#girl failure is indeed a super hero

[soaring-trash]

The bed gets cold without you and cold hands trope, but reversed because Laudna doesn’t produce an ounce of warmth and Imogen is practically a human heater.

#she produces lightning #that stuff can heat up the air around it to 27760 degrees celcius #How do lightning powers even work without the caster being insanely resistant and heat proof??idk #girl failure is indeed a super hero #tried to emulate the intro animation #critical role #critters #critical role campaign 3 #bells hells #critical role fanart #fanart #laudna #imogen temult #imodna #imogen x laudna #southern gothic

[blondehairstripe]

So I think that as of S3, Varian is crushing hard on Rapunzel. And in this case, it goes deeper than mere infatuation, given the nature of their relationship and everything that’s transpired between them within the series.

Read on for in-series analysis with screencaps and some bonus post-series fanon speculation!

IN-SERIES ANALYSIS

Before he went villain, I’d say that Varian’s feelings toward Rapunzel were more hero-worship, so he likely thought she was pretty, but undoubtedly out of his league and already taken to boot. No signs of crushing yet—he instead becomes infatuated with the only unattached person who came to visit him: Cassandra.

In my humble opinion, Varian didn’t have a romantic attraction to Rapunzel until it hit him like a bolt of lightning when she told him “It’s your mess, but it’s my kingdom” in Rapunzel’s Return.

Though he was oddly flirty with her while she was in that dungeon cell...

There is also the distinct possibility that the cell was where the first stirrings of a crush began to form during their reconnection. The basis for this theory comes from the absolutely adoring look he gave her when she said “we need him” and how he looked pretty well smitten as she pulled him along.

By the end of the episode Rapunzel frees Quirin, and hoo boy, is that the final nail in Varian’s coffin of feelings. She’d forgiven him his atrocities, kept her word, freed his father—honestly, it’d be weirder if he didn’t fall for her if you ask me.

Then Be Very Afraid rolls along, and we learn that Varian considers Rapunzel “wondrous and magical,” something Rapunzel notes rather slyly and Pascal seems to think is sweet. The look on Varian’s face when she takes his hand and pulls him along again says it all. Boi is smitten.

Additionally...just look at this dork when Rapunzel catches him being a nerd about metals and drinking hot cocoa in Cassandra’s Revenge. This is the reaction of a teenager who just got caught doing something embarrassing by his crush. He zeroes in on Rapunzel specifically and doesn’t seem to care that any of the others caught him.

But through all of these new feelings for Rapunzel, Varian loves Eugene too (90% platonically in this case), so my take is that he’s resolved to not interfere in their relationship. And after everything that’s happened, he likely feels that Eugene is a better match for her and that they truly deserve each other. Though after his stint as a villain where Varian completely lost his respect for the ruling class, the whole “she’s a princess I’m a peasant” thing would likely not be a factor for him anymore. Also, he’s clearly never given a crap about age gaps, and the 4 year gap between him and Rapunzel is even smaller than his canonical S1 crush on Cassandra with an 8 year gap.

Now that we’ve covered the analysis of canonical events, we can delve into pure fanon speculation territory.

POST SERIES SPECULATION

While Varian has indeed resolved to not do a single stupid thing to mess up Rapunzel and Eugene’s relationship, he can’t keep himself from wanting to be close to Rapunzel and craving her affection. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it) Rapunzel is a very affectionate person, so she’ll hug Varian, hold his hand, even cuddle him because he’s her precious friend. Also, she’s a pro at giving him the verbal validation that seems to fuel him (aka his love language: words of affirmation).

This results in Varian coming up with excuses and ways to stay close to Rapunzel, and at times when he ends up being sandwich-snuggled between Eugene and Rapunzel (because let’s face it, we’ve seen that Eugene is huggy) he sometimes catches himself trying to pretend Eugene isn’t there, which he instantly feels super guilty about.

Side note: Ruddiger is completely aware of how he feels because Varian is an open book when he’s alone with his little raccoon buddy, and the devious little critter sometimes manipulates situations to try to get Varian alone with Rapunzel or to set them up for what he believes is a romantic encounter (what do you mean being trapped inside a dumpster together isn’t romantic? Intimate dark setting, and all the garbage you can eat!). These setups only work about half the time, and so while Varian appreciates the sentiment, he’d prefer Ruddiger to stay out of it because the failures tend to end with Varian being horribly embarrassed.

And if Rapunzel ever gives him what she views as chaste kisses on the cheek or forehead, Varian’s over the freaking moon and always blushes so hard he almost passes out. Rapunzel finds it cute while Eugene thinks it’s the funniest thing ever and teases Varian he’s gonna have to get over that habit if he ever wants a girlfriend/boyfriend of his own. Whether he’s aware of Varian’s crush or not is up for debate, but he for sure has no idea how deep it runs and thus considers it harmless if he’s aware of it.

Varian probably also frequently gives Rapunzel gifts in order to get her attention and favor in the form of inventions/discoveries he thinks she’ll like. He might even bake her things since we’ve seen he has a knack for it. His favorite thing is if he can get Rapunzel to come work on a project with him, giving him the one-on-one time he craves while doing something he loves.

Also, I think that if anyone were to insult Rapunzel in Varian’s presence, they might find their shoes sticky bombed to the floor. Looking at you, Uncle Monty. Varian might become the second person in Corona to not like him.

Of course, he’s not so obsessed with Rapunzel that he has no life outside of her, since he very much enjoys one-on-one time with both his dad and Eugene (Lance is kind of a 50/50 shot for him, and the girls are like little sisters to him). And of course he spends most of his time in his lab doing alchemy. But he lights up every time Rapunzel enters the room and gravitates towards her, and would do pretty much anything for her.

And for a while, Varian convinces himself that this is fine, and that he doesn’t need Rapunzel to love him back the same way he loves her. Though he feels small flares of jealousy whenever she and Eugene kiss or indulge in other romantic gestures that Varian would never hope or dare to try, but he stomps the jealousy down for the greater good of everyone involved.

The wedding would be super bittersweet for him, since he’d be so happy that his friends have found happiness together, even while knowing that Rapunzel is unquestionably out of his reach now. But that doesn't stop him from continuing to love her. His dad says he’ll get over her one day (his only human confidant, the dude is legendary at keeping secrets), but Varian isn’t so sure.

And from this point, the fanon possibilities are pretty much endless, some of them running the gambit from Varian continuing to respectfully pine for Rapunzel in secret, to him getting over her and finding his own happiness with someone else, to him gradually descending into madness and going just a touch yandere. Depends on what flavor of Varian you’re in the mood for: pining Varian, happy Varian, or villainous Varian. And of course, you can get real fancy and combine different Varian flavors to make something unique!

@varipunzel​

#Varipunzel Appreciation Week #varipunzel #varian #rapunzel #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #tts #rta #tangled #analysis

[x5red]

DCEU’s Supergirl: we don’t need another “Superman with boobs”

In 1985 Supergirl’s fate hung in the balance. On the one hand she was one of DC’s most popular female heroes, having recently had a successful stint in the Superman Family anthology book, followed by her own comic book, and was about to co-star in a new Supergirl/Superboy title. On the other hand her 1984 movie debut had massively under-performed at the box office. Ordinarily such a failure could be forgiven with the distance of a little time, but Supergirl’s failures came at entirely the wrong moment. Crisis on Infinite Earths was about to reboot the whole DC fictional universe, and in the process whole slews of incidental characters accrued during fifty years of print history were about to be wiped out. Who to keep and who to discard was the topic of perhaps a little contention within the DC offices, and in the spirit of that debate a simple hand-scrawled note landed on the desk of DC Publisher, Jenette Kahn. It asked, innocently enough, “Can we kill Supergirl in Crisis?”

The note offered four tick-box options: “yes”, “no”, “only if we have a new Supergirl soon”, and “none of the above”. Jenette ticked the last option, suggesting that she still saw enough market potential in Kara Zor-El to justify keeping her around. Then, for reasons unknown, she changed her mind, scribbled out her initial choice, and ticked yes!

And with that, the fate of the last survivor of Argo City was sealed.

Sadly some of the factors that resulted in Supergirl’s erasure in 1985 still haunt the character today. So the casting of Sasha Calle as the DCEU’s new movie Supergirl perhaps comes at a decisive time for the character -- and Sasha’s success or failure (indeed perhaps the success or failure of Supergirl herself as a popular DC character) all depend upon how bold DC are prepared to be with their new Supergirl.

A big part of the decision to kill Supergirl in 1985 had to do with her fraught relationship to her more famous cousin. Kara has always struggled to break free of Superman’s orbit, at least in the eyes of the general public, and it was that perception that was likely at the heart of the choice to wipe her clean out of existence. Regrettably, Supergirl’s track record in popular media, movies, and on television, has often only strengthened the perception that she is nothing more than a cheap Superman clone.

Dick Giordano, DC editor and author of the "kill Supergirl” note, seems to have had an ambiguous relationship with the Girl of Steel. Immediately after the Crisis miniseries all mention of Kara Zor-El was banned from DC publications (literally -- they avoided mentioning her in any editorial pages, and on the single occasion her name was mentioned in a reader’s letter, it was starred out like an expletive!) Despite this, Dick had personally ensured that a story featuring Supergirl -- or rather the ghost of a young blonde woman called Kara -- had featured in the second issue of Christmas with the Super-Heroes (1989), against DC policy. On the other hand, it was Dick who had allegedly made famous the term “Superman with boobs” to refer to Supergirl. The phrase is said to be how Supergirl was nicknamed within some quarters of the DC offices -- nothing more than a cheap Superman knock-off. It is unclear whether Dick supported this opinion, or whether his comments indicated regret at such attitudes. Either way, when Jenette found Dick’s note on her desk, one has to wonder whether Dick’s description flashed across her mind.

Of course, every true Supergirl fan will protest that Supergirl has always been far more than just a cheap photocopy of her famous cousin. Indeed in the months following her death in Crisis on Infinite Earths a number of DC staffers were reportedly surprised at the volume of fan letters and comments expressing their love of Kara. But all that love and all that respect within fandom has counted for little whenever Supergirl has broken out of comics into more mainstream media.

The 1984 Helen Slater movie has grown in popularity over the decades. Although it is still seen as a flawed movie, today’s comic book fans are far more forgiving of its shortcomings and prepared to enjoy it for what it attempts to be -- a childrens fairytale with superpowers, rather than a straight superhero adventure. But it is undeniable that the movie seriously damaged the reputation of Kara Zor-El with the general public. Rather than a strong independent character, divorced from the shadow of her cousin, they saw a confused mess of a story that presented Supergirl as a likeable and brave figure, but never really gave her the chance to fully demonstrate her true heroic qualities.

When Smallville decided to introduce a Supergirl character they challenged that perception by showing the public a confident and brave heroine, but Smallville’s Supergirl was only in a handful of episodes. Around the same time Kara had also made a handful of cartoon appearances, but nothing with a wide enough appeal to help change the general public’s perception of the character. So by the time 2015′s Supergirl tv show hit the digital airwaves, the public’s general sense of who Supergirl was (assuming they had any general sense of her at all!) was largely still shaped by the 1984 movie.

Sadly, rather than give us a Supergirl that was distinct and independent to Superman, the show chose to lean heavily into the Superman brand. Perhaps because the producers thought the show would sell better to non-geeks if they saw familiar super-tropes, the show borrowed extensively from popular Superman sources. Consider how the first couple of dozen episodes shaped the character and her world: Kara Danvers, aka Supergirl, is initially a personal assistant, but then becomes a mild mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, who wears glasses to protect her secret identity (ideas stolen from Superman.) Her dead mother was once a judge who sentenced criminals to the Phantom Zone -- she is able to talk to her mother thanks to a holographic artificial intelligence (Superman the Movie.) In a major story arc, said criminals escape and seek revenge on their jailer’s daughter (plot of Superman II.) In one episode an attempt to create artificial Kryptonite causes Supergirl to become evil (Superman III.) In another episode Supergirl is trapped in a coma in which all her desires come true (plot to Superman’s famous “For the Man Who Has Everything” story.) And so on...

The list of supporting characters and guest villains, particularly for the first few years of the show, borrow heavily from Superman’s canon of characters. It isn’t until Lena Luthor arrives in season two that we get a character who is historically closely associated with Supergirl in the comics, rather than her cousin or the wider DC universe. Admittedly as the seasons went by the show started to develop its own ideas, but it still borrowed far too often from Superman sources (the Red Son story arc, for example.) With sixty years in comics, Supergirl has her own roster of supporting characters and storylines -- true, they are not as iconic as Superman’s, but the tv show could have been an opportunity to give them more exposure. Instead, when borrowing from the comics, the show largely eschews Supergirl’s canon and stole from Superman.

So, as it currently stands in 2021, anyone in the general public who is aware of Supergirl now probably knows her mainly from two sources: an 1984 movie that depicted her more like a fairytale princess than a superhero, and a 2015 tv series that presented her as a so-close-to-Superman-that-DC-would-sue-if-they-didn’t-already-own-her-copyright clone of the Man of Steel.

Surely Supergirl deserves better?

The upcoming Sasha Calle DCEU Supergirl is an opportunity to change things. It needs to define Kara Zor-El as a strong hero, independent of Superman. Yes, she has his powers, and yes. she wears the same S shield on her chest -- but that is where the similarities should end. Fans didn’t write heartfelt letters after 1985′s Crisis, and stay loyal through her various re-incarnations over the decades, because Kara was just a pallid knock-off of her cousin. While the general public may not appreciate it, Supergirl has a rich history that interconnects with, but is very distinctly different to, her cousin Superman. Her personality, her attitude, her motives, her lived experiences -- they are all very different. DC needs to build on that, rather than ignore it.

If we end up with just another female echo of the Man of Steel, pilfering his supporting characters and plots while ignoring everything in the comics that makes Kara Zor-El unique, then surely the Girl of Steel be doomed forever to be seen by the general public as nothing more than “Superman with boobs.”

Here’s wishing Sasha all the best with the role.

#supergirl #dceu #supergirlcw #sasha calle #supergirl movie #dc #dccomics

[seeds-and-sins]

F**kin' Diabolical (Chapter One)

Master List

Pairing: Homelander / Original Female Character, Billy Butcher / Original Female Character

Rating: M (Strong language, sexual themes)

Decription: Carly Danvers is a reporter/radio show host/annoying little piece of- For reasons unknown to Vought, she decided to start a one man investigation on Vought's operation. Her efforts had been quite successful so far, so much so that Stillwell would have done anything to see the young girl dead. Turns out Stillwell didn't have to do anything at all, while one piece of evidence against Vought causes Danvers to fly too close to the sun. And Homelander flies after her.

Notes: Carly Danvers is basically a play on Kara Danvers, A.K.A. Supergirl. Except my own take on it.

The hard part wasn't getting in, any idiot would know that, the hard part was getting out. For as fortified as the building was, she didn't really need much to bypass the security. They were used to pretty girls strutting themselves into the building, either for the Deep, or for an expo. Which these reasons often explained such an occurrence, and in this case, an expo was scheduled for the next three hours, a gala afterwards, pretty girls were in high demand for these events.

Her taking a walk through the main lobby of the building didn't go unnoticed, but it was long ignored after she 'accidentally' stumbled into the nearest security guard, mumbling something about the bathroom. With her head down she entered a small crowd of businessmen and women, making their way into the elevator. She would soon get off on a different floor, nobody would ask questions as they moved higher up the building's ladder. Corporate on top, Heroes on top, lobby on the bottom, events and offices all in between; marketing, studios, etc.

Of course, she was the last to exit. Stillwell's office was on the top floor, along with the board room, the helipad and the apartment style living quarters for the Seven. Carly wasn't by any means nervous, she had infiltrated Vought before and her failures didn't deter her from doing so. Her one drive, that Vought was a bunch of liars, that the Seven were as corrupt as anybody could be. She despised that they were lauded, hated that they got away with crimes normal individuals would otherwise not get away with. Supes had issues. She, as a reporter, wanted everyone to know. For years she had been slithering her way around Vought, capturing evidence, posting it online, getting eye witness testimonies, publishing it. She had grown a small base around the facts, that Vought wasn't all that great, but it wasn't enough. It was never enough. Her biggest accomplishment was just around the corner, a surprise interview with Madelyn Stillwell herself, a chance to finally get the answers she wanted.

She snuck her way out of the elevator as proud of herself as ever for making it this far, usually she was ransacked on her way through the double doors of the tower. She smugly made her way down the hall, taking glances at the obnoxious photo shots of the Seven hung up on the wall. She was so close too, if only she had been more vigilant. Even being vigilant though wouldn't have aided her mission.

Within seconds she was being slammed harshly up against the wall, a hand at her throat was all it really took. She kept herself calm, and unafraid, knowing that if she moved wrong the man before her could crack her neck with his pinky alone. His grin pierced her soul, and she soon returned it with her own grin, which only suited to make the Homelander more intrigued. His hands fell flat against the wall, on either side of her, barring her in with those thick sheets of muscle and superhuman power.

"Oh Carly, Carly," He taunted, one of his fingers brushing away the blonde strands that fell out before her face. She peered confidently into his steely gaze with her own brilliantly blue eyes. "Don't we have a restraining order on you?"

"Actually..." She piped in, with a tone as condescending as his own. She reached down into her jean pocket and retrieved a security card, from the guard she bumped into earlier. "I am not Carly today."

"Oh, of course," He chuckled, reaching down and inspecting the photo on the id. "Indeed, so you are Gary, is that correct?" He returned his hands to either side of her head, grinning at her, hoping to make her all the more inferior. But Carly's blood pressure never even so much as peaked and her heart rate was always the same as it had been before his presence was known. He never understood how she, compared to so many, remained so kempt under his sterling supervision. "A middle aged white man, that weighs over three hundred pounds?" She nodded her head, giggled a bit and he licked his lips.

"Exactly." Homelander rolled his eyes, haphazardly tossing the card over his shoulder.

"Seriously though, you shouldn't be here, its against the rules." His expression dropped into a stoic glare, but his eyes continued to intensely run up and down her body, almost hungry, hungry for something he could never have.

"When have you ever known me as someone who follows the rules?"

"That's a fair point." He nodded his head, "but seriously," He deadpanned. "I could kill you right now for trespassing, couldn't I? And it would be reasonable as you were the one breaking the law, wouldn't it?" She didn't react, which at times annoyed him, but he wouldn't give her the benefit of knowing that. He much rather preferred the playful banter to be honest, it made things so much more interesting for him.

"You aren't going to kill me, Homelander. It would look bad on Vought's part, wouldn't you agree?" She leaned in closer to his body, knowing she was playing with fire, hands pressing against the somewhat unrealistic pectoral muscles of his suit. "One of Vought's greatest enemies on the opposition, disappears after finding themselves in Vought's tower." Homelander glanced back and forth, up and down the hallway, as if he himself wouldn't hear the footsteps of an oncoming bystander from a mile away. "Oh, Homelander, does your dick cup need adjusting, or are you just happy to see me?"

"That's enough, citizen." He snarled between clenched teeth, shoving her back against the wall and she sighed her irritation with the whole situstion. She got so close to getting that interview, only a few steps away.

For a moment, she wondered why he was always so gentle with her. Obviously he was never slamming her up against the wall, or pushing her around at his fullest capacity, she was grateful for that. At the same time, it did hurt, he had left bruises on her arm before, he had nearly broken her wrist once. None of this was anything new, she had been between Homelander and a wall many times before. It seemed to be his favorite way of addressing her, but she could never tell. Homelander's intimidation tactics had stopped working months ago, so Stillwell had resorted to just discrediting Carly, ignoring her, but Carly was still determined.

"Urgh, I just wanted an interview with Stillwell."

"How did you even get in the building, huh?" He gave her some space, surprisingly, taking a step back and interlocking his hands behind his back. She crossed her arms and leaned on her hips, staring him down.

"How else do people enter this building? I walked in."

"Hmm, those fucking idiots." Homelander mumbled under his breath, making his way back towards the elevator. He expected her to follow close behind and she did. If she didn't it would be pointless, he would catch her and most likely carry her to the elevator as if she were a piece of paper.

"To be fair, they did suspect me at first but I'm just so pretty, ya'know?" He snorted at her remark and stopped at the elevator door, pressing the button and then tilting his head down over at her tiny self.

"Next time, it won't be so easy." The elevator dinged and the doors opened, Homelander smiled at her.

"I still will find a way, Homelander." She backpeddled into the elevator and he winked at her.

"I'm sure you will, Ms. Danvers, you always do."

"And you waiting for me on the other side, always makes it better, doesn't it?" He ignored that question as the doors closed shut, his smile falling into a grimace.

"Its not like that." He explained, turning to face an authoritative Ms.Stillwell, who had been patiently waiting for him to finish his conversation with Carly.

"Sure its not, no matter how many times I ask you to get rid of her, you let her go every goddamned time." Stillwell stomped past him, her perfume wafting into his super senses and he sighed.

"Fuck." The human had made him soft, that was a fact, and Stillwell knew it as well as he did.

"Hello! My lovely diabolical hero haters, my name is Carly Danvers and we are here for my favorite segment on the show, 'Not so Super Superheroes'." An applaud from a fake audience, a foghorn blasted out loud and she exploded with laughter. She adjusted the mic towards her, along the headseat on her head. "So anyways, I have this guy that's been trying to get on my radio show for legit months now. I was advised not to allow it, but he brings some interesting superhero fallacies to the table. Without further a due, I introduce Doctor Miles Porter. Miles, how are you doing today?"

"I'm doing good, Carly. Fantastic actually."

"That's good to hear, so are you an actual doctor, or what?"

"Yes, actually, I have a PhD in Chemistry."

"Wow, very interesting, and you are a hero hater just like us?"

"Actually no, but I had a recent falling out with my job under Vought so I decided nows a good time as any to become one."

"Oh, alrighty then, this is perfect timing by the way. I heard you know a little about this conspiracy with the blue dope, would you like to elaborate?"

"Well, its not 'blue dope', its a compound..."

"JESSICA! Get your ass in here, right now." Stillwell shouted, hands clenched into fists at her sides as the one named Miles Porter further explained the elements of Compound V over a Live radio station.

"Uh sure, doc, but with all due respect I don't believe in that mumbo jumbo. Do you Allen?"

Stillwell exhaled a breath of relief for a moment, taking the file on Miles Porter from Jessica's trembling hands.

"Nope, not one bit, Carly." Allen was Carly's partner in crime so to speak, they had been friends since childhood.

"I mean, there are notable studies on evolution that completely debunk the blue dope conspriacy."

"Those studies are falsified by Vought, they just want us to think that heroes are natural so they can continue to profit off of them. Do you really think that you are just gonna spout powers out right now?"

"No, that's a bunch of bs, doc, and you know it. Evolution doesn't work like that. I'm just saying, a few generations from now all of us might have super powers. Who knows?"

"You're supposed to be a hero hater!" The doctor exclaimed.

"Now you listen, and you listen well. I never said I hate heroes because they were birthed from some stupid conspiracy juice. I said I hate them because of the shit they do, they don't apply themselves to the law. We don't need heroes like that."

"Well, at least she isn't feeding into the Compound V, scandal." A voice sounded out from behind Stillwell, she physically flinched and then turned to face Homelander. She flattened her pencil skirt as she did so, then waltzed over to her desk, the radio still playing in the background.

"Her following is quite strong, not enough but strong, and just the fact that its being talked about is despicable."

"Homelander is cool though." Carly said, Stillwell rolled her eyes and Homelander grinned.

"Yeah, I knew she'd say something along those lines." Homelander chuckled, Carly was an amusing blood bag that's for sure. He knew one day he'd probably have to kill her, but for now he will let her live. Stillwell can't control every aspect of Homelander's decisions.

"Oh hell yeah, Homelander is cool." Allen agreed, Stillwell nodded to Jessica, who was standing idly off to the side, to turn the radio off.

"Let's ask some of our listeners what they think, we've got father of two, Joe here. Hey Joe, what do you think about the blue-"

"And that's a wrap for us today on, The Not So Super Superheroes segment, thanks to everyone for tuning in. Don't forget to say sassy and hate heroes." Carly harshly threw her headseat off her head as soon as the 'On Air' light flashed off.

