ever ask the same thing of their nondisabled co-characters

Authors’ implicit ableism tends to come out in their horror of disability, such as when they portray disabled characters preferring death to disability, going to extreme lengths to avoid or nullify disability, and/or declaring themselves “worthless” or “burdensome” in light of disability

Discomfort with disability — another form of implicit ableism – also comes out when disabled characters are overwhelmingly “killed or cured,” meaning that they don’t get to end their stories as living individuals who are still, in practice, disabled

ANYWAY, that’s a long-winded way of saying that I also haven’t seen any critics specifically talk about Rhodey’s disability as a metaphor first and a part of the character second, but that that doesn’t mean the shoe don’t fit. When someone asks about the Accords in Infinity War, Rhodey also says he supported them but then “I’m pretty sure I paid for that,” and gestures at his own paralyzed legs. He also also says in Endgame “I wasn’t always like this… but we work with what we’ve got” when talking to Nebula, BOTH about the fact that he’s disabled and about the fact that half the universe is dead and they’re all struggling to cope with that fact. It keeps getting used as a metaphor and keeps NOT getting used as a part of his identity. LET THE MAN TALK TO SOME OTHER DISABLED VETERANS FOR TWO SECONDS, FOR FUCK’S SAKE.

A couple of other (free!) readings that talk about that general problem of “we love superheroes and we hate ableism, now what?” even if they don’t mention Rhodey specifically:

“Reevaluating the Supercrip” by Sami Schalk connects media portrayals of the paralympics to media portrayals of Captain America and the Doom Patrol. (I swear to god it makes sense in context.)

“Seven Roads to Justice for Superheroes and Humans” by Mikhail Lyubansky gets into the glaring (for me, anyway) question of “why the fuck are sci fi psychologists all so evil and useless?” by explaining why Harley Quinn must be evil for Batman to be a vigilante.

“Superhero Comics as Moral Pornography” by David A. Pizarro and Roy Baumeister (again, I swear it makes sense if you read it) discusses the evolutionary tendency to judge people based on disabilities and why it’s so popular in superhero stories specifically.

Anyway, you probably weren’t looking for an entire annotated bibliography in response to that question, but I’ve never been one to use five words when 500 would suffice.

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ybelovva · 4 years

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the basics;

NAME: Yelena Belova

ALIAS(ES): Black Widow, Pale Little Spider, Rooskaya, too many to count...

AGE: Twenty-four

BIRTHDAY & ZODIAC: August 31st, Virgo

MBTI: ISTJ Inspector

PREFERRED PRONOUNS: She/Her

FACECLAIM: Florence Pugh

tw:mentions of deviant behavior (not yelena)

a deeper look;

FAMILY: Unnamed mother, Olga (Aunt)

AFFILIATION: Russia, Black Widow Ops Program, Red Room

THREE FAVORITE THINGS: Her country, Her job, Vodka

THREE HATED THINGS: Failure, Being Lesser than Natasha, New Gotham

EDUCATION: Some high school, Graduate of the Red Room espionage unit

SKILLS: Master Martial Artist, Gymnast, Espionage, Adept with all kinds of weapons, Highly Intelligent (to a degree), Trained operative

WEAPONS: ElectroShock Bracelets (Widow’s Bite) and Various Guns

ABILITIES: N/A

the questionnaire;

question: WHAT IS SOMETHING YOUR CHARACTER LIKES ABOUT NEW GOTHAM? SOMETHING THEY DISLIKE? DO THEY MISS THE WAY THINGS WERE - OR DO THE LIKE HOW THE WORLD IS NOW?

There isn’t much Yelena likes about New Gotham, but she does like that crowded streets mean she can blend in and disappear, whenever she wants. Allows her to watch her back, while following another’s. Yelena dislikes everything else. New York city, the creatures, the smell ---- but she especially detests the crime rate in New Gotham city. Moscow wasn’t nearly as dirty as this. At least they had principles and real punishment, where she came from. Here? Criminals run rampant, cocky, it disgust her, especially now that some of them have wings and fangs. It surprised her, all these new types of people and creatures, but it isn’t the first time she’s fought something non-human. She’s just not used to it being normal, but she’s getting used to it. Yelena misses the way things were, before the collision. She wants to go back to her universe, and fufill her duties as the Black Widow. At least there, she was the only one.

question: WHERE WAS YOUR CHARACTER WHEN EVERYTHING CHANGED? ARE THEY SUSPICIOUS OF EVERYONE OR ARE THEY TRYING TO REMAIN UNDER THE RADAR? HAVE THEY REUNITED WITH THEIR FRIENDS OR ARE THEY LOST?

Yelena was in the middle of a mission. Well, more like a post lesson. When everything changed, she was on her way to her next mission when she was taken out of her universe and dropped into this one. Yelena is both suspicious of everyone and under the radar. She doesn’t know who or what brought her here, and why? New Gotham is constantly changing, and with it bring more people, and more questions. Under the radar, because she doesn’t want to bring any unnecessary attention to herself. Give them just enough to ease them in conversation, that’s it. They wouldn’t want to know who the real Yelena Belova was. Yelena doesn’t have friends. Period. She’s lost and on her own, but she has a plan. She plans to scout out the area and people, as many as she can, gather information and figure out how to get outta here: that is her mission. Her skin crawls, the longer she stays in this place, but meanwhile, she’s going to use her skill set to save herself.

question: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: ANYTHING YOU WANT US TO KNOW? ANY HEADCANONS? Hi! I’m Sessho! And Yelena needs a lil bit of an explanation to the group. Since we don’t know how Yelena will be played in the upcoming Black Widow movie, I’m basing her more on her comic counterpart who’s a little more evil than ya think (I have already discussed this with one of the admins). So, following, is a bio I made for her ages ago based on her in the comics. I hope it makes sense and you all enjoy!

Yelena’s life before the Widow Program, was all but forgotten by the time she was fifteen. When Yelena was fifteen years old, she was recruited by the Red Room to be the next potential Black Widow. The same academy that the Soviet’s trained the first Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff. Once it’d become clear that their beloved Widow had defected, the Soviets knew they had a lot of work to do with Belova. And so that is where her story, begins.

She was originally spotted for her exceptional physical condition, high marks on her IQ tests, and her talent in gymnastics. The KGB meant for her to succeed her predecessor. Despite the program’s success, their perfect spy failed them. So, for years Yelena was trained under a strict regimen by the trainers of the program. During her training, Yelena scored incredibly high on her tests. But instead of being proud about it, she stated Romanoff had scored better, under the same tests. She hated to be lesser than a traitor who deserted her country.

The Red Room was her home, the pale little spider trained under for a decade. They fed her, clothed her. They played their vicious mind games on her, brainwashed her. Taught her how to fight, how to bleed. How to kill, and how to blend as a spy. She’d all but forgotten her life, before. One particular trainer she came to view, as a father figure. Pyotr Vasilievich Starkovsky, a Lieutenant Colonel who taught Yelena hand-to-hand combat, weapon use, and knife work for over a decade. A trained hand in hand combatant, he was her main instructor. She’d become close to him, and Starkovsky too considered her like his daughter. Though Starkovsky became obsessed. Yelena never thought anything of it. She was starting to feel inferior and inadequate to her predecessor, but as much as wanted to defeat her, Yelena undoubtedly idolized her. Even if she wouldn’t admit it to herself.

While Starkovsky’s deviant behavior found a substitute in a brothel with a woman named Petra, a look-alike of Yelena. What happened next, Yelena doesn’t exactly know. Starkovsky was dead, killed by Petra. Belova was shattered by the news, and confused by the loss of her father figure. She’d been told Starkovsky had been stealing secrets from the Black Widow program, and Yelena decided to investigate, on her own. In the end, Yelena killed Petra, and proceeded to accept the role as the new Black Widow. Belova would go on to never know that the entire ordeal, and the brothel’s owner, and the other woman in the room, Nikki, was an exercise. And part of her graduation test.

Her time as the Black Widow was short, but not without making it’s bite on the various people who mattered. For years, she’d completed intelligence missions for the KGB under the moniker Black Widow. Though her efforts, and partially the name, were overshadowed by the scarlet Widow. The real Black Widow. Yelena worked in the dark. The only people who learned that there was a second Widow, were her targets, and others who kept tabs on her. But the world knew of the Black Widow as a superhero. Natasha Romanoff, the Avenger. Yelena watched the movements of Natasha and the rest of the Avengers, through the years. And she waited. Shadowed by her predecessor once more. Seeing her face on the screen, fueled her obsession and drive to beat her, and be the only Widow that still represented mother Russia.

Yelena and Natasha had crossed paths, at least once, before Yelena successfully killed her. Natasha had always been far more experienced than the younger Widow, superior, but Yelena turned Natasha’s “mind games” on her. Wishing to teach Yelena a lesson, Natasha and Nick Fury, created Operation: Validate. The operation had Belova captured and surgically altered to be Natasha Romanoff and vice verse. To be her duplicate, and Natasha became Yelena Belova. Belova mentally held it together and played along, believing this had to be a mission that’d gone wrong. In the end, Natasha explained to Yelena that she’d orchestrated the whole thing in order to tell her the truth. Yelena was just a pawn for the people who trained. An instrument in war, not some heroine for her country. And that espionage was not a game, but Yelena didn’t want to hear it, and she shot Natasha and killed her. Yelena escaped with her life before Fury and his operatives could get there, and their mission was deemed a failure.

After much convincing, Yelena used the doctors provided by the Red Room to reverse the effects of the surgery. Yelena looked like herself again, and now, in this new world, she was the one and only Black Widow. She achieved her greatest desire, to beat her predecessor, but Yelena felt no differently. Her passion disappeared after that, but she continued onto her next mission....

plots: So basically, plot-wise, Yelena’s universe is mostly comic based since the Black Widow movie hasn’t come out yet, and I’ve taken some liberties here and there with her bio. In her universe, she killed Nat, but after she feels lost, until she ends up in New Gotham. She’ll slowly become an Anti-Hero, here, in New Gotham, through interactions and plots and whatnot. That’s where I can blend in some of the MCU for her, because I’m also really excited about what they’ll do for Yelena in the MCU !!!

Connections! Honestly, I’ll take them all, no bias here, especially since I’d like to see her become somewhat of a hero. I wanna put Yelena through the ringer tho too, so come at me, bruh.

The only other thing I was gonna put here was, my laptop can’t make text smaller (it’s already small) so all my text will look regular-sized for tumblr posts. Sorry!

#synergy:charintro #tw:deviant behavior #/mentions of #/not by yelena

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ty-talks-comics · 4 years

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Best of Marvel: Week of January 15th, 2019

Best of this Week: Iron Man 2020 #1 - Dan Slott, Christos Gage, Pete Woods and Joe Caramagna

This shouldn't work, but oddly enough it does.

Machine life forms in the Marvel Universe have a complicated history in terms of their status as sentient beings and whether or not they feel as humans do. Ultron has always displayed a rage and hatred towards humanity and the Avengers in particular not dissimilar to any number of human or alien enemies of these heroes. On the flip side of that, Machine Man, since his original comic series and until his newfound prejudice against meatbags, has always sought to show just how human that he is in the face of anti-robot discrimination. (see Machine Man, 1978)

This conflict was on full display in Tom King’s amazing Vision (2015) series which saw Vision feared for building a robotic family and trying to live a human life. While robots and AI based beings aren’t nearly as hated and reviled as mutants, Dan Slott’s Iron Man series has been building to this - a human/robot war spurred on by Tony Stark’s brother Arno. Though he’s not quite the Arno Stark from 1984’s Iron Man 2020, he still sees a future in peril from an as of yet unknown technological threat.

Pete Woods opens this book with Arno having a nightmare in the form of a planet sized being that looks like they’re composed of circuits and death. Woods colors the lights of the creature with an eerie purple tone that accentuates its darker purple-ish exoskeleton. Arno appears almost as an insect by comparison as he floats towards this. All of this is made even creepier by Joe Caramagna’s use of stilted, robotic lettering to give the creature a cold and calculated voice of doom. When we do get a close up of Arno’s face, he is stricken with fear.

Arno’s been up to a lot in the background of Tony’s adventures in the Tony Stark: Iron Man series from the last year. He’s resurrected his dead parents sing the same method and technology that Tony did after Carol Danvers killed him (and she DID kill him), he’s taken up the mantle of Iron Man after Tony revealed himself to have been an advanced AI in the form of Tony Stark and he’s found himself a partnership with the money hungry Sunset Bain, who’s now in control of Stark Unlimited after Tony’s revelation. Arno’s been a busy man.

