#WHO HE BASICALLY BROKE UP THE AVENGERS FOR IN CIVIL WAR | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

georgiapeach30513 · 8 months

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Your opinion is valid and yours but it’s unfair that every time someone doesn’t like Steve’s ending it’s to say he needs to be around for Sam and Bucky. Esp Bucky - who he did more than enough for to help him get his life back.

Steve is allowed to think for himself, and it’s unfair that he has to literally continue to live forward to stay around for everyone else and he’s not allowed to make choices just for him and nobody else. and it’s the unrealistic expectations that ppl, fans, and in the MCU, have given him, that infuriates me bc some of you don’t seem to understand his character.

He was a man out of time in the present. He never really belonged in the present, bc he was thrust into it accidentally. He sacrificed his life at the end of the first avenger bc he was hoping his death would be for the greater good. When he woke up in the present, he didn’t ask to be there. You can tell blatantly he never really got used to the present, and that’s not regressing, it’s just that he didn’t belong there.

He came to the future bc he had a job to do - save the world. He stayed and didn’t complain about it bc it was his fate and he accepted it. Once he did that, he was able to “go home” and finally stop fighting, and realize he could exist without a war. Aka his worst fear in age of ultron. He was afraid he wouldn’t able to exist happily, find a purpose, and be at peace without a war - bc b4 cap, he didn’t have anything really to live for. But the point of fighting a war is to end it so you can have peace. To keep fighting or always needing to look for a fight is both toxic and unnecessary. It would be worse if Steve never got to make peace with that fear.

I understand some of you not liking him going back to Peggy, but the point the Russo brothers made was basically encircling the theory he was always supposed to be Peggy’s husband. That’s why you don’t see any pics of Peggy’s husband, and there was never any real info on him throughout the MCU, bc they were implying he did go back to marry her and settle down. The execution and explanation of time travel gets messy which is why a lot of ppl are split on the ending, but that’s def a storyline issue more than whatever the characters are about.

Even if you don’t like it, that’s why they did it. And as for Bucky - how are you a grown ass man whose best friend broke a gazillion world rules for you and helped you find rehabilitation and fought thanos and helped reverse the snap to bring you and others back - unable to realize you don’t have to be butt buddies to be friends? I think it was more than implied that Steve had to live his life and Bucky had to live his own as well. Bucky clearly understood that and TBF, he needed to thank Steve for all he did and sacrificed for him - and it’s extremely unfair for Bucky fans to always expect Steve to live and exist only for him and no one else. When Bucky disappeared after TWS to find himself, and after he decided after the events of civil war he needed to go into rehabilitation in wakanda, and get rest and recovery, Steve obviously understood he needed this time for his own mental health and sanity. Why is it only ok if steve thinks for Bucky but if steve thinks for himself, it’s wrong? If Bucky thinks for himself and not Steve, his fans will be happy and think he needed to do it after all he’s been through. But what about what Steve’s been through? Also, These are grown ass, centurion aged men. They can live without each other for a bit and still be ok. Male friendships are different. You still don’t really know what happened in that alternate timeline and ATP it’s moot to argue about it.

Besides, the ultimate kicker here is that Steve’s character arc was ending and they didn’t want to kill him and Tony both off. It’s as simple as that and they wanted to give Steve a chance to live out his life as he deserved - that’s why they chose the ending they did. This was also a Segway into giving Sam the shield and for him to take on the legacy. Sure, it’s a struggle to see Sam dealing with the after effects of taking the shield, but remember that he gave it back at first - and that’s why they gave it to John walker. He didn’t want the mantle but then later on, after the events of falcon, he took on the mantle after realizing his destiny.

It’s really not that serious and y’all need to let this go.

I’m sorry if this is coming off harsh but i don’t like it when ppl speak on Steve without considering all the facts.

I have never said that anyone’s opinion on this matter isn’t valid, nor will I ever. I don’t like Steve’s ending. I think it is cheap and lazy. I don’t see Steve doing that. In Steve’s mind he saw Peggy had a family and kids. So he knew in going back he took her story away from her. As to saying I don’t understand the character, I’ll agree to disagree. He’s a man out of time more so by going back, because he lived his life in the present. He was adapting to the present, and went back, therefore even there he was a man out of time.

While Steve might not have wanted to be in the present, that is where his life led him. That was his life’s path, and by going back in time, you realize he knew what was going to come. So by saying he didn’t want a war what happened when he knew it was going to happen? He wasn’t going to fight it. So he easily could have chose not to fight it in the present. So this argument, while I see where you’re going with it to me isn’t valid. It’s all about chooses. i don’t think Steve could idly sit by knowing what was going on in Hydra. He knew where Bucky was, and also knew that PEGGY had a part in building Hydra back up.

Is it about being butt buddies here? Are we forgetting years of torture and of brainwashing with Bucky. Steve was on ice in a solid sleep. Bucky was brought out of sleep to be used as a weapon. He was forced to murder and fight a war that he had no choice or say in the matter. And as he was coming out of that, realizing what was going on they fried his brain again. So yeah, he’s a grown man, but he had actual abuse to him. What’s Steve’s excuse? I’m glad that Steve was able to take an easy out while Bucky is left to fight with his own demons. I’m not saying that Steve has to exist for Bucky. I’m saying give him a few months to cope and learn and for HIM to live in a modern world and not be controlled by someone. Remember Hydra? Yeah, Peggy and Howard chose not to lock Zola up, and they used him and his technology while he built Hydra back up.

It’s the abrupt leaving of Steve I have the issue with. He thrusts the power of Captain America on Sam who is struggling with his identity, the power that comes with Cap all with being a black man in a racist world. He left Bucky who is dealing with some HEAVY abuse all because of Peggy’s little accident. That doesn’t sit right with me. And Steve knew Howard and Peggy’s part in not killing/locking up Zola. SO yeah, they’re at fault for Bucky’s abuse.

If it’s really not that serious, why are you in my inbox with all your arguments? Yes, it’s fictional, but at the same time the ending hits people differently. By no means do I think Steve doesn’t deserve to be selfish because both him AND Bucky deserve that. Bucky more so than Steve because remember he was FORCED into the things he did. He knew he killed those people, he couldn’t stop it, but he remembers all of them.

So I’m going to say my peace as well, and I don’t expect someone to feel the same way. But I will speak up on it. And I will continue my argument that in Steve going back, he still remained a man out of time because his path was already in motion. Bucky is a grown ass man with a lot of trauma. Sam is a grown ass man with a lot of trauma, and he’s living in a white ran world while trying to be a leader. But no, it’s not that serious.

#Captain America #Steve rogers #Bucky Barnes #Sam Wilson

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roe-sesandthorns · 2 years

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super salty thoughts about Dr. Strange MoM, spoilers + rant under the cut warnings: spoilers, duh. really long. not very complimentary.

did wanda face no consequences for what happened in westview? legitimate question cause i haven’t seen it and only know the plot + story through osmosis. I thought this was the point of the accords and the oversight and the damn civil war.

it physically makes me puke to hear mcu refer to themselves as earth-616 like no. sweeetie, sit back down, ok? you’re earth-1999999

they went to one other universe, it was a huge waste of potential BUT I can excuse that cause I understand the limitations from a storytelling/runtime/budget pov but still, disappointing

ok I loved peggy as the first avenger, monica rambeau as captain marvel, and it’s always a pleasure to see patrick stewart and the inclusion of black bolt was cool (idk if he’s been in other marvel media before but that was my first time seeing him)

but and that’s a big but, the scene where wanda takes on the illuminati and bodies reed + black bolt and then proceeds to fight peggy + monica felt... off.

like did they remove the two male members deliberately cause? is it sexist? is it a very shallow, trite attempt at #girlbossing? whatever it was, it felt cheap and weird. and completely disrespectful to all those heroes. especially professor x.

ok, i get it, wanda is supposed to be the Big Bad but the way the superheroes in the mcu become totally powerless in other people’s movies just rubs me weird. like she took barely 30 secs to demolish the entire team. and these are the supposed leaders of the illuminati

why the fuck did wanda of earth-834 or whatever have powers? did she have the same arc as mcu-wanda (i’m not using 616 to describe mcu people cause hell no). but then everything in this world was completely different so how does it compute that this wanda had powers and a normal life. did she have her kids with vision? where was vision? if he died like in infinity war then why was this wanda mentally stable? like what changed?

why the fuck did stephen from the incursion universe and mcu-stephen have the same damn backstory of both having a sister who died? like how is that something that is constant in multiverses? or was it just a lucky coninkydink?

i have a lot more, but basically i hate their treatment of the multiverse. i think i prefer any other fanfic writer writing about the multiverse cause they do it so much better.

i’m not even surprised they tried to give wanda a redemption through death/sacrifice arc cause she changed her mind in the last 2 minutes of the film; disappointed but not surprised.

like girlie has not even redeemed herself for westview, instead she went full on evil supervillain

fuck off with the “heartwarming” music and there is NO reason for christine to ask after wanda with concern (other than the fact that christine is amazing and a saint and i love her) but contextually she should’ve been like “the scarlet witch?” (scared shitless)

also, basically, moral of the whole story: stephen strange can only be happy if he has christine in his life. which seems toxic af, like bro. y’all broke up YEARS ago. you tell her at her wedding that you wish she was still with you, or imply it at least. I would’ve decked him if I were her. Like Christine you’re a saint. I mean you invite your friend (whom you dated a long while back) to your wedding and want to introduce him to your husband and he’s like “im sowwy i miss you” like fuck the fuck off, stephen strange, you ass. don’t make this day about you.

also can we please kill with fire the idea that you need a relationship to be happy. like, srsly. the whole movie reiterates that if he only “got the girl”, he’d be happy, like no honey. go to therapy. find happiness within you. and in others around you. relationships are amazing and i can totally get pining over Chrsitine cause goddamn i’m doing it too, brother, but really. she’s not gonna fix you or fix your life. i want to engrave kate winslet’s speech from eternal sunshine onto the marvel headquarters entrance cause fuck u marvel.

another beef with the multiverse, no stephen ever dated anyone other than christine? like my dudes, prime opportunity to really explore just how different the universes are, i mean, come on!

additionally, it makes the ending seem like a queer ending with stephen and wong reiterating their love for e/o and continuing their cohabitation as they raise their teenage adoptive daughter together. like maybe marvel is saying queer-platonic relationships and aro-ace rights. (hahahahhahah as IF.)

america chavez was the only ray of hope and the only good thing about this movie and that’s only because her character hasn’t had the time to be handled by 12 different pairs of hands and the mouse overlords’ meddling

also can i just say, 0 character growth all around, great job, guys!

also also, did i miss an entire movie where mordo goes after stephen? no, so that was just supposed to be one of those things that happened in the interim that we just know because of dialogue. great. so, no emotional arc for stephen having to fight mordo, for the clash of their philosophies, for the consequences of stephen’s actions.

wait, speaking of consequences, what the fuck were stephen’s consequences for no way home? did he have any? he almost fucked up the entire world on a teenager’s say so. like. i mean. it ended ok but ?????

some technical things: the score was overpowering, there was no room to breathe between moments, the effects gave me a damn headache, and there were some weird transitions thrown in that just felt.... one-note. one or two were cool from a story telling point of view but otherwise it was just. meh.

tldr; the whole mcu is just like, “consequences? don’t know her” and the mcu multiverse is bland, convenience-based, arbitrary, and boring. also, this wasn’t a dr. strange movie, this was a “look shiny cgi, shiny multiverse, isn’t this fight scene cool? omg that’s professor x, look people from other marvel movies/media! how cool!, we’re self-referential! and COOL!” mess

#mcu wank #dr strange and the multiverse of madness #not very wanda friendly #could be construed as anti wanda #but it's also equally anti stephen as he's written in this movie #so basically it's just anti mcu at this point #i'm tired #mcu exhausts me at this point

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snt315 · 2 years

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My imagination about Eli and Mamtis after MGSV

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About Eli

After completing several tests after birth, only Eli of the twins was brought to England. This was because Eli had inherited more of the soldier gene (still in the hypothetical stage), but also to separate the twins so that they would not fight in the future. Eli was placed under Zero's supervision in England, while David was left in the United States. (At this point, David was only being kept alive as a comparison for Eli and was not considered as the heir to Big Boss.)

Eli was raised without a family register in a children's hospital under Zero's supervision, with various tests and gifted education. At the age of four, Zero was put into a coma by Skullface's treachery. The Les Enfants Terribles project lost control, and a dispute arose among the collaborators over the right to conduct the experiment. One of the collaborators (Paramedic) feared that Eli would be killed as well, since Zero and Big Boss had been attacked. She instructed a man to kidnap Eli and hide somewhere until things cooled down. He approached Eli's charge nurse, tricked her with an appeal to her emotions, and took Eli away with her to Africa. As the fugitive life continued, trouble broke out between the nurse and the man. She realized that the man had explained to her that he was kidnapping Eli to save him from inhumane experiments, when in fact he was not, and tried to escape with him. As a result, the nurse was killed by the man, and Eli, who was 7 years old at the time, witnessed her body. Eli realized that the man had killed her and became very vengeful. The man realized this and, in turn, tried to use his feelings to create a warrior who would surpass Big Boss. The man gave Eli all kinds of training, from basic physical training, to survival techniques, to close combat techniques. (He was also the one who told Eli that he was a clone of Big Boss to incite his vengeance.) At age 12, Eli was tested to see if he could actually kill enemies. After passing the test, he finally killed the man, convinced that he could now beat adults. He then wandered around, stealing and surviving, until he arrived in a village where children orphaned in the Angolan civil war lived. They were hungry, and some of the children were too sick or injured to move. Eli hunted a pig and shared its meat with them. They came to recognize Eli as their boss and followed him.

In MGSV, Eli stole the results of the genetic test and learned that Venom was not his real father, so he escaped from Mother Base and caused a ruckus in Kingdom of the Flies. He believed that Big Boss was already dead, and his primary goal was to destroy Cipher and anyone associated with it.

After MGSV, while wandering around Africa in search of a place to stay, he learned that countries were intervening in the war in the Middle East and ended up in Afghanistan. He thought that if he continued to put himself in the field of battle, he would one day reach the people he needed to avenge. He joined a small foreign mercenary unit under false pretenses of age (he was 13 at the time, but lied and said he was 16), employing a local company. The mercenary unit was short on personnel and hired Eli even though he knew his age was not true. The mercenary unit was full of crazy people, and Eli was influenced in no small way. Eli's abilities were outstanding compared to those of the adults, and he achieved well in the mercenary unit and was transferred to a private military company in England. At the age of 17, he was given British citizenship in recognition of his service and transferred to the British military's newly established, secretive Special Operations Unit. Ocelot was partially involved in this matter behind the scenes. He was convinced that Eli and Mantis were alive because their bodies were not found after MGSV, and he continued to search for them in secret.

Eli tried to accommodate Mantis so that he too could become a British citizen, but was not accepted, and Mantis also refused the proposal. Mantis was frustrated by the fact that his psychic abilities had diminished since his childhood, and he had developed mixed feelings toward Eli that were not favorable. From this point on, they went their separate ways until the day they met again at FOXHOUND. Eli served in the Special Operations Forces and fought in the Gulf War, and after the war ended, he worked as an operative for SIS and went missing in Iraq.