"Geez, man, you got so angry." She snapped at Doctor Miles, sitting comfortably in the seat across from her.

"Look, I thought this show would have been a good platform to release such information."

"I'm a girl about facts, ask Allen." Allen scratched his matted beard and nodded his head, "You embarrassed me, doc, and I don't take that lightly." She stood up, grabbing her papers and then moved to leave the room. Allen followed, only for them both to be stopped at the door.

"Wait!" The Doctor scrambled to his feet with a sigh, "I will show you! I can show you!" No one could hear them on the other side, the room was fairly sound proof when nobody was on air. The other employees tidied up, went over takes and funny sounds to use in tomorrow's segment on the Deep and his fish friends.

"I thought you were fired." Allen's dull voice reminded, the Doctor nodded his head.

"I was, but I am sure they haven't changed my card access, yet. I can take you to one of their labs-"

"No, thanks dude, you're crazy," Allen answered, turning into Carly, who was still standing solid at the door. He narrowed his eyes at Carly's face, thoughtful, curious. "No, Carly."

"It wouldn't hurt, Allen. Besides, whether he's telling the truth or not, getting into one of Voughts labs, what a story that is."

"Yes, exactly," The doctor snorted nervously, "I can show you everything you want to see."

#homelander #billy butcher #the seven #the boys #madelyn stillwell #carly danvers #kara danvers #billy butcher x ofc #homelander x ofc

[etherealwaifgoddess]

Extraordinary

Characters: Steve Rogers x Reader

Summary: Steve is just trying to get through his day to day life in the wake of The Battle of New York, working at SHIELD and trying to ignore his own personal demons. Then he meets Y/N, a librarian who sees more than just the mantle of Captain America. 

Content Warning: some negative inner dialogue

Word Count: 3.1k

Author’s Note: Hello lovelies! This was written for the oh-so-talented @lancsnerd ‘s 1k Challenge. I picked the quote “You’re not special. You’re extraordinary.” for Steve. I really had a blast with this prompt and I hope you all enjoy the fic! XOXO - Ash

Extraordinary

“A hero? Like you?” Tony spits out incredulously,  “You're a lab rat, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!”

Tony’s words echo in Steve’s head as he wakes with a start. Heart pounding, chest heaving, he tries to get his bearings. A dream. Just a dream. The words though, those still sting. Even a year later Steve can’t shake the feeling that Tony was right. Shit. He’s never getting back to sleep now. 

Steve drags himself out of bed, ignoring the alarm clock’s judgmental blue glow of 4:15am. At least he made it past 3am this time. Sleep problems are common in people with PTSD, his therapist had told him. She offered him medication to help but Steve declined, not sure how well it would work with his super soldier metabolism anyways. He dresses quickly, wanting to get a run in before breakfast. Steve has plenty of time, SHIELD doesn’t require him to show up until 9am, but he’s normally there before eight. He likes feeling useful, and having a steady job at SHIELD has been centering for him.

Steve runs a full marathon before the sun even comes up. He returns home just over an hour later, sweaty and finally starting to feel his muscles burn a little. It’s nice being able to lose himself for a little while in the steady rhythm of his feet hitting the pavement. He stares at his coffee maker for a moment before deciding it isn’t worth the hassle. It’s strange, having the luxury of getting coffee out just because he feels like it. The 1940s still feel like they were a few years ago and Steve’s depression era values run deep. He will admit though, there’s something to be said for takeout. Steve powers through two protein bars as he gets ready for a shower, needing something in his system before he crashes. It’s obnoxious some days how much his enhanced body requires, but he manages. It’s just one of the many unexpected side effects of Erskine’s serum.

Surviving Project Rebirth had been a blessing and a curse. Steve had finally gotten everything he wanted; a chance to fight for what was right, to do something meaningful with his life. But it came with a high price: his freedom. Steve’s life hasn’t been his own since the moment he stepped out of the vita-ray pod. He wasted so much time being the military’s dancing monkey and then once they realized he could fight, it was one battle after another. Even in this new century, he was thrust into a battle for mankind shortly after thawing out. Working for SHIELD for the past year has felt like a vacation after WWII and the Battle of New York. 

Steve clears the steam from the bathroom mirror after his shower, needing to do a quick shave. He stares at his reflection long after his face is back to its standard smoothness. Tony was right, his inner demons whisper. Fraud. Nothing. Worthless. Steve knows he’s supposed to reframe his thoughts and move past his negative inner dialogue, but in the moment he just can’t summon the will to care. Running a comb through his hair, he heads into the bedroom to dress for the day. He may not feel up to it at the moment but given a little time and some coffee, he’ll be okay by the time he gets into the office. 

The sounds of the city in downtown DC remind Steve of the Brooklyn of his youth and he’s comforted by the familiar hustle and bustle. He almost doesn’t see the oncoming trash truck when you step off the sidewalk to cross the street. A step behind you, Steve catches the large green truck out of the corner of his eye. The truck barely stops at the light and makes an illegal right turn on red, barreling straight for you. Steve, in a burst of speed, slams into you, scooping you up in his arms and rolling into the other lane out of the way of danger. As his broad shoulders collide with the pavement he holds you as tightly as he can, letting his body take the brunt of the impact. People on the sidewalk scream watching the scene unfold, but it’s all background noise to Steve who is only focused on the squeak of surprise you make as you roll. 

You come to a stop with Steve below you and he’s frantic to make sure you’re okay. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?” he asks urgently.

You blink a few times, gaining your bearings. One minute you’re crossing the street to work, the next you’re using America’s most famous super soldier as a human mattress. Not how you expected your day to go, to say the least. “I’m okay. I think.”

Steve frowns, still concerned. “You could be in shock. Here, let’s get you up.” 

You start to get up on your own but the second you’re off him Steve jumps up and reaches out. You accept his hand, pulling yourself up from the dirty DC street and trying in vain to straighten out your clothes. Steve collects your messenger bag and has it ready to hand over as soon as you’re done fussing with your silk blouse that is definitely going to need a trip to the dry cleaners after this. “Thanks.” you give him a small smile as you take your bag. 

Steve feels his breath catch in the wake of your smile. You’re petite compared to him, your smart bun is a little mussed from the rolling and your cheeks are flushed. He tries to ignore his interest in your soft feminine curves but Steve would have to be blind not to notice you. Almost a hundred years old and he still doesn’t know how to act around a pretty girl. Idiot. Useless, his demons hiss. “Let me buy you a cup of coffee,” he blurts out before his brain can catch up, “If you’re in shock then I can at least keep an eye on you for a bit.” 

First he saves your life, now he’s offering you coffee. Captain America indeed. “You don’t have to, really. I was going to just stop in at La Columbe on my way to work.” 

“I was headed there too! Come on, I’ll feel a lot better knowing you’re not gonna pass out the second the shock wears off.” Steve gives you his very best earnest expression, “Please? I’m Steve, by the way.” he adds as an afterthought.

“Hi Steve.” you try not to laugh. Like you hadn’t recognized the literal symbol of America. “I’m Y/N.” 

“Nice to meet you, Y/N. So, coffee?” 

“Sure, why not?” you agree. Steve’s face lights up like the sun and you’re blinded by it. Part of you wonders if the truck actually hit you and you’re dead, or maybe in a coma dreaming. Only the slight ache in your shoulder gives you confidence that this surreal experience is your real life.

You follow Steve down the block to your favorite coffee shop, making small talk along the way by explaining you work at the library two blocks over. You’ve run the children's programs and adult literacy group there for the past four years. Steve seems genuinely interested in your work which is both surprising and sweet. 

There’s no line at the coffee shop so you take a minute to pick your drink while Steve orders his usual Americano and a bag full of breakfast sandwiches. He looks bashfully over at you once he’s done, insisting you add your coffee to his tab. You settle on a smoked butterscotch latte, it’s been a while since you had one. You stop there every morning before work but never order the same drink twice in a row.

You try to get Steve to talk about himself while you wait for your drinks but he’s adorably vague. “Steve,” you stop him with a gentle hand on his forearm, “I know who you are. It’s okay.” 

Steve barks out a laugh, “Sorry. I forget sometimes. Okay then, I’m heading into the office to consult on a mission from last week. They have me review mission reports to make notes on how we can improve things in the future.” 

“That’s actually really cool.” you tell him. You would have said more but your orders are up and Steve hands you your paper to go cup. “Well, thanks for the drink, Steve. And the whole saving me thing.” you joke.

“Any time ma’am.” he quips, full of cheesy Captain America charm. You’re surprised and delighted to find he has a little bit of sass to him. “Really though,” he adds in a normal tone, “Are you sure you’re okay?” 

“I am, thanks to you.” 

There’s an awkward moment before you part. You don’t want to come across as a crazy fangirl but you also want to talk to him again sometime. Then again, you’re a librarian who’s closest friends are books and he’s Captain freaking America. You squash down the impulse and part ways with a smile. At least you’ll have an interesting story to tell Ellen at work. 

A few days go by and Steve keeps hoping to see you again at the coffee shop. It’s completely ridiculous but he wants to check on you and make sure you’re okay. It also doesn’t hurt that you’re beautiful. Steve spends two days debating with himself if it would be creepy or kind to pop by the library to check on you. By Friday morning he’s talked himself into it as he wraps up his run. He throws on a smart looking button up shirt and makes sure his hair is slicked back nicely in a way Natasha insists is stylish. Fool. Impostor. Idiot. His head demons whisper as he checks himself in the mirror one last time. He forces himself to ignore them and heads out in the warm summer air. 

Steve realizes as he stands on the steps of the library that he doesn’t know your schedule. Or your last name. He steels himself for impending failure and heads inside. He can at least try. 

Your voice carries through the quiet library and it calms him immediately. “- and he hopped so high that his ears brushed the branches above. That’s good hopping thought little nutbrown hare…” 

Steve follows the sound of your voice across the library where he finds you sitting cross legged on a brightly patterned carpet in front of a small herd of preschoolers. Your tone and expressions keep the kids engaged as you read them a story and Steve is spellbound. He hangs back quietly leaning on a bookcase, watching you lead the group and waiting for you to finish. It doesn’t take long before the group disbands and you’re on your own to clean up after receiving a few enthusiastic hugs from the kids. 

“Hey, Y/N.” Steve says walking over to you. 

You look up, not having noticed him before. “Steve!” you try to stifle how excited you are by his presence. “How are you?”

“I’m okay. Thought I’d drop by to see how you’re doing.” 

“I’m fine, really. I promise. Your life saving skills are excellent.” 

“Glad I haven’t lost my touch being behind a desk.” 

“Definitely not.” you assure him, “So, anything I can help you with while you’re here?” 

Steve realizes he hadn’t thought much past seeing you again. “Could I take you out for a cup of coffee?” 

“I’m working right now.” Steve’s heart drops in his chest, “But I’ll be free for lunch around one.”

Lunch. Not just coffee, but an actual meal. Hope renews in Steve. “I can do that. I could pick you up here?” 

“Sure. There’s a few places around here, so we have options.” 

“Okay great,” Steve tries to reign in his enthusiasm, “I’ll see you then.” Steve gives you a blinding smile before you part ways and it makes you wonder if the fluttering feeling in your chest might be reciprocated after all. 

Steve arrives back at the library at one o’clock sharp, not really caring if it messes up his schedule at Shield. He never takes a real lunch, often just grabbing a tray of something in the cafeteria and dragging it back up to his office to eat while he works. It’s nice getting out in the warm sunshine in the middle of the day. Steve spots you coming out at the same time he’s heading up the stairs and he gives you a small wave. “Ready to go?” he calls as he meets you on the stairs. 

“Absolutely.” you grin, “What are you in the mood for?” 

“I eat just about anything.” 

“Me too. Um, there’s a really good taco truck around the corner. We could eat in the park?” 

“Sounds great.” Steve agrees easily. It’s not a conventional type of first date and that makes it almost more exciting to him. 

You show Steve the way to your favorite food truck where you have to suppress your surprise when he practically buys out the truck. He apologizes profusely, making sure the guys know if they need to wait on other people first he’s fine waiting. 

“Steve,” you finally attempt to get his attention, “You know it’s okay to order yourself a meal, right? You don’t have to keep apologizing, these guys are used to the lunch rush.” 

Steve’s cheeks redden and he rubs a hand on the back of his neck, a visible nervous tick. “I know.” he says, but his words don’t sound convincing even to himself. 

A few others do show up while you wait but as expected, the guys are used to the rush and have no trouble keeping up. After only a few minutes they’re calling Steve’s name and he hurries over to collect your bags. A pair of girls are eyeing him as he accepts the food, whispering in the least subtle way possible. They can’t be more than twenty and they’re frantically typing on their phones as they whisper. 

“Are you, Captain America?” the braver of the two asks him.

“Yes, ma’am.” Steve replies. His tone is friendly yet guarded and you watch him with curiosity. 

The girls giggle, and the other speaks up, “I did a whole history project on you and the Howlies a few years ago. You’re a real inspiration.” 

“Um… thank you.” Steve says, rubbing the back of his neck nervously again. “You ladies have a nice day.” He’s moving away before they can even say goodbye, making a beeline for you.

Finding a picnic table over by the shade trees Steve lays out the food, your taco platter looking pitiful next to his spread. Steve’s shoulders start to loosen a little as you start chatting about your day. You see him cringe when the girls from earlier walk past, but they don’t stop or say anything, only giving him quick little waves as they pass by. 

“That has to be a little overwhelming.” you comment mildly.

“Hmm?” Steve hums, mouth full of taco.

“Being recognized all the time.” you clarify. “It has to be a little overwhelming.” 

Steve nods, “Yeah, I’m still getting used to it. I just don’t get it. I’m really nothing special.” 

You laugh lightly, “Steve, you’re Captain America. You’re not special, you’re extraordinary.” 

“I’m just a kid from Brooklyn who never learned to stand down in a fight.” he shrugs. 

“And grew up to save the world. Twice.” 

“Nah, I had a lot of help with that.”

“You really suck at letting people compliment you, you know that?” you tease.

Steve sighs, shaking his head, “I just don’t get it. I don’t want to be Cap all the time. Sometimes I just want to be Steve Rogers.” 

“Well there’s your problem then.” Steve looks at you expectantly to continue. “Because Steve Rogers is pretty damn extraordinary too.” 

Steve stares at you for a stunned moment. He doesn’t even know how to respond to adequately express how much your words mean to him. No one has wanted Steve just for himself since Peggy and that had been a lifetime ago. For once the demons in his head are silent. Steve takes a long, steadying breath before speaking. “Thank you, Y/N.”

“Nothing to thank me for. Now, tell me, what does Steve Rogers do for fun?”

Steve laughs at the topic change. “Have you heard of the show Parks and Recreation?”

“That is literally the best show.” you give your words a Chris Traeger inflection and watch as a wide smile breaks out on Steve’s face.

“Nice. Well, I’m watching that right now. I’m about halfway through the list of important things to watch and this show’s actually pretty good.” 

“You have a list? What else is on it?” you wonder who made it for him and if any other of your favorite shows are on it.

“How much time do you have?” Steve jokes.

“For you, I have all the time in the world.” 

But you didn’t have all the time in the world. You didn’t need to get back to the library for the next group until 3:30 and you had thought that would be more than enough time. Instead the minutes flew by as you talked with Steve and by the time you finish, you’re racing back to the library to make it there on time. Talking with Steve was as easy as breathing and you were disappointed when you realized you were out of time. You had kept the conversation on generic ‘getting to know you’ topics, keeping away from anything Avengers related since he seemed uncomfortable talking about his public persona. While a tiny part of your brain had swooned over Captain America at first, you’re currently swooning over Steve Rogers himself. He’s kind, surprisingly funny, and as you suspected, genuinely a good man. 

“Y/N, wait!” Steve calls out, causing you to stop in the doorway to the library. You had already said your goodbyes but Steve’s mouth had gotten ahead of his brain yet again. 

You look to him expectantly, waiting for him to continue.

He takes a long breath, bracing himself against his own nerves.“Can we do this again sometime?”

“Yeah, Steve. We can.”

#lancsnerd1kchallenge #steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers fanfic #captain america #captain america fanfic #marvel #mcu #non canon compliant #post first avengers movie

[comicgeekscomicgeek]

Their Hero Academia – Chapter 59: Final Exam Part 1: Read the Directions

Presenting the next chapter of my on-going, next-gen, My Hero Academia fic, Their Hero Academia!

All chapters can be found here

The two weeks had passed very quickly, filled with cramming and practicing, and just a little time for themselves.   Midoriya and Tokoyami had been very insistent on that last point, stressing that looking after their mental health was just as important as their physical health and their academic progress.  Isamu had been glad for the breaks, however brief they had been, as he’d gotten time to spend with his girlfriend.  Class 1-B was just as busy with their exam prep, of course, but maybe once things were all over…

And the academic exams had indeed been rigorous, making the midterm look like a cakewalk by comparison. He was sure he’d done well on the physics exam, less so on the math exam (yes, physics was math, but the practical applications in physics made it a lot easier), with the rest falling on a spectrum of certainty.   He was pretty sure he hadn’t failed any of them, at any rate.

And then it was Friday morning, the day of their Heroics Exam.  The day all of them had been dreading.  Class 1-A filed into the classroom that morning with a tension hanging over the room like they were waiting for the dam to burst.

At the front of the room were Aizawa and All Might.  The former looked less his unusual dispassionate self than like some vulture eagerly awaiting the moment where the guy drops dead.   Isamu had a strong suspicion that whatever was going to go down in the exam, he had a heavy hand in it.  All Might looked slightly more serious than usual as well.

“All Might is going to brief you on the details of the exam,” Aizawa said.  “As well as some additional announcements.  Once those are complete, you’ll change into your costumes and then we’ll travel to the exam site.”

“Ahem, yes,” All Might said, stepping up to the podium.  “First… the announcements!  Starting with the next semester, I will no longer be your Heroics teacher.”

That got a collective gaps from the class.   “You didn’t say anything about this, Grandpa Might!” Midoriya piped up.  “What’s going on?”

“Ah ah ah, you did not allow me to finish, Young Grandson!” All Might bellowed.  “Yes, I will no longer be your Heroics teacher… for I will be your Principal!”

Well, that was unexpected. Sure, somebody had to get the job, but All Might?   Isamu supposed he was a veteran Hero and teacher, but sometimes he just seemed so goofy it was hard to picture him in a position of authority like that!  

All the same, he joined the rest of the class in clapping and cheering at the news.  Of course, that left a new question open…

“We are current looking into a candidate to replace me as your teacher,” All Might said, as though sensing the question lingering on the air.  “We’ll make the announcement about that when things are more certain.”

Satisfied with that, All Might moved on to the matter of their exam.  “As you already know,” he began, “your exam will be pass or fail for the entire class.  Aizawa, Vice-Principal Midnight, and I will be watching you during the entirety of it and scoring your performance accordingly.”

All Might pressed a button on a small remote and a diagram of a vast cityscape.  It looked like one of the training grounds, but not one Isamu was familiar with.   “This is Training Ground Omega,” he began.   “A vast cityscape.  While we have done numerous training exercises there with the second and third year Hero Courses, this will be your first time there.  While Heroes typically patrol and act around their Agencies and familiar territories, they never know when they may be called to more distant action.”

He pressed the remote again, cycling through pictures of the cityscape until it came to rest on a civilian defense shelter, a heavily protected building used in larger cities to give civilians a place to safely gather in the event of giant Villains or large-scale disasters and Villain attacks.

“For the purposes of your Exam, though,” All Might continued, “it is Omega City.  An isolated city devoted to scientific development.  An unknown number of Villains have attacked the city, forcing the population into hiding. Many of them were able to make it the defense shelter, but many more still remain outside it.  Furthermore, the Villains are after Doctor McGuffin.”

A picture appeared on the screen.   “Recovery Girl?!” the class shouted.

“Er, ah, no,” All Might said.  “Doctor McGuffin.   They’re after her Quirk research, which will make their own Quirks that much more powerful. But for the moment, she is safe in the shelter.”

He clicked the remote again, bringing up a series of bulleted points.  “You will have three hours for this exam and your objectives are threefold.  In order of priority: protect the civilian defense shelter and Doctor McGuffin. They Villains will try to attack it and capture her.  If they manage to get to the shelter and get her more than 100 meters away, you lose.

“The second objective is to rescue as many civilians still outside the shelter as possible.  The Villains may potentially operating in any area of the city, so you many have to protect the civilians from them, in addition to rescuing any trapped or injured by the damage the Villains caused.  We won’t be giving you specific numbers, but if too many of them die, you lose.

“The third and final objective is to defeat or capture the Villains, or failing that, delay them long enough for time to run out and “help” to arrive.  There’s failure conditions built into this as well.  You can’t simply hole up and wait them out.”

That… that was a lot. Almost to the point of being overwhelming.  Even with sixteen of them out there, it was a lot of ground to cover and a lot to keep track of.  Isamu could see Midoriya in the front row, already hunched over and scribbling furiously in his notebook. The way his mind worked, he probably already had the layout memorized and six plans in mind. And it didn’t look like All Might was done either.

“However, we will also be evaluating you on a variety of criteria, including your performance in the field, your decision making, your initiative and innovation, and your ability to work together.  Being defeated or knocked out does not necessarily mean a loss or a failing grade, depending upon the circumstances involved.”

Which meant he couldn’t just sit back and let the others take the lead.  He was good at letting other people take charge like that.  But maybe he could step up here.  So many people had seen something in him.  They couldn’t all be wrong.  …Could they?

“In addition to those watching and Recovery Girl,” All Might added, “Doc Clock and Water Spout will be in the shelter as civilians and will intervene if and only if it becomes absolutely necessary for your safety.  Robots will represent civilians in the field.  

“Make no mistake,” All Might finished, “this is as serious a challenge as you have ever faced.  But you have all performed remarkably this semester and I have every faith in your ability to go beyond!”  He flashed a “V”-sign.  “Plus Ultra!”

Before the class could join in, Aizawa shut that down.  “You’ve been briefed.  Get changed into your costumes and be outside on the bus in ten minutes.”

There was fifteen seconds of stunned silence before they bolted from their seats to their costume storage cubbies.

***

The civilian defense center was behind them, along with several smaller buildings, most of which looked damaged and broken.  But there was nothing behind it, so they only had to worry about attacks coming from the sides and front.  And maybe above, if any of the Villains had flying Quirks.  Those weren’t super-common, but not uncommon either, especially when there were two of them in their class alone.  Off in the distance, the sounds of destruction could be heard, and smoke could be seen rising from a few different points.

Yeah, Isamu thought, they were definitely being dropped right into the middle of the action. Sixteen of them against an unknown number of Villains with unknown powers, an unknown number of civilians to rescue, and a whole lot more unknowns.

They had ten minutes to strategize and then the exam would begin.  Isamu adjusted his gloves and kneepads, then made sure his bandanna and goggles were on tight.  

“What’s the plan, Gravi-Might?” he asked, using Midoriya’s codename now that were in the field. Maybe he shouldn’t have been deferring to him so easily, but the green-haired boy was usually the first one with a plan.  Isamu had given it some thought on the way over, mostly recognizing that he should probably be one of the people out in the field.  The more space he had to operate in, the better, even with perfecting his ability to turn his sliding field into projectiles.

Midoriya bent down and sketched a quick outline of the cityscape in the dirt, getting some on his bare fingers.  “Okay, so some of us need to stay here and protect the shelter.  The Villains are after Doctor McGuffin, so they’re going to show up here before too long.  But the rest of us need to cover the cityscape and look for civilians.”

“And the Villians,” Kirishima-Bakugo (Bombshell, he reminded himself) said, fiddling with the disk-launchers built into her gauntlets.  Of course she’d be more interested in fighting.

Midoriya drew three arrows in the dirt.  “Three search and rescue groups, one going this way, one going this way, and one going this way.  Splitting up as needed.”

There was the sound of another explosion.  Mineta (Purple Rein) pointed off in the distance.  “I recommend starting the opposite of thattaway.”

“Who goes where?” Sero asked, his pink face visible behind the clear visor of his helmet.  Isamu still couldn’t believe he’d gotten “Stick ‘Em Up” approved as his Hero name.

