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jackiequick · 11 months

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Friends over the years [Agent Carter fic]

Pairing: Jason Grey Underwood and Howard J. Stark

Summary: A friendship that goes beyond a average kinda bond. They loved each other like brothers, treat one another like friends, respected their relationship like a pair of lovers. Sadly it goes downhill due to a stupid painful argument…

Romantic or Platonic Relationship

Fandom: Marvel, Agent Carter

Spoilers for Agent Carter season 1 & season 2. A bit of Iron Man 2.

Warning: Fluff, angst, mention of treason and one side conversations

Characters shown/mentioned: Peggy Carter, Maria Stark, Nurse Violet, Edwin Jarvis, Ana Jarvis, Daniel Sousa, Tony Stark, Hank Pym, Dr. Jason Wilkes, and SHIELD in general.

Note: Glen Powell played Hangman, my HC is that Hangman is BI so will be Jason haha

—

It started out to tender so sweet then they got me smoking out the window…

“What’s your name, champ?” Said Stark with a classic charming grin, holding out his hand.

“Jason, Mr. Stark.” I replied shaking his hand with a politic accent and smile to go along with it.

“Mr. Stark? Call me Howard everyone does! What brings you by?”

“Uh, Peg said you have new pairs of gun for me?”

“Ah, Peg sent you! Well your in luck pal, cause I have the perfect hand held guns made just today. Better than ones I manufactured back in 42’ I’ll tell you that much.”

“Anything is fine, Howard. As long as it last me up to more than 50 hours a bullet, I’ll be doing just fine.”

“Your my type of man, Jay! Can I call you, Jay or JJ?”

I chuckled, “Of course you can.”

~~~

He walked and talked about everything, “Great! You seem familiar, have we met before?”

I chuckled once again, “Actually we have, a charity in the park back in 43’.”

“Don’t remember.” He shrugged.

I sighed, “You were wearing a cherry brown tie and a freshly tailored suit.”

“Ah yes, now I remember! I was looking snazzy in that suit, I remember bringing home a lovely lady that very evening. She was Italian and the champagne was devilishly delicious—”

“Howard!”

“What?”

“Focus.”

“Yeah, right! You were saying.”

“I’m here because I’m working with the SSR on a case involving Dorothy Underwood and a Russian therapist who framed you and your weaponry.”

“Ah yes! I invent stuff but I always make sure what I’m doing correctly, what do you got?”

“Easy, we’re tracking them down for each movement. I know where Dorothy is and Peggy is tracking her down while The stupid Russian therapist is currently at SSR headquarters. Before anything gets messy, do you have any relations to any of those two?”

“Uhhh no? I met a lot of people how do you expect me to stay on track with that. I’m a busy man, JJ.”

~~~~

It took time but he started to connect the dots on how he was related to Dorothy Underwood’s case, then we were on the roll. After what felt like hours with Howard, Peggy and Jarvis we were able to settle down on a plan. Howard was used as bate to lure our bad guys out while Daniel, Jack, Peggy, Jarvis and I were ready to attack. Quickly Howard was kidnapped by them as we raced after him. Once we arrived Howard was flying a plane straight headed near the New York City Harbor as he being mind control by the therapist to his practical deathbed!

Daniel, Jack and I instructed Jarvis to fly the plane as we kept marched up to track down the threats. Peggy was fighting Dottie while all of this was happening, I swear i was getting a headache sooner or later from all of this. Thankfully the day was saved, Howard was brought back to the ground, Jack and Daniel returned back to work and Peggy was giving a seat nearby the stakeholders at the SSR allowing herself to get a more flexible job.

A week later, I headed over to Howard to discuss moving out to LA since it cleared up to see that my sister, Dottie, wasn’t gonna be a huge problem anytime soon. There was always crime to be solved in LA especially after Daniel Sousa offered be a positive choice there, why not take the offer and run with it? So I did!

-//-

-> In Los Angeles, everything felt pretty cool! Howard’s penthouse and other living corners were very much a good fit for me. Breakfast in the morning next to the poolside, a nice walk in the park. Heading to set for movies we’ve decided to film together and afterwards in the afternoon, I spent hours at the SSR for detective and paperwork duties ordered by my friend, now Chef Sousa.

“Morning, handsome.” Howard teased coming up from his workshop, grinning and poured himself a cup of coffee.

“What have i told you about late night in your workshop?” I replied taking a bite of my toast and taking a sip of coffee.

“Uhhh don’t do it?”

“Exactly! I swear I’m one of the reasons you’re still alive today.”

“Heyyy! You love me!”

“Never said I didn’t, hot stuff.”

I stood up and walked over to the kitchen island, standing next to Howard ruffling his hair a bit with a smile. Howard smiled and being his usual flirty self. It results in a laugh and a eye roll.

He moved closed and joked yelling, “Quit it!”

“Be good today.” I joked back sending a charming wink to him, as I walked out grabbing his jacket.

It was good. Real good.

Until it wasn’t.

Sadly, that same week I crashed my car during a horrible lightning storm driving around the countryside of LA to see Peggy and our friends for a unsuspecting case. The weather got chiller and air became thicker as all time froze up, leading me gasp for air after being unconscious for 20 minutes straight.

I was fine and arrived back home with a few cuts in bruises leading to, Nurse Violet, to help patch me up as we all discussed the crime rate activity in LA with the group. I fell for this woman hard. A gentle soul.

-> During the invading investigation which lets everybody working and spending in Howard’s lab for answer on Miss Froster connection to Zero Matter.

Jason was calculating a design for a machine to cover up and consent the rest of issue, especially involving their new friend, Dr. Wilkes, who joked how much Jason and Howard seemed to care each other. The respect they had for one another. He joked back with a shrug saying that Howard was his idiot in more ways than one, at that same time Jason felt a heatwave climb up his jacket and slightly dizzy.

Howard and Peggy noticed and rushed over, lifting Jason off the ground before he fell back. He insisted he was fine but he was tired and overwhelmed, Peggy remember that Jason didn’t even bother to go to hospital after accident.

Jason was given a opportunity for plenty of examinations and refused to say on bed rest that night, until Peggy practically threatened him to do so. Jason was examined again and again, even got a cast on his sprained ankle. But nothing crazy happened and the results came down to a small fever.

Nurse Violet and Ana took care of him that the next few days. Jason would admit he was eternally grateful for that, especially for Violet since she was sassy angel gifted to be by their side. He took his shot and asked her out on a date, but she told him to wait for that time to come. It was a small promise that was made.

Thankfully it was fine and the fever went away, they all assumed it was side effects from the accident, the stress from the case and work in general. And it was.

—-

Everyone got back to work and weeks went by, months along the way Ms Frost was put away behind bars and Dr. Wilkes was offered a job at the SSR.

One morning after having a moment to actually catch their breath after all that chaos, Howard appeared next to Jason nearby the pool of their house, handing him a beer.

“Thank you.” Jason repiled, taking a sip with a smile, “You alright? A penny for your thoughts?”

“Y-yeah. Just thinking about the future.” He replied with a playfully nudge.

“You’re film? You’re gonna make that happened with Frost public?”

“Maybe? I mean no! Well not that worse idea. I can win an award winning director for that. Can you imagine?!”

“Howard. Focus.”

“Right sorry! I was thinking a bit more closer to the present. Everyone deserves a bit of normal after everything right?”

“Of course they do. But maybe we shouldn’t settle for normal life, domestic romanized life maybe.”

Jason met Howard’s dark brown eyes, and he felt like he was lost for words, in the sweet warm of it all. Damn Jason wanted to test the water and try something a little different. Howard met his eyes seeing a life with him, deep down a part of always smiled knowing shining light in them. Damn Howard could tease the waters with him, he liked his women and men, especially this one. They moved closer to one another with soft grins laced on their faces laughing at the fact how silly they are being about this whole thing.

“What’cha thinking, Howard?” Jason asked with a tease in his voice, “I know that look. Very well.”

It was rare to see Howard this silly, vulnerable and honest. Only ever him and Peggy seen it.

“How much almost I lost you and our friends two weeks ago? I can’t live with myself if I did. I just can’t, JJ!” Howard admitted to him with a sigh and smiles, “Look at me? What am I doing?”

“You’re being honest with me. Your one of my best friends, Howard Stark, maybe even more than that. You will never lose me..I hope?” Jason replied with a chuckle.

Howard joked with a smirk, “Is this the part of the film where the guy kisses the girl?”

“Or so I’m girl in the scenario huh?” Jason joked back with a smirk.

“Well if you insist.”

“Hey wait-!”

Before neither one of them to say a word or even finished that very sentence, Howard leaned in and placed his lips onto his best friend tasting the liquid gold from the beer. Jason chuckled honestly didn’t care who say, locking lips tasting the tequila shots from earlier with him cupping his chin.

They were rather tipsy but won’t admit it. The two stayed like that for a little while, sparking a sweet open love and tender laughter from how ridiculously fun it was.

The two friends knew that the kiss meant nothing, it was just a fun thing of accidental attraction. They laughed about it. They’re young! Besides what’s friendship if you can’t experience and experiment things together?

——

Over the months, Howard and Jason did almost everything together. It was a very casual thing the two had together, but they cared about one another much. It was a rather open friendship, they dated and talked about who exactly decided to be their lucky ladies. Jason started finally dating Nurse Violet and was admiring their blooming romance.

You could’ve sworn they were like an two old friends or even, old married couple.

But that award went to Maria Stark and her loverboy Howard. Maria, Jason and Howard were a young trio within itself, noticing everything that happened. Along with Peggy, Jarvis and the rest of their friends. Matter a fact, it was Maria and Ana that pointed that Jason’s slight deep wrinkles that were previously made from the smile lines were fading gone and the effectiveness of the curious blew up. As they realized that it seemed over the last few months the aging process stopped completely for him.

Howard, Daniel. and Peggy worked long enough to figure out a way to seek what happened to him. They spend months doing tests, case films and files, examining his every single movement and reading books for answers. But nothing came up, Jason believed it was a giant mistake, a curse that happened due to the lack of caution he reflected on not having.

Maria reassured him that it wasn’t his fault, they couldn’t have known for this to happen. Peggy agreed knowing that they didn’t knowledge this beforehand as Howard was deep into a book, who trying to figure out what went wrong with his equipment and such, agreed.

~~~~

One night Jason felt defeated and went home to tell his girlfriend, Violet, what pained him.

“Honey, I’m sorry, so sorry. You don’t deserve me..” He said standing in the middle of the living room.

“What do you mean?” She replies knowing what happened, cupping his hands.

He kissed her hand gently and replied, “You deserves somebody who can grow old enough with you. I can’t give you that..”

She nodded looking at him with love in her eyes, “Hey sugar, I know it’s bad for us right now.”

“I don’t want to be a burden on you and have you wake up one day regretting your decision to be with me..”

“Then I’ll love you for as long as you’ll have me..”

Jason smiled softy and didn’t hesitate to lock lips with the woman he loved dearly. That moment he knew, Violet Bolger, would be his girlfriend for as long as they’ll have each other.

—> However being the loyal man he always tried to be and knowing how much he loved Violet, a two and a half years later, he let her go. Their relationship was slowly dying out, he didn’t want to a burden who was holding his sweet girl one down. He wanted to see her happy, loved and most importantly an opportunity for a life where she can travel, grow old and make memories with someone even greater than.

Years went by the group slowly grew older but Jason stayed the same way. He didn’t mind it too much, yes it pained him very much to not be able to grow old with his friends, who he considered family, and sometimes being seen as the youngest one. However it is what is! At least he had the support of his family and lovers beside him. Maria and Howard.

And when baby Anthony Edward Stark came along, or Tony for short, let’s just say everyone was happy. Poor Edwin Jarvis though, he had to change diapers. Peggy and Ana were delighted to be aunties. Maria was excited to be a mother and Jason was always wanted to be a uncle. The first two years, Howard was very attentive and on top of things when it came to his son. Bring Tony everywhere and anywhere possible, the days he wasn’t working at SHIELD and in his lab downstairs that is.

When Tony became 3 years old, almost 4 however, that’s when the plane started to take off. Bickering, arguments and feelings just either hurt or ignored. Yes it was normal for couples, or in this case, sorta throuple always fought. Especially this one! Howard was always working more than Jason ever did and Maria was always part time working at the jewelry store she co-owned with a friend of hers. They always made time for one another, especially when it came to their family and friends.

~~~

One afternoon Jason returned home from a long trip on a mission to Las Vegas, Nevada to collect samples of a metallic suspicious bonds and examine that at SHIELD headquarters. He appeared in the front door to hear running of tiny footsteps, followed by much larger ones. The giggles came along with the footsteps made Jason roll his eyes and chuckle.

The tiny footsteps zipped by and before they can reach the living room, Jason caught him. In his arms lay the giggles and yells from the charmer himself, Anthony Stark, his hair was a mess and in his hands held a toy screwdriver.

“Uncle JJ!” Tony yelled finally registering who’s arms he was in and giggling tightly hugging him, “You’re back!”

He laughed hugging his nephew tightly showing him in plenty required tickles for being gone for too long and asked, “Yeah buddy, I’m back home! Now why were you running? You knew the rules.”

“Jar’vis is making me clean my f-feet!”

“What?”

It didn’t register in his mind what his nephew meant until he looked down to see the shoeless feet that rested against his button down, that were covered in dirt. He sighed deeply realizing now that he had to clean up a cheeky little 4 year olds dirty, probably muddy, feet from playing in the backyard without his shoes. He carried the young boy into the bathroom and requested for Jarvis to get him some towels as he washed his feet.

Tony explained what he was doing today after attending dentist appointment that his mother had earlier, which involved him building outside, drawing, watching his favorite cartoons and helping his mother with the dishes. He even slipped out that he accidentally found himself in his father’s workshop just wanting to hang out in there as Howard kicked him out, resulting in Tony hearing his mother and father bickering as he was carried out by Jarvis.

Jason sighed deeply once again and internally groaned in annoyance at what happened today. At this point, it didn’t surprise him at all, with the amount of time they fight it surprises him how Maria, him and Howard still live under one same roof. To be honest, they all walked out of this house more than once, due a argument

Tony pouted and spoke up, “A-are you mad at me?”

“Buddy why would i be mad?” He asked, scrubbing his feet gently.

“Cause..i walked into daddy’s workshop..i know i can not go only if you guys let me.”

“For starters we don’t want you in there unless supervised because it can be dangerous and you can accidentally get hurt.”

“Okay..I’m sorry. A-are you gonna talk to daddy and momma?”

“Well why did you do it in the first place?”

“Be..cause i wanna play with daddy but he too busy for me..he don’t love me anymore..”

“No buddy, don’t say that. Of course he loves you, he’s just gets too caught up with work that’s all.”

“I just wanna play with him, uncle J..”

