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artbyblastweave · 2 years

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So the division betweencivilian and Superhero identity has been a thing since the genre was just getting started with Superman. Do you have any thoughts on how Worm handles secret identities?

So many. Gonna start high level on this one and narrow it down.

From the 1920s to... probably the mid-70s, there was this implicit bargain with secret identities; the logistics were simpler. You could keep a secret identity with relative ease, the most likely failure points were those closest to you, and that’s manageable. But! You would keep a secret identity in the first place because if they found you, your life was fucked. There is no game being played; there were no pretenses. If they catch you, they will kill you- but first they must catch you.

The implicit consequences for being unmasked, while rarely realized, were genuinely very, very bad! Batman was fighting mobsters who would very much kill him, if they figured it out! Spider-Man concealed his identity because his villains made a beeline for his loved ones any time they figured it out. Cape IDs were genuine secrets, and because this was pre-mass surveillance, pre-internet, pre-media fragmentation, in the era where it was still hypothetically possible for people to up and vanish in the night, or become nameless drifters with no footprint, when millions of people were being shuffled around the country by wars and great migrations and the G.I Bill and a rise in college attendance, it was fairly plausible that secret identities were, in the abstract, genuinely hard to figure out.

This isn’t true anymore. In the modern day, with smartphones, home video, TMZ and the churning cesspit of online forums, in a setting laden with psychics and supercomputers and amazing detectives, it’s harder and harder to justify the secret identities not being blown open. At Marvel, many writers have said “fuck it” and had the heroes go public. Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and others have maintained them (mostly) because it’s just so core to the character dynamics that they can’t ditch them.

So what’s happened, quietly, is that writers and fans have started to pay mind to the realpolitik of blowing up a superheroes civilian life, at DC in particular, and why most rational actors won’t do that. The Central City Rogues, at times, have learned Flash’s secret identity, and vice versa, but The Rogues don’t act on it because they know they can’t survive a Flash with nothing to lose, and anyway, they actually do want him around to beat back the potentially city-leveling threats. Many of Batman’s rogues have figured out he’s Bruce Wayne, but sit on the information because they want the game to keep going, or because they recognize that Batman is a known variable and a good way to make sure none of the other villains get a leg up. The end of JMS’s Amazing Spider-Man featured Kingpin nearly killing Aunt May, and in retaliation Spider-Man makes a big show of taking off the kid gloves and just pulls Kingpin nearly apart in front of witnesses, as a show of the kind of force he could always have been potentially bringing to bear if he didn’t have a civilian life holding him back. This extends to Indie Media too; Invincible and Astro City both acknowledge that if you live near a hero, you’re likely gonna notice pretty quickly, but most people are smart enough or nice enough not to do anything destructive with that info. Incorruptable is about a supervillain who rationalizes his supervillainy under the logic that Not!Superman was never gonna let anything too bad happen to anyone, he always win when it counts, and when said hero turns evil he decides he has to step up to protect people because the safety net is out the door.

More and more often, the sanctity of the secret identity is something acknowledged as a pretense; something that society at large allows for, something there’s a gentleman’s agreement not to poke too hard at.

So now we get to Worm, which codifies this at a high level. No network of individually-developed working relationships where tons and tons of people independently decide to pretend not to know who the hero really is; it’s an actual cultural thing, an unwritten rule that you do not go after people in their civvie lives, you do not try and figure their IDs out, and you absolutely do not get caught if you do try. There is a powerful AI that helps enforce this, a powerful government apparatus that helps enforce this, a well-developed set of nettiquite enforcing this, an underground conspiracy that’ll absolutely drop the hammer on anyone trying to systemically challenge this.

But what really makes Worm Unique in this regard is that this also applies to the villains.

Villains, don’t have secret identities in most superhero universes; when they get caught the first time, their IDs are out, they’re introduced by both their real names and villain names on the news, and it’s noteworthy when a long-haul villain like The Joker manages to completely avoid having their real name publicized. The best they get, day to day, is not being recognized out of costume, but that’s thin. In Worm, villain identities are subject to a level of respect alien to other settings, and it’s for purely pragmatic reasons; the book shows us again and again how utterly fucked you are if you back a villain into a corner and give them no way out. E88 getting doxxed leads to dozens of city blocks being leveled with untold casualties; Skitter goes full populist warlord when she’s outed and kills some high-profile PRT jackboots; Bakuda’s madness is driven at least in part by her very real need to establish herself as someone who is not to be fucked with because she has no civilian life to return to and nothing to her name except what she can quickly cement in her new and only identity; Shatterbird committed to being a mass murderer because her civillian life was annihilated during her “trigger” and she saw no viable path to deescalate.

Cape comics are focused on the heroes, and so they spend a lot of time focused on the carrots and the sticks the heroes can bring to bear, how the heroes can protect their own status quo, how the villains are reacting to what the heroes might do if placed up against the wall. Worm is concerned with the carrots and sticks held by the black hats. In another setting, the silliness of a guy who dresses up to rob banks would be highlighted as an act of small-mindedness, it’d be a bit about how dumb villains are to waste their time like this. But in Worm, costumed villainy is simultaneously a gesture of courtesy, and a veiled threat, because this is not the worst they could be behaving.

#parahumans #worm #wildbow #thoughts #worm meta #ask #superheroes #superhero

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ametrictonofaudacity · 11 months

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Hey I'm a huge fan and I saw you did a Stucky Yan dad and I was wondering if you write for Matt Murdock/Daredevil? If not it's totally cool but if you do could I get a Yan dad one with him and a reader he kinda just found one day, who has the ability to control others emotions? I love your DC work and didn't realize you also do Marvel so that's super exciting! 🥳

Absolutely!! I basically do everything on my rules list, and I’m sort of constantly adding fandoms and updating it lol 😅.

I think this is a super interesting ask, so thank you so much for sending it!

Warnings: snippet from yandere’s pov, blackmail and extortion to gain custody of a child, reader does not want to be there, themes of obsession and overprotectiveness.

When Matt closes the door behind him, the house would be entirely silent if it was for his enhanced senses. As it was, it takes only a moment of listening to reassure him that you were in the apartment, curled up in your bed as you so often were. The brown paper take out bag rustles in his grip, and he puts it on the counter, moving through the apartment and knocking gently on the door.

“(Y/N)? I brought home some food. Why don’t you come out and eat?”

The rush of apathy that floods his chest makes him wince, and he grits his teeth. Most wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, between your powers and their own emotions, but his training with the monks had taught him how to spot the mental or emotional influence of others. That didn’t mean he liked it, though, especially because you had very quickly tried to learn which emotions got him to leave you alone the quickest.

“(Y/N), the food is on the table.” He manages to grit out, before he retreats, sighing.

He could hardly blame you for not wanting to interact with him. As far as you knew, he was just some guy, who had swept into your life when you were at your lowest. Even though Matt had been nothing but patient, he knew well enough that you were scared. Why wouldn’t you be? Your entire life had flipped upside down, and this had been one of the more tame plans to get you somewhere safe and taken care of.

Not that you knew that. Although Matt suspected that you were, at the very least, suspicious of him. He wasn’t sure how in depth your powers went, whether you could sense the burning need he felt to keep you safe and out of harm’s way, but there were days when he simply couldn’t push it down. When the only thing that kept it at bay was going out as Daredevil and making the world that much safer for you.

He sets a pan on the stove, splitting his attention between you and his cooking. Foods with lots of spices, or even strong flavors, were often overwhelming to his tastebuds, thanks to the enhancement of his senses. Because you liked very heavily seasoned foods and strong flavors, he often had to cook himself a plate separate from whatever it is you were eating.

There’s the soft rustle of the covers, and he tries not to smile when he hears your bedroom door open, hears you quietly padding down the stairs to the kitchen. He keeps his focus on the pan, stirring the food constantly, and when you slip into the kitchen, you’re heart rate doesn’t go up. Good. You hadn’t thought he had noticed you.

There’s the rustle of a paper bag, and your heart rate spikes when he shifts, and he turns his head just slightly.

“You might have to heat it up in the microwave. There was an accident on 23rd street so I had to take a different route than my usual.” That has been…inconvenient. He had spent the entire walk back to the apartment anxious and tense, worried that someone had managed to sneak in or you had managed to sneak out.

“Thanks. I haven’t eaten today.” You mutter, and he feels you try and shove away the concern that wells up in his chest. It doesn’t work, and he sends a frown in your direction.

“You need to eat. It’s important you take care of yourself.” He moved the pan off the stove, and grabs a plate, setting his plate with a hum.

“I take care of myself. I just wasn’t hungry.” You say defensively, and he sighs. He had forgotten that you didn’t exactly respond well to being shown concern.

“So when am I starting back up in school? No offense, but this apartment has been driving me crazy.” You huff, and Matt nods, going to sit next or you at the table.

“It shouldn’t be too long. It’s difficult to find a decent school in Hell’s Kitchen, much less one we can afford, so in the meantime I spoke to your old school and managed to set it up that you would be attending online. Shouldn’t take more than a week or two.” He explains, taking a bite of his food.

While Matt did want you in school, he knew full well how important it was, it wasn’t the school that was the issue. It was the safety. How would he get you to and from school safely, what neighborhood was it in, what were the students and teachers like. Every factor and aspect went into whether or not he wanted you going to that particular school, and so far, all of them had been failing to meet his standards miserably.

You frown, and he shoves down the concern and the frustration and the overwhelming urge to protect. Your heart rate has picked up, your scent sharpening with the beginnings of adrenaline being released, and he needed to get a handle on everything before he managed to frighten you so badly that you decided to run off.

“Matt… can I ask you something?” You start hesitantly, and for some reason, your heart rate picks up even further. He nods, and he can smell the sweat that you wipe on your jeans. He does his best to come off as calm, and to be as disarming as he can.

“Of course you can. What is it?” He asks gently, and he hears your heartbeat slow, which makes him smile, just slightly. He was glad he was able to help, even just a little bit.

“Do you.. know? About me?”

It doesn’t take a genius to realize you mean about your powers. He nods, and he feels your breath hitch, heart rate picking up so quickly it makes alarm race through his veins.

“I knew since I met you. I didn’t want to rush you into telling me, or make you uncomfortable by telling you.” He explains softly, and your heart rate begins to slow.

“You knew… does that mean you knew when I was.. messing with you? To get you to go away?”

“I did, yes. I’ve worked with a lot of super-powered individuals, including some psychics and empaths.”

“And you weren’t mad?” You sound almost challenging, and he exhaled through his nose, trying to figure out just how to word what he was about to say.

“I was, for a bit. It’s never fun for anyone to be in your head, or tampering with your emotions, and I felt.. uncomfortable. But I also understood why you were doing it. You were scared, and angry, so you were defending yourself the only way you really knew how.”

“How do you know that? How do you know it was just that, and I’m not some.. some jackass who does it for fun?” You challenge, and you are terrified, panic in your scent and he feels the vibrations from your shaking in the floor and hear the speed of your heart.

“Your whole life had been turned upside down in a matter of days. I would be angry and upset to.” He says it gently, and for a second, fears that he said the wrong thing when he smells the salt of tears and something like grief.

He gets up when you start sniffling, and he feels you jolt at the warm hand on your shoulder. For a second, he considers telling you about his own powers. About the senses, and how he lived in a world on fire. He decides not to.

Instead, he just sits with you while you cry. The kitchen is silent beyond your sniffling, and when he finally wraps his arms around you, you lean into his arms and sob, burying your head in his chest.

You don’t notice when the arms around your shoulders tighten, and you don’t notice the way the tiny feeling of victory curls in his chest.

Matt promises himself that he is never going to betray this newfound trust. He wouldn’t let himself.

#yandere platonic marvel #yandere platonic x reader #yandere platonic Matt Murdoc #yandere platonic daredevil

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littlespacereader · 1 month

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It’s wayyyyy to early in the morning to be writing this but I must!! I just had a dream about V from V for Vendetta and I CAN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT.

If you haven’t seen the movie I highly recommend it! As a marvel and dc comics fan, this movie blew my expectations when it comes to a comic book adaptation.

I remember watching the film years ago and being like “Wow, V gives me Caregiver vibes” despite being new to regression at the time. Now for those of you who’ve seen the film I’m sure you’re like “Clara you can’t be serious” but hear me out!

In the film he has this gentle way about him when he first meets Evey. Like he cooks for her and he wears a cute little apron! Plus on top of this he dances with her and save her when she’s in trouble. I really feel like he would just be so gentle and kind to a Little! Plus I feel like a Little would be just what he needs to heal himself.

I know the whole prison scene isn’t a good look for him but for the sake of this Headcannon we’re gonna choose to ignore it and pretend it didn’t happen.

With that rant session out of the way I present to you:

V Caregiver Headcannons🌹

Tw- past trauma (all from V’s past)

This version of London is aware of regression and regressors but it is strictly not allowed. Anyone buying supplies, toys for themselves or anything that could even remotely hint to them being a Regressor are arrested right away.

V saved you from being arrest while you were out trying to buy supplies for yourself. (maybe a sippy up, or a pacifier, or maybe diapers or pull-ups)

He immediately knows you’re a Regressor and offers to protect and take care of you at his home. This world wasn’t accepting of regression and Regressor as a whole and this man saved your life and wanted to be your caregiver so you said yes and accepted his invitation.

Once you get to start to know V you realize he’s been alone for a long time. He’s never trusted anyone enough to bring them back to his safe house. So you feel honored to be the first. He happily shows you around, pointing out all the stolen artifacts he’s collected over the years.