“We need to focus on defense, mobility, and rescue,” Midoriya said.   “I’m going to stay here.  I’d like Shock Jock, Purple Rein, and Thermo-Dyanmic with me.”

Izumi winced at that, the indicator bands from the regulator rig on her blue and orange costume showing a cheery green.  “I am capable of field action,” she said, firmly.  The look in her eyes was challenging, reminding him of her match with Kirishima-Bakugo in the Sports Festival.  She and Midoriya were good friends, but Isamu thought he respected her abilities more than that to sideline her…

Midoriya shook his head rapidly.  “It’s not that.  Your ice walls will make for the perfect defense if it comes down to the wire,” he said.

Oh, right.  Duh.  Fortunately, Izumi accepted the answer with a small nod.  “Very well.”

“Other than that… Slyde, Jet-Red, Jet-Blue, I want one of each of you in each of the rescue groups.  Somebody who can get from place to place quickly if they have to. And then I want Bombshell, Radiance, and Amaterasu to go with separate groups to spread out our heaviest hitters.”

“About time you recognize my usefulness,” Aoyama said, giving his cape a flick.  He was already glowing brightly in the sun.

A rapid-fire discussion followed and teams were quickly assigned.  Isamu was working with Tokoyami, Ojiro, and Sero.  A pretty good balance of skills there.  He just had to be sure he was pulling his own weight and not letting anybody down.

An alarm klaxon sounded.

All Might’s voice rang out over the loudspeakers.  “Your exam begins… NOW!”

***

As Toshi watched the three search and rescue groups move off, he wished them all the best of luck. He had a feeling they were going to need it.  Everyone was going to have to give their all here, himself included.  No coasting, no trying to boost the others at the cost of himself.  If they all didn’t do this just right… they all failed.

So no pressure or anything.

They’d all been issued headsets for communication.  That would make things easier if things got bad in any direction.  Plus he had Kaminari on his team, who had additional communications equipment in her new costume she could power with her Quirk.  He tapped the headset twice, the frequency for inside the shelter.  “This is Gravi-Might,” he said.  “My fellow Heroes and I are the scene.  No signs of trouble here, but we’ve dispatched Heroes to look for survivors. Everyone okay in there?  Is Doctor McGuffin safe?”

“We’re all right here,” came Uncle Kota--Water Spout—‘s voice, playing the part of a civilian.  “Including Doctor McGuffin.  Scared, but alive.”

“Headcount?”

“Over a hundred, counting myself.  I don’t know how many are still out there.”

To be expected.  Their teachers wouldn’t make this easy on them.

“Thank you,” he replied. “Don’t be afraid.  We’re here and we’re not going to let those Villains get past us.”

In the distance, he could hear a rumbling.   “Okay,” he told the others.  “I’m going to get some height.  Thermo-Dynamic, ice barriers at the choke points.  Shock Jock, Purple Rein, get ready for anything.”

Toshi took a breath, canceled his gravity, and jumped.  The civilian defense shelter was only two stories tall, with most of its space being underground.  He landed easily, quickly scanning in every direction.  Even if there was no “behind” the shelter, due to how the training ground was set up, he didn’t want to be docked points for missing a potential avenue of attack.  Too many small mistakes would probably be just as bad as a big one.

Below, he saw Izumi’s ice walls going up, blocking off the streets.  Maybe not the best idea?  They’d keep the search and rescue team from returning easily, but between the Twins, Haimawari, and his own Quirk, they could probably work past it?    Protecting the shelter was the primary mission objective…

Dammit, there were way too many choices here.  Was this what Dad and Mom felt like all the time?

The rumbling continued. Something big and heavy was definitely coming their way.  He could see them now.  A massive metal man, coming in from the north.  Not one of the teachers or any of the rest of the school staff.  Maybe it was another Hero that Aizawa had roped into things?  There were a few different Heroes who could turn themselves into metal, but at this distance, he couldn’t tell if it was any of them.  Maybe binoculars would be a good idea to add to his costume.

He tapped his communicator. “Coming in from the north,” he said. “Big metal guy.”

“My ice wall is in place,” Izumi said.  “Solid and a foot thick.  I am not sure how long it will hold.  But I can reinforce it, if needed.”

“This isn’t a sprint,” Toshi said.  “It’s a marathon.  Let’s see what he does.”

Below, he could see Mineta seeding the ground in front of Izumi’s barrier with her sticky balls. Kaminari adjusted some device on her new costume’s gauntlets, plugging her Cords into them.  Ever since she’d gotten the new costume, Kaminari hadn’t fried her brain once during training.  He hoped that would stay true for the exam.

“Coming up quick,” he told the others.  How could anybody that big—built like a sumo wrestler—and made of what looked like solid metal move that fast?  Had he seen him before, maybe in some old video?  The distorted metal face and the distance made it difficult to see.  For a moment, he’d wished he’d kept Shota on his team.  He’d probably know, even that far out.  “Brace yourselves.”

The metal man crashed through Izumi’s ice wall like it wasn’t even there.   Toshi took a couple steps back, then launched himself off the roof. He dropped like a missile, increasing his gravity several times over.

CLANG!

Toshi hit the metal guy hard, making a sound that made his ears hurt.  But he bounced off, smacking into the outside of shelter with an impact that made his bones rattle, even with the gravity turned up.

There was a terrible screeching sound as the metal man’s face twisted up in a cruel smile.  “Gonna have to do better than that, kid.”

***

“What could do this kind of damage?” Iida asked, as Katsumi’s team made their way through the cityscape.  His expression was unreadable behind his silver helmet, but the tone was unmistakable. “I am seeing intense structural damage, multiple fires, compromise power grid…”  He dropped out of the sky, firing his Jetpack Quirk in short bursts to land.

“Doesn’t matter,” Katsumi said.  “We get the people out and if we run into any Villains, we hit them until they stop moving.”   Something about this whole thing felt… off.  Maybe she was just still wound up over, well, everything going on in her life right now. But nothing was ever easy or simple where Aizawa was involved.

Right now, though, there was a job in front of them: search and rescue.  Not her forte, but there wasn’t anything out there she couldn’t do.

“Heroes are here!” she shouted.  “Call out!”

“Over here!’

“Oh thank goodness!”

“I need help!  I’m hurt!”

“My wife… you’ve got to help my wife!”

More voices quickly followed, tinny and robotic.  Most were coming from the nearby ruined buildings.   Too many of them.  How the hell were they supposed to know who to help first?  They were all buried inside or trapped somewhere.  No way to assess.

She took a breath. Make a decision and commit to it. The same way she did everything else.

“Okay,” Katsumi said. She was grateful now, more than ever, for having done her Internship with Aunt Ochaco.  Even if it has started disastrously, she was more prepared than ever for the ins and outs of rescue work.   “With Villains on the loose, we gotta play this smart.  Nobody on their own.  We do pairs.  Arms, you’re with me. We’re going right.  Lips, go with Jetset to the left.  Call out if you need help.”

“Question,” Sato said, raising his hand.  “Do you not actually know our names?”

“Question time’s over,” she snapped.  “We’re burning daylight!  Move!”

She didn’t bother looking to see if Shoji was following her.  Instead, she took off to the nearest building.  The storefront was damaged, but accessible. Even the plate glass window was intact for the moment. Inside, shelving units had been overturned and the lights were out. The lights were out, but enough sun still filtered through from outside that she could see.  A thick cloud of dust hung in the air, causing her to cough.   Definitely needed a filter or a rebreather or something on her suit when this was over.  Canned goods, boxes of nonperishable, and fresh fruits and vegetables were strewn all over the ground.  “Rescue’s here! Call out!” she shouted again, eyes scanning.

A tinny but clear groan reached her ears and she saw a robot pinned under one of the shelves.  With Shoji behind her, she quickly sprinted over. “Hey,” she said, “we’re here. It’s gonna be okay.”   She reached out and touched his neck, then double-checked the stimulated pulse in his free arm.  “Breathing” seemed okay too.  The robots designed for rescue training were stupidly lifelike in some ways.

Not like what had happened during her Internship.  Safe, survivable injuries.  This, she could handle.

“Vitals are stable,” she said.  “We’re gonna get you out of here.”  She felt a little foolish reassuring a robot, but they’d had to do so during rescue training at the USJ, so she figured it was being tracked here too.  She turned to Shoji.   “Think you can lift this?  Doesn’t look like any real crush injuries.”

Shoji nodded, not bothering with words.  They weren’t close, couldn’t even really call him a friend, but she respected that he just got down to business without wasting a lot of words.  Definitely in the least amount of nonsense category for her classmates.

With not even a grunt, he hefted the shelf off the robot.   “Anyone else here?” he asked.

“Just me,” the robot reported.  

That was some good news, at least.  Shoji scooped him up to carry him outside, carefully using his many arms to support him in case of other injuries.  As they passed the doorway into the street, a light one of the robot’s chest turned green.

“Rescue complete,” the robot said.  “You may set me down.”

As Shoji did so, Katsumi looked around.  The building across the street’s entrance had been blocked when they’d first passed, covered in rubble.  Now though, it looked like someone had eaten their way through it.  Sato then.  Good. But where was he and Iida?

The answer to that came in the form of the sound of a fist hitting metal.  Iida’s body came flying through the chewed-entrance, landing on the street in front of them.  He was still moving, though, even with a dent to his chest armor, slowly getting back to his feet,  His arrival was followed shortly by the biggest woman Katsumi had ever seen, larger and more muscular than even All Might in his heyday.  

Of Sato, there was no sign.

***

Though her own exams had finished on Thursdays, Koharu wasn’t thinking too much on the results. With her getting into the Hero Course being partially dependent on passing those, she’d studied like there was no tomorrow, cramming in knowledge until she felt like she could practically fire out her String Shot in the shape of the texts she’d consumed.  She was pretty sure she’d run Mogura and Tokuda ragged with all the studying.

No, what she was thinking about was the Hero Course final exam unfolding in front of her on a wall of monitors.  When All Might had offered her the opportunity to watch the exam and get a first-hand look at what she’d be getting herself into, she’d jumped at the chance.

So now she was in the monitor room with the former Number One Hero, a woman who despite being more than old enough to be her mother was still distractingly attractive, and Class 1-A’s homeroom teacher, who gave off the impression of being a hobo they’d picked up off the street, despite also being, somehow, incredibly frightening. He was sitting bolt upright in his chair, eyes darting from screen to screen.   All Might and Vice-Principal Midnight were watching too, but they paused occasionally to take notes.  Aizawa never looked down.  She was glad to be on the other side of the room from him.  He was frighteningly intense.

And he was going to be her teacher next year!

Midoriya and Haimawari she knew already, and she’d been talking with Ojiro, Sero, and Sato since the Sports Festival.  The others, she was mostly unfamiliar with.  She’s fought Mineta at the Sports Festival, and had been on Kirishima-Bakguo’s team during Quirkball, but beyond recognizing some names, she didn’t really know anything about the rest.  

She found herself scribbling down as many notes as she could.  What to do in emergency situations, what her future classmates were capable of, questions to ask later.  She’d been given a great opportunity and was determined not to waste it.

The way Class 1-A worked together…  she could tell most of them had grown up together.  There was a trust and teamwork between all of them that she envied. Even Haimawari, who was the self-professed “new guy,” seemed to fit in like a glove.

And despite how well it had carried her, her Quirk suddenly seemed very small and insignificant by comparison to theirs.  Powers over gravity, electricity, speed, fire and ice… could she really keep up with that?

“Your grandson is a natural leader,” Midnight told All Might.

“He gets that from Izuku,” All Might said.  “He always had a way of finding friends and making people want to listen to him.”

“They’re too reliant on him,” Aizawa said, flatly.  “We should have forbidden him from coming up with any of the plans.”

“You know as well as I do that wouldn’t have worked,” Midnight said.  “You might as well try and stop the Iida twins from being exuberant or Mineta from being so enthusiastic.”

“I would if I could. And that isn’t the word I’d use to describe that girl.”

“Still,” All Might said, “they’re off to a good start.”

“We’ll see what happens when they get into the real meat of the exam,” Aizawa replied.  “Which should be right… about… now.”

“I’m still not sure about this,” All Might said, actually sounding a bit worried.  On a few of the screens, Koharu could see costumed individuals starting to engage with the teams. “I know you vetted them, Aizawa, but still…”

“What?” Aizawa asked. “Their world just got infinitely more dangerous over their Internships.”   That was putting it mildly, Koharu thought.  “History is repeating itself.  You don’t think they need this push?”

“No, that’s not what I…”

“There’s no room for playing it soft anymore,” Aizawa said. But it was what he said next that made her blood run cold. “They’re fighting real Villains now.”

#my hero academia #their hero academia #fan fiction #fan fic #my writing #shouta aizawa #all might #toshi midoriya #isamu haimawari #katsumi kirishima-bakugo

[castielgurl]

What Is And What Should Never Be

fan art by:sam_cotter_art kj apa as James Rogers

Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff live their life in a completely different than the main timeline. After Thanos thing happen everyone decides to live in separate ways. The Avengers had tried so hard to bring back everyone from the snap but they fail. Everyone in this universe had moved on and built a new world. Steve finally asked Natasha to enjoy their life together. Natasha and Steve only had each other. They decide to get married and have a son name, James. Their son brings joy and happiness in their lives after chaos and disaster. Despite toughness and the hardest time, they raise James to be an Avenger and a good young man. After 20 years, James found out his parents were missing and it happens to a lot of people in their world. The universe James lives in had been erased and gone because someone has changed the past. James and his friends travel back to a specific timeline to investigate why it happens. James found that the universe is completely different, his parents never married. His father goes back to the 40s to live his life with Peggy Carter and his mother died after sacrifice herself to get the infinity stone. How James going reunite his parents and tell them to believe they are made for each other?

Falcon and everyone continue to lead the new Avengers. Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Scarlet Witch, Dr. Strange, Spiderman, Winter Soldier, Ant-man, the wasp is part of the new Avengers. One day in the avenger’s facility, the group of unknown people coming to face them. They all wearing a suit, and tech armor which similar to what Iron Man made. They look like a group of superheroes. At first, they fight each other because they did not know who they are and what intention of coming there. Before one of the women tell them to stop fighting and said they did not come to make chaos. They introduce themselves as the Avengers which are cause more confusing. How can they be another Avengers that they did not know about? They explained it they are the Avengers from the 20 years after the future. Is causes shocking revealing, one of the women claims as Scott Lang daughter, Cassie she tells a secret about her father which confirms she is indeed his daughter. In her timeline, Scott is missing and pronounce as death. The emotional reunion between daughter and father happen

They tell their story and why and how they come back to the past. They said they come to find out why their parents suddenly disappear and included many people lost their families. Like their existence are erased. Cassie, James, and Morgan Stark who apparently Tony Stark daughter the only member team has survived. Morgan invented a time portal and travel back to their current universe. They found the cause someone has changed the event in the past and created an alternate timeline. Where in that timeline some of their families did not exist including themselves. In simple explanations, if the parents did not exist their children are automatically erased. The Avengers finally understand why they come, but they did not know how they going to help them. After the discussion one of them is a young man who had fair skin, muscular about six foot asking where are the Avengers Iron Man, Hawkeye, Hulk, Captain America, Black Widow, and Thor. The Avengers explained to them where they are and they were shocked to hear Iron Man died, and Captain America going to travel time and never come back to stay in the 40s. The young man asking where is Black Widow? All of them look sad to reveal what happened to her. Wanda finally tells him she died because she sacrifices herself to get a soul stone. The young man could not believe what he heard, he looks sad and angry his emotions change suddenly. He asks why Captain America let her die, and what did he do during that? They explained to him and he looks very angry suddenly he hit the table and it breaks into pieces. Falcon asking why he very angry and what was Natasha connection to him? He said she was his mother.

*******************************************************************************************

James Rogers Story (Future year, 2043) James was born in the suburbs of Brooklyn. When he was a baby he had various diseases. Asthma, heart failure, kidney failure he got it all. He spent his baby years at the hospital. His father always regretted that James's illness was inherited from him. When he was a baby, he doesn`t have enough nutrients, skinny and pale skin. His development is slower than other babies. His body weight is also twice as low as other babies. His parents spend time to commute to the hospital every day. There was a night when he was six months old; he suddenly stopped breathing that causing panic from his parents. At one point the doctor said he would not live long. But his parents never give up. His parents love him wholeheartedly and give him the opportunity to grow like other normal children. James only knew that his parents were superheroes when he was five. Some people have told him he is the son of Captain America and the Black Widow. At first, he did not understand how big it meant being their child. While in school his friends talk about the superhero. At that time James realized he was a disappointment. He should be a strong, wise spawn just like his parents. Because of that James is depressed, shy and he avoiding being friends with other children. But his mother often raises his spirits, giving him advice and told him that he is different and special. His father never stops telling him he knew how this world worked and as long mom and dad love him, it doesn`t matter what people said.

At the moment, the world in the improvement phase. His parents told them they lost many loved ones. They show him a photo, they claim as their friends and family that they had lost. His parents told an alien named Thanos was eliminate half of the world's population. James could not imagine how the world was before Thanos. He grew up in a sad world. He lives in moderation but he is grateful that he still has his parents. He had met some of his parent’s friends. The man named Clint, Rodney, Bruce had visited his house. He never met Tony and Thor until he was 12 years old.

The more James grew up he became a normal teenager. The disease he had suddenly disappeared. He didn`t realize he had super serum. When he was a sick child, he had lifted a three-seat sofa to find his favorite toy car under the couch. He was only three years old. He thought it was just a coincidence. At the age of teenage years, he enjoyed sports and began to learn self-defense from his parents. He is getting better, his body becomes healthier, and the girls start chasing him. He was red-haired, bright-skinned, blue-eyed, thin lips, and a handsome face. He brilliant at school, do well in the sport even become a leader in the baseball team. Even so in his heart, he is still a child that was sick, skinny and has an anxiety issue. He began to pay attention to the most in need. Because of his childhood experience makes James sensitive human, kind hearted, considerate and, love animals.

James joined the Avengers when he was 18 years old. He began to realize this is what he wanted to do in his life. He wants to help others in need. He's just like the other Avengers kids. He obtained inspiration from his parents. Despite being denied at first, Natasha finally willingly let James make his own choice. He is acquainted with Monica, Cassie, Morgan, Harley, Thorun, and Francis. They eventually become close friends his avenger's friend is his second family. In his young age, James became the leader of Avengers like his father. His suit and shield were created by Morgan Stark.

His parents are the person he loves the most in his life. They take care of him until he grows up to become an amazing man and a hero. Steve and Natasha are everything for James. He is still close to his parents even though he becomes an adult. When he returned home in January 2043, he found his parents absent from home. He tried to contact them but could not be reached. While he was looking for his parents James heard panic screams from his neighbors. He saw his neighbor disappeared before his eyes and became dust. He ran to a neighborhood friend and found many other people who were also the victims. He panicked and while check on his smartphone there are catastrophic event happens in the world. Billions have been missing with no reason.

James contacted another Avengers, Morgan, and Cassie successfully make contact with him. They both asked to meet at the Avengers headquarters. Morgan finds her father missing and Cassie loses his mother and stepfather. While the other Avengers were confirmed missing, they are also among others who missing massively. James now knew the fate of his parents

*******************************************************************************************

Avengers HQ 2025 (Current Time) When the Avengers heard the story of James Rogers they didn`t believe what they heard.

Rodney asked how did they come here. James explains that they have Cosmic Strings technology that allows them to travel elsewhere. They have seen that one of the universes has eliminated the entire timeline. And that timeline is where young avengers live. Now, something has happened in another timeline that disturbed their timeline that it become the reason people vanished.

They come to fix the original timeline and bring back their friends and many others. But they are not sure how and why it happened. They need to know what is happening in this universe. They let the current Avengers tell what happened in this universe.

They find that many other things different from their world. In their world, Tony still alive raises his children and his family with Pepper. Thor was married to a woman and also his friend named Sif who had a daughter named Thorun. Clint was recovering from the loss of his entire family and he also met another woman named Bobbi and married and had a Francis as their child. Dr. Hulk lives alone to study and open his own hospital. And Natasha and Steve are married and James is their child. And most The Avengers they found here should have died after Thanos in 2018.

"Here Steve and Natasha are just friends and partners, they are no more than friends," Bucky explains though in the heart he is also uncertain if they are just friends. They spent a lot of time together maybe they are maybe they not.

"Wait a minute, Captain America and Black Widow, anyone? This news should be the hottest story in the tabloids." Scott was also surprised by James's story. But he also did not know them both very closely.

"But Steve and Natasha never married in this universe then how James still alive? He never exists in this universe." Hope finally breaking the biggest question.

"You are right. We still don`t know how that happens. We probably will find an answer soon." Morgan agrees with Hope. She felt weird as well.

"They are my parents, they love each other, not because I am their child, I know how close their relationship is, they are very happy together." James was upset with them. He knows his parents very well.

"So we all live in a very different world all this time, Everything stand on their own " Carol speaks

"My parents told them they had failed to reverse the snap after Thanos did in 2018. In this universe, they succeeded, but the problem is it affected our world. Many of you should not be here.” James said

"If we save our parents, it means we will be safe our lives and everything will come back like before. Save my dad from the dead, then unite James's parents" Morgan gave the idea

"But your father was dead two years ago and Natasha died in Vormir, and Steve chose to live in the 40s," Sam told the truth.

"But we can go back to the past, and I can save my dad. James can go to that place before his mother makes that sacrifice." Morgan said

"I don`t think you understand, Natasha was dead and cannot be reversed, it's not an exchangeable process, that's what I heard from Clint Barton," Wanda recalled the conversation with Clint

"Are you sure? Who can confirm it, you just believe in his words?" James still doesn`t believe it

"Well I don`t know, why don`t you go there and ask the guard for the stone itself? Besides Steve also said that he managed to return all the stones in his original place so that the original timeline would not be interrupted, otherwise he would take Natasha home." Sam a little bit annoys.

"My dad will not do that; he'll definitely find a way to save my mother." James insisted. He knows his stubborn attitude and never gives up.

"Maybe your father loves your mom, but this is the other Steve, this Steve is different, He who has never forgotten his first love, and he will definitely take the opportunity if he can go back in time to live with his first lover,” said Bucky

"If you go back to the past, the reality in the world will change, it will benefit your universe, but not in our reality. I am sorry what happens to your parents, but you should not interfere with the time." Dr. Strange said

"We all live in our own universe, without interruption, why are we suddenly colliding with each other? Why is this happening after a while? There's something going on, why now?" Cassie speaks \

They all being silent.

"How do you know the disruption comes from our universe?" T`Challa asked

"The cause of cosmic accidents has been detected in this universe," Morgan explained

"What do you mean?" Carol asked again

"We ask a few people who know about these things, but we don`t know how and who does it, that's why we came here" James answered

"Who is the best person to ask about time travel?” Morgan asking because everything seems confusing

"Maybe you can ask Dr. Banner” Scott remember he was the one who builds the quantum tunnel two years ago

#Steve Rogers #natasha romanoff #Romanogers #romanogersweek #steve x natasha #james rogers #capwidow #Avengers #avengers endgame

[chaniters]

Burdens of the Red

(Fallen Hero, Super Sentai AU, part 4)

Steel’s leadership is challenged by the surge of a new, cunning antagonist!

I have edited this part so many times it’s not even funny. Had to split it into two episodes too.  I’ll go on finish editing the second part, should be up in a day or two.

Enjoy!

(Spoilers for Fallen Hero ahead)

____________________________________

(Apocalypse Force’s HQ)

He stumbled through the control room, like a blind bull in a china shop, operators either staying clear of his way or actively pushing him away from the sensitive equipment as he stumbled forward.

No one helped him. No one wanted anything to do with the walking failure that was Dr. Blitz.

His scorched armor was still smoking with burnt circuits that and the unquestionable stench of defeat. The mask bore the fresh traces of lady Argent's claws.

"Ahh.. how kind of you to visit us, Dr. Blitz. We have been all been observing your miserable and humiliating defeat. It did have some entertainment value to all things considered...  But go on,  by all means, share your report, perhaps you can yet redeem yourself before the Apocalypse Force." Regis spoke on an amused tone that betrayed her murderous anger.