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About Mantis

After MGSV, Mantis realized that Eli's desire for revenge had not yet disappeared and Mantis decided to follow him. Eli, who was quite exhausted from the battle in Kingdom of the Flies, was unable to move due to unexplained high fever and nausea, and Mantis took care of Eli by procuring medicine, food, water, and other supplies. After Eli recovered, he was able to move his slowed body and contemplate what to do next. Their entertainment was a radio they had stolen and listened to various news and music. Later, when Eli decided to go to Afghanistan, Mantis followed him, helping him do so. They snuck onto trains and trucks to reach Tanzania, where there was a port town. On the way, the cargo train they were riding in had an accident in which it derailed, and Mantis used psychokinesis to lift part of the body of that train and fix the derailment. Mantis's nose bled at the time, but he thought it was due to the heat and paid no further attention to it.

They found an international transport ship bound for the Middle East in the port of Dar es Salaam, where they snuck aboard and stowed away; during the 10-day voyage, a sailor saw Mantis stealing things from the pantry, and a rumor circulated that a "red-headed ghost" had appeared. Eli seemed to like the story a lot. Mantis also found it amusing to scare the sailors by deliberately appearing to them.

Afghanistan was in the midst of a Soviet invasion, and with refugee camps everywhere, they had no trouble finding a place to shelter from the wind and rain. The standard lie was that they were children who had been kidnapped and sold to the Middle East and had escaped in the wake of the war.

When a group of foreign mercenaries visited the camp one day and Eli volunteered to join them, Mantis felt how weird and out of the ordinary he is as if he had been confronted once again; On the battlefield, no soldier would risk his life for something as unreliable as psychic powers. Eli had no problem passing the enlistment test and was hired. Mantis observed the members of the mercenary unit from afar, surreptitiously peeking into their memories to get a full picture of what kind of backgrounds and personalities they had.

On one occasion, while following Eli and his men from a distance as they left their base for a mission, tanks appeared and a battle ensued. With no countermeasures such as stingers, the troops had no choice but to retreat between the shelling. Mantis used his own abilities to twist the tank's main gun, setting fire to the entire area and hurling the tanks at the soldiers who emerged from inside the tanks.

Mantis was quite drained from this one, and although he managed to return to his base, he was unable to move due to headaches and nausea, and was unable to do even the simple ability of picking up objects on the ground with his psychokinesis well. Under the gas mask, his nose was bleeding, just as it had been when he fixed the wheel of train. Mantis was terrified that he had become a normal human being. After a few days, those ailments had disappeared, but it was clear that his psychic abilities had diminished compared to his MGSV days. From that day on, Mantis often acted alone. Apart from going out to secluded places to test his psychokinesis, he passed the time by peeking into the memories of the refugees.

At one point, Eli brought one of his captives to him and asked him to interrogate him to find out the route where the mines were buried. Mantis extracted all the information in less than an hour, and since the POW was unharmed, there was talk that Eli had a very skilled interrogator. Mantis began taking on occasional interrogation assignments.

Months passed, and Mantis was now 16 years old. And he did not know when, but he began to enjoy mentally abusing the prisoners brought to him by showing them trauma and other hallucinations, or brainwashing them into submission. Mantis did not know why he did what he did. Some who learned of his behavior called him a "psycho" because he creeped them out.

Eli had made his mark as a mercenary and was leaving Afghanistan for a while to join the British Special Operations Forces. Eli invited Mantis to come with him, but Mantis refused. Before they knew it, they had changed, and their relationship had changed as well. Eli's long service with the mercenaries helped him to understand the meaning of working as a team, and he came to respect his colleagues. Mantis, on the other hand, was stuck in a time of invincibility, when he and Eli were trying to retaliate against the world, and was not interested in the sense of reform and long-term goals that Eli had come to have.

After Eli left, Mantis remained in Afghanistan for a while, but when Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan at the age of 17, Mantis also returned to the Soviet Union. At the time of the Cold War, those entering the Soviet Union were monitored by the KGB, and Mantis was captured by the KGB and identified as the missing psychic boy. Mantis continued to live in KGB custody, but when the Soviet Union collapsed, he escaped and defected to the United States.

#mgs #mgsv #metal gear solid #fanfic #headcanon #eli mgsv #liquid snake #tretij rebenok #psycho mantis #liquidmantis

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ladyvillainous · 1 year

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Steve Rogers – The Snap

AU fic set after civil war through to Infinity war, inclusion of my own character Jen.

Description

Steve didn’t met Jen until after the accords were signed and the avengers divided, when Thanos attacks neither knows if the other survived

Warnings

NSFW Smut, the snap (it was traumatic to watch so I feel it deserves to be labelled as a warning)

Word Count: 7050

Jen paced back and forth staring at the phone in her hand willing it to ring.

It must be bad whatever was going on Steve would never leave her to worry when he was away unexpectedly on a mission. Even if he couldn’t physically contact her, Sam or Nat would let her know they were ok in his stead. She stopped pacing for a moment her hand absentmindedly drifting to her stomach, he’d been back less than three days this time.

***

Jen rounded the corner breathing hard a stitch in her side as she pounded down the pavement in time to the beat of the music in her ears.

Finally reaching her front gate she leant on her fence stretching out her sore muscles, her skin prickled as she belatedly realised she was being watched.

Snapping her eyes round to her front porch her face broke into a wide grin “Nat!” She screeched leaping over her gate and bolting into the blonde’s outstretched arms “Oh my god it’s so good to see you, what are you doing here?” Jen asked pulling back to look into her friend’s face.

It was Sam who answered standing up from the chair on her porch “We were cheekily hoping for a comfortable bed and maybe a home cooked meal” he laughed as she leapt at him wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tight.

“Well someone’s pleased to see us” a deep familiar voice rumbled behind her.

Sam winked and released her so she could bolt into the open arms of the super soldier “About damn time you made it home Stevie” she grumbled against his chest.

He’d been gone for nearly three months this time, though she hadn’t seen the others for at least five.

“You know I don’t stay away because I want to” he whispered against the top of her head as he dropped a sweet kiss on her forehead.

Looking up at the man she loved she noticed the tiredness in his eyes, the slightly unkempt look to his hair and the state of his newly acquired beard. Twisting to look at the others properly she saw Sam sway slightly before he leant back against the railings, noting the grimy film to his battered uniform. Natasha ruffled up her hair pushing it behind her ears giving her a wan smile that didn’t reach her eyes, Jen raked her eyes down the assassins worn suit, the badly patched rips standing out starkly, she woman could do many things back sewing was not one of them.

“You guys look dead on your feet, how long have you been on the move this time?” Jen asked the group as a whole.

Steve sighed and pulled her closer to him “About 27 hours I think”

Natasha looked at her watch “Make that 29 hours and 17 minutes”

“Is that all?” Sam grumbled.

Right Jen declared pushing backwards out of Steve’s arms “All of you need showers, I’ll make you some breakfast and then bed, no arguments”

Nat held up her hands “No energy to argue, besides that sounds amazing, any chance of some of your delicious French toast?”

Jen laughed “For you, anything” she joked shooing them all inside.

Once she’d located enough towels Jen flipped the booster for the hot water, sending Nat to her bedroom to use her shower. Sam she directed to the main bathroom, letting them both know there was spare clothes for them in the bedrooms they usually used when they stopped by.

Steve stayed downstairs with Jen helping her with breakfast which basically meant getting in her way while cuddling her at every opportunity.

Jen sighed as his arms slipped around her waist once again while chopping fruit “Not to complain Stevie but you’ll get breakfast much quicker if you leave me too it”

“Not Hungry anyway” he mumbled against her shoulder, tightening his arms around her slightly.

Jen smiled, concentrating on the task at hand, finally popping the tray of food under the grill she was able to turn and drift happily back into Steve’s arms, sighing contentedly into his chest.

“How long will you be staying this time?” she asked quietly.

“Don’t know” he sighed tiredly “Maybe a while this time. There’s not as much heat these days we might be able to stop moving around so much”

Daring to hope Jen looked up into his beautiful blue eyes “Stay here with me Steve?” she asked, reaching up to cup his cheek with her hand.

He turned his head placing a gentle kiss against her palm before lowering his head to capture her lips in a slow sensual kiss that scorched her soul, God how she loved this man.

A discreet cough sounded from the hallway, breaking the kiss Jen looked round into the quietly amused eyes of Sam and Nat hovering by the stairs, she smiled apologetically.

“Sorry to interrupt guys but the smell is driving us wild, is the food ready?”

Jen twisted in Steve’s arms to look into the oven “Yes it is, grab a seat and I’ll serve”

Shooing Steve to the table Jen retrieved breakfast, dishing up quickly and setting over loaded plates in front of the tired superheroes, who immediately tucked in with the inhuman enthusiasm of someone who hasn’t eaten for a few days.

“Geez guys at least chew, I don’t want to have to heimlich a cherry out of one of you” Jen grimaced. Vague mumbles in acknowledgement was all she got in response, but they also slowed up slightly to her relief.

Once breakfast was done, Jen directed them back to bedrooms with instructions to sleep and not to worry if she wasn’t there when they woke up, she was going to run into town and get supplies.

Sam and Steve nodded in response heading for the stairs the latter of the two dropping a chaste kiss on her cheek as he passed.

Nat followed Jen back into the kitchen with her plate “Oh Nat thank you, but you don’t have to, go get some sleep”

She dropped her plate on the side and retrieved a long plastic item from the pocket of her borrowed hoodie “I found this in the bathroom, I thought you’d probably want to tell Steve yourself rather than let him find it”

Jen turned slowly realising what Nat was holding out to her “Thanks” she whispered, looking up into the bright eyes of her friend.

Nat smiled turning to lean against the counter “I’m so pleased for you both, Steve will be thrilled”

Jen shook her head “Will he? it’s not like we’ve ever talked about this, it’s hardly an ideal situation”

“Nothing’s ever perfect, but the kid will have 2 loving parents, it could be worse” Nat shrugged.

Jen chewed her bottom lip nervously “Maybe”

Nat stepped forward enfolding the brunette into a comforting hug “Just tell him, what’s the worst that could happen? she whispered.

Smiling reassuringly, she left the kitchen in search of her bed.

***

Jen made it home around lunchtime her car laden with supplies, putting away the groceries she crept around the house not wanting to wake anyone as she retrieved their soiled clothes, taking them to the Laundry room.

Inspecting Black Widow’s leather jacket she took in the sheer amount of rips and running repairs, as Jen suspected it was beyond saving so she tossed it, having bought a replacement while she was out. Thankfully they had a good military surplus shop the next town over, so she was able to get most of what they needed in terms of tactical gear.

Moving back to the kitchen Jen set about stocking the backpacks she’d bought at the surplus store with gear and food ration packs. She did this every time they came by, she knew it wouldn’t last long but she liked to do whatever she could to help ensure their survival.

Several hours later as she crammed the last of the supplies into the bulky bags Nat and Sam appeared in the kitchen looking in much better shape than first thing this morning.

Sam smiled when he saw what Jen was up to “You know you’re an Angel right?” He chuckled.

Jen rolled her eyes “Hardly, though I did pick up extra of the chocolate pudding packs you like”

Throwing his hands up as if praying to the heavens he announced to the room “You’re not an angel you’re a goddess”

Nat laughed at his antics “Come on Bird Brain, we’re going to go check over the Quinjet, give our saviour a little alone time with her man” she winked at Jen from across the room.

“Thanks Nat” Jen laughed as the assassin dragged the grumbling soldier out the door “Think I heard the shower turn on a second ago… go get him tiger” Nat called over her shoulder as she shut the door behind them.

Heading upstairs Jen entered her bedroom hearing the shower was on as Nat had suggested, deciding to surprise Steve in the shower, they could talk afterwards.

Tiptoeing into the bathroom Jen leant against the doorframe for a moment to drink in the sight of Captain America in all his glory in her shower. It was a generous sized double shower cubicle for the average person but somehow Steve managed to make it look tiny with his hulking form.

Jen was transfixed watching the water run down his back and over that delectable ass, as he turned she stated thinking she’d been caught staring but Steve had his eyes firmly closed a look of pure bliss on his face as he sluiced the weight of the last couple of months from his shoulders.

Biting her lip Jen continued to voyeuristically survey the god in front of her eyes lingering on his abdominal muscles before drifting lower.

“Do you intend to continue to stare at me or will you be joining me before the water runs cold”

Steve’s voice broker her from her reverie, a slight blush already building on her cheeks as she raised her guilty eyes to meet Steve’s amused baby blues.

Recovering herself Jen smirked at the super soldier “It’s quite a view I’ve got here Steve, maybe I will just watch”

Steve chuckled over the sound of rushing water "Fair enough, but if you don't get that gorgeous ass of yours in here right now, I will not be held responsible for my actions"

Jen grinned, stripping off quickly and entering the shower enclosure into Steve’s waiting arms, with a deep sigh he held her close, “that’s exactly what I needed”

Placing a gentle hand on his cheek Jen searched his eyes seeing the difficulty of the last few months written here clearly. “I missed you” she murmured a gentle thumb stroking his cheek, “Not as much as I missed you” Steve whispered dipping his head to place a sweet lingering kiss to her lips.

Turning her in his arms Steve manoeuvred them both underneath the warm spray with his arms wrapped firmly around her from behind as he bestowed small kisses along her shoulder and the crook of her neck. Jen sighed, relaxing back into his embrace happy to have him home with her once more. Releasing her at last Steve slid his hands along the wet skin over her rib cage, upwards to cup her breasts, his thumbs rubbing against her nipples roughly.

Arching her body back against him at his long absent touch Jen could feel his fully erect cock pressing into her ass. Dropping her head back onto his shoulder, she turned her face up to him, demanding a kiss that he was only too happy to bestow, his tongue sliding demandingly into her mouth to taste her.

Dropping a hand from her breast, Steve slid it down the smooth plane of her belly, down into the sprinkling of curls between her thighs and lower still over her sex, into her already soaked folds.

"Always so ready for me Doll" he groaned.

Need rough and sharp spiked through her, making her whimper at his touch the sound travelling directly to his groin.

"Please Steve, it’s been too long" she muttered against his lips, the urgency evident in her voice.

Steve growled, his control snapping as he plunged two fingers into her heat, his thumb finding its way to her clit and bearing down hard.

"Oh God yes" she hissed, bucking her hips into his hand.

One hand travelled up to his head, holding him to her so she could kiss him, desperation urging them both on into a kiss that was all tongue and teeth. The other hand snaked around between them to grip his shaft, a harsh gasp escaping his throat as she held him tightly, pumping her hand up and down his length.

"I need to be inside you" he groaned roughly against her lips "Please" she panted in return, twisting in his arms and pressing her body back against his, her arms wound around his neck.

Backing her against the wall, he dropped his hands to her ass, lifting her and pinning her to the wall with his hips, wrapping her legs around his waist.

Jen gasped in surprise, Steve wasn’t usually this dominant, their love making was slow and sensual. Very rarely had she experienced the Captain in the bedroom, though she revelled in it when he came out to play, there was something so primal about being claimed in such a way. She couldn't help but melt into him, her breathing ragged, eyes open wide staring into blue eyes dark with lust.