When it comes to your regression, he is all for whatever your needs are. Doesn’t matter to him if you like/need diapers or pull-ups, or sippy cups or bottles. Whatever is a part of your regression is a part of your regression and he is more than happy to accommodate.

He loves to dance. Whether it’s slow dancing or fast. His particular favorite is slow dancing because he loves to hold his little one close and sway with them in his arms. It’s his fool proof way of getting them sleepy for bedtime or nap time.

If he want to get them sleepy, he’ll put on some slow music and pick them up, swaying back and forth while humming the song. Works every time!

Sometimes he just wants to dance with them. He’s been teaching them different styles of dance moves he’s learned over the years, though his little ones favorite is to just stand on his feet as he holds their hands and sways back and forth.

The two of you have movie marathons together. You alternate every other night watching one of his favs then your favs. He’s a big movie person so he’s always interesting in watching anything. But usually his little one doesn’t make it through the whole film without falling asleep. But he doesn’t mind at all, and honestly he finds it adorable watching them nod off and eventually fall asleep watching the movie.

He’s a big cuddle bug but you would have never known if you didn’t cuddle with him first. The thing about V is he’s very insecure about himself. He’s afraid you’ll be disgusted by him because of his injuries and burns. But it couldn’t be farther from the truth. While watching a movie together, you cuddle up to him, stretching your legs across his lap and resting your head on his shoulder. He freezes at first but then cautiously wraps his arms around you only for you to cuddle closer. The whole thing makes him feel so loved and accepted, something he’s never felt before Y/N.

One thing V is very solid about is his mask. He wears it at all times. While you asked him to see him without the mask he has always refuses. It’s a hard boundary for him, one you respect when you learn about his past.

Because of this he greatly respects your boundaries when it comes to anything and everything. He never wants to make you feel uncomfortable.

V loves to cook! He may not be a Gordon Ramsey type cook, he is very good at cooking. He loves when his little one helps him prepare meals and always prefers the two of them to sit at the table every night and enjoy their dinner together.

The only time you’ve ever seen his burns is when you’re cooking together. He takes his gloves off and begins to cook. But he eventually notices you staring at his hands. He goes to cover them once more but you stop him and instead hold his hand in yours to show it doesn’t bother you. This small gesture means everything to him. There may have been a tear or two under that mask.

He always wears this pink ruffled dress apron which looks so funny on someone as sharply dressed as him. It always make you giggle and he always jokes about it. “You don’t like Papa’s apron? I thought I looked lovely in it?” *poses* This is followed by Y/N almost falling out of their chair with laughter.

He loves to play pretend. Doesn’t matter what it is, he just loves to chase or get chased around the house with his little one running away or after him. They usually play knights in shinning armor together after V teaches them how to fence.

He’s definitely a Caregiver that would talk to your stuffies. “Does Fluffy want anything to eat? No? Alright then. I don’t want Fluffy to feel left out of breakfast. We mustn’t forget Fluffy after all.”

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purlty23 · 25 days

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𝕱𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖔𝖒 𝖙𝖆𝖌 𝖌𝖆𝖒𝖊 ✨

I saw this little fandom game thingie on another site and I really liked it, so I decided to bring it over here to tumblr while my apple pen charges. I’m also going to change up the rules. I’m going to list the fandoms I’ve been in, and classify them by:

Passive enjoyer = simply enjoyed it and the fan content made for it OR Creative enjoyer = actively made art, fanfic, cosplay, etc etc etc.

I’m going to tag people here but no pressure if you don’t want to do it! @miasmaghoul @lonelymentality @copiasjuicebox @iamthecomet @thediktatortot Also if you see it and want to do it, feel free.

Game under the cut since mine will be long<3

Harry Potter - creative enjoyer - My very first. This shit was a family affair in my house. I went to watch parties, themed parties. I cosplayed shittily, wrote shitty fanfic, and my walls were plastered floor to ceiling in teen magazine posters. Went to the Exhibition. Every second movie would come out in July so I would pretend it was like a birthday gift to me.

Twilight - creative enjoyer - Jfc. Don’t get me started. I still have my Edward action figure whose now missing both hands. Used to write self insert fanfic on quizzilla.com. RIP you beast of a website

The Walking Dead - passive enjoyer - This was also a family affair. Every sunday we would all gather round our shitty TV for the newest episode. I was more of a liveblogger than anything else. My dad has a bit to this day that ‘Hershel isn’t dead. He’ll be back.’ Yeah, sure dad.

Legend of Zelda - creative enjoyer - For most of my childhood I was passive, only really doodling Twilight Princess stuff sometimes. Then BOTW came out and it all changed.

Lord of the Rings - passive enjoyer - I look at Legolas and Aragorn. That’s enough for me. I don’t need creative works because I just need to look at them.

Marvel (Spider-man and Loki mostly) - creative enjoyer - I’ve been drawing these guys since birth, for better or for worse. MCU can suck my nuts but so can Loki franchise /sex DC (Batman) - creative enjoyer - Batman the Animated series did something bad to me. Now I draw Joker sometimes. Watch out, stay safe out there

Sherlock and Doctor Who - passive enjoyer - I’m putting these two together since I never really made fan art or anything, but I did attend watch parties for both on several occasions.

Supernatural - creative enjoyer - Sighs. Sighs even harder. Somewhere out there, deep in the depths of fanfic.net there’s miles of really really really bad fanfic. Somewhere…. Final Fantasy VII - creative enjoyer - Sighs far more dreamily. My favvvvv my ultimate fav. Sephiroth is my fictional other and LOMF. Many, many arts of him throughout every sketchbook I own. Also some fanfics IIRC.

TF2 - creative enjoyer - I used to draw Medic and Pyro kissing<3

Homestuck - creative enjoyer - War flashbacks. Not only was I a semi-well known fanartist, I was also a semi-well known cosplayer in my city. I was a ‘friendleader’ in my cities Homestuck fangroup and attended events, dances, etc etc etc. I was on a cosplay gif blog here on Tumblr. I ran the second most popular groupchat on MSPARP.com before it was MXRP.com. I had beef with mods. Most of my relationships at that time were forged in the fires of LOHAC. I still see my art of Dave in MCR black parade uniform around sometimes. Dramatical Murder - creative enjoyer - To no ones surprise. Yeah. I like the yaoi dissociation game. Dream Daddy - creative enjoyer - SHOUTOUT DREAM DADDY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Evil priest Joseph lovers rise UP. Didn’t do much, but there’s some art floating around out there.

Voltron: LD - passive enjoyer - Thank GOD I never made anything for this. However, I was active in the kin community so thats a huge L. I also ate uppppp stuff about it and sheith still fucks.

Overwatch - creative enjoyer - Sometimes you’re a Genji main and the world is so so hard for you. That’s how I used to live my life, then I got better.

Final Fantasy XV - creative enjoyer - Second LOMF. My old art blog is stocked full of chocobro content, mostly fanart of the boys and meme redraws. Also used to cosplay Noctis CONSTANTLY! Here’s an old tiktok

The Band Ghost and Sleep Token - creative enjoyer - (((((((: Hi guys

#Tag games

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theconstitutionisgayculture · 2 months

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Sorry another zoomer anon about comics

Actually I was referring to new 52 about batgirl and Starfire. Did you know new 52 stated that Starfire don’t remember people names unless she had sex with them?

Obviously that was ignored and retcon to hell and back. But comic writers, there a difference between being a sexual liberating woman vs being a hentai slut

Also about a year ago iirc, the old head of DC Dan Didio (who responsible for the mess that was new 52 and 2010’s shit) said that comics lost a generation of heroes because mines wasn’t interested in superheroes…during the height of the MCU

Pssst Didio let me tell you something, there something called the internet so my generation can look up the history of dc and marvel comics.

We are not getting emotionally invested in comics who are handle by fuckers with the mentality of a ten year old

So we went to manga and hmm, what that popular shounen?

MY FUCKING HERO ACADEMIA! YOU DIDN’T LOSE A GENERATION OF READERS BECAUSE THEY WEREN’T INTERESTED IN SUPERHEROES! YOU LOST THEM BECAUSE WE CAN SMELL SHITTY COMICS LIKE HOW A BLOODHOUND SMELLS PISS!!

Ugh, how…out of touch these fuckers are?

Also you guys made it damn near impossible to get easy access to comics so manga is far easier to get. Obviously you can….but a comic shop is a huge luxury item

Sorry for this essay rant, and I only been into comics for ten fucking years

Pssst Didio let me tell you something, there something called the internet so my generation can look up the history of dc and marvel comics.

OMG YES. THIS. FUCK.

Sorry, about to hijack this ask to go on a rant but my God I fucking hate this idea that people can only ever be interested in things that they experience in real time. It's such bullshit. Do you know what I wasn't alive for? The original run of Spider-Man written by Stan Lee. You know what my favorite Spider-Man stories are? The original run of Spider-Man written by Stan Lee. I got into Spider-Man because of the 90s animated series on Fox Kids. From there, I got a few of the comics that were running at the time, and from there I found the Marvel Masterworks collections and absolutely devoured the older stories. And even for books I didn't really have much interest in like Captain America or Iron Man, I would get Marvel Encyclopedias and learn about the pasts and presents of all the comic characters, even some I'd never heard of. True fans will always seek out the past of the things they love. You think people who fell in love with the Lord of the Rings movies aren't devouring The Silmarillion? You think the kid whose first Star Wars experience is seeing The Mandalorian isn't going back and watching the original trilogy? You think someone whose only experience with Batman is the Nolan Trilogy isn't going to find and absolutely love Frank Miller's Batman Year One? Of course they are. True fans don't have blinders. True fans will educate themselves on the things they love.

You know who won't, though? You know who just consumes the things that are put in front of them and will never go beyond that, either through laziness or because they don't want to see anything that's "old" or "out of touch"?

Tourists.

Tourists are great during tourist season, but very few come back every year. And in the off-season, it's the locals who keep the place running. You can't always depend on tourists. They'll happily move onto the next big tourist destination at the drop of a hat. But the locals, the true fans? They'll always be there. They'll be buying books, buying merch, going to the movies, generating enthusiasm, organizing conventions, and everything else that comes along with being a true fan. The only things that will drive them away are when the people in charge of the things they love attack them personally or change the things they love into something unrecognizable. And even then, most will still love the thing as it used to be. The fans who hate Rings of Power didn't throw out their Lord of the Rings Extended Edition blu-ray collections. The fans who hate Disney Star Wars didn't smash their original VHS copies of the unaltered original trilogy. And true fans aren't just old fans or original fans. The thing about being a local is that anyone can move into town. And if they stay long enough and fit into the local culture, everyone else will embrace them.

So fuck Didio and everyone else who thinks tourists are the only group that matters. Fuck everyone who thinks that "modern audiences" can't love something from a different era with different stories and different characters from what everyone else is shitting out today. It's bullshit, and it always has been.

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namor-shuri · 1 year

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Our poll results are in! 🗳✨

*cracks knuckles* Let’s dive in and talk about it (: [Grab a snack and something to drink because this is about to be long. Yes, a bitch made graphs lmao Sue me] Alrighty, let’s do this:

: : : : : : : : : : :::::::::::::::::::::::: : : : : : : : : : :

I can't remember where bpwf was first released and the order of its premiere in each country but it's interesting to see that the majority of fandom [who participated at least] are from North America. Also Asia being the third highest group was fascinating because at least when it comes to Twitter, I’ve noticed a lot of the Namor/Shuri fan art has come from Thai and Korean artists. They are seriously carrying this fandom and I'm here for all of it.

ALSO: Random, but where are my Antarctica Nashuri fans?? 😭 I’m also curious to know how Africa has received the Black Panther franchise all together over the years. Do they resonate with it? Do they find it offensive/ overly dramatized? I’m curious. If you are a fan who lives in Africa, can you comment on your experience with this? I'd be happy to know.

To be honest, I’ve always assumed that the Marvel fandom [along with superhero spaces as a whole like DC and what not] were male dominated but this poll gave me some hope. I am curious what parts of fandom men frequent more vs women. For example, do Comic Cons ring in more women, more men, half and half? With fan art, do majority of artists identify as women, men, other? It’s interesting to think about. I also love seeing women/fem identifying individuals show up in these spaces because countless times we are made to feel like an inposter and harassed for our interests in comics, games, movies, shows, music, the list goes on. Questioned down with trivia, fact checking and all sorts of BS ultimately trying to prove that “you aren't a real fan". Don't ever let anyone make you feel like you have to prove your knowledge of anything to be interested in something you like. ESPECIALLY if it is coming from a man child guy.

ALSO: Hi all trans, non-conforming and alternative gender expressing baddies! Know you are welcome here and pls enjoy your stay at my humble blog abode. 👋🏾💜

It’s amazing to see how diverse this fandom is! I didn’t expect that we would have such high numbers of black/brown fans/shippers. As a black mcu fan myself, it’s exciting to see us show up in fandom. Fandom has unfortunately been heavily white/Eurocentric for a very long time, which has slowly changed but we still have a long ways to go in it’s inclusivity. With the increase of bipoc characters and the actors who play them, I look forward to this continual progression.

ALSO: It’s been heartwarming to witness Mexican, Indigenous, Lantix fans feel seen with bpwf and Tenoch, Mabel and Alex's performances! I remember how enamored the black community was with Chadwick and the first BP. We were hyped to have this treasure of a movie, which I assume is similar to how the Asian community felt with Shang-Chi and so on. It's been said countless times before but representation truly makes the world of a difference and the power of the bipoc dollar should never be taken lightly. We cause real change when we support something.