"They... they had new technology! Combat suits! New weapons!"

"Technology? Combat suits? Weapons?" She asked mocking his broken tone. "We have plenty of those as well. How is that an excuse?"

"They were very advanced... I believe it was Nanite-based..."

"NANItes???!" she asked standing up "Nonsense! No one has used such since the Nanoswarm incident!"

"I was right about their teleportation technology! And I saw the nanites! I recorded it!"

"Then show me!" She said slowly.

Blitz took of his derelict helm and offered it to one of the operators. Expert hands cracked what was left of it open in a matter of seconds, and the inner hardware was plugged it in. Soon enough video of the battle streamed through the screens.

Regis narrowed her gaze as she saw the colorful nanites swirl in a cloud and converge, rapidly forming the Titan. The regenes watched in awe as well.

"It seems we're up against a new formidable opponent in this ranger team" she let on speaking confidently, regaining control over the situation. "Which brings us back to the fact that twice you have proven useless against them"

"Give me another chance! I will have my revenge on that pink bitch! I have been working on other mutants! I can deal with them!" he cried.

"Why should I? You haven't learned a single thing about how to defeat them...! Take him away… we’ll deal with him later" she started turning back her attention to the screens

"No…” he coughed and spat some blood over the floor, falling on his knee. He still held his head high “... WAIT! I know something! One of them... one of them is a regene!"

"A turncoat soldier?" she said stopping her motion, suddenly interested once more

"A cuckoo! That's how he infiltrated our operation!"

"A rebel... hmr.. we have dealt with such in the past… too bad the archives were lost during the rise of the Apocalypse Force"

"If you just give me a chance I can..."

"No!" she said, shutting him up immediately. "I believe this will take a more... indirect approach. One of your creations will be taking over, but not your mutants… Dr. Terror, approach us" she called

"What? You can’t have the child replace me!" He cried

“My life for the Regis” A teenage girl wearing a simple dress walked over, taking a fist to her heart and bowing deeply, regene tattoos clearly visible on her arms and legs. She had a butterfly pin on her hair.

“Dr. Terror” Regis smiled, “You say the nicest things… Did you overhear everything?”

“Of course My Regis”

“Excellent. You will take over where Dr. Blitz failed. One of the rangers is a regene and we’re dealing with nanite technology. Do you think you can use this information to our advantage?”

"Indeed Regis. I have already devised a plan to finish them all.  I will make the necessary arrangements."

"Excellent Dr. Terror. Your enhanced intellect has never failed us so far. Do not let this be the first time" she said turning her attention back to her workers.

Dr. Terror walked out, with Blitz following closely.

“You miserable girl! How dare you steal my place? It can’t be helped now… I suppose I’ll have to keep control of this operation and you’ll just report to the Regis. You will stay out of my way!”

Dr. Terror turned to him with an angelical smile “I will do no such thing”

Blitz looked at her fully enraged. “What?”

“Are you surprised? You’re the one who thought me my lifespan would be determined by how useful I was to the Special Directive. You burned that lesson in my flesh a long time ago, after you made me… and you made sure I could not forget. I’ve made myself very useful since. To the directive. To the Regis, and to the apocalypse force. I have conquered city after city. You, on the other hand, are not looking very useful to anyone right now, are you?”

Blitz extended a palm at her, his damaged armor struggling to generate an energy blast… one that never came, as he was struck down by a creature emerging from the very wall. The thing placed a hoof over his neck, pinning him down.

“Pathetic” Terror smiled as looked down on the creature’s prey. The apparition seemed ready to finish Blitz on her command. “You can barely stand Dr. Blitz. I suggest you lay down and let me take care of this. It will be fun! I will soon take everything that ever belonged to you. This is just the beginning. And I’m going to enjoy every moment of it” her cruel words stinging her maker more than her minion’s attack.

She walked past him, followed by the shadowy mutant, leaving him alone as he tried to crawl behind them.  

_____________________

(Mortum’s lab facility)

“So, what do you think about these modifications?” Mortum asked handing him a tablet.

“Oh.. erm… I’ll review them and get back to you Doctor?”

“Of course! The sooner you do, the sooner I can get back to work”

“Indeed” Steel kept walking through the corridor.

“You have a call from above!” one of the numerous workers told him.

“Very well, I’ll get it in my office!” Steel said without stopping.

Mortum’s underground lair had turned into the focal point for their resistance movement.  And he was in charge of it all.

He entered the office and picked up the phone.

Oh damn. San Diego’s Mayor again.

He kept demanding they take down the Apocalypse force occupying the city before anything else.

It was his duty to make him understand that they were doing the best they could but they couldn’t quite take action there yet. Not with so many Apocalypse armies in between them. The mayor wasn’t shy of name-calling when furious, he had learned.

As he hung up, Herald appeared to ask for an assignment. Apparently, no one had given him one. He wasn’t experienced in this kind of situation enough to know where to be. (And who was, he wondered) He obviously had to make something up on the spot or the kid would feel useless. He ended up sending him to help in the hospital ward. He wasn’t a medic but his presence alone inspired morale.

As he closed the door there were a bunch of workers coming in to report their supplies were delayed. Fantastic. He redistributed what they had for the sixth time of the day on the spot.

Crap! When had this job become so tiring? He knew his responsibilities had increased with the current situation but this was getting ridiculous.

He looked through the window. There was a small park next to Mortum’s hideout. And sure there was Cyrus sitting on a bench featuring his trademark “why me?” expression that had never left his face since he came back to the world of the living. One would think he would feel better now that all his lies had come to an end, but it was even worse. Because Ortega wasn’t talking to him. Cyrus could be here with him, finding out what people needed by reading their minds before they came up to him and instead he was just staring at pigeons.

And of course, Ortega, who had been the Marshall before him and could be his much needed second in command was probably being depressed somewhere else out of sight as well, because his closest friend turned out not to be human. It was like he had died a second time.

Nerve-racking.

He took a seat … And the chair bent and broke under his weight, his coffee mug spilling over the table.

“Not again!!”

He tried to stand quickly, but it was too late… Mortum’s tablets were ruined with coffee all over. And he fell on his side, still stuck on the bent chair.

“Shit!” he cried. “Shit shit shit shi…”

“Need a hand?”

He looked up startled. Argent was standing next to him, the door wide open.

“I hear your job can be stressing” she smiled offering a hand.

“It can be challenging at times” he smiled taking the offered hand as she lifted him up.

“Well... If you’re serious about helping, there’s one thing you could do for me”

“Sure. What is it?”

“Cyrus and Ricardo. I need them back on the game. Yesterday if possible.”

“That’s a tall order,” she said looking at Cyrus through the window.

“I know. But they both listen to you”

“That they do…” She said turning.

“Thanks. You know, this was never the deal I accepted”

“What do you mean?”

“Charge was going to be the leader. I had enough of that during the war… I was just going to be a soldier using overpowered equipment to deal with local villains.”

“I see how that turned sideways.”

“You got that right. Everything went overboard with Heartbreak. He had basically adopted Sidestep. and when he died, he went back with him. And now he returns, but he’s a depressed villain? And now it turns out he’s not even a villain but a government lab experiment and torture victim… And Charge’s lost once more”

They kept talking. Not noticing the teenage girl with the butterfly pin calmly walking through the park in a straight line towards Cyrus’s seat.

___________________________________

Cyrus turned rapidly.

“Who are you?”

“Oh. Me? I’m like you, cousin! Just coming to visit!” she offered him a beautiful smile”

“If you’re here to kill me, it won’t be half as easy as you’re expecting…”

“It won’t? We have a list of all the traitors like you… And given your closeness to the Rangers, I was pretty sure It would be you. Aren’t you going to try to control me? I would totally not expect that!”

“Why are you still helping them? You can be free!”

“Oh poor Cyrus… that’s your name, right? Cyrus? Well, there are things you don’t know… Or maybe you know them too well. There’s no stopping the Apocalypse force. It’s is going to conquer this whole planet one way or the other. And I’ve made myself useful, so i’ll be at the top when that happens!”

“You can’t possibly believe a bureaucrat scientist like Regina will…”

She chortled with clear laughter.

“Regis Regina, you mean? Oh no no no… I mean she’s kind of smart and powerful and all but… The Apocalypse Force is alive cousin! It’s alive and it’s coming to bite all the humans in the ass! You know, if you turned to our side, then it would all be much easier...”

“I’m never going back to the farm!”

“So you’re staying here, waiting to see if Charge’s going to come back and smooch you? That’s your plan? Because he abandoned you there, you know? I always do my homework, I studied him. Do you want to know what he did when you were being tortured? He got drunk and fucked around the whole town!”

“SHUT UP!”  

“Awww that’s too dramatic cousin… This isn’t the farm!” she grinned. “Didn’t you see how we changed the whole theme?. We even got matching outfits!” It was true… even her dress had the dark colors he had come to expect. “You would have a great time! And I’d love to have a handsome cousin like you helping me out! Must say I love what you did with your hair. If you came with me… I’d show you everything! You can be my assistant!”

“No. Fucking. Way. Get lost!” he said standing up.

She sighed, putting her hands in jars “Tsk tsk. You should be nice to your little cousin Cyrus. I’m afraid you’re going to have to be punished” she said taking a small electronic device from her pocket.

His mind was pressing against hers in an instant… only…

It wasn’t a regular mind. It was huge… like a labyrinth…

“Don’t feel bad cousin! I’m sure you could probably do what you’re trying to do If I gave you enough time. But you know, you were nasty to me so...” she said flipping the switch

___________________________________

“How did this happen?!” Ortega's voice was almost panicking. He had only just arrived and the reality of the situation was still sinking in.  

They had to strap Cyrus to the medical bed to stop him from harming himself. He was now sedated but several people needed to restrain him to bring him in.

“Surveillance video shows a young woman approaching him and activating some kind of small electronic device… He must have sensed something because he tried to stand, but ended up convulsing over the floor” Steel told him.

“No trace of her” Herald added. “I looked everywhere. Must have teleported out. She had to be with the enemy”

“Shit… Cyrus!” Ortega tried to hold his hand but was shushed away by Dr. Mortum.

“Loving gestures from a static-charged people aren’t going to help right now. You could fry all the equipment Charge! Let me do my job and stay back!” he said placing some scanner devices over his head.

“This can’t be fucking happening!” He was clearly losing it. “I’m going to kill them… I’m going to …”

“HEY!” Argent said shaking him forcefully “Ricardo, I know what you’re going through but Either keep it together or go take a walk to cool down and come back!”  

“I …”

“You’re not helping!”

He said nothing else but just stood silent, his fists trembling visibly. He finally sat down, his mind going through the ugly cocktail of terror, fury, and impotence.

It took a good quarter hour before Mortum looked at them again.

“His brain implant was deactivated” he finally sentenced.

“What does that mean?” Steel asked trying to keep a neutral tone.

“Well, Regene brains are not exactly human… That implant plays a vital role in regulating it’s … chemistry so to speak. The intruder... Whomever she was… she must have activated some sort of kill-switch.”

His words echoed through the room, as Ortega covered his face with his hands as if he had just pronounced him dead.

“Is… there something you can do for him, Doctor?” Herald asked finally as Mortum kept checking the results from the scanners.

“As a matter of fact… THere’s a lot I could do… It’s been a pet project of mind to work in restoring comatose brains…” he said casually “... just a side project of course…”

“So you can fix him?” Ortega asked looking back at him

“Not exactly… as I said, it’s a regene brain… if his implant’s not reactivated there’s not much I can do for him.  But I can restore him to wakefulness with some medical nanites”

“How do we reactivate his implant?” Steel asked.

“We can’t Not without the proper codes… But… I’m guessing he can probably help us with that question once I wake him”   Mortum spoke as he loaded a syringe with a crystalline liquid substance oozing with nanite sludge.

“What, right now?” Argent looked at him bewildered

“Yes? I mean the sooner I stabilize him the more time he has to live. Or do you have a better idea mademoiselle?”

“Do it” Steel sentenced.

Mortum slid the syringe directly into the medical tubing connector, and the nanites slowly flowed into his bloodstream.

“Miracle workers… let’s see if you can live up to your promises” he cheered them

The nanites went through and nothing happened for a few minutes.

Until the alarms began sounding over the medical devices, Cyrus’ vitals changing rapidly, and his whole body convulsing again.  

Steel and Herald helped hold him down as Argent made sure Ortega didn’t approach.

“This is all normal! His body is just responding to stimuli!” Mortum tried to calm them down, a bit too late.

Cyrus eventually stopped moving, his vitals becoming stable once more. And he opened his eyes wide.

“It hurts! It hurts so much! Make it stop!” he started screaming. “Make it stop! Make it stop!”

Steel and Argent looked at Mortum. He was adjusting the nanites settings on a console…

“... and… there! Any better?”

Cyrus’ screaming ceased, and he just lay there breathing heavily.

“What’s … happening?” he asked confused.

“That’s a very good question mon amie. I’m afraid It will take a few more minutes of scans before I can provide you with an answer”

Steel approached Cyrus’ beadhead and tried to explain it to him in a hushed voice. It took several attempts before Cyrus finally nodded in understanding.

“Do you know where can we find activation codes? Manuals? Anything that can help Mortum figure out farm technology?”

Cyrus smiled back at him as if it was a very obvious question.

“M… map,” he said finally. “Write… Write down… Coordinates… in Nevada” Steel did as he said.

“Thank you, Cyrus”

As he turned to the others, Cyrus' hand pulled him”

“Take.. me with .. you”

“You’re out of it Cyrus!”

“I know that... Hell hole… please...” and then he passed out again.

“Well… I’d say we have both good news and bad news” Mortum said finally.

“Start with the good news” Steel said looking at Ortega, who seemed about to throw up.

“Well, the good news is the nanites are doing an excellent job replacing his implant. I think he should be … decently coherent for a few hours. He could even be on the field himself, which should prove quite useful to go to this mystery location…”

“And the bad news?”

“Medical nanites are dangerous. I’ve designed these with a limited lifespan. They will start dying off in about 8 hours and I only have enough to fill two more doses. They are not easy to produce either. We will run out within a day.”

Steel took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes as hard as he could before turning to the others.

“We’re going to have to put an x on a map using these coordinates… and we need to make some calls around the government on the east, see what we can find out about their pet project.  Charge, Herald, I need you both with me.”

Ortega lifted his gaze to Steel. “I’m staying with him! I’m not losing him again!”

“Well I don’t plan to do that either! You’re have contacts that we need right now Ortega!  People are more likely to answer if it’s Charge asking. And Herald, everyone knows your voice. I have no idea who will or won’t be willing to tell us anything but if we can convince at least someone it could mean…”

“Alright alright, I get it!” Herald said

Charge reluctantly walked with them.

“Good. Argent… stay with Mortum and learn EVERYTHING you can about brain implants he can teach to you in the next hour”

“Done” she nodded slowly.

“And Mortum… , make sure to do whatever you can to have Cyrus in the best walking and thinking conditions you can within the hour”

Mortum nodded as well. He did love a challenge.

__________________________________

(The Farm exterior, Nevada desert)

“No! No no! Please don’t take me back! Please! Don’t!”

“Cyrus, please! It’s me! We’re just trying to help you!” Ortega, in his blue nanoranger suit tried to comfort him as he and Argent who was also wearing her nanoranger armor dragged him onwards.  

“I won’t go back! Please don’t make me go back, Ricardo! I’m sorry! I’m sorry for everything but please...”

It was painful. The teleportation had not been the best since they didn’t know the exact spot where the entrance was located. Still, they made quite good progress.

Cyrus had been acutely coherent most of the way. He even understood the mission and asked to go along -again-. He shared a lot of insight about the farm, but once they came upon a certain distance he just fixated on the building’s facade going blank for a split second before turning batshit crazy, hallucinating about the farm having captured him again. And with the way they were forced to drag him, it certainly looked that way.

Mortum told them it would pass momentarily, that the nanites would correct the imbalance eventually, but It was breaking mettle Ortega’s by the second.

“Do we have to bring him?” he asked.

“We need him. We have no idea what security systems there’ll be down there. And he escaped the place twice!” Argent spoke as they kept marching on.

“But… it’s hurting him”

“I know, but if we can’t find what we’re looking for…” she didn’t finish the sentence as they walked towards the building, following Steel and Herald close by.

Eventually, Cyrus quieted down as promised regaining some resemblance of normality and started walking of his own accord.

“I’m sorry… it’s just… “ he apologized

“I know… I know”  Ortega said “We’re about to enter… can you use your Henshin bracer?”

He looked clueless for a second before remembering what he meant.

“Yes… I think so?”

“Use it… armor will keep you safer.”

The others kept going forward as Ortega helped him change into the black ranger.

“What’s that?” Herald asked about a strange mound in the sand. Steel squinted his eyes at it… then engaged his enhanced sight modes. He instantly froze, going over similar mounds all around them”

“What is it?” Argent asked as they finally caught up.

The red ranger kicked one of them, revealing a corpse, buried under the sand. USA military gear, wearing the Special Directive’s logo.

“I guess this answers why there’s no one to meet us...” he said grimmly, as they reached the stairs that led to the first gate. Or what was left of it.   

___________________________________

My Fanfics: https://chaniters.tumblr.com/post/181692759294/my-fanfiction-for-fallen-hero 

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and the setting of the Fallen Hero: Rebirth and upcoming Fallen Hero: Retribution games written by Malin Riden. I do not claim ownership of any characters from the Fallen Hero wold. These stories are a work of my imagination, and I do not ascribe them to the official story canon. These works are intended for entertainment outside the official storyline owned by the author. I am not profiting financially from the creation of these stories, and thank the author for her wonderful game/s, without which these works would not exist.

#fallen hero: rebirth #Super Sentai Au #Fanfic #fallen hero spoilers

[themyskira]

The Life of Captain Marvel - prologue

Sooooo, yep, we’re doing this.

I’m going to recap this travesty of a comic issue by issue, but before we dig into the many crimes of The Life of Captain Marvel, I thought it would be helpful to lay down some context.

Margaret Stohl’s miniseries radically reimagines Carol’s origin and family, in particular her parents, Joe and Marie Danvers. So let’s take a look at who they were before Stohl took a hacksaw to them.

Joe and Marie Danvers are first introduced in Ms Marvel vol. 1 #13 (1978) by Chris Claremont and Jim Mooney.

Some background for this: In the 70s, cape comics were increasingly delving into social issues not only as story fodder, but as a selling point. Successes like the 1970 Green Lantern/Green Arrow (which explored addiction, racism, income inequality and corruption) and The Amazing Spider-Man’s 1971 “Green Goblin Reborn!” (which famously abandoned the Comics Code in order to portray the negative impact of drug abuse) prompted more comics to address relevant social issues of the day (with… varying degrees of sensitivity, shall we say).

The Ms Marvel comic, which launched in 1977, was heavily coloured by (a white male comic writer’s interpretation of) the women’s liberation movement. It’s flagged right there in the title: as both a civilian and in her superhero alter ego, Carol Danvers refuses to be defined by her marital status, insisting on being called ‘Ms’ rather than ‘Miss’.

“And one thing more, Jonah… My name is Ms. Carol Danvers.”

When we first meet Carol in issue #1, she’s introduced as a smart, driven career woman and a proud feminist who is hired by J. Jonah Jameson as editor of the Bugle’s Woman magazine (an allusion to the feminist Ms magazine). In the space of a page, she’s talked the penny-pinching Jonah into paying her a high salary, while refusing to cave to his insistence that she prioritise diets and recipes over interviews and stories about women’s issues and activities.

To what extent the 1970s Ms Marvel succeeds as a feminist hero is debatable. What’s important here is that Carol is framed from the get-go as a hero who fights against misogyny as well as the usual parade of supervillains.

So obviously her dad was going to be a male chauvinist.

Carol: Dad, it’ll take more than words to stop Plumm. You need evidence. I’m a journalist — a trained investigator. If the building’s unsafe, I can help you prove it. I can get— Joe: Outta here, Kitten, an’ leave a man t’ do a man’s work in peace.

But Chris Claremont, to his credit, gave the character and the relationship a little more nuance than that.

“Joe Danvers. Five-nine and two hundred pounds of muscle, a man who’s worked his entire life with his hands, who started with nothing and built a successful contracting business until the recession of ’76 kicked it in the teeth.”

We first meet Joe at work on a construction site. The high-rise project has been plagued with problems, thanks to what we’ll later discover is deliberate sabotage by the site owner, and now one of Joe’s crew is trapped dangling from a fallen steel pylon several storeys above. Joe rushes to the man’s aid.

Man: Joe, what’re ya doin’?! Joe: Whaddaya think?! He’s one o’ my crew— I’m goin’ out after him!

With his courage and quick thinking, Joe saves the man’s life.

Andy: I’m scared, Joe. My God, am I gonna die?!? Joe: Not if I can help it. Just hang loose, Andy, and trust me!

Joe begins to suspect that the owner is cutting corners at the expense of workers’ safety. Investigating after hours, he discovers the whole site is at risk of structural collapse. Furious, he calls the owner, who first denies it and then tries to threaten Joe into silence. Joe refuses to be cowed.

Plumm: We’re within the building codes. Joe: Bull! Plumm: I warn you, Danvers— push me too far and I’ll make you live to regret it. Joe: Stick it in yer ear, punk! You’re finished, Plumm — ‘cause I’m blowin’ the whistle on you an this pitiful excuse for a buildin’!

Throughout, Claremont takes the time to illustrate the commonalities between Carol and her father. They’re both people of courage and conviction, with nerves of steel. They also share a stubbornness and a temper that doesn’t always do either of them any favours.

And, yeah, Joe is a sexist jerk.

When Carol offers her journalistic skills and connections to help expose Plumm, Joe dismisses her. And when Ms Marvel ultimately saves Joe’s life, he grumbles about her interfering. The idea that he might need a woman’s help to do a ‘man’s work’ is utterly demeaning in his mind.

In later issues, we learn that the reason Carol joined the military in the first place was because it was the only way she could afford to pay for college after Joe flatly refuses to help her out, saying it’s more important for her brother Steve to get an education and “besides, you don’t need college to find a good husband”.

So Carol joins the Air Force, makes her own way, builds her dream career and becomes a hero on her own terms. Yet no matter how high she flies, it never seems to be enough for Joe. He doesn’t understand what she wants from life, she doesn’t meet his expectations for what a daughter or a young woman ought to be, and for that Carol feels she’s never been able to gain his approval or acceptance.

“All I ever wanted was for Dad to accept me as I am, not as he wanted me to be. And now I know that no matter what I do, or how well I do it— he never will.”

Marie, unfortunately, gets short shrift in Claremont’s Ms Marvel. We see that she’s supportive and proud of Carol, buying every issue of Carol’s magazine and enthusiastically recommending it to all of her friends. We see that, unlike Joe, Marie sees Carol for who she is and loves her for it. And she’s not fooled for a second by the Ms Marvel costume.

“I gave birth to you, Carol. I raised you. I love you. I’d know my first-born anywhere, behind any disguise.”

But unlike Joe, we never get a sense of who she is as a character or what kind of relationship she has with Carol. Indeed, for the most part she’s just there to mediate Carol’s relationship with Joe, making excuses for her husband, downplaying the hurt he’s caused Carol and encouraging Carol not to let his misogyny bother her. Which is a problem in itself.

Carol’s backstory got a light revamp for the modern era in 2008’s Ms Marvel vol. 2 #31.

In this version of events, Joe is less overtly misogynistic. He doesn’t outright refuse to help Carol with college or suggest that she ought to be looking for a husband… but those sexist assumptions are still hanging around beneath the surface and he never truly accepts Carol, unable to reconcile her wants and ambitions with his ideas of what a daughter should be.

“The things I did… and this was before I had super-powers… I saved the world a few times, Dad. Would that make you proud? I don’t think it would. I wasn’t Steven, was I? I wasn’t Joe Junior with his architecture degree. And I wasn’t your perfect little boy in a Red Sox fan [sic]. I was just the little girl you were always uncomfortable with… never knew how to talk to.”