On top of all of this, spilling out of The Ultron Agenda, there’s a crisis among the people over the uprising of machines which Arno eggs on by calling even the most advanced ones lifelike simulations.Janet van Dyne tries to quell the fears and James Rhodes can’t be bothered to talk to the press as he also has robot matters to deal with. One of the first conflicts that Slott and Gage present us with is a hostage situation in which Life Model Decoys of the original Nick Fury try to liberate construction bots. Woods frames it as a dangerous situation with one of the LMDs holding the site manager as a human shield. The numbers of the LMDs look intimidating until Iron Man appears.

Pete Woods does an amazing job in revamping the original 2020 armor for the modern day. Arno looks like a terror with his almost Ultron like faceplate and even more ridiculously oversized gears as shoulder pieces. He retains the standard Iron Man colors and even homages the original golden legs by placing armor over the front of his legs. I would have preferred that all of the leg be gold, but Woods still does well with the redesign and the pose that he gives Arno when he appears - blowing the head off an LMD with lethal force.

Arno quashes this rebellion easily enough, but somehow all of the robots manage to escape. Tensions continue to rise and the same thing happens when anti-robot forces invade a secret robot bar and they manage to escape again. We then find out that one of the heads of the Robot Rebellion is Machine Man (Aaron Stack). Both Machine Man and Arno Stark were the feature characters in the original Iron Man 2020 story so it’s great that Slott and Gage recognized that and revitalized their history in this new story. The potential for their eventual conflict to end in much the same way is pretty tantalizing in my eyes as Machine Man defeats Arno at one point in that original story.

Though, I have to admit that both sides in this story have some NEFARIOUS ways of taking the fight to one another. In an effort to draw out the Robot Resistance, Sunset Bain and Arno blow up a robotics factory after buying it out. Woods draws Aaron with genuine shock and anguish as he watches the explosion on the screen and it really sells how much pain this is causing. After the broadcast, Sunset and Arno look at the rubble as a necessary evil to stop Stack and his followers.

In retaliation, however, Machine Man WIRES A BOMB TO A MATERNITY WARD. I’m usually on board with Robot Rights, even advocating for better AIs in sex dolls, but this is the thing that people are afraid of and Aaron is only stoking the flames of fear here. It’s a reckless move that won’t garner support for the Robot Rights Movement, if anything Arno is just going to fight back against Machine Man and the Resistance even harder out of fear of his nightmare.

Woods draws an amazing stare down between Machine Man and Arno, neither of them really having eyes to blink with. Machine Man gives Arno an ultimatum; either let him and the poor bomb disposal robot escape or the bomb goes off. In five panels, we see the character of both. We get ne close up shot of Arno’s plated eyes with rain pouring down on him and similar shot of Machine Man, then we get a third person perspective with the bomb on one side and Machine Man on the other. Arno takes the bomb and Aaron taunts him as he flies away. It’s tense and the lack of dialogue makes it far more serious than expected from the mostly comedy character that Machine Man has become.

Arno also tried to warn Aaron of what was coming, but I understand why he didn’t want to listen. For whatever reason Slott gave Arno a sudden-ish character change either in a recent Iron Man annual or a little while before a rogue AI invaded Tony’s eScape (2019?). Arno was initially helpful and supportive of his brother and robots like Jocasta, but then all of a sudden he became withdrawn and kind of a dick. This version of Arno had been locked away, unable to move without machines until Tony found him and tried to reintroduce him into the world (Iron Man, 2013), so maybe Slott and Gage are building on his use of the Extremis virus for movement to explain the change?

Alternatively, this is all just a way to retell the original Iron Man 2020 story as Arno inadvertently created the threat he went back in time to stop in that story because he refused to take a moment to see how damaging his actions were and that same recklessness is on full display here with Arno 2.0.

All in all, this story was pretty weird and fantastic. I doubt it will reach the heights of the philosophical masterpiece that is Nier: Automata in regards to it’s “can machines feel human too” themes, but Slott and Gage are doing their best and that gives us a fan story with lots of callbacks to the past. Pete Woods pencils, coloring and inking are phenomenal here and make this book visually appealing. His style and heavy hitting action give the proper weight that an Iron Man story needs and his updated 2020 Armor isn’t bad at all. This one is absolutely a high recommend.

#iron man #iron man 2020 #arno stark #tony stark #machine man #marvel comics #robot rights #dan slott #christos gage #pete woods #joe caramagna #comics #comic review

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armageddon-generation · 5 years

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Starting the DCEU right: fixing BvS and its lead-up

BvS is really frustrating, so I rewrote it, re-ordered the existing movies and inserted in a Batman movie

1. Wonder Woman

Start the DCEU off with a ‘bold’ statement with the first female led superhero movie, and the first chronologically.

2. Man of Steel

Bright colours, bloody hell

Cut the heavy-handed Jesus/Messiah symbolism. Superman was created by Jews anyway, Christiansing him feels disrespectful

Put it in chronological order starting in Smallville, so we’re invested in Clark’s struggle

Pa Kent doesn’t die in a tornado, that scene is ridiculous

Move the Krypton sequence in the beginning to when Jor El is explaining Clark’s origin to him in the Arctic ship, so we maintain the mystery and don’t repeat ourselves

Focus on Clark trying to live a normal life – his relationship with Lois, becoming a reporter, while he fights regular crime in secret (the Smallville blur trope)

Zodd attacking disrupts that peace and forces Superman to go public for the first time

Thematically, classic ‘regular guy doing the right thing’ Richard Donner Superman is fighting off the ‘detached alien Messiah figure’ Zack Snyder Superman Zodd wants him to become

Metropolis’ destruction and Clark being forced to kill Zodd still happens, but show Clark trying to avoid populated areas and save bystanders instead of fight, Zodd just won’t let him.

3. Batman: Under the Red Hood

Under the Red Hood (UtRH) with a depressed robin-less Batman

Follow basic outline of UtRH animated movie (75 mins) in a 2-hour movie, incorporating elements of The Killing Joke

UtRH is a mystery that lets us focus on Batman’s detective side

Talia resurrected Jason as an apology to Bruce – allude to Damian’s existence when we visit the League of Assassins and establish their past romance

UtRH is the perfect story to introduce the batfamily - Bruce still isn’t talking to Dick after kicking him out to become Nightwing, the Red Hood pushes them to work together, but uncovering Jason’s identity fractures their relationship further (fight?)

Killing Joke happened recently and Barbra is still recovering. Show the events leading up to and after it in PTSD flashbacks, but framed through Barbra’s empowering story of recovery, not the traumatic incident itself. Maybe introduce Leslie Thompkins as her therapist.

Bruce is also estranged from Commissioner Gordon as a result of Killing Joke. When Jason finds out the Joker paralysed Barbra after he died and Bruce still let him live, he’s even angrier

This story is the perfect set-up for the DCEU’s (recast) Joker; he’s a secondary villain to Jason, but by mixing both UtRH and Killing Joke, his two most famous/heinous crimes, he immediately becomes a terrifying bogeyman with an established relationship with Batman

Stealth set-up for Birds of Prey (Oracle), Nightwing, and Red Hood and the Outlaws movies

By the end of the movie both Jason and Joker escape and Bruce is left isolated and questioning his no-kill code after Jason’s arguments, Joker escaping yet again, and all his recent trauma, setting up his emotional state for BvS

The only ones to stay by his side are Alfred and Lucius Fox

4. Batman vs Superman

Clark is our protagonist, Bruce the sympathetic villain who’s redeemed by the end

After killing Zodd in MoS, Clark is determined not to kill – CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT through an opening action sequence

He and Lois are newlyweds

Clark wants to be trusted, and that means conforming to government control (like in The Dark Knight Returns, except this time it’s sympathetic) – his moral dilemma is whether them controlling Superman is a good thing

Clark hates Batman because Bruce is becoming more and more recklessly violent (The Dark Knight Returns) since UtRH and The Killing Joke and his support structure collapsing. Clark reports on how the Bat-Brand is causing criminal deaths (which is now a big No-No for Supes, without him being a hypocrite) - cut the unimportant conflict with Perry White

During the Metropolis attack Bruce loses someone. I don’t like killing a black character, but it makes the most sense that Lucius Fox would be in the Wayne Tech building and die. The audience has a history with the character – not only was he in UtRH, but also the Dark Knight Trilogy.

Alfred loses a leg, as in the Earth One graphic novels – that gruffer version of the character is similar to Jeremy Irons’ portrayal anyway

Bruce now has legitimate reasons to fear Clark, and he has no support network left.

Wayne Industries is funding the rebuilding of Metropolis, in collaboration with Lexcorp (like in the No Man’s Land comic event). Lex (recast) is presented as an ally to Bruce, sympathising with and stoking the flames of his Superman hatred

Insert the Diana subplot in here – BUT DON’T SPOIL HER BEING IN THE MOVIE IN THE TRAILERS. Bruce catches her snooping around at one of Lex’s fundraisers for rebuilding Metropolis.

Lex doesn’t just have her photo – in the hundred years since Wonder Woman, Diana has become a protector of mythological beings (Nick Fury for the Gods). Instead of the email attachment of Justice League teaser trailers, Lex has stolen information from Diana that reveals the locations of Themascyra and Atlantis, the sister cities.

Bruce and Diana can have a philosophical discussion about new gods outmoding old gods without it being out of place – Diana is unsure of her place in this changing world

Lex is also planning to run for President – he encourages Bruce’s anti-authoritarian sentiment. The GCPD have started a manhunt for the more brutal Batman. Legitimise this sentiment further by having Clark’s main contact to the Government be morally corrupt Amanda Waller (replacing Holly Hunter’s Senator) who wants to use Clark in black-ops missions.

We see one of these missions. Amanda wants Clark to kill, which he refuses to do, only for her to kill the targets anyway. (a version of the drone strike scene that opened the original BvS)

This causes huge moral conflict for Clark – show he and Lois debating and supporting each other at home – Lois doesn’t trust Waller and starts investigating her.

Bring in the Sons of Batman subplot from The Dark Knight Returns – Batman’s brutal new tactics inspire a gang of, deadly copycat vigilantes. Possibly you could turn them into the We Are Robin gang from Scott Snyder’s comic run

We learn about the gang from the POV of one kid – Tim Drake (or Duke Thomas, but we’d have to give him Tim’s origin – figuring out Batman’s identity as a child detective)

Tim experiences the terror and violence Batman’s new brutality is inspiring on the streets of Gotham – he goes to Wayne Manor, only to find it abandoned. Alfred lets him into the Batcave to shake some sense into Bruce, and Tim gives his pitch about Batman always needing a Robin to balance him. Bruce kicks him out.

A scene where Lex inducts the wheelchair-bound Metropolis victim into his scheme.

The conflict and tension is driven up by Superman breaking up a Sons of Batman rally, then confronting Batman while he’s torturing some criminals.

Bruce is working on his power armour, exhausted. Here we see a version of the Knightmare sequence:

Future!Barry runs in, grabs Bruce and zips into the post-apocalypse to show him the future. This is the only time we see Batman kill in the movie – driven over the edge. He is fighting Evil Superman, bearded in the black suit, looking a lot like Zodd. Darkseid looms as a dark, unidentified figure in the distance. Barry runs Bruce back, yelling to find him in the present and watch out for Luthor, but Darkseid’s Omega beams hit and kill him just as Bruce is thrown back into the Cave.

He passes out, then wakes up later, convinced he’d had a dream about Superman destroying the world.

Lex lets Batman steal the kryptonite – he’s getting desperate

Finally, with the Batman crisis worsening, Waller orders Clark to take Bruce down. Bruce is waiting with his power armour.

The fight should be a pastiche of fights from the comics – sonic weapons and kryptonite gas, but also Red Sun lasers and that moment in Hush where Bruce electrocutes Clark with the mains supply of a whole city.

Meanwhile, Lois’ investigation into Waller has uncovered that the government agents ordering Clark around answer to Lex Luthor. She realises Lex has been manipulating Superman and Batman into fighting in the hopes of killing both (supplying the kryptonite etc). Mercy Graves shows up to kill her but Lois escapes.

Meanwhile, Tim breaks back into the Batcave and steals a Robin suit.

Both Tim and Lois arrive at the scene of the fight and stop Bruce delivering the final blow. Instead of MARTHA!, Tim and Lois talk their respective heroes down, Lois explains Lex’s role. Bruce remembers Barry’s warning – was that dream real?

Lex realises what’s going on and releases his Big Bad, Metallo (replacing shit Doomsday), a kryptonite-powered cyborg mech created from the wheelchair-bound Metropolis victim and Kryptonian-killing weapons technology from Zodd’s ship. This way the fight ties in with the consequences of Clark destroying Metroplolis.