“I know buddy, i know. You’re father does things for a reason, he just keeps carried away sometimes..”

~~~~~~

Then Tony asks him a question he didn’t expect for the four year old, then again he was smart for his age, but still. The young boy sighed deeply, sometimes he picked up on from seeing his uncles and aunties doing a lot. Tony asked, “A-are you love, JJ?”

“What?” He asked with a soft smile, adding some more now to his feet.

“Are you love? Momma says that you don’t date anymore..and that you love her and daddy more.”

“Well buddy, i do love them both very much. With all my heart. As for dating, uh it’s hard for your uncle to find himself a girlfriend with work and no one wants to date someone with crazy dance moves..”

Tony giggled at that and yelled, “You do dance funny!”

“You see! Auntie Ana says i dance like a chicken.” Jason replies chuckling, drying off his feet now.

“You dance like a funny chicken who ate too much candy!”

“A chicken on a sugar high?”

“Yes!”

The two laughed, smiling. Yes there was truth to that part to what his uncle told him about not dating, was that he didn’t age and rather not live a life with somebody who can, but Tony doesn’t need to know the whole truth just yet. He was still a child.

Jason place a fresh pair on shoes, thanks to Jarvis, onto Tony’s little feet as he said, “You see! If i went on dates every night I wouldn’t have time to talk with you.”

“You are right! No dating, i do not want a date either! Girls are eww!” Tony replies giggling, walking down the hallways following Jarvis and his uncle downstairs. That resulted in both men to roll their eyes and laugh at the young boys words.

The three of them found Ana and Maria serving lunch greeting the women, as Howard came, slightly late, upstairs to eat with them. It was good, real good for a while. The rest of the day was just fine, per say.

————

However it soon got to a point where the tension ran high the next few months and possibly even years. The water to the cup started to soon overflow, but Jason kept quiet, it wasn’t his place to talk about certain things. He knew his limits and where he stands, but sometimes it annoyed him. It made him question everything he ever knew…

He noticed how Howard and Maria changed perspective on certain things, Maria got more annoyed about things and Howard kept acting like everything was fine. When clearly he was ignoring stuff around the house and even his son. If those was thing that made Jason’s blood boil was something that involved his friends and family, especially his young nephew who didn’t know any better.

One Wednesday afternoon, he had enough of this bullshit. He knew Maria wouldn’t say anything about it and handles everything her own way, but he wasn’t her. Jason stormed into the lab downstairs that now held so much stuff, it looked like a madhouse in there. No wonder why Jarvis always complains about Howard’s messes!

Howard was working on a few equations and running his fingers across some equipment he’s building to showcase Hank Pym later that week. He didn’t even hear the door shut or the fact that there were rough clapping of footsteps followed up within seconds. He heard a simple ‘can we talk? Now.’ And he only received a half nod in return.

Jason tapped his foot onto the floor, with his arms crossed and waited for his friend to stop what he doing to stand up straight and look at her.

“What?” Howard asked removing his sunglasses and runs his fingers across his hair, “If it’s that i forgot to pick up the presents for Ana’s birthday and forgot to pick up Tony from school, I’m sorry.”

“I-ahhh, that’s not it!” He replied, pinching the bridge of his noses knowing how much a idiot he is, “Actually this is about Tony.”

“Is something wrong with him?”

“Yeah, he’s not being treated fairly by you.”

“W-w-wh-what?!”

He scoffed, “Howard you’re more focused on your work than your own family! You’re overworking yourself and literally kick out your poor son whenever you get the chance.”

“HEY! Everything i do is for my son, you know that!” Howard remarked pointing a finger at him, “To give me a future i never had!”

“I know that!”

“So just let in work in peace, huh? You don’t understand what I’m doing here.”

“Oh really? Yeah of course, the futurist everybody! The last few years you have been so disconnected from everything. You barely go on date nights anymore with Maria or watch the stars with her, you don’t give Tony a bedtime story anymore and you just said it yourself—you forgot to pick him up at school!”

“It was a accident. Am i not allowed to make accidents as a parent huh? Everything i do is for my kid.”

“You just said that and i know. But Howard..” Jason sighed, “Tony doesn’t need any of this, he just needs you. You’re time and energy, that charming smile of yours to shower him in love! Not you working night and day, over and over again where you can’t breath or take a second of your time to relax with us. You’re forgetting sight of who you are!”

Howard growled, “Don’t! Don’t tell me how to raise my son, Jason. He’s not your kid, he’s mine! You’re just his uncle. As for Maria, you don’t need to defend her here, if she has a problem with me then she should just tell me herself!”

“That’s because she’s doesn’t care anymore! I’ve seen that women fight with you over and over again, to the point where she just accepted that, that’s the way you are now.”

“Yes I’ve changed JJ! People are allowed to change, that’s part of human evolution.”

Jason paced back and forth, turning around hearing Howard’s long winded speech about evolution and change. Howard leaned against his desk scoffing and dryly laughing, “You’re hilarious. This is all some joke to you right?”

“I—what did you just say to me?” Jason stopped and whipped his face toward him.

“This is a joke to you. You believe that your right here and I’m wrong, Jason. Just because you live here with us and know how this works, you think your right here.”

“BECAUSE I AM HOWARD! When was the last time you got out of here, huh? When was the last time you told Tony ‘I love you’ or took time to take Maria’s dancing or go bowling with me? Ever seen you started SHIELD, you’ve been noticing but a consuming jerk!”

“Is that really what you think of me? A jerk?! You don’t understand.”

“I don’t understand?!”

“Yes!”

“You weren’t acting one in the beginning, but the months and years after, yes you have become a bit of a jerk. One day you’re gonna regret what you’ve done.”

“I won’t.”

“You will!”

~~~

Both men were furious at this point, they have been yelling loudly and screaming for more than an hour, bringing up moments from their past. Some stuff was even throw on the floor at this point. That fire due to the years of love, the friendship and the curiosity was going out..or maybe the fire was already gone?

Howard grunted, “I’ve done nothing much work my ass off and made sure to investigate and invent things to make the world a better place. I’m doing what i think is right here! You just don’t see it!”

Jason scoffed, “Yeah and the world has hated you and thanked you for it! Must i remind me about what happened in 56’? Or in 46’, when you were committed for treason for holding glorified weapons and the whole state was after your ass? And we had to save yo—”

“Don’t finished that sentence. What do you want me to do, huh? Give me my lives work? I’m a inventor, if I don’t invent something or work my ass off, i will probably explode. I-is that what you want? What are you gonna do if i do continue this lifestyle? Leave me?”

“If i could i would take Maria and Tony somewhere else, away from you for a while, I would. But we both you would sent the best lawyers possible and god knows what after me, so I won’t. I won’t do that to you..or them.”

“Ah, you know me so well. And i know you..”

“You do and i love you for everything you do. But this…I can’t!”

“Jason..I can’t change what i do Jason, you know that! I just can’t. I’ve come so far and you just don’t see it.”

“Stop it!”

“Stop what?”

“You’re playing the pity card again. You don’t think Maria, Peggy, Jarvis and I don’t see it? We do! Hell, Tony see it!”

“So why don’t you let me do it? Leave me alone to do my work! I’m trying here. Look what at I’ve made and I can’t stop it now.”

“Yes you can!.”

“No, I can’t!”

“Look, I’m not exactly asking you to leave everything behind. But understand this, I rather you show Tony this world of yours, instead of shutting him out! All of us out. Take a break or..”

“Or what?”

“Or you’re gonna lose the people you care for the most…you know what? What’s the point? I can’t do this...”

~~~

The next words that escape Howard Stark’s lips came out of pure anger and annoyance, “Do what? You’re gonna leave me? If so, get out. You clearly don’t want to be here anymore.”

“You don’t mean that.” Jason replied with slight shock in her tone and blinked a few times.

“Yes i do. You don’t need to be here unless you don’t want to.”

“Howard stop it. Listen to what you’re saying! I care about this family too much to see it fall apart.”

“This is my family! Not yours. You don’t get the final word, i do.”

“You don’t listen, do you?”

“Enough Jason! Get out.”

“You’re gonna regret this! Don’t come complaining to me when you’re son hates you.”

“Get out! There’s the door.”

~~~~

If there one thing Jason Underwood was and that was persistent, so before he left. He said, “When are you gonna realized your greatest creation isn’t those weapons you made or SHIELD or anything related to that, it’s your legacy. Your son!”

“I’m not gonna ask again. Please go..I don’t ever want to see you again.” Howard said with a pissed off sigh, blinking a few times.

Those last words hit Howard hard, as he stood up finding one of his older cameras and place it securely on the tripod with a half smile.

One of his friends, the man he once called a love in his life, the uncle to his only son and supporter walked out of that door without a second chance to help his case. Howard sighed deeply with his head in his hands. He was angry, tired, and annoyed. A part of him knew that his friend was right. He’s a workaholic man with no respect or anything like that for other people, depending on the situation. Always focused on the world’s future, but not sure on the future he set for his family. His only concern was Tony and Maria. His greatest creation being his son.

Without a question later, he turned on the camera and started to film himself, try to speak again like the focused, honest and vulnerable man he tended to be. He decided on leaving his door open just in case his wife called or anyone walked in in general.

Meanwhile Jason was packing his overnight bag for possible a two day stay at Jarvis house. He already had a house in Miami but he was only willing to stay with Edwin and Ana for a couple of days to get himself straightened out before leaving for good. Maria tried to convince him to stay, even if a part of her agreed with her husband instead

But his mind was already set on leaving and possibly visit in the future. Jason ripped out a sheet of paper from his notebook and wrote a note to his nephew, one to Maria, as well as one to Howard. He played them secretly onto in places where they knew they’ll find them one day in life. To say Jason was hurt like this was a understatement, breaking up with a girlfriend was one thing but with your friend of almost 20 years or more.

All he wanted to do was save something in this family of theirs, but knew he couldn’t. And that’s what pained him, he wanted to scream and possibly cry, maybe even let out cloud of smoke out the window.

The men may have been on separate grounds of the house, pissed off and hurt from their two hour argument with one another, but they knew one thing. They still somehow had respect, admiration and compassion for each other, no matter how much hatred and annoyance came from that. A part of them knew it.

——

Over the months and years, their friendship grew sadly apart. Their friends knew it. And what made it more interesting is that they still saw each other, weather they liked it or not. At work, parties, gatherings, birthdays, graduations, a ceremony for some special they were invited to.

Howard would always being pushed to speak to Jason and vise versa, only ending up in small talk between the pair, then walking off to speak to other people. They would be found speak to family members but not one another, Howard even though of not allowing Tony nearby to his uncle for too long, would be better during those events.

It was plainly stupid on both of their parts, but they both had their rights to be angry and bitter. It hurts.

Jason always wanted and most importantly, tried to explain to Howard the situation, hopes for his forgiveness after that nightmare of a week. But Howard’s huge ego, witty jokes, stubbornness and willingness to hold a grudge never let him see the light…

—//—

I hope you all enjoyed this story. It was a long and a interesting one to write. Remember to like, comment and share

This was an AU tales of two friends I wrote a long time ago before the whole MCU x Agent Carter fic thing

Tags: @gaminggirlsstuff @triptuckers @ohgodnotagainn @msrochelleromanofffelton @gcthvile @drspencereidhotch @mandylove1000 @t-nd-rfoot @topgun-imagines @blackheart-beauty @meiramel @eliohasmyheart @rooster-84 @yetanotherwells @blueboirick and etc

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keira-kaz2y5 · 2 months

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Hi! Welcome to my blog, everyone is welcome!

I don’t write fics but I love to read them <3

My name is Keira, I’m female (she/her), bisexual

and I’m currently studying music at college. I’m British and have strong Welsh heritage 💪🏼🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿, but I was born and brought up in England.

I’m currently obsessed with: The Rookie, Marauders, 9-1-1 (& 911 Lone Star), Marvel, X-Men, Good Omens, Supernatural, Doctor Who (2005-2024), Sherlock, Criminal Minds, Merlin, Percy Jackson series, Outer Banks, Agents of SHIELD and Moon Knight

I’m a musician in training so feel free to ask any questions!

My biggest ships: Buddie (9-1-1), WolfStar, Destiel, JohnLock, Merthur

Films I love: Atonement, Dead Poet’s Society, Little Women, Hamilton, Hacksaw Ridge, Nowhere Boy, Knives Out, Gifted, Tick Tick BOOM!

Top artists are Noah Kahan & Taylor Swift

But I really love Hozier, Dermot Kennedy, Billie Eilish, Reneé Rapp, Lizzy McAlpine, Gracie Abrams and Mumford & Sons

I listen to lots of genres but my main would be indie, folk/alternative, pop, soul and rock.

I especially love when every now and then I’ll find a fanfic like Loki x pianist!reader or rockstar!marauders fic and stuff. As a pianist myself I love this and would love to see it represented, so I am more than happy for u guys that are writers (or just curious) to ask me about this like the industry, or live sound (I’ve seen on tiktok lately people thinking every performer has a metronome in their monitors, this isn’t always correct, there’s a lot more to it) or even all the jobs you take on within the industry like session musicians, library musicians etc.. so I’ll quite happily answer questions or help people out if they plan on writing fics with musicians as main characters or au’s so please please please don’t hesitate to ask! I go all nerdy for this stuff I think it’s pretty cool

Thanks for finding my page and reading all of this, if you got to the bottom, thank you so much I love you <33

Have a great week babes xx

For anyone interested, I’m on a Pop Music course and I’m study the music industry in business classes, with theory (boring as hell) classes too and I have recording sessions, music history & context lessons and on Fridays we have perfomance workshop, where we pick a song to learn in the morning and practice with a band or solo or whatever is needed, then by the end of the day we have an hour of tech set up and then we perform it to the rest of the people on the course. It’s a lot of fun but hard work, we have tech students doing live sound and someone from tech doing the lighting and stuff. Feel free to ask me any questions about it!

My posts:

Buddie 911 s7 theory/reaction https://www.tumblr.com/keira-kaz2y5/743347204314497024/i-know-no-one-will-read-this-but-omfg-so-today-i

Harry Potter marauders fancast rant https://www.tumblr.com/keira-kaz2y5/723047186541232128/jkr-can-fight-me

Tumblr did a thing

Happy news

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sothischickshe · 2 years

Note

🔥 the quantity and/or quality of Marvel movies

Ha welllllll this maybe depends if we're talking mcu specifically or marvel generally -- I think I've seen all of the mcu films bar the latest spiderman one (& indeed quite a lot of the mcu TV shows), and I've seen I think all the x men films except the newest one I didn't even realise came out (and poss all the TV shows?), and some other non mcu marvel films like blade, various spidermans, deadpools, and probs some other stuff.

Overall, I'm not that impressed with the mcu films, there have been a few I've really enjoyed and would be willing to rewatch, but I think they're generally overly samey (no more origin tales pls!! Have we not done enough?! Hitting the same beats?!) and too few of the films have paid off the depth of the verse or crossed over with the TV shows (which I think have generally been better).