The breaking point in their relationship, and the impetus for Carol to join the Air Force, comes with the death of her (older, in this version) brother Steven, who dies overseas in military service.

Unable to cope with his grief, Joe starts drinking to numb his feelings with alcohol, developing a serious drinking problem (this retcon was a nod to Ms Marvel’s own battle with alcoholism, which had been explored in a number of comics at this point).

And seventeen-year-old Carol looks around her, seeing a father near-catatonic with grief and booze and a mother struggling to keep the family afloat on her single salary, and she concludes that if she wants to go to college and become an astronaut then she’s going to have to rely on her own resources. So the moment she turns eighteen, she joins the Air Force.

And her father explodes.

“Why, after what happened to Steven, why would you even want— are you @#$%ing insane?!”

He’s still consumed by the death of his son, and now his daughter is putting her own life on the line in pursuit of a dream he has never understood or taken seriously. He’s terrified and angry and convinced she’s doing it just to spite him.

And no matter how high she flies, she’ll never measure up to his idealised memories of the child he lost. His approval is always out of reach.

Meanwhile, once again, Marie gets shafted. She’s absent in the flashbacks and a one-dimensional figure in the present day, giving no sense of her personality or her relationship with Carol.

There’s one more version of Carol’s backstory, and it comes -- curiously enough -- from Margaret Stohl’s previous run on Mighty Captain Marvel in 2017.

Joe: Ah, Bean... Since my tour of duty ended, things have been tight. College tuition... [...] I can pay one tuition, Bean. For Stevie. Joe has my hands, he can frame houses with me. Carol: That’s not fair! What about me? What am I supposed to do? Joe: Find yourself a nice boy -- heck, a nice astronaut -- and settle down.

Essentially it’s a modernisation of the original Claremont version. Joe Danvers is a loving father who wants the best for all of his children. But what he sees as best is shaped by his sexist preconceptions — a college degree is more essential for Steve, who he assumes will be supporting a family, than Carol, who’ll be raising one — and a complete failure to understand his daughter and how deep her ambitions run. What she feels in her bones as a calling, he sees as a cute obsession that she’ll outgrow, once she’s settled down with the right man. And that hurts. “It’s a lonely thing,” Carol reflects, “when the people who love you don’t know who you are”.

This is the kind of nuance which Stohl utterly abandons in The Life of Captain Marvel.

So, common to all of these versions of Carol’s background is

a fraught, complex relationship with a hard-headed father who’s never understood her and whose approval is always beyond Carol’s grasp, and

a vaguely domestic mother with no defined personality beyond a desire to keep the peace between Carol and Joe.

By the end of The Life of Captain Marvel, this will be transformed into

an irredeemably toxic and traumatising relationship with a verbally and physically abusive father who blames Carol for gatecrashing his illicit romance with his mysterious sexy space girlfriend, aka Carol’s mother; and

a vaguely domestic mother (from space) with no defined personality beyond a desire to keep the peace between Carol and Joe.

Buckle up, kids. This is going to be a shitshow from start to finish.

#comics talk #the days of our lives of captain marvel

[brainbuffering]

Not epilepsy related, I know, but please bare with me. I made a joke on Twitter about how I could probably write a 2 page essay on the title page for Grayson #8. 

The tweet was liked by Grayson Creatives: Jackson Lanzing, Tim Seeley and  Mikel Janín. I intended to leave it just there, however, I couldn’t get it out of my mind, and apparently I have no self control because 3 days later I had written a five page essay on it, and well once you’ve written 2894 words on a subject you may as well publish it somewhere. And because I might as well say it here, if you ever want to read more essays like this, let me know, and you can support me on Ko-Fi if you’re feeling extra generous <3 

So after a quick shout out to my sister Ruth for reading it over and providing invaluable feedback, and the wonderful Wednesday Club discord for helping me brainstorm titles and providing general encouragements, I present:

Climbing the Eiffel Tower: Dick Grayson as a feminist sex icon

Tim Seeley and Tom King’s 2014-2016 DC Comics series Grayson follows the story of Dick Grayson as he infiltrates the spy network known as Spyral and travels across the world chasing one adventure after another. Making his first appearance in 1940 as Batman’s sidekick and protégé, Robin, he became just as famous in popular media as the Batman himself. Unlike most comic book characters, Dick Grayson was allowed to age, going from the eager child circus acrobat to a teenage superhero leading his own team. He later went on to find a day job as a cop, whilst still moonlighting as a superhero under the new name Nightwing. For a short time he even picked up the cowl and became Batman following Bruce Wayne’s apparent (nobody stays dead in comics for very long) death and adopted Bruce’s son Damian as his own Robin. In 2014, following his own apparent death, he was granted the new moniker Agent 37.

Although Seeley and King’s Grayson series was very much grounded in the DC Universe, (where Super-powered humans saves the day by running backwards through time and green shape shifting aliens attend high school) the series had just as much in common with 60s Spy films. Nazis were punched, skimpy swimsuits were worn, and the day was saved again and again thanks to a handsome man with a dashing smile. Yet one of the distinguishing features of the much applauded series was the presentation of Dick Grayson as a sex icon. In an industry berated for its sexualisation of female characters, where a teenage girl is put into a purple metal bikini and it is called liberation, Grayson brought a rare respite for female fans. Suddenly the object of affection was male.

It is a running joke amongst DC fans that Dick Grayson is the sexiest man in all comics (at least from an American perspective). In 2013 Dick Grayson even gained the number one spot in Comics Alliance’s list of 50 Sexiest Guys in Comics, beating fellow former Robin Jason Todd (Ranked No. 23) and the Batman himself (ranked No. 46). It was in the 1980- 1984 New Teen Titans series that Dick Grayson was able to step out from the shadow of the Bat, and start to become the sex symbol he is known as today. Along with starting to appear shirtless, he was also shown to be in a sexually active relationship with his girlfriend, Starfire: a teenage alien princess clad in, yes, a purple metal bikini. Perhaps when created in 1940 he was meant to stay the eager young boy, that is not the character we see today, as one internet commentator described him, he’s “that kid at thirteen who’s hot at twenty-one” (Jaffe, 2017). Dick Grayson is now one of the few male comic book heroes who is deliberately designed to be a sex icon aimed at women. He’s the heir to a fortune, he’s charming, he respects women and he’s got an amazing arse. He’s the sort of non-threatening pin-up model you’d be happy to take home to meet your mother. That is, if you weren’t concerned your mother might not try and take him for herself.

This side to his character is demonstrated in Mikel Janín’s illustration for title page of Grayson #8: “Cross my heart and hope to die” published in 2014. The image depicts Dick Grayson demonstrating a gymnastic maneuver to seven teenage school girls during their gym class. He wears form fitting leggings and a sleeveless shirt, displaying his muscular physique. Meanwhile, the students wear a standard uniform for British Private School Girls: a red rugby shirt and white gym shorts. This helps depict both their social class and their social position. There is a text box at the top of the page which reads “...That doesn’t stop me from wanting to climb up on its Eiffel Tower.” Lower down on the page, a speech bubble depicts Dick saying “Ladies? Are you even paying attention? I swear.”

Janín’s layout is deliberately designed to draw attention to Dick’s butt. The support beams of the wall follow from the text box at the start of the top left of the panel, along to the right of the page and then straight down to the buttocks. The viewer then follows Dick’s legs down to take in the school girls whose attention is firmly set upon said buttocks. It is then their gaze that visually leads you down the rest of his body. The entire set up of the image is for the viewer to see Dick Grayson in the same sexual light as the teenagers do. It enforces Dick’s role within the DC Universe as a teenage heartthrob by showing just that, a line of teenaged girl whose hearts (and other parts) throb at the sight of him.

The fact that Dick’s legs lead you down along the line of students demonstrates that they have just as much importance within the image as Dick. Some would argue that this is an example of fan-service, that is to say, images simply put in place to titulate the consumer. However Janín has not drawn Dick with just the viewer in mind. He wants you to take in the school girls too, and see Dick from their point of view. Whilst this is still asking you to see him as a sexual figure, by having the overall view point be from above, the viewer is able to take step back from the scene, and allow us to also side with Dick. The viewer is meant to see the whole situation from a third-party perspective, yet still asks us to sympathise with the teenage girls crushing on their attractive gym teacher. If the purpose of the piece was for the viewer to sexualise Dick for themselves, his body would have a far more prominent feature, blocking out the girls entirely from view and posing in a more deliberately sexualised fashion, as opposed to the actual image where Dick is just going about his job in a conventional fashion, meaning there are no purple bikinis or broken spines in sight. Dick’s ignorance to the girls attraction towards him adds humour to the image, where his frustrations at their lack of attention are juxtaposed with their very real fascination with his body.

This use of humour helps to set a tone for the comic, wherein the reader is made to feel relaxed and amused by the content before it swiftly changes to something more serious. In the case of Grayson #8 it is one of the girls’ other mentors, a middle aged woman, screaming for help. While some might argue that the clear focus on Dick’s buttocks is purely for fan service, and so is an act of objectification on par with that shown towards female characters, the fact that the image genuinely helps progress the story suggests otherwise. The panel of Dick Grayson teaching gymnastics provides the reader with further insight into the characters’ personalities and roles within their society, whilst the general page layout sets up the pace and rhythm for the plot of the book. If it were just for fan service, it would have been easily removed from the story with no consequence.

However, it is true that one of the selling points of Dick Grayson is his sex appeal. Writers Gail Simone and Devin Grayson have both spoken about how they deliberately write Dick Grayson to have sex appeal. Simmone, who is probably most academically sited for her her women in refrigerators campaign (in which she points out the distressing prevalence for female characters to be brutally murdered in order to progress a male character’s story) as a comic book writer has often included sexualised male characters in her work, Dick Grayson being one of them. She argues that since there are enough female characters who are sexualised in the media, she therefore has said she needs “to have sexy characters who might appeal to more people” she wants “there to be characters for everyone” (Simone, 2014). It is important to note, that Simone does not specify that only women are sexually attracted towards these men, nor indeed that all women would be, simply that there in order to diversify audience, one needs to diversify character appeal. Whereas Simone’s approach may stem from a socio-political form of feminism, Grayson has a more capitalist approach. In an interview discussing Dick Grayson as a sex symbol, she suggested that not using the character as such is a serious marketing failure: “It’s astonishing to me that sexy male superheroes aren’t marketed as aggressively as sexy male vampires or sexy male boy bands. There’s obviously tons of money to be made there. There is no one on the planet that will devote more energy, social media advocacy, and money to a favoured cause than a smitten teenage girl.” (Grayson, 2015). Indeed, in editor Kate Kubert’s original pitch for Grayson, she described it as “a cool, slick, sexy spy book starring Dick Grayson” (Seeley, 2015). Dick Grayson’s sex appeal was always meant to be integral to the story.  

Therefore, it is not really a surprise that it is the the title page for Grayson #8 that draws such attention to Dick Grayson’s sexy arse. This could be interpreted as male objectification, since it is Dick’s highly attractive body that is being used to draw in readers to the series. Indeed, the bottom panel in particular is designed to make the reader turn the page and find out what is happening. The viewer is only shown a hint of what the woman is possibly holding, and that she is in complete distress. She is asking for help, and the reader assumes that Dick Grayson is going to be the one to provide it, though one would have to buy the book to find out more. It would naturally appeal to a female heterosexual audience to have an attractive male hero go and rescue a woman in need of aid. It is important to note, that whilst other comic series (and indeed spy films) also have attractive men saving women, what makes Dick Grayson stand out here is his more nurturing role. He is in the middle of teaching a class, not sipping a martini in a cassino. Furthermore it is the female gaze depicted here (almost literally in this case since the audience is partially sees Dick through the eyes of teenage girls) and not the male gaze. This is not a power fantasy where a strong dashing man jumps in and saves the simpering young blonde woman, this is a fantasy in which you witness the nice, handsome teacher come to the aid of a grey haired middle-aged woman. The first fantasy is decidedly that of a heterosexual man, the second of a heterosexual woman. Therefore, if the fantasy that is being presented revolves around Dick’s personality and abilities, it cannot be objectification, since you cannot objectify someone who has personhood.

Yet, even if this image is an example of objectification, the question arises of whether it is harmful objectification, or whether it is acceptable given the context. The sexual objectification of a character takes away their agency, their personality and treats them as nothing better than a particularly life like sex toy. The prevalence of this in female characters reflects upon a society that does not value women, or even consider them as people. Therefore, if Dick Grayson is being objectified, is it as dangerous as when female characters, such as Starfire, are objectified? Dick Grayson already has an established character that goes back over 75 years, and as a rich white-passing (Grayson confirms him to be Romani in decent) cis-man has been granted narrative privileges that other characters have not been. Dick Grayson has always been empowered and valued by readers and creators, so objectifying him every now and then is not going to do too much harm to his overall characterisation, nor help maintain an existing real life precedent for a social inequality.

Dick Grayson’s sexualisation in Grayson #8 is a satirical commentary based upon just that. The book came out in an environment where criticism of female objectification and sexualisation in comic books was starting to become a more publicly discussed issue. 2012 saw the beginning of The Hawkeye Initiative which looked at how female characters were drawn in comics and parodied them by drawing Marvel’s Clint Barton (A.K.A Hawkeye) in the same pose. The campaign was widely celebrated across the internet, though many creators (predominantly male) were insulted by the disrespect shown to the original creators. Of course, part of the project was to disrespect the original creators by displaying how sexist their original drawings were, so to that extent, their reaction was incredibly valid. However, the spirit of the initiative was always to encourage conversation in a light hearted, humourous fashion that did not single out any one creator. Grayson #8 demonstrates the exact same humorous approach. The image does not speak to how Dick Grayson is purely a sex object, or oppressed in any way, it speaks of an understanding that it’s about time the playing field was evened out; that heterosexual women and gay men should have someone they too can fantasise about. It welcomes you to join the teenagers in admiring Dick, and let’s you understand that doing so is harmless and fun. This also helps to subvert a classic spy movie trope, where the male protagonist treats the female heroine as nothing but an object of desire, and she is shot from angles that only accentuate those elements. It is clear that when Kubert asked Seeley to create her a “sexy spy book” (Seeley, 2015) it was Dick Grayson who would be providing the sexy, and not his female co-stars.

As discussed in Camille Bacon-Smith’s seminal 1992 work on Fan Studies Enterprising Women, fandom has often been used as a tool for female sexual exploration, and though Bacon-Smith views this from a slightly more critical outsider’s perspective, more recent studies that have come from within fandom itself, and have shown the way it can help people develop an understanding of their sexuality in a safe manner. This has become particularly true for teenage fans, who often use fan-works to explore these parts of themselves. It is especially important to have these spaces celebrated, since teenage girls’ sexuality is often ridiculed elsewhere in popular media. From Stephanie Meyer to Ringo Starr, actors, musicians and writers have all been pushed to the side as irrelevant just because they’re popular amongst teenage girls, and the quality of their work is assumed straight away to be nonsense just based upon their fanbase. Yet, as Grayson said, it is these same fans who will show the utmost dedication and passion (Grayson, 2015) for works that speak to them, and treat them with respect. That is exactly what is being shown in Grayson #8, teenage girls who have sexualised fantasies about non-threatening men, where it is not presented as a set up to a Lolita-esc story of peodophillia. Dick Grayson is not interested in these girls sexually, the girls understand that they will not be entering into sexual relations with him, but that does not stop them from enjoying looking at him and fantasising about him in a safe manner.  Even if their attention is unwanted, the girls cannot harm Dick Grayson and Dick Grayson will not harm them. It could be argued, that the humourous feel to the piece is mocking the girls for their sexuality, and asking the reader to laugh at them, not with them. However, the fact that the layout of the work has such a focus on Dick Grayson’s bottom, and that the page begins with one of the girl’s own comment of sexual innuendo about him as a sexy Eiffel Tower she wishes to climb (King, 2014), it is clear that the viewer is being asked to side with these teenagers and agree, that yes, if Dick Grayson was the Eiffel Tower, you too would gladly climb up it and enjoy that glorious view.

To conclude, Grayson #8’s Title Page is an example of how female sexuality (in particularly, that of teenage girls) can be celebrated in comic books in a fun and safe manner. The title page treats the character with respect and dignity, whilst still nodding to an fan base that have dedicated entire blogs to pictures of his butt. The image is tongue-in-cheek about it’s approach to the celebration of Dick Grayson’s bottom, however it is done with respect to both character and reader. Whilst some might argue that this is objectification, the existing social and historical structures within the industry and western society as whole negate this. It has now become an important act of feminist action to have such characters within comic books. Equal opportunity between the sexes, requires equal opportunity to celebrate sexuality. Dick Grayson’s butt in tight lycra is not going to change the world over night, but it is certainly a very good place to start. Grayson is not the first series to celebrate Dick Grayson’s bottom and share it in all it’s peach like glory, and it is unlikely to be the last, yet, much like Dick Grayson, it is still a beautiful piece of work that shall no doubt be cherished for the ages.

References:

Holy Robin Batman! The Wednesday Club, 9th August 2017 (Available on Geek and Sundry’s Twitch and Projectalpha.com)

http://comicsalliance.com/tim-seeley-grayson-nightwings-dc-comics-interview/

http://comicsalliance.com/why-is-nightwing-hot/

http://comicsalliance.com/comics-sexiest-male-characters/

https://www.themarysue.com/gail-simone-nightwing-butt/

https://www.cbr.com/seeley-king-enter-the-dcus-espionage-world-in-grayson/

https://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/460/384

http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/77.html

#Dick Grayson #Agent 37 #Nightwing #Comics #DC Comics #Comic Books #Tim Seeley #Mikel Janín #Tom King #Not Art #Not Comics #(even though it is really but not my comics at least) #My Dad asked me why I wrote this #apparently the answer #For Fun? #Did not clear things up

[thotyssey]

The tHOTlist #50 - 1

50)  The Cock

Gay NYC’s longtime destination for raunch remains steadfast, even as today’s thots are mostly getting their fix through the hookup apps. But never underestimate the power of exhibitionism! It should also be said that the Cock deserves credit in their marketing of events for emphasizing the sexiness of diverse body types, ages, races, proclivities, etc. And if none of that is your thing, chill out upstairs with some sweet, fun bartenders like Franco, Brian and Lola Michele-Kiki.

49)  Steve Sidewalk

Perhaps New York and New Jersey’s most followed dance floor pop DJ, Steve has a rabid babygay following thanks largely to his popular Gay College Tuesdays at the Ritz. Also a regular at POSH, Feathers and Paradise, Sidewalk has been touring venues across the country lately as well.

48)  Will Sheridan

The larger-than-life college basketball star turned emcee and DJ just celebrated the sixth anniversary of Hot Fruit, the Metropolitan Bar party he long ago revamped to include a showcase for diverse Brooklyn talent. Will also dropped the EP LexIcon, performed a few showcases at Rise Bar with Corey TuT and Dezi 5, produced a new monthly party at Rockbar called The Phunktion, started bartending at GYM in addition to Macri Park, and generally remains a powerhouse of the scene. 

47)  Shuga Cain

Having rapidly become one of Manhattan’s favorite queens, Shuga is fierce, funny, and as her name suggests probably the sweetest person you know. You can feel her love for drag (which was a later-in-life career change for her), and that love is infectious... even to a house full of jaded HK Marys who have seen it all. Give Shuga all the finger wags--while you still can--at her solo Thursday Hardware happy hour, her Wednesday night Pieces show with JanSport, and Sunday nights at Bedlam hosting the seminal Look Queen competition.

46)  Therapy

The increasingly famous HK destination boasts good eats, great beats, heavy pours, a more diverse crowd than you’d think (particularly the sexy bar staff), and some of the best drag shows in town: Slurp (Paige Turner), The Help (Pixie Aventura and Kizha Carr), Stage Fright (Marti Gould Cummings), and the new Soaked (Brita Filter, Lagoona Bloo and Rosé). Plus, JanSport’s singing competition “You Tried It” has electrified the babygay Broadway hopefuls that frequent the bar.

45)  Aquaria

Aquaria’s Season 10 win brings home the reality that RuPaul’s Drag Race’s largest growing audience demographic is teen girls. What teenager doesn’t want to be Aquaria, with her beauty and fashion sense and confidence? Which isn’t to say that she didn’t deserve the win... every look she presented was genius, and once the music is cued she’s an electrifying performer. A distant and stilted host by her own admission, she brilliantly found ways to work around or even incorporate that handicap into the acting challenges. It’s quite clear that she’s destined for Warholian Living Fashion Installation Iconicism, and that’s as it should be. A former fixture of every scene queen party in the city, Aquaria’s never going to our parties again. She IS the party now, and we all dream of getting an invite.

44)  Ragamuffin

Brooklyn’s high concept fashion and performance art folk hero crossed the river and became a Manhattan star in 2018. She hasn’t compromised her signature Demonic Raccoon beats, asymmetric silhouettes or off-the-radar drag numbers for anyone, but she’s found a way to incorporate it all into a more mainstream package when needed. She’s also enforced the “artists should actually get paid by the house” philosophy of drag, moving her hit workshop / showcase “Failure” from Bizarre Bushwick to the East Village’s Club Cumming (she’s also regularly lent her drag there to the monthly cabaret revue MARY). You can still catch Raga giving you Brooklyn realness for her seminal pairing with Ruby Roo, Mondays on Mondays at Macri Park--as well as a solo late night Sunday show at Metro. 

43)  Rosé

New York’s uber-talented singing drag trio Stephanie’s Child have officially taken over the scene, and became the standard of quality the queens are expected to meet if they wanna make it big here. Musical theater baby Rosé--aka Stephanie’s Child’s “Pink One”--sings, dances, jokes, and does killer mixes with the best of them. Pleasantly kooky, well-spoken and free-spirited (and newly the drag daughter of legendary Kizha Carr), she made her drag debut last year with an explosive crown-winning turn for the final Lady Liberty weekly competition season. You can now catch her co-hosting the pop-up showdowns of that franchise with Brita Filter at the Ace Hotel. Rosé is also co-hosting Therapy’s new hit Thursday show Soaked with Brita and fellow Child Lagoona Bloo, Turn It Up Sundays with the third Child JanSport at Hardware, and Tuesday karaoke at Pieces with Lagoona. 

42)  Switch N’Play

With a current core roster consisting of K. James, Miss Malice, Divina GranSparkle, Zoe Ziegfeld, Pearl Harbor, Nyx Nocturne and Vigor Mortis, it’s obvious that the nature of this troupe has evolved since its drag king beginnings (in fact, none of the original lineup remains in the group). Successful outfits change with the times, and Switch N’Play presently reflects Brooklyn nightlife’s current Fuck That approach to gender and genre. With two monthly showcases at Branded Saloon--and a recent excursion to the prestigious National Sawdust theatre (current home base of Sasha Velour’s Nightgowns) for their annual Addams Family tribute show--the group has gotten tons of love... not to mention a bunch of Brooklyn Nightlife Awards this past go-around.

41)  The Carry Nation

The famed DJ duo Nita Aviance and Will Automagic are currently enjoying another successful season of residency at Brooklyn’s Good Room, but were super in-demand across the city this year. We danced to their beats at Nowadays, Elsewhere, the House of Yes, Battle Hymn, 3 Dollar Bill, the Pines Pavilion and Bushwig, just to name a few. Their best DJ GLAM nod this year is well-deserved indeed.

40)  Ric Sena

Creating the Alegria brand of circuit parties 18 years ago, Sena married gorgeously hypnotic visuals with sonic sensory overload, and a circuit standard was born. Or rather, a cult was formed. Alegria continues to be the seasonal event that circuit queens around the world plan their lives around, but these days in NYC Ric Sena Presents also offers the monthly VIVA at FREQ, and the occasional morning after Sunrise day party at Hudson Terrace.

39)  The Rosemont

Not really the new kid on the block anymore, former jazz club The Rosemont has become well-established with a certain brand of queer nightlife: young, diverse, experimental, but still unabashedly worshipful of all things pop. Well-attended nights there include the dragtastic OOPS Wednesdays, Bitch Nasty Fridays featuring DJs Ickarus and Hannah Lou, and the bi-monthly Saturday Fake Nudes with DJ P_A_T and The Haus of Sterling.