Diana, having been in the Lexcorp facility to steal her information back, arrives to fight with Clark and Bruce. She’s decided she’s still a hero.

The power is out in Gotham after Bruce used the mains to fight Clark, and the city is in chaos.

Bruce enlists Tim to evacuate the city and stop rioting while Clark and Diana fight Metallo – adapting the Dark Knight Returns sequence where Bruce rides through Gotham on horseback, enlisting the Sons of Batman to do some good.

This is the culmination of Bruce’s arc; accepting Superman is needed while stopping a repeat of Metropolis’ destruction by damage-controlling his fight. He’s also taking responsibility for his impact on Gotham through the gang.

Lex remotely sets Metallo to self-destruct when he starts losing the fight. Clark tries to save his enemy (DEVELOPMENT from MoS) but dies in the explosion due to the fatal dose of radiation poisoning. This death sets up the next 'phase’ of movies

We’ve set up several threads for future movies – we are aware of Atlantis thanks to Diana’s information, without having Aquaman thrown in our faces.

Lex gets away – Bruce breaks into his office and confronts him, but Lex is untouchable and still running for President

Bruce is now privately investigating what he saw in the Knightmare, including finding Barry Allen

Tim starts training to be the next Robin – Bruce is learning from his mistakes with Jason.

Amanda Waller sets up Suicide Squad

Lois is revealed to be pregnant with Clark’s child at the end, paralleling Clark’s natural birth in Man of Steel

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girlbookwrm · 5 years

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It’s here! At last! THE MIGHTY PRE ENDGAME REWATCH CONTINUES, WITH:

AKA IS IT MY BIRTHDAY? YES. YES IT IS.

(or it was at any rate, it took me Some Time to get this all typed up because holy fuck it’s long. looks like i’ve got Some Feelings about The Winter Soldier. WHO KNEW)

ANYWAY, if you’re wondering what the hell this is all about i’ve been rewatching all the marvel movies (and commentating on them) in preparation for Avengers: Endgame and NOW IT IS TIME FOR MY FAVORITE ONE

I got @goteamwin and @pegasuschick here IT’S A PARTY! WE GOT COOL RANCH DORITOS AND BRAINWASHED SUPERSOLDIERS LET’S DO THIS.

Day 912: i still miss the old marvel logo

LISTEN THIS IS THE BEST OPENING SCENE IN MARVEL HISTORY FIGHT ME.

“~on your left ;)~” honestly? iconic.

God Bless Steven Grant Rogers and his Smedium Shirts.

Steve, known bisexual disaster, is hitting on Sam here. this isn’t even in question, right? Sam’s quip about “making me look good to the girl at the front desk” was a soft rejection and Steve takes it like a champ.

Important to note: the black widow uses emojis in her text messages.

Also important to note: Sam Wilson hits on the Black Widow because he flies into combat at 100 miles per hour wearing a tee-shirt and dad jeans he fears nothing not even death itself

also also important to note that The Roommate went to see this movie by herself, low key cosplaying as Fem!Cap. she did this in part because I had gone to see it first (i was in the UK at the time, and it came out over there before it came out in the US. ~IRONY~) and as soon as I got back from seeing it (i had low-key cosplayed as fem!Hawkeye. it’s a long story) I emailed her and was like O HAI U SEEN DIS? U WILL LIKE IT. ~and she dii-iiiiiid.~

every time i see this scene now, i hear that bit from the gag real.

cevans: Kill the engines. wait for instructions. *whining and stamping his foot* cuz i’m in chaaaaaaaarge.

Being asked about your dating life and then immediately jumping out of an airplane is a Big Mood

I would like us all to appreciate that steve put a nice matte stealth finish on his patriotic dinner plate, special for this mission.

Also, we’re all agreed that Steve kills at pool, yeah? Give me Steve being a pool shark at the local watering hole plz n thank.

Steve: *punches a guy through the shield*

The Roommate: but why does he punch that guy through the shield?

Me, having a Terrible Thought: Maybe one time he accidentally punched through a guy’s face and ever since then he uses the shield as, like, a buffer when he wants to take people alive.

The Gal Pal: WOW. YOU WENT THERE.

parkour!

~Hey Sailor ;)~

that one guy working for Batroc really needs to lay off the steroids, or whatever is giving him this Unnecessary Rage. You know the guy I mean.

love how batroc is jchilling and then WHAM! IT IS I! AMERICA!

ON! VA! VOIR!

did he learn this from Dernier? he learned this from Dernier.

The Gal Pal: that is a ridiculously huge flash drive

Me, Just Now: overcompensate much?

Nat’s little eyeroll after Steve says “you’re damn right”

The Roommate: Nat is So Tired of Steve’s Drama™. And now she’s going to have to deal with his cold shoulder the whole flight back, and she’s going to have no one to talk to but Rumlow and uggghhhhhh

Steve comes into Fury's office and Damn. Dat Ass.

The Roommate: They know what they're doing here.

eyyyyyy tony’s in this movie (kinda)

I love that Steve just like, drives around with the shield on his back.

Enter The Smithsonian.

The Roommate: I! LOVE! THIS! SO! MUUUUUUCH!!!

Me: Gee sure would be nice to be able to go to a smithsonian right now.

*american sobbing intensifies*

The Roommate: what is the timeline here? does he come straight back from the mission into yelling at fury? and then straight here?? Is Steve just like “oop time to go look at my old stuff and Emote”? Is this his routine??

buckyyyyyyyyyyy

listen yall know the extent of my BuckRogers feels but every time they pull out that compass i develop a terrible case of The Steggies.

“It’s just not the same” ha ha kill me.

~So Dramatic ;)~

“Steve?” HA HA HA KILL ME

Fury’s Computer:

At This Juncture The Commentators Would Like It Noted That It Has Been 23 Solid Minutes of Stuff We 1000% L O V E and everyone’s favorite brainwashee has not even appeared yet.

but he’s coming

s o o n

Also, we all hate Alexander Pierce but he is a great villain and also Robert Redford might be an older fella but he can definitely still get it heyooo

Steve is so awkward here. But like, imagine him actually going to one of these VA things, like everyone’s all “ied this, helicopter that” and steve’s just like “so one time in ‘44 i punched my way into a panzer”

The Roommate, Who Is Sometimes More Evil Than Me: ~NOW IS AN EXCELLENT TIME TO REMEMBER THAT RILEY WASN’T IN A PLAAAAAANE~

at this moment, the DC driving types lost their goddamn minds.

“WHAT IS THIS? WHERE IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE? WHERE, IN WASHINGTION, THE DISTRICT OF GODDAMN COLUMBIA, IS THERE THIS LITTLE TRAFFIC, HUH??”

“You wanna see my lease?” i c o n i c.

Did you know that SLJ was an actual Black Panther? I did not know this, but as soon as the Gal Pal told me, i was like “oh yeah that checks out.”

meanwhile, the couch based road rage continued all around me.

“This part of DC ~DOES NOT EXIIIIIIIIIIIIST~”

“Traffic alert? on the Roosevelt Bridge? Yeah in other news WATER IS WET.”

“wait is he getting on 66? ARE YOU GETTING ON 66?? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU???”

“Have you ever even been on 495?????”

HE’S HERE!!!

just like, damn gurl, u make that highway ur catwalk.

Me: What the hell kind of laser pointer do you have there, Nick?

The Gal Pal & The Roommate: It’s A Lightsaber.

The Roommate: So is this just like? An Average Day In The Life Of Captain Rogers? Get up, go for a run, annoy a veteran, fly to the other side of the world, kick ass, fly home, talk back to a superior officer, drop my priceless shield off at home, go emote at a smithsonian exhibit, have my heart ripped out by my nonagenarian ex, go flirt with annoy a veteran (part two, now with added Feelings™) go home, get rejected by my neighbor, CHASE A FUGITIVE.

JUST ANOTHER DAY! IN THE LIFE OF STEVEN GRANT ROGERS!!

honestly his neighbors must hate him

that’s why Sharon’s his neighbor, everyone else LEFT.

The Biggest Flash Drive

Let’s Not Forget, that because she is undercover as a nurse, Sharon probably just kicked that door down with crocs.

YOU’RE WELCOME

let’s appreciate that the Soldier’s theme music is just SCREAMING and also you should know that every time it comes on, the Gal Pal and I start SCREAMING. not, like, in an “oh we’re excited” way, just, like, the way you sing along to the theme song of your favorite TV show, you know?

PARKOUR!

The Roommate: good job with your eyeliner there, buddy. You Did Your Best.

The Gal Pal: That Is Dupont Circle and Steve is Extremely Gay.

(yes, we know he’s bi.)

Natasha really should know better than to believe that Nick is dead.

THAT IS THE WORST PLACE TO HIDE THE FLASH DRIVE

The Gal Pal: genuinely, it’s such a bad hiding place it stresses me out.

The Roommate: Yeah, what was he thinking? I mean, was his logic just that no one likes that gross bubblegum?

Me: UM WHAT?

The Gal Pal: EXCUSE YOU THAT IS BUBBLE YUM.

The Roommate: ... yeah but it’s the gross bubblegum flavor?

At this point we lost a few minutes to divide into Pro and Anti Bubblegum Camps and then had to run the movie back because we missed:

~Neighbor ;)~

i c o n i c

The Roommate: Sir. Stop Having That Face. That is Illegal.

(she is having A Difficulty. The Difficulty is cevans’ jawline)

But seriously: What actually happens in this scene? We are all Steve and we all want to punch our way out of this confusing conversation.

God that face/those tits/that ass tho

Young Man. You Stop That.

THE ELEVATOR SCENE. I mean how many movies can say that some of their best scenes happen in an elevator? That alone is a real accomplishment.

They’re all ~soooo casual~ and then there’s rollins, who isn’t even trying. “records.” These WWE wrestlers are not going to records, come on.

at this point we stopped commentating except in inarticulate whoops of delight and shrieks of glee. except for one brief aside

Me: This scene is so sexy, but like, not in a sexy way? Like, the fighting style isn’t that “oooo I’m fighting in a sexy way” it’s just, it’s so...!

The Roommate: Primal?

and I regret to inform you all that yes, she is 100% Correct, it is indeed sexy in a primal way.

“whoa big guy”

i just.

that’s all i got on that

tiny turtle of freedom

we had the subtitles on, and it just says “woman screams” Screams in what? JOY?

It’s raining men! Hallelujah!

“Stand down, Captain Rogers! Stand! Down!

Captain Rogers: *accelerates*

They’re being made to watch social media so what I want to know is which poor SHIELD guy got stuck monitoring tumblr?

“oh we’re getting all kinds of hits but uhhhhhhhhh they’re not......... pertinent..............”

why doesn’t The Biggest Flash Drive have a cap? it is now full of crumbs. it’s full of crumbs, guys. if it’s going to be that big it should at least be one of those cool slider ones.

“Are you calling for my resignation? do you know who i am? Bitch I Am Robert Redford.”

Apple Store Aaron. “hey guys why’s your flash drive so big??”

“yeeeah. we’re getting married.”

Honeymoon destinations -- where are you going?

Steve: (without thinking, reads the first thing he sees) New Jersey

Steve: *dies a little inside*

Steve: *forgive me bucky for i have sinned*

I love that they’re coming out and Steve is 100% tactical brain and then Nat’s just like “put your arm around me and laugh” and when it works Steve just looks back over his shoulder like:

oh my god it worked???

sPyING is WitCHCraFT?????

“was that your first kiss since 1945?”

“That was not my first kiss since 1945,” said Steven Grant Rogers, Who Is Definitely Lying, and Furthermore, Is Fooling Exactly No One.

Sidenote: Ship and let ship, obviously and always, but I love Steve and Nat as BROS too much to ever see them romantically, The Bromance Is Strong With Them.

it’s been said before, but it’s worth saying again

Steve: kind of hard to find someone with shared life experience.

Bucky, ten minutes later, wearing bondage gear: HELLO IT IS I

SKINNY STEVE!

of course he memorized the army regulations.

Listen. The cell phone trick Bugs Me™ and the only thing that lets me get through it is the idea that they cleverly cut around natasha standing there for 40 minutes trying out every possible permutation of those numbers, with possible duplications.

I like the idea that Computer!Zola has been building this little fanvideo since the mid-seventies and he’s just! so excited! to show it to someone!

Steve punching the screen is another Big Mood.