Given the way that many of them largely feel like adverts for future mcu films, where I've landed on is: I'm definitely not willing to pay money to see them. And that means I have to be willing to not care about spoilers for them in order to not buy into this NEED TO VIEW IMMEDIATELY thing 🤷🏼‍♀️

Quantitywise hmm I don't necessarily think there's too many -- actually ~3 mcu films a year isn't THAT much to watch (although the commitment to such a release schedule does im sure contribute to the ground out quality), espec if you're not committing to watching them at pace. I think keeping up with the huge amount of TV shows is a much more daunting task which I've mostly given up on, cos again the crossover potential of that isn't much utilised beyond surface allusions and while some of the shows (agents of shield, cloak and dagger, agent Carter, runaways) have been genuinely great, the general quality of the shows has been pretty middling.

I hope we'll see more non mcu marvel adaptations; I kinda think ~comic superheroes are the modern versions of fairy tales... We can tell them over and over again in different iterations, so different viewpoints on that can be really compelling! (I really liked the Marc webb/Andrew Garfield spiderman verse, and I've found this new mcu version yawnable personally.)

But overall I think the serialised nature of comics adapts far better (duh) to TV shows and/or miniseries (particularly animated ones tbh!) than films. I also think it's disingenuous to pretend that ALL the mcu marvel films are trash, or that most of the rubbisher ones are entirely without redeeming qualities, or that non mcu marvel films are paragons of virtue, AND I do think generally the mcu films/shows do a decent job of being accessible adaptations which don't rely on a deep knowledge of the source material while including lil nods to it, which actually can be a hard balance

Send Me a 🔥+ a Topic, and I’ll Tell You My Honest Opinion About It

#Ty this was fun!#Not sure this completely makes sense 😴#But basically that 🅰️gents of sh1eld/w1nter s0ldier moment was so so so great #And then that peak never got hit again :/#My fave mcu films are the season finales of agents of sh1eld 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️#The films which pay off the crossover element well (particularly c1v1l & 1nf1n1ty w🅰️r not also the first 🅰️vengers film) were pretty #Delighting but too many of them just feel like set up :/#I think they've got a handle on pitching adaptations at the right level though #Which a lot of adaptations do not manage.#Films #Marvel #Adaptations #TV #Comics #Mcu #Marvel cinematic universe #*but not not #Ffs autocorrect #Phase 1 was kinda messy like o is cap's friend who just fell off a train or w/e gonna come back again in this series at some point hmm? Lol #But I think they've got/ten better at placing the story bones #Of late: I rather enjoyed Shang ch1 & bl🅰️ck w1dow was much better than expected (had me at pockets 🥺) if overly long & with ott fight #Scene/s. & while I don't think etetn🅰️ls was v good I do think it was unfairly maligned #I'm tentatively v excited for the new Th0r film! & im v behind on the shows but I'm looking fwd to watching wh🅰️t if!#*etern🅰️ls

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rosaliestark01 · 3 years

Text

Dusk Till Dawn - Part 8

Peter Parker x Reader

Summary: You play double agent while the Avengers search for you.

Warnings: more swearing than usual, angst, violence

A/N: @annies-marvel-imagines will no longer be posting more parts, but she will still receive credit.

You paced around Ezekiel's secret hideout and realized several things. The first thing is that there was no way that these two individuals managed to get their hands on such high-level tech by themselves. The second was that Ezekiel obviously lied about being your dad. The third was that Ezekiel most definitely had enough money to get a less crappy apartment. The fourth and most crucial thing you realized was that you'd have to play along with their plan longer than you wanted to.

Judging by the number of meals you've gotten, you'd guess you've been there for three days. It was hard to pretend that you wanted to wipe out the Avengers, but you had to remind yourself that this was just another mission. Except, you didn't have your suit or any means of contacting your team. Plus, the Avengers had no idea where you were, what you were doing, or what you were trying to do. You were on your own.

"Don't just stand there, you spoiled brat. Help us out," Eloise yelled at you.

Another thing that made it hard to act like you were on their side was the constant feeling of wanting to strange Eloise every time she opened her mouth. She honestly reminded you of a penny. Two-faced and not worth much.

"What the hell is this thing?" you ask as you approach the strange metal box that Eloise and Ezekiel had struggled to get out of Ezekiel's truck.

"You like it?" he asks, causing you to furrow your eyebrows. Was this guy serious?

"Did your ears suddenly stop working, or are you just that bad at listening to someone else's shit for once?" You say without thinking. The strange looks from them tell you that it was the wrong thing to say, so you backtrack. "Sorry, I'm still a little nervous about all this."

"It's fine," Ezekiel mutters, coughing awkwardly before becoming grave. "As long as you do your job, you have nothing to worry about."

"What's that supposed to mean?" You ask, suddenly becoming defensive.

"This is your new suit." Eloise snarks, clearly trying to get everyone's attention back onto the metal box. She pressed a button, causing it to open.

Inside was a suit that looked similar to your dad's iron suit, but instead of red and gold, it was black and purple.

"Why does it look like that?" You ask. Why would they base the suit off of Iron Man's suit if they hate his guts?

"We figured you'd like an upgrade," Ezekiel beamed proudly. You're assuming that he was the one who built it, but you weren't ready to jump to conclusions. The guy already had trouble figuring out how to open the microwave. "Your old suit seemed..."

"weak," Eloise rolled her eyes as she finished his sentence.

"It was flexible and bulletproof," you defended. The suit you always wore worked well for years. Who do these people think they are? "I made it with my d- with Tony Stark."

"That explains a lot." She crosses her arms as she stares down at you with a judgmental glare. "Trust me. If you're going up against the Avengers, you're going to want to wear this. It'll protect you better than that flimsy piece of shit you always wore before."

"Fine," you mumbled, remembering that it is in your best interest to pretend that you agree with them.

--------------------

Peter felt like he was drowning.

He'd never gone this long without knowing if you were okay or not, and it was killing him. Without you, his Peter-Tingle, or Spidey-Senses as you called it, felt like a timer he couldn't shut off. He wasn't sure if it had to do with the fact that he was worried out of his mind or if it meant that you were in danger. Maybe both?

What was worse was that he had to pretend everything was okay. Happy was in the hospital, you were missing, and the Avengers were moving heaven and Earth to find you, but he couldn't join them. May and the Avengers insisted that he let the "adults" handle this. Did it ever occur to them that you matter to him just as much, if not more?

"Hey, Pete?" Ned and the rest of your friends approached him hesitantly. They all worried about you, but they knew that it was harder on him. "Is there any update on Y/N?"

"Not yet." Peter would have known if there was even a slight update. "Have any of you heard anything?"

"Gwen feels guilty about what happened at homecoming," Harley states ."She says that if she hadn't spilled her drink on Y/N, she never would have left the gym."

They all look to where Gwen was standing with her friends. She didn't look happy. In fact, she looked like she hadn't slept since word got out that you were missing.

"She should feel guilty." Peter huffs, "If she got over her damn pettiness long enough to realize that I love Y/N, I never would have lost her."

"Still... she said she'd back off," Harry says, feeling uncomfortable with the current subject. There is no excuse for what Gwen did, but she did look like she had learned her lesson.

"We want to help," Betty admitted, causing a bit of hope to fill Peter's mind. So far, all he's heard was "let the adults handle this". Knowing that his friends want to help find you was like a breath of fresh air.

"Yeah. It doesn't feel right to sit back and do nothing when Y/N is who knows where," Harry sighs, patting Peter on the back.

"Thanks, guys," Peter replies, smiling for the first time since you've disappeared. "That means-"

Before he could finish, he turned around, and not a second later, an explosion went off right across from the school.

"What the f-"

----------------

"I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that you never told us that Y/N was adopted," Clint says as he paces back and forth in the compound. He didn't have the slightest idea that anything was going on until he received a call telling him that you were missing and that help was needed tracking you down.

"He had his reasons; now are you going to focus more on that or finding Y/N?" Pepper replied, defending Tony. Although she agrees that Tony should have told you, she knows that he had his reasons.

"Maybe she doesn't want to be found?" Clint asks, although the second it came out of his mouth, he knew it sounded stupid.

"No," Steve says, his arms crossed in concentration. "I've known Y/N for a long time, and she's a good kid. She's going through stuff right now, but she'd never run away or leave Happy alone while he's in the hospital. Something else is going on, and I'd bet it had to do with those two."

The TV displayed everything they knew so far. The two likely suspects were none other than Eloise Day and Ezekiel Stane. Security footage showed you getting into Eloise's car, which was later found outside a shambly apartment building. After further inspection, your phone was found inside of the apartment belonging to Ezekiel Stane.

"Agreed". Tony stared at the screen, trying to figure out if there is anything he's missing. He knows that Ezekiel is the son of his old business partner. Tony knows that Eloise was a new student who gained your trust. What he didn't realize was their connection and what their goal is.

"If-When we find her, you need to tell her the truth," Steve tells him.

"Yeah, we'll go out for cheeseburgers and laugh about it. Am I right?" Tony snaps. It was clear that he knew who your real father is and that you might already know him too. "I- I don't want her to hate me when I tell her."

"Trust me. Y/N will understand if your heart was in the right place," Steve encourages, placing a hand on Tony's shoulder. For a second, Tony's shoulders slump before his resold seems to harden.

"Her real dad is-"

"I think you'll be able to tell her yourself," Nat speaks urgently. "Y/N's been spotted in Queens."

"Let's suit up."

-------------------

You couldn't help but feel as though your plan was about to fail. Eloise and Ezekiel have recently kept a closer eye on you than usual, which isn't good. You have a feeling that they're on to you, which means that you might have to improvise.

"Play along," Ezekiel mutters in your ear before roughly grabbing your arm. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Eloise pointing some blaster at you that looks too much like the one that Hydra dude shot you with.

Before you can ask what he was doing, a familiar figure swung in front of you.

"Let her go," Peter demands. Although you cannot see his face, you can tell he's angry. You felt bad for putting him through this, but in the long run, you'll have to put him through it a little longer.

"Fat chance, you spider freak!" Eloise roars, suddenly pointing the blaster at Peter.

"Wait-" You yell, but your voice is drowned out by Ezekiel's yells as Eloise pulls the trigger.

It was like everything was happening in slow motion. You wanted to scream for Peter, but the shot never made it to its target. Instead, it met with a familiar red, white, and blue shield.

"Whatever happened to my signal?!" Ezekiel yelled at Eloise, who rolled her eyes for the one-hundred-millionth time that day.

"I'm not letting you crap on my chance again, old man!" She barks at him as she continues firing the blaster. By now, all of the Avengers seem to have shown up, and her target was everyone.

"Don't you d-" He yells, but she ignores him.

Cursing, he tries to pull you away from the fight as he tries to think of a new plan. You already knew what needed to happen, but you weren't sure if you were ready to see everyone's faces when you are forced to betray them.

"So is this a thing now? Kidnapping my daughter for revenge or something?" your dad asks as he lands in front of you and Ezekiel, ready to fight.

"Who said I kidnapped her?" Ezekiel smirks. You wanted to wipe the arrogance off his face, but you couldn't. You had a job to do.

"Dammit," You curse. You press the button on your bracelet that morphed into your "new" suit. You didn't want to see the looks everyone will give you, so as you took down the people you call your family, you couldn't look them in the eye.

TAG LIST:

@eridanuswave @perspectiveparker @spidey-reids-2003 @ilovespideyyy @purplekitten30 @slytherinambitious @starryeddie @grapesauze @elephants-bubbles-brachosauruses @thegayseance @whiskeywinter89

#peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker x reader insert #tom holland peter parker #avengers #peter parker x avenger!reader #peter parker x you #peter parker x stark!daughter #tony stark x daughter reader #tony stark x daughter!reader #avengers x y/n #dad!iron man x avenger!reader #(Y/N)s dad is...#peter parker x stark!reader #spider man x y/n #spiderman x stark!reader #spiderman x avenger!reader #spider man x reader

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builder051 · 3 years

Text

Marvel Disabilities Celebration Week: Day 2

Creedless Assassins; takes place post-Infinity War, pre-Endgame (Diverges from Endgame quite a bit, but pulls from the canon of the comics, so maybe that's ok?)

______________________________

It starts off as a cold. At least that's what Clint says when he talks to various medical professionals about the genesis of what came next.

Steve had called it a headcold. Apparently he'd spent most of his childhood with the stuffy ears and sinuses gone to shit, exacerbated by a perpetual low grade fever and sore throat.

Nat had called it a hell cold. Maybe because it made Clint feel like hell. But probably because it made him give her a lot of hell.

Steve had tried to get them all together in a sort of bucket brigade, stopping by with soup and Kleenex whenever they happened to be at the tower. It didn't take long for Thor to start making himself scarce. Then Tony, even though the tower is technically his permanent address. Bruce turned up every other day for almost two weeks before he snapped and sent Clint an 'anonymous' email in all caps and green text, accusing him, in more efficient language, of being a poser. After that, everything fell on Nat.

"It's been almost a month," Nat says, annoyed. She lays upside down on the foot of Clint's bed, head hanging off the edge and a comic book held up an inch from her nose.

Clint coughs wetly. "Not my fault."

"I didn't say it was."

"Huh?" Clint looks up and wrinkles his nose, then puts his hand behind his ear.

"You still all congested?" Nat asks. "Because you really should be over that by now."

Clint shrugs. "It's not my face, really." He gestures to the prominent bones beneath his eyes. He's thinned out lately, so everything on him is prominent now. "It's more like my..." He claps his hands against the sides of his head.

"Ears?" Nat guesses.

Clint nods.

"You probably have an infection." There's a hint of 'duh' in Nat's voice. "With that hell cold, I wouldn't be surprised if you had some... stuff. Bronchitis. Ear infection."

"Doesn't hurt, though," Clint protests, determined to be fine, despite evidence to the contrary.

"You need to go get it checked out," Nat says. She gives Clint a hard look.

"But--"

"Humor me." Nat's expression turns to a gentle smile, even though she's on the losing end of the argument. She's giving Clint a gift, not fighting back. She must realize how awful he feels, and Clint immediately feels guilty for hiding it.

"Yeah," Clint sighs. Nat could probably tell him anything and he'd agree right now, in the vulnerable position he currently holds.

Her words make sense, though. His ears don't seem to work. Haven't all week. Maybe longer. Clint isn't sure.He doesn't need his sense of hearing much whilst he's lying in bed, all his energy absorbed in raising his body temperature enough to host the antibodies and force them to work against the intruders. Or maybe it's the other way around. Yada Yada. Clint doesn't care.

"If I make you an appointment, will you go?" Nat asks, a little desperation in her tone.

"Maybe?" Clint imbues the word with as much honesty as he can

To be completely candid, his mission days are over. SHIELD can't trust him to stick to the script in the field anymore, so he's basically defunct. They use him as a paperwork pusher, signing and stamping, because he can read and write and he's a level six.

Mission reports from [Name redacted] SHIELD Agent/Enhanced Person, passed, damages, casualty count don't phase him. Shit happened. Yeah, it sucks. The families of the dead are due recompense, lest their asses be sued (again). The success to casualty ration will be added to a long list of MS Excel data with automatic unfolding equations that define the company metrics.

Then Clint will snap up his briefcase, for god knows he has one now, a gift from Nat last Christmas. After that, he'll go home and... heat up canned soup. Maybe send a text or two. Go to bed. And wake up the next morning to do it all again.