38)  Maddelynn Hatter

Hell’s Kitchen’s favorite GlamourGhoul kept the party roaring at The Ritz with her scary popular TURNt Wednesdays, and now also a weekly Friday drag competition Open Call. She was also a third of ReBar’s “Bad Bitch Review” and made several Brooklyn appearances, all while keeping us a-gag with her high fashion monster beats.

37)  Lagoona Bloo

“The Blue One” of the megapopular singing drag trio Stephanie’s Child is a superb singer and performer in her own right, and there are undoubtedly even bigger things to come for this queen on the rise. The party never stops with this one! Catch her co-hosting Tuesday karaoke at Pieces with fellow Child Rosé, hosting a solo show Wednesday nights at The West End, co-hosting the new party Soaked with Rosé and Brita FIlter, giving us an all-sung set monthly Fridays at Stonewall, and dropping fierce pop-up bombs for Hardware’s Slay Saturday party alongside Ruby Roo.

36)  Rockbar

The bear-centric bar on the far end of the West Village’s Christopher Street stays faithful to the gayborhood’s cruisy past with a slew of monthly underwear and gear / fetish events, and keeps true to its name with occasional live music acts and a DJ emphasis on rock music and new wave. But the bar has also been developing a noteworthy roster of happy hour drag shows that you should not be sleeping on.

35)  Rify Royalty

Brooklyn’s longtime Sexy Guy and host of the popular Metropolitan Bar monthly party Straight Acting has gone deeper into drag in 2018, with fascinating results, presenting as a gorgeous fashionista with a sex-positive masculine edge (we guess that’s how one can describe most drag queens, but that edge just feels sharper here). Turning lewks at Bartsch parties and creating a fun and flashy new weekly Miss Girl at the East Village’s Narcbar of the Standard Hotel, Rify is now becoming a force to be reckoned with in Manhattan as well as Brooklyn... even earning a coveted Entertainer of the Year GLAM nomination.

34)  Ruby Roo

If Bob didn’t already utilize the title, we’d be calling Ruby the Queen of the People. When she’s not serving you spirits as a (GLAM-nominated!) Pieces bartender on Wednesdays and Saturdays, she’s a versatile performer onstage  who knows how to work a room and cater her drag to it. She’s dryly funny for the attentive loyalists of her long-running Mondays on Mondays at Macri Park, she’s flashy and fun for her mobbed parties Frisky Fridays at Pieces and Slay Saturdays at Hardware, and she delivers the Full Unfiltered Roo for her solo Sunday show at The Duplex. Bonus, she’s a Cosmo Queen! Bonus-bonus, look at that wig up there.

33)  Amanda Lepore

New York City nightlife’s most iconic living figure remains the person that even Hollywood’s top celebrities want a photo op with. If you spot Amanda in the place you’ve chosen as your evening destination -- whether it be one of Susanne Bartsch’s massive scene queen affairs or a smaller lounge situation like Acme’s STRUT -- you’ve chosen your night wisely. And also, cheers to trans hero Amanda for explaining to Victoria’s Secret who she is and who they are, simply and elegantly. 

32)  Mitch Ferrino

As one half of The Only Productions (the other being his bestie Bob the Drag Queen), Mitch keeps himself quite busy producing major events like the epic annual Halloween party Bloodbath, as well as music tracks for Drag Race alums (notably Aja this year) and original multimedia content. But he’s also a DJ who began his nightlife career bartending at the Monster before working his way up to hosting that bar’s popular Saturday night kiki, Manster. After years of manning Manster there (and also DJing Monster’s epic drag competition Look Queen that was Bob’s brainchild), Mitch and Manster’s hostess Honey Davenport abruptly quit The Monster after the bar’s general manager Italo Lopez criticized a Manster poster via text for featuring black men as opposed to “beautiful” (white) men. When Mitch and Honey put the comment out into the public, it forced everyone into the uncomfortable but entirely necessary conversation of racism in nightlife. Mitch has since brought a variation of Manster to Phoenix on Friday nights, and spins Look Queen at Bedlam, but the importance of his actions this year make him a person of great interest when looking at the possible future of queer nightlife in this city.

31)  Brenda Dharling

One of our city’s most cherished queens is still the only dancer in the biz who can pull off a quadruple pirouette. Lovely on the inside and out, Brenda’s basicallythe queen we all want to be, and every year she becomes an even better show hostess. Aside from chilling with her poolside at the Ice Palace during the summer season, you can enjoy Miss Dharling at her solo Monday night Barracuda show, her Legend Wednesdays diva worship at Rise with co-hosts Bootsie LeFaris and Marti Gould Cummings, giving you themed realness on select Thursday nights with Industry’s megashow QUEEN, and turning Blackout Fridays at Suite Bar with Pattaya Hart.

30)  JanSport

After breaking through in 2016 as a Kris Jenner impersonator with powerful Broadway singing chops, Jan evolved over time into a multidimensional queen in her own right. And if you go by her Insta following and the general fame she’s acquired through media appearances -- particular as a major part of the singing queen trio Stephanie’s Child--the funny and cheerful Jan is basically a full-on icon in the making. Catch her with fellow Child Rosé Sundays at Hardware, hosting a popular singing competition Tuesdays at Therapy, Wednesdays at Pieces with Shuga Cain and Izzy Uncut, select Thursdays with the ladies of QUEEN at Industry, and hosting a Friday party at Icon in Astoria.

29)  Jasmine Rice LaBeija

The diva who’s clearly taking over the city is is entirely unafraid to speak her mind--whether it’s to take down a queen who crosses her, clap back at a pageant judge who didn’t favor her, put a non-paying employer in his place, criticize the “No Fats No Fems No Asians” culture of Basic Gaydom, and even a bit of self-depreciation here and there. We live for the Extra, but what keeps us coming to all the gigs each week is the talent. Bitch is funny, fashionably fierce and ferociously smart, encompassing both the gritty old school queens of golden age drag and the polished new school. Plus, the classically trained opera singer can siiiiiiiing. The gigs: Sunday with Brita Filter at Hardware, Mondays with Pissi Myles at Rise, alternating Tuesdays with Sucia hosting karaoke at Boxers Washington Heights, Thursdays at Pieces, and Fridays back at Hardware with Izzy Uncut.

28)  Holly Dae

Here’s a hilarious veteran comedy queen and hostess who’s always showed fierce loyalty to her employers... most recently following the gogo boy troupe Spunk after they vacated the Fairytail Lounge’s Saturday party she hosted, and also standing by The Monster during their recent troubles. She continues hosting her long-running Wednesday show at The Monster as well as a new Saturday Spunk party there--and Sundays she hosts the Pieces Spunk party down the street. Holly also keeps Industry’s QUEEN machine going as its showrunner, and joins Bootsie LeFaris, Pixie Aventura and Brenda Dharling on select Fridays for the still super-successful Distorted Diznee at the Beechman.

27)  Bootsie LeFaris 

One of the city’s hardest working and most professional queens, Bootsie doesn’t come to play... even when she’s being a politically incorrect, lowbrow goofball who’s unafraid to make herself look ridiculous. Our gurl always brings the funny, whether she’s Ratchet Hillbilly Ho or Mother of the Church of Celine Dion. Get your LeFaris fix at the Voss Events Drag Brunch at the Highline Ballroom, Legend Wednesdays at Rise, QUEEN at Industry select Thursdays, Super Size Queen Fridays at Hardware (and also Distorted Diznee at the Beechman on select Fridays), Sinful Saturdays for the past five years at Pieces, and basically any place that has the coin and needs a Bootsie.

26)  The Urban Bear

The bears are the kings of these woods, henny! Robert Valin’s nightlife (and daylife) community is dedicated to all things large, hairy and masc (although the definition of what a “bear” is is certainly not limited to those identifiers anymore). With both weekly and monthly parties at Rockbar, a new monthly affair at The Brass Monkey and the annual Urban Bear Weekend that gets bigger and bearier ever year, these animals have found themselves at the top of the food chain.

25)  The Ritz

Still the favorite destination for HK baby thots to dance and hook up, the two-story bar with the killer new sound system brings famed DJs from across the world to come and play, along with their rotating roster of excellent residents. There is also no shortage of hot guys (bartenders, gogo boys and patrons who might as well be gogo boys) and amazing queens (Digna and Nick Gaga in the hosting committee, Maddelynn Hatter and the cast of TURNt Wednesdays, etc.). The party never stops, seven days a week.

24)  Kizha Carr

This stage and screen actor made good on her threat to return to drag full time after her run with The Book of Mormon on Broadway ran its course, and we couldn’t be happier for it. The brilliant makeup artist, fun-as-all-hell performer and well-respected queen among peers has new gigs all over town -- in addition to her long-running Sunday show at Industry, which was the only drag show we could see her in during her Mormon stint. Now there are also Tuesdays at Barracuda, Wednesdays with Pixie Aventura for The Help at Therapy, and Fridays at Boxers Washington Heights.

23)  DJ 2Face

New York’s most recognizable, two-time GLAM winning DJ (nominated a third time this year) and budding fashionista will probably take your requests at the booth, just don’t be so damn basic about it! And respect the fact that he works practically every night, at the best spots with some of the best known people in the biz. 

22)  Merrie Cherry

Brooklyn’s busiest queen had a major health scare this year, and it seemed for a minute there nightlife was gonna be a little less Merrie. But Da Bitch Is Back after a mere month of convalescence, and better than ever! See the mother of high-concept fashion, electrifying performance and major event production (including the Brooklyn Nightlife Awards) turn it all over the borough, notably as the host of the monthly pageant Dragnet at Metro and her own solo monthly show Pop My Cherry at Macri Park. And we hear that even bigger things are in the future for this queen among queens!

21)  Ladyfag

The long-established Queen of the Night remains a sort of Pope figure for all the fashion / art / dance kids of the scene, and her main church these days is the monthly Battle Hymn in Chelsea. Ladyfag’s Ladyland Queer Music Festival at the Brooklyn Mirage (which had a lineup that included Eve, Kim Petras and Sophie) was one of the more innovative Pride destinations this summer, and her devotees are anxiously awaiting the December return of her revered monthly soiree Holy Mountain in its new Brooklyn destination, Avant Gardner.

20)  Shequida

With Sherry Vine leaving town, this fashionably flawless opera diva takes ownership of the Longest Working Queen of NYC title. Which isn’t at all to say that she’s slowing down anytime soon: her weekly Shequida Show Thursday nights at Hardware remains one of the country’s most attended drag shows that major queens from across the world are lining up to guest star in, the Monday night Pieces competition Drag Wars she hosts has become a vital staple for new talent in the city, she runs the Voss Events Sunday Drag Brunch at the Highline Ballroom, and she frequently performs with fellow nightlife legends for the McKittrick Hotel’s Bartschland Follies on Friday nights. (Oh, and she’s probably the highest paid queen in the city, but you didn’t here that form us!)

19)  Brian Rafferty

If you are a tried-and-true circuit queen in New York, you have a very different tHOTlist than what you’re reading now and this guy is probably your number one. With a long career in nightlife, the founder of Brian Rafferty Productions is currently best known for bringing the sex-drenched monthly circuit party phenom TRADE and its several incarnations to the venues in town that can still house it -- like Times Square’s Rosewood Theater -- and to lucky cities across the country.

18)  Paige Turner

Classy vintage girlie looks, potty mouthed-yet-still-clever song parodies, occasional touching moments, lots of surprise naked guys and a rabid fanbase are the hallmarks of this massively popular longtime queen, both in her bar shows (Slurp Sundays at Therapy, and now Broadway Mondays with Sutton Lee Seymour & Cacophony Daniels at Hardware) and in her scripted stage shows. After a long relationship with the Laurie Beechman Theatre, Paige has mixed things up a bit by bringing her latest Christmas show to Yotel’s Green Room 42.

17)  Brita Filter

One of New York’s best (and best known) drag hostesses has been going strong for some three years now, rocking us with giant wigs and costumes and the biggest (most expensive) smile in the business... even as her waistline shrinks (do we detect a pattern with big queens getting slimmer here?), Making appearances all over the country (as of this writing, she’s at the Austin International Drag Festival) and all the city’s star galas and private events you wanted to go to, Brita still manages to keep one of the city’s fullest weekly show schedules. Catch our “anything but pure” comedienne Sundays (with Jasmine Rice) and Tuesdays at Hardware, Wednesdays (with Honey Davenport) at Boxers Washington Heights, Thursdays (with Lagoona Bloo & Rosé) at Therapy and Fridays (with Ruby Roo) at Pieces.

16)  Club Cumming

Despite a massively successful first year that put the small, eclectic bar and venue on the international map, Club Cumming almost ceased to exist earlier this year when a licensing snafu paralyzed their live performance calendar for months (although the bar’s flagship performers did have a guest presence at Fire Island’s Community House this summer). But the club’s unique fanbase--a true and rare cross section of queers and straights, locals and tourists--kept loyal through a long stretch of silence and Spotify playlists. When the error was finally corrected, The Good Wife star Alan Cumming’s club roared back into life with more ferocity and weirdness then ever before. Now sporting drag, cabaret, comedy, dance parties, burlesque, readings, a knitting circle and a guy who paints with his penis as regular attractions to their small but mighty stage, the infinite possibilities of the space have created more excitement in NYC nightlife than nearly anything else. Recent reports have had Paul McCartney, Vanessa Williams, Emma Stone, Kesha and even Monica Lewinsky come through and at times actually perform impromptu. So if you come on the right night when the stars and planets align, Club Cumming could give you stories you’d actually tell  your grandkids. But maybe leave out the ones about the penis painting guy. [photo: @jeffreycampagna]

15)  Honey Davenport

Everyone who knows Honey understood how difficult it was for her to walk away from Manster, the long-running party at The Monster she hosted with DJ Mitch Ferrino, and to do it so publicly at that. She’s been a consummate professional who only wanted to entertain since the beginning of her drag career. But those who knew her best were aware that she also has convictions, and the time came when she had to take a stand against not only a moronically racist statement from the Monster’s general manager (regarding black men pictured in a Manster flyer), but also all queer culture’s infrequently discussed racial problems. She didn’t solve those problems, of course, but she got us talking. And she also kept us laughing and living at all her other gigs, which are multiplying faster than Gremlins on Christmas (right now it’s rotating Gay College Tuesdays at the Ritz, Wednesdays at both ReBar and Boxers Washington Heights, and Fridays at Paradise in Asbury Park). 2019 will undoubtedly be the biggest year of her career thus far... and few queens are more deserving of success than she.

14)  Barracuda & Industry

Sisters bars in different neighborhoods with opposite decors, there’s still lots in common with Bob Pontarelli’s gay properties: many of the same queens (among the best in Manhattan) doing world famous shows, cute bar staffs and cash only policies to name just a few. Chelsea’s Barracuda first opened its doors 33 years ago, and even with the recent loss of the world’s tackiest wallpaper decorating the stage remains charmingly kitschy... while boasting some of the city’s most important shows like the long-running Star Search now hosted by Tina Burner. Industry Bar in HK is newer and swankier, but with shows like the huge revue QUEEN has become just as vital to drag and nightlife. It would be impossible to get the full gay NY experience without a visit to both of these places... just remember to bring cash!

13)  Daniel Nardicio

Club Cumming's entertainment director has had a long and storied history of producing nightlife events. He and his production company DWorld are known for favoring the raunchiest parties he can get away with, but also building nights around divas ranging from local favorite Amber Martin to folk hero Jill Sobule to Liza Minnelli. Besides ushering Club Cumming through its Dark Period earlier this year -- and also honoring his departed friend, legendary nightlife comic  Robbyne Kaamil -- Nardicio embarked on a massive venture with his recent purchase of Bedlam Bar on the East Village’s Avenue C. It’s going to be a tough sell to get nightlifers to come that far south, but based on his own history and his willingness to try anything (including *ahem* Thotyssey’s own brand new Viva Variety Tuesday night show), it should be another huge win for both Daniel and the scene. Bonus: he still has the cutest Nightlife Dog ever.

12)  Pixie Aventura

Whether she was turning it on the massive outdoor stage alongside legends of the scene for this summer’s surprise Wigstock revival, or performing at this year’s Obie Awards with host and idol John “Chi-Chi“ Leguizamo, or hosting her slew of popular weekly shows (Sundays at Barracuda, Tuesdays at Hardware, Wednesdays at Therapy and select Fridays at the Beechman for Distorted Diznee), Pixie has reminded the world that she’s arguably New York’s best drag performer, as if it needed reminding. A diva in the truest sense of the word -- huge personality and charisma to match her talent and quest for perfection -- Miss Aventura, who is best known for her dancing but really brings every damn thing to the table, is the shining star of the nightlife sky.

11)  John Blair, Jake Resnicow & Alan Picus 

The four masters behind most of New York’s largest and most popular circuit parties, Blair (co-owner of Rise Bar), Resnicow (Producer of the Life Ball) and Picus (BoiParty) keep the thots sweaty and entranced by the thousands. Between various combinations of the three (along with tons of high profile promoters in their employment), we get M.E.A.T. at the Highline Ballroom every month and a few pop-up events scattered across the city, like December’s launch of Laboratory at the new Chelsea Music Hall.

10)  The Eagle NYC

Still the best place in NYC for boys to be boys, men to be men and Leather Daddies to leash up their Pups, the Eagle represents the best of a trailblazing gay scene we don’t see as much of nowadays, but need around in order to keep that level of kink and roleplay alive in the subculture. The leather and fetishist communities found at the Eagle represent a tight-knit and vital queer community.

9)  Horrorchata

The Queen of All Brooklyn Nightlife Today and the founder and producer of the annual Bushwig festival--which put Brooklyn nightlife on the map--continues her colorful, fashionable rule over her borough. Although not often performing herself these days, and too busy with international versions of Bushwig to experiment much with new nightlife events here in NYC, Horrorchata still brings us the epic monthlies Be Cute at Littlefield and Yas Mama at C’Mon Everybody, while spinning the weekly party CAKES at Metro and sundry other DJ gigs throughout the month. 

8)  Tina Burner

We hate having to crop a Tina pic because there is always a full lewk to gag over, and summarizing her contributions to the city’s nightlife could never be done in just a blurb like this either. As the current host of Barracuda’s long-running drag competition Star Search and the creator of the annual Miss Barracuda pageant, Tina fosters so much young drag talent in the city. As the hostess of Industry’s new Monday night show and Barracuda’s Wednesday Gurlesque revue, as well as her Saturday and Sunday brunches at Intermezzo and her One Woman Show at Hardware on Saturdays (not to mention her summer dominance of Cherrys on Fire Island), she exemplifies why New York drag is the country’s best. As a non-stop co-designer of her nightly and pageant looks which can range from the sublime to the ridiculous, she reveals how far the art form can be taken as a visual medium. As a national Comedy Queen finalist and our current reigning Miss Fire Island, she lets us all know that she’s a key player in not just the city’s scene, but the world’s. Unapologetically outspoken and larger than life while 100% devoted to her craft and the social responsibilities of drag in the queer community, Tina is the “drag queeniest” drag queen of them all... and we love her for it!

7)  Stonewall

Our current President may have at one point wanted to overturn the ruling which made this bar a national landmark just to spite his predecessor, but that wouldn’t de-emphasize the importance of this destination to the LGBT movement at large. The birthplace of gay rights remains both a vital community center (featuring political rallies and fundraisers, theater and arts events) and a nightlife hub (weekend dance parties, karaoke, a seasonal singing competition, weekly and monthly drag shows including the career-making, different-featured-queen-per-week Stonewall Invasion). The staff (and the staff of its neighboring sister bar The Duplex) still come across as a giant family, and on their best nights they make their patrons -- tourists and locals alike -- feel like family as well.

6)  Marti Gould Cummings

You may have noticed that some of your nightlife friends have become a lot more politically active and aware on social media these days, which of course is largely to do with necessity for survival thanks to the current administration. But it also can be traced to the visibility and persistence of this queen, who aside from being the founder of the Hell’s Kitchen Democrats and a major campaign fundraising figure for Cynthia Nixon’s gubernatorial run is also seated in the mayoral appointed Nightlife Advisory Committee. Marti is keenly aware of who or what we should be voting for to best protect our community, and she’s not afraid to tell us what we need to know. And what’s amazing is, she’s able to keep up with her responsibilities on the political front while still juggling a motherload of drag gigs: Sunday happy hour bingo at Pieces followed by a late show at Hardware, Monday nights at Therapy, Wednesday nights at Rise Bar, and lots of other pop-up shows and appearances all across town. Few people in the biz can turn the dial on and off between serious / hopeful activist to absolute drag clown with more success than Marti, who was just included in an even more prominent list than this one: the Out 100.

5)  Macri Park & Metropolitan Bar

Having just celebrated their third and fifteenth anniversaries respectively, the smaller Macri Park and its nearby Big Sister institution Metro are the standard for what makes drag great in Brooklyn... whether its drag-infused parties or full on shows. They remain the only places in the borough where you can still see the scene’s pioneers perform on a regular basis, as most of them--Ruby Roo, Ragamuffin, Rify Royalty, Alotta McGriddles, etc.--have branched out into  Manhattan gigs. And Metro’s the best place in the city to see visiting Drag Race queens and famous out-of-town performers do their thing in a surprisingly intimate setting. If you haven’t experienced these bars yet, than you don’t know the full story of NY drag and nightlife.

4)  Susanne Bartsch

The Godmother of Nightlife is finally getting the credit she deserves as a vital figure of pop culture at large, having helped define a whole scene as Music plus Fashion equals Living Art. This year saw another successful run of her weekly summer party at LeBain; the creation of the Bartschland Follies weekly performance series at the McKittrick Hotel (fittingly the home of Sleep No More) featuring the likes of Amanda Lepore, Murray Hill, Joey Arias and other nightlife legends who Bartsch helped establish; the random kiki blowouts KUNST and 3 Dollar Bill’s new Play Now plus her famous annual Halloween affair at MoMA PS1. And then of course, there was the release of Susanne Bartsch: On Top, a much-discussed documentary biopic. Presenting the highest quality of nightlife in terms of art and music and community, Bartschland remains the golden standard.

3)  Boxers

With a fit, shirtless staff, some tasty bar food and and sporty-esque atmosphere, Boxers in Chelsea established itself as a simple-yet-effective brand destined to be a chain of the Gay Hooters variety several years ago. It’s since done just that, with a very popular Hell’s Kitchen site and one all the way out in Philly. This year, the Boxers franchise fought the good fight and won, having earned two new uptown locations in the Upper East Side and Washington Heights. Both the new spots strayed from brand slightly with the inclusion of drag shows (and big ones at that), but nonetheless the company’s successful formula seems to offer infinite franchise possibilities.

2) Pieces & Hardware

An important West Village destination founded in the 90s, the narrow Pieces began as a cruisy karaoke dive and evolved into a destination for great drag and dance parties. Its younger Hell’s Kitchen sister Hardware has become something of a drag institution in recent years, establishing some of the city’s best shows and many of RuPaul’s Drag Race’s recent contestants and winners. With a sexy and charming staff of bartenders and DJs that cross between the two venues all week, neighborhood snobs break their habits and follow them between HK and the West Village pretty regularly. Owners Eric Einstein and Justin Buchanan recently acquired the West Village’s vacated Boots & Saddle property (which they will revamp and rename) as well as a new Hell’s Kitchen venue, both set to open in 2019; it’ll be exciting to see how the city’s nightlife further evolves when that happens.