“even captain america and the black widow can’t survive a missile Directly To The Face” BITCH U THOUGHT

it’s nice that they give bucko a kirk light here

~u want some milk? ;)~

honestly, what the fuck even is that line.

they made Robert Redford say that line.

what does it mean

YOUNG MAN! THAT IS! ILLEGAL!

altho tbh i want a slightly grubby Steve in a tank top to give me a pep talk, like, every day. that would be fine.

The Gal Pal, A Curly Haired Individual: hhhhhhhow did Natasha straighten her hair. This makes me So Angry.

Me: I mean, I like to imagine her with Sam’s Iron and ironing board, just like *mimes frantically ironing hair with a Very Soviet Expression*

Fort Meade is the best scene that isn’t in the movie.

Aw Gary Shandling’s here. Awwwww Gary Shandling...

Sam, are you intimidating this guy or flirting with him?

To Those who remember the Potato/Gremlin Scale, I propose a third option, a kind of venn diagram situation going on, where the third option is Fey Creature. Sam is neither Potato nor gremlin, but he might be a Fey Creature.

God I love this scene.

LOOK AT SAM HERE: No armor, no flightsuit, no fucking knee pads no goddamn helmet just Casual Dad Falcon, Suns Out Guns Out.

Steve: What the fuck’s an SAT.

he’s coming.

*SCREAMING*

he’s here.

is it murder or is he modeling?? “you got this Soldier, make ‘em wait for it... Boom.”

this is the greatest fight scene of all time, honestly. This and then the fight scene in the first RDJ holmes movie are the Only fight scenes i can even remotely stand to watch. Except maybe some of the bending battles in ATLA. but this scene. this is top of the list. it’s just. *kissy chef fingers*

Soldier strolling along not firing his weapon because he has no shot and he is a Child of the Depression who don’t waste no bullets.

only loses his cool when Widow Breaks his stuff.

Sam Wilson: Brings a pocket knife to an automatic rifle fight and wins.

“go, I got this!”

aw yeah you do

THAT STRUT™

Soldier strolling along the street. so bored. could be home watching project runway.

That thing Soldier does with the arm Does Things to me for reasons that I choose not to examine too closely

ANYWAY WE DON’T HAVE TIME TO UNPACK ALL OF THAT.

“who the hell is bucky” wow there Soldier you went from Full Russian to American Accented English awfully quick I Wonder Why

Soldier’s reaction to confusion is to Immediately Shoot and honestly that’s a Big Mood.

We are all agreed that the only reason SHIELD succeeds in taking Steve in is because

look at that face

steve’s not here right now, please leave a message.

More DC Area Rage: “WHERE IS THIS DAM? WHERE??”

natasha y r u surprised that Fury is alive?

oh noooooooooooo it’s time for this scene

OHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOO

Robert Redford to James Buchanan Barnes: You are a literal treasure.

OH NO OH NO OH NO

The Roommate: yeahhhhh this was maybe an. inappropriate scene for me to have to see in a theater. alone.

I love that while they’re making this ridiculous plan (yeah it’s ridiculous, i don’t care) Fury has to check in with Sam (WHO HE HAS LITERALLY NEVER MET BEFORE) presumably to just touch base and be like “Is this White Nonsense™?”

spoiler alert it is not White Nonsense™, but it definitely is Extra™

DAT JAWLINE THO. of course he’s giving the orders, LOOK AT THAT JAWLINE

LIL STEEB!

I’m with you to the end of the line.

what kind of marriage vow nonsense is that

jesus.

anyway, Sam comes in like: IT IS I! YOUR BEST FRIEND! YOUR BEST FRIEND IS ME NOW!

poooterrrr!!

This is the second secure government facility that they have broken into. Possibly the third, depending whether you count the bunker.

Dem Asses. Seriously. Everyone in this shot has an enviable ass. *distinguished golf clapping* bravo

“~Excuse us~” i c o n i c

God, Steve gives this speech and then we get sam’s reaction and you can physically see him having a sexual identity crisis and honestly BIG MOOD THERE, SAM

I have questions about the effect of this on the potomac river which has already had a hard enough time and does not deserve this Supervillain Nonsense.

you are ON FOOT steven. it is a FLYING AIRCRAFT CARRIER and you are ON! FOOT!

i’m so mad that it works too

mad, but like, also turned on. duh.

what’s cap’s true superpower? DRAMA

The saddest thing in this movie is that Jenny Agutter is Scarlet Johansson

don’t get me wrong, i like scarjo but this movie would’ve been even better if it wasn’t the black widow and was just a badass old british lady.

The Roommate: Sam’s superpower is that he’s the sane one.

Me: He flies into combat at 100 miles per hour with a jet pack and a tee shirt he is not the sane one.

The Roommate: Sam’s superpower is that he’s the emotionally balanced one?

Me: given the aforementioned armorless airborne combat situation that is highly fucking debatable my dude.

*SCREAMING*

HE’S HERE

let’s appreciate that Bucky is definitely flying this quinjet with a dead guy that he just murdered as his copilot.

i don’t know why that is so badass to me but it is

again, we don’t have time to unpack all of that, moving on.

Nick Fury: BITCH YOU THOUGHT

sidenote: i’m gonna really enjoy coming back to this movie after Captain Marvel. I can just feel it.

Maria is so casual about this. And that is an extremely sexy thing. I’m not sorry.

“Hey Sam, I’m gonna need a ride.”

Sam is still learning Rogersese and does not know that this means “I ALREADY DID THE STUPID THING PLEASE COME GET ME.”

Bucky ripping the wings off a beautiful butterfly

because Sam IS a beautiful butterfly.

except now his knees and legs and ankles are all broken because That’s How Bones Work.

he’s here

lol of course he’s got a knife.

I just love the sounds the arm makes.

butwedon’thavetimetounpackallofthat

the slide Bucky does here, this isn’t combat this is voguing.

Steve fights like the world is his barroom, bucky fights like the world is his catwalk.

“DON’T YOU TALK TO MY DAUGHTER LIKE THAT,” Nicholas J Fury

what’s the found family version of a BroTP? I have that for Dad!Nick and Adopted!Soviet!Assassin!Daughter!Natasha.

found familotp? FFOTP? no, that sounds like some kind of tactical asset. “LAUNCH THE FFOTP”

anyway, get on this tumblr, i want at least 10 options on my desk by monday.

This Extra. He could honestly make a living playing Confederates and Klansmen, you know which extra I mean.

“wHere ahre the tahrgets?”

the targets... is we.

A DC Local Aside: Everyone on 495 is So Tired of this nonsense. I sincerely hope they all remembered to pee before they left work. I hope they have snacks and water in their cars. because they now live on 495.

this shitshow is gonna fuck up our already extremely fucked up traffic patterns for yeeeeaaaaarrrrrssssss

Sam’s a born quipper, so i really like it when he sees the helicarrier coming down and just fucking bolts. NO TIME FOR SASS WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE

“Got a location on Rogers?”

Don’t know where he is, but he’s doing something stupid, i Guarantee It.

“you know me.”

“nNOo I dOn’T!”

Oh Steve. You put that shield down So Often. And you keep having to fucking pick it up a-fucking-gain.

And This Was The Moment When We All Realized That We Were In Trouble.

Big Mood, Bucky. Big Mood.

Sam wasn’t on the approved visitor’s list or anything, he just winked at one (1) nurse and they let him in.

i know just what to say it’ll annoy him so fucking much. “on your left.”

“Why haven’t we heard from Captain Rogers?”

Because he is taking a damn nap.

no but seriously, because if we put him in front of a camera right now, you will get the Talking To of the Century.

*eight hours later, congress is crying, hydra has surrendered, fox news is shutting down, steve rogers is still going strong* “AND DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON STUDENT DEBT!”

~cool guys don’t look at congressional meltdowns. They drop the mic and they walk away~

IT WAS CLEVELAND, IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING.

THEY FILMED IN CLEVELAND.

(they did film some in DC, obviously, but also cleveland.

*emoting at exhibits intensifies*

*SCREAMING INTENSIFIES*

in sum i have been typing for Too Long and I’m going to hit post so i can Go To Bed but there may need to be Corrections in the morning who tf knows

#the mighty pre endgame rewatch #mcu #Captain America: The Winter Soldier

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giveamadeuschohisownmovie · 6 years

Text

Observation I have about the Arrowverse and MCU TV shows:

Both networks have done the “hero gone bad” trope but it seems like the MCU is more comfortable with exploring the trope than the Arrowverse. Hear me out on this.

In the Arrowverse, there’s plenty of examples of the heroes going bad but there always seems to be a catch with every turn. For example, Earth-2 featured evil versions of the heroes but they weren’t technically the “real” characters, just their doppelgangers. Then there was Savitar, which was an evil Barry Allen, but when you think about it, he went evil for a very specific reason. He went bad because he was rejected for being a time remnant, not because of Barry as a person. Evil Barry, yes, but it’s a bit of a cop out when you think about it.

Rip Hunter went bad for a while but that was because of mind control. Caitlyn went bad as Killer Frost but she was never truly “evil” and ended up redeeming herself.

The only main hero that truly fits the trope is Oliver Queen, but his arc is the trope in reverse. Instead of a hero who is worried that he might fall to the dark side, Oliver is a hero who starts off dark (constantly killing people in the early seasons) but learns to be more of a true hero, though he still has dark tendencies.

I’m not saying the Arrowverse is completely afraid of having their heroes go bad but there’s clearly a reluctance. In fact, they’re more comfortable with showing the opposite; they like to do redemption stories more than downfall stories. Examples of this include Malcolm Merlyn, Damien Darhk, Caitlyn Snow, Laurel Lance of Earth 2, Marlize DeVoe, and Harrison Wells (technically, since S1 Harrison was Eobard. You could make the argument that Season 2 was definitely about redeeming the character through a different version of him).

EDIT: Almost forgot, Captain Cold.

Now on the MCU’s side, they LOVE downfall stories. Prime example; Grant Ward. Grant Ward was the handsome hero guy on Agents of SHIELD for most of season one until his HYDRA reveal. Now, just saying...AOS could’ve easily redeemed Ward. It’s hard to say that now, knowing how his character ends, but when season two first premiered, the man wasn’t completely irredeemable. They could’ve easily used mind control (the Faustus technique they used on Agent 33), blackmail, triple agent, Nick Fury mole, or anti-hero as an excuse.

Instead...they went with the more difficult direction. Ward was completely aware of his own actions and was portrayed as a full-on HYDRA agent. Yeah, he was loyal to Garrett, but that’s only a technicality. He served HYDRA and did it without any of the typical comic book excuses.

And that’s not the only time AOS went with the darker direction. They could’ve easily explained that Leo Fitz’s “Doctor” persona was a result of AIDA’s interference and was not part of him at all. However, they went with the darker option, in that the Doctor persona was part of Fitz this whole time and that AIDA only brought it out of him. In my opinion, although that was an unpopular choice, I don’t necessarily think it was a bad one. I mean, Fitz did torture Ward back in season two and killed Giyera without hesitation in season three so I can see this character having a hidden dark side.

Then there’s all of season 5, which showcased each member of the team doing something morally grey and controversial.

And don’t even get me started on the Netflix Marvel shows, which is in love with the idea that their heroes aren’t completely noble. Matt Murdock’s harsh actions constantly alienate the people around him, Jessica, Luke, and Danny have done their fair share of morally ambiguous decisions, and don’t forget, Frank Castle was introduced as a VILLAIN before he transitioned to anti-hero status.

Even then, Castle still shows villainous qualities on his own show, even when he’s the hero.

Also, just want to add, a lot of Netflix Marvel’s villains (and AOS) also fit the downfall idea. Fisk was a gangster but his goal was to create a better community. Jiaying was just trying to protect Inhumans from outside forces based on her negative experiences with HYDRA. Cottonmouth was a gangster too but he was forced into the life by his family. And then there’s Graviton, who only wanted to save the world from Thanos, but ended up destroying Earth in the process.

So what does this say about the attitudes towards superheroes for both companies? Well, for me, the Arrowverse is definitely leaning more on optimism while the MCU TV side is more pessimistic. I’m not saying one approach is better than the other, it’s definitely more of a preference that varies from person to person.

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inhumansforever · 6 years

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Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #31 Review

spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers

Amy Reeder returns to co-author with Brandon Montclare, artist, Ray-Anthony Height and colorist, Tamra Bonvillain for this special anti-smoking one-shot that seeing Lunella and her dinosaur pal face off against the sinister Warm. Quick recap and review following the jump.