Steve chuckled darkly, at her expression "Help me out Doll I've got my hands full" he commanded, his fingers squeezing her ass.

Jen followed his order without hesitation, dropping a hand from his broad shoulders between them, adjusting him so his tip was nudging at her centre. Holding him in place, Steve sank into her in one thrust, both groaning loudly as he bottomed out, her walls clutching at him as she stretched.

"Fuck, I’ve missed you" she groaned, returning her arm to his neck and pulling him back to crash her lips against his.

Without warning he pulled out halfway then slammed back into her, pushing her hard into the tiled wall. The shower still pounded over them, but Jen barely noticed as Steve sheathed himself in her over and over frantically, both desperately chasing their highs.

It didn't take long for them to build and crash over the edge of the cliff, screaming out their release as they sagged together, the water turning cold.

Lowering Jen back to the shower floor onto unsteady legs, Steve held her tenderly to him the Captain having retreated sated to be replaced with her loving and tender boyfriend once more.

The atmosphere in the bathroom was significantly lighter than before their shower, Steve appeared more relaxed the weight of the world now removed from his shoulders. Reaching for a towel he tenderly dried Jen not apparently looking for any excuse to keep her in his arms a little longer.

Reaching up Jen wound her arms around Steve’s neck rising on tiptoe to bestow a small kiss on his lips one that turned quickly passionate when Steve prevented her retreat by claiming her mouth once more. Breaking apart with a sigh Steve lent back against the sink bringing Jen with him, her palm on his newly acquired beard, Jen smiled up into his face “I think I like this look on you”

Steve chuckled raking his own hand through his somewhat bushy and messy beard “Necessity unfortunately, I don’t get recognised as much with it as without”

Jen raised a sardonic eyebrow “You mean the star-spangled outfit doesn’t give you away?”

The smile slipped from his face at the light-hearted comment ”There’s no stars on my outfit anymore, you know that”

Jen sighed as his eyes turned cloudy “Hey, hey look at me” she murmured gently as he looked away, one hand still laid softly on his cheek.

With reluctance Steve returned his gaze to her but found he couldn’t quite look her in the eyes his gaze lowered to the floor. Jen used her other hand to tip his chin up forcing him to meet her eyes “Hey none of that, you know you did what you had to, and the world does too. It doesn’t mean this is forever” placing another gentle kiss on his lips Jen drew back to survey his face. Steve gazed at her dispassionately for a moment finally nodding his head “I know, but…” he trailed off lost in thought.

“But what? She probed gently, receiving no answer but Steve hauling her into his arms once more squeezing her tightly.

He gave a deep shuddering sigh “But what kind of life can I offer you” he muttered sadly into her hair.

Jen pulled back to look up into his distant and glossy eyes “ I just want you Steve and I’ll take you anyway I can get you” Steve smiled in response but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“Can you trust me on that?” Jen asked quietly holding his gaze with determined eyes.

Steve swallowed and nodded though Jen wasn’t convinced.

Seeking to distract him from his suddenly melancholy mood she stood on tip toe once more peppering his face with little kisses until at last he cracked a smile and claimed her lips roughly desperation and desire fuelling his passion.

It was Jen that deepened the kiss further by sliding her tongue past his lips, but she allowed Steve to win the battle for dominance the Captain coming to the fore once more.

"Perhaps. We. Should. Bedroom?" Steve gasped out, between kisses.

"Good Plan" Jen concluded, muttered against his lips.

Pushing himself off the sink, Steve reached down to firmly grasp her ass, lifting her from the floor. Taking the hint Jen wrapped her legs around his waist their towels falling forgotten to the floor as Steve carried her into the bedroom, mouths still connected.

Still without breaking the kiss he made his way to the bed, cradled her to him and lowered them down carefully. He supported their combined weight on one arm, until Jen was pressed flush against the mattress. Lowering his body onto hers, he rolled slightly to the side so he didn’t crush her and to allow his hand access to roam freely.

Jen lost herself in the feel of him pressed tightly against her, the taste of him, his touch and the smoothness of his skin under her fingertips.

She wasn’t sure how long they lay entwined on the bed, hands roving each other’s bodies whispered endearments caressing their skin, nothing mattered as he lowered his face to her core.

Desperately she bucked against the sensations, whimpering as he nibbled and sucked on her sensitive nub, sliding 2 fingers into her soaked entrance.

His beard rough against the sensitive skin of her thighs, only drove her higher faster.

Her first orgasm hit her suddenly, white spots clouding her vision as Steve crawled back up her body, kissing her deeply and sunk into her with one fluid movement.

He groaned into her throat as he slid into her up to the hilt “I’ve missed you Doll”

Jen chuckled, the vibrations causing Steve to groan again “Is has been too long” she sighed.

Gathering both of Jen’s hands in one of his, pinned them Steve above her head, his fingers interlacing with hers “Hold on Doll” he growled in her ear, nipping at her lobe.

Withdrawing from her, he slammed back into her hard enough to push her slightly up the bed.

Mewling she twisted desperate to touch him again.

Chuckling against her ear, Steve slammed into her again, breathing incomprehensible words across her skin. He pounded into her with abandon, completely undone by the feel of her walls fluttering around him and the way she cried out his name.

Only when he could feel she was nearing her release, did he loosen his grip on her hands. Allowing her to splay one hand across his lower back, nails racking down his skin with each thrust. Her other hand tangled into his hair, tugging his face to hers, tongues dancing together in a passionate kiss.

Changing the angle of his hips, he thrust against her secret spot, once, twice and then for a final time, as she ripped her mouth from his screaming his name. Her walls clenching around him, Steve followed her with a rough expletive and a final thrust, as he spilled himself within her.

It didn’t take long for sleep to claim Steve but Jen lay awake in his arms, she wanted to let him sleep but had no way of knowing how soon he was likely to be called away again and she needed to talk to him. Twisting in his arms Jen placed a hand on his shoulder gently shaking to wake him.

“Steve” she called quietly “I need to talk to you about something”

“Hmmm” he hummed against the top of her head as he started to fall back to sleep instantly.

Smacking her hand on his chest to attract his attention he jerked, snapping his eyes open “M’wake, I’m awake, what’s up Doll?”

“I said I need to talk to you about something” Jen told his chest unable to bring herself to meet his eyes.

Noticing her sudden nervousness Steve pulled himself up into a seated position giving her his undivided attention “What’s the matter?”

Jen sat up slightly away from the super solider still staring at his chest, chewing on her bottom lip, not sure how to start.

“Hey” Steve said softly grasping her chin and forcing her to look up into his worried face “What is it?”

“It was an accident” she gasped at last stumbling over her words “I didn’t mean…” she trailed off.

Steve’s eyes narrowed feeling as though someone had plunged a dagger in his heart “You’ve met someone else, haven’t you?”

Jen gaped at him wordlessly, so completely unprepared for that reaction.

“You’re not denying it I notice” he said tightly, hopping off the bed grabbing his clothes from the chair where he’d left them.

“What! No! I mean it’s not that… I haven’t” She stuttered as Steve stormed around the bedroom pulling on his clothes so violently he almost ripped his T-shirt clean in half.

“I’m a big boy Jen, you should have just told me, I mean how could I possibly expect a woman like you to wait for me” he ground out slumping down on the end of the bed his back to her.

“No Steve, you’ve got the wrong end of the stick… I haven’t….” she cried desperately, tailing off when the phone on the bedside table began to chime distracting them both.

“Is that?...” Jen began pointing to the phone.

“That’s the number I gave Stark” Steve said slightly shell shocked, he’d never expected him to call.

Standing he strode over to it flipped it open and pressed it to his ear “Tony?”

***

“Steve are you ok? Did something happen with you and Jen?” Nat peered at her friend concerned he’d had his jaw clenched so tightly since the second they’d left the house, she feared he’d get lockjaw

Two hours had passed in complete silence as they raced back to the spot where they’d stashed the Quinjet thankfully now full stocked once more and taken off on their way to fetch Wanda.

“Doesn’t matter” he mumbled “We should be focusing on the mission”

Nat opened her mouth to argue only to be cut off by Sam “What exactly did Tony say Steve?”

Steve sighed knowing full well that it hadn’t been Tony on the line but he wasn’t quite sure how to break to Nat that Bruce was back after all this time. It was cowardly of him but he knew losing him had hurt her more than she was prepared to admit, so where did he start.

“He said we need everyone… which is why we’re on our way to get Wanda and Vision” Steve knew choosing to avoid the issue for the moment would most likely mean he’d get his ass kicked for it later, but he’d deal with the fallout when it happened.

“Stop avoiding the issue Steve” Nat declared fixing him with a determined look.

“Wait what… how did you...” he started then remembered her earlier comment “Oh you’re talking about Jen” he sighed.

“Of course I’m talking about Jen… Wait who did you think I was talking about?” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“Err… Nevermind, doesn’t matter” he needed to distract her “Something did happen” he confirmed quietly.

Sam shook his head at Natasha, he could tell something was very badly wrong but had more sense than to bring it up “Leave it” he muttered quietly but she wouldn’t be diverted so easily.

Nat took in his tense almost angry form this was not the Steve she knew “You’re angry aren’t you, this isn’t how I would have expected you to react Rogers, I’m disappointed in you”

Steve snapped his head up glaring daggers at the women he considered a friend “You knew” he accused.

“Well yeah, but only for like 6 hours longer than you, we spoke after breakfast” Nat sighed “She was nervous about telling you Steve, now I understand see why”

“You’re kidding right?” he asked incredulously “How else was I supposed to react?” he ground out running his hands agitatedly through his overlong hair.

Nat snorted “Um let me think, maybe you could have been happy about it, geez what did you say to her?”

“Happy!” Steve thundered “Happy about the woman I love leaving me for someone else! Jesus Nat, I knew you were emotionless at times, but this is a new low even for you”

Sam threw his hands up in frustration and rounded on his friend “You just couldn’t leave it alone could you Nat”

“Wait what the hell are you going on about Rogers?” Nat was floored, this conversation had taken a very strange turn.

Steve jumped up storming down the Jet away from the assassin, but she wasn’t having any of it jumping out of her seat at once and chasing after him. Sam grabbed her arm to try and stop her “Leave it don’t you think he’s suffered enough, you know how much he loves her”

Natasha glared up at him wrenching her arm free “That’s exactly why I can’t let this go Sam, somethings definitely gotten lost in translation here and I know it”

“What exactly did she say to you? Tell me exactly” Nat demanded standing directly in front of the super soldier forcing him to acknowledge her.

“Fine” he shouted “Jesus if it makes you feel better fine. She said it was an accident that she didn’t mean for it to happen”

Natasha groaned “So where exactly in that sentence did you get that she’d met someone else? Think it through Rogers, could she possibly have meant something else”

Disgusted she stormed back to the cock pit to grab his phone, unsurprised to see he had 6 missed calls and multiple texts from Jen, chucking it at his head she snarled “Call your girlfriend you idiot, you’ve made a mistake”

Steve glanced down at the phone at his feet without seeing it, replaying everything she’d said in his head. He had jumped to the conclusion and pushed her away when she tried to argue, could he have projected his fear onto her? Natasha knew what she was intending to tell him though he realised looking back to the furious assassin a baffled expression on his face.

“What was she going to tell me Nat?” he asked slowly.

“Oh no, not a chance” she defied him crossing her arms over chest and glaring at him “Ring Jen and ask her, you’re getting nothing out of me idiot” she sneered hurling herself back down into the pilots chair with unwonted venom.

Sam and Steve looked at each other in stunned silence for a second, it wasn’t often Natasha completely lost it, Sam bent down and picked up the phone at Steve’s feet.

“I don’t know what’s going on man, but I suggest you do as you’re told” he said softly, pressing the phone into Steve’s hand.

Steve nodded using speed dial he held the phone up to his ear, it connected on the second ring “Stevie?” Jen sobbed.

Steve felt his heart breaking he hated to hear her cry, it hurt even worse knowing he caused it.

“Hey Baby, he said softly I owe you an apology, I overreacted and didn’t give you a chance to finish. I’m so sorry” he said in a flood of words.

There was another sob at the other end “You know I love you Steve, h-how could you think I’d do… do that to you?”

“I’m always scared that I’ll lose you one day, one way or another, I guess I’m just waiting for it” Steve admitted.

“Idiot” she huffed but he could hear the smile creeping back into her voice.

“That’s what Nat told me too” he chuckled gently.

“What else did Nat tell you?” the alarm evident in her voice.

“She made it clear I’d made a mistake, but wouldn’t tell me what you were going to tell me, said I had to call you” he said looking towards the blonde at the front of the jet “Damn straight” she called back to him.

“I heard that” Jen laughed “Tell her thanks for me will you, she’s a good friend”

“Will do” Steve said smiling “So Doll what is it you need to tell me?” now the drama was put to bed Steve found his curiosity piqued.

The line went silent in response.

“Doll you still there?”

“Yeah Stevie still here, given the way you guys had to run out of here it’s not the most important thing right now, concentrate on what you’re doing we’ll talk when you get back” she sighed.

“You sure Doll? It’s nothing bad is it?” He asked worried.

“No nothing bad” Jen promised.

***

The following day the news broke about spaceships in New York again and that Tony Stark was missing, Steve had texted Jen to let her know that they had Wanda and that they were on the way to Wakanda. Since then her phone had been silent.

Jen hadn’t been able focus on anything, she just sat in front of the TV waiting for news, sometimes she’d pace staring at her phone.

After a fitful night’s sleep she got up and grabbed her running shoes and headphones figuring she’d try outrunning her panic, it didn’t work.

***

Steve raced towards Thanos desperate to stop him from using the gauntlet on his friends, he’d already seen him throw Rhodes away like an old tin can and send T’Challa and Bucky flying backwards with a wave of his hand.

He reached him just in time, reaching up he gripped the gauntlet tightly forcing Thanos fingers back from his palm, screaming with the exertion he was having to expend.

Steve was so focused on the gauntlet that he didn’t see Thanos’ other fist swinging towards him until it collided with his head knocking him out cold.

Shaking his head groggily Steve got to his feet this was no time to be resting, he needed to get back into the fight. Looking across the clearing he saw the team either trying to get to their feet or trapped by some obstacle or another. A scream from Thor ripped through the clearing “NO” a flash of blue light and Thanos was gone.

Steve raced towards the shell shocked Thor “Where did he go?”

“Steve?”

Turning he saw Bucky stumbling towards him turning to dust as he walked, his gun clattering to the floor.

Steve raced towards him as he fell into nothingness, his hand brushing the floor where his friend should be.

The horror was too much he couldn’t process it, had they lost?

Nat tore into the clearing just as Steve fell to the floor by Vision’s lifeless body, her hands rushing to her face as she fought back sobs of pain.

“What’s happening?” Rhodey asked from somewhere behind him, but no one answered the deafening silence this answer.

They could hear confusion and panic in the distance as people called out for their comrades on the battlefield, watching them turn to ash and float away on the wind.

A hand clamped down onto Steve’s shoulder clutching at him “Steve!”

The panic in Nat’s voice forced him to look up his eyes growing wide at the look on her face “Jen!” She choked out unable to continue.

Steve leapt to his feet pulling his phone out of his suit and hitting speed dial with a shaking hand “Come on, come on” he grated, as his call continued to go unanswered.