Clint doesn't have Laura to fix his breakfast and dinner anymore. Nor does he have his children to run around in the yard with during his evenings and weekends.

His ears have been stuffy for so long now that he barely recalls Laura's voice. He thinks he holds onto her laugh, but then when he gets Nat started on a giggle fest, Clint thinks they sound eerily similar.

He's lost Lila completely. Nothing young and girlish remains in Clint's dwindling sound library, and he keeps mistaking the boys for each other, pushing Cooper back into babyhood as he tries to remember something Nathaniel said the other day before school.

Except it wasn't the other day. They vanished better than 90 days ago., and lint's been sick for at least the last month. Sometimes Clint wonders if Laura had been sick when she'd died, or been dusted or vaporized or whatever had happened. Had she been putting on a brave face to fight a fever? Had she passed on mono to her only bewedded husband? Did Laura have a secret boyfriend that no one knew about?

But no. No. Clint doesn't want to know. He thinks one more time about asking Nat, but changes his mind again, sticking to the high road.

"I need a better answer," Nat says. "If I make you an appointment, " she flips her phone between her fingers. "Will you go?"

Clint draws in his breath. "Will you take me?" he finally asks.

Nat grits her teeth. "Yeah. I guess."

"Do you think something's really wrong?" Clint furrows his brow.

Nat's molars continue to grind together, and her incisors push forward into the flesh of her lip. Clint expects to hear the awful sound, but instead there's nothing until she clears her throat and finally says, " Yeah. Yeah, I do."

Clint lets a beat of silence pass. "Ok.... Make it, and I guess I just..."

"Just tell them how it started, then what you're feeling right now," Nat says, as if it's that easy.

"You mean, the cold?"

"Yeah." Nat nods. "I don't mean to jump to conclusions on you, but that's a possible side effect of mono. If that's what you wind up having."

"Huh?"

"Don't know or didn't hear?" Nat looks concerned.

"Neither." Clint shakes his head.

"Going deaf."

"...Ok." Clint sighs. "I guess I knew that, but..."

"Hard to let it sink in when it's happening to you?"

"Yeah. Like jumping without a chute, or something."

"Nothing like that feeling, electrifying your veins." Nat shudders. "But similar, probably. I don't know."

"I don't know either. A fucking cold." Clint shake his head. "'S what I deserve, I guess."

"Hey, I never said that." Nat stares harshly into his eyes. "We'll come out the other side."

Clint reluctantly nods. "You know I haven't forgotten you yet? Like, the sound of you?" His eyes begin to fill with tears.

Nat presses her lips together again. "That's--" She shakes her head. "That's not fair. You deserve to keep her. To keep them. I don't matter." Nat waves her hand in front of er boy, as if to accentuate her worthlessness.

"It is what it is," Clint says, "And right now, I'll take what I can get."

"That makes me--" Now it's Nat's turn to wipe away tears. "I'll come see you tomorrow, ok?" She lifts herself up from Clint's bed in a push up position. She scrubs her face into the forearm of her hoodie, then shoots Clint a wan smile.

He returns the gaze, then pulls his blankets up to his chest. "I'll miss you."

"No, you won't," Nat scoffs. She squeezes lint's foot through the quilt before she turns to go.

"Hey, thanks!" The words are out of his mouth before Clint realizes he's shouting. He's hyperaware of his problem, now. His cheeks go pink, and he offers Nat an awkward wave.

Nat turns, then waves back, over her shoulder as she exits the room, leaving Clint alone in the silence.

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iliumheightnights · 4 years

Text

We Have A Jedi [12] | Peter Parker x Male!Reader

Fandom: Marvel and Star Wars

Pairing: Tony Stark x Son!Reader, Peter Parker x Male!Reader

Summary: (M/N) is officially back on earth, so is Sheyo. With the two stranded and the war still raging on, what comes next?

Read from the beginning

…

(M/N) opened his eyes and was confused why he didn’t hear the hum of ship engines. Sitting up he realized he wasn’t in his quarters on the ship, he was in his room on earth. He could tell by how the sun was starting to raise over the city that he had woken up pretty early. Perhaps he was still adjusted to waking up for the next campaign. He stood up and walked over to the closet, inside he found some clothes that could fit him. Once he was dressed he wandered out to the living room.

The quietness of the area told him that no one was up yet. Moving to the kitchen he looked around. Last time he was on earth he was taught a couple of things for cooking. He got to work making something for everybody to eat as they got up. He had got some of the food done by the time someone entered the kitchen. “Do I smell food?” (M/N) smiled and turned to face his intruder. “Hey Steve. I’m making breakfast, grab a plate. most of it is done.” Steve smirked and did so before sitting at the table. “I gotta say, I half expected to wake up and realize last night was a dream. But you’re here...actually here.” He looked at his plate and back to (M/N). “Where have you been kid?”

(M/N) finished his cooking and set everything aside. “I didn’t want to leave. I wanted more time here, with you guys...with dad. But there’s still a war going on and mom wanted to make sure that we realized that.” (M/N) shrugged his shoulders. “I guess she was right though. Once we got back into the fight I realized there were still so many people that needed our help. I couldn’t just stay here or come back...even if I tried at first.” (M/N) had a far away look in his eyes and Steve noticed, the younger book shook his head quickly though. “Anyways that’s the past. I’m here now...I just hope for longer.” Steve nodded his head. “Well I’m glad to have you back, I know everyone else...especially your dad is too.”

Grabbing a plate for himself, (M/N) joined Steve at the table. “So...anything interesting happen when I was gone?” Steve smirked at him. “You’ve missed a lot. Turns out there were lots of hidden Hydra agents in Shield and that was an ordeal. Also...Bucky’s alive.” (M/N) raised a brow at that. Steve had told him of his time in the war, and his best friend Bucky...but that he died. Apparently that wasn’t the case. “How?” Steve sat his fork down, no longer interested in the food. “Hydra.” (M/N) nodded and gave him a small smile. “I’m sorry Steve. We’ll get him back.” Steve genuinely smiled and with that his appetite seemed to return. “Anyways, what have YOU been doing Mr.I’ve lead armies in war?” (M/N) blushed and looked away as Steve made fun of what he last said to them. “Shut up. I’ve just been doing what I’ve always done...fighting in a seemingly endless battle. But I HAVE been learning different art and stuff from different planets.” Steve seemed to be really interested with that. “Art like drawing and painting?” The boy nodded at him. “Yeah, plus pottery, music, theater. All of that. There’s a lot out there.”

Steve was about to say something when we were joined by some others. “(M/N)!” He didn’t have a chance to say anything before Clint pulled him into a tight hug. “Welcome back kiddo. Oh hey breakfast.” Clint let him go and went to get a plate. Natasha took the chance to rub his head and mess up his head. “Welcome back kid.” She also grabbed a plate and the two of them sat down. Just like Steve had asked before, he told them about what he had been up to. It wasn’t long before Tony and Bruce arrived, his dad sitting next to him. (M/N) noticed how his dad was grinning, almost like he thought it might have been a dream. They had told him that Thor had returned to Asgard for a bit but that he should be back soonish. The group were all enjoying their breakfast and talking when (M/N) heard the sound of a crutch. “Oh hey, there’s a group of people now.” (M/N) turned and smiled at Sheyo who looked a lot better than she had the night before. The avengers were looking at her with mixed emotions, who was she and why was she here...also why was she green.

Quickly standing from his seat (M/N) pulled out his chair offering it to Sheyo who gratefully took it. “How did you sleep? You feeling better?” Sheyo smiled at him. “Very much so. I think I should be fine soon hopefully. Now, are you going to introduce me to everyone?” (M/N) nodded and looked around. “Sheyo these are the Avengers. Steve, Clint, Natasha, you already met Bruce, and...my father. Tony Stark.” Sheyo grinned as she looked from me to Tony, soon she lifted her hand out to him. “Nice to meet you Mr.Stark.” It was obvious that everyone was still confused so (M/N) helped explain everything with Sheyo filling in any gaps. It was very similar to how (M/N) was questioned after the battle of New York.

The conversations were dying down and breakfast was coming to an end. (M/N) was enjoying the time he was spending with his family again, this time with his best friend. As everyone broke from the table Sheyo leaned over to him. “(M/N) a word?” He gave her a nod and excused himself from the rest. He took Sheyo to his room and closed the door. “What’s up?” She sat down on his bed and looked around before looking back at him. “So my leg’s out of commission for at least a couple days, but what are we going to do after that? We can’t stay here forever, you know that.”

(M/N) nodded. “I know. I would stay forever if I could but we can’t. The war is still going on and we have to get back. The first problem we’ll have is to find a way off planet. We’ll need a ship with a hyperdrive to get us back. Plus, we have another problem.” (M/N) took out the two infinity stones he has. “We have these to worry about. We can’t keep them together, it makes them a bigger target. We have to separate them.” Sheyo nodded. “So what’s the plan?” (M/N) laid the stones on his desk. “When Thor get’s here I’ll give him the space stone. Let him take it back to Asgard, it should be safe here. The mind stone, I’ll give to my dad. He and the avengers are the best the earth has. They’ll keep it safe.” He looked to Sheyo who only smiled at him. “Sounds like a good plan. Alright. Guess we get to take a little vacation for a bit.” (M/N) put away the stones into a hidden place and grabbed his sabers. “Come on. You may not be able to train, but I want you to at least give me pointers.” She let out a groan then grabbed her crutch and began following him to the training area.

The tower had changed a lot since the last time he came and the training room was no exception. It was now an ACTUAL training room and not just a boxing ring. “Sir. Your father designed a training program for each of the avengers, including you.” Jarvis spoke up. That made (M/N) surprised. He didn’t think his father would have taken his combat teaching into consideration. “Really?” Jarvis’ voice spoke again. “Yes sir. He studied the videos of you fighting during the battle of new york and based the training for you on them.” He smiled at that, his father really did take care in making sure he was included. “Thanks J. Can you start the training?” Sheyo moved to the side and Jarvis began the training exercise. “Starting simulation.”

The simulation room started to hum and the lights dimmed. A holographic image of a Chituari appeared and it began firing at (M/N). He quickly ignited his lightsabers and began deflecting the bolts back on to the oncoming waves. As the waves of holo enemies came towards him, he switched from defense to attack. He slashed through the oncoming waves, as he was doing it he realized that he had improved during his time gone. Perhaps he’d have to talk to his dad about other fighting stances and techniques to help improve the simulation.

While (M/N) was in the simulation, the door to the viewing room opened and Tony, Steve and Clint walked in. “Heard little Stark war doing the simulation, wanted to see his moves.” Clint said. Sheyo smirked at them and nodded to the simulation. “This is easy for him compared to other things.” They all watched as he did a flip with a landing slash on an enemy. “He’s improved a lot since last time.” Steve noted. “That’s my boy. Takes after his father.” Steve laughed. “I’d say he takes after his mother.” Sheyo raised her brow. She was going to find out who his mother was. Tony scoffed and turned back to watching his son.

Steve turned to Sheyo. “So Sheyo. Since you’re a jedi do you do what he does?” He nodded towards (M/N) and she smiles and nods. “You mean being part of a galactic war? Yep. My master’s Dia. His is Janai. I’m sure you know that bit though. Like we said earlier, we were on a mission when we ended up here.” Sheyo looked at Tony, studying him. “You know. He looks like you a lot. We, Jedi, aren’t supposed to know our parents or form attachments. I don’t believe in that. I think it’s a stupid rule...but you should know there’s still a war going on. If he stays here...they’ll come after him. The Jedi. It won’t be pretty. He might have to leave but that doesn’t mean he wants to. I can see he loves you a lot.” Tony smiled sadly at her and nodded. “I know. When he first left I was angry at everyone, myself, his mom, but never at him. I knew he still had a job to do. When it’s time for him to leave again, I just hope he says goodbye this time.”

The simulation ended and (M/N) exited the room. “Oh, hey guys. Were you all watching me practice?” They all nodded. He turned to Sheyo. “Just like the temple training room.” She laughed at that. Clint lightly punched his shoulder. “Well kid. You definitely put on a show.” (M/N) smirked at looked at Tony. “What can I say I take after my dad.” Tony laughed and pointed at Steve. “I told you! Now…” He wrapped his arm around (M/N)’s shoulder. “Let’s figure out what we’re doing today.”

A/N: I realized I haven’t shown you what Sheyo looks like so here she is!

#marvel #avengers #peter parker #peter parker x male reader #peter parker x male!reader #Peter parker x stark reader #peter parker x stark!reader #tony stark #tony stark x male reader #tony stark x male!reader #tony stark x reader #tony stark x son reader #tony stark x son!reader #tony stark x stark reader #tony stark x stark!reader

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trainsinanime · 3 years

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The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - Episode 3

Man, Wandavision was so much better.

The one person I follow on here who also watches this show posts a lot about the politics of the show and how questionable they are, and I think there are some valid points to be made. But I think that this makes it very easy to miss the important truth: The show is amazingly committed to not saying anything at all. It’s mind-boggling.

A key element of this is how little America, as a concept, seems to figure into this. The show is all about two Captain America sidekicks, about his shield, about who gets to be Captain America, about the legacy and about the treatment of African americans… but it goes out of its way to never be about America. The new bad Captain America seems to work for a Generic Recurring Council, and also the german police (and in fact in the opening jumps out of a van that literally has “GRC Polizei” on its side).

You could maybe argue that there is a default assumption of USA-ness here; people keep talking about “your/our guys/side”, and that side seems to include the CIA. But that’s as specific as it gets, and since the other side is explicitly the fantasy evil against everything Hydra, that’s not really saying much. The scene where they introduce the new Captain America and introduce him as an all-american Hero is arguably the closest thing they come to saying something, anything, about the US as such.

Now, MCU Cap has never really been about America much. The closest he came was in the first movie, but even there, he fought Hydra instead of actual Nazis. Aside: ”The First Avenger” is easily the most pro-German american WW2 movie ever. Anyway, even then, he was on the side of the good guys, who happened to be Americans, but he wasn’t explicitly about the US, and in the movies since, he didn’t much touch on the US either; it was always about SHIELD and HYDRATE and Bucky. But in this show this becomes even more egregious, because they keep touching on stuff, apparently on accident, and then don’t do anything with it.

Isaiah Bradley is a big deal, isn’t he? You’d think he’d be a key piece to the question “what does it mean to be a symbol for America, and what is good and bad about that”. But in this show, he doesn’t actually matter. They bring him up because they know he’s important, but they don’t seem to know why.

Who does the new Captain America work for? You’d think it would either be the US government, or explicitly not the US government, but in reality it appears to be the generic world council of badness. Speaking of, what does it mean that there is a generic world council? There is a group called flag smashers who are against borders - or against the generic world council hoarding medicine, or something? It’s all stuff that seems meaningful, and you can read meaning into it (which never works in the show’s favour), but nope, it doesn’t mean anything.