The tale begins with Lunella spending some time gardening with her mom, which is nice since it’s been quite a while since us readers have seen anything from Lunella’s parents. Unfortunately, Lunella is being her same ol self, squandering the quality time by lecturing her mom on the importance of bees and the ways in which gardening pesticides inadvertently harm bees.

These pesticides actually use a type of nicotine quite deleterious to bees. Mrs. Lafayette uses this opportunity to steer the conversation toward the dangers of smoking and having her daughter promise to never try cigarettes. To hammer the point home, Mrs. Lafayette has her and her daughter sneak a peak in on a group of adolescents smoking it up like a bunch of knuckleheads.

It’s all hugely perplexing to Lunella. She is such an analytical thinker… she just cannot bend her head around why kids her age would do something as foolish as to smoke. She’s pragmatic and can tell right away that smoking is little more than an addiction and that any sense of ‘pleasure’ a smoker gets from lighting up is just temporarily sating that addiction and gaining relief from withdrawal symptoms.

Who would be interested in something so foolish? What she cannot see is that sometimes youngsters smoke just because it’s taboo, a naughty forbidden thing they can do together and sense gain a sense of solidarity in doing something bad together. Of course that’s a pretty dumb rationale, but kids do dumb things and it continues to be alienating for Lunella to be such an outlier, to be so confused over the mindset of her peers. And to make matters worse, Lunella is additionally confused over the fact that this cigarette smoke smells so good, so tempting…

Over the next few days, Lunella is increasingly dismayed at seeing more and more of the people in her life smoking. First it’s her classmate, Eduardo, then other kids in her class. Even her teacher, someone Lunella hugely admires, admits that she has struggled with cigarette addiction for years.

The dismay comes to a head when Lunella discovers her mom has bought a carton of her own and has herself started smoking. What the heck is going on???

Lunella retreats to her secret lab where she voices her confused exasperation to her buddy, Devil Dinosaur. Just then Luneela spots an abnormal looking bee buzzing about the lab. She eventually catches the bee and, upon more expensive investigation, discovers something quite sinister is afoot with this bee. Somehow, this bee and its countless over bees has been spreading a type of pesticide derivative that has been fostering nicotine addiction among the populace of the Lowe East Side.

Attaching a miniature global positioning system to the bee, Moon Girl releases it and tracks it back to its hive. Here she and Devil D encounters a mysterious beekeeper. The beekeeper unmasks, revealing himself as the monstrous super villain known as ‘Swarm!’

Swarm is an old foe of Spider-Man; he is the sentience of an evil nazi scientist who has through some goofy comic book means re-manifested himself in the form of a humanoid phalanx of buzzing bees.

True to super villain form, Swarm launches right into monologuing… detailing his sinister scheme. His plan is to ultimately enslave all of humanity by way of spreading a crippling, unquenchable addiction to nicotine.

Fortunately, Moon Girl is prepared and has connected a set of pressurized cool-air tanks to Devil D’s snout. The jets of cool air has the effect of rendering the legion of bees unconscious, dissipating Swarm without injuring the various innocent bees that compose his form.

Lunella is them able to undo the alterations to these bees and neutralize the pesticide toxin that had been effecting the neighborhood. The day is saved.

Of course all of this is merely window dressing to hammer home the central premise of warning impressionable minds of the dangers of tobacco use. An important message and one I fully support. It’s hard to say how effective a message it all is, but a worthwhile effort nonetheless.

Anti-smoking messages, just like anti-drinking and anti-drug use messages, are a pretty tricky business. They can easily backfire, increasing awareness and interest in the targeted behavior while failing to fully dissuade experimentation. Here in the states, The National Health Institute has monitored the efficacy of governmental campaigns designed to discourage smoking, drinking and drug use among young people. Despite huge amounts of money spent toward these programs, it was found that the various campaigns bore no favorable results and may have even increased experimentation by way of an unintended boomerang effect. The ‘Just Say No’ campaign from the Reagan Administration has been highlighted as a primary example of how not to discourage drug use. Something that is especially disheartening considering that The trump Administration is effectively copying the model in its recent efforts to curb the opioid abuse crisis.

Rather than straight forward ‘just say no’ efforts, the research suggests that a more effective strategy would entail focusing on recovery, the roots of addiction and acknowledging and analyzing the various reasons why people end up addicted to substances.

This story does an okay job, touching on the biological aspects of nicotine addiction… which I think is a smart approach. Yet it misses the mark in terms of addressing the insidious ways in which tobacco industries target young people, how menthol cigarettes (which are especially harmful) are target-promoted toward people who are Black, and how vaporized nicotine, or ‘vaping’ can be just as deleterious and addictive despite not have carcinogens. Swarm is a good enough villain, but using him in this story sort of lets off the hook the real culprits when it comes to smoking… that being the tobacco industry.

A couple of years back, Marvel instituted an executive action ordering that smoking no longer be shown in the comics. Characters like Wolverine, Nick Fury and J. Jonah Jamison, who had previously be shown as constantly chomping on a cigar, as well as Gambit and Pete Wisdom ,who were often shown as smoking cigarettes, all quite suddenly became smoke free. Even villains were no longer allowed to be shown smoking. While I’m normally against editorial mandates, this is one I definitely approve of and simply not showing smoking is likely the best a comic book can do in terms of dissuading smoking among young people.

Smoking is remarkably stupid. And the sooner it can be relegated to a foolish anachronism of the past, the better. I definitely laud this issue’s intention, but at the end of the day simply leaving cigarettes out of the Marvel Universe might be the best approach.

All of this aside, this was a fun enough issue, with some neat action. Artist, Ray-Anthony Height once again does stellar work filling in for series regular, Natacha Bustos and the coloring by Tamra Bonvillain is, as always, spot on terrific.

Fun but ultimately skip-worthy. Two out of Five Lockjaws.

#Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #Amy Reeder #Brendan Montclare #Ray-Anthony Height #Tamra Bonvillain #spoilers #review #Inhumans

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wazafam · 3 years

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Following an out-of-character stint in Falcon & The Winter Soldier, could Sharon Carter be an MCU Skrull in disguise? Skrulls have been bothering the Marvel comic universe for decades, but finally made their formal big screen debut in Captain Marvel, where a band of refugees led by Talos were saved from the Kree by Carol Danvers and Nick Fury. Possessing the unique ability to shape-shift, Skrulls are natural infiltrators, rather adept at blending into their surroundings, and Nick Fury uses this to his advantage, recruiting Talos and others into his SWORD organization.

Talos and Soren later pose as Fury and Maria Hill throughout Spider-Man: Far From Home, and another Skrull approaches Monica Rambeau in the final moments of WandaVision. If that wasn't evidence enough of the Skrulls' increasing importance to the MCU, Secret Invasion is lined up to stream on Disney+ soon, currently assembling an all-star cast. The Marvel comic arc of the same name saw Skrulls launch an invasion from within, infiltrating Earth by posing as key figures and superheroes. It's safe to assume that enemy aliens are already hiding in plain sight on MCU Earth.

Related: Falcon & Winter Soldier Season 2? Everything We Know

After featuring in the Captain America sequels, Emily VanCamp made her return as Sharon Carter in Falcon & The Winter Soldier, but felt drastically different compared to how fans remember her. With strange behavior and plot inconsistencies abound, could Sharon be an MCU Skrull in hiding?

As Falcon & The Winter Soldier explains, Sharon Carter was exiled from the U.S. following her crimes in Captain America: Civil War, causing the SHIELD agent to break bad and become the Power Broker, dealing weapons and abilities to the criminals of the MCU. Even after America humbly pardons Miss Carter, she plans to exploit her SHIELD privileges and source even more dangerous goodies for Madripoor's black market, but this murky scenario leaves much unanswered. Why was Sharon punished so harshly when other Civil War participants were forgiven? What are Sharon's motivations as the Power Broker? And if Sharon got snapped by Thanos (which we know she did), how is the Power Broker's empire still standing after 5 years unattended, especially since Falcon & The Winter Soldier takes place a scant 6 months or so after Avengers: Endgame?

All of this would make perfect sense if the Sharon Carter seen conspiring against Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes in Falcon & The Winter Soldier was a Skrull. For this theory, let's assume the Sharon of the Captain America movies was an ordinary human. Thanks to the opening sequence of Avengers: Endgame, we know Sharon was snapped out of existence for 5 years by Thanos, so this means she either became the Power Broker before the snap, then slipped right back into her old position after the Blip (pretty unlikely), or she only became the Power Broker after the Blip and established herself within six months (even more unlikely).

Thanos' snap would've been the perfect opportunity for Skrulls to infiltrate - millions of lost identities to steal, and chaos everywhere. A Skrull could've taken Sharon's face during the Blip, settled in Madripoor and built the Power Broker's criminal empire. When Hulk's snap brought everyone back (a major inconvenience to the invasion effort, presumably), the Skrulls must've kidnapped the real Sharon, so their agent on Earth could continue the charade. This fits with several hints that suggest the Power Broker was active during the Blip. Firstly, Dr. Nagel was approached by the Broker after he came back to life, which hints Sharon was already up and running in Madripoor, and secondly, the Flag-Smashers (who weren't snapped, that's their whole deal) worked as the Power Broker's security. If the real Sharon was dusted, but the Power Broker was in operation, then the current Sharon must be an impostor. Furthermore, the inherent secrecy surrounding the Power Broker's identity would conveniently cover up why she looks exactly like a former SHIELD agent.

Related: How Did Marvel Get The Falcon & The Winter Soldier So Wrong?

As Bucky Barnes rightly points out, Falcon & The Winter Soldier's Sharon Carter is a whole new woman - bitter, angry and materialistic. This isn't just a turn to villainy, it's a wholesale personality transplant. Sharon has no qualms about killing folk, even via torturous methods such as the mercury cocktail gas, and not only is Power Broker Sharon cynical of superheroes, she also laments being apart from her family, saying, "my own father doesn't know where I am."

Again, these changes make far more sense if Sharon Carter was secretly a little green visitor from outer space. Assuming these evil, invading Skrulls are the antithesis of Nick Fury's peaceful pal, Talos, it follows that "Sharon" would hate do-good heroes. After all, Talos' people were rescued and relocated by Captain Marvel, the original Avenger, so any Skrull who stood against Talos would naturally take an anti-superhero stance. The lack of mercy Sharon demonstrates toward Flag-Smashers would come naturally to a Skrull insurgent, and the gas she deploys in the season finale could contain chemicals more other-worldly than Sharon lets on.

If Falcon & The Winter Soldier's Sharon Carter really was a Skrull, being separated from her family would suddenly track logically. Her appearance in the finale proves Sharon can slip into the U.S. without raising alarm, so why hasn't she sneaked a visit to her loved ones equipped with one of those nifty face masks? Perhaps when "Sharon" claimed to miss her family, it wasn't due to any American exile, but because they're on a different planet altogether.

As far as viewers know, Sharon Carter is 100% human in Falcon & The Winter Soldier, but a couple of wrinkles in her visual presentation don't sit quite right. In the final episode, Sharon uses a hi-tech mask to change her face and voice, surprising Bucky by joining the final mission in New York. Although it looks like the mask is responsible for altering Sharon's appearance, the apparatus could be a prop to hide the shape-shifting process, with the hidden Skrull transforming from random woman #7 back into Sharon Carter. It's good enough to fool Bucky, so the decoy could be how Skrulls use their special ability without raising suspicion.

Related: Falcon & Winter Soldier Proves Tony Stark Was Wrong In Civil War

In the standoff between Karli, Batroc and Sharon, the latter receives a bullet to the stomach courtesy of the Flag-Smashers' leader. Curiously, Falcon & Winter Soldier doesn't provide a close look at Sharon bleeding - possibly a deliberate move to mask her green Skrull blood. Sharon then recovers from the gunshot with remarkable speed (we know the Carters are double-tough, but come on), and this only adds to the suspicion.

Falcon & The Winter Soldier leaves Sharon's Power Broker motivations frustratingly vague. Why, even after being pardoned, is she so intent on shifting more weapons? Is it revenge? The love of danger? Money? Instead, Sharon's dealings could be part of the Skrulls' grand invasion plan. Infiltrating Earth in the wake of Thanos' snap was phase 1 of the plot; destabilizing Earth's defenses would be the logical next step. To this end, it makes perfect sense for Skrull Sharon to work as an arms dealer. Not only would she curate and keep the most destructive pieces for her own army, but creating other super-villains keeps Avengers and governments busy, clearing a path for the Skrulls to strike. Falcon & Winter Soldier proves this, with the Flag-Smashers managing to occupy Falcon, Bucky, and the U.S. military. Accessing SHIELD weaponry, Sharon can continue arming criminals across the world, distracting the Avengers from the true threat lying within.