Nat watched in horror as he paced the clearing, unable to reach the woman he loved, growing more agitated by the second.

He pulled the phone from his ear as it went to voicemail, intending to call again but then he noticed the message icon on screen.

Tapping the button to call his message service he sighed in relief when Jen’s anxious voice spoke

“Hey Steve, I’m sorry I know I should let you focus but the lack of news is killing me here. I need to know you’re all ok…” the message trailed off as he heard screaming in the distance, unconsciously he gripped the phone a little tighter as her voice turned panicy, making her voice shake.

“Wait what?.. oh my god Steve something’s happening here… Oh my god what is this?...” The message ended abruptly cut off with the sound of the phone falling to the floor at the other end with a clatter.

Steve couldn’t look at Nat, he felt like he’d crack if he saw her tear stained face, wordlessly he held out the phone to her.

She took it gingerly as if it might explode, hit play and held it to her ear, her eyes widening impossibly as she listened.

The toll this day was taking was never ending, first Bucky now Jen “Wait where’s Sam?” he asked looking around wildly as if he would appear as if by magic at his words.

Rhodes shook his head sadly.

“Oh God No” Nat choked out as she hit the floor, clutching at her hair crying unashamedly.

Steve’s eyes were clouding he couldn’t see clearly anymore, his breath becoming laboured he looked skyward attempting to control the impulse to scream.

No one spoke, those that were left, that had survived, clustered around one another but unable to even consider looking at each other for fear of seeing their own grief reflected back to them. There was almost no sound just the wind rustling the trees, it was almost peaceful except for the distant cries of people looking for those that were missing and the sporadic heart-breaking sobs that escaped the team.

“Steve” Nat breathed finally getting a hold of herself “Steve look at me” she said gently.

He shook his head gritting his teeth suddenly wildly interested in the tree to his right as he collapsed onto the floor once more.

Nat got unsteadily to her feet moving to stand in front of him, moving into his line of vision giving him no choice he focussed on her determined face.

Remembering a conversation from hours before though it appeared a lifetime ago son much had happened since Steve muttered absentmindedly “What was she going to tell me? I never found out”

Nat shook her head unable to deliver that news, to make his grief worse.

“Tell me” Steve intoned forcefully, his thunderous expression brooking no opposition.

Dragging in a lungful of air Nat knelt in front of him “Steve, Jen’s… she’s… she was… pregnant” she whispered.

He lost it, a strangled sob escaping his throat as he fell to the ground, Nat immediately wrapped her arms around the shaking soldier, doing her best to console him even though she knew there would be no comfort for any of them right now, because they lost., they failed.

“We’ll get her back Steve, we’ll get them all back” she declared determination in her voice as she looked to the rest of the team.

One by one they wiped their eyes and nodded at her, grief giving way to anger, twisting their faces and drying their tears, they would fix this.

***

Jen pounded the pavement in time to the beat but couldn’t still her racing mind, finally she stopped pulling out her phone from her pocket and hitting speed dial.

Anxiously she waited for it to connect sighing in frustration as the voicemail clicked in

“Hey Steve I’m sorry I know I should let you focus but the lack of news is killing me here. I need to know you’re all ok…”

A woman across the road seemed to fall into the road, causing a car to swerve and mount the curb, but even as Jen watched the woman disappeared before her eyes in a cloud of dust, her friend beginning to scream before she hit the floor. The driver leapt out of the car only to disappear also, dust drifting in wind. The first woman’s screaming friend vanished too, leaving silence in her wake.

“Wait what?..”

Jen couldn’t believe her eyes, realising she was still gripping the phone to her ear she squeaked

“Oh my god Steve, something’s happening here…”

A man appeared to her right having run out of his house and collided with her, holding onto her arm he stared at her eyes wild.

“Oh my god what is this?...”

Clutching at her legs, he slid down to the floor, knocking her phone out of his hand as he fell.

Jen stared down at him, watching in horror as he too turned to dust at her feet, shaking she reached down to pick up her phone, noting as she did so that it had gone black a crack across the screen.

In the days and weeks that followed the news published conflicting reports on what had happened. None of them seemed to know if the Avengers had survived and no one seemed to have seen them since Wakanda. Jen wept as she wrapped her hands around her growing belly protecting her child as best she could while grieving for his or her father.

***

They tried to fix it but it was too little too late.

Thanos had already destroyed the stones by the time they got to him, it was too late. Thor chopped his head off regardless, but it didn’t bring anyone back, they were never coming back.

The team retreated to the compound tired, defeated and despondent to accept the awful truth, they’d all lost people, the entire world was grieving and angry at the injustice of it all.

Steve kept hoping that he’d wake up one day and find it was all a bad dream but every day he woke up and it was the same.

Tensions where running high in the compound, Tony was angriest of all with most of it directed towards Steve, he blamed him for not being there, he blamed himself too.

Finally about 2 months after Steve made a decision he had to go back, she wasn’t there but still he needed to see for himself. Nat offered to go with him half-heartedly, she knew he’d refuse and she wasn’t disappointed in that respect. Steve shook his head sadly “Thanks Nat but I need to do this alone” as he headed for the Quinjet, she nodded tears silently falling down her face as he left.

She cried a lot these days, they all did.

There was no need to hide anymore so Steve left the jet in a field a short walk away, there was no one around that cared.

He walked down her street, noticing the glazed faces as people went about their business because they didn’t know what else to do, still dazed and confused by all that had occurred.

Some houses had already started to look uncared for as hedges grew higher and flowers died with no one there to tend to them. Cars appeared abandoned on the edge of the road, one had clearly jumped the curb when it’s owner vanished, it was parked haphazardly through an overgrown hedge no one caring enough to move it.

Steve found himself looking down as he neared her house, not wanting to see it devoid of life without her there. As such he didn’t notice the freshly planted flowers in the border or the movement through the window.

Reaching the front door, he stretched his hand for the handle with a deep breath, freezing when he heard movement from the other side of the door.

Abruptly the door was ripped open a familiar yet tired face staring at him open mouthed.

They stood staring at each other neither believing their eyes, Steve noticed the dark circles under her eyes, her hair was unkempt rather than smooth and glossy as he was used to.

The most pronounced change was the swelling of her belly, clearly defined by the T-shirt she was wearing.

Dropping to his knees Steve pulled her to him burying his face in her stomach as he cried, her arms instinctively wrapping around his head and shoulders holding him close as she too sobbed.

“I thought I lost you” Jen gasped.

Rocking back on his heels to look up at her Steve smiled through his tears “I thought I’d lost you both”

She shook her head down at the father of her child “It’ll take more than that to get rid of me” she smiled giddily at him, elated at the unexpected reunion.

Surging to his feet he gathered her into his arms and kissed her with every ounce of longing and passion he possessed, desperately trying to reassure his tired senses that she was real.

Breaking apart Jen rested her forehead against his “It’s about damn time Soldier, what took you so long?”

Steve chuckled “I’m sorry Doll, but trust me when I say I am never leaving you again”

#captain america #captain america smut #captain america fan fiction #captain america imagine #captain america fluff #stever rogers #steve rogers smut #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers imagine #marvel #marvel fanfiction #marvel imagine

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docgold13 · 2 years

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365 Marvel Comics Paper Cut-Out SuperHeroes - One Hero, Every Day, All Year…

May 17th - Speedball

Robbie Baldwin grew up in a suburban neighborhood in Connecticut. The only son of two very angry and overbearing parents, Robbie dealt with a great deal of anxiety throughout his childhood. In his teens, Robbie landed an internship at Hammond Labs. One night after work, Robbie snuck in to watch Dr. Nicholas Benson's experiments. These experiments sought to tap into an extra-dimensional energy source. The procedures went awry and a wave of exotic energy struck Robbie, bestowing him super powers.

These powers entail the ability to create a field of energy around himself which absorbed all kinetic energy directed against him. This absorption could vary from smaller force objects, such as rocks or punches, to much larger forces, such as bullets, explosions or energy beams. Once absorbed, the energy become redirected outward, basically causing young Robbie to bounce about like a supercharged pinball.

Robbie decided to use these new powers to try his hand at becoming a superhero, naming himself ‘Speedball.’ He would up against a bizarre gallery of would-be super villains. Being Speedball allowed Robbie to put forward a more garrulous and carefree attitude that obfuscated his feelings of anxiety and insecurity. He petitioned membership into the Avengers but denied entry by Captain America who felt he was too young and possessed odd and unrefined super abilities.

By happenstance, Robbie ended up in New York City at the time that the extraterrestrial villain known as Terrax appeared. Speedball joined forces with the other young heroes, Nova, Namorita, Night Thrasher, Firestar and Justice and together they were able to defeat Terrax. Afterwards, the group decided to stick together and formed the young superhero team known as The New Warriors.

Speedball remained with the New Warriors throughout many adventures. The team ultimately broke up but later reformed into a new iteration. Speedball was part of this team and attempted to apprehend a group of super villains who were hiding out in the residential neighborhood of Stamford, Connecticut. The mission went terribly wrong when the villain known as Nitro caused a massive explosion that killed the New Warriors along with scores of innocent victims. It was a tragedy that brought about the Super Hero Registration Act and, ultimately, the Superhero Civil War.

Speedball was the sole surviver of the explosion, his forcefield absorbing the energy and sending his flying hundreds of miles away. As the only surviver, Speedball was looked at as responsible for the tragedy and was arrested and charged with multiple counts of involuntary manslaughter. The already self-conscious young man found himself one of the most hated people in the country.

The tremendous guilt and self-loathing Robbie experienced caused a neurotic breakdown. He began to self injure, hurting himself as a form of penance for the pain and suffering he had caused. Hurting himself in this fashion also caused him to store up excesses of kinetic energy. At the time, Norman Osborn was in charge of the Thunderbolts program and he recruited Robbie as a new agent. Robbie was offered a special suit that caused him constant pain, pain that further activated his powers. He took on the new codename of ‘Penance’ and led the Thunderbolts in their efforts to hunt and apprehend super powered individuals who failed to adhere to the Superhero Registration Act. Herein, Robbie was able to use his powers in a different way, storing up the excess energy caused by his pain and releasing it a singular, hugely powerful energy blast.

Following the events of the Dark Reign story arc, Robbie was able to work through his difficulties. His friend Squirrel Girl helped him to remember his former self and he was involved in an extensive psychotherapy. He gave up the mantle of Penance and resumed his identity as Speedball. He then became an adjunct faculty member at The Avengers Academy as part of an effort to help his fellow young heroes understand the potential consequences of using one’s powers in impulsive, irresponsible ways. Although he has made great strides, Robbie continues to suffer from difficulties with depression and anxiety.

The troubled hero first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 Annual #22 (1988).

#365 Marvel Comics Heroes #Speedball #New Warriors #Penance #Thunderbolts #Squirrel Girl #cut-out #paper art

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xchumonxinxchainsx · 1 year

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You Saved Me..

This is something I wrote way back when Civil War first came out. I basically came home from the theater and wrote this. Bucky is my boi.💚🖤💜

Buckyx!femReader Lemon aka smutty sex stuff.

But also sweet lovey stuff.

Only real warning for this I can think of is slight dealings with trauma etc. If there is anything else feel free to point it out.

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You sat in the living area of Avenger tower deep in thoutght. It was around 11 pm and everyone had gotten back from a big mission and went straight to bed. All except you that is. Much like Tony had experienced post trauma panic attacks after New York, you had begun getting bouts of anxiety after said Iron Man's fight with Bucky and Steve. It had been about a month since then, you had managed to pull some strings with another certain group of heroes to have most of the governmental officials who were involved in the Accords memories wiped. Tony was reluctant to continue as they were after everything that had happened but you managed to convince him it was the best thing for everyone involved.

Now if only you could shake the memories of the fight. It kept replaying in you head over and over to the point where it brought tears to your eyes. When Steve had hone after Bucky you had gone along with him and Sam. From what he said you knew there was more to Bucky than a killer Soldier, and that was later confirmed when you met him. By the time you made it to the other soldiers you had fallen head over heals for the broken Bucky Barnes. As you all stood in the empty room awaiting your fate he looked at you with pain in his eyes as if he thought none of you would come out of this alive.

"Thank you for believing in me."

His words echoed through your mind as you remembered Tony seeing his parents die and how his rage turned him into a killer with only one thing on his mind. Bucky. You were good friends with Tony and hated seeing him lust for the blood of the man you cared so much for. This war was tearing you apart inside and out. Tony looked in your eyes and all you could see was pure vengeance.

"_____...."

You stood firm.

"You can't defend him from me."

You took a sharp breath in. Your voice broke as you looked up at him.

"I can Tony. And I Will."

Although your voice shook with pain you had never been more sure of anything in your life. The fight raged through your head like a tornado tearing at every shred of emotion you had threatening to pull all your fears back from the hole you kept trying to bury them in. You finally remembered the moment that ended it. Tony had beaten Steve down to a bloody mess on the floor panting for breath. Bucky's arm had been ripped off and he too was covered in blood. You were beaten pretty bad as you struggled to lift your head. You heard Tony charge his hand blaster as you saw it aimed right at Bucky. Everything was in slow motion as adrenaline shot through your body. You screamed at the top of your lungs as you surged with energy. You leaped up and dashed toward Bucky firmly launching yourself between him and Tony. You heard Tony gasp.and quickly push his own arm away to avoid you. You knelt in front of Bucky holding his head tenderly to your collarbone. You were shaking from adrenaline and pain and let out sobs of fear at the thought of losing him. Tony just stared at the back of your head realising your true feelings for the Winter Soldier. This gave Steve the opportunity to get the jump on him and break the arc reactor in his suit. Bucky relaxed slowly in your grasp suddenly feeling extremely weak. You looked to Steve as Bucky slouched onto you panting. He was breathing hard as he stood up waking to you. The two of you hoisted Bucky to his feet and helped walk him out. You briefly looked back to Tony only to see him struggle to sit up. He looked you dead in the eye. You winced before turning back to where you were going.

As you turned to your side on the couch you clutched a blanket around you tightly feeling all the pangs of fear you did that night all over again. You were glad that Tony had accepted Bucky at least for the most part since he was getting therapy now. But you couldn't help but feel like things would never be normal again.

You were so wrapped up in your thoughts that you hadn't noticed Bucky enter the room. His deprogramming had run late that night and he had just stopped down for a snack before bed. That is until he saw you. He too had not been able to get the fight out of his head. He remembered how gently you had held him and how you had without a second thought risked your own life for his.

He quietly walked toward the couch thinking you were sleeping.

"______...."

He whispered seeing the tears falling down your face.

"What's wrong?"

You shot up and wiped your eyes sniffing steadily. You hadn't had much chance to talk to him in the past month. Things had been so crazy that you hadn't even noticed he had his arm replaced.

"Bucky......nothing....I just, I have been having a lot of anxiety lately that's all..."

His brow furrowed. He wasn't exactly the consoling type, but he thought he owed you enough to try.

"Oh uh....what about?"

He slowly sat down next to you as you bundled the blanket up in front of you.

"Well...I...."

You looked at his face. He seemed genuinely concerned so you took a deep breath and continued.