There will always be a spectrum of ages in any fandom but I figured the majority of people were probably within this age range. It may be due to the timeline of when the mcu was born and how it has progressed alongside millennials? This also explains why I keep seeing fans make posts about their age gaps with Tenoch and wanting to be his questionably young gf 😩 [get in line]

ALSO: Shoutout to the 55+ folks in the fandom! I have a sneaking suspicion yall are some of the coolest people 🤘🏾

Okay *inhales exhales* I know I'm going to get flak for this but let's hop into it lol I saw the scale sway back and forth for a minute but it mostly stayed between White Wolf [Bucky Barnes] and Iron Heart [Riri Williams]. I myself personally love both answers! My annoyance is not with shuriri, but with its fandom. They have been some of the biggest instigators/bullies since bpwf has dropped. I've seen all kinds of mental gymnastics from saying the nashuri fandom would rather see shuri with a killer than support gay love [like what??] to Letitia is clearly lesbian because of her attire [pls be fr] and everything in between. It’s so unwarranted and I never see Nashuri fans doing the same thing back. Enjoy what you like, and leave the rest behind. It's such an easy 1+1=2 concept and yet, it goes over people's head still. It’s honestly disappointing when a fandom turns you off to a ship/character, especially when the ship is lowkey dope. Something that reminds me of this was the stucky fandom when the Captain America movies came out. Y’all.......when I tell you this fandom had me STRESSED 🥴. I saw racism/ deliberate exclusion of Sam, hate towards Sharon Carter just because she was a woman, you name it. They annoyed me so bad that I began to dislike Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers as characters [trust me, it made no sense lol] I couldn’t stand seeing either one of their names pop up. It took some of the Avenger movies [and honestly the sambucky fandom + Sebastian Stan/ Anthony Mackie's friendship] coming out years later for me to even be remotely cool with the idea of Bucky Barnes again. Anyways *drinks water* I'm getting stressed all over again just thinking about it lmao Long story short, don’t be an asshole. Enjoy YOUR flavor of ice cream and try not to shit on others and their differing flavor of choice in the process. Trust me, it's easier than you think.

ALSO: If you are a shuriri fan that hasn't been hateful/ problematic, this isn't about you boo [yall are good in my books! 😘]

Crying that the #1 answer was “Bitch me!” because honestly mood. Jokes aside, I can’t really imagine Namor with another partner. It's probably largely due to the fact that Shuri was the main character we see him interact + bring his guard down with [outside of Namora?] This is also coming from someone who has not read the Namor comics and am very new to him as a character. If you have any knowledge you want to share in the comments, pls do ✨

ALSO: I threw in the Sue Storm comment to be annoying *teehee* but it was interesting to see how many people actually agreed with this statement. Maybe I'm just a horse with blinders about this fandom but I’m not really pressed? I’ve seen people argue that Ryan's current iteration of the Namor character wouldn't be in this type of relationship [along with people saying Tenoch wouldn’t go for it either] but I guess we'll just have to wait and see what unfolds *tries not to stress while we wait for future iterations of Namor and the fate of his character's arc/ Talokan*

The question on everyone’s mind! Although the delusional side of me was bummed that yall weren't more chaotic and went full "yes!", my logical side agrees with the final poll 🥲. Again, I'm not pressed about mcu and what they put out, whether it favors this ship or not. At the end of the day, I’m still going to vibe like I’ve been doing. If nothing else, I just hope we get to see these two characters and their rich dynamic again because Marvel can't ignore how the world reacted to Shuri and Namor. And hey, sometimes Marvel listens! Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie were on a mission after fans brought up a potential team up and after that, those two found every excuse to bring up a potential movie in interviews for YEARS until finally *boom* 🇺🇸🦅 The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Show 🦅🇺🇸 was born. Miracles do happen everyday rofl [I know these two examples have nothing to do with one another but let me have this lol]

ALSO: I only trust these characters in Ryan's hands so I'm hoping he's the first in line to direct whatever this future dynamic ends up being.

It was cool seeing what other protagonists this fandom is drawn to outside of Shuri/Black Panther. I’m curious to know what other ships y’all also enjoy [feel free to drop them in the comments if you care to share]. I feel like a lot of the top picks in this poll I also resonated with, like Iron man for example. I don’t know what it is but there is just something about a genius character with a mix of charisma/ big softy + sarcastic energy that will do it for me every 👏🏾single👏🏾 time 👏🏾

ALSO: Not everyone sleeping on Thor and Hulk?! 😭 I feel bad that I left out Ant-man [especially with Quantumania just coming out] but you can only do 10 options on Tumblr polls and it was between him and Captain Marvel so….a choice was made…..

This one cracks me up [and yes I had too much fun making these summaries which I find highly accurate] Also, I have no beef with any of these characters btw 😅 I truly believe that a hero is only as interesting as their counterpart. If your villain isn't captivating, it takes away from the hero + their storytelling potential and vice versa. The poll was split between Killmonger and Namor at one point [which if these two ever met/ were on screen together like ??? They have free reign to completely destroy my life. I welcome all calamity that ensues.] I'm not going to survive Namor and Kang in the same film this coming Avengers: Kang Dynasty movie.

ALSO: I didn't choose him but Thanos has been one of the most impactful/ compelling villains we’ve seen in the mcu thus far. I mean, he’s literally responsible for like 3 major films in the mcu + Josh Brolin is just amazing at what he does in general. This is brave to say but it was lowkey bittersweet to see his character's arc come to an end [obviously it was a huge relief but yeah]. Don't come for me.

This one was just for fun since I recently made that tenitia rant post but it was cool seeing some of you come back with your own film ideas of what Letitia and Tenoch could act in together. I'm so down bad for them that I'm game for absolutely anything. Romcom? Let's do it. A Podcast of them reviewing their favorite foods from their cultures? I'll eat with yall. Music video? Where's the link? I don't care what it is. Someone brought this up but I really wish we got more game interviews with them like them reading thirst tweets, answering the web's most searched questions, a joint hot ones interview, something! They would have killed those! Bring them back!🗣️ Bring them back! 🗣️ Bring them back! 🗣️

ALSO: Letitia has already voiced a character [Nooshy in "Sing 2"] so now I need Tenoch to do the same. I would love to hear his voice in something. It would realistically be in Spanish since I know the majority of his projects have been thus far but idgaf, I’m still showing up *turns on closed captions* [shout out to everyone who also started to learn spanish after this beautiful man came into our lives]

And last but not least, your blog feedback <3 Thanks again for giving your input on this. My blog is slowly starting to grow and I'm having a lot of new people interact with my page so I wanted to do a quick temperature check of what people are feeling. At the end of the day, I'm aways going to stick to what feels authentic to me and what I want to post because if you're not liking what you're doing, what are you doing it all for? But I will definitely keep this feedback in mind. For the people who are new or just coming across my blog, here are some examples of what I'm referencing in this poll: fan edits [1, 2, 3] rants [1, 2, 3] song recs [1, 2, 3] Tenitia [1, 2, 3].

ALSO: I thought I was doing the most with the amount of Tenoch posts I was blogging already but maybe not. Don’t worry, I'll find more ways to post our baby girl (:

: : : : : : : : : : :::::::::::::::::::::::: : : : : : : : : : :

WOW, YOU'RE STILL HERE!? Nice 🥰 Seriously, thanks again to everyone who participated in this completely unserious poll. I've never done one of these before but now that I know what to do and not do, I may make another one in the future. We'll see. Continue to stay tuned for future Namor/Shuri + Tenoch/Letitia shenanigans 💫

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michaeljoncarter · 9 months

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God the Marvel film rights debacle is the decision that haunts me the most of any of the bad decisions made by the big 2 companies ever. Both because I am one of the six people who think you can do something interesting with the Inhumans and everything about their X-Men 2: electric boogaloo push caused me psychic damage, but also because Marvel didn’t just fuck over the X-Men, they fucked over the Fantastic Four for the same reason. They canceled that book right before the terrible Fox movie came out and didn’t bring it back until they secured the film rights, pretty much the longest the F4 went without a series since 1961. Just, the fact they tried to push out two of their flagship teams purely over film rights, they could not be more transparent about using these comics as movie promotion instead of seeing it as a medium onto itself it’s so frustrating.

it's SO bizarre like genuinely one of the weirdest times in (recent) comic book history. i can't even like… follow the logic of wtf they were even TRYING to do??

like with most decisions, even the ones i absolutely despise, i can at least kinda see what they were going for, y'know? dc's past few years of constant reboots, for example: bane of my existence. dumb as fuck. but if you take a step back and look at it objectively, it's like. ok. i can see why someone would think that would be a good idea at the time. they were wrong, but i can see what they were going for

mid-to-late-2010s film rights meltdown marvel though?? i literally have no idea what the fuck they were even going for. it's not even a case of the cinematic/tv universe bleeding back into the comics because it had nothing to do with anything that was actually happening in the mcu & they were making changes for movies/shows that hadn't even (and in the inhumans movie's case, never would) come out

they really were just trying to use the comics as advertising for the mcu, and that is just… so insane???? what planet are you living on that you think a significant enough percentage of the mcu's viewership is coming from comic book readers to make something like that in any way successful????? 90% of mcu fans have never picked up a comic book in their life, and the ones who have are literally the only people you do not need to advertise to. they are already fans. why are you trying to advertise to the one group you've already got 100% locked down by fucking up the thing you locked them down WITH

and it's the same thing with fantastic four and the x-men?? what the fuck did they think they were accomplishing by trying to push the franchises they were actively trying to get the rights for out of the spotlight & make them less relevant & popular while they were, again, actively trying to get the rights for them.

like did they actually think the viewer base of the fox movies was… coming from people who actively followed the comics??? and not just people who liked original xmcu/f4 movies?? did they actually think pulling the current f4 book & holding their comics hostage would have some sort of noticeable effect on the movies' success??

it's so baffling. this is another thing i would love a whole true crime style docuseries diving into because just. what in the fuck

#ask #anonymous #long post #i'm sorry i cannot shut up tonight <3 #only half joking abt the docuseries bc wtf was actually going on in their heads #i could easily spiral into a pepe silvia conspiracy board about wtf was going on during this era #i didnt even know about the f4 thing ?? man they really were just doing whatever #i do have to say it was kinda funny for me specifically though #i remember so vividly tuning into the inhumans thing like halfway through #bc i was/am mainly a cap comics reader & this was all going on during the hydracap thing #which was actually blown way out of proportion by ppl who didnt read the comics #like dont get me wrong it wasn't... great. but people were out here acting like wwiii had just broken out over a mediocre twist #so i'd heard snippets of the angry buzz around IvX #& just assumed it was a similar situation of people being mad on the internet just to be mad on the internet #and hoo boy #me walking into that event was like that one scene from community. with all the fire and screaming and gnome #truly an unforgettable experience for all the wrong reasons lmao

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classicmarvelera · 1 year

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60 Years to the Marvel Age of Comics

This year Marvel Comics is celebrating 60 years of the Avengers and the Uncanny X-Men. Two superhero teams (not super teams equivalent to DC’s JSA & JLA) that have seen many highs and few lows over the decades. Both transitioned from the pages of comics and onto the TV as well as Silver Screen. Both were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, two names that would start the Marvel Age in the comic book industry with the Fantastic Four in 1961

A lot has been written, and many documentaries have been produced about this particular era, referred to as the Silver Age. However, what needs to be examined is why we won’t be able to see a repeat of the Marvel Age till the end of time. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that this was Fukuyama’s “End of History” moment that brought superhero content full circle (foundations of which were established by Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster in 1938)

Had Stan given up the industry would still be producing content about ideal beings establishing truth, justice, and the American way, or World Peace for that matter. Luckily for every superhero fan out there, he didn’t nor did Jack Kirby (co-creator of Captain America and the man who drew him punching Hitler), Steve Ditko, John Romita, John Buscema, Gene Colan, Don Heck, Marie Severin, Jim Steranko and Larry Leiber (Stan’s brother). They added realism into a genre that was built on idealism

Lee, Kirby, and Ditko by Alex Ross

The stories of this era have stood the test of time. Aside from old, heavy hardware being seen in the panels; the struggles of flawed humans speak out and connect till today. The Fantastic Four and The Amazing Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the Invincible Iron-Man, Ant-Man, and Wasp are a reflection of our daily struggles be they financial, emotional, and in the case of X-Men, discrimination

The Age saw a new way of depicting heroes artistically. Kirby and Ditko’s art mesmerized the readers and the same happened when they were succeeded by other comic books art legends like John Romita, and Gil Kane to name a few but what many may not know was that it was during these years, Steve Ditko would introduce corner box art, now considered a cult classic, to help differentiate Marvel titles from the competition on the newsstands. DC had started branding its covers with illustrations of superheroes who would be appearing in anthology books but Ditko took it to a whole new level by making it more organized as well as enhancing the look and feel of the cover

The foundation laid by Lee, Kirby, and Ditko ensured that younger talents who would succeed them could produce more of such content without compromising their heroic DNA and still keeping them relevant for today’s readers. It is for this reason that the comic book industry’s most tragic tales involved two of the best creations from the Marvel Age, namely Spider-Man and the X-Men

The Night Gwen Stacy Died, written by Gerry Conway and illustrated by Gil Kane, shattered the rule that a superhero would never lose his/her love interest to death. This happened in 1973 (50 Years ago) and wasn’t done to create shock value for short-term sales boosts. It had to be done because the reality outside of the pages was a city suffering from one of the highest crime rates at the time and how can it be possible that a superhero doesn’t get affected by it. Even today, younger readers feel the same pain as their older peers when they actually read the story and go through the panels instead of looking it up on fandom. The X-Men’s Dark Phoenix Saga could have eclipsed Spider-Man’s tragedy had it not been for a reckless decision by Marvel Editorial to bring back Jean in the mid-80s (a decision even Dark Phoenix Saga author Chris Claremont didn’t agree with). Needless to say, Scott Summers lost Jean Grey, and Parker lost Gwen; this was the new precedent for the industry and a continuation of the Marvel Age which established the fact that superheroes can be fragile human beings for whom great power brings great responsibility along with adversity

From The Coming of Galactus/Galactus Trilogy to the Death of Aunt May to Secret Invasion, all of these stories found a way to connect deep down with the audiences not just in terms of personalities or social issues but even beliefs as well as trust in one another which reminds us that it was during the 60s that Marvel broke the racial barrier long before any other publisher ever thought of, giving us stories that would be way ahead of their time. Whether it’s about Mutation and Cloning or Kirby’s Madbomb, we are living in a world that is seeing glimpses of such developments, if not in entirety

Let’s face it, the Marvel Cinematic Universe won’t exist had it not been for the works produced in the 60s. The global popularity of Avengers, Spider-Man, and X-Men (thanks mainly to FOX Studios) shows that without a solid base, a structure or a studio can’t be erected on top of it

A homage to Joe Simon and Jack Kirby

All of Marvel’s success goes back to these formative years of 1961-63 in which flawed, struggling individuals would redefine what superheroes were all about in the pages of The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, The Avengers (Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Ant-Man and Wasp) and X-Men as well as breathe new life into Golden Age characters such as Captain America and Namor. The rest is history!