The landscape of the MCU makes a Secret Invasion storyline tricky. Unlike the comics, it's impossible to suddenly declare major characters such as Captain America, Black Widow or Hawkeye secret Skrulls, waiting for their call to arms. Fans are already invested in those heroes, and a twist of such magnitude would play havoc with an already fraught MCU timeline. The likes of Sharon Carter, however, are perfect. Sharon is important enough for her Skrull reveal to be shocking, but not so pivotal as to disrupt the fabric of the MCU.

Falcon & The Winter Soldier's season 1 finale proved a relatively divisive affair, with some storylines hitting the mark, and others missing by a mile. Sharon Carter's Power Broker twist falls firmly into the latter category, as Falcon & The Winter Soldier offers no convincing idea of her purpose or motivations, nor any real explanation of why her character underwent such a drastic change of outlook, especially after the government's red-faced apology. If Emily VanCamp really is playing Sharon Carter in Falcon & The Winter Soldier, then the Disney+ series has left the character desperately short-changed, retconning a much-loved figure for a relatively inconsequential shock twist. When the post-credits confirm Sharon has no intention of leaving her illicit activities in the past, her moral stance is so confusing, it's impossible to know whether she's a villain to worry about, or a wronged antihero we shouldn't give up on.

Related: Falcon & Winter Soldier Ending Explained & MCU Future Setup

Making Sharon a Skrull in Secret Invasion would retroactively nullify the criticism of her character from Falcon & The Winter Soldier. The MCU wouldn't have pointlessly muddled a popular MCU heroine, but cast VanCamp as an entirely new one. Rather than an inexplicably awful Sharon Carter, the audience is meeting a Skrull we'll come to know better in the future. While you can certainly question the wisdom of cramming Skrull setup into an already packed Falcon & The Winter Soldier, it's preferable to Sharon Carter becoming a baddie because she got punished for a crime committed in full knowledge of the potential consequences.

More: All 14 Marvel Movies Releasing After Falcon & Winter Soldier

Falcon & The Winter Soldier Theory: Sharon Carter Is A Skrull from https://ift.tt/3xqOXov

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enchantingkittengaditor · 3 years

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Close To HYDRA | 03. Peter

Summary: Peter Parker’s relaxing European vacation takes an unexpected turn when Nick Fury shows up in his hotel room to recruit him for a mission with Yulia, who at this point is unknowingly a part of it while on a mission that Nat couldn’t finish before she died. The world is in danger as four massive elemental creatures – each representing Earth, air, water and fire – emerge from a hole torn in the universe. Parker soon finds himself donning the Spider-Man suit to help Fury and fellow superhero Mysterio stop the evil entities from wreaking havoc across the continent. Yulia while on a mission is also enjoying the holiday with her friends and the ghosts that haunt her. When Fury finally gets Yulia involved he finds that she’s been trying to gather a team for something that involves some familiar faces and some new ones and that she knows the truth behind the mysterious figure that is Mysterio. With her help and that of the team she put together Nick and Maria gather information about what is going on around Europe.

Warnings: Mentions of Violence, Slight mentions Torture and Swearing

TTM Universe Page | Masterlist

When we finally touched down in Venice, I needed to stretch and figure out how to get my plan back on track.

“Hey, man. Did you see Brad and MJ on the plane? They were watching movies and laughing the entire time,” I told Ned.

“Dude, don’t worry, okay? I’m sure it’s nothing,” He told me in response.

“Hey, babe, can you hold this for me, please?” Betty asked Ned handing him her bag.

“Yeah, of course,” He said without blinking an eye.

“Thanks,” She said, while I looked at the two of them with a confused look.

“What was that?” I asked him, confused by the conversation he’d just had.

“Well, we actually got to talking on the plane, and it turns out we have a lot in common. So, uh, we’re boyfriend-girlfriend now,” He tried to explain.

“Whatever happened to being an American bachelor in Europe?” I asked, realizing that my plan b was out of the window.

“Peter... those were the words of a boy. That boy met a woman. A very strong and powerful woman. And now, that boy’s a man,” He said waving his hands as he explained.

“Babe?” Betty asked, wanting Ned to follow her.

“Coming, babe,” He said, following her like a puppy.

When we made it to the front of the customs line, I was taken aside much to the horror of my teachers.

“There’s nothing in there, I swear,” I told the stern looking lady who was opening my bag. The case opened and revealed my Spider-Man suit. There was a yellow sticky-note taped to it saying “You almost forgot this - May xx”. The woman picked up the banana placed next to it.

“This, no,” She said, waving the banana in the air.

“Sorry,” I apoligized quickly before rushing to shut the case and getting back to my friends.

“I’m here! Mr. Harrington! I'm here, I'm here!,” I said to my teacher.

“Wait, wait, wait, Peter’s here. Thank goodness,” He said stopping his worried spiral.

The group of us took a boat through the Grand Canale in Venice. Our group looked touristy, taking photos and videos of Venice. Our boat pulled up to the most dingy-looking hotel in the area (which was saying something), with scaffolding covering the front, the ‘hotel’ sign hanging ‘by a thread’.

“Looks like we’re here. They're doing some renovations to the place. Getting some upgrades,” Mr. Harrington said proudly.

“This place is trash,” One of my friends called out.

“Everyone, here we are!” Mr Harrington called out once we were inside the hotel. It’s just as bad as the outside, maybe even worse.

“Oh whoa... whoa, whoa,” Mr Dell said looking at the place we were meant to be staying.

“Tell me we’re not staying here,” MJ told them.

“This place is sinking,” Flash complained.

“I think you mean charming!” Mr Harrington said with feigned enthusiasm.

“Okay everybody. Drop your bags off and we’re gonna meet at the Da Vinci museum at 3. Let's go!” Mr Dell said.

“Vamanos!” Mr Harrington told us.

“It’s andiamo,” MJ said casually.

“Andiamo!” Mr Harrington corrected.

“When in Rome, you do as Romans do. When you’re in Venice, your socks get wet!” Mr Dell said, trying to make the best of the situation.

While everyone grumbled and made their ways to their assigned rooms, I started freaking out about my plan for MJ.

We met up outside the Da Vinci musuem at three like we were asked to do but that didn’t mean that were being any less insane(?).

“What’s up, Flash Mob, how are you guys doing? I’m in Saint Marco Polo’s,” Flash said before being cut off by someone - probably a student - running past and hitting him in the groin, causing him to double over, “Oh!”

Meanwhile, Betty and Ned were getting a caricature portrait of them done.

“This is so much fun!” Betty said.

“Yeah?” Ned said with an awkward chuckle.

Mr. Harrison was trying to take a photo of himself in front of the scenery. He set his camera on the railing and posed awkwardly. The camera beeps and takes the picture. Grabbing the camera, Mr. Harrison nearly dropped it. He looked at the picture and the camera slips from his hands and fell into the water.

While MJ is stood with her arms out, pigeons perched on her arm and shoulder while Brad takes her picture.

But none of that mattered to me as I entered the small shop.

“Buongiorno,” I greeted the shopkeeper.

“Buongiorno,” He said back.

“Hi, Uh, I’m looking for a, uh…” I said trying to think of a way to explain what I wanted.

“Fiore Nero,” He said holding up the completed Black Dahlia.

“It’s perfect,” I told him, paying quickly before heading out of the shop.

“Boh!” MJ said from behind me startling me.

“What?” I asked her after getting over the mini heart attack gave me.

“oh. It’s the most perfect word in the world. Italians created it, and I just discovered it,” She said with a big smile.

“What does it mean?” I asked her.

“That’s the thing, it can mean a million things. It can mean ‘I don’t know’, ‘get out of my face’, ‘I don’t know and get out of my face’. It’s the best thing Italy ever created, except for maybe espresso,” She said rapidly.

“Oh, so you’ve been drinking espresso,” I said trying to find an explanation for her overly energetic persona.

An Italian man came up to us, holding a rose, gesturing between us, “German? American?” He asked.

“Boh,” MJ said sending the man off with a frown.

“Whoa,” I said in response.

“Boh is my new superpower. It’s like the anti aloha. I was born to say this word... So, what’s in the bag?” She asked.

“Oh, uh.... Boh,” I said trying to keep it a secret.

“Nice,” She said giving me a look of respect.

MJ noticed the crabs escaping the water by clawing up the pillars at one of the many docks. She pulled out her phone to take a picture. While I looked around trying to find an explanation, but only finding water being sucked into a grate.

“Whoa, cool,” She said.

Waves started to rock the boat where Ned and Betty were comparing hands and smiling at each other. The waves continued before the water became still for a split second. The water eruptted from the canal and people screamed as they ran away. Ned and Betty screammed as their boat was pushed towards shore by the waves.

“Betty! You okay?” I said as I helped her and Ned out of the boat. “Come on!”

“Guys, we gotta go!” Betty screamed at us.

Water was swirling in the air, forming the shape of a huge man. The colossal water monster roars.

“What is that?” Ned asked.

“I don’t know,” I responded.

“What’re you gonna do?” Ned asked me.

“I left my suit in the hotel room,” I told him.

“Why?” He asked me angrily.

“Because I’m on vacation, Ned! Everyone’s gonna see my face, just get them outta here!” I told him.

I pushed Ned towards the stairs where Betty and MJ were waiting. The water monster smashed its hand into a building. More people screamed all around us. The creature continued to smash buildings and boats. I helped people off the stairs and away from the canal.

“Get out of here. Go!” I yelled helping people get away from the monster.

I turned back to the monster as it crashed into a building in front of me. I stumbled back at the force around me.

“Oh, my God!” I said.

I ran up the stairs and barely made it around the corner before the monster smashed into the building where I’d been standing. More and more people were screaming and running away from the danger, which was the smart move.

I hit my wrist together to activate my web-shooters but they weren’t working the best. I moved around the corner once I got the shooters working and shot a web at the monster. The web doesn’t do anything because the monster is made out of water. Of course it didn’t work. I turned to see the monster heading towards a bridge swarming with people.

“Oh no, you don’t!” I said, more to myself than to the monster.

I jumped across poles in the water and launched myself up onto the bridge by leaping off a peddle. I helped a man up and helped people get away from the danger.

The water monster slamed it’s fist into the bridge and I is sent flying backward. I hit the other side of the bridge, now soaking wet. I coughs up water, panting to catch my breath.

A green light shot at the monster from above. Behind me, there was a rumbling sound and a cloud of green mist appeared in the sky. Out of the mist, a man with an elaborate suit and a cape appeared, wearing a glass bowl over his head that swirls with mist.

I looked around frantically for a mask or something to cover my face to prevent anyone finding out my identity. Thank goodness I spotted the masquerade mask on the ground.

The mysterious man shot green light at the monster, dodging its attacks as he flew through the air. The man iwas thrown onto the ground and the monster roared. The man emerged from the water and flew at the monster once again.

“Excuse me sir! I c- I can help! Let me help! I’m really strong and I’m...sticky!” I called out. That sounded so much better in my head.

“I need you to lead it away from the canals!” The man called back to me.

The man flew off as the monster smashesd into the building where I was standing. I flipped away, landing on a nearby roof. The monster smashed through yet another building.

I swung around it, attaching webs to hold it together.

The man followed by a blast of water, shoot behind my friends while they ran. Meanwhile I saw that the bell tower was about to fall on a bunch of people.

“Oh, come on!” I complained, realizing that my holiday was officially over before it even began. I swung towards the tower. I was swinging around the bell tower, using webs to stick it back together. I landed in the top of the bell tower, ducking under the bell to get to the other side. I took off my mask to watch the man fight the monster.

Underneath me the bell tower starts to fall again. I shot a web, attaching it to two buildings across from me. The monster hits the tower again. I fell, my head hit the bell, making it ring.

The tower cracked again, pulling me by my webs across it. My head hit the bell again. The webs fell from the tower. I shot new webs, trying to hold the tower up.

The man was still fighting the monster, but quickly beat him while I was still trying to keep the bell tower from falling. I yellsed out as the tower crumbled. My webs broke and the tower finally crashes to the ground with me on it.

The man landed and people begin cheering for him.

I got up, checking the black dahlia necklace to make sure it’s not broken. I sighed in relief when I saw that it’s intact.

The man saluted the crowd as they cheer for him before taking off and flying away in a cloud of green smoke.

Yulia’s going to love this, I thought about how much my friend hated having to learn about new superheroes.