"I just keep seeing the fight with Tony....over and over....every time I sleep, every time I have any down time....I keep seeing him so filled with rage....and not being strong enough to stop him....and I just....I see him now...even though he's accepted you, he still thinks you could snap at any moment and I know hes.just waiting for it to happen so he can have an excuse to attack you again and I just don't think I can stand it a second time!!"

As you talked your voice rose and by the time you had finished you were in hysterical sobs. He looked down slowly. He hadn't realised just how much you cared about him, and how much fear you had that something should happen to him. He didn't know what to say or do, so he just looked at you before slowly inching closer and pulling you into a tight hug. The cold sting of his metal arm on your skin made you gasp. You felt it coil around you and you couldn't believe how lifelike it felt. It was almost as if you felt the metal flexing like real muscle. You'd have to tell Bruce how impressed you were with his repair job later. His warm presence soothed you and your sobbing slowed to sniffling again. You could hear his heart beat as your face was pressed against his muscled chest. As you relaxed more and more you felt him almost purr as he squeezed you a bit tighter. Your face reddened. Could he care for you too? You gently pulled back from him and looked him in the eyes. He looked very tired, and his eyes called for something. He let his metal hand run down your back softly sending a shiver up your spine.

"______....."

You didn't move a muscle. Was this really happening? You held your breath waiting for him to continue.

"You saved my life a month ago...why?"

You hadn't expected that.

"W-well....I...."

You choked out. His lonely eyes searched you for the answer. You felt your face flush and heat go all over your body.

"I...I really care about you Bucky....I don't want anyone to hurt you...."

You looked down at your hands which were now fidgeting on your lap. His hand was still resting on your lower back and he was half laying down letting his shirt ride up just slightly so you could see his abs just a bit. Your eyes darted back and forth from them to your hands as you waited for him to respond.

"Why?"

He asked again. This was really starting to make you nervous. You didn't care why you loved him, you just did! Why did he have to make you explain it?! How embarrassing! Your mind raced before you gathered what little courage you had left to speak.

"Because....all those things you did....they weren't you. You would never hurt innocent people on your own...."

You looked up at him as you searched for words.

"You're worth everything to me Bucky..."

You turned away from him too embarrassed to look at him any more. He sat in silence for a few moment before sitting up again and pulling you to face him. He place his large hands on either side of your face and looked in your eyes

"Thank you......you mean everything to me too ______, you and Steve are all I have in this world. You're the only ones who believe in me."

You're heart exploded. You couldn't believe your ears.

"Bucky...."

You breathe before he leans slowly forward and gently kisses you. You take in a sharp breath as his hot soft lips press against yours. Your arms leap to his chest feeling his hard muscles as his hand move from your face to your back pulling you into a tight embrace. You let your hands travel up his chest to his neck and into his hair running your fingers through it softly tugging as you go. You hear a deep growl echo through you as his hands trace every part of you. You break the kiss slowly trying to catch your breath. Bucky grunts softly as he replaces his lips on your neck gently biting as he goes. You let out a gasp still not fully accepting that this is real. You can't do anything but let it happen as your mind is focused on nothing else in this moment than Bucky Barnes.

He slides his metal hand under your shirt and you shiver as the cold high tech machine glides across your skin. Bucky whispers in your ear as he unhooks your bra.

"_______.....you don't know how long it's been since I felt a woman's touch....."

You let out an unintentional moan as you felt his breath on your skin.

"About 70 years...?"

You breathe out with a smile as your hands trace back down to his chest pulling at the edge of his shirt. Bucky chuckles as he pulls your shirt and bra off at once, then his own. He lowers you back onto the couch tossing the blanket on the floor.

"Do you have any idea what that does to a man?"

He asks huskily as he plants kisses down your neck to your chest. You sigh in delight at his touch as he sucks each if your breasts tenderly.

"I can only imagine how pent up you must be...."

You sigh letting out a sharp gasp as he kisses lower down your stomach. He stops and pulls your pants down to run his hands over your bare skin. The contrast of temperature in his left and right hands gives you a most enjoyable sensation as you moan softly relishing in his touch. You look up at him and see lust filled eyes that are eating you up with every second he looks you over. He can't seems to stop touching you. Suddenly you had an idea. You wanted to do something special for Bucky. After everything he had been through, and to show you really did love him. You took his hands softly and moved them off you. He grunted in protest but you sat up slowly and placed your hands on his chest.

"Don't worry....trust me...."

You breathe as you gently push him back so he's now lying under you. His hands quickly return to your sides as he can't seem to keep them away. You slowly Kis down his neck and a cross his collarbone noting the places that make him softly grunt as you go. You move painstakingly slow wanting this to last as long as possible. Bucky seemed to be lost in it. His eyes were closed and his breathing was getting faster as you went. You made it to the skin where his metal arm connected and his breath hitched as you touched it. Aha! You thought. Of course the area was probably sensitive. You gently ran your fingers around it and onto the cool flexing metal of his prosthetic. He groaned deeply gripping your hair in one hand and your rear in the other. He had a firm hold on you but it didn't stop you from continuing. From his arm your fingers danced down his torso and across his fine abs. You delighted in the reaction you were getting as he twitched and groaned under you. Finally he was getting impatient.

"______....please....you're killing me...."

He said as you played with his waistband. You giggled loving his tortured moans. But he was right. You wanted him just as badly and you knew you couldn't stand much more teasing yourself. You ran your hand across the substantial bulge now fully formed in his constricting pants. He groaned deeply at the touch and ground his hips up to you. You smiled biting your lip as you undid his pants and pulled them and his underwear off revealing his large manhood. You were almost entranced by it before you slowly leaned down taking it in your mouth. Bucky grunted loudly as he took hold of your hair once again pushing your face down farther till you were almost choking. You stayed that way for a moment trying not to gag before pulling slowly back up and starting to bob your head in a slow rhythm. He thrusted up to meet you every time grunting and growling feverishly.

"Mmmm fuck _______!"

He groaned as you wrapped one hand around it to make sure his full length was covered. He propped himself up on his metal arm while he used his other hand to push your hair back out of your face letting it rest behind your head. He watched you work him sending him even more jolts of pleasure. Suddenly he let out an almost inhuman growl pushing you back on the couch and off him. You looked dazed and confused for a moment before he covered you with himself. He to hold of both your hands pinning them above your head in his metal hand. You gasped as you saw the fire in his eyes. He quickly lined himself up and pushed into you with little warning. You let out a shocked moan as he began pounding into you with no warning. You writhed around under him able to do nothing but wrap your legs around him holding on for deal life. He landed down so his face was next to yours grunting in you ear mixing in a few fuck yeahs here and there. Your spine tingled as you heard and felt him all around you. The pressure on your abdomen began to rise rapidly. You couldn't control it, or anything for that matter you moaned loudly squeezing your legs as tight around him as you could.

"Oh god Bucky!! I'm--!!"

You couldn't even get out the words before he had you moaning again.

"Yeah, you fuckin' like that huh?"

His voice was deep and gravely. He sounded like he really had been pent up for 70 years. It drove you crazy.

"Yes Bucky! Fuck me hard! I want all of you!"

You were so close to your climax as he moved his other hand to your face letting his fingers fall into your mouth.

"Yeah, fuck.....say my name. Who do you want fucking you senseless?"

"Bucky!"

"Louder!"

"BUCKY!!!"

"FFFF--!!!"

You both came hard at the same time clutching each other as tightly as you could. He twitched and growled into your ear as you let out a deep sigh of relief. As you rode it out he let your hands go and you both had your arms around each other in seconds. You panted almost dizzy from the experience. After a few minutes Bucky pulled out of you reaching for the blanket that was discarded on the floor. He pulled it over the two of you not caring that you were both naked in the living room. He didn't want to move. He wrapped his arms around you tightly and kissed your forehead.

"I love you _______ _______."

You sigh in content and bury your face in his chest.

"I love you too Bucky Barnes."

~~~♡♡♡Extended ending♡♡♡~~~

Tony yawned tiredly. He had been up late because of some bizarre bumping sound. He imagined Bruce had been up late working on something. Either way he was not in a good mood. He wandered into the living area to get to the kitchen and make himself some coffee when he stopped in his tracks. Moments earlier you and Bucky had woken up and we're currently making out on the couch, still nude. Tony could barely contain himself.

"What the hell is this!?"

You and Bucky jumped at the sharp sound. Bucky pulled the blanket up to cover your chest grinning crookedly. Your face flushed bright red.

"TONY!!! GET OUT!!"

"It's MY living room!! And MY couch!! Which I now need to sanitize with gasoline and fire!!"

"FUCK OFF TONY GOD! JUST GET OUT! OUTOUTOUT!!!!"

You yell as you start throwing clothes at him. He takes the hint that you want to get dressed and he runs into the kitchen with his hands in the air.

"Alright alright!! Damn it _____! You're such a pain in my ass!!"

Bucky laughed heartily at the scene and your pouty face.

"Dumb jerk..."

You mumble. You and Tony were still close friends but ever since you saved Bucky from him he had been treating you more like a little sister than a friend.

Bucky pulled his pants on as he handed you your clothes.

"You tell him _____, it's our couch now!"

Bucky called toward the kitchen earning a loud exasperated growl from Tony.

The two of you laugh again as you dress. When you were done he pulled you into a tight hug.

"I guess we should tell Steve huh?"

You say tracing his lips with your finger.

"Oh I think I figured it out for myself."

You both turned shocked to the door to see Steve smirking.

"I was wondering how long it would take you two to finally get together."

~~~~~~The End ♡~~~~~~

#marvel #bucky barnes #reader insert #lemon fic #18+ content #winter soldier #tony stark

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causeimanartist · 3 years

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oh my god i LOVE catws it’s so good

also was n o t a fan of civil war tbh

RIGHT

Like, it really wasn’t a Captain America movie - they should have just called it Avengers: Civil War (especially since Iron Man had more lines than Cap in a supposed CAPTAIN AMERICA MOVIE)

I guess I’m still salty lol (and don’t get me started on the decision to have Steve stay in the past like, I’m still angry)

At least it gave us this

#I get it: Chris evan’s contract was up and he was personally done with the character #I totally respect that!#he wanted to move on #(plus he was fantastic in knives out I mean hello that sweater)#but the way they handled it...it just erased so much of his character #about learning to move on #PLUS LIKE #YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE HED LEAVE BUCKY BEHIND?#B U C K Y?#STEVE’S MOTIVATION TO A LOT OF THE MOVIES #WHO HE BASICALLY BROKE UP THE AVENGERS FOR IN CIVIL WAR #IM WITH YOU TIL THE END OF THE LINE #T H A T B U C K Y #to be with a woman he spent less than a year together with #like #I’m sorry no #plus Steve SAW that Peggy had a good life #she found a husband who she loved #she had kids with him #what happens to all that by Steve deciding to peace out #GAH #Ope I’m way salty #marvel fans look away #I’m not even unleashing all my feelings because a certain section of that fandom would absolutely come for me

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jackmcgeefromthenationalregister · 2 years

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Marvel doesn't have a plan. Like the Star Wars sequel trilogy, they make it up as they go along. There are numerous instances of backtracking, retconning, and general inconsteinces. Such as

Tony Stark is going to join the Avengers omg

Just kidding he said no to Nick Fury

But wait Nick Fury is here again maybe he will be an Avenger

Actually Nick Fury rejects him as an Avenger

Actually wait no now Nick Fury wants him to be an Avenger

Wow Bruce Banner was tortured over the beast inside him he cannot contain and learned he can use the Hulk for good and get some sense of control, ridding of his angst. He will now forget this and draw this same conclusion at the end of every movie he is in.

Tony said he wants to help Thunderbolt Ross take down the Hulk

Nevermind Tony is a Hulk superfan he was just tricking Ross in this retcon short we have here

Omg Thor destroyed his only way of going to Earth

Just kidding he's back on Earth for some reason that meant nothing

Ooh Thanos was teased he's coming soon

Oh wait no he's not doing anything yet actually

Wow S.H.I.E.L.D got taken down things will never be the same

Actually they basically still exist in every sense of the word. Nick Fury seems to basically operate the same organization the same way. Crazy

Tony has explicitly retired by blowing up his suits and overcoming his anxiety, doesn't seem like he's gonna still be Iron Man

Actually no Tony is indeed still Iron Man. And he didn't conquer his anxiety it's actually so bad now that he made a genocidal robot

Oh shit Thanos is really coming this time

No actually he still is not doing anything wait a few more years

Oh boy I bet Tony Stark making Ultron will be a big deal and cause a lot of division within the team leading into Civil War.. but not really

Wow Tony and Steve are really super mad at each other. Except we tie things up with a nice little bow where Steve sends him a letter. the movie has to end with upbeat music and Tony doing something quirky

Wow the Accords broke up the Avengers. Superheroes won't be able to operate the same way anymore. Except for in Spider-Man: Homecoming where Peter is allowed to do exactly that, and the Avengers are seemingly still a thing that everyone mostly mentions as if they are still intact, where Happy Hogan himself talks about making equipment for Captain America and Thor, who should not be anywhere around the Avengers at this point.

Holy fuck Thor lost his eye and wears an eyepatch now and he lost his hammer

Actually Thor gets his eye back and gets another hammer. Also his arc is that he doesn't want to be a ruler. Except his arc is that he does want to be a ruler. Except it's not. Except it is.

Oooh and Loki has taken over Asgard. What a cliffhanger! It has little to no affect on anything.

Oooh shit guys Nick Fury is gonna call Captain Marvel this is gonna be a big deal in Endgame except actually it won't be at all its all virtually useless really

Ok we are going to kill off Thanos now. But not really. (And the same will apply to numerous characters)

Steve Rogers is learning he can't stay stuck in the past and has to move on with his life. Unless....

Time travel can't change the past, it just makes a new timeline. Unless the story needs to use the former rules. Then it's ok. Also branched timeliness are super dangerous but also not really it's fine

Wow half of the human population died and then came back five years later. The world will never be the same. Except it's actually shown to be functioning exactly the same outside of a few offhand mentions of crazazy stuff here and there

Spider-Man learned he doesn't need Iron Man tech and can be his own hero. And then he learns it again. And again.

Oh my goodness Peter Parker has been outed as Spider-Man and framed as a murderer. How will this effect him?

Not much. He can't get into college :/ anyway forget the set up for this movie we established we are doing multiverse now

Also these movies were his slow origin. That's why the ending of the third movie completely rescinds the entire trilogy and renders everything that happened meaningless.

Scorpion telling Vulture he heard that he knows who Spider-Man is and wants to kill him was simply for a good chuckle

Aunt May also always helped homeless people this was always a trait in the previous two movies

Wow Venom got transported to the MCU. Looks like he is gonna fight Tom Holland. Just kidding he is immediately leaving

Uh oh John Walker is making a shield. This is gonna be bad or something. Actually it means nothing we focused on this for literally no reason

Banner has completed his arc (off-screen, and terribly) by merging himself with the Hulk into one being. And then later he's back to his human form anyway

Thor is leaving with the Guardians of the Galaxy wow! And then leaves them within the first 5 minutes of his next appearance!

And according to leakers who have been reliable, MoM will be re-doing Wanda's arc from WandaVision and/or making her a villain, rendering the message of the show absolutely pointless.