The show seems scared of being political, in this political spy thriller about the meaning of a US symbol, and just ends up dithering about. Of course it’s impossible to be completely apolitical, so the show settles for what it assumes are default political statements nobody can disagree with - which are apparently, in the minds of the show runners, „US interventionism is good“, „everybody loves the US“ and so on. That sure is a choice.

So when the show talks about Captain America being a symbol or an icon, what it seems to talk about mostly is Steve Rogers himself. But that’s boring, because he’s boring, and the show has nothing of value to say about him anyway. „Steve sure was a good guy“ is the one and only note it has, and it bends itself over backwards to say it. When was Bucky into the whole stars-and-stripes stuff? Why don’t any of them remember Steve personally? Do they have opinions about Steve going back in time to destroy the legacy of Marvel’s first good TV show „Agent Carter“? …have the TV show versions of Sam and Bucky ever met Steve? The thing is that they talk about Steve as a symbol, but never as a person. The show knows that the shield is a symbol, and the man wielding it as a symbol, but it doesn’t seem to stand for anything. The shield is a symbol for the man who is a symbol because he has the shield, or something.

Okay, with that out of the way, some more notes:

The banter between Sam and Bucky is fairly good. If they had a better writer, and more of it, then we could almost say that the show had a strong point there.

Breaking Zemo out of prison is a stupid plot point, but Zemo makes the banter better, so I’m not going to complain.

I like Sharon. The mean reason why would be because she doesn’t care about the plot either, which makes her relatable, but honestly, she’s just fun here.

I do recognise the term Madripoor from the comics but I don’t care. Between you and me, I’m not sure I like the concept of „like Singapore or Hong Kong but everybody is a criminal“, it feels a bit racist to me. Are there people who have investigated the concept of the port city that is a wretched hive of scum and villainy, so to speak?

Zemo is supposed to be imprisoned in Berlin, but the uniform he steals to sneak out has the coat of arms of Hamburg. That’s completely unacceptable.

#the falcon and the winter soldier #tfatws #faws #the sambucky show #not sure i'll watch episode 4 #probably if i'm really bored

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thebibliomancer · 3 years

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Essential Avengers: Avengers #242: “EASY COME... EASY GO!”

April, 1984

“Okay Avengers, the party’s over!”

Being a buzzkill, party-hating Cover Vision!

Hmm. Something about this cover makes it feel like from an older era. The returned Mighty Avengers logo or maybe the inking? Or perhaps the Silver Age DC superdickery energy to it? I can’t put my finger on it but this feels like a cover you’d see in the 70s instead of the 80s.

Last time on Avengers: Well, they went to San Francisco for a two-parter where they fought Morgan Le Fey to save Jessica Drew’s soul. As ya do.

Vision has also been a tube boy after he walked into a null field. Starfox hooked him up to the Titan supercomputer and that didn’t fix him, it did overclock his robot brain and let him broadcast giant holograms of his own head. That’s almost as good.

This time:

Some guy: “HOLY GEEZ!”

An interesting note, this guy has only ever seen Quinjets in pictures and never thought he’d see one in person. Tells you how often the Avengers hang around Ottumwa, Iowa.

We start with the Avengers in mid-return from California.

In one of the Quinjets, She-Hulk is telling Starfox that she wished they could have spent more time before returning to New York so she could have shown him LA.

Starfox: “Ah, well... I’m sure another opportunity will present itself, She-Hulk! Besides, the scenery around her has plenty to offer!”

Wanda looks like she’s trying to astral project away from Starfox putting his hand on her shoulder but she’s really just distracted thinking about Vision.

The Avengers on the Jessica Drew mission radioed back to the Mansion that they were bringing Hank Pym home but Wanda suggested that Hank could examine Vision and maybe fix him. But Vision rejected the idea and Wanda is at a loss for why he’s determined to overcome his robo-paralysis on his own.

I’m also a little confused why they didn’t call on Hank Pym sooner to examine tube Vision but then again that would have been super awkward for Wasp and Reed Richards, that hack, said Vision should have recovered quickly.

Speaking of super awkward, Hank and Wasp are alone together in the other Quinjet.

Hank is also baffled that Vision turned down his help. He repaired him once before! Remember? He got super tiny and had a fantastic voyage inside him? In Avengers #93?

Jan comments that she hasn’t heard Hank sound so confident in years and he confirms that devoting his time fully to SCIENCE and taking superheroing off the table as an option has done wonders for his emotional outlook.

He also reiterates that he never felt cut out for the superhero life. Aw, enjoy it while it lasts, bud.

And he thanks her for calling him Hank instead of “Dr. Pym” like she did at the hospital.

Wasp: “Oh... That. Well, when you flew out at my request to help save Jessica Drew’s life... after all we’d been through... the divorce and all... I’m afraid I slipped into my stuffy Avengers chairwoman voice. I thought it might make things easier, but it didn’t... For either of us. I’m sorry, Hank.”

Hank Pym: “That’s okay, Jan. I understand. Your ‘stuffy chairwoman voice,’ huh? Heh-heh. How often do you have to use that?”

Wasp: “Wellll... Most of the time the others will go along with ol’ ‘dingaling Jan’ -- but sometimes, I have to get tough. That never fails to grab their attention!”

Hank Pym: “No doubt! Once, I was the only Avenger who knew how tough you really were! I’m glad the others are learning.”

Wasp: “I guess that none of us are ever too old to learn, Hank.”

Feels like Hank is rewriting some things in his memories since Jan often had to diminish herself to make him feel better but then again it didn’t always work so maybe the idea is that he knew all along how strong she was?

Either way, nice to see these two interacting so amiably.

Also, I like that she’s able to be an effective leader while still being ‘dingaling Jan’ since it doesn’t change how smart and capable she is. And the contrast if she has to get serious only helps.

I think overall I like that her leadership style is so uniquely her and that when her character was retrofitted to operate outside of being ‘Hank Pym’s partner’ she still remained recognizably her.

We have a whopping several women on the Avengers at this time (glorious) and Wasp, She-Hulk, Scarlet Witch, and Captain Marvel all feel like different characters.

Since Vision declined Hank Pym’s help, Wasp drops him off back home in Central Indiana.

Once these two were husband and wife, friends and lovers. But they were very different people and, without meaning to, they hurt each other very much. Today, they have perhaps put a small bit of that hurt behind them. Today, they have again become friends.

Daaaaw. Friends.

Wasp returns to Avengers Mansion to discover there’s a full-on party going on. There’s even streamers and a Captain America who seems incredibly enthusiastic about streamers.

(In another fun bit, Monica knew about the party already because she flew ahead to the mansion before joining Wasp in the Quinjet after she dropped off Hank. And she was bursting to not tell Wasp what was going on as they landed.)

Wasp is even more surprised when she learns that the party is celebrating Hawkeye’s marriage.

Wasp: “Barton? You mean Hawkeye? Married?!?”

Hawkeye: “‘Fraid so, Jan! I’d like you to meet my bride... Mockingbird.”

Mockingbird: “How do you do?”

Wasp: “Oh... fine. You’ll have to excuse me. This is... quite a surprise.”

A reaction that Mockingbird says she’s getting used to because she’s seeing it from all of Hawkeye’s friends!

Hah!

Hawkeye asks Cap on the sly whether he made the right move, getting married, but Cap is very supportive, saying its the most responsible thing he’s ever done.

Hawkeye: “What?! Cap, you cut me to the quick! Haven’t I always acted in a mature, responsible manner?”

She-Hulk: “Look who’s talking... the man whose proudest achievement is the invention of the water-balloon arrow!”

Provided She-Hulk isn’t just making stuff up, there’s some serious off-screen shenanigans that we didn’t get to see, possibly involving Hawkeye shooting water balloons at She-Hulk all day.

But... CLINT. YOU INVENTED AN ANTI-GRAVITY ARROW!

Why am I the only one who remembers that?

Thor shows up at the party next, back from his own solo adventures, and offers his own congratulations to Hawkeye.

Mockingbird is undergoing some culture shock here, as she’s astounded that Hawkeye calls Thor “Goldilocks.” And when Thor turns his Thor charm on her, and blesses their wedding, she’s rendered briefly speechless.

Its fun that we get this side of her. I think she was similarly blown away when they met Cap on the subway.

But even though she was a SHIELD agent and then a freelance superhero, she doesn’t seem to have a lot of exposure to your Avengers types so Hawkeye pulling her into those social circles is a lot of fun.

She’s going to get used to it though. I know that she Avenges herself in the future.

Also, look at Thor’s flagon of mead. Holy shit. Its as big as his whole torso.

Jarvis is really dedicated!

Over in a quiet corner of the party, Wanda tries to convince Vision to let Hank Pym take a look at him but Vision dismisses the idea.

Vison: “Please, Wanda, let’s not spoil this happy occasion! Surprise parties are all too rare, and few of them are party to as many surprises as this one!”

And instead of explaining what he means, he turns his hologram off.

Well, okay.

AH HA HE WAS REPAIRED AND JUST DIDN’T MENTION

For reasons of surprise.

What a whimsical turn for the Vision.

Aw, that panel of them kissing and everyone cheering is sweet. That’s how I like to remember them. Not, err, later developments.

(I also like Mockingbird being confused whether or not he’s still a hologram because of his intangibility)

Everyone congratulates Vision for being bipedal again.

Vision: “It’s good to be moving, Jan. But my recovery shouldn’t come as that big of a surprise. As I told you a few days ago, it was just a matter of time before I isolated the cause of my body’s motor dysfunctions -- and initiated the proper repair systems.”

But he tosses some sweet cred to Starfox, for hooking up to an alien supercomputer. It’s like matchmaking but with networks.

The surprise of his surprise recovery pales compared to his next surprise, as he announces (without consulting Wanda at all, geez) that its imperative that she and him stay with the Avengers full-time.

All I’m saying is communication is important, Vizh.

And maybe you should have brought this up with Wasp too? She is the chairwoman and as Cap points out, the team is already pretty packed, especially with Hawkeye and Thor back.

Vision: “Yes, the ‘chairman’s privilege’ limit! But you’re not the leader now, Cap... the Wasp is! And she’ll just have to change that limit -- or the membership roster -- to include Wanda and myself! We will be needed in the upcoming emergency!”

Kinda dropping a lot of surprises on this surprise party, Vision! I don’t know if you really get the concept wholly? You’re not supposed to save up all the surprises for this one day.

Also, Vision’s speech bubbles have changed. They’re still rounded rectangles but they’re not yellow anymore and the font is a bit italicized. Hm. Wonder if that means anything.

Anyway, Vision announces that while he was a tube boy, he detected two major fluctuations of Earth’s electromagnetic fields by some “unknown energy of near-infinite power.”

He’s secretly been working with Reed Richards on this and neither of them have been able to track down what this nonsense is. But until this malevolent mystery is uncovered, he and Wanda as two of the more powerful reservists must obviously be active Avengers.

But how does he know its malevolent if he hasn’t been able to uncover what it is? Deductive reasoning and intuitive presentiment!

Pffffft.

I think this might be my favorite recent punchline from this book.

But Vision has more than just bad vibes to be given a frighten by this upcoming ominousness!

Vision: “The energy I detected goes beyond the limits of any known to man! The power flux showed on our screens for a mere fraction of a second, and then disappeared without a single trace. That concerns me... And it should concern all of us! If we cannot discover the source of this energy, there could be catastrophic consequences!”

And to show how seriously he’s taking this, he makes this horrifying face.

He looks like he’s trying to eat Wasp.

I do not care for this. Either the specific panel or the overall idea of someone eating Wasp.

Anyway, Vision and Scarlet Witch goes off to check the super advanced equipment he installed in the monitor room without asking anyone. He’s doing that a lot lately.

Wasp is both annoyed that he went over her head and impressed with his initiative in doing so.

But she has other matters to attend and asks Thor and Cap(tain America) head down for a private meeting with her.

And now the party is kind of over!

Yeah, you ruined it, Vision! You put too many surprises on the surprise party! You could have saved some for later!

Vision and Scarlet Witch went off to the monitor room. Wasp, Cap(tain America), and Thor went off to have an executive meeting. And Hawkeye and Mockingbird slipped away from their own party not long after that!

Leaving Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, Starfox, and Jarvis to stand around awkwardly wondering where the party went. They didn’t even cut the cake yet!

Dammit Vision!

Hawkeye snuck out to the garden behind Avengers Mansion that’s been there all along. And Mockingbird followed to see what’s bugging him.

Hawkeye: “I’ve always loved this spot. Great tree, isn’t it? Ya know, it’s not easy to get an apple tree to grow this big in the city!”

But Mockingbird sees through that and asks what’s really his beef.

Hawkeye: “Aw, it’s just that I can see another membership shuffle in the works!”

Mockingbird: “So?”

Hawkeye: “So, I’m the one most likely to get bounced!”

I like the range of Hawkeye emotions here.

Hawkeye says that since he has a life (marriage) outside the Avengers now, he doesn’t mind so much being cut from the team. But if they’re going to be facing the latest and greatest menace of all times, he wants to face it with them!

Mockingbird: “That was pretty profound... for a guy who’s supposed to be a butt-head!”

Hawkeye: “Well, thank you, Mrs. Butt-head!”

Aww.

This is a fun bit too.

Mockingbird asks if Hawkeye wants to go inside and get some cake but he shoots an apple from the tree and offers Mockingbird one.

Pretty slick, Clint.

Over at the monitor room, Vision is really into monitoring whatever is upcoming. Super into it. So Wanda has to ask a question.

Scarlet Witch: “Darling... Are you sure you’re all right?”

Vision: “What sort of question is that?”

Scarlet Witch: “You’ve been acting so peculiar lately!”

Vision: “Wanda, how do you expect me to act? I’ve just recovered from spending what seemed like an eternity in a life support tube, able to move about only as a holographic image! Before that, my body was possessed by the dying sorcerer, Necrodamus. And that was almost immediately after I’d gone through the agony of losing an arm. Thankfully, the Inhuman scientists of Attilan were able to restore my limb. But you must admit we’ve both been through a score of trails these past few months! And now, I’ve detected something which could be the biggest menace we’ve ever faced! All things considered, is it really so surprising that I’m acting this way?”

Huuuuuh. I mean, he has a point. That’s a lot of shit in a very short time frame to endure.

This could very reasonably be a reaction to it all.

That’s a very unnerving smile though.

Over at the not-secret but private just Wasp, Thor, and Cap(tain America) meeting, Wasp, Thor, and Cap(tain America) are meeting.

Well, really, its more that Thor is recapping the tale of Beta Ray Bill for the other two. But we, the readers, just get an editor’s caption telling us to read Walter Simonson’s Thor (and I don’t need to be told twice) and Thor summing up to the salient point that Donald Blake is gone forever and is definitely never going to come back multiple times.

What Cap takes from this is ‘hey i hope that means you’re back on the team then!’ which Thor affirms.

Thor: “Aye, Captain America! Some of my finest hours have been as an Avenger. It would be the greatest honor to continue my service in your company... if you will have me!

But Wasp isn’t going to dump Thor from the roster!

Problem being, what the heck is she going to do with the roster? She doesn’t want to dump anyone off it, she doesn’t want to tell Vision to eff off, but she doesn’t want to lead an unwieldy team either. Six is a good number of Avengers!