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multiverseforger · 3 years

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Parker Robbins' father was a close associate of the Kingpin, who was frequently present as Parker grew up. With his mother in a mental institute and his father presumed dead, Parker lived with his pregnant girlfriend Sara. Parker and his cousin, John are tipped off about a shipment at a deserted factory. Later on, Parker and John check it out, finding nothing but candles, a fold up chair and what looks like tribal drawings. They are attacked by a Nisanti demon. Parker shoots it with his Lorcin 381 handgun and believes he has killed it, proceeding to steal the Nisanti's hooded cloak and boots.

Fleeing the scene, chased by a gang of thugs, Parker finds out that the boots let him fly. After a punch in the gut from his cousin Parker found that the cloak allows him to become invisible for as long as he can hold his breath

Later on Parker messes up a heist, trying to steal Blood Stones (black market term for diamonds) he runs into Madam Rapier, The Shocker, Jack O' Lantern and Constrictor. He manages to get away from the villains but in a panic he shoots Eric Bondi, a police Officer. John takes the blame and is arrested with murder.

Parker then meets with Gro, a prostitute, while there he hears that he is a wanted man, and that John is at Brooklyn's 75th precinct. Parker shows up at the precinct to save John but is tracked by two men in A.I.M. suits. After they taser him Parker looks possessed and attacks them with what looks like electrical power. He then speaks with John who tells him to "hock a couple of them diamonds" and get him a decent lawyer.

At this time Golem Golembuski has told all of the local pawn shops about anyone trying to sell diamond, so Parker is in major trouble. Once he found out about who he stole the diamonds off he pays them a visit. Issuing a trade at the Coney island Fair then telling the cops. He meets with Madame Rapier at the fairground. Parker over powers her and dresses her in a hooded outfit, then disappears when the federal agents show up mistaking Madame Rapier for the Hood and kill her. The Agents figure out they have shot the wrong person but don't want to pursue the case so they consult John. Telling him he could get out out of prison if he say The Hood was female. John then replies "How big do you want me to say her tits were?"

Beyond!

Later on The Hood was one of several super-beings transported by the Stranger's new Battleworld, where the Stranger (disguised as the Beyonder) promised them their greatest wishes if they killed their enemies. The Hood was the only who accepted it and by using his invisibility powers he tried to kill the others. Alyosha Kravinoff sensed him and took him by surprise, saying they should work together. The heroes eventually ganged up on the Stranger, who escaped due to fear of what Uatu the Watcher's presence could mean. Uatu, however was there to witness the sacrifice made by Gravity when he held together the Battleworld so that the others could escape, killing himself in the process. Back on earth Parker and Sara attended his funeral, and sometime after this Sara gave birth to their child.

The New Avengers

The Hood manages to assemble a new Masters of Evil of around forty super-villains. He builds their respect by killing the Owl, beating the crap out of Tigra while filming it, and fights against Wolverine and lives to tell about it. He shot Wolverine in the junk, getting major cool points. Chemistro suggests that instead of fighting the New Avengers, they should rob a federal reserve. This move served them well as they stole 15 million dollars. But their celebration is cut short when Luke Cage appeared and with him are the New Avengers, the Mighty Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the Defenders and many more heroes ready for a fight against the Hood's Gang. It is later revealed that this was only an illusion made by Doctor Strange and in the middle of the battle, Strange banishes Hood with a anti-demon spell while his gang is defeated.

The Hood reappears again and frees his team-mates to exact revenge to the New Avengers, especially Doctor Strange. The Masters of Evil manage to invade Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum and Hood fatally wounds Strange but was not able to kill him because of Wong's intervention. They retreated back before SHIELD agents arrive and Hood verbalized that he now knows how to defeat them.

Secret Invasion

Watching the battle of the superheroes and the invading Skrulls prompted the Hood to fight the aliens. Chemistro objected that the heroes and the Skrulls should kill each other and they should just pick up the scraps left. But Hood reasons out that if the Skrulls win the battle, it would be bad for their business and that they won't be left for them. The Masters goes to New York central park alongside the Avengers, Nick Fury's secret warriors, the Thunderbolts, Captain America and Thor to fight against the invading super-skrulls.

Dark Reign

New Avengers

During Norman Osborn's Dark Reign in charge of national security, the Hood is tasked by Osborn to take care of the nuisance Punisher. Resurrecting Frank Castle's one-time accomplice Microchip from the dead and using an army of mercenaries and B-list villains that were victims of the Scourge, he tells the villains that the Scourge was the Punisher in disguise. The Hood attempts to track down the Punisher and his new sidekick, the hacker Henry.

Hood and his Masters of Evil would also steal a vase fortune from a wealthy prince. But during this celebratory time, he would get constant visits Dormammu leading him more towards his level as well as an attack by White Fang, the wife of a man Parker has accidentally killed. Now trying to make sure that his daughter doesn't deal with what he is going through, he goes to Satana to help his with his situation with Dormammu and later making her his supernatural adviser. He soon learns the history of Dormammu and his purpose. He then learns that him finding the mystical hood and boots was not an accident but a set up. The was planned for Dormammu to find a host. This he did when he found Parker. Later on he breaks his cousin and other members of his team out of jail for drunken behavior. He later learns that his mother has gotten her memory back but it was because of Dormammu trying to tempt him not to get rid of him.

Later on he starts wearing a regular hood and not his supernatural one. At one point him and some members of his Masters of Evil go out to help Shocker fight Force but are almost defeated by White Fang. He is saved by Controller who later turns on him by burning his old hood during his third battle with White Fang. Parker then some how manages to gain demonic powers with out the aid of the hood. He wins the fight defeating White Fang and Force and turns one of Controller's slave disks on him. He once again takes control of his team but lets go of his cousin John.

Midnight Sons

Turns out the Hood buys mounds of cocaine from a dealer/zombie broker, Black Talon. He shows interest over a conversation with Black Talon about a weapon (the zombie virus) that will destroy all the super heroes. At this point he is in debate with his gang wither to use the weapon or not but in the end the Hood wants it. He then hires members of the Night Shift and the team and himself go to Black Talon's island where He and the team encounter the Midnight Sons. Dormammu follows him in the process. In the end he joins the Midnight Sons in effort to at least survive the zombie attack seeing that he couldn't teleport away with Dormammu's help seeing that Dormammu was more occupied with Midnight Son member Jennifer Kale. As soon as the killer zombie storm cloud appeared, he ended up fighting along side the Midnight Sons from his own zombie infected Night Shift. After the storm cloud was destroyed by Jennifer Kale, the Hood and the reverted Night Shift teleported away.

Exorcism of Dormammu & the Stones of Norn

The Hood faced off against Dr. Strange as he was possessed by Dormammu. The Hood was looking for whoever the Eye of Agamotto was about to award with the title of Sorcerer Supreme so he could kill that person and take the power himself. He sensed it's power and it lead to him to Hellstorm. He confronted Hellstorm and tried to kill him because he thought that Hellstorm was going to be Sorcerer Supreme. The two fought until Dr. Strange and the New Avengers came to fight as well. The did not know that the Eye of Agamotto had already chosen a sorcerer near the vicinity where the battle was taking place. Brother Voodoo, who was staying near by, was chosen by the Eye to be the next Sorcerer Supreme. Brother Voodoo then joined Dr. Strange, Hellstorm, and the New Avengers as they teamed up and took down the Hood. Brother Voodoo exorcised Dormammu from the hood and boots that possessed Parker and he was left powerless.

The Hood lost his reputation and his empire and Parker Robbins was back to being a nobody. He was left injured and in the hospital. However, Loki came and paid him a visit. Loki brought the Hood to a place where she gave him a new power. He was given the Norn Stones, which supposedly give you the power to do anything you can dream of. The Hood now had his power back but Loki never mentioned what the price of using the Stones would be. Upon returning to his gang in New York, the Hood found out that his gang had turned to Norman Osborn after discovering the deal that he and the Hood had had. Parker then tells his gang that they have to do at least one favor for Norman Osborn. Osborn then tells the gang that they are to hunt down and kill all of the New Avengers (with the exception of Spider-Man, whom he wanted alive).

The Hood then powered up his Masters of Evil with the Norn Stones, increasing their powers and giving them the ability to sense the New Avengers. Despite this, the small groups that went after each of the New Avengers were still defeated. Norman Osborn approached the Hood soon afterward, and asked him for help in his invasion of Asgard. The Hood agreed, especially when Osborn told him that he was planning on replacing the Avengers franchise with the Thunderbolts, and that his gang members would be part of various Thunderbolts teams.

Unfortunately, Osborn's Siege didn't go as planned. Although Osborn called on the backup of the Hood and his gang upon the New Avengers, Young Avengers, and Secret Warriors arriving, Asgard was toppled and destroyed by the Sentry shortly afterward. After the Sentry turned into the Void, Loki realized that their only chance of survival rested with the heroes, and so took back the Norn Stones and used them to power up the heroes. The Hood also realized that this meant that his powers were gone (again), and so fled Asgard with Madam Masque before anyone realized. Fearing that the Avengers would hunt him down for his part in Dark Reign, the Hood went to Count Nefaria, Madame Masque's father, hoping for a chance to repower himself. Unfortunately, the New Avengers hunted him down as predicted, and were successful in capturing both the Hood, Madame Masque, and Count Nefaria before he could be re-powered.

During his incarceration he is visited by Tigra who savagely beats him as payback for her earlier defeat. She decides not to kill him but allows him to live knowing he will never be able to see his family again, which in her eyes is all the punishment he needs.

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mailorderfictionalcharacter · 6 years

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mcu fanfic pet peeves

domestic avengers fic where natasha spends the entire time insulting or physically assaulting the other avengers bc she’s a girl so apparently being violent and unethical is more empowering than giving her a personality

fics where tony was ~wrong~ about howard stark, secretly the world’s absolute bestest father.

anti-Wanda fics (in general, but specifically) where Wanda ~realizes~ that all of her decisions were irrational and she never reflected on any of them until another character calls her out. like...what level of lazy? if you think Wanda’s characterization in the mcu is lacking, do something to make it better, not worse. if you think she’s secretly evil, write her a compelling villain arc. if you think her redemption arc was inadequate, write it better (or make your backstory slightly au). if you think her actions were fundamentally irrational, show some empathy, get in her head, and demonstrate how her entire life and trauma shaped her obsessions. like, maybe growing up in a country that is in part an active battlefield and watching your parents die when ur ten and being trapped with a (presumed) live bomb and then growing up as an impoverished orphan will make you a bit obsessive? even if you disagree with Wanda, she’s a character with a strong perspective. trust me, she’s thought her actions through before and isn’t going to realign her whole world view after one (1) mean sentence from another character.

the popular post-civil-war-salt trope of “Clint left Laura and now Laura’s pissed.” I don’t mind this in moderation because is one entirely possible explanation, but it’s prominence is kind of sexist? Laura is aware of what Clint does for a living. It’s entirely possible she approved of him leaving and it’s sexist to turn her into a tool for your salt fic. (Also, maybe if Clint was operating under insufficient information, maybe she’d be more mad at Steve?)

Civil War fic where Tony didn’t know about Thaddeus Ross (and Bruce and Ross’ general well established dickery). Like, let’s put aside how much of a characterization insult it is to tony’s accountability plotlines to assume he wouldn’t do his research. Let’s put aside that fanon tony is often portrayed as being over his head not because he’s working with a corrupt politician, but because he’s too emotional to see what’s going on (which plays into an emotion/rationality dichotomy I don’t like). PUTTING THAT ALL ASIDE TONY STARK CANONICALLY MEETS ROSS IN THE INCREDIBLE HULK POST CREDITS SCENE HE KNOWS WHO ROSS IS HE KNOWS ROSS IS A DICK HE BOUGHT ROSS’ FAVOURITE BAR TO HAVE IT DEMOLISHED

Nick Fury, the shallow cursing director who does nothing but take care of the avengers and say motherfucker a lot. like guys. maybe it’s kinda racist to take a complex + morally ambiguous black man in a position of power and just do nothing but use him as a punchline. why do we even assume nick fury swears a lot. he wasn’t cursing his head off in ca:tws when his life was on the line. yeah, he told the council they made a stupid ass decision. but that was after a period of respectful negotiation and bc they were going to nuke an entire city. like, that’s an exceptional circumstance. that’s a lot different than an avenger being five minute late for debrief or whatevs.

#mcu #fandom wank #wanda maximoff defense squad #natasha romanoff #laura barton defense squad #tony stark deserves better #nick fury defense squad #marvel salt #I should've stuck with the star trek fandom #i've seen too much please save me

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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 7 years

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Strap in as I dissect this one.