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tomhollandnet · 2 years

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At 25, 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' star Tom Holland navigates fame, relationships and his Marvel future with a renewed sense of patience.

Tom Holland, the current big-screen Spider-Man, can count testicular fortitude as one of his super-strengths – no radioactive spider bite needed.

Two years ago when negotiations between Sony (which owns the rights to Spidey) and Disney completely broke down, shutting Spider-Man out of future appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where he’d made a home, Holland reached out to then-Disney CEO Bob Iger to save the deal.

“There was definitely a little bit of liquid courage involved with that exchange,” Holland recalls. “People seem to think that I was in these business meetings between these huge tycoons, but I wasn't. I basically just called up one of them and cried on the phone and was like, ‘Please fix this.’ And he did!”

The 25-year-old British actor’s love for his popular web-swinging character is obvious in those behind-the-scenes scraps but also when he lays it all on the MCU battlefield as Peter Parker in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (in theaters Friday). It's a multiverse-spanning adventure that concludes the trilogy started with 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”

With OGs like Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans no longer around, Holland has arguably become the face of the MCU, though he’ll politely disagree.

“People keep saying that to me and I don't know how true that is,” says Holland, who was introduced as Spidey in 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War” and had high-profile appearances in the last two “Avengers” films. “One day maybe it will be Spider-Man and maybe that will still be me, maybe it'll be the next young kid, I'm not sure. But it's very flattering to hear that and it's nice to see that my hard work has paid off.”

Since Holland’s first audition opposite Downey, “No Way Home” producer and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has seen him maintain a "kind and level-headed" demeanor. "He has grown and matured even more as a performer and an actor, from literally within the MCU as a wide-eyed kid stepping into this bigger world to now in a lot of ways having that world on his shoulders," Feige says. "And yet with that Peter Parker-esque humility, which really I think says a lot about who he is and how he was raised.”

“No Way Home” gives Holland a chance to act alongside some cinema greats: Alfred Molina (as Doc Ock), Jamie Foxx (Electro) and Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin) all make their MCU debuts, reprising their villain roles from past “Spider-Man” movies. Holland especially got a kick out of working through a fight scene with a "terrifying" Dafoe. “He is a real sweetheart. But I remember when we were doing it, looking at him like, ‘That's not Willem. Willem's gone. Goblin is here to stay.’ ”

Peter, his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and best pal Ned (Jacob Batalon) also have to worry about getting into college, which made Holland think about perhaps going back to school. “I don't know what I would study (but) actually getting an education, it would be quite fun,” he says. A more relatable plot point for him is Peter having his Spidey secret identity outed and dealing with being in the public eye.

This summer, paparazzi snapped a picture of Holland and Zendaya, longtime rumored love interests, sharing a kiss in a car. And recently in New York City, the two went out and “were followed by like 15 people,” Holland says. “That's never going to feel normal and it's always going to make me feel funny but we're doing it together.”

He counts Zendaya – who like Holland has been acting and performing since childhood – as one person who’s been “really instrumental in the sanity that I have right now and the fact that I have not lost my mind. It's an interesting life.”

Holland “actually gained a lot more patience” and developed a "chill" attitude this year, “whereas before I used to get really, really worked up about things that are way, way out of my control.” That will help him as his Hollywood career continues to skyrocket: He next plays opposite Mark Wahlberg in the action-adventure “Uncharted” (in theaters Feb. 18), produces and stars in the upcoming Apple TV+ anthology series “The Crowded Room,” and has signed on to star as song-and-dance man Fred Astaire in an upcoming biopic.

Holland likes the “responsibility” of introducing a Hollywood legend to a younger generation. “It's also just nice for me to put the tap shoes back on,” says the actor, who got his start in a West End production of “Billy Elliot the Musical.”

“We’re still at very, very early stages, looking for directors, which is really exciting. It's also very stressful. I miss the days where you get a job and just get told who you're working with.”

"No Way Home" producer Amy Pascal wants him back in his Spidey suit for another trilogy, telling Fandango that the new film “is not the last of our MCU movies.” Holland’s just glad that he went snowboarding for a couple of weeks in Montana after wrapping earlier this year.

“I have a hilarious photo of me FaceTiming Zendaya with blood all down my face because I'd fallen over,” Holland says with a laugh. “So when I saw that I apparently signed onto three more movies, I was like, ‘Ah, (crap), I'm going to have to cancel my next skiing holiday.”

#tom holland #interviews #long post

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the-desolated-quill · 3 years

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WandaVision: ‘Subverting’ Good Television - Quill’s Scribbles

(Spoilers for the first five episodes)

Hey everyone! Well... it’s been a while, hasn’t it? The last time I wrote a proper review or Scribble, people still thought the COVID crisis would be over within a month. The poor saps. But I thought that as a special way to mark this year’s Valentines Day, we could take a closer look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s shittiest power couple in their new Disney+ show WandaVision.

The first of many MCU spin-off shows that nobody asked for, broadcast exclusively on Disney’s totally unnecessary streaming platform, WandaVision is about everybody’s favourite whitewashed Nazi experiment and her red sexbot boyfriend as they try to fit into a suburban sitcom neighbourhood without arousing suspicion.

Yes, you read that correctly. The MCU has a sitcom now. My life is now complete.

Sarcasm aside, I was legitimately curious about WandaVision because of its unusual setting. And considering one of my most common criticisms of the MCU is its total lack of creativity, anything that’s even a little bit subversive is bound to attract my attention. Of course ‘subversive’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘good.’ I could hand you a canvas smeared with my own shit and call it subversive. That doesn’t necessarily make it good art. And that’s exactly what WandaVision is. A canvas smeared with shit.

So lets split this critical analysis/review/angry bitter rant into two distinct chapters. The first focusing on the plot and setting, and the second focusing on the characters. Okay? Okay.

Chapter 1: Bewitched

Critics seem to be utterly enamoured with the whole sitcom gimmick, and it is a gimmick. As far as I can tell from the episodes I’ve seen, the sitcom setting serves no real purpose whatsoever other than to make the show ‘quirky.’ Which I wouldn’t mind, believe it or not, if the show was actually funny. There’s just one problem. It’s not.

Now in some ways describing why a sitcom doesn’t work is often futile because comedy is largely subjective. What I find funny, you won’t necessarily find funny and vice versa. With WandaVision, however, I won’t have that problem. I can demonstrate to you precisely why WandaVision, objectively, isn’t funny. And it all comes down to one simple thing. The stakes. Or rather the complete and total absence of stakes.

The show makes it very clear from the beginning that none of what we’re seeing is real. The cheesy theme song, the era appropriate special effects (mostly. It’s actually very inconsistent), the joke commercials, and, in the case of the first two episodes, which are in black and white, the appearance of red lights and objects in Scarlet Witch’s general vicinity. (Gee, what a mystery this is).

Basically Wanda has brought Vision back from the dead and created this sitcom world for them to inhabit. I’ll explain the stupidity of this in Chapter 2. The point is none of this is real, and that has a negative effect on the comedy because the very nature of comedy is suffering. Take the plot of the first episode. Wanda and Vision have to prepare a dinner to impress Vision’s boss. If they fail, Vision could lose his job and the couple could be exposed as superheroes. If this were a normal sitcom, it would work. The stakes are clear and it would be satisfying to see the two struggle and overcome the odds. But here, we know it’s not real. If it’s not real, it means there’s no stakes. If there’s no stakes, it means there’s no suffering. If there’s no suffering, there’s no comedy.

It would be one thing if the unfunny sitcom stuff lasted for like the first ten minutes or so before making way for the actual plot, but it doesn’t. Oh no. It doesn’t even last for the first episode. Out of the five episodes I’ve watched, four of them are almost entirely about these unfunny, objectively flawed sitcom homages, each set in a different time period. The fifties, the sixties, and so on. And what’s worse is that nothing that happens in them is plot-relevant. That gets relegated to the last five minutes of an episode. So you’re forced to sit through twenty five minutes of boring slapstick and puns in order to catch even a whiff of actual story. Which begs the question... who is this for exactly? It can’t be entertaining to Marvel fans, who have to slog through all this pointless shit so they can figure out what the fuck is going on. Comedy fans may get a kick out of the sitcom pastiche at first, but after four episodes, surely the joke would wear thin. So why is it in here? Clearly someone in the writer’s room absolutely fell in love with the idea of doing a Marvel sitcom, but nobody put in any time or effort to figure out how it would work in context.

I cannot stress enough how bad the plotting of this series is. As I said, the vast majority of a thirty minute episode is about shitty sitcom plots that aren’t funny and don’t have any impact on the story, only to then tease you with a crumb of actual plot in order to keep you coming back for the next instalment. Admittedly it’s an effective strategy. I was more than ready to quit after Episode 2 until that beekeeper showed up out of the sewer (don’t ask. It’s not important). WandaVision essentially follows the Steven Moffat school of bad writing. String your audience along with the promise that things might get more interesting later on and that all the bullshit that came before will retroactively make sense by the end. Except, as demonstrated with BBC’s Sherlock, that doesn’t work. And even if it did, it wouldn’t justify wasting the audience’s fucking time. And that’s what the majority of WandaVision is. A waste of time.

The only episode that doesn’t follow the sitcom format is the fourth episode. Instead it basically exists to explain all the shit that happened before. The shit that the audience, frankly, are smart enough to figure out for themselves. Wanda created the sitcom world as a way of coping with the loss of Vision, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, we got it. Thanks. It doesn’t advance the plot or anything. It’s just a massive info-dump. But by far the lowest point was when Darcy (by far the most annoying character in the first Thor film and is just as obnoxious here) was sat in front of the TV, watching the sitcom and asking the same questions we were. Not even attempting to look for answers. Just reiterating what the audience is thinking. Like this is an episode of fucking Gogglebox.

In the end it becomes apparent why the series is structured the way that it is. It’s to hoodwink people into subscribing to Disney’s stupid streaming service. If you think about it, there was no reason for WandaVision to be a TV series other than to lure gullible fans in with a piece-meal story buried in a mountain of crap. This isn’t a TV show. It’s what is cynically known in the world of big business executives as ‘content.’ They’re not interested in entertaining the audience. Instead they crave ‘engagement’, which isn’t the same thing. Watching WandaVision is like staring into the void, waiting for something to happen, while Disney charge you for the privilege.

Chapter 2: I Love Lucy

So the plot sucks balls. What about the characters? Surely if Wanda and Vision are likeable at least, it’ll give us something to cling onto.

Well as I was watching the first episode, it suddenly hit me that I couldn’t remember anything that happened to them in previous films. I knew Vision died, but other than that, I couldn’t tell you significant plot details or their personalities or anything. Not a great start.

See, up until now, Vision and Scarlet Witch have been little more than background characters. So already there’s an uphill struggle to get us invested in their relationship, especially considering we haven’t actually seen that relationship develop. In Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Scarlet Witch is killing people because she’s pissed off about Tony Stark killing people (you work that one out) until all of a sudden she stops and joins the good guys because the script said so. Vision meanwhile is introduced as a convenient deus ex machina to beat Ultron and gets no real personality other than he’s a robot. Captain America: Civil War comes the closest to giving Wanda a story and personality of her own as it’s her actions that cause the Sokovia Accords to come into effect, but she never gets any real growth or payoff as the film is heavily focused on Cap and Iron Man’s penis measuring contest. And as for Vision, all he does in the film is accidentally cripple War Machine. No real character or arc there as such. And then we have Avengers: Infinity War, where Wanda and Vision are now sporadically in love and on the run until that pesky Josh Brolin, looking like a CGI cross between Joss Whedon and a grumpy grape, comes along and rips out Vision’s Infinity Stone to power up his golden glove of doom, and the film treats this like a tragic moment, except... it isn’t. Because we haven’t really had the time to properly get to know these characters and see their romance blossom. So instead it just comes off as hollow and forced.

WandaVision has the exact same problem. Apparently Wanda was so distraught about Vision’s death that she broke into a SWORD base, stole his corpse, brought it back from the dead... somehow, and then enslaved an entire town of people to create an idyllic lifestyle for her and her hubby while broadcasting it as a sitcom to the outside world... for some reason. Putting aside the dubious morality of it all, it’s impossible to really sympathise with Wanda or her supposed grief because we’ve barely spent any time with her. Had the Marvel movies taken the time to properly explore the characters and show us their relationship grow and develop, this might have had more emotional resonance. But no, it just happens. In one film they barely speak to each other and in the next they’re a couple. No effort to explore how they feel about each other or any of the problems that may arise trying to date a robot. It just happens and we’re just supposed to care. Well I’m sorry, but I don’t care. You’re going to have to try a little bit harder than that I’m afraid. What’s worse is that, thanks to the whole fake sitcom thing, it’s impossible to really become invested in Wanda and her plight because the show has to constantly keep us at arms length at all times in order to keep up the pretence that this bullshit is somehow mysterious.

Looking through the WandaVision tag, it amuses me how many people say that she’s acting out of character. And yeah, her actions are a bit of a head scratcher. Why would an Eastern European’s ideal life be an American sitcom? Why a sitcom? Why kidnap an entire town? Why keep changing the decade? None of it makes sense, but you’re wrong for thinking that Wanda is behaving out of character for the simple reason that Wanda has never actually had a character. In fact, ironically, Wanda mind controlling an entire town and forcing them to do her bidding is probably the one consistent thing about her as she did this in Age Of Ultron. In interviews, Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany described how they used actors like Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick Van Dyke as influences, which is really funny because they’re straight up admitting they don’t have characters and even now they’re still not playing the characters, instead emulating the work of far better actors.

As I was watching the show, it became abundantly clear that not only do Marvel not have the faintest idea what they wanted to do with these characters, but they also straight up don’t give a shit about these characters. Wanda in particular has had a rough time under the tyrannical regime of the House of Mouse. First they cast Elizabeth Olsen, a white woman, to play a Romani character, then systematically erasing her Jewish roots, even going so far as to put a cross in her bedroom in Civil War, and now the character is being butchered even more by forcing her into an American sitcom housewife role that she apparently willingly chose for herself, which is laughable. I mean say what you like about Magneto in the X-Men films, at least they actually depicted his Jewish culture. At least they recognised his Jewish background was important (though not important enough to cast a Jewish actor apparently). Wanda’s steady cultural erasure over the years is incredibly insidious and judging by Olsen’s comments in interviews, where she called Wanda’s comic book outfit a quote ‘gypsy thing’ unquote, it seems nobody has an ounce of fucking respect for the character or the culture she’s supposed to be representing. (and to all those kissing her arse saying it was a slip of the tongue, she has been repeatedly called out for using the slur in the past, so at this point I’d describe her behaviour as wilful ignorance)

If you want further proof of how much Marvel doesn’t seem to care about Wanda, look no further than her brother Pietro, aka Quicksilver. At the end of Episode 5, Wanda brings Pietro back from the dead, except it’s not Pietro. It’s Peter Maximoff, the Quicksilver from the X-Men films played by Peter Evans, who coincidentally is not Jewish or Romani either. So Quicksilver has the dubious honour of not only being whitewashed three times, but also twice within the same franchise. But should we really be surprised at this point? It’s Marvel after all. The same company that whitewashed the Ancient One in Doctor Yellowface and claimed it wasn’t racist because Tilda Swinton is ‘Celtic’. But now I’m going off topic. My point is that this isn’t a simple case of recasting an actor like Mark Ruffalo replacing Edward Norton as the Hulk. WandaVision actually acknowledges the recast in-universe, which makes no sense. Why would Wanda bring back her brother, only to make him look like a different person? We the audience may be familiar with this version of Quicksilver, but she isn’t. That would be like me bringing my Grandad back to life and making him look like Ian McKellen. He’d be perfectly charming, I’m sure, but he wouldn’t be my Grandad.