‘Nuff said

#Marvel Age #marvel age of comics #fantastic four 60th anniversary #spider-man 60th anniversary #avengers 60th anniversary #x-men 60th anniversary #stan lee #jack kirby #steve ditko #john romita #don heck #gene colan #Bill Everett #fantastic four #spider-man #avengers #x-men #Silver Age Comics

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drifting-pieces-blog-blog · 6 months

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Breaking down the comics: An evening with Bill.

Moon Knight afterward from issue #25.

Truth, I agonized on if I was going to acknowledge this. My business is with the Moon Knight comics, after all… History, development, and personal insight into the comics. You know, me screaming into a dark room about how much I love this comic.

But where would we be if we didn’t have a little insight into the legend himself: Bill Sienkiewicz.

Issue #25 was a special double long comic. These bad boys come out once in a blue moon to celebrate the success and growing popularity of a comic! Once a comic becomes top ranking, you’ll start to get Annuals and yearly (sometimes bi-yearly) double longs!

So here we sit in 1982, just a few years after the creation of Moon Knight and we get our first double!

But what really makes you pick up a comic in the store in the first place? Especially if you know nothing about the characters. Sure, Marvel (and DC) will splash a crossover event with a popular character across the cover to lure in those that are fans of the one character. They’ll also do variant covers to get the collectors wild (gotta catch ‘em all!). Limited runs? You know someone’s trolling Ebay for that blank cover that gives nothing away. You’ll also get guest artists who do ONLY covers. Fans of the art will collect them just for the covers.

But all those special things aside, you know that a well done cover piece is what makes you pick it up and go “Neat. I wonder what’s inside.”

So what makes a cover? To all the aspiring artists out there, this one’s for you.

Don’t worry people. I’m not going to make you squint. I’ll just type up everything verbatim that Mr. Sienkiewicz has to say. And I admit, I was so pleasantly surprised to find his sense of humor on point.

I've also added the final cover product so you can really see how the cover ended up laid out in publishing.

A TALE OF THREE COVERS by Bill Sienkiewicz

When Denny and Ralph asked me to come up with a possible topic for the editorial pages in the double-sized issue of MOON KNIGHT, my first reaction was "Editorial? Isn't that your job? I've just finished the art for this issue and the last thing I feel like doing is an editorial page." Then I made some crack about them earning their money and proceeded to walk out.

"Hold it!" Denny snapped, bringing his riding crop down smartly on the New York Post. I turned, my nostrils filling with the stench of wounded printer's ink, and did some serious reconsideration.

"Look," Denny began, "I don't want you to get the idea that this is something you have to do," his gloved hand waving the riding crop in what could be construed as a menacing fashion, "But we'd like to give you the opportunity to do something that you'd like to do to get you involved in EVERY aspect of the book, not just the artwork, to tell the readers some of your viewpoints and..." Denny leaned back, crossed his jackbooted feet on the desk. He smiled a wicked smile "...to let the readers know that we're just one big family here at Marvel. My mind raced.

"Covers." I said.

"What?" asked Denny, cocking a thumb under the visor of his cap. Light glinted off some odd metallic insignia there.

"Covers." I repeated. "Unused covers."

"Go on..." He crossed his arms awkwardly, creasing his holster.

"Well... The covers -the unused one-- we could run them along with the ones that were used, and I could write about the dumb...the uh, reasons that they weren't used, you know, why I did them the way I did and why you turned them down."

There was a long pause. Very long. Then he smiled again. Only worse than before, and said -- "We'll do it..."

I relaxed. I turned to leave but Denny wasn't finished. "Sienkiewicz," he hissed.

I cringed. "Yeah?"

"Don't make me look like the bad guy in this."

"No. Of course not." I said, then turned I left.

I returned one week later, armed with the covers and my feelings about each. I walked into Denny's office and snapped to attention. The Post was still on the desk. It had decayed horribly "At ease." Denny cooed. He shot a sly grin at Ralph.

"What did our little artist friend bring us perchance?" Said Ralph as he woke up, "Our meal ticket?"

Denny's smile faded. "You can be replaced, Macchio."

I looked at Ralph. Innocent of face. Stubbly of beard. Ralph. Ralph Macchio. Ralph went back to sleep. There was a smile on his face.

Denny turned back to me. "What have you got?"

This--" I replied, and proceeded to show him what a week of coffee, cigarettes and images of a mutilated newspaper had inspired.

"First: Issue #9's cover for The Return of the Midnight Man. I wanted to do a total image, an essence of the relationship between him and Moon Knight. The paintings --the Jekyll and Hyde shots of Midnight Man's face. The target around Moon Knight. Moon Knight's expression of worry and insanity --He was going through a lot back then."

"That's all well and good--" Denny smirked. "But it's too tall--the paintings would be obscured by the logo. All that we could see would be the two big faces and MK going crazy. And he's been crazy or in a losing position on the past five covers. I wanted to show him fighting, maybe winning. I thought about it. I really did. But you were moving to a studio and couldn't be reached in time to do another. Frank Miller was in the office and drew the cover that was used."

"Oh," I said. My hand shook as I reached for another cover. Number 12. Morpheus and Moon KNight. Boffo action. "I wanted a closeup," Denny said. "Simple as that. Miller was in again and did it up. Milgrom inked it."

"That Miller guy again." I thought.

I turned to issue 13, which guest-starred Daredevil. Frank was drawing Daredevil. Denny thought it would be fun to have Frank draw the cover and me ink it. I agreed. I spoke to Frank on the phone. He said we could do "crossover" covers; I'd do one later for Daredevil. Fine idea. "What are you waiting for, Sienkiewicz, "Denny screamed, interrupting my reverie. Veins showed in his forehead. Big ones.

"Right," I said. "The cover for issue 13--Frank pencilled, I inked. I really had a good time with this one. It was the first time I inked anyone else's work."

Denny Scowled. "Except it was too tall. The logo would have obscured the pinball machine's scoreboard. That's why I nixed it. Ron Wilson happened to drop by the same time as Dave Simons did. The deadline was tight. I had no alternative. They did the cover."

Deja vu. Denny was beating a dead Post. "That will be all for now. And Sienkiewicz--About the article. Flattery will get you nowhere."

I managed a weak smile, and again turned to leave. As I did so, I glanced at Ralph Macchio, his eyes closed in contented slumber.

—

Ralph Macchio is a comic book editor and writer. He's done a lot of the big ones (The Avengers, Captain America, Ultimate Marvel, Doctor Strange, Thor, Spider-Man...). He retired in 2011.

Dennis O'Neil (Denny) is the editor for Moon Knight at the time. He also worked for DC back in the day. He tended to write the more mature themes in early comics that were often controversial. Also the creator of notable characters like Ra's Al Ghul, Talia Al Ghul, Iron Monger, Lady Deathstrike, and many others that I have no idea who they are off the top of my head.

If anything, I am more endered towards Bill after this. The idea of him turning in cover after cover only to have them nixed and replaced by the LEGENDARY Frank Miller, and then being playfully bitter about it is the funniest thing. The notion that these other cover artists just happened to be hanging around only to ruin Bill’s day…

Also, some of those nixed covers are amazing! The Dare Devil one in particular is amazing! And relevant to the comic! I wish I could see it in color! What happens to these rejected covers? Do they get sold? Trashed? Look at that Midnight one!

Anyway, there are a lot of little afterwards in the backs of the early comics. A lot of letters from fans with author/editor responses mostly. But now and then they include a behind the scenes with narrative from various levels of Moon Knight creators. My favorites are these ones that show the character of the creators themselves. It also gives us a peak at the process of how a comic is made and the art and skill it takes.

Current comics don’t really include these anymore. You’ll see some fan letters in the backs of some (I’ve been in one! For a Moon Knight of course.), and a few spotlight articles on writers or artists… But you don’t really get the big behind the scenes things anymore. The characters are all established, the readers/fanbase know what they’re in, and there just doesn’t seem to be interest anymore into the creation of the comics.

Which is a pity.

I’d love to see more excerpts like this. Imagine getting an aside from Lemier!Jed Mackay! Smallwood!

What do you think? What afterwards would you like to see in modern day comics?

#Moon Knight #Moon Knight comics #Bill Sienkiewicz #Sienkiewicz #Analyzing the comics #I fucking love this

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bonebrokebuddy · 2 years

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-Alright I’ve been tagged by @stealingyourbones to do the WIP Challenge. Rules Here!

Feel free to ask me about any of them and I’ll be happy to let u know what it’s about! :D (please i need encouragement to write about them and I don’t want them to be left in WIP hell forever)

Most of these didn’t previously have titles so I’m going to make them up as I go with some having brief summaries.

As I have chronic carpal tunnel so many (but definitely not all) of these are generally short prompts or fic outlines I need to iron out but many have surpassed 3k so I can safely declare some as fics. And there’s a Lot of stuff here so sorry that this is super fucking long but I’m still not including a shit ton of ideas so I can keep it under 100 for now.

I focus a lot on world building and ideas just keeps expanding to the point where I feel like I can’t write it out without having to explain everything else & so I tried splitting them into the smaller ideas & hopefully that’ll help!

@die-erlkonigin6083 ur being tagged now:

Ok so my written ones:

- Stuck In An Adventure: (Wally West getting stuck in a The Adventures of Superman reminiscent universe (radio show that ran from 1940-1951)).

1) Fawcett City: Through A Child’s Eye:

1.a) Sovereign Nation

1.b) Child Logic: A Brief Rundown of How Things Work in Fawcett City In This AU.

1.c) F’s in Math: Fawcett City Education Standards

1.d) Childlike Misconceptions (x40 I have so many ideas about this)

1.e) Fawcett City Food Culture

1.f) Plan to get Captain Marvel back into continuity in a way that's entertaining, makes sense, and would keep it relevant in the DCU while being able to keep more of it’s original Golden Age tone and make the worldbuilding so much cooler.

1.g) Currency of an allowance

1.h) Robbing Bank Customs

1.i) Issues With The Education System

1.j) Magic Taught In Fawcett Educational Programs

1.k) Medicine & Injury Differences In Fawcett Citizens

1.l) Ambient Knowledge of the Radio & Past Lives: Billy Batson

2.a) Booster Gold. An Exploration into a Modern Version Adaptation of His Online Rise to Fame and His Downfall

2.b) Booster Gold: TikTok Sensation (this is kinda fused with the one above but is more lighthearted in tone)

3) Booster Gold: The Backstory and Rant About an Underappreciated and Massively Relatable Hero.

4) Billy Theorizing Back.

5) Linda Finding Out She Had Twins (but retold based on a real story)

6) The Daily Planet’s Gossip Mill

7) The Worries of the Daily Planet Employees over the one & only Clark Kent/ The Daily Planet thinks Clark’s a Meta but for Different Reasons Than You Might Think.

8) Jimmy Olsen Needs Therapy

9) The Softness Behind A Mask

10) Office Gossip

11) An Electric Charge: All Powered Up

12) Psychic/telepathic Clark (apparently this was a fairly uncommon but still very much existing fan theory that I just thought of independently. But once I found out that it already existed, I lost hope and stopped writing it but it's Very much a theory I enjoy and love that explains literally most if not all of Clark’s abilities.

13) “You mean, you Don’t actually look human?!