I love Wasp’s note paper where she’s scrawled various roster ideas, clearly getting more and more frustrated with the exercise.

Cap suggests that maybe a temporary expansion would be the best move, if there even is a menace!

He’s somewhat doubtful of Vision’s story but wouldn’t you know it, as soon as he says that, the priority alarm goes off because Vision has detected the Ominous Energy Readings again.... IN CENTRAL PARK!

And lest anyone doubt Vision this time, an enormous and blinding flash lights up the Manhattan skies.

Cap: “I... believe you, Vision.”

Hah.

The Avengers head for Central Park with devices that Vision has created that will help them trace the energy but he could have saved the time.

There’s a big obvious structure that wasn’t there before. Odds are pretty good that that’s the anomaly.

Hmmm... Y’know, that structure looks familiar. As if I’ve seen it somewhere... But wheeeeeeeeeerre. I guess its a secret to everyone.

The sudden appearance of a large structure right after a massive flash isn’t even the weirdest thing going on. As Reluctant Science Guy Starfox waves around the detecting device, he realizes that the Ominous energy isn’t coming from the giant structure. It seems to be coming from everywhere. But it dips as you get closer to the structure.

Starfox posits that the energy is being focused on the ring from another location.

Curiouser and curioserer.

The Avengers poke around some more. Hawkeye calls attention to an arch built into the wall of the structure. It’s just real interesting. It’s super, incredibly interesting. Plus, the air is nice in the arch.

And it’s an arch. It looks like it’d be a doorway or tunnel to the middle of the structure but it doesn’t go anywhere.

Huh.

How fascinating.

She-Hulk, Cap(tain America), Captain Marvel, Wasp, and Thor join Hawkeye in the arch and agree that it’s a pretty interesting arch.

Perhaps this arch was made for them.

As soon as they join Hawkeye in it, there’s another blinding flash of light and those Avengers vanish in a curl of smoke.

Wow.

I can’t believe Hawkeye, She-Hulk, Captains America and Marvel, Wasp and Thor are dead.

Huh. And Wasp was just complaining about having too many Avengers!

Everyone is appropriately shocked by this, especially Vision because there were no energy emissions coming from the thing so it should have been inert.

Scarlet Witch and Starfox wonder whether the missing Avengers have been teleported somewhere, into some other story... or destroyed.

But before they can investigate the structure for clues, or see if it’ll strike again?, the whole thing vanishes as quickly as it appeared.

The plus side is that it makes Starfox lean toward ‘teleported’ which still doesn’t answer where the Avengers have been taken or who would do it.

If it’s the Collector again, I swear!

Here we go... Follow @essential-avengers because I thought I had more time! Oh geez, I don’t know how I’m going to handle this... Also, like and reblog because I like to think I do good work.

#Avengers #Ominous Energy #the Wasp #Captain America #Captain Marvel #monica rambeau #the Vision #Scarlet Witch #Thor #She Hulk #Hawkeye #Mockingbird #Starfox #Vision ruins a party but not how you'd think #Jarvis is the world's best butler #Everyone's shock and alarm that Hawkeye got married #frequent culture shock for Mockingbird #Essential Avengers #essential marvel liveblogging

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electronicdelusionstarlight · 3 years

Note

wait a minute. So I've read your bits on civil war 2008, and I have a question for you: all the characters in the civil war event, at least the major players(like stark, Cap, Spidey, FF), do you believe that they are acting OOC, or that the writers chose to bring out the character's worse qualities to create drama?

And do you think that if the writers had written them In Character, or at least written them to be more balanced, would it have improved the story? Actually, do you think that Civil War could have been... at least A not Bad Story under an intense rewrite? or that the whole concept should have been thrown away?

The OOC talk is tempting and also partially justified. There is a batch of previous stories scattered through the years with the Fantastic Four dealing with similar scenarios where Reed is pretty much anti-government.

1) In one Social Services sue the FF4 for endangering Reed and Sue Kids by keeping them in the Baxter Building despite it being blown up once every 2 weeks. They ask them to "register" them and put them in a safe government facility, so to spearhead a new law where they can get pre-teen superhumans "out of harm way" or some shit.

Keep in mind Franklin is still a Mutant in this story (And still is right now because FUCK YOU SLOTT). Anyway, Reed seemingly agrees,only to set up a dummy facility and "register" his kids there. He doesn't even announce it he literally only writes it in the Government's documentation and shit.

The facility is razed to the ground a couple hours later. Because yes the Baxter Building can explode at any time but AT LEAST they are there to protect the kids from the countless people.

2) In another story, Reed is asked by Congress to create a device that outs mutants and "abnormal" humans, so the government can better individuate them for "reasons." Reed agrees, and makes a device SO POWERFUL it detects every deviations from the supposed norm, so when he gives a demonstration in Congress, he reveals half of its members would qualify as "Mutants" if they kept that line of inquiry, which makes them hastily drop the whole thing. This was intentional, because who the fuck are they to decide who is or isn't not normal?

3) Compare and Contrast with Civil Ear Reed Richards, who is a McCarthy apologist who goes "Logically speaking, we need to listen to the government on this one otherwise we might get burned just like my (gay coded) artist uncle was by the McCarthy Trials in the 50s when he told the court to shove it and his life was ruined as a result. It's the rational way to do it."

4) (The three main proponents of the Registration Side being Rich, White, Heterosexual Men in positions of powers, with jobs in the science field that justify their decision with "Facts and Logic" was PROBABLY unintentional, but is also a great unintended allegory for this kind of shit. The ones who are hurt the most but these kind of laws are the ones who can't afford it after all, and who is ever going to go after the rich and powerful first? Especially if they come with little repercussions on their lives (Tony, Reed and Hank where all already outed as Superheroes after all))

5) Peter is OOC in OMD mind you, Civil War goes pretty much how you'd expect him to go (gets manipulated by authority figure into it, MJ and May are supportive of him because they see only half the facts, the SECOND Peter realizes that those people are monsters he drops them and gets the shit beaten out of him for it, unlike Reed or Tony who can AFFORD having their identities public Peter barely has the money to survive which ends with May getting shot for it). It's an incredibly poignant scenario that I wish was used to TELL A MESSAGE rather than just a backdrop to shoehorn OMD in.

6) Which is to say Civil War could indeed be written better under the same premise. If they want to keep the Patriot Act Allegory, they should be aware of what that would entail for the characters that support it.

We are currently seeing a similar scenario going on in Marvel in the Champions comics where the registration side is pretty much spearheaded by an unambiguous evil corporation and shit. In light of Civil War I existing the whole thing kinda loses its impact (Like that one joke scene where Tony goes "Maybe we should register them" with a smug look on his face as if he isn't responsible for so many deaths), but at least they are trying to shift the conversation? The villain is not the Government of course it's Evil Apple, but at least it's not a "Both Sides are equally ok" centrist bullshit take like they did in Civil War or in Skyrim.

Like, fuck, it's literally called CIVIL WAR to invoke the American Civil War in the context of the "brother kills brother" interpretation some bastards are so fond off, I wouldn't call THAT a "Both Sides are valid" scenario by a long fucking mile, yet here we are.

7) I think the best way to put it would be to set up the same scenario but make it realistic to the setting and shit.

Hank and Tony still support the Government because one is a Skrull Chaos Agent the other is misguided, Carol takes Reed's place in the Triad because Women can be War Criminals too (She was leading the equivalent of a child soldier program during Civil War so she is one already at least). Steve is also anti government because this is happening during the fucking BUSH ADMINISTRATION and he goes "When will Washington decide who the villains are?" Like he did in canon but in, like, a poignant moment.

Speaking of Reed he will keep his family neutral and go "I admit superheroing does need failsafes and some kind of oversight mind you, I just don't this this country's government has demonstrated their right to be that."

Let's not put the "Cap you are out of touch because you don't know what MySpace is" or "Luke every time I see a Sentinel that's like seeing a Burning Cross" rants in the story too because those were some raw shit.

Tony, again, lives in privilege, so it wouldn't exactly affect him, and is genuinely trying to do good, so we need to put him as the "Patsy" who gets duped by Skrull Hank Pym for it, the government is the one with the secret prison for Superheroes, Hank is the one recruiting Nazi Scientists and starting child soldier programs, clones Thor, sets up with the Government a Super Prison in the Ocean (can't use the negative zone without Reed), outside of US Jurisdiction so the government can ship then there with no trial and torture them. When Skrull Hank Pym is confronted for it, and the blame is attempted to be pinned on him and him alone, he goes "Are you earthlings daft or something? I did almost nothing, it was your government who did most of the work in their desire for security and safety, I just sped up the process for them, they would have done all of this with or without me."

Around the ending Tony finds out and is devastated and drops the whole thing."

When someone tries to comfort Tony over it because he didn't know any of this he goes "Oh, that's were you're wrong Peter. I knew. Deep down, I knew things weren't right, unjust, but I did nothing, because I could make things better from the inside, because it didn't affect me, because It would have been inconvenient to me to stop this. This is on me for passively accepting it as it is on the ones who enforced it." Which leads him to make amends, that way he is not as much of a awful character here.

The scene where The US kidnaps Ororo so they can strong arm Tchalla into getting registered happens but is treated as a international crisis as it deserves.

The Prison Break finale happens because Namor discovers the prison in HIS FUCKING DOMAIN and just goes ham on it with the help of the Anti Registration side, he drops a line like "I've seen shit like this before, I've seen what happens when man declares another man a criminal for things out of their control, for what they've been from birth, and I say NOT IN MY KINGDOM!" or some shit (He is a WWII veteran after all).

Since Steve isn't pummeling to the ground Tony in this scenario there isn't the dumb as fuck Everyday Heroes scene and he doesn't get shot by Sharon later on..

We have instead the scene from Secret Invasion where Skrull Hank Pym kills Steve (In SI it was Skrull Queen killing Janet Van Dyne) on national television, which leads to the anger of everyone involved who rush him, only for Tony to be the one who pull the trigger.

Tony is put in charge of SHIELD, which leads to Iron Reign (Dark Reign equivalent), and the story ends with him going "Let's see if things can reach change from the inside this time" as he actually reforms Shield from his position of power. The Registration Act becomes unpopular due to Steve's death and Alien Interferences, so that helps, and leads to actual protests in the streets after Namor reveals to the UN the war crimes the US is committing. It's a slow process, but is something.

OMD doesn't happen, The Peter storyline remains pretty much the same, but instead of Tony bragging about his private prisons for Superheroes in hell, it's the Punisher who shows up to him and reveals some troubling shit he discovered, Peter Confront Tony for it who dismisses it as fake news because he doesn't want to believe, Peter drops the registration side out of disgust, which then leads to the government sending villains after him rather than Tony. Tony is then seen strongly arguing with Maria Hill for this since Peter almost died from what he got from his suit readings (which he never hijacked or deactivated), but the Skrull Hank Pym shows up and supports Maria Hill for it, and Carol is busy with her child soldier program to comment.

May still gets shot and dies right as Peter and MJ discover MJ is pregnant with their second Daughter, which is ripe for lots of good stuff.

Maria Hill will therefore have to take even more of a role as a Government Plant and shit, but what's new.

Johnny Storm still gets hate crimed on but not by black people. Maybe confirm him as Bi while we're at it? You know, to get topical and all.

Ideally No More Mutants never happened so mutants are still a thing and most of them are vehemently anti registration. Emma Frost appears neutral at first glance, but ultimately she is playing the long game, secretly helping militant mutant groups and shielding the school from unwanted attention. She still has a restraining order filled for Tony Stark, she still points out to Carol how fucking dangerous a mutant life can be if outed via mind powers.

Can't think of much else for now, maybe Felicia helping MJ and May while they are in hiding? MJ is nauseous and all and she goes "must be the nerves" and Felicia agrees but May knows. This could lead to the polycule post May death since Felicia blames herself for it for not being fast enough, and MJ now is pregnant and scared and the Registration Act is getting repealed by the future is still glum and Peter is depressed so they all comfort each other and then 69 issues later we have a two parter maxi event where they face their fears and BANG we get the polycule.

Aunt May still poisons the Chameleon while he was posing as Peter. She actually actually poisons him rather then just drug him this time, because she knows of that one time he tried to force himself on MJ while posing as Peter which lead to MJ beating the shit out of him with a baseball bat, and May is a nice old lady but there are things she really can't stand you know?

Felicia and MJ help her hide the body. Peter never finds out.

And that's it?

#anti civil war #marvel

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plasticnightmaredoll · 3 years

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So, "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" -- or more accurately "Captain America and the Winter Soldier" -- has its season 1 finale, and...hmmm...there are a lot of things to take in, dissect.

While I did enjoy this series, I felt that "WandaVision" flowed much more smoothly, and while it also took some time to really "get going," the sheer amount of questions proposed in the beginning episodes made up for it. There was so much to keep coming back for. TFatWS seems too short and probably should have been 9 episodes. A lot was crammed in 6 episodes, and it went over with decent success. But I think it could have been much better.

WandaVision final grade: A

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier final grade: B

Now, it's time to get into the spoiler-filled part of the review, so if you haven't seen episode 6 of TFatWS, or have yet to see the whole series, I highly recommend you DON'T read any further.

Karli and the Flag Smashers

The acting was great all around, so no qualms there. However, I do feel like Karli's character was too bland. I mean, I understood her struggle and could sympathize with her to some degree, but I thought she wasn't a compelling antagonist like Agatha Harkness from "WandaVision" or John Walker.

Sam's speech to politicians (and people in general) may seem kind of "woke," and perhaps it is. However, he made valid points. The Flag Smashers weren't evil. Their actions were "evil" but their intentions were good. They wanted a "world without borders," to unite all people. Labels can be dangerous, they can identify people as something they're not. People in power often forget there are those without power who are struggling and trying to survive.

It may seem like a plot hole or something similar that Karli didn't tell Sam who Sharon really was. I think it made sense, though, because who would believe it? Sharon could easily have found a way to prove her innocence.

Of course, Zemo still got to kill off some of the Flag Smashers. It isn't too surprising when you think about it. He is just too damn clever (and too damn rich).

John Walker/U.S. Agent

Speaking of John Walker, I was...surprised to see him stop being an ass and choose to save people instead of just smashing his shield into terrorist faces. I kind of wanted more build-up to this "redemption," so to speak. He was such a complex antagonist, I was hoping to see more of his dark side.

Maybe we don't have to worry, though, because John is now U.S. Agent, and he is working for/with Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine aka Madame Hydra (mostly like he has no idea who she truly is). I think he still has this delusion that he is the real Captain America or perhaps superior to Captain America.

Sam Wilson/Flacon/Captain America

Sam's Captain America suit looks incredible. It's still red, white and blue but a much different design. Including the wings brings forth an American eagle kind of aesthetic.

Sam demonstrated (per usual) why he is better suited (lol) as Captain America because he thinks before he acts. He's not out to kill, but he's out to protect and help people. He tries to de-escalate the situation with Karli despite her trying to fight him. He also makes sure to tell people not to see the Flag Smashers as simply terrorists. John Walker isn't this level-headed, which is why he failed as Captain America.