If Marvel really cared about the characters or narrative consistency, they would have brought Aaron Taylor Johnson back. Instead, now they have absorbed 20th Century Fox into the hellish Disney abyss, they use X-Men’s Quicksilver as a means to keep viewers from switching off and so that people will write stupid articles and think pieces about whether the rest of the X-Men will show up in the MCU. It’s like dangling your keys in front of a toddler’s face to distract them from the rotting corpse of a raccoon lying face down in the corner of the room.

And it’s here where I decided to stop watching the show because fuck Disney.

Epilogue: One Foot In The Grave

You know, I am sick and tired of the so called ‘professional’ critics bending over backwards to praise these god awful films and shows when it’s so clear to anyone with a functioning brain cell how bad they truly are. WandaVision is without a doubt one of the most cynically produced and poorly structured TV shows I’ve ever seen. Its riffs on classic sitcoms are pointless and self-indulgent, the writing is terrible, the characters are unlikable and unsympathetic, and it’s entirely emblematic of what the entire MCU has become of late. And it’s only going to get worse as Disney drowns us with more ‘content’ to keep the plebs ‘engaged’. In short; pathetic.

#anti wandavision #anti marvel #anti mcu #anti disney #quill's scribbles

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miss-authorcita · 3 years

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A/N: So, I'm obsessed (once again) with Taylor's Fearless album and I've decided to write one shots of each of the songs. They probably won't be that good cause I'm literally just writing them down and posting them. (No spellcheck, no beta reader, no nothing) I just wanna get back to writing and this came to mind.

SUMMARY: It's been almost 2 years since Civil War. You and Steve have grown closer while on the run, but you can't help missing the roller coaster love you and Tony shared. (Inspired by: That's The Way I Loved You)

I was sitting by the window of my ratty Motel room, simply staring at the wet cobblestones of the empty street barely lit up by two lamp lights. My thoughts kept drowning me, it was a new thing with me when I was alone. I made so many mistakes in my life and now the solitude seemed to bring them all to the forefront of my mind.

A knock brought me out of my stupor and I was instantly in alert, gun out of its holster and aiming towards the door.

"Y/N, it's me and Nat." Steve's voice was heard muffled by the wood.

I relaxed, letting my shoulders fall. I reholstered my gun and unlocked the door, letting both of them step into my room. As soon as I locked the door behind them Steve pulled me by the waist and kissed me. Just a quick peck. I blushed and stepped away.

"I got you something." He smiled and pulled out a packet of skittles from his pocket.

I couldn't help, but smile. "I haven't had these in years not since..." I trailed off not wanting to mention his name.

Steve nodded and kissed my forehead.

"I have to stop by Wanda's and Sam's just to check in. I'll be back later tonight, alright?"

I nodded still staring at the bag of skittles in my hand. Steve opened the door and waited for Nat to walk by first. She stopped beside me and squeezed my forearm making me look up. She gave me her signature side smirk. She always voiced her support. She was mine and Steve's biggest shipper.

After the two of them left, I waited till I couldn't hear their footsteps anymore before collapse on the bed. Once again, while in solitude, I let the memories of my mistakes flood my mind.

It was a few hours later when Steve knocked on my door again. I opened and stepped to the side to let him in. He locked up and once again pulled me towards him by my waist. This time he just holds me.

"I know this life is hard. I know how hard...how difficult leaving was..." He's hesitant with his words, always sensible and caring of my feelings.

I just nod, unable to use words, afraid I'll just start sobbing.

"You know I'm doing everything I can to make this as easy for you as possible, right?"

I pull back and stare up at him. I let my hand caress his bearded jaw as I look deep into his blue eyes. "I know, Steve and I appreciate it so much" I whisper and stand on my tip toes to kiss him.

I fall asleep in his arms that night like many before and again like many times before we have to leave suddenly. Sam is the one to wake us, urgently banging on the door. We'd been tracked and we needed to move out quickly. All of us are out of the building in less that 15 minutes. We head to our cars and Steve opens up my door, helping me step in like a true gentleman.

"You look beautiful tonight." He says with a grin and I roll my eyes with a chuckle and close the door. He jogs to the driver side, and we're all off to find our next hideout.

The ride is long and before I know it I've fallen asleep.

"Tony!" I yell as soon as the elevator doors open. "Tony Stark!" I shout once again.

"What!? What!? Why are you shouting?" He asks, coming out of the kitchen. His hair is wet , he's wearing a black tank top and sweats and holding a bag of chips.

"Why am I shouting!? Have you seen the news!?" I yell again. His confused face only makes me madder. The rage is building like the rain and thunder outside like it's mimicking my mood.

"I was showering...so no?" He smiles and that is the last straw. I explode, my voice basically shrill.

"All the news channels are showing the explosion! The one of the building you and the Avengers were in! They don't show you guys coming out of it! I called Tony!"

"Sweetheart, I'm fine. I'm alive." He says like my tone isn't a very obvious clue to my state of mind.

"You didn't answer when I called! You what? Came home, showered and were gonna eat fucking chips! Did you even think to let me know you were okay!?" I couldn't seem to lower my voice even if I wanted to. I was so upset.

"I was gonna call you as soon as I sat on the couch." He excuses.

"Fuck you, Tony Stark!" I hissed and started walking to the elevator to leave.

"Friday close access to the elevators." Tony said as he made his way towards me. I dodged him and made my way to the doors that led to the hall.

"Friday if you could, please." At his command the padlock turned red, obviously meaning they would not open, at least not for me.

We stood a few feet apart, me glaring and him smirking. I must've lost my mind that night because I looked out towards his Ironman platform and made a run for it. He followed me out, both of us instantly soaked by the rain. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to face him.

"Are you insane!? What was your plan!? To jump off of the building!?" He yelled over the roar of the rain.

"You're the one who locked all other exits."

"I was bloodied, bruised and covered in soot and cement and dust, okay!?" His change of tactic threw me.

"What?" My eyes were wide. This whole conversation was an unpredictable rollercoaster.

"That's why I didn't call you. I...didn't want to scare you. I don't want you to worry eveytime I go save the world...So I came here, hid the suit, cleaned up and then I was going to call you."

"I always worry about you, Tony."

He sighed and looked away from me. I'd always known his fear. He lost Pepper because she couldn't handle his Ironman life, so he tried to keep me out of the loop thinking he was helping, but it wasn't.

I stepped closer and wrapped my arms around him. "Call me. It helps me to know how you are. Even if you're bleeding out." I said locking eyes with him

He chuckled. "I'll be sure to do that. I love you, Y/N."

"I love you too, you insufferable man."

And with a laugh he kissed me in the rain at 2am we were so in love back then.

"We're here." Steve's voice roused me up from my dream, or more like memory.

"Where is he? I mean 'here.' Where is here?" I ask still groggy.

"One of Nat's safe houses." Steve fills in and starts unloading the car.

I'm not sure if it was the dream, but the memory of Tony crushed my mood. Steve must've noticed my shift because he asked if I wanted to sleep alone tonight and I agreed. They're so different that sometimes it's shocking to me. Steve respects my space, Tony was always there even when I didn't want him to, but always needed. Steve has never made me wait, Tony was known for being late. I started telling him the wrong time to try and trick him into arriving on time. They're opposites. Steve gets along so well with Nat who is basically my sister, while her and Tony were never the best of friends. Steve is just charming and endearing and even while being on the run for almost 2 years he's managed to make me feel comfortable. But I can't help it, I miss Tony.

It's while sitting on my bed alone, opening my bag of skittles that the tears come as I remember him. I fall asleep, sobbing that night.

I had been sitting in the couch for an hour. Dressed amazing if I may add. Heels and everything which I hated and he wasn't here. He was always so late and I was more than frustrated. I heard the elevator doors open and I didn't even glance. I was gonna strangle the man.

"I know I'm late. I'm sorry, I was--"

I interrupted his apology "Let me guess, you got tied up in the lab? Again."

"Actually no."

His answer suprised me and I turned to glare at him, but my eyes widened when I saw him holding a huge jar full of red skittles.

"W-what is that?"

He smiled and walked closer to me, setting the jar on the table next to the couch.

"I know you only like eating the red ones so ta-da."

I laughed. "Are these the reason you were late or are these a gift to make up for being late?"

"A little bit of both? I forgot to pick the order up earlier today...cause I got tied up at the lab...so I went to pick them up after and that's why I'm late."

I sighed and kissed him. "You drive me insane."

"But that's the way you love me." He teased.

I nodded and kissed him. That's the way I loved him.

As I sit outside with Steve, leaning on his chest, I can't help but wonder if he knows. My smiles aren't real, and I've gone numb over the months. I barely feel anything anymore. The numbness worsened after we started whatever this is. Steve has always been looking for someone to fill the emptiness since Peggy and conveniently I needed a balm for the pain of losing Tony. We weren't in love, or at least I hoped he didn't love me...because my heart doesn't feel anything anymore.

"You're...you're siding with him?" The crack in his voice made me wince.

"Tony, I can't sign the Accords."

"Why not!?"

"You know what being under the governments control has done to me!" He knew of my past, of the millions of tests I was subjected to, the betrayal, the rules that were only there to hurt me. I'd confided in him every dark moment.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes. "We need to be held accountable." He repeated to me what he'd said at the conference room.

"I know, but not like this. Tony--" I went to touch him and he flinched away. That simple move broke my heart.

"If you side with him, it'll break us."

"Tony..."

He locked eyes with me, begging me to stay, but I didn't. I couldn't and I lost him.

I had decided that morning that I needed to talk to Steve. He was my friend before we became anything more and even if it meant making our runaways situation awkward, I needed to be honest with him. I couldn't keep sleeping wrapped in his arms. He needed to know that my heart belonged to Tony. He needed to know that I spent my days dreaming up plans of how I could see him without getting arrested. He needed to know that I looked for him in every person we passed by. He needed to know...or at least I needed to tell someone. I took a deep breath and started walking towards him when a ring broke the peaceful morning silence.

He looked at the number on his burner phone before locking eyes with me. "It's Tony."

#tony stark x reader #tony x reader #avengers x reader #avengers imagine #tony stark imagine #ironman x reader #ironman imagine #steve rogers x reader #captain america x reader #post civil war

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midethefangirl · 3 years

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Captain America: Civil War - My Thoughts

I know this is like 5 years late but for this, I’d like to resurrect a barely dead discourse that succeeded in not just dividing the Avengers but also dividing the fandom. Before we start, content warning for spoilers and let’s dive into this mess.

So, basically, the entire conflict of civil war stemmed from General Thaddeus Ross (who is a hypocritical dick, btw) coming to lecture the Avengers on being destructive despite conducting destructive experiments (ahem, the Abomination and the Hulk) but I digress. Then, Ross presents the Sokovian Accords which is really lengthy and we see Steve reading like a few chapters(?). Now, let us note that the Accords were presented to the Avengers after a mission-gone-wrong killed about 11 people in Lagos (lay-gos, not lah-gos that pronunciation gave me headaches as a Nigerian).

So, the Sokovian Accords were written by 117 countries and vetted by the UN asking for the Avengers to be under oversight (which SHIELD would have done if HYDRA hadn’t infiltrated it in the first place but it is what it is). Somehow, Steve made it about “our right to choose” (how?! Cause I’m not understanding) and decided to not sign*.

*he later got back to sign, then backed out when he learnt that Tony had placed Wanda under house arrest (even though it was for her protection. I do believe Tony should have fully informed Wanda about keeping her in the Avengers’ Tower)

My issues with the plot of Civil War are:

1. The Sokovian Accords were not read out loud or placed on some kind of PowerPoint slide for the audience to understand why Team Cap is against the Accords. No, the fandom wiki is not a source because that one is from Agents of SHIELD and not a lot of MCU fans are familiar with that show (yours sincerely included). Assuming the contents were read out loud or discussed by the Avengers, I’d have understood why Team Cap refused to sign the accords but since none of that was given, I’d remain Team Iron Man for this one.

2. The Sokovian Accords is not the American Constitution. Then again, the MCU fandom tends to be American-centric and most Americans seem to have this belief that the world revolves around them (and it manifests itself in Civil War discourse).

3. Contrary to popular opinion, the Sokovian Accords were about 117 (mostly third-world) countries asserting their sovereignty and boundaries, not taking away rights from the Avengers. If we go by what the MCU wiki claims about the accords, yes, some parts are absurd (like asking for blood samples and using trackers, why are those necessary?). However, when 117 countries state that they want you to respect their boundaries, I think it is best to comply. Unfortunately, respecting boundaries is one thing the USA has a problem complying with and guess who happens to represent America?

4. The Accords affected only their hero lives, not their lives as a civilian. I doubt the UN would limit the Avengers’ movements as civilians

5. Let us not forget how Steve and Clint protect Wanda from accountability and responsibility. Wanda in the MCU is like y/n in many fanfics where everyone (except for the “big bad villain” who in this case is Tony and 117 countries) seems to love her and want to protect her from facing the consequences of her actions. Anyone *ahem Tony* who has a bit of problem with her is suddenly the enemy. Not to mention how Wanda seems to have a knack for causing destruction in African countries (Johannesburg, Lagos, Wakanda)

6. And fandom behaviour from the Team Cap stans

7. Also, why is Civil War not an Avengers part 3? It’s better than making it a Captain America trilogy and then trying to frame Steve as being right.

8. I do believe that the accords were sped up which left little time for the Avengers to discuss and compromise on certain issues. If they were given more time to discuss, compromise and negotiate, I think the movie would have ended better than it had.

9. In addition, I also agree with Team Cap stans on how the UN arbitrarily deciding to shoot Bucky on sight is a human right violation.

10. “The safest hands are our own” why does this sound like a white saviour talk point from Steve? The accords is about 117 countries wanting you to respect their boundaries and the best you can come up with to refute that is saying something a white saviour would say?

11. “Even if the whole world is telling you to move...” just shut the fuck up, this is no way comparable to 117 countries trying to assert their sovereignty.

12. Look if I have to choose between surrendering a few rights as a hero and just dismissing that of civilians as potential damage, I’d go with the former because the people whom I’m suppose to protect come first. For me to dismiss their deaths as “we can’t save em all” is just not it.

13. “She’s just a kid”, a few years later and I still hate that term. One, it’s infantilizing an adult white woman (something white men have historically done and we all know how that went) . Two, while Tony was obviously wrong for not informing Wanda about her house arrest, he was right to keep her in the Tower when they were people who would harm her with every chance they could find. **

** after watching WandaVision, some people might find every reason to want to harm her.

14. Let us also discuss the motivation of those in Team Iron Man vs Team Cap

Team Iron Man

Tony: feels guilty for the events of Age of Ultron, believes that he’s stepped out of line and the Avengers need oversight.