14) SO MANY KRYPTONIAN BIOLOGY IDEAS:

14.a) FUN (x so many just give me a number and I’ll give you a certain amount of short prompts for kryptonian biology ideas)

14.b) Inconvenience for the Kents

14.c) Braces

14.d) Biology Discussion

14.e) Different Nutritional Needs. Turns Out Invulnerable Teeth Mean You Can Eat A Lot Of Weird Shit

14.f) Humans stood on two legs to punch things. Why the fuck did kryptonians have the same

14.g) Eyes: Windows To The Soul The Size Of An Orange

15) Man of Steel, Unable to Feel: The issue of Clark’s the association of pain with touch.

16) A brief complaint on the lack of depictions of Batman’s Diet and Workout Regimine in fics because there’s so much comedy potential

17) A Meal Even The Flash Won’t Eat: Bruce’s Protein Shakes

18) Inside-out Space and Time (Dissecting the rock of eternity & it’s ability to travel time without the Speed Force)

DP X DC:

18) Critique on DP x DC twin AU

19) Guide on realism in twin interactions for twin au fics & how twins actually work.

20) Jason Todd’s Fenton Family Reunion

21) Discussion of Theme Similarity of 90’s Superboy and the Danny Phantom Cartoon.

22) A Summoning Going Dead Wrong (an ask commandeered from @stealingyourbones that got stuck in WIP hell and is FINALLY nearly done. I just need someone to unfuck my formatting & it’s all set.)

23) Wait What Do You Mean There’s Two Of You?

24) DP x DC What Do You Mean You Thought This Was A Nuclear Blast Zone?: Explaining the Metagene’s Existence in Amity Park, How Amity Park Was Hidden from the DC World, and the Discovery of It Not Being A Wasteland.

25) A Brief Reminder of Death and Revival: Blood Blossoms in Gotham

Based off of this post (which I am making a reply to but i gotta generate more ideas that fit with the theme first. Got the lore part done tho which is nice)

26.a) Wally West trips into the Backrooms.. wait why’s it all floating and green?

26.b) Speedsters can get healed by GZ

26.c) Speedsters get hurt by GZ contact

26.d) Speedsters gain extra powers when in contact with GZ

26.e) Too Much Of A Good Thing: Ectoplasm Overload (Flash Family)

26.f) How The Fuck Is This Working: Bafflement of the Fenton’s Building Conventions (Flash)

26.g) Lichtenberg AU Flash x DC (x2)

27) Familiar Branching Scars: Lichtenberg AU Captain Marvel x DP where I go way into specifics of magical theory and magical lab procedure than I should’ve

28) Danny’s Not Alive: The Issues That Come With Collecting a Ghost’s DNA

29) Ambient Ectoplasm Quality Warning: Health effects can be immediately felt by sensative groups. Healthy individuals may experience difficulty breathing and throat irritation; consider staying indoors and rescheduling outdoor activities. Please retreat to the GZ for your own safety.

30) tired TA Peter Parker who works a job at a university sponsored lab doing microfluidics

31) College Wally West complaining to his friends about his lab job & the difficulties trying to be a “real scientist”

32) They didn’t tell you being a Clone would come with an inferiority complex and the necessity to tell everyone around you that Not The Same Person Don’t Compare Us (yet I still I want to stand by their side and not in their shadow). (Kon-El)

Brainworms i need to write but have them recorded in my audio app & not transcribed yet:

33) Dash & Booster Gold, Ex-Star Quarterbacks

34) Frozen in Time (DP and the Flash Family)

35) I’m Not the Black Flash!

36) Ghosts In Space (do x dc)

37) The Contrast of Life and Death (Flash Family x dp)

38) Inhuman amounts of Speed. (Flash)

39) Opposing Forces: Same Energy (flash family x dp)

40) Metagene: How the Activation of an Integrated Virus Changes That Much Shit if it Activates

41) A Ghost and An Alien Walk Into A Bar…ow

42) A Ghost from the Future: A Mentor in the Past (Bart Allen)

43) Billy Batson: learning magic theory

44) Jimmy Olsen: Traumatized Beyond Belief (Taos discussion about how the character is handled)

45) Jimmy Olsen: A Neglected Superfamily Core Member By The Fans

46) A Parental Bond and Parental Worry: Clark Kent & Jimmy Olson

47) Trust and Betrayal: Clark Kent Losing a Child’s Trust

48) Help I Think I Accidentally Adopted A College Student What Do I Do

49) A Brief Dissection of the Broad Symbols the DC Hero’s Stand For and Goals they Want: Personal Characterization Help

50) Anger Feels The Same As Happiness (The Feeling Is Just As Intense) (Bart Allen)

51) Shadows of the Future, Traces of the Past: Bart Allen is Not Okay (YJ cartoon)

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queerplatonic-headcanons · 1 year

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Mod Headcanon: Bruce Wayne, Diana Prince, & Clark Kent (aka the World’s Finest)

(It’s no secret I’m not as big of a DC fan as I am of Marvel, so this is gonna be a mashup of various comics, movies, and animated shows, and a small headcanon plotline in the middle there.)

Bruce is AroAce and Trans

Diana is Bi/Pan

Clark is Queer and Nonbinary

Bruce Wayne is Gotham’s most notorious playboy. At least as far as the public is concerned, and Bruce is happy to let them believe it. The truth is unlikely to do any good for his, or the company’s, image. As a child, regardless of the wealth his parents left behind, and an endless number of suitors, of all classes and genders, being thrown at his feet, he preferred solitude to company, would rather pursue knowledge than courtship. He remained much the same through high school and college, until his ‘peers’ started to notice his lack of interest, and he learned to fake it just enough to keep the jackals in the press off his heels. Becoming the Bat was freeing in a way. He sacrificed very little during his training, less than other men had done, at least, and thrived without the expectations and judgment of Gotham’s High Society. He found it harder to keep up the mask of Bruce Wayne when he came back, and spent every party longing for moonlit rooftops. He was never fond of dancing, never liked what it alluded to, the forced intimacy and fumbling hands ever present reminders of desires he couldn’t reciprocate. As the Bat, though, he wasn’t beholden to the expectations of what a man should want or be, all people asked of him was justice, protection, a knight in shadowed armour. There was one like him, a Cat with expensive tastes, who feigned hunger the way he did, who saw right through his façade, left him with the knowledge that he wasn’t alone, and promised him a partner who wanted nothing beyond a dance.

He wasn’t thinking about optics when he adopted Dick, but having an heir put an end to the ever-increasing pressure from his contemporaries and the media to “think about his legacy”. Though children were never part of his original plan, he found that fatherhood suited him well, and for most of his children he was able to skip the unpleasant part of making the kid. He never resented or regretted Damian, but he never forgave Talia. She didn’t take no for an answer, and when he wouldn’t give her what she wanted, she took it. Clark and Diana learned very quickly not to press that particular subject.

Diana had always loved without regard to gender, though she never gave it much thought until she left Themyscira, because it was not something that was ever taboo. There were many things she found strange about humans, but the way they treated love with so much hatred she could never comprehend. The amazons knew of all kinds of love, and the most revered bond was that between sisters in arms: not just warriors who fought together, but those whose bond was so strong they fought as one. Diana longed for that connection, never found it in Themyscira, almost had it with Steve, and finally found it in Bruce and Clark.

Bruce especially reminded her of a fellow amazon she had once loved dearly, and thought she might share that warrior’s bond with. It was centuries before she left the island herself, and he had confessed to her that he’d never felt like the woman everyone mistook him for, and she could see how desperately he wanted to be free of the expectations others placed on him. She knew the feeling to a certain extent. So she helped him flee Themyscira, and still holds out hope she may one day find him here, in the world of man, and that he would understand her joy at having found that bond she had once looked for in him.

Growing up, Clark always felt a disconnect between the gender their Ma and Pa told them they were and the way they felt on the inside. When they learned of their heritage, they figured it must be an alien thing, which it was. Kind of. There was no exact human equivalent for the kryptonian concepts of gender, but some spelunking through google landed them with a few helpful words: nonbinary, xenogender, and singular they.

Clark had always thought everybody was pretty, but tried to ignore the feelings that would get a ‘boy’ living in rural Kansas into trouble. They did confide in Ma and Pa, who were amazing about it, but they didn’t feel like their parents would ever completely understand. The whole ‘actually an alien’ thing definitely helped explain the gender thing, but left them conflicted as to whether they found everybody pretty because their own gender was ‘different’ to everyone else’s, or if their gender and others’ didn’t factor into it at all. Eventually they settled on being just plain Queer and went on with their life.

Lois broke it off because, though she did love them, try as she might, she was straight, and she just couldn’t love them the way they loved her, seeing as she was only attracted to men, something they just weren’t. The two stayed friends, and eventually Lois was the one that gave them the final push to talk out their feelings with Diana and Bruce.

Their attraction to the two was another thing that they thought, at first, was another weird alien thing. They knew after the first meeting they found them both distractingly pretty, and after getting to know them, they could feel themself falling deeply in… something. It felt like love but they also knew that, try as they might, whatever this was was very much not romantic or sexual, and they had plenty of experience with what those felt like, this just… wasn’t that. It wasn’t until after another intensive round of googling that Clark found that what they were feeling was just as human as it was Kryptonian.

It was Clark who finally got the ball rolling, sat the other two down and confessed all they had been feeling and said, in no uncertain terms, what they wanted, the relationship they hoped to pursue. Diana was delighted to find that humans(and, evidently, Kryptonians) had a similar bond in their society to the one she was hoping for with the warriors near to her. Bruce was the hardest to convince, not because he didn’t reciprocate, he very much did, but because they couldn’t quite believe that they really only wanted a, what had Clark called it? A QPR with him and nothing… beyond that. Though he hadn’t said anything about it, Clark and Diana were quite sure now that Talia had not been the only one is Bruce’s life who struggled with the word “No.”

It took a while and a lot of reassuring, but Bruce eventually allowed himself to believe them, and agreed to what turned out to be, their opinion, at least, the World’s Finest QPR.

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redqueenphoenix · 4 months

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I am A Good Girl...

(DC/Marvel Crossover Fic)

So, I am currently working on a multiverse crossover cuz why not... and here we go with the a small preview of the insanity. I do not own any of the characters other than my OC Ruby Heart.

Inspiration - I am a Good Girl from the movie Burlesque

All characters in this fan fiction are over the age of 21 years old.

The Comedian X Female OC

Word Count:2433

Ruby couldn’t believe that she got fired from the diner a few days ago. They should have sided with her. They probably would have if she didn’t throw the man that grabbed her ass through a window. It was down right revolting to have the boss of the diner get on her case for damages and then misconduct at work, like she wasn’t the victim.

Shaking her head she continued down the street to the apartment that she managed to secure for herself after she got thrown into this hell hole of a reality. Whoever did this was going to pay, it was not a place that she would like to permanently call home. Especially since she was ripped away from everyone she knew.

She passed a building with pulsing music, neon lights and people standing outside to get in, most of them seemed to be of the male variety. Rolling her eyes, she clutched her purse a bit tighter to her side as she picked up speed with her head down. She was just about to pass the building when she bumped right into a woman with purple hair and heels.

“Sorry.” Ruby said quickly as she looked up.

“It’s ok.” The woman spoke, her emerald green eyes were lined in dark black liner and her lips glittered in the neon lights. “You alright?” She asked as she looked behind her, “one of the patrons didn’t mess with you did they?”

Ruby shook her head, “no, I was just on my way home. Sorry for running into you. It’s been a long day.”

She brushed a lock of her purple hair back as she smiled, “I’ve had those. What’s got you down hun?”

Sighing heavily she ran her hand through her hair, “I got fired from the job I was at because the boss thought it was too much to throw a guy through a window over touching me without my permission. So here I am, rent’s due in a week and I can’t find a job.”

The woman shook her head, “that’s rough girl. I can hook you up with a job. Can you dance?”

Ruby thought for a moment, “yeah.”

The woman extended her hand, “the name’s Jade come on in and let’s get you set up. Can’t have you homeless now, can we?”

“I’m Ruby, Ruby Heart.” She smiled as she shook Jade’s hand.

“Wow, that's your real name or did you already pick one out?” Jade laughed as she led her towards the back door of the building.

“Was born with it.” She laughed with her as they headed inside.

~*~

Ruby found herself grabbing her bag from the house and heading out for work. The last two weeks had flown by, the job paid well and it wasn’t as degrading as she thought it would be. She actually found that she was enjoying the attention. She had become fast friends with Jade and found herself hanging out with her even after work. It was good to finally find a friend in this reality.

The bouncer that worked the back door smiled and opened the door for her. As she walked in she was met with the thumping of the music out on the stage and the chattering of the few girls in back that worked there with her.

“Ruby!” Jade called out from her vanity, waving her over to the one next to her. “I was worried you weren't going to show up tonight. Slow nights can suck. That was the first one we had since you started.”

Ruby made her way over to the vanity decked out in red confetti and plastic rubies, “I seriously thought about calling in to be honest, but here I am.”

“Don’t let a slow day get you down. We got some of our regulars tonight.” Jade smirked as she adjusted her burlesque costume. “Plus we got a real sleeze in here tonight. He seems to be loaded though. Only if you can stand getting close to him while he’s blowing cigar smoke everywhere and flirting like he’s god’s gift to women.”

Ruby slipped behind the curtain by their vanities changing into her own burlesque costume for the night. “Sounds like a real scumbag.” She adjusted her top that had a heart showing her cleavage. Reaching into her bag she sprayed on some perfume, checked her makeup and then slipped into her heels that were also in her bag.

She listened to the music and looked out from the side door of the back to see how packed they were. The music filled her ears as the door cracked open, smoke and strobe lights met her as she looked out into the patronage of the evening. It was a fairly decent crowd tonight and most of them seemed to have a drink in their hands. That was a good sign to her. The more they drink, the more money they throw.