1)  Frankie Sharp

The nightlife impresario and entrepreneur behind the wildly successful Westgay at the Westway has been making things happen for quite some time, but really seemed to take 2018 as his own. Let’s review! In 2018, Frankie has: 1) maintained Metrosensual, the Saturday night party at Metropolitan Bar featuring guest spots from RuGirls and buzzworthy performers the world over; 2) established MARY, a raw and electrifying musical revue with a full band and large cast of singers, now a popular monthly happening at Club Cumming; 3) took charge of ReBar’s Friday nights with the sexy party BOYS; 4) became the programming director of Brooklyn’s cavernous new nightlife hub, 3 Dollar Bill, where in a few short weeks he’s already whipped up a dizzying calendar of drag shows, dance parties, live concerts and sexy soirées;  5) maintained his persona as a sharp-dressed, sexy AF personality and DJ on the scene. Basically, we all want to be Frankie on some level... we just don’t perceive that we could ever possibly have the time, talent, resources, connections and sheer force of will that Frankie has. He’s the whole package, and the living embodiment of what a person with vision can accomplish in this town.

tHOTlist Archives

[thecomicsnexus]

Superman vs. the Cab Protective League

ACTION COMICS #13

JUNE 1939

BY JERRY SIEGEL, JOE SHUSTER, GARDNER FOX, PAUL CASSIDY AND FRED GUARDINEER

SYNOPSIS (FROM DC WIKIA)

Clark Kent is traveling in a cab which is hit by a rival company's cab driver. When he questions the driver, he says that the rival driver is a member of the Cab Protective League, an organization that victimizes independent cab companies.

Superman visits the independent Carlyle Cab Company. He discovers the boss being threatened by a member of the CPL. He reveals himself and beats up the racketeer, then picks him up and leaps into the air. The racketeer tries to stab him, causing Superman to crash into a building, leading the racketeer to fall to his death.

Mr. Reynolds, the boss of the CPL, calls Mr. Carlyle and asks whether he's going to pay for protection. Carlyle refuses, so Reynolds and his henchmen go to confront him. Superman destroys their car, and also makes them all destroy their own cabs. Superman also makes Reynolds confess to ordering the deaths of other drivers, and he gets arrested.

As the police drive him to the station, Reynolds lights a cigarette. The cops realize too late that the cigarette contains a poison gas. Superman finds an abandoned police car right where the police were last seen. He hurtles through the roof of the cabin, where he finds Reynolds, who now introduces him to his boss, the Ultra-Humanite, the most intelligent man on earth. Superman approaches the Ultra-Humanite and is caught in a wave of electricity that temporarily knocks him out. The Ultra-Humanite quickly has Superman tied to a board and fed into a sawmill.

But of course the saw blades have no effect on Superman. In fact, one of the blades breaks off and kills Mr. Reynolds. The Ultra-Humanite calls some henchman, who carry his paralyzed body away to a nearby special airplane, and then start the cabin on fire. Superman wakes up and escapes the cabin just before the fire can kill him. He super-leaps up and crashes into the Ultra-Humanite's plane, destroying it. However, the Ultra-Humanite's body is nowhere to be found.

Zatara is called to Carolina by Fred Hodges, who's the last surviving male member of his family. On their way, Zatara and Tong hear the faint sound of a woman's scream. Turning himself and his servant into a gust of wind for faster travel, Zatara heads in the direction the scream came from. They come across an old crone and a large brutish figure (Martha and Jon) carrying an unconscious young woman in his arms. After reverting back to their human forms, Tong attacks the brute, while Zatara rescues the girl. The brute matches Tong in strength, and begins to strangle him. Zatara uses his magic to shrink the brute to be knee-high in size. He and Tong take the girl back to the car and drive out to Fred Hodges' estate. The young woman turns out to be Fred Hodges' sister, Elanor, who disappeared on her way home from their uncle Karl's place. Zatara presses them for information on the ugly old hag and the brutish fellow they met in the swamp, but the Hodges clan suddenly seem to become gripped in fear, and Neither Fred nor Elanor will tell Zatara why the witch kidnapped her.

Even the next morning, while Fred is giving Zatara a tour of his cotton plantation, the magician is still unable to get him to talk about the mysterious swampland figures. That night, a scream sounds from Eleanor's room! Zatara and Tong race to the scene, finding Eleanor lying on her bed, under a deep hex, and nothing they do wakes her. It's time for a straight answer, so Zatara places Fred under hypnosis, and soon learns through Fred's subconscious speech, what was really happening around here. His Uncle Karl had warned the Hodges siblings to leave the old hag and the brute alone, as they were related to his family through the old blood, from the "evil bloodline" that their family was cursed with for generations! Fred was afraid they were after his riches and his plantation, yet he dared not do anything, lest the embarrassing truth get out, of his family's bloodline.

Zatara believes Fred's story to be ridiculous, but it has Fred and Elanor scared enough. Zatara changes his and Tong's forms into shadows, and they swiftly visit the home of Karl, the Hodges' uncle. The old hag and her brutish son are already there, with Karl, who mentions the hex he put on Eleanor should be working soon, sending her sleepwalking through the dangerous Swamp of Satan, where she'll surely meet her doom! Leaving Tong at the Hodges' house (for which he is glad, being eager for another chance to prove himself against the brute), Zatara flies out to verify Karl's words. He eventually spots Elanor, and she is indeed sleepwalking, through the swamp towards a deadly pit of quicksand. Zatara magically creates a safe path for her to follow, then manages to safely guide her past the dangers of the swamp, until they are safely back at her brother's estate. Karl is already there, delivering the tragic news of Elanor's death, when she suddenly walks through the door with Zatara, looking healthy as ever, much to his surprise. Outside the window, the old crone watches with wicked glee as the brute pulls out a gun and shoots Zatara and Tong! The bullets pass through them without doing any major damage, but when they finally come around, they are alone in the house. Fred and Elanor were gone, likely abducted by Karl and the "evil blood family".

The Hodges siblings are led to a small cottage in the center of the Swamp of Satan, where they are tied up. Karl demands the deed to the plantation, threatening to make it worse for them the longer they hold out. Zatara's astral form observes this, and Zatara teleports himself, and Tong, to the cottage for the rescue. Tong bursts through the door, and this time he's ready for the brute's strength! He throws punches at the brute, beating him back. Karl pulls out a pistol and prepares to fire on Tong, but then Zatara appears, turning Karl's gun into a snake! The crone tries to run, but Zatara melts her with a curse, letting her essence seep into the slimy waters of the marsh! The brute runs from Tong, who gives chase, wanting to finish their fight. But the swamp ends the battle for him, as the brute falls into the quicksand and continues sinking until he is completely buried. When the duo return to the cottage, they find that Karl has died from heart failure. Zatara frees the Hodges, and together, they all set off back to the estate. Leaving the evil Swamp of Satan behind.

REVIEW

Sometimes Golden Age details change with time (as more information become available), but the Ultra-Humanite is the first Superman villain, and one of the first (if not) super-villans in comic-books. Technically, the first supervillain debuted a month before. Phantom Blot, a Mickey Mouse villain.

Ultra-Humanite in his first appearance already has all the tropes. He explains his motivations without anyone asking him, he thinks he already won, he leaves the hero to die (without making sure he does), and he appears to die but his body is never found.

People also say that one of the Henchmen looks like Luthor... I am not convinced.

But let’s talk about death and morality, because this issue of Action Comics comes packed with extra death. In the Superman story alone, almost all his enemies die. One of them slips from his arms and plummets to death. And Superman reaction was “meh, he deserved that”. Another interesting thing about the Superman story is his power set. He can basically leap and has invulnerability. But he can die in a fire and he is affected by electricity. With these limitations it is understandable that his morality has limits, after all, he can die. Still, a bit odd, even for modern age readers. And in the end he makes the plane crash. There is no hijacking it or anything, he is just looking for the bodies.

The Zatara story is equally inappropriate.  Tong is still a mystery. I am not sure why he is a slave or why he isn’t allowed to wear clothes. The character didn’t make it to our times. Again, in this story the villains die. One dies of a heart attack, of course. But Tong sees one die (trying to escape quicksands) and his reaction is pretty much “meh, he deserved that”.

The art on the Superman story is a bit more “pulp” than usual, perhaps because of Paul Cassidy, but more likely because the story happens at night.

I give the issue a score of 7

#joe shuster #1939 #golden age #ultra-humanite #dc comics #comics #review #superman #action comics #zatara

[chaldeluxe]

LONDON: CHAPTER 5.

____________

Andersen: Hoh. Not bad for a hideaway. I like it. I’ll take the study.

Andersen: I’ll be unpacking, so call me if you need something. Ah, and if you’re entering, be sure to knock.

Mordred: ... Ahh, I’m exhausted. Twice as much thanks to the luggage. Three times, even!

Jekyll: You’re treating my sofa so roughly again… if possible, I’d like it to be a guest-only… … no, nevermind.

Jekyll: It’s fine as is. Listen closely, Mashu and Gudako.

Jekyll: Jack the Ripper appeared again. Only this time it wasn’t to murder a woman under the cover of the fog.

Jekyll: They’ve got Scotland Yard under siege. I’ve received telegraphs for reinforcements from police stations all over London.

Mordred: That bastard’s finally shown up again!

[CHOICE]

1. Is that some kind of fated encounter for you? 2. An acquaintance of yours?

Mordred: Yeah. They’re a Servant. Assassin Class. We fought a lot in the fog, but…

Mordred: Every time they get away. I can’t lock ‘em down. They just escape into the fog!

Mordred: That and I can’t remember a single concrete detail about them. Not their face, or form, or even their abilities. It’s frustrating as hell… !

Mordred: Best I can do is nod my head whenever I hear the name Jack the Ripper like, ooh yeah, that Assassin!

Mordred: Damn. My head’s all fuzzy just thinking about that asshole!

Jekyll: You two might’ve run into them as well. What do you think? Do you recall fighting an Assassin?

Mashu: Ah…

Mashu: Now that you mention it… it sort of feels like we did. A surprise attack... by...

Mashu: That’s right… we got ambushed. My memories are suddenly coming back to me.

Mashu: I almost forgot everything. But, there has to be some reason for what happened...

[CHOICE]

1. A skill? 2. A Noble Phantasm?

Mashu: Yes, Senpai. That must be it. I wonder which one it was, though? A skill or Noble Phantasm.

Mordred: That one’s quick to run. If we don’t get moving, they’ll have cleared out already. Let’s go!

Andersen: What, you’re leaving? You should’ve said something. If you’re going out, let’s see... I’ll take a scone, then.

Mordred: Like hell you're going! Well, not like you’d be useful if you did…

Mordred: … hold up. You think we’ll have as easy of a time as before?

Andersen: That was an phenomenal exception. Don’t go depending on me for everything. And just what are you looking to get out of us authors, truly?

Andersen: Do you think of me as some all-knowing being? If so, you’d best reconsider.

Andersen: Listen up. Authors are just morons whose words run off the page simply because they couldn’t get anything in life!

Andersen: Do you think someone like that could ever be useful?

Mordred: … I was stupid for even asking. Let’s get moving, Mashu, Gudako!

// SHIFT TO OUTSIDE. //

Mordred: Full speed ahead to our destination. Mashu, carry Gudako. It’s a race against the clock.

Mordred: There’s no way a human can keep up. We’ll head straight for the Yard with pure Servant sprinting power.

Mashu: R-Right …excuse me, Senpai. It’s just for a little while.

[CHOICE]

1. Try not to drop me. 2. Likewise. Sorry for this.

Mashu: O-Okay.

Mashu: …I’ll be as careful as possible. Be sure not to let go of me, Senpai.

Mordred: Hey, get movi--- tch. Soon as I say it, there's enemies at our flanks!

Dr. Roman: Huge enemy readings. They’re closing in from all directions. Break through before they surround you!

// BATTLE. //

Mordred: We almost crushed ‘em all! Forget the rest. We’re making a run for it, Mashu!

Mashu: Right!

Dr. Roman: She sure is full of moxie. I guess they don’t call her the Knight of Treachery for nothing.

Mashu: That’s right. That combat efficiency is straight out of the legend.

Mashu: As swift and accurate as a bolt of lightning across the sky, the point of her sword never wavers.

[CHOICE]

1. Knight of Treachery? 2. You mean Mordred?

Dr. Roman: Ah, that reminds me--- no one said anything to you, did they, Gudako-chan?

Dr. Roman: The Knight of Treachery, Mordred. A Heroic Spirit manifested in this world under the Saber class.

Dr. Roman: He’s[1] not from this era, of course. His origins lie in the 5th-6th century with the legend of King Arthur.

Dr. Roman: The individual who brought about the end of an era. The one person who literally staged a rebellion against King Arthur.

Mashu: And it was by all means an exceptional rebellion. It was the first time someone had ever rallied together anti-Arthur forces made up of their foreign enemies.

Mashu: In order words, Mordred stood alone as the King of Treachery. If times had been more peaceful, perhaps she might’ve even succeeded the King.

Mashu: There are countless legends about Mordred’s bravery as well. As one of the Knights of the Round---

Dr. Roman: They called him the son of King Arthur. Only they also said the King never properly acknowledged his child.

Dr. Roman: That may be the reason why he changed their mind about the rebellion. So why did Mordred still defy King Arthur at every turn?

Dr. Roman: I suppose only he--- she[1], would know the real reason why.

[CHOICE]

1. The rebellion succeeded? 2. The rebellion was a failure?

Mashu: … yes. The knight Mordred lost her life during the Battle of Camlann.

Mashu: In reality, it was more of a tie. She wielded the Demonic Sword Clarent against King Arthur in battle.

Mashu: King Arthur fought with his holy lance and pierced the traitor.

Mashu: The king himself had also fallen, mortally wounded when---

Mordred: What’re you blabbing about over there!? Get moving already!

Mashu: Ah, r-right!

[CHOICE]

1. Let’s go!

Mashu: …Roger, Master!

// BATTLE. //

Mordred: They’re closing in from the side, one after the other!

Mordred: Pick up the pace again, Mashu!

Mashu: Okay… !

Dr. Roman: Sorry to interrupt while you’re en-route. I’ve got a hot report straight from Da Vinci-chan!

Dr. Roman: It’s about those huge, armored, mysterious robots. I’ll be reporting the results of our findings concerning the Helter Skelters.  

Dr. Roman: It’s as accurate as we can be while still analyzing, but here’s what I’ve got, based on the preliminaries.

Dr. Roman: First of all, they’re not golems. Traces of magical mechanisms can’t be confirmed with video evidence.

Dr. Roman: Though they’re purely mechanical… there’s still a lot I don’t get. It seems like they’re running on steam engines. Any other details are unknown.

Dr. Roman: It seems like technology you’d find in our time, the year 2017.

Dr. Roman: Made with some kind of hidden or long-lost technique---

Dr. Roman: Almost like they made rapid progress with their super technology by taking a different path from our world.

Dr. Roman: … ...yep.

Dr. Roman: … well, of course. Of course you wouldn’t answer, ‘cause you’re busy running and stuff…

Dr. Roman: That’s enough out of me. Do your best out there!

// BATTLE. //

Jack the Ripper: … ....huh?

Jack the Ripper: So you came from that direction. Then, hehe, we’ll… What should we do with you?

Jack the Ripper: Should we kill you? One, two, three. So many. A whole lot.

Jack the Ripper: Hehe. We already killed a whole bunch, but we’re still hungry. Starving.

Jack the Ripper: All ‘cause Mr. Policeman didn’t have much magical energy.

Jack the Ripper: So, thank you! We’ll eat your magical energy up and be full!

Mordred: We made it---

Mordred: Or not, it looks like. The smell of blood… so the Yard’s been wiped out.

Dr. Roman: I’m detecting two other signatures besides you guys. Jack the Ripper and one other.

Mashu: I can guess pretty well who the unknown Servant is. That man over there---

(???): Yes. I just so happen to be a Caster Servant. One of the three pulling the strings of that “Project”.

[CHOICE]

1. The Demon Fog Project? 2. Why’re you doing this?

(???): We have several of our own conditions and circumstances. You may call me “P”, if you wish.

P: I’m afraid you were just a tad too late. The poor Scotland Yard has already been annihilated.

P: They all died in such horrid, gruesome ways. For you see, that child hasn’t an ounce of compassion in her heart.

P: It was all necessary, however. An unavoidable sacrifice. It almost seems a tribute to the fallen when you say express it in such a way.

P: Truly, man is a creature who ought to be adored. Both love and affection are such dazzling things.

P: How sad, that the cause sometimes takes precedence.

P: Something we required was tucked safely away in Scotland Yard’s headquarters.

P: As one would expect, the Mage’s Association, Clock Tower, reside in the British Empire. They applied a strong magical seal to the place.

P: Thus they, while unfortunate, ended up posing a grand obstacle to our cause.

Mordred: What's with this blowhard. Who gives a damn about love or affection!

Mordred: You went and put your hand on what’s mine again. You, who are not the king, have touched that which belongs to the king.

[CHOICE]

1. You killed innocent people despite being a Heroic Spirit? 2. Don’t you have any pride as a hero!?

P: Indeed. And that is why I cannot show any sadness.

P: Those bound to hope should be noble. Those bound to love should be brilliant.

P: I’m not likely to save them with this paltry power of mine. That alone should be clear when you consider the aforementioned outcome.

P: This era will fall to ruin. Even humanity itself will fall to ruin.

P: Annihilate desires, love, humanity’s progression, and only four idiosyncrasies will remain in this left behind world.

P: What a miserable outcome it’ll be. But neither you nor I can stop it.

P: No. If you’re unable to stop it, that is---

Mashu: … you’re contradicting yourself.

Mashu: I feel a deep discrepancy in those words of yours, Caster. No, P. Who are you, really?

Mashu: You’re using Jack just to take human lives. It sounds to me like you’re the one who lacks an ounce of compassion.

P: That may very well be true, beautiful young lady.

P: I’m nothing more than a wicked magus in the end, it seems. Even now, I command an innocent girl.

P: Jack. I’ll leave the rest to you.

P: Do as you like. That girl may even be your Mother, you know.

Jack: Eh? Is that… true. ?

Jack: So that’s how it is. Hmm. Then… we’ll treat you just like our own Mother.

Jack: Will you let us go back? Deep, deep inside of you… inside Mother…

Mordred: Forget it. You’re going straight back to the Throne. Here’s where you die.

Mashu: We need to think of a way to stop Assassin in her tracks. ...Senpai…

[CHOICE]

1. We’ve got to stop her. 2. Let’s start this.

Mashu: ---OK! Master!

// BATTLE. //

Jack: Mo… ther…. no…. no, no, no… it, hurts…

Jack: Why… why did you…

Jack: … why, did… tell me... hey… …?

P: Farewell, child who knows naught of love. One day, you’ll obtain the affection you seek.

P: ---now, then. I suppose this is where I die, felled by your hand.

P: The cold-blooded magus is defeated by the hero. Therein lies the sole answer I seek.

P: But. I must carry out my role first.

P: Farewell, you heroes who walk on a radiant path. And you, Knight of the Round---

P: I pray for your continued existence as a champion of justice who strikes down treachery.

Mordred: Wait! Shit, he vanished! Magi always do this!

Mashu: Spatial Transportation--- that’s the spell that let him be forcibly removed.

Mashu: It was originally a form of magecraft that could hold a candle to True Magic. Using it like that... it’s very possible that a Holy Grail is…

Dr. Roman: It’s very likely. At least for the sole mastermind who’s behind the “Demon Fog Project” that’s trying to destroy this era.

Dr. Roman: Otherwise, it’s possible that possession of the Holy Grail was transferred to him.

Dr. Roman: I wonder what his true purpose in London is…

Mordred: I could care less. All we’ve gotta do is flush him out and flatten him!

// TO THE LEAGUE OF GENIUSES. //

P: … I’ve returned safely.

B: Psssh… kohh…

M: Good work. …that girl was defeated, then?

P: She died, unfortunately. We've suffered a sequence of failure since Mephistopheles’ loss.

M: It won’t affect that much. All we need to focus on is carrying out the “Project”.

P: Yes. I suppose so. You’re right. We three are Servants. All we need do is follow the whims of our Master.

P: There’s no need to wallow in regret. You should be moving forward with your own “Project”, yes?

M: …I know.

B: Creating a path for this world and its civilization--- therein lies the greatest mission for we wise scholars.

B: If this world were incinerated, both humanity and civilization itself would be well on its way to that established point of demise.

B: We would no longer be---

[1] Roman only uses カレ and 彼 (kare, katakana then kanji, he/him) in reference to Mordred when he gets carried away talking about the legend here. Mashu doesn’t do that in that segment. Once Roman catches himself, he corrects himself to 彼女 (kanojo, she/her) which is also what Mashu and everyone else uses for Mordred usually.

It’s difficult to put in English because in Japanese pronouns aren’t necessarily required when referring to someone and Mashu isn’t using any during the exposition. It’s only supposed to be Roman, so the official translation probably missed the context and falsely had Mashu use he/him too while explaining Mordred’s legend.

Editor V note: Since it’s a topic in tandem, everyone uses kanojo for Mordred and usually she doesn’t slice their throats open so she doesn’t care about pronouns. Just don’t call her or treat her explicitly like a man or a woman. That’s why she threatened Jekyll in the other chapter.

#fgo #fate grand order #mordred #click for more Fun Mordred Trivia #story: london

[88y53]

Batman v. Superman: World’s Finest — What I Would’ve Done

It’s safe to say whatever plan Z*ck S*yder had in mind for the DCEU isn’t going to happen. How we got to this point is really a matter of opinion, but if you ask me, it all comes down to Batman v Superman. 

I really don’t care what people have to say in defense of it because I’ve read the essays, I’ve listened to the podcasts, I’ve talked to fans — I’ve heard it all. None of that changes the fact that general audiences rejected this movie. Flatly rejected it. You can argue that this rejection was indicative of the audience being too stupid, spoiled, obstinate, brainwashed by Marvel, whatever — that doesn’t change anything.

So, how could this reaction have been avoided? I’m glad you asked, Nobody.

Before Chris Terrio was brought on board, David S. Goyer wrote a script for what seemed to be a pretty by-the-numbers World’s Finest movie — Superman and Batman teaming up and parting on good terms. 

Basically. I took that outline, cut out a lot of bits that made the film an Idiot Plot (see here: “https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/IdiotPlot/DCExtendedUniverse”), and came up with this:

[If you read to the end I try to give a fair and balanced view on the original film and I why I felt the way I did, if that’s any incentive]

-----------

The film opens with Batman chasing down the Joker, accompanied by a solemn narration from the hero. Finally catching up, Batman just starts pummeling Joker without holding anything back, and wrapping his hands around the clown’s throat. The scene ends before anything definitive happens.

The next scene starts with a little girl trapped under rubble and rebar, weeping and choking out a cry for help through the dust and darkness, but no one can hear her. Suddenly the rubble starts shifting, and she braces herself to be crushed and entombed where no one will ever find her, only for the concrete to lift away as Superman reaches for her. Haloed by a beam of light, he smiles and simply says, “it’s okay. I’ve got you.” Handing her off to the firefighters, we see that this is still in the aftermath of the Black Zero event, and Superman is using his x-ray vision and super-hearing to find any survivors in the ruins of Metropolis.

One of these survivors is a man who was horribly mangled by debris. His name is John Corben, ex-special forces turned private security officer. [I’m eliminating the Nirobe scene because it makes the plot over-complicated and is just kind of dumb: so, the CIA sends in a secret agent but can’t invest in better tracking equipment, like phones? Specially designed bullets (that can easily be traced back to the owners because they were part of a government contract) can punch through meat and bone but gets stuck in a reporter’s journal? The bodies are burned in such a way that it gets rid of bullet holes in autopsies? Superman can push a man through a wall at the speed of a bullet without the man being obliterated by the violently sudden inertia? The aerial footage from government drones weren’t consulted to prove if Superman did indeed kill those people? And when the single witness that badmouths Sups changes her heart, the senator doesn’t put her into protective custody?]

Jumping forward, we see an older Bruce Wayne attending a retirement party for Commissioner Gordon. They chat for a bit, making veiled references to Batman and the Joker "still" being in a coma. Bruce, however, is fixated on "the alien," arguing that he has trouble trusting someone so powerful who nonetheless had to resort to murder to beat his opponent. [If I’m going to be completely honest, I don’t really have a problem with how Batman was presented in the film, so that doesn’t really need to change. My main problem is his callous indifference to the wanton slaughter of the random criminals in his way: Batman is allowed to play fast and loose with his One Rule (the branding I don’t mind, for example), but his arc relies on him coming that close to becoming no different from the evil he fights, but if he kills people before that moment, then the arc is ruined. There’s a big difference between callous indifference to someone’s survival and safety, and machine-gunning an SUV full of people and bulldozing the wreckage. He’s just a deluded murderer that literally brands criminals so they can potentially get stabbed in jail (it’s a good thing they showed him branding white thugs; it would be pretty hard for people to claim he has some kind of moral high-ground if he was branding people of color).]