"A little birdie told me you know how to fly a helicopter." 🤭

It was lovely to see Isaiah Bradley get a tribute to him in a museum for all to see, so he wouldn't be left unremembered for all he did.

Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier

The moment we have been waiting for finally came: Bucky confessed to Nakajima what happened to his son. It had to be one of the most difficult things he's ever done, but it was the right decision in the end. Providing closure isn't always easy, but it's necessary. It let Nakajima finally know what happened to his son, something that plagued him daily. It also lets Bucky get some more weight off his shoulders by revealing the truth.

Sharon Carter

Sharon Carter, oh boy. Now, some say it could be inconsistent that she is the Power Broker when it was a man in the Marvel movies. I think if you look at it in different ways, it can make sense. For one, maybe the previous Power Broker is dead? Perhaps it is secretly more than one person? Maybe the man is a front and it's the woman who is in charge (a la "Tenet")? Perhaps the Power Broker recruited Sharon? Since there isn't a clear answer given, you can come up with various valid possibilities.

It does make me wonder how long Sharon has been working for the other side. It could have been during her exile that she decided to take some action? It will be interesting to see what happens with her character moving forward. I can't picture her just fading into the background since she's going to be in a position to play a crucial role in helping her group.

A lot of good stuff happened in this finale, but I feel like things were a bit rushed. The story didn't get interesting until episode 4, which left only 2 episodes to dive deeper. That's not a lot of time, especially with all the characters and subplots running around.

But I do hope we get a second season. I'd like to see more of Sam and Bucky's adventures, and hopefully see Bucky actually happy for once.

#the falcon and the winter solider spoilers #tfatws #the falcon and the winter soldier #bucky barnes #sam wilson #captain america #winter solider #mcu #marvel #disney plus #sharon carter #helmut zemo #john walker #u.s. agent

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aj-allen97 · 3 years

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Marvel What If Thoughts and Theories Part Two

Alrighty Marvel has dropped a second trailer and a releases date (August 11!!!) of their upcoming animated series What If, so let’s get right down to it and break down what I saw and what I think it possibly means.

First Segment: Recreation of the first Iron Man movie where Tony Starks Caravan gets bombed on. Yet diverges from the movie when a wild Killmonger appears and rescues Tony Stark, which would mean Iron Man the hero would not happen since there is no reason for Tony Stark to build the suit anymore.

Now Killmonger grabs that bomb and chucks it away like it’s nothing implying that he is probably enhanced to some degree. Maybe he took that Heart Herb earlier in this time line, maybe he went through his own version of the super Solider serum during his time with the army who can say at this point.

Now in this scene he is definitely wearing his Killmonger outfit making me lean towards army possibly, or even maybe a Wakanda Watchdog? We also know he still goes by Killmonger since it’s literally stitched to his chest plate.

Now if this Iron Man scene is connected to TChalla being taken by Yondu then maybe when Tchaka kills his brother he took the child and raised him as his heir (maybe Shuri hasn’t been born yet). Or if it isn’t connected to that T’Challa segment then maybe Tchaka took Erik with him out of guilt. Or Killmonger was hired to kidnapped Tony Stark and beat Stane to the punch.

Not really have much to say about the Dr. Strange one as of yet but it does look like he searching for something, and dabbling into things he shouldn’t be. And he also appears to be getting into a fight with the Ancient One over it.

There’s this one scene showing someone enter this one room with a circle on their back and I think it’s Peggy. I think she may end up getting Excalibur or maybe another enchanted Sword or Amulet and truly embracing the Captain Britain moniker.

But the next segment showing the Avengers glitching to the Guardians makes me think the Avengers never happened but the Guardians did happened. Now on the Guardians lineup we have T’Challa, his cousin Erik because that does look like Eriks Black Panther suit (but I could be wrong), Gamora, and Thor (I’m also gonna bet that instead of Rocket the Racoon we’re gonna get Howard the Duck to kind of complete the line up)

It’s also clear as heck that T’Challa and Yondu have a better relationship then Yondu and Peter. To the point T’Challa never broke away from the Ravengers, and still does jobs with Yondu. Yet TChalla is wearing purple instead of Clan Udontu Red.

There’s also a brief scene with Hulk and possibly Natasha? Where the Hulk breaks out of the base. Now whether this is Banner or not is up for debate. It appears like he’s fighting some type or army. Zombie, humans, androids is up for debate as well.

Loki appears to have the Asgardian Army at his beck and call with Volstagg and the rest of the warrior three in the background. Looks like they are in the process of invading Midgard. Possibly that scene where I believe Thor dies instead of being sent back with Jane empty handed.

Later on we get a scene where Loki releases the enteral winter casket on Fury, possibly killing Fury and other shield agents and kickstarting Asgard invasion of Midgard.

Let’s see Howard the Duck being freeded, vision talking with Stark? Killmonger back in Wakanda possibly fighting some threat….

Peggy Carter meeting a haggard looking Dr. Strange. Either he went back in time accidentally, or brought her forward in time. Which would make more sense for Peggy then getting frozen in Ice

Let’s see Zombie Stark entering the Field with Zombie Cap. Definitely intelligent Zombies. Maybe something to do with the army and hulk maybe not.

One scene where Thor is surrounded by lighting…I think given the body language and background it isthe part where Thor gets an arrow to the back courtesy of Hawkguy.

A younger Shuri surrounded by Dora Milaje fighting, possibly connected to the scene where Killmonger was fighting earlier. Maybe their trying to get the princess to safety? Since Killmonger and the Queen are busy fighting.

Later we see a Dora Milaje fighting a scarlet witch, so my theory is Ultron and the Scarlet Witch is invading Wakanda.

I believe that’s Ego…in a bar? Looking for Peter? Yondu? T’Challa? Either way he doesn’t look happy.

Carter fighting a tentacle monster with a sword (possibly setting up Captain Britain with the enchanted sword and amulet arc?), I believe we see it again later.

Red head women yielding the shield. Killmonger definitely leading an army. Lots of Ultron bots, possibly trying to take over Wakanda? Queen Ramonda also leading the charge against the invaders. Vision or maybe the Scarlet Witch removing the mind stone from his head. T’Challa kicking the Collectors butt, possibly he wins and he released the imprisoned collection.

So a lot of stuff is happening. Many I don’t have context for. Spider man, the head in the jar, that dude who is possibly hulk?

Not for sure if they are all gonna be apart of their own separate episode arc, or whether or not the first seasons episodes are gonna align with one another is up for debate. Either way it looks great. Can’t wait for August.

#disney #Disney+#marvel #marvel cinematic universe #mcu what if #marvel what if

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lazywriter7 · 4 years

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Cap-Ironman Rec Week - What-If Wednesday

It’s time to rec some Steve/Tony AUs for @cap-ironman‘s What If Wednesday! If you loved these stories half as much as I did, please shower the authors with kudos and comments <3

Underground by Margo_Kim:

Five years ago, Thor's Chitauri army decimated the Earth. Now what's left of humanity lives in bases under the Earth's surface, safe from the toxic atmosphere. Tony likes to think that humanity's adapted pretty well. After all, they have movie nights and dances; they're doing better than could be expected. But when he learns that the little world of safety and stability they've carved out is about to be slowly but surely destroyed, the New York Underground is left with only two options--fight or flight. Tony knows which one he wants. If only Steve weren't on the exact opposite side. Meanwhile, Natasha wants whatever option will save Clint, Pepper wants whatever option will save the base, Maria Hill wants whatever option will save everybody, and nobody's exactly sure who Loki's trying to save, but everyone's hoping it's more than just himself.

~ Apocalypse!AU. This fic reads like a movie, with all of the dramatic tension, an excellent ensemble cast, beautiful Steve/Tony moments and a breathtaking climax that’s everything you could ever want from a story like this. (With bonus phenomenal Loki moments, if that’s your kind of thing ;) )

ceaselessly into the past by shepherd:

Edge of Tomorrow/Live.Die.Repeat AU, following the movie. After earth is invaded by the Chitauri, Tony Stark is forcefully drafted into the military for a suicide mission. It ends up with him being inexplicably caught in a time loop that always seems to end with him dying horrifically. And, of course, the day was a Thursday- he had never gotten the hang of Thursdays.

~ Movie AUs/fusions are the Best Thing, especially if they’re half as well written as this one! I hadn’t watched the movie before reading the fic, and goddamn if it didn’t stun me with it’s excellent character-driven writing. Even after watching the movie, I can attest that none of it feels forced, but like Steve and Tony were meant to live, die and fall in love in this manner <3

Pulse and Beat series by sineala:

Cassino, Italy, December 1943. Special Agent Tony Stark, former Marvels adventurer, is sent to investigate a Cosmic Cube found by the Invaders -- and it's the perfect opportunity for him to rekindle his secret romance with Steve Rogers. But when Hydra attempts to steal the Cube, an inadvertent wish for help leads to the appearance of a Tony from the future of another world: Director Stark of SHIELD. This Tony is a man with a lot on his mind. He refuses to tell them anything about the future, but he seems to know much more than he should about Captain America. And something's happened that's clearly killing him inside, but he's not talking. When Director Stark's failed attempt to return home leads to the unexpected appearance of another visitor from his universe, all the lies come undone. Now there are two wars to fight, and the second one could ruin all of them.

~ If you’re thinking that no one needs to be told to read Sineala’s fics - well let me just say that this is one of my absolute favourite of their works and it hasn’t gotten nearly as much acclaim as it deserves! A fantastic canon-divergence Noir/616 crossover AU for the ages, with a sprinkling of 616 Civil War fix-it to really get you going.

strays by theappleppielifestyle:

Tony will take whatever he can get from Steve, which is pathetic, because he’s not even really friends with him.

Or, the highschool!AU where Pepper is Tony's much-needed therapist, Darcy is his parter in crime, Bruce needs to go through puberty, Clint shows up to school with bruises and Steve just wants everyone to get through this intact.

~ Highschool AUs are my secret Kryptonite - there’s just something about the emotional vulnerability of characters that age that get me sniffling. Again, no one needs to be told to read theappleppielifestyle‘s fics, but this is another one of those soft, sweet, poignant reads that deserves all of the attention in the world.

The Idiot Box by Margo_Kim:

Stephanie Rogers isn't happy to be in the 21st century, but she's even less thrilled to be on a team with Antonia Stark who seems as spoiled and self-centered as people come. She and Tony do their best to ignore each other, until their mutual insomnia causes them to bond over the new American pastime: late night television watching.

~ this author’s AU’s are just *chef’s kiss*. Featuring cis!female Steph and Tony, with some touching dynamics and laugh-out-loud moments, this is an MCU fic written pre-Avengers, which is a bit of a lovely rarity all by itself.

I’ve got you under my skin by sirona:

Five times Beijing 2008 Olympics Gold Medalist Tony Stark thinks it's going to be no more difficult a job to get ready for London 2012, than what he has just achieved. That is, of course, before Coach Fury comes to visit, and offers him a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be a part of something much bigger than himself. Swimming AU.

~ No AU reclist is complete without a Sports!AU :D The characters here read as authentic to their canon selves, even as they’re participating in competitive sports rather than beating up bad guys - Tony’s arc in particular is really heartwarming <3

Look here, look back, look ahead by marinarusalka:

September, 1941: Returning from a mission as Iron Man, Tony Stark crash-lands in the Carpathian Mountains and is rescued by Captain America. The two heroes team up to investigate Nazi activity at a mysterious castle. But Captain America is keeping secrets that could destroy their new partnership before it has a chance to begin.

~ Some lovely, lovely IM Noir canon divergence AU <3 It also comes bundled with identity porn, and Noir verse is just such a delightful verse to soak in that you all should really go read this at once.

And finally a self-rec or two-

Even Though We Know Love’s Landscape:

But at the core, he’s the same brand of poor little rich guy that dot the shadowed corners of every charity gala, every award function. Sure, maybe it comes in a ‘genius billionaire playboy philanthropist’ package… but his mettle is common iron. A drop of sea water, a dash of air, and he’d rust right through.

She, on the other hand, is made of better stuff.

In which Tony compares people to weird things, Steph recites poetry and two dorks fall in love.

~ AU with cis!female Steve, with all the team living in the Tower and a bunch of feels, fluff and poetry thrown in for good measure :D

Swing City:

“Of all the places you could go to on holiday, you had to pick the one where everything can possibly kill you.”

“I’m here on exchange, actually.” Steve returned primly. "And I’m pretty sure nothing can kill me in a gallery.”

“That’s the tragic bit. You’re in a gallery.” Sam’s tone was impressively flat, even for him. “You’re in Australia. Go hiking in the bush with the poisonous snakes. Surfing with the murderous jellyfish.”

Spoiler alert: Tony's in Australia too. And he's a swing dancer.

~ Is this a kind-of college!AU+Dancer!AU set in Australia, with Steve still as Cap? Yes, yes it is. I had a rollicking good time writing it, plus all of Steve’s Man Out of Time feels, so you’ll get no apologies from this quarter :D

#capimrecweek #stony #stevetony #fic recs #steve rogers #tony stark #mcu stony #marvel 616 #marvel noir #canon divergence #alternate universe

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nellie-elizabeth · 3 years

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The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: One World, One People (1x06)

Oof, okay, so I obviously enjoyed watching this, but I do have some things I would like to discuss.

Cons:

The biggest one is honestly about Isaiah. I understand that this is a superhero show, and there's some cheesiness baked into the very concept of it. I like the idea of a triumphant ending for our heroes, where amends are made and everyone is brought some measure of peace. BUT, I feel like a more nuanced, more true to reality ending here with Isaiah might have been different. Maybe he gives a tip of the hat to Sam, says he's happy he's found his peace, but he still doesn't agree with his choices. See, the thing is, some people who have been hurt by systems want that system to acknowledge its mistake, to apologize, to make amends. That's what Sam is pushing for. He believes we can do better, and all that. And that's a wonderful perspective. But other people who have been hurt by systems might not want anything to do with that system ever again. At the end, when Sam sets up the part of the museum for Isaiah, he says "now everyone will know what you did for this country," and Isaiah seemed pleased and touched by this. But I couldn't help but think... he was forced into doing those things, and then punished for doing them. If he'd decided he didn't want acknowledgment, didn't want to be linked to the idea of American heroism... I couldn't blame him for that. It might have added more nuance to the ending. Sam could have even said that it's okay if he and Isaiah don't agree on the best way forward, they still have mutual respect, or whatever.

As a white lady, maybe I'm off base. I'm just really curious at what the reaction is going to be. All through watching this show I kept saying to myself that an ending where Sam takes up the shield and becomes Captain America can't stand on its own. There's got to be nuance. There's got to be some good justification for it. And as I'll talk about in a moment, I think they've done an okay job... but I also wouldn't be surprised to find some people enormously dissatisfied with this conclusion. Steve Rogers handed the shield to Sam, yes. But should we forget what he did before handing it over? Well, he walked away from the government and was on the run because he didn't respect their choices. Just some food for thought.