Catching a glimpse of Jade heading to the back of the floor with a well aged bottle of gin peaked her curiosity. She came to a stop at the table that Ruby assumed was the sleeze that they were discussing earlier. Edging out the door further she tried to get a better look, but his back was to her. The only thing she could make out was that he was built, dark black hair groomed to the side while cigar smoke billowed from the table. Stepping back into the door she rolled her eyes, she knew she had to work the floor after her number.

“Hey, Ruby, you're about to go out.” Another one of the girls said to her as she retreated to the back.

Taking a deep breath she made her way towards the back stairs to the stage. She heard the last song drop off and the in between music play as the curtain dropped to set her up for her performance. Her heels clicked as she stepped out onto the stage, the lavish pleated curtain hiding her from the patrons while she sat down on the chaise they brought out for her performance. Her long red hair curled around her perfect make up job. She had only been there a week or so but she had become the talk of the club and the most sought after show.

Leaning back on the chaise the curtain began to rise as the spicy jazz music kicked in.

“Where have I been all my life.” She sang as she rose up on the chaise with the spotlight on her. She continued to sing to the song as she got off the chase lounge and danced. Her moves are precise and provocative as she flirted with the crowd with her dancing. “They all say darling what did you do for those pearls?” She brought her hand up to her face in mock shock, “What?! I am a good girl…” She turned from the crowd and walked up the stair case with a flirtatious bounce in each step.

As Ruby began to dance up the stairs and then sit down on one to give a slightly suggestive shimmy and leg spread, she caught the attention of the “sleeze” at the back of the bar. His eyes locked on her as she got up and walked over to the pole that was at the top of the stairs. She moved with class as she swung herself around it as she sang. A pearly, white grin broke across his lips as he wedged his cigar in his mouth. Standing up and adjusting the black suit jacket he wore, making his way up to the front near the stage with intrigue. Redheads were his weakness and this one was feisty.

Ruby’s hands gripped the pole as she came around it, playfully kicking her feet under her, “they all say my feet never do touch the ground.” She let go of the pole and brought her hand up again, “what?! I am a good girl!” She brought her hands up to ruffle her hair as she stepped towards the stairs with two other dancers.

As the music went into a music break from her singing the girls danced provocatively down the stairs until they hit the main stage again. Once on the main stage, Ruby danced towards the curved edge of the stage, dropping to her knees and rolling her head back and forth to fan out her hair as she sat back on her knees with an innocent expression, bringing her finger tip to her lips as she blinked her eyes turning a violet color, “I am a good girl!” She carried the note as the song ended, bringing her eyes down to the crowd and locking eyes with a set of chocolate colored irises she thought she would never see again.

Her heart hammered as he grinned at her with his cigar wedged between his teeth. She quickly came to her senses about how little clothes she had on as the curtain dropped between them. When the curtain hit the floor of the stage she blinked a few times as her mind raced. “That couldn’t have been Eddie.” She whispered quietly as she got to her feet while the slow jazz played around her. Shaking her head as Kurt, one of her favorite bartenders came up to her with her robe and a glass of her favorite drink, whiskey clean.

“Wunderbar, darling! Stunning as usual. A complete show stopper.” His German accent danced in his words as he helped her into her robe. As he helped her into his robe his jacket sleeve came up a bit showing the blue skin of his wrist that wasn’t covered in ivory colored foundation.

She smiled as she took her drink from Kurt though her mind was elsewhere. She bit her lip thinking about how much that man looked like her Eddie. There was no way he could be, since she was ported here she hadn’t seen anyone that she recognized.

“Miss Ruby, you seem distracted. Are you well? You are very pale.” His eyes turned to her in an unnatural color of green, the yellow beneath the contacts made them almost emerald.

She waved her hand as they made their way backstage as she sipped her drink, “sorry Kurt, I was just a bit distracted.” She blinked a few times as her eyes finally shifted back to their blue color.

“You have to be careful with that, Fräulein. People may one day catch on that you are not using contacts in your performance.” Kurt stepped down the steps and held his hand out for her to take it as she stepped down too.

All of a sudden there was one hell of a ruckus at the side door to the back stage.

“The fuck you mean I ain’t allowed. I can go where the fuck I please.”

The voice made her stop dead in her tracks, turning towards the door. Her heart hammering, that voice sure was Eddie’s.

The bouncer came stumbling backwards into the backstage as if he was hit by a tank.

“Get behind me, Fräulein.” Kurt’s arm pushed Ruby behind him as he took a defensive stance.

The first thing Ruby saw come through the door was a 44 magnum pointed forward then he stepped in. In all his full tilt glory the look of a man on a mission.

“You ain’t even gonna say hi, doll face?” His eyes locked to her as he stepped forward completely ignoring Kurt that stood between them.

“Patron’s are not permitted in the back, sir.” Kurt flexed his hands as he looked at the man with a gun.

A low, dark chuckle left his lips as he grinned, “and what’re you gonna do about it, pipsqueak?”

Ruby had no time to react before Kurt disappeared into thin air. “Kurt, no!” She called out as he reappeared behind the man with the gun.

“I’m going to throw you out.” Kurt chuckled as he grabbed the back of the man’s jacket.

Eddie nodded his head at Ruby with a devilish smirk as he turned and fired his gun.

Kurt once again disappeared into thin air causing the bullet to hit the wall with a loud crack. He reappeared hanging from one of the beams clicking his tongue, “Herr, terrible aim.” He dove from the beam towards Eddie’s chest.

Bringing his hands up he snatched Kurt up and threw him into the wall. “You’re not big enough to stop me.” He spun the gun in his fingers as he prepared to shoot again.

As the bullet rushes towards Kurt, he once again disappears, popping back into view a few feet from Ruby as he takes off his jacket which was binding his tail to his back. “I may not be big enough, but I am fast enough.” He took off running, disappearing and reappearing in a rapid succession towards Eddie. He came back into reality with a diving punch at Eddie’s chin, connecting, sending his head to the side. As his feet hit the ground he once again teleported.

Eddie’s hand shot forward grasping at the smoke, grabbing arm before he completely disappeared taking Eddie with him and reappearing in the rafters, his tail dangling Eddie over the edge by the arm.

Eddie twisted, bringing the magnum up towards Kurt and firing a few times at him, narrowly missing him.

“Damn it boys!” Ruby exclaimed as she threw her tumbler of whiskey into the floor causing the glass to shatter. “Stop the shit!” Her eyes shifted to violet as she heard footsteps hammering towards them. “Get down here right now, Kurt!”

“As you wish, Fräulein.” His words dripped with sarcasm as his tail let go of Eddie, sending him to the ground falling feet first to the ground. Disappearing off the rafter and then reappearing next to Ruby.

Eddie landed on his feet with a look like he was going to rip Kurt apart as stormed towards the pair.

“Eddie, stop!” Ruby exclaimed as she got between the two with her arms outstretched, not giving Eddie any wiggle room to get to the smaller statured man behind her. Her features changed into one of shocked relief as he seemed to listen. “It really is you?” Her eyes widened in disbelief.

“In the flesh, doll,” Not lowering his gun from Kurt he wrapped his arm around her waist. Pulling her into him.

“You know this brute, Fräulein?” Kurt asked in complete surprise.

“Oh boy, do I know him.” Ruby smiled as her arms came around his shoulders for a hug.

To Be Continued....

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waxingonandoff · 7 months

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Hiiii<3

1st, I found ur page yesterday and I love it!

2nd, could I request a matchup pls? Could be for anyone lol

Anyway, I’m 5ft. Like on the dot man. I’m more on the curvier side. My skin is light normally but I just got back from the beach so I have a tan lol. I’m also an introvert (unless I’m with friends) and an INFP. Along with major social anxiety. I’m a virgo.

I have hazel eyes that are more on the green side. My hair is slightly passed my shoulders and is wavy/curly. I’m in the process of trying to heal it after years of heat damage. It’s dark brown and I have bangs.

I love art and books. Along with animals. I have a cat, dog, and turtle. I love the ocean. My aesthetic, I would say is salted granola. I saw a tiktok once and was like ‘yes. That one.’ Im a big marvel, dc, and Star Wars fan. Music is like my life. Literally had 1526 minutes played last week. I’m in a honors choir class, book club, and art club. I have a green VW beetle.

Idk how much of that u needed but oh well🤷‍♀️ thank you love you🫶🫶

aww omg ty sm!! i’m so happy u like my content!

okay so idk what fandom to do but i’ll do ck to play it safe lol!

you would be the cutest with demetri ???

y’all have been besties since u were kids, like it was u eli and him

so when u hit puberty, both of em were like 👁️👄👁️

and y’all had crushes on each other for the longestttt time so when he finally grew a pair and asked u out it was like

“so, do you wanna go to the movies tomorrow?”

“oh sure! should i pick up eli?, or do you want to?” “o-oh no i meant like, just me and you y/n.”

*ur obviously screaming on the inside and blushing.*

“oh u- uhm, i would love too! what time?” “let’s say 4:30?”

“yea. i would really like that dem.”

“awesome! uh- i mean- psh, yea it’s cool. whatever” *leaning on his locker to act cool.*

“okay. cool. see you tomorrow.”

HE WAS SO EXCITED MANNN

and when eli found out he was so happy for y’all bc he was y’all’s #1 shipper.

he definitely teases u abt ur height, always has.

but it’s demetri so it’s all in good fun.

“so like, do you think you’ll ever grow? you’ve been 5’0 since you were 13.” “oh piss off tree trunk.”

A LOT of playful banter is going on in this relationship.

“why do you HAVE to put everything on the top shelf.”

“because it’s funny. watching you struggle to get a cup. better then television.”

“you know i’m the perfect height to punch you in the guts.”

“ohh shes fiesty today.”

demetri is a very mouthy sarcastic guy, but only with his close friends.

hes also very shy so he obviously doesn’t mind it

and he definitely helps you with ur social anxiety 🥹

*at a crowded party* “hey are you okay? do you need something? a water?”

“i’m okay dem, looks likes you’re worried about me.”

“psh i’m not worried about you. just don’t need you dying on me and everyone’s think that it’s my fault.”

*lauging* “you’re a jerk dem.”

always makes jokes that y’all have the same eye color.

“y’know, i think we were meant to be y/n.”

“why’s that dem?”

“because we have the same eye color, what kinda couple has the EXACT same eye color? no one. we’re special. it was definitely meant to be.”

“you’re actually crazy, you know that?”

“no i didn’t. but i DO know that we were meant to be.”

*laughs* “you’re such a dork. you’re lucky i love you.”

always takes pics of ur eyes side by side AND has it as his wallpaper 😭😭🥹🥹

ugh he lOVES ur hair

loves it.

plays with ur hair all the damn time

has your loose hair ties on his desk and in his backpack LMAOO

“dem have you seen my hai-“

“your hair tie? yeah i have about 50 of them in my backpack.”

“really? welll, can i have one… please?”

“no y/n im revoking your hair tie privileges. yes you can have one.”

“thankssss demmie!!”

loves going to museums with u🥹

he doesn’t really care for art but he goes anyways to make u happy🫶🏻

“y/nnnn, i have a suprise for u”

“what is it dem?”

“i got us tickets to the art museum! you’ve been talking about it so much lately, so i thought i’d take you today.”

*y/n bear hugging him* “OH MY GOSH!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOUUU!!! I LOVE YOU DEM!” *kisses him on the cheek*

*lauging* “you’re welcome, i love you too.”

definitely loves ur aesthetic

and secretly loves going shopping with u lol🤭

*y/n dragging demeitri to another store* “y/n, another store?”

“yes demetri! you wanted to come anyways, so suck it up and help me pick out more outfits.”

it’s like one of those scenes in a corny chick flick where you go in and out of the dressing rooms showing him outfits LOL

MARVEL AND DC MARATHONS ALL .THE .TIME.

definitely getting into arguments over who’s team cap and team iron man 😭😭

“y/n how could you possibly be team cap!? bucky killed tony’s parents and he tried to justify it by saying he was brainwashed????”

“because dem!, he didn’t understand what he was doing. it’s not his fault!”

constantly saying that you’re mary jane and peter because he’s nerdy and you’re gorgeous 😭

loves looking at all ur stuff u painted/ drew in art class

literally will post them on ig and show them off like he did it LMAOAKS

he’s so proud of u cause u can paint

LOVES U CAR OH MY GOSHHHH

he was so jealous when u first got it lolz

him and eli were in literal shock

they were both so excited because now u didn’t have to pay for ubers/ have eli’s mom drop u off LMFAOOO

A/N: OH MY GOD I FINALLY GOT THIS DONE AFTER GOD KNOWS HOW LONG😭 i hope u like it this took me so long to finish for no reason?!?

#cobra kai #cobra kai imagines #cobra kai x reader #cobra kai demetri #demetri x reader #demetri headcannons

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pedrospaltas · 1 year

Text

Caffeine Comfort

Plot: A simple and comforting story of how there is a man out there that consumes more caffeine than you do. How you become friends and your comfort person.

Set in winter of 2020 and the story will progress into current timeline.

No use of y/n.

Warnings: All the fluff, depiction of anxiety/panic attacks, consuming a unhealthy amount of caffeine.

This story is SMUT FREE, I respect those who write it, but I morally cannot do that to a real public figure. This is simply a comfort fic, to help my own anxieties and I do not mean to disrespect Pedro in anyway. I want to help those to envision, what he possibly could be like as your comfort person.