I'm gonna be brutal here...Miles is a charcter with some merit and a lot of potential but his merit stems from the fact that relatively speaking he's been portrayed in a way that doesn't do a bad job capturing the feelings of a young biracial poc in modern day NYC and his relationship to his identity as a POC.

I think there are much better examples out there and there have been times where you could at least argue Miles has dropped the ball.

But overall it is Miles' greatest strength as a character.

In other aspects though....not so much.

Because as much credit as you can Miles in regards to handling race and identity...his personality outside of that, his career as a superhero and his general status quo are laughably bad.

Miles suffers from the exact same problems most of Bendis' characters suffer from (including the Ultimate versions of Peter Parker and the other Spider-Man chaacters).

That is to say he is mostly bland as bread but he is handed praise simply because Bendis is associated with him. In a similar (but not as largescale) a way Stan Lee is revered because he pioneered a new way of doing comics Bendis' name automatically makes readers and observers praise his work because when his comics career began at Marvel he pioneered a brand new way or writing comics.

Problem is a lot of the time in pop culture people confuse novelty with quality.

Because Bendis and Stan Lee both, from a creative writing point of view, tended to miss way more than they hit.

Oh sure Bendis' Daredevil and Alias runs in most respects deserve the acclaim they get as does Stan Lee's Amazing Spider-Man and Fantastic Four runs.

But if you bother to really read most of Stan's OTHER Silver Age work...it's a billion miles away from those runs. Stan's Avengers, Iron Man and Thor stories are NOT stories that come anywhere close to the brilliance of his ASM and F4 work. They have great concepts behind them for sure but they are NOT executed very well.

And yet ALL of Stan's Silver Age work is held up in reverence.

The same holds true for the majority of Bendis' work. Most of it is garbage but is revered because he pioneered a new way of doing comics and readers of the early 2000s mistook the novelty of his work for genuine quality writing.

I mean when you honestly think about it for 2 seconds the decompression style he employs is financially and creatively toxic because it literally means readers need to spend more money to get ONE complete story and the pacing of it is destroyed. Reading in trades might be satisfying but the month-to-month sales get fucked in the ass.*

But people don't see that. They see decompression and they think it's goo because bendis does it and Bendis is the best writer around right so that must mean the way he writes is he best way to right.

Except it isn't.

Because Bendis is the guy who on Ultimate Spider-Man tookt he character of Peter Parker who's whole point is that he's the every man superhero motivated by the death of his Uncle ben and decided that his biological Dad Richard parker should be like massively important to the ongoing narrative along with his pseudo father figure Nick Fury the head of the super duper secret spy organization that runs the world. And then on top of that decided that instead of having J. Jonah Jameson be you know...an important character like he has been in....oh yeah EVERY iteration of Spider-Man's story he'd rather Jameson be rarely seen or heard from.

That's not even getting into what he did to the villains. Using just one example Ultimate Venom is objectively speaking a worse version of Venom than the 616 iteration of the character.

At his worst 1990s Venom was an over the top caricature embodying everything wong with the 1990s. He was a mindlessly violent grimdark anti-hero complete with a slavering tongue and idiotic catch phrase (I'll eat your brains!).

It was godaweful personality for the character....but at least it WAS a personality.

Ultimate Venom had ZERO personality. He was nothing more than a gnarling, gnashing mass of goop, teeth and tentacles. Which is NOT what Venom is supposed to be. Venom s supposed to be a evil version of Spider-Man. He's supposed to look like a warped image of Spider-Man and have all his powers, except he doesn't in this version.

When you look at the entire point of that character and of the Ultimate version of Spider-Man overall it was a colossal failure from everything other than a financial point of view. It's job was to do a modernized and more realistic take on Spider-Man but it failed because it fucked up the fundamental points of Spider-Man's story and characters.

But people PRAISED that which underscores my point. People praise Bendis' work because it's Bendis regardless of the quality of the content.

Miles is no different except he ALSO gets handed automatic praise because he provides representation for marginalized people again regardless of the quality of the character. This isn't unique to him because the SAME thing occurs with Riri Williams who is aggressively poorly developed from a characterization POV. I mean for goodness sake we're talking about a character who doesn't seem to care about her Dad dying to the same degree she cares about her BFF. Like...what the fuck. We're talking about a character who asks her teacher to marginalise her.

And despite that, she's praised by the comic book press in general.

Because they aren't bothering to look too deeply at her personality or her characterization or her development or any of the important shit that goes into evaluating writing. They just see a black woman in the role of a prominent white male superhero and that's all that matters.

Which is exactly how the author of this article looked at Peter Parker and MIles Morales.

Peter and Miles aren't people. They aren't characters.

Those aren't the most important things.

The most important things are that one is a white person and the other is a poc.

That is the primary capacity in which their characters and their very identities are to be viewed. That's the 'right' way to view them.

Except it's not and doing so is immeasurably stupid and in fact harmful to the cause of equality.

Saying ANY given instance where a black person or a person of colour is deferring towards a white person in the way Miles does is equitable with racism is as fucking stupid as saying Boys from the Hood is prejudiced towards white people because there are very few of them in the movie.

It divorces fucking CONTEXT.

So let's look at the scene from an in and out of universe perspective with the context applied shall we?

If you bother to read up on Miles Morales goddam history you'll KNOW he has routinely defined himself in contrast to older more established heroes, trying to live up to their legends. You could even argue it's part of the core concept of Miles Morales so having Miles state Peter is the real deal Spider-Man is not just 100% in character but not doing that in this context could be argued as being the height of dishonesty for his character.

It's like complaining that Spider-Man felt guilty over Aunt May's illness in this storyline. Him NOT feeling that way would be bad writing. Because of his established characterization he is OBLIGED to react that way.

But that's an in-universe thing.

Out of universe this is saying Miles lives in Peter's shadow and Peter is the one true Spider-Man.

Yeah.

That's 100% accurate. And to explain why we need to do a little history lesson on the very foundation of the Marvel universe.

Once upon a time in the late 1930s Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster invented the first ever superhero, Superman. The hook for the character was that he was a guy with powers beyond those of ordinary men and used them to fight crime and save people. it was a hit and soon shittons of other characters were created with every name, costume and super power gimmick you could think of being canvassed.

Times changed though and supeheroes fell out of fashion and most of those characters disappeared. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman however hung around because they were the most popular. Why were they the most popular?

Simple, of all of the various characetrs created they were the ones with the most substance to them relative to everyone else. Every other superhero more or less was a costume and a set of powers and a flashy name and little more than that. Batman had a compelling origin story and gharish supervillains. Superman was the ultimate embodiment of childhood wish fulfillment and Wonder Woman was the definitive female power fantasy.

In contrast the Flash and Green lantern were about a due who was fast and a dude who had a ring that made glowing green shapes. Riveting.

These characetrs were so unimportant that DC comics in the 1950s revived them by basically creating all new characters to replace them. And so we got Barry Allan and Hal Jordan amongst others.

And it was fine because nobody gave a shit about the old Flash and Green Lantern because again...they were superficial. So long as someone could run fast and had a green ring they were good enough. The superficial aspects of both superhero identities was actually so foundational to them that they were replaced AGAIN by Wally West and Kyle Rayner. Because again, the Flash was about a guy who was fast and GL was about a guy with a green ring. That was the POINT of them.

But in the 1960s some guys called Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko (along with others) struck upon the idea that....maybe they should NOT make superheroes who's main hooks were their flash names, costumes and powers.

MAYBE instead of their powers the point of these characters should be their personalities, their relationships, their personal lives in general and the struggles they face day to day like most of us.

Spider-Man wasn't the first experiment with this idea but he was the most successful.

The point of Spider-Man is objectively NOT that there is a guy called Spider-Man, with web spandex and spider powers running around fighting crime.

The POINT is the life story of Peter Parker. The point and the thing that made Spider-Man popular was Peter Parker's SPECIFIC personality. His SPECIFIC relationships with his SPECIFIC friends, family and colleagues. His SPECIFIC jobs. His SPECIFIC life stauts quo in general.

It wasn't the case that ANY given character with ANY given set of friends or personality could've been plugged into that role and would've been as successful because if that was true Daredevil and multiple other Marvel characters would've been as successful too.

Hell NOVA, Speedball and other characters who were deliberate attempts to be the Peter Parkers of their generations never came close to that level of success.

Because the entire CONCEPT and APPEAL of Spider-Man is rooted SPECIFICALLY in Peter Parker.

Now with all of that said let's look at MIles?

Is his personality as vibrant and fleshed out as Peter's? No, he's bland and talked up as 'just a good kid' which is to say he lacks flaws in his personality (which was you know, part and parcel of the entire fucking POINT of all the Marvel characters)

Does he have a compelling motivation and concept powering him such as the guilt and sense of responsibility stemming from his Uncle's death which he blames himself for? No, not anymore. His core concept was that he was the legacy Spider-Man who picked up Peter's role when he died, something Miles feels he could have prevented. Now though that version of Peter came back to life and MIles is in a universe where Peter Parker is alive, has never died, is still active and Miles merely co-exists with him rather than adopts his role and tries to live up to the legend of a fallen hero.

Is his powerset a fine balance of making him a formidable fighter but also far from invincible? No, he can literally win any given fight by turning invisible, sneaking up on someone with his wall crawling powers and spider sense and electrocuting them. And we know it'll work because apparently his electorcution powers are strong enough to knock out Blackheart who is literally evil incarnate and the son of the Devil...and Electro who's entire body is a living electical battery. Miles Morales has plot convenience powers up the wazoo. And if somehow none of those things do the trick it's okay...because he can like make his body explode with electricity and blast everything in his path. And on top of that (if you read the arc where Ultimate Peter Parker returns) Miles can ALSO come back from the dead. That is literally one of his powers. My...how relatable?

Does he struggle with balancing the responsibilites of life alongside the responsibility of being Spider-Man, including the immense burden of guilt, supporting his chronically ill mother, dealing with serious grief, having shit from his peers and the general public mistrusting him which makes earning money extremeley hard? No. In every way other than the fact that he must deal with the immense burden of institutionalized racism Miles' life is 100% better and easier than Peter Parker's. And he has people who can at least support him and help him through personal crises he endures. Peter for the longest time was entirely alone and had to deal with all the stuff you see in this issue and more. THAT is what FORGED him into the hero we know and love today.

He endured all this crap in his life but wasn't destroyed by it, in fact he rose above it and helped people.

THAT is what made him connect with millions of people across the world generation after generation since 1962.

So when Miles in the story, and Bendis through MIles outside of the story says Miles lives in Peter's shadow and Peter is the real deal he's 100% right.

Miles can be the best Miles Morales Spider-Man ever.

But he is NOT the measure of Peter Parker either as a hero in universe or as a character outside of it.

Because Spider-Man was never a name, a set of spandex and spider super powers.

Spider-Man WAS Peter Parker and his life.

To be Spider-Man is to be Peter Parker.

It isn't a mantle to be passed down like Cap's shield or Batman's cowl.

Spider-Man isn't a symbol or a mantle or a legend.

Spider-man is a specific person called Peter Parker and the life he leads.

So no.

It's not 'racist' for Miles or Bendis to acknowledge that or Miles place as NOT being ont he same level as Peter int he role of Spider-Man.

Because it's the truth.

*Bendis' USM work managed to survive that only because

a) It's Spider-Man, Spider-Man automatically guarantees certain baseline sales no matter what

b) At the time that deompression style had the novelty factor going for it

c) Early 2000s Spider-Man was in a state of collapse. Basically until JMS' run began it was bleeding readers badly so any vaguely decent Spider-Man felt like an oasis in a desert, even if the water wasn't exactly clean

e) Mark Bagley's art. Bags is a master artists at the best of times but more importantly his rendition of Spider-Man had been the definitive version used on most merchandise throughout the 1990s, even influencing the highly influencial 1990s cartoon that was back then very recent in people's minds. I mean is it any wonder the quality and sales dropped once Bagley left? If it was all about the writing then it wouldn't have mattered much but it 100% did

f) It was remaking old concepts. At the time that was a new thing so the idea of seeing a moderization of Spider-Man's origin or of the origin of Venom or of Spider-Man first working at the Bugle seemed enticing to readers

g) Whatever you say about Bendis as writer because he was the lone author of USM and because USM the one and only main book for that version of Spider-Man there was a consistency lent to the work that wasn't alienating people and it was easy to catch up because you just needed to follow from issue #1 then issue #2 etc. the same applies for the trades. Much like Japanese Manga USM regardless of the quality of the content was very accessible because you could just start at the beginning and gradually catch up without having to figure out that you needed to read this mini-seires over here or that crossover over there and then in your head explain any contradictions that cropped up because of it.

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