I also just want to say: ????? to that ending for John Walker? It was so bizarre to see the light banter moment between him and Bucky after Walker had quoted Lincoln. Like... that felt so out of place. And now he's being made into an American agent? I don't understand that random lady's role in events. I don't know if I'm supposed to think it's sinister and creepy as fuck that John still has a uniform, and even the suggestion of authority (I do think it's creepy as fuck, for the record), or if I'm supposed to be... pleased that he got a new job? Just, tonally, the stuff with Walker in this finale was all over the place. He didn't seem to really matter, and yet he was still there, and the episode didn't seem able to reckon with his presence.

Oh, also, I can totally respect a bit of ham-fisted politic in a show like this. It's really the only way to do it. But Karli saying that Lamar didn't matter, and John saying "you think Lemar's life didn't matter?" was, perhaps, a little on the nose. I'm not sure I like the BLM mouthpiece being blond haired blue eyed John Walker, especially when Lemar's death, at least as a narrative function, only happened to allow John to get sad and angry about it. Where's his wing in the museum, huh?

Also Sharon Carter, she's my girl or whatever, but I gotta admit she was kind of boring to me in this whole series. I wanted more from her. The reveal that she was the Power Broker had me shrugging. I wanted to be more shocked, but she was so clearly telegraphed as being fishy from minute one. The fact is, we haven't had enough time with this character to figure out who she actually is as a person, yet. I don't understand her, and that's a shame.

Pros:

That was a long "cons" section, especially for an episode that kept me riveted the whole way through!

First off, the action was exciting and different and had so many classic "superhero moments" while not totally abandoning a more grounded feel. Sam holding the car up was such a Moment. Also the "that's Black Falcon!" "No, that's Captain America" moment was so cheesy but exactly the right kind of cheesy, you know? We got to see everyone being a bad-ass, crowds applauding, Sam's fantastic entrance with the new suit, the wings, the shield... damn. It was all cool in the way the best Marvel products need to be.

So, Sam taking the shield. I think it works because of his speech to the politicians. Specifically calling out the power they have, and the people they have in the room with them when they make the decisions that will affect so many people. There's this wonderful moment when one of the politicians asks a legitimate question: what about people who came back after the snap to find someone else living in their house? It's so complicated. And as the show ends, we're not given a simple answer. Sam merely points out the miracle of having everyone fighting the same fight for once. These rich and powerful people have had no idea how impossible it can be, and now they're getting a taste of that. There might just be the power of equalizing in all of this.

And most important to me? The government didn't hand Sam the shield. Sam took it and took ownership of it on his own terms. Think back to the legacy of Steve and the shield, honestly. Yes, he was given it by the government, but then he stole it when he ran away, then he gave it up, then Tony gave it back to him... it's a lot more complicated than it might first appear. Nobody's going to argue that the shield was Steve's to give, and he gave it to Sam, and Sam took it for his own. That made it work for me, as a direct contrast to the way in which John Walker got his hands on it.

Karli's death was inevitable and tragic. While I never cared all that much for her character as an individual, she worked quite well as a symbol. Sam points this out in his speech as well. Hasn't anyone stopped to wonder why people believed in this cause so much they were willing to die for it? That matters. It means something. And more will follow. I appreciate that the show ends on an ambiguous note. The people in power are still the people in power. And yes, their decision has been postponed. They've decided not to relocate people and replace the borders immediately. But what is the long-term solution? How does the world begin to heal? Well, we don't know. We don't get to see that.

If anyone got short shrift in this finale it was Bucky, but I'm honestly okay with that for a couple of reasons. One, this is Sam's show and I'm happy that it stayed that way. And two, we saw Bucky's emotional arc come to a head in last week's episode. The work isn't done, but he knows what the work is that he has to do, and we see him start to do that. He gives the journal up to his therapist. A way of letting go of his guilt, but also of saying goodbye to Steve in a way that can give him some actual closure. He confesses to his friend Yuri what really happened to his son.

And more than all of that, he shows up to hang out with Sam and his family. He brings cake. He goofs off with the kids. He hugs his friend, his partner, Sam Wilson. I can see Bucky coming to peace with some things. Coming into his own. It breaks my heart that we don't get to see more of that play out on screen. The show had to make a choice about whose story to prioritize, and in my opinion it made the right choice. This was a show about Sam's journey and Sam's decision here at the end was the capstone of that.

That scene at the end, though... the kids hanging off of Bucky's metal arm was such a poignant image for me, because this man is a killing machine, was designed to be so, but has remade himself into something else, and this moment really showcased that. Also, that gay-ass ending of Sam and Bucky looking out over the water together and then strolling away, Sam's arm around Bucky? Thank you for my life, Disney, I guess. And we got Bucky calling Sam "Cap," and his obvious admiration and pride in him for his speech... I just love them, y'all. I really do.

I wouldn't say anything about this show broke the mold or made me really excited about Marvel again. I enjoyed it, because I already liked Sam and Bucky, and I got to spend more time with them. I was nervous about how they were going to navigate certain political stickiness, and honestly I think they did... an okayish job. I could have wished for them to go even further, but they didn't take the easy way out, in my opinion.

I hope they make more of this someday. Regardless, I'm not ready to say goodbye to Sam Wilson or Bucky Barnes, so I hope we get to see Captain America and the White Wolf grace our screens again in some project or other!

8.5/10

#review #fatws #fatws review #the falcon and the winter soldier #the falcon and the winter soldier review #falcon and the winter soldier #falcon and the winter soldier review

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pocketmouse18 · 3 years

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Thank you so much to @herosofmarvelanddc @cloudypaws and @mtab2260 for the tag! This was so much fun to think about :)

(fair warning, I wrote too much for many of these...)

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Just 2 :)

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

450,577 if I did my math right!

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Officially? Just 1 - Agents of Shield (two, I guess, if you count MCU as separate, since I use characters from both...). Off the record, many more than that! I have lots of bits and bobs from other fandoms that I tinkered with when I was younger, still getting the hang of writing, not brave enough to post things, etc. etc. Some of those include X-Men, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, the Fosters, Star Wars, the Hunger Games, the 39 Clues, and a few others I can’t remember. None of those will likely see the light of day, mostly because they’re unfinished, not very good, and just not reflective of who I am as a writer anymore, but they were fun to play around with at the time :)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I just have the two, but The Important Thing is to Try wins, hands down, with 1227. Shoulder to Shoulder has 95, though, which I’m also very proud of! Important Thing has a definite advantage, being as long as it is, so I don’t know if that’s really a fair comparison between them.

5. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Yes! Or at least, I always try to! I just can’t believe someone would be kind enough to take the time to tell me what they thought of my story, so I always want to take the time to thank them and return the favor :) Plus, as I’ve learned, it’s a fantastic way to get to know some really lovely people!

6. What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Well... I technically only have one story that has an ending, at least on Ao3, and it’s not an especially angsty one, since it ends in Phil and Melinda getting married :) I have some angsty chapter endings in Important Thing, if that counts? I’m not even sure if any of my unpublished fiddlings have angsty endings (most don’t have endings at all lol)... I don’t mind writing angst, but I don’t know if I’m capable of making something without a happy (or at least hopeful) ending.

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you've ever written?

Not really, unless you count AoS/MCU crossovers (which I guess technically count, but also I would argue it’s not a true crossover since (and I will die on this hill) AoS is a part of MCU canon). When I was younger I was a fan of playing around with crossover AUs more so than the actual characters crossing paths (so like, what if these characters from XYZ were demigods or went to Hogwarts or what have you, and not so much what would happen if the X-Men met Luke, Leia, and Han on one of their space adventures). I started writing a crossover between AoS and the Marvel Rising cartoon once (which again, not sure if that’s a true crossover, since Daisy was in Marvel Rising, but I digress), where Coulson tasks Daisy to work with Kate Bishop and Rayshaun Lucas to collect and train a team of young Inhumans, starting with Kamala Khan, but I ran out of steam pretty quickly when it got too plot heavy.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I don’t think so. I’ve had some people not understand some choices that I made, but they asked it in a way that I thought was perfectly nice, and I was happy to talk about it with them. Sometimes people get “mad” at me when I cause pain and suffering, but I know that’s all in good fun :)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Nope, not for me. I don’t read it or write it, personally. Writing a kiss is hard enough!

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge! Important Thing is probably too long and unwieldy to ever steal :P

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Someone once asked me on FFN if they could translate Important Thing to Russian, which was basically the coolest thing I’ve ever been asked!

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

A fic, no. I’d love to try sometime! I had a friend in college who I co-wrote with A LOT, though, so I know I enjoy that process, given the right partner. We wrote several short plays together (ranging from ~15-50 minutes in length, including one that we wrote in a single afternoon!), selected scenes from a larger (unfinished) play inspired by historical letters we found in an archive that were sent between a man from Massachusetts serving in the American Civil War, his wife, and his 8-year-old son, and several scripts for TV sitcoms (2 pilots for 2 different shows, plus additional eps for those pilots, and a couple of later eps for a different show that a classmate of ours wrote the pilot for - we were trying to practice what it would be like to be on a staff with a showrunner haha). The sitcom scripts in particular I’m very proud of, and could talk somebody’s ear off about if asked (one’s about ghost hunters and one’s about a DnD party!), but maybe that’s better saved for another post ;)

13. What's your all-time favorite ship?

That’s a very hard question for me! Mostly because shipping stuff is usually one of the last things to register for me when I’m thinking about shows/books/movies I like haha... I’m always a sucker for Philinda, and younger me was rather taken with Percabeth, I suppose.

14. What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

Hmm, several, really. The aforementioned AoS/Marvel Rising crossover I think could be really cool if I got it to work, but I don’t think that’ll ever happen. I also have a WIP that’s like an angstier version of a Hallmark Christmas movie AU where Daisy has to come home to her small town right before Christmas and figure out what she wants out of life, but I’m a little stalled out on that one, mostly because I’m waffling on who the charming love interest should be and because I don’t have enough of a plot, just lots of feelings about coming back home to a place you thought you had left behind lol.

I’d put Important Thing and it’s (as of yet) untitled sequel on here as things I want to finish, but I’m much more determined to see those through, so I don’t think they qualify for the “never will actually write” part of this question :)

15. What are your writing strengths?

I don’t know if other people agree with this, but I think I write pretty decent dialogue. My “training” (if you can call it that) is in, as you might have figured out by now, script and screenplay writing (those were the only creative writing classes I took in college). So having a sense of the rhythm a conversation needs to have and how to write dialogue that sounds mostly like how people really talk (but shined and tightened up enough so that it’s not actually like verbatim dialogue, which is far less interesting to read!) is something that I feel like comes pretty easily. I also think I do okay with similes and metaphors - my brain tends to work in that way. It’s easier for me to think of stuff (feelings, especially) in terms of comparing it to more familiar things than to just think of the thing directly, if that makes sense?

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

If I was being honest, this would be a very long section, but I know it’s not fun to read a big ol’ paragraph of someone self-criticizing, so I’ll keep it to one or two items ;) A big one for me is pacing, I think. I tend to write more than I need to and to over-explain things, so my chapters get very long and sometimes don’t really go anywhere? Until all of the sudden, they DO, because things need to HAPPEN! I’m a pretty rigorous self-editor, but I do have a really hard time cutting out sections (unless they’re really just not working), so even if it would help the pacing to leave out this conversation between character A and character B, I often can’t make myself cut it. I also think I struggle sometimes with balancing my ‘showing’ and my ‘telling,’ especially in the sense of me over-explaining certain things - like when it comes to feelings/facial expressions/etc, for example. I compensate for that in Important Thing by making it a part of a few people’s POV, but it’s not really a good habit to have in general. Also spelling! I’m really bad at spelling and run my stuff through robust spellchecks and text-to-speech before I post anything to make up for it :)

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I do it with some regularity, although I always get nervous about doing it wrong! It’s hard to avoid in AoS, where characters are spies and should (in theory, at least) have a working knowledge of multiple languages (”We’re spies, I thought we all learned languages?!”). Even in an AU, where characters aren’t spies, I like to try and pay homage to that, plus pay homage to certain characters’ native languages or just general multilingualism. I’ve spent a fair amount of time around people who speak more than one language, so I feel like it’s a natural part of groups of people to have more than one language spoken. I have a pretty good handle on written Spanish, a patchy idea of French, plus I know some Russian phrases from my dad and some German words from my grandfather, but I do rely on internet translation a lot. I usually run stuff through google, then run it backwards to see just how far off the initial translation was, then consult some actual, like, language learning sites to see if there’s particular idioms or common phrases that use different words than what google will give me, then run those words through backwards in the place of the original words to see if I can massage the whole thing to sound reasonably competent. Languages like Russian or Mandarin (which have their own alphabets/characters) are the hardest, since I have to also try and do a transliteration. I always try to put an apology/disclaimer in the notes any time I write in a language that isn’t English, because I’m sure I make lots of mistakes.

Also, I tend not to italicize words that are in other languages, because it looks weird on the page to me to set the other language apart like that (and because I italicize mainly for internal thoughts or emphasis, and usually what’s being said in another language isn’t internal or being emphasized). I put a rough translation at the end so we don’t have to pause the story for a parenthetical translation, but because the translation’s not right there, I try to either put in enough context clues that a person can still understand what’s going on, or I make sure that what’s written in another language isn’t critical to the overall understanding of the scene.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Officially, it’s AoS, since that’s the only fandom I’ve published for. I think the first true fandom I wrote fic for was probably either Harry Potter (entirely populated with OCs lol, I just liked using the world/setting), Percy Jackson (a mix of OCs and canon characters), or X-Men (all canon characters). I was a bit of a latecomer to fanfiction, though, like, I wrote a ton as a kid, but mostly original stuff, because I didn’t know that fanfiction in its current form was even allowed until I was in high school lol.

Oh! I almost forgot one! I’m not sure if this really counts as a fandom, but it’s definitely the earliest version of fanfic I wrote haha... I was like 12 and I wrote more than one story of an OC joining Robin Hood’s band of Merry Men, and then also one of that same OC becoming a knight of the Round Table, so like... do what you will with that information haha.

19. What's you're favorite fic you've written?

I can’t choose between my two darlings :( I mean, okay, technically it’s probably Important Thing. That story’s my baby. It’s huge and I’ve been working on it for almost 2 years, and I’ve poured a lot of my heart and soul into it. I’ve fallen in love with the universe I built in it, so much so that I wrote an entire prequel and have very concrete plans for a lengthy sequel. But I can’t not crow about Shoulder to Shoulder (the aforementioned prequel!), too... I’m just really proud of that one - it has a lot of firsts for me. First completed story. First romance-focused story. First foray into expanding the Important Thing universe. But yes, if I have to choose, then Important Thing wins. That’s a story that I started writing exclusively for myself - to give myself characters I could relate to and to explore a style of AoS fic that I loved reading - and that’s a story I will always and forever be proud of.

I think most people have probably answered this tag game at this point, so I don’t want to accidentally retag anyone! If you haven’t yet, and would like to join in, please do! This is your invitation <3

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