Disclaimer: I am not a writer, I make mistakes, please forgive any grammatical errors that may occur.

Part 1/4 (2.3k)

Every morning before you would stop by your local Starbucks to get a cup of coffee, it was your routine. The baristas all know you by name as you go to pick up the usual, iced americano, 5 shots. They always laugh at you when they go to make the drink, “How’s the hand tremors?” Someone asks and you simply laugh it off. Today was slightly different, you waltz in and made your order and as you were waiting the gentlemen behind you made his order, one of the baristas called over to you, “Hey! Someone is crazier then you are!” The others turned around from the bar to look at the cup, “6 shots…” you overheard one of them gasp. The customer paid for his order and walked over to the waiting area, the two of you made eye contact and he noticed your avengers shirt, “So who’s your favorite Avenger?” He laughs, since you had to wait for the coffee anyways, you entertain him, “Are we talking original 6 or everyone?” “Let’s start with OG 6”, you pucker your lips and thought about it, “I thought Hawkeye was really cool when I was in high school, then I really had the hots for Captain America” The guy in front of you ruffles his hair, “You a big marvel fan?”

“I dabble a bit in all the cinematic universes, Marvel, DC, Starwars.” He gives you a smirk, “Are you excited for the new Wonder Women movie coming out soon?”

Just then the barista hand you your drink and his. “Well then-“ he places to your cup to get your name, “- I gotta bounce, but I’ll see you around” You simply smile and wave him goodbye, he turns around and says “Life is good, but it could be better.” You didn’t understand what he meant and just laughed as you thought about how cute he was, absolute golden retriever energy.

The day passes at work and you go home, the night is just the same as every-other night. You get home prepare dinner, shower and heads to bed.

It’s been a few weeks since your first meeting with the coffee addict, you learned that his name is Pedro. Pedro said that he works nearby and needs his caffeine every day to function as a human being. Everyday you go to Starbucks, and everyday you run into Pedro, the conversations were awkward at first, he asked about your favorite roasts of coffee beans, and the maximum amount of caffeine you would ingest in a day. The more you interacted with him, the more you enjoyed his company, he emitted such a comforting energy. He would always clink your cups together and say, “Hope you don’t get a heart attack today!”

Today you went in expecting Pedro to be there, but he wasn’t. You didn’t understand why, but you were disappointed. Barista handed you your coffee and as you walked out the cafe, you noticed Pedro waving at you from across the street, you invoulnteemily smiled as wide as your cheeks would allow. He ran over to you as soon as the lights turned yellow, “Thought I was gonna miss you! I made it!” He wanted from the running. You smiled as you watched him catch his breath, “Yup, just me and my espresso” you shook the iced-coffee in his face.

“I uhm, I wanted to ask you, I have premiere tickets to Wonder Women 1984, would you ever be interested in joining me?” He straightens his back and slightly towers over you.

“Oh, I haven’t even seen the trailer yet, is it out already?” You furrow your eyebrows in confusion. “Don’t watch the trailer, it’ll, uhm- you can watch it start to finish without any anticipation, it’ll be great” He smiles while he rubs the back of his neck.

“Okay, when is it it? I may have work?”

“Next Monday evening, you mentioned you had Sunday/Mondays off once, I remember” He laughs proudly at the remark.

You pretended like you had a life outside of work, “I’ll have to check to see if I have plans already. I’ll tell you tomorrow when I see you.”

Pedros eyes glimmer at they look at you, “Sure, sounds good. I really hope you can join me!”

You give him a smile and a nod, you pointed towards the direction of your office hinting to him that you gotta leave for work. He nods, “Right, well, I’ll see you again, tomorrow morning!” He gives you a wave and you were off to the offices again.

Today at work a few guys at IT were caught talking about the WW premiere and how they couldn’t land tickets. “I was on the site at 11:59 last night and I made sure to refresh, but it was all sold out.” You thought about Pedros invite, but it had been so long since you’ve been out to see a movie, even before the whole pandemic, you just preferred staying at home. A part of you really wants to go just to get to know Pedro more and a part of you wants to stay home and just be a couch potato. You didn’t give it any more thought before returning back to work.

It was a absolutely horrible day at work, your client requested to have the proposal revised for the 4th time and marketing decided it was a good time to change up all of the store front promotional materials causing a mountain load of work to be done. You went home, showered and head straight to bed, you had a late lunch, you didn’t feel the need to eat dinner.

It felt like you had only closed your eyes 30 mins ago, but the blaring 7am alarm disturbed your ever so peaceful sleep. You knew that today was one those days where 1 coffee was never going to be enough.

After reaching the cafe you reached to open the doors when you felt a tap on your left shoulder, you turned to see no one, and the other side Pedro was crouched down trying to hide from you view, you giggled out loud when you saw him, “Good morning!” He greeted, “I’m too sleepy for it to be a good morning…” you groaned. Pedro grabbed the door and escorted you inside, “Nothing a little espresso can’t fix!” He cheered, inline, he stood in front of you and ordered, “2 of my usuals and 2 choco cookies please” he then turned over to you, “You won’t have the energy to fight over me buying you a coffee right?” You pouted and nodded as you followed him to the bar, he couldn’t help, but he fix a strand of rogue hair that is sticking up from the back of your head, “Did you not get any sleep last night?”, you shook your head, “I got my 8 hours in, I went home after a long day of OT and after showering, I passed out.”

Pedro nodded, “Hopefully you don’t have to OT today then, I don’t think you’ll survive even a half day” He laughed. You have him a look of agreement, “So about next Monday, would you be free?” He asked. Without filtering your thoughts you blurted, “Of course I am”, the barista handed him the coffees and cookies, “Amazing! That’s awesome, okay, uhm- do you use WhatsApp?” He handed you the coffee and you immediately took a sip and nodded to his question. He hands you his phone and gesture for you to input your number. You added yourself in and he hands you a cookie, “When I’m feeling like shit a nice warm cookie always helps, my sister used to bake these every week when we were living together.” Both of you took a bite out of the cookies and walked towards the exit, “Pedro I don’t want to go to work” you whined like a 10 year old child. “Eres tan linda…” (You’re so cute) you looked to him in confusion, “Huh? Your friend Linda is here?” You look around, “No it’s nothing” he laughs, “But you need to get to work, trust me, it’ll be fine, now that I have you on my phone, I’ll send you motivational memes, I promise!”

You slowly nod your head, “Fine, I’ll go to work…” He waves you goodbye and heads back into his car.

The entire day, at the top of every hour, Pedro sent a work related meme, of if them being GIFs from “The Office, but you honestly found them funny. [5 more hours to go] he texted you. [Longest 5 hours of my life] you responded.

The days leading up to Monday were stressful, you finished the pile of paper work that was sitting at your desk and before you knew it there was a new pile. Your short 5 minute interactions with Pedro were the only thing you looked forward to now.

Monday morning Pedro texts you,

[G morning I didn’t call since you’re probably still sleeping though it’s already 11am]

[Anyways, would you like me to pick you up or did you wanna meet up at the theatre? Movie starts at 4:30, I was thinking movie and dinner?]

You rub your eyes to get a better view of the phone screen.

[Hey P, just woke up lol]

[We can meet at the theatre, it’s only a few train stops away]

[Dinners good]

Pedro almost texted you back instantaneously. [Great, see you there!]

After snuggling in bed for another hour you got up to do some light cleaning and found yourself eating a bowl of cereal for lunch.

You then took a shower and got ready, light coverage make up, simple hair up-do, black tank-top, dark denims and to top it all off a brown leather jacket. You looked at the mountain of shoes you had piling up and decided to just pull on converses’, they honestly go with every look.

You pulled out your phone and texted Pedro [On my way!] and he simply replied with a thumbs up emoji.

You found Pedro by concessions, he was dressed in a similar leather jacket and had a baseball cap on, his arms were hugging a load of snacks. He held a giant bucket of popcorn, a bag of cotton candy, 3 types of choco lates and 2 drinks, when you were in earshot he shouted, “I didn’t know what you liked so uhm- I got one of everything” he had the look in his eyes like a lost puppy, you laughed out, “Oh Pedro, just popcorn would have been fine!” You took some of the load off his hands. “Wow, you look very different when you’re not in business casual attire” Pedro exclaimed as he lead the way to the theater. You give him a questioning side eye, “Good different of bad different?” He gave you another look from head to toe, “Good different, definitely good different”

When you got inside, the theatre started to pack with more viewers, you were busy enjoying the previews and enjoying the cotton candy when you noticed further sinking into his seat and lowering his hat. You gave him a look, he quickly responded, “I’m- uhm, just cold” You didn’t question him and continued to snack away.

The movie was staring and the house lights blacked out, Pedro finally lifted his cap to see the screen.

You noticed how similar Pedro looked to Maxwell Lord, you looked over to Pedro, he has a bit of a mustache/beard situation going, his hair was deep cocoa brown and he looks much younger and slimmer then Maxwell, no, you pinpointed to the fact that you were being delusional.

Then it happened. The line, “Life is good, but it could be better” the line Pedro said to you at the cafe where you first met. You looked over to him eyes-wide. He gave you an innocent smile. “Y- you’re…” Pedro placed his finger to your lip before you could finish the sentence.

You couldn’t ignore the fact that you were watching this movie with him and how he is bitterly in the movie. Your brain couldn’t focus on the dialogue anymore, your ears began to ring, your eyes are out of focus and your hands were getting sweaty.

Pedro notices that you were shaking in your seat, you had the look of impending fear in your eyes.

“Hey are you okay?”

That did it for you, after Pedro asked the question you felt a tsunami wave of anxiety wash over you and bolted out of the theatre, Pedro was quick to follow. People in the theatre quickly noticed, “Is that Pedro Pascal?” They murmured. He followed you to the fire exit stairwells, you had started hyperventilating and your face was red and felt burning hot. You gripped onto the railing like your life depended on it. Pedro placed a hand on your shoulder and pulled his cap off to place on your head, he knew the bright led lights above the ceiling would make you feel worse. “Hey, listen to my voice, just breathe. Breathe for me, okay.” He then mimicked deep breaths for you to follow, you slowly slump onto the side of the wall, your hands now vibrating. Pedro places his hand onto yours. “Breathe”

You closed your eyes and followed his breathing, after a few minutes everything was much calmer than it was before. “Feeling better?” You nodded. Pedro had the most guilty and remorseful look in his eyes right now. “I’m sorry, I wanted to surprise you, I- I- didn’t mean to- I’m so sorry” His voice sounded muffled to you, but in the moment you just wanted a hug, you wanted to feel grounded, “I wanted to tell you at the cafe, but I didn’t want to gloat so I didn’t day anything, and I-“ before he could finish his sentence you slipped both your arms under his and placed your head on his chest. For a moment the world had stopped spinning and the world was silent. Pedro wrapped you around his arms and breathed with you. A warm feeling crept into your chest, comfort.

#pedro pascal #Pedro Pascal x Reader #Pedro Pascal fan art #Paltalearnstowrite

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junebugwriter · 5 months

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The Case for Blue Beetle

A hero for the rest of us

Jaime Reyes has a lot on his shoulders.

It’s an awkward place he’s been put in, by multiple factors. He stands amidst a rebooted universe, the vanguard in a world defined by the legacy of the big-name heroes that have come before him. Superman. Wonder Woman. Batman. The Flash. Aquaman. Cyborg. All of them have had their name in big marquee lights, and the first go at a cohesive DC film universe... failed. It’s not for lack of effort. Zack Snyder is as high effort as it gets. I really loved both Wonder Woman movies (YES EVEN WONDER WOMAN 1984, DON’T @ ME). But... it’s a universe that stumbled as soon as it was born. Man of Steel was a fine first outing, albeit with creative decisions that I didn’t really gibe with. However, Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice was a colossal failure in almost every respect (and source of much personal anguish, but that’s a post for another day). Following that has been hit or miss, and the less said about David Ayers’ Suicide Squad, the better. But since The Flash hit the reset button on the cinematic universe, the question for all the comic fans is: what next? Where can we go from here?

And that leads us back to Jaime.

Before I go into spoiler territory, I’ll speak in broad strokes. This is a solid film. I really, honestly think it’s great and stable ground from which to build out a larger universe, but more than that, it’s the first one of these in a while that felt like it was about something. There were strong cohesive themes about family, legacy, capitalism and (failed) revolution, growing up, and navigating different cultures throughout. I’m not in the habit of giving out grades or scores, and honestly I don’t care for them. Grading is for chumps anyways. The movie speaks for itself in so many ways, and is so well-crafted, I can’t recommend it high enough. If you’re tired of superhero fare, that’s fine—the story is good enough divorced from the cool effects and sci-fi silliness of the genre. But I digress. Give it a watch. It’s fun and has given me a lot to chew on. VAYA CON DIOS, MUCHACHOS.

The Boy who would be Bug

--SPOILERS BELOW--

Jaime Reyes is a young man with frankly too much on his mind. Coming off the heels of graduating from undergrad, he comes home to the fictional Floridian city of Las Palmeras to be with his family and start his life. (Note: In the comics, Reyes is from the actual city of El Paso, Texas, which gives his setting an entirely different vibe which frankly is disappointing, but that is probably the only major change in adaptation that bugged me, which is small potatoes if we are being honest.) But Las Palmeras itself is a parable, a city divided between the rich and the rest of us. The Reyes family tells him upon arrival (and after eating some local tacos) that the family is losing the house. Rent got jacked up, and the patriarch had a heart attack and can no longer run the family auto repair shop. So, Jaime and his sister Milagro scramble to find jobs, low-paying service work for the richest and most powerful family in the city, the Kords.