Natasha: believes that the Avengers should listen to the public and the UN after all, if they had one hand on the wheel, they can still steer.

Vision: believes that the Avengers as a whole bring challenge which brings conflict and then catastrophe.

Rhodey: a soldier; believes in following orders especially when it is from the UN and 117 countries.

T’Challa: dude is just there to kill Bucky. I’m sure if Bucky was on team Ironman, my guy would have joined team cap, lmao 😂.

Spider-Man: not really there for a reason except to bring in Steve to Ross. I do agree that Tony shouldn’t have dragged him to the fight without Peter making an informed decision.

Team Cap

Steve: didn’t want to sign because it takes away his “right to choose”. Idk what that means or how it is relevant to the Sokovian Accords but okay. However, I understand his mistrust considering a few movies ago, we found out HYDRA had infiltrated SHIELD and as much as I believe governments are corrupt and the UN is shit, you cannot just enter a country anyhow without warning ahead of time.

Bucky: was his motivation given? I mean, I believe he joined Steve’s side to stop Zeno from unleashing the other winter soldiers. Not that that’s a bad reason, it isn’t.

Sam: again, I don’t think the movie gave us a reason for him being against the Accords. Did he also believe it was taking away his “right to choose”?

Wanda: undecided as of moment of discussion. Joined team cap because Tony placed her on house arrest. While I agree that Tony should have informed her that he was putting her under house arrest and stated the reasons why, I believe it was for good reasons especially when some people might decide to carry out witch hunts (you get it, witch hunts? 😅)

Clint: only joined because Wanda was placed under house arrest. We aren’t given any reason why he would oppose the Accords.

Scott: fan boy of Captain America, need I say more?

15. Also, to Team Cap stans blaming Tony Stark for Team Cap being imprisoned, grow the fuck up. The people in Team Cap are all adults who made their own decisions yet Tony is to blame for them breaking the law (because they did break the law), wtf.

16. “Are you capable of letting go of your ego for one damn second?” Like Steve’s ego didn’t play a part in all this too, lmao.

17. Okay, the final battle was intense and while I believe Bucky was also a victim, I can understand why Tony lashed out at him. The one to blame here is Steve because even if he had no clue Bucky was responsible for the Starks’ death, he still lied to Tony by not telling him who was responsible. It is more appalling to learn that Steve, in an attempt to “protect Tony and Bucky”, was actually covering for HYDRA!

Also, the way Steve stood emotionless while Tony watched a footage of his parents being killed. Yet, he could shield Wanda from watching the news because of how it affected her, okay.

“I can do this all day”, fuck you, Steve

18. Clint exploding at Tony is so fucking hilarious. Tony is right, Clint has a family yet he decided to fight in a war that didn’t concern him. Also, his comments about breaking backs is so tone deaf after Rhodey just broke his back!

19. If Sam was Captain America, I think Civil War wouldn’t have happened at all, from the dialogue in the Raft.

20. Overall, this movie is a fucking mess and I hate it for dividing both the Avengers and MCU fans.

Before I close with this, I want to add that I am not anti-Steve but Civil War really made me hate him. I get, Steve is supposed to be a Boy Scout and shit like that, but he’s a Gary Stu in the MCU, let’s be honest about it. Civil War should have been an Avengers movie, rather than a part of the Captain America trilogy. The Avengers should have been given more time than three days to discuss the Accords and make necessary amendments; after all that went down in Lagos, Wanda should have been made to sit out missions and maybe we could have had someone like Doctor Strange help in training her; Crossbones would have made a great villain but it is what it is; Peter’s introduction to the MCU could have been as him actually interning for the Stark Industries and forming a kind of acquaintance with Tony Stark before Tony finds out that he’s Spider-Man; Steve should have told Tony about HYDRA‘s hands in his parents’ deaths. Anyway, I’ll go read Civil War fix-it fanfics and fanfics where the Avengers are more like family. Fuck Civil War and I’m outta here.

Edit: okay this was a thought I had when I was trying to sleep but it was too good to ignore. Rhodey has a point about Steve arrogance (if that’s the correct term) in saying “the safest hands are our own” and here’s why:

Like he stated “this is not the World Security Council...neither is this SHIELD nor HYDRA” (paraphrased). This is the UN as well as 117 countries. Look, I am as anti-government as one can go and I don’t believe that the UN are reliable (plus, if we really want to go by the AoS version of the Accords, the Accords are flawed and they need amendments), however, given the US records on disrespecting boundaries in many third world countries, I can understand why 117 countries are wary about a bunch of superpowered Americans entering their country.

To us, the Avengers are saving the world. To these 117 countries and the people who have families who were killed in the crossfire (Zemo is a good example), the Avengers are a bunch of nuisances who leave destruction wherever they tread.

I am still neutral on the whole Accords as I don’t know exactly what it entails but for Steve to go “we are surrendering our rights to choose” (again, how is the Accords threatening the Avengers’ right to choose?) when asked to be under oversight is tone deaf.

#marvel cinematic universe #captain america civil war #team cap critical #mcu critical #not anti steve rogers btw #wanted to clarify #steve rogers critical

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moontheoretist · 3 years

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Clint Barton’s dream of a family and a farm was just a sham.

Clint Barton and Laura Barton appreciation post.

Ok, I assume that we all agree that MCU Clint is bad and that his family was added for literally no reason, and they don’t have any meaning in the MCU other than being “family A killed” in Infinity War. We also know that Clint left his family in the Civil War during vacation and went running to Cap to help him, despite not knowing shit about what was actually happening. Tie-in comics want us all to believe that Clint came back to Laura and the kids right away and everything was forgiven, but we all know that if Hollywood was not biased towards “USA is always right and Tony Stark is the devil for listening to the UN”, Clint would not come back so quickly and his wife would be pissed as hell for the fact that he left her basically with 3 kids alone and went Avenging as if he wasn’t retired.

So, because I am a big fan of fleshing out all the characters who were treated as if they were playing a tree in a school play, I wanna think about Laura Barton as SOMEONE who has a story. Like that, she is a badass agent of SHIELD. Maybe that she was actually the first Mockingbird in MCU verse and now when she is no longer active duty, the one we know from the comics took her place. Laura is completely capable to protect her family alone, but 3 kids is not a walk in a park, and she doesn’t want to be a single mother, so because Clint broke the rules, now he is toasted, and a new person can enter Laura’s life. As much as I like Phil x Clint I also like the idea of Phil x Laura. I trust Phil to be less reckless and less prone to leave his so behind. I never watched Agents of SHIELD, but I like to think that Phil would have enough of SHIELD so much that even if he stayed and became the new director, he would be so fed up, he would prefer to stay at home with the kids and help Laura than deal with anything SHIELD related. He is not Fury, he doesn’t have to be in all places, and he doesn’t have to be the top best spy of the spy pyramid. Maybe I am reading him wrong, but it’s how I see him as a character after his miraculous resurrection via TAHITI.

Also, the divorce between Laura and Clint in addition to his incarceration in the RAFT is a good opening to explore his background. Like, I think we all miss the Clint who had a brother and tragic backstory and who used to be a criminal. Imagine how much that anger at Tony in the RAFT could be just him lashing out, because he felt he ended in the square one again, but didn’t want to actually admit it that he made a mistake and just doubled down on it for a bit. Imagine that he loves Laura and the kids, but realizes he is not actually cut to be a family man in the first place. That he only pursued that life, because he thought he wanted an experience of a normal family, which he never got as a kid with his own father. Imagine him realizing he cannot play house anymore and feeling horrible that he used Laura to get his dream come true, only to it all fall like a house of cards, because he never realized it was not what he wanted in the end. He gets his visiting rights, just like Scott did with Meggy and Cassie, and they both bond over not being cut for being a husband which their wives needed, but still caring and loving their families and helping when they can, just from the outside, and accepting that the fact that they failed means that their loved ones can get something better out of it all. Dunno how to factor his brainwashing trauma into all of this yet, but I think it can be squeezed somewhere there.

Also, double points of disapointing Laura if she as a Mockingbird was the one who conscripted Clint from the circus. He would fail her then not only as a husband and a father of their kids, but also as the partner she picked. At least in Clint’s head it would look like all she did for him was wasted, when he was in the RAFT and was labeled as a criminal again. Good source of personal drama if you ask me.

BTW we all know Clint should have been in CA:TWS and the only reason why he wasn’t there was that MCU didn’t care about him, and if they already planned for him to have a family, then him being there would mean no massacre of the thousands of agents and their families when they released the files. He would just not allow them to foolishly endanger all those people, his family included.

Speaking of Laura Barton just reminds me that I am eternally pissed that female characters in MCU are always the ones which get the shorter end of the stick. People like Christine Everhart who is important for the IM1, but then just disappears in later movies, despite being very useful character for various plots. Next is Natasha who despite being main Avenger was treated as a decoration most of the time instead of given proper treatment, like her own movie and less sexualization of a slavic woman, next is Maya Hansen who dies, despite having a lot more potential as a villain than Killian, and then we also have invisible Mrs. Keener who is only mentioned and if I ever wanted to have her as a character I would have to use “Original Female Character” tag on AO3, because she just doesn’t exist so much in that goddamn movie. Then we also have Pepper, who despite being badass gets sidelined a lot in movies in which she could get an active role (like for example I like to think that Tony would be unable to extract Extremis from her, but would be able to make it stable and then Pepper would be technically an enhanced which would give her a goddamn reason to be in Civil War instead of being thrown out by the single “we are on a break” line, which was added only to explain why she isn’t there). And ofc let’s not forget about Jane and Darcy who should have been in the first Avengers movie, but got conveniently shipped somewhere else, because people in Hollywood are under the impression that if Thor and Jane were in the same Avengers movie, she would become a damsel in distress he has to worry about, instead of an actual help to the science team during the time when they were trying to find the Tesseract. Let’s include Betty Ross in this, because she is a scientist too, and she would be hella fucking useful there too. Who else? Sharon Carter is technically cool and technically badass, but everybody forgets about her the moment Cap gives her the kiss and then the movie dismisses her entire existence till TFTWS where she suddenly is a Power Broker. Like, I love the idea, but I hate that she wasn’t more visible, that it wasn’t established earlier that for example in Civil War she was helping Zemo all the time, so his plan would look less like a very convenient writing which assumes he can predict everything and knows everything and instead, she would be giving him information and picking his slack in places where his plan just fails miserably. Then it would be more believable that she was a Power Broker. Her becoming one after the Civil War makes little sense to me. Her being one all along, however. Yes that makes sense to me so much more, and it doesn’t make her Hydra like she was in the comics. She is just a resourceful woman, but even a resourceful woman needs to create openings for her power to grow and taking down Avengers, or at least making half of the world hate them and letting Zemo break them apart, is something which creates enough power vacuum for her own plans to unfold.

Did I miss someone?

Laura - hero, agent, first MCU Mockingbird. Movie or TV series would be nice. How she and Clint met and stuff like those. Her badass younger years before MCU reduced her to the “mum” role forever, as if she existed only for that alone. I don’t mind motherhood, but I hate when a character’s only trait is a being a mum, so I like to think that Laura is so much more than Clint Barton’s wife. She was the one who conscripted Clint from the circus, and then when he concripted Natasha, they were an unbeatable team for a while, before she retired. (The timeline of Natasha’s conscription says 2008, but Cooper in 2015 looks as old as Harley in IM3 (around 10yo), so he would have to be born before 2008. Maybe Laura just had a nanny at first to take care of Cooper during missions and continued her work for SHIELD and then retired to be a “proper mum”?)

Christine Everhart - journalist, she could be talking and introducing and dissecting so many storylines. She is a very useful meta character, who can ask the questions you need for your storylines and chase the stories you want to be shown to the audience. She also provides a good framework to make the audience question the morality of the heroes and their actions in real life.

Natasha Romanoff - villain to hero, more standalone movies, being treated right instead of a garbage disposal for white male thirst over slavic women. She barely has a character arc in MCU, and she deserves so much better than those scattered pieces that we actually got. She has so much potential to be so much more. To have an actual consistent story instead of disjointed pieces of one. (Like, seriously, we as fandom pick MCU’s slack so much that our own ideas about Natasha’s character arc, our own fillings in the blacks MCU left are better than what is actually in the movies). I recently realized that her MCU canon story makes more sense if she was treated as a villain by the rest of the Avengers since her first appearance, but was villain on a road to redemption. All her actions in the movies are then progression and regression in her journey to becoming a hero which other heroes treat like a hero equal to them.

Maya Hansen - scientist, villain, new head of AIM. Genius, resourceful woman, who knows what she wants and knows how to get things done. (I see her kinda in the same role as the Monica Rappaccini from Marvel’s Avengers game, manipulating Killian). You think she died? Well, you are very very very wrong. Faking her own death was a performance so good even Tony didn’t notice.

Pepper Potts - scarily efficient businesswoman, can be a hero, but chose not to. Instead, she is the most successful female CEO and also an advocate for enhanced human rights. She is financing legal help for any person who was wronged or experimented on by someone (like, for example, SHIELD or Ross).

Jane Foster - scientist, hero, specialist in Einstein-Rosen bridges, but not only that. She is an astrophysicist, so she can be useful for many science related stories involving space, not necessarily related to space travel via Bifrost only. Later becomes Mighty Thor, but never abandons science. You can deal with a lot of problems by swinging Mjölnir at them, but most often than not it's better to use intelligence instead to meet the results which brute strength cannot give you.

Darcy Levis - scientist, smart and cheerful. She looks as if she was there only as a comic relief, but she thinks outside the box and provides the insight which some other scientists or specialists often miss due to them being too rigorous in their approach to the science. Her laid-back personality is her superpower. She can come up with more stupider and laid back shit than even Tony can on his best days. That’s why she is irreplacable. We need such fresh eyes as hers.

Betty Ross - badass scientist, hero, who isn’t afraid to take on a whole military in order to protect the people she cares about (Bruce Banner and the Hulk). I hate 2008 Hulk movie, so when I think about Betty, I always imagine Incredible Hulk 1996 version of her. The bold and very caring person, but also surprisingly two-faced. That Betty in one breath can sweet talk her father into doing what she wants and in the second talk trash behind his back and trick him to get all the funding and equipment she needs in order to protect her loved ones. Also, later becomes first MCU Red Hulk, because fuck Thaddeus.

Sharon Carter - villain, agent, spy, Power Broker. A person who knows how to play the game and knows how to play her cards well. Everybody is a pawn in her plans. Everybody is useful and everybody can be used to further her own goals. Steve Rogers thought he was using her, but in fact she was using him all along. Avengers were too much of a sore spot in her ass and hindered a lot of business she could do, so she helped Zemo to get rid of them. Now most of them are fugitives, and she is happily stretching her wings even further. You think Hydra never dies? One head taken down, two grow in its place? Try to take down Sharon Carter who played all, good and evil like a fiddle. The whole world is her playground.

Most of those are my own headcanons. I literally had to build Mrs. Keener from the ground, because like I said, she wasn’t even cast. She doesn’t exist. I had to make her up and in my head she is cool older version of Mikaela Banes from Transformers (but in like spirit, not the “sexy bomb” style, she likes cars, she is a mechanic). She works at a dinner and her trash of a husband run away when she was pregnant and their first kid was just 4yo. Harley is badass after her.

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