The Kords, in contrast to the Reyes family, is one defined by their internal division. Where the Reyes family is instantly warm, boisterous, giving, caring, and supportive of all efforts of the respective members, the Kords are broken in multiple ways. In many ways, it’s a mirror to the Stark family of the Marvel universe: the dead patriarch built a weapons manufacturing company, the successor son wanted to get away from that in favor of more consumer-friendly tech, and in the wake of his disappearance, the overlooked sister Victoria Kord has steered the company back to its domineering and destructive roots as a weapons contractor for the US government.

A fresh take on an old structure

I think it’s impossible to talk about this movie apart from its relation to Iron Man. I’m sorry, it’s about a person who wears a super powered high-tech suit of armor and fights against a usurper who wants to continue weapons proliferation and western hegemony. That’s the plot! That’s the text! It’s built on the same bones, and you’d be foolish to not see it. However, divorced from that rough sketch, the difference is all in the protagonist, and how they relate to family. Tony Stark is an individual, largely at odds with everyone else including his loved ones. He didn’t know how to be a person, let alone a person in connection with others. He had lived his life as a rich kid, and I’m sorry, that breaks your brain a bit.

But the protagonist here did not come from a rich family. He came from an immigrant family, one that emerged out of the revolutions south of the border and escaped from them to find a new life in the US, and they have spent the past 3 generations trying to live the American dream. And finally, the American Dream has swallowed them whole. They live in a poor neighborhood slowly being gentrified by the rich, epitomized by the Kords. They are on the brink of destruction in a world that’s straining from the stress of the capitalist system on the margins of the imperial core, and they are not going to make it without a miracle. So, this is a different kind of story, built on the spine of the Iron Man model.

Coincidences happen. Jaime walks in on a feud between Victoria, current CEO of Kord Industries, and Jennifer, the lone, orphaned daughter of the missing-in-action Ted Kord, the former CEO who was interested in wacky inventions rather than weapons. Jaime tries to intervene, to be the hero he is inside, but reality is far less accommodating, and this action gets him and his sister fired.

Little Bug, Big Impact

For people on the bottom of the economic ladder, escaping your situation is largely impossible. But dammit, Jaime wants to stand up for people, and so he does what’s right, even if it comes at personal cost. That’s the through-line of the film. You do what’s right because it’s right, not because it will win you praise or security. You stick up for people, and you support your family.

Jennifer catches up with Jaime, offers to keep in touch with him, and the two make plans to meet up the next day. Wacky hijinks ensue, and Jaime winds up in possession of an alien artifact that reacts to him, yadda yadda yadda, and wouldn’t you know it, the Scarab chooses Jaime to bond with, and becomes a symbiotic high-tech super suit. You know the tropes, you know how it goes. BUT. You see this all from the perspective of Jaime and his family. When Jaime’s clothes burn off, and he bursts through the ceiling, you understand “Oh, shit, that’s some serious property damage in this rental house.” Later you even see the tarp over the hole, and the poorly re-built table that got broken in the chaos. It’s little touches like that in the film that remind you “Oh, this is the kind of world that has consequences. Problems happen, and they keep having ripple effects.”

We learn later that the Scarab was something that Ted Kord was looking for, because you see, he was secretly The Blue Beetle II, the successor to Dan Garrett, the original Blue Beetle, and original owner of the Scarab. The Scarab never chose Ted, but Ted carried on the legacy of the name. We know this because Jaime’s Uncle gives us the backstory—Blue Beetle was his favorite hero. He was “if Batman had ADHD.” Batman with a sense of humor. An inventor who was into heroics because it was right, but also because it was fun.

That’s a crucial thing I think is worth dwelling on. It’s a statement of the kind of legacy that the DC movies as a whole need to wrestle with. The last time we saw heroes, it was very self-serious. Little levity, and even less color. Superman was a grimacing beacon of power, and a reluctant messiah. Batman was an uber-fascist terrorist. Wonder Woman was a world-weary soldier who saw the worst of humanity. It was a Dark Universe filled with Serious Heroes.

Now, the first outing in this brand-new rebooted DCU? You get a kid who stumbles into it all. You get someone whose very name is defined by his color! Blue Beetle. It’s a goofy kind of name for a kind of outlandish character, but it’s one that fits. He’s a bug. He’s not a messiah, or a dark avenger, or a warrior princess. He’s a kid. A kid with the world on his shoulders. A kid who lives with his family on the ground level, not in a skyscraper or a Batcave or a fortress of solitude. He’s a kid from the poor side of town who got a lucky break and wants to fight for the little guy. That’s a statement. That’s a proper introduction to a new world. Yeah, all these titans and gods exist, but their problems rarely intersect with ours. The billionaire downtown who wants to buy up all the land in the old neighborhood? The one who wants to sell weapons of war and doesn’t care about the people that get in the way? The one who sees people as little more than test subjects or obstacles to getting profit? That’s the villain.

Rudy, Jaime’s uncle, says that he loved the Blue Beetle because he was “one of us.” That is what he meant for him, and it’s a legacy that follows the name. Jaime is now the bearer of that legacy, and that’s not meant to be a burden but a challenge. And the best part is? He’s not doing this alone.

A Family Bug

See, at some point Jaime gets captured, naturally. And who is there to bail him out? His family. All this time he’s spent trying to save and support them has not gone unnoticed. They take a bug-shaped tank, a bunch of weapons, and liberate him, while Jaime gets another shot at confronting the big bads. The final super-suit having goon gets a backstory—wouldn't you know, he’s a product of the warmongering that Victoria Kord stoked in Latin America—and it’s through empathy, relatability, and love that Jaime is able to defeat him. Strength is not in power. It’s in you and your family having each other and supporting the little guy.

I say we failed Blue Beetle, because it kind of came and went this year, didn’t it? It had the bad luck of being in the middle of a historic writer’s/actor's strike, and so promotion was stifled. But it’s also a C-list hero that nobody had ever heard of, with the biggest actors in it being Susan Sarandon and George Lopez.

The thing of it though, is that kind of was how Iron Man started too. Iron Man, before the 2008 film, was a C-tier superhero. Robert Downey Jr. was a has-been washed-up actor. Yet it exploded in popularity. I wish Blue Beetle got the same treatment. It deserves a second look. It’s fun, energetic, and has real stakes and real story to it. It has a lot to say about our current moment from the position of living at the margins of society, and I really can’t help but say that we need it right now. We need fun. We need hope. But more than anything, we need solidarity. Love, empathy, solidarity—these are the things which give us strength. And that’s what Blue Beetle has in spades.

#movie review #blue beetle #dcu #comics #superheroes #film #film criticism

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jurgan · 1 year

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Young Justice Season 3 Recap I watched this season gradually over several months, so I might not remember all the details, but I want to give some thoughts on the themes I saw presented. The concept of Anti-Life fascinates me. It sounds dumb when you hear the name, like it's a death ray or something. I'd heard of the "Anti-Life Equation," but I didn't think much of it until I read Kirby's Fourth World and saw what it was. The idea that there's a secret technique to obliterate someone's free will and replace it with your own is terrifying (Asimov's Mule had a similar power). The opposite of life isn't death. Life is about relationship with the environment around you. You take, you give back, you have an impact and you die. Anti-Life is to take away your ability to have an impact on the world at all. The Equation itself isn't much more than a plot device, at times a mere maguffin, but the ideology is very real. It's a view where people exist only to further the will of those more powerful and can be sacrificed at will. Kirby stared fascism straight in the eye during WWII, and Darkseid was his vision of the ultimate tyrant. Be it Hitler, Stalin, or Nixon, anyone who used others for their own gain was part of the same force of evil in Kirby's eyes. Young Justice is at base a coming of age story, so it makes sense that the god who tries to take their free will is in the form of a cloying authority figure. Granny Goodness is herself a tool of Darkseid's ideology. Her most direct nemesis is Garfield Logan, who rejects being a tool for anyone's will. Making her a Hollywood producer allows for some satire about the commodification of actors and other "talent," but teenage rebellion is pretty universal, so the themes of "coming of age" and "demanding free will" merge seamlessly in the dehumanizing world of entertainment production. Garfield starts The Outsiders with the express purpose of telling people, especially young people, that they don't have to follow dehumanizing orders, they have the right to stand up for themselves. Violet and Victor are the other characters with the most pronounced arcs. Both of them are a mergence of technology and organic life, but they come at it from opposite directions. Violet is a Motherbox using the corpse of Gabrielle to act, while Victor is a human kept alive with a Fatherbox. Violet is a newborn teenager trying to figure out what she is, while Victor is a teenager who lost what he was. Both of them come into their own by giving up what they thought was important- Victor accepts the end of his football career and "normal life," while Violet gives up her relationship with Brion. Makes me think of Renard saying he lost "his Anastasia" in preserving his integrity. Death and rebirth is an old part of the heroes' journey, and the two V's are blatant examples stretched over the course of a season. Cyborg's acceptance is signalled, funnily enough, by saying "booyah" for the first time. Life, as these two learn, isn't about what kind of cells are in your body. It's about your ability to make choices that matter. Vic trying to hold onto his past and Violet trying to run from hers/Gabrielle's were anti-life. Opening up to their teammates was a chance to be accepted. I've historically been more of a Marvel fan, but I'm starting to appreciate DC's conception of heroes as mythological embodiments of concepts. If Darkseid is Anti-Life, it makes sense for his nemesis to be Superman. I recently saw the movie Kill Bill for the first time. The late David Carradine gives a great speech about the mythological significance of Superman, and it's hilarious because he's blatantly wrong. Bill can't imagine a powerful person being happy with a mundane life, so he assumes Superman's Clark Kent persona is a bumbling dope because Superman is mocking normal people. This is not meant to be taken at face value, it's a sign that Bill doesn't understand people with different worldviews. Either that, or it's just a mockery of the kind of pretentious nerd who writes essays about the philosophy of superhero stories. *coughs nervously* (Bishansky, if you're reading, I'm guessing you've had to yell about this before.) Superman has great respect for normal people, after all he was raised by them, and his heroism is all about helping them live up to their own potential. In the stories where he does decide to make people's decisions for them, like Red Son, he quickly becomes as much a tyant as Darkseid. His origins are reminiscent of Moses, so he fights against slavery in all its forms. It's all in service of Life. If Darkseid is Anti-Life, then what is Vandal Savage? He kind of took a backseat in this season, and I wonder if he's really on the same scale as Darkseid. He's earth-based, but he's moving into the bigger leagues. This is why he breaks his alliance with Darkseid once the latter gets the Anti-Life Equation. There's something surreally funny about Savage just knocking on the door of the Team's headquarters. I would say Vandal Savage represents the State of Nature. "Nature" is a word with largely positive connotations today, but when Thomas Hobbes used the term he meant a cruel war of all against all where life is "nasty, brutish, and short." This is Savage's utopia. He desires constant struggle in the belief that it will make people stronger. This is why he's willing to work with Darkseid temporarily but can't allow him to obtain complete victory. Maybe that's why he calls his group The Light- he sees them as fighting against tyranny of Dark(seid), but his enlightenment is a lesson of violence. On this axis, Savage's philosophical nemesis is Batman. Batman, of course, is motivated to protect children from the senseless chaos that took his parents. Batman is a Hobbesian, and Batman Inc. is his Leviathan. (Disclaimer that I'm specifically talking about Young Justice here, Batman has had many different characterizations.) He resigns from the Justice League because he thinks only he has the will to do what is necessary and his decisions cannot be compromised by a corrupt leader. This is a decision Superman can't make because he's simply too powerful and needs self-imposed restraints, so he chooses to compromise. But Batman's fight against the State of Nature leads him into embracing the methods of Anti-Life. He lies, he manipulates, and in doing so he takes meaning away from the decisions others make. I don't want to conclude that it's simply a matter of balance. Life is opposed by both the violent actions of murderers and the subtle control of tyrants. The season doesn't end with a conclusive defeat of Anti-Life, and maybe it shouldn't. Kirby never got a chance to defeat Darkseid, and Weisman doesn't like definitive endings anyway. When your enemy represents a concept, it makes some sense that they're always ready for the next fight. Fascism was defeated in 1945, but it has come back in recent years. Darkseid is always preparing for the next round. I guess the only arc left is the Markovs. How do they fit? Brion, I think, is Batman if he fully embraced Anti-Life. He is angry because he could not protect his family, so he becomes a tyrant. Dr. Jace is extremely Anti-Life, treating children as nothing more than puppets, yet he hires her. Here's a question: Why does Brion accept tyranny while Tara turns her back on it? Why does the traitor become redeemed? I think maybe Slade did too good a job on her. He taught her an anarchic philosophy where you should be suspicious of everyone, and she turned it on him. The Team embraced her with a simple love. They accepted her as she was. Philosophical arguments only get you so far. In the end, human connection wins out. And so the Team and the League turn the page on the chapter by rejecting the methods of Anti-Life. They may not be perfect and they can't do everything, but they can set an example. From now on, the heroes will embrace a harmonious existence. No one is above anyone else, no one takes and gives in unequal measure, they are all equally valuable. Information and care will flow freely between them as they attempt to make the world a better place.

#review animation DC_Comics

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