At the Daily Planet, Perry White addresses his writing staff - consisting of Ron Troupe (political editor), Lois Lane (field reporter), Cat Grant (fashion columnist), Steve Lombard (sports editor), trainee Jenny Jurwich, and new photographer, Jimmy Olsen (played by Jesse Eisenberg) — he’s handing out jobs, when he notices that Clark Kent isn’t here . . . until Lois reminds him that he’s busy doing a fluff-piece.

That “fluff-piece" is actually delivering giant shipping containers of food and water to an African country (ala Peace on Earth). During this, talk-show host Jack Ryder (played by Stephen Colbert), is doing a point-counterpoint with G. Gordon Godfrey (who is basically Alex Jones meets Tucker Carlson) where they argue about Superman’s agenda and his presence in the world (and maybe taking a few calls from regular people, like Bibbo Bibbowski). It’s here we are treated to a montage of the various heroic acts Superman’s performed over the past two years, and we see a 99% formed Superman: he’s saving people as often as he can and he does it with a smile (even his harshest critics don’t have much of a leg to stand on). He already resolved his issues over being a public figure in the previous movie, so continuing the arc is just redundant. As we shall see later, there is, however, one thing still holding him back.)

Weighing in on the talk-show discussion is tech entrepreneur, Lex Luthor of LuthorCorp (Elon Musk meets young Donald Trump played by, lets say, Mark Strong) who actually supports Superman. 

However, after the interview is over, Lex is confronted by his father, Lionel (played by Bryan Cranston), who viciously ridicules him for being such a “media-whore.” As the two talk, we get more information on Lex’s situation — years before the Black Zero event, Metropolis was in a state of bankruptcy; it was a slowly crumbling hellhole, no better than Gotham . . . until Lex was sent to the Metropolis branch of the company as a punishment from his father. Lex retaliated by using his business acumen to create jobs and new industries, which single handedly revived the city. So, after Zod’s failed invasion, LuthorCorp started shifting funds towards Metropolis’ reconstruction. But because Superman personally stopped the invasion and helped rebuild the city (including taking the kryptonian spaceship and hiding it on the moon [because it never made sense to me why Superman would just allow an alien ship — which, by all rights, belongs to him — to be studied by the government in the middle of a major American city. He also took Zod’s body, so no one could dissect him]), he received pretty much all the credit and became “Metropolis’ favorite (if controversial) son." So Lex hates him for stealing his thunder, even if he publicly supports him.

Meanwhile, John Corben has Wallace Keefe’s arc from the original movie and graffitis the Superman statue, because he blames him for his disfigurement.

Clark has dinner with Lois, and the topic of Superman’s reputation comes up; the general public may have largely embraced him, but he still has very loud detractors (like Godfrey), and she’s worried how this negativity is affecting him. Clark reassures her that he isn’t bothered by the controversy, because it was more-or-less his fault that Zod invaded in the first place, “I understand why they're angry with me,” he says. “But they don't who I am and their anger doesn't change my opinion about myself. I know who I am.”

Later that night, Clark has a nightmare about Zod and we now see the only thing still holding him back from being the archetypal Superman is his guilt and PTSD over having to take a life to save the day — a violent act he considers to be his greatest failure, a brutality he can’t cleanse from his mind. [I think it’s best if the “isolation arc” wasn’t included in this movie, because it was pretty much resolved by the end of MoS. We have a more pressing issue for Sups to worry about — He literally murdered someone. You can argue if he was justified or not, but that doesn’t change the fact that the only way Superman could defeat Zod was by stooping to his level and losing where it counted. And Superman knows this. That’s gotta leave some lingering trauma.] 

Corben is bailed out of jail and given a ride in a limo driven by Mercy Graves, and delivered (not to the villain we are expecting — Lex, but — ) to Lionel who tells him that he want to help Corben “stand for something."

Elsewhere, Bruce is on his “White Portuguese" hunt [which includes a Batmobile chase, but no one dies, or if they do, it’s not Batman’s fault], and he has his confrontation with Superman, but it plays out differently: rather than threatening Batman, Superman tries to appeal to his humanity, pointing out that he used to be the "caped crusader" before he became the "dark knight." Batman, however, doesn’t care what he has to say, and asks Superman if he "bleeds."

Later that night, Bruce has a dream about his last run-in with the Joker; his hands still wrapped around his neck, pressing harder and harder, while a small voice tells him, "You’re letting him win." Bruce wakes from his dream before anything more definitive happens.

The next day, Lois and Jimmy attend a charity gala hosted by the Luthors (who appear with Lionel’s assistant, Mercy Graves, and Lex’s bodyguard, Otis Graves), where they celebrate the recent joint venture between LuthorCorp and Wayne Enterprises on cybernetic prosthetics. Here we see that Lex has a brilliant way with people that his father sorely lacks, and the latter is clearly envious of.

Lex actually starts hitting on Lois until Clark appears, and we get to witness the first interaction between Lex Luthor and Clark Kent. Lois continues with her questioning, asking what compelled Luthor to pour so much funding into this program; Lex explains that many people lost limbs during Black Zero, and the program is meant to address that.  While there, Clark has a run-in with Bruce, and the interaction basically breaks down as it does in the movie.

Thoroughly rattled, Superman then flies over Metropolis to clear his head and lands on an inconsequential building, where he actually meets Bibbo Bibbobowski — a big fan of Sups. Superman expresses lingering guilt over Zod’s death leading up to a “Hitman” monologue about his inability to save everyone. [https://m.imgur.com/gallery/w7BCA] Bibbo tries to change his mind, but Superman remains conflicted on the subject.

From Batman’s hunt for the White Portuguese, Alfred learns the truth about Bruce’s plans for the Kryptonite. He gives Bruce an ultimatum: either Bruce destroys the Kryptonite, or Alfred will quit. Bruce is committed to this crusade, so Alfred leaves in disappointment. After the fight, Bruce looks longingly at a Robin suit, and we get closure on the Joker flashback — Joker beat Jason Todd to death and crippled Barbara Gordon (Death in the Family meets The Killing Joke), Batman caught him and nearly strangled him to death, only stopping when Alfred yelled at him through the radio that he was "letting [Joker] win." 

Cut to Lionel talking to Corben privately; we get a little more insight into why he is so disdainful towards his son. When Lex was born, Lionel expected nothing but perfection from him, and for the most part, Lex delivered. In his youth, Lex excelled at everything, and was constantly held up as the pinnacle of human excellence. However, everything changed the day his mother died in a car accident Lex inadvertently caused, and the stress of it made his hair fall out. From that point on, Lionel saw Lex as less than dirt and “failure.” So, Lionel has begun looking for other avenues to achieve “perfection.” With his story over, we find out that Corban is being prepped for an operation involving something called “Metal-10.”

Now completely alone, Bruce throws himself into stealing and building a battle suit using the Wayne/LuthorCorp designed cybernetic prosthetics, a sonic gun, and a single bullet made out of Kryptonite.

Now in the third act, Lois is kidnapped by Jimmy who is then revealed to be Sebastian Mallory, and has been spying on Lois and Clark this whole time and figured out the latter’s secret identity. Clark then receives a high-frequency message to meet Lionel at the top of LuthorCorp tower. 

The plot then plays out basically how it did in the real movie, with Lionel threatening to kill Lois if Clark doesn't kill Batman first, and Luthor’s high-frequency howl will keep Sups from finding her if he tries to use his super-hearing. 

Superman goes and basically begs Batman to help him, but there’s one problem; Batman’s helmet is fully covered and completely soundproof, to protect his ears from the sonic gun. [See? Superman has been trying to offer the olive branch to Bats this whole time and is constantly shot down. So when his multiple attempts at appealing to Batman’s better nature fail, that’s when Clark snaps.]

Meanwhile, Luthor is watching the whole fight through small drones. Also watching are Luthor’s goons, who are taking bets on who’ll win. Lois, seeing the fight, manages to break free and escape on her own using the skills she picked up as a military-brat. [If there’s one thing I resent most about the S*yder films, it’s how much they neutered Lois Lane. She’s the daughter of a military general for crying out loud and yet she acts so passive and demure it makes me want to spit. It’s tantamount to making Scout Finch act like Sansa Stark. It’s against everything about her character. So I decided to change that and give a variation on the “warehouse scene” to Lois.]

The fight continues until Superman manages to get Batman into a head-lock, which then triggers a flashback to Zod’s death. This moment of hesitation allows Bats to get the upper-hand, but in the struggle, Batman’s helmet is cracked open. He makes the same grand speech as he does in the film as he loads the kryptonite bullet into the gun and aims it at Superman’s heart … only for the latter to say:

“You’re … letting … him … win.” 

[The death of Batman’s parents was a seminal moment in Bruce Wayne’s life, but it would realistically be a well-healed wound at this point. However the death of Jason and the crippling of Barbara are more recent and fresh traumas that (even in the books) actually did drive him to be an even darker vigilante.]

So we get a slight variation on “why’d you say that name!” to just “why’d you say that!” Only for Lois to chime in by commandeering one of Luthor’s drones and using the built-in speaker to talk through it and explain the situation. Then Batman has his moment of horror as he realizes how close he came to becoming what he hates, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Then…

Metallo bursts in. 

Luthor’s Plan B in case something like this happened, complete with a solid kryptonite power-core and a body made of Metal-10 -- an alloy made from titanium and recovered kryptonian metal.

They fight, Superman tries to reason with Corban but he doesn’t listen, and Batman’s armor allows him to stay in the game for as long as he can (but he’ll eventually have to abandon it and rely on Alfred - whom Bruce calls - for help)

Eventually the two heroes work together and immobilize him. 

With Corban at their mercy, the heroes begin to work out a deal with him that will ensure he help them trace all of this back to Lionel … only for Corban’s robot body to self-destruct, which they both conclude was Luthor’s doing.

At dawn, Superman and Batman exchange pleasantries, and Clark offers one final olive branch -- the kryptonite bullet, which he entrusts to Bruce. This gesture rocks Batman to his core and he admits he was wrong about Superman, and that he is a “good man,” which gives Clark the reassurance he needed to move on from Zod’s death.

Cut to a few months later, and we see Lex being remote-interviewed by Jack Ryder, and we learn that during the time-skip, Lionel died of a heart attack. Lex makes some token soundbytes about his “loss,” and - in light of the scandalous rumors surrounding his father and his connection to Lois Lane (even though nothing could be conclusively proven) - has taken the opportunity to “rebrand” the company from LuthorCorp to LexCorp, as a sign of “good faith” and “change.” Ryder also makes an off-handed reference to Lex taking an interest in politics.

After the interview, Lex watches a video on his computer which shows security footage of his last conversation with his father: Lionel is unconcerned with the charges Lois is throwing at him, because he now has something that literally everybody in the world will pay through the nose to get … Superman’s genetic code. SInce Zod’s body was gone, Lionel set up the whole fight just so Superman would spill some blood, which Luthor picked up using one of his drones (he was hoping Superman would die so he could be dissected). Lionel then goes on and on about the potential applications of kryptonian genetics (including something called “Project: B2-R-0”) and how they’ll someday be able to splice them into the human genome, so that “everyone can be Superman.”

Lex chews on those words for a moment … and then offers his father a celebratory glass of brandy, which Lionel - too excited by his own prospects - readily drinks, but Lex doesn’t.

As Lionel starts coughing and keeling over, Lex apologizes and wished it “wouldn’t come to this,” but that “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.”

And the recording ends… and Lex sees Superman in the reflection on his computer monitor, floating outside his window.

Confidently, Lex delete the footage and speaks to Superman directly. Going off on this big monologue about he’s the best, he’s “figured out” Superman’s little scheme, how when the “war is over,” the people of the world will finally acknowledge that “Lex Luthor was right.”

Superman wordlessly flies down to Luthor’s level, and simply says, “I’ll pray for you, Lex. Every day.” And flies off. Lex is left with an intense anger at his enemy’s nobility, he has now fully embraced his narcissism and even if he has to prove it to the whole world, he won’t stop until everyone recognizes that he alone is the best.

The final scene is Clark traveling to the arctic, and digging up Zod’s corpse. Finally, after this whole time, Superman has the strength to face his worst mistake and put it to rest. Clark takes Zod’s body, builds him a coffin, and gives the old soldier a proper “burial at space” into the sun.

He’s come to terms with who he is and what he is, and the film closes on him orbiting Earth - using his super-senses to see and hear millions of experiences that we could only dream of (babies being born, people celebrating, animals frolicking, monks peacefully meditating, etc.) - in full grip of the Overview Effect, smiling a perfectly contented smile at this strange little blue rock that he loves, with all his heart. (kind of like here: https://comicsalliance.com/originals-garth-ennis-dialogue-hitman-303-war-comics-creator-owned)

He’s finally the super-man.

-----------

So, if you managed to make it this far, it’s worth noting that a movie like this was never in the cards.  

When Man of Steel was being made, it came off the heels of the very underwhelming Superman Returns and the epic Dark Knight Trilogy (so a more action-packed remake was a no-brainer from a marketing perspective) and the abject failure that was Green Lantern (which was supposed to be DC’s platform for a cinematic universe). So, when WB gave Z*ck S*yder the reins they weren’t interested in making a cinematic universe. It’s only natural that they’d fall back on their strong suits and try to recreate the Dark Knight Trilogy, only with Superman this time. They wanted Chris Nolan to helm it, but he never wanted to be known as the “Superhero Director,” so he hand-picked S*yder for the job (WB agreed because they trusted Nolan and they wanted that sweet, sweet, auteur creativity that worked so well before, despite the fact that the DK series was more or less a fluke). However, when MoS proved to be a moderate success (and because there’s no such thing as bad publicity) the executives got ambitious and pushed for a franchise, but Snyder was always more interested in telling his own story, with a beginning, a middle, and an end, and that just couldn’t happen in a cinematic universe designed to go on for as long as it keeps making money. So they naively tried to have their cake and eat it too. Whereas in the real world, one doesn’t try to mix chocolate-chip ice-cream, lasagna, and chimichangas into one dish, unless you’re aiming for a disappointing afternoon and a lot of wasted effort (even then, there will always be that one person who’ll love it for reasons completely unique to them).

This is all to say that I think the “Snyderverse” was more or less destined to fail, because it tried to be too many things and wasn’t any of them. 

I once read something on a Reddit post that I think is applicable to this whole situation: “Unfortunately, some writers try to shoot for crafting a Memento before they’ve mastered St. Peter and the Dragon.”

But more importantly, I’ve recently had a breakthrough in my ponderings about it that I think finally, finally, finally explains why people like me couldn’t like it …

The film wasn’t meant for people like me.

Anticlimactic, I know.

You can argue movie critic payoffs, stubborn audiences that demanded different things, the fact that the studio didn’t release the full film (I don’t think that would’ve helped), the over saturation of Marvel-style films, but in the end Z*ck Sn*der is a cult filmmaker, best suited for more low-risk niche properties. The only film he made that ever received mainstream success was 300, arguably for the wrong reasons.

The only crime you can really hold against this movie was that it failed to connect with enough people. It’s kind of sad in a way.

Without him, the DCEU seems to be moving in the direction of Adaptation Distillation, and I think that’s for the best.

#DCEU #batman v superman

[inhumansforever]

The Royals #1 Review

spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers

The Royal Inhumans adventure into the cosmos starts here from the creative team of Al Ewing, Jonboy Meyers, and Ryan Kinnaird.  Full recap and review following the jump.

It’s a desperate a somber time for The Inhumans of New Attilan.  The threat that the Terrigen Cloud would end all Mutant life on Earth forced Queen Medusa to destroy the cloud, essentially ending The Inhumans’ way of life.  No new Inhuman will again be able to go through Terrigenesis and their people must look toward to an uncertain future and the inevitable demise of their culture and heritage.  Feeling responsible for the events that brought this about, Medusa has decided that her people need a new leader to guide them on this new path.  She has abdicated her position as queen and dissolved the monarchy; handing leadership of New Attilan to the young Inhuman, Iso.  

Now the Kree adventurer known as Marvel Boy has come to seek an audience with Iso and the formal royal Inhumans.  Marvel Boy hails from an alternate reality, a reality in which The Kree Empire had ended its unyielding wars and dedicated itself to peace and scientific discovery.  To this end, Marvel Boy possesses knowledge of Terrigen that could revitalize the Inhuman peoples and enable them to re-obtain the rite of Terrigenesis for subsequent generations.  

Marvel Boy warns that the mission to gain the secrets of Terrigen is likely to be a perilous one, that were they to embark on this quest all might not make it home.  This ominous warning does little to sway the Royals.  The prospect of possibly saving the future of their race is worth any risk.  Furthermore, Medusa feels it her duty, her penitence to take this journey as redemption for past failures.  And her family is not going to let her go alone.  

Iso, the new leader of the Inhumans, objects.  Having the Royals, the strongest among the Inhumans, leave New Attilan in this precarious time of change feels far too risky, but Medusa and the others will not be swayed in their determination.  The former queen had named Iso her successor, but it doesn’t seem she is actually willing to follow this lead herself.  

Joining Medusa is her sister, Crystal, and their cousin, Gorgon.  Black Bolt, Medusa’s one-time husband and the former king of The Inhumans will also accompany the team; as will the young new Inhuman, Swain, whose one-time position as captain of the Royal Inhuman Vessel makes her the ideal candidate to pilot their star-faring craft.  Rounding out the team is Swain’s fellow new Inhuman, Flint.  

The remaining Royals, Karnak, Triton and Lockjaw will remain behind.  They will be there if Iso were to need their assistance, yet this does little to quell Iso’s unease.  Making matters more difficult for Iso is the revelation that Iso and Flint have rekindled their romance; and she appears a touch heartbroken that Flint is so insistent on accompanying the Royals in this dangerous mission.  

Prior to their departure, each member of the team makes their preparations and says their goodbyes.  Crystal sits with her young daughter, Luna, expressing the great import behind her leaving and promising that she will return in short time.  Crystal makes Luna promise to stay out of trouble.  If trouble is to find her, however, she is to use Lockjaw to seek out her uncle Karnak (a foreshadowing that I so hopes come to pass in that it enhances the likelihood of Luna meeting Karnak’s soon-to-be teammate, Moon Girl in the pages of the up-coming Secret Warriors series).  

Elsewhere, Swain is a bit saddened that her girlfriend, Panacea, is less upset over her leaving.  Terrigenesis has significantly altered Panacea’s emotional process.  She doesn’t feel things in a typical fashion.  She cares for Swain, but the closest she can get to a declaration of tenderness is to state that she finds her fascinating and prefers that she stay alive.  

We also see Gorgon beside the bed of his son, Petras, still convalescing in a coma-like state from his adverse reaction to Terrigenesis.  Gorgon had hoped that he would be at his son’s side when he finally awakens, but duty has called.  Panacea has been using her healing powers to treat Petras, as she had treated  Gorgon; yet it appears there are limitations to what she can do.  Gorgon is no longer paralyzed, but remains in a state of chronic pain, pain that substantially worsens whenever he uses his powers (not that he has allowed it to slow him down).  

There is additionally a scene between Flint and Iso where we learn that the two have become an item once again.  Flint has a difficult time expressing exactly what it is that has so compelled him to volunteer for this mission.  Flint lost his adoptive family and discovered his biological family to be less than the idealized fantasy that he had hoped for.  The Inhumans themselves are the family he has left and aiding them feels like something he simply has to do.  

Next we see Medusa and Black Bolt.  The relationship between the two has warmed as of late, but they remain a great deal distant compared to the intimate closeness they once enjoyed.  Medusa has something she needs to speak with Black Bolt about, but he refuses to discuss it.  Something is preoccupying Black Bolt, something likely having to do with the secret told to him by his brother in the pages of last week’s Inhumans Prime.  

Finally, we see Noh-Varr, the mysterious Kree known as Marvel Boy.  It turns out that there is more than simple altruism and the thirst for adventure that has led him to bring this quest to The Royals.  Noh has motives of his own and whether or not they are sinister or benevolent remains to be seen.  I assume that is Noh’s old buddy, the living computer known as, Plex, that he’s talking with (but I suppose we’ll have to wait to find out for sure).  

The seven adventurers depart at dawn aboard the starcraft, Astarion, named after an Inhuman hero of ancient lore.  Their destination the former Kree throne-world of Hala.  

The issue begins with two prologues.  The first prologue shows the distant future of a mysterious realm known as Arctilan.  Giant armor-clad beings ride atop enormous pterodactyls above an alien city of glass and steel.  Yet is it an alien world?  Various hints suggest that this strange realm may be the earth of five thousand years in the future.  

One of the riders descends down to a tower baring the flags of the House of Boltigon.  There he is met by ‘the ghost who ever sleeps,’ a frail and ancient being who bears a passing resemblance to an aged Black Bolt.  The rider refers to the older, much smaller man as ‘Inhu-Man.’  Solemnly, the old man trades salutations with the rider before returning inside to his lonely layer.  He looks up to a large stone carving in which mysterious words are inscribed in the Inhuman language of Tilan.    

The man seems to be recalling back to an adventure from his distant past… a mission in which seven ventured forth and only six returned.   

Who exactly this ancient Inhuman is and the dire nature of his statement is set to be revealed in subsequent installments of the story.

A second prologue shows Medusa, Gorgon, Iso and Flint battling to contain a new Inhuman who has awaken from Terrigenesis to find herself transformed into a giant monster.  Frightened and confused, this new Inhuman has lashed out and the others have come contain her and help her contend with what has happened to her.  

Her name is Mrs. Bellhauer.  She was a recluse and her time in her Terrigenic cocoon was longer than most.  In all likelihood, she will be the last of the new Inhumans created on earth and the mere thought of it is enough to bring a tear to Medusa’s eye.  

Iso and Flint make short work of subduing the rampaging Mrs. Bellhauer.  Though she is proud over just how far her pupils have come, Medusa is also given pause by how weak and tired she has been feeling as of late.  Something is wrong and it is getting worse quickly.  She had tried to confide in Black Bolt about this matter, but he hadn’t the time to discuss it.  

At the end of the issue we see Medusa sitting in the command chair aboard The Astarion.  She notices that a sizable lock of her hair has broken free from her mane, brittle and sick.  She can push it to the back of her thinking no more.  Something is very wrong and she announces to the rest of the crew her grave prediction... 

 seven ventured forth and only six returned...

Wow!  What a great first issue.  This is the Inhumans that I have been so looking forward to seeing.  I’m one of those fans who greatly enjoyed Charles Soule run on The Inhumans, yet I understood that he was asked to follow a guideline to make the franchise more accessible to a broader audience, to make them more akin to traditional super heroics.  Al Ewing has clearly been given no such constraints and he delves right into all of the weird, cosmic, sci-fi coolness that has made The Inhumans so special to me.  

Referring to the earlier scene, Medusa looks up at this poor woman who has been transformed into a giant slimy monster and sheds a tear that the majesty of this may never happen again.  There is not even the consideration that this Mrs. Bellhauer likely doesn’t feel the same; indeed she’s probably quite distraught over having been transformed into a monster.  Yet that’s not how Medusa sees it…  why?  Because she’s a weird alien queen from a bizarre and outré culture.  No apologies are given.  The Inhumans are all about sci-fi weirdness and Ewing is allowing it to go their full steam ahead.  It makes me almost giddy with excitement.  

Though I’m certainly less excited and not giddy at all over this prospect that Medusa may be dying.  We all know that one member of the team is destined to perish on this mission, it has hung like an ominous cloud over the title since Ewing’s initial interviews regarding the project in which he stated a cast member wasn’t going to make it back.  Medusa was among the Inhumans I felt least likely to die.  There is of course no certainty that she will die, but it’s made clear from the onset that none of the Inhumans are safe.  It’s a matter that makes me equal parts excited and frightened to read the nest installment.  

The dialogue captures the characters quite well and it is made abundantly clear that Ewing has boned up on his Inhuman reading in preparing for this run.  I’m especially happy to see so many of the plot threads from James Asmus’ all-too-short run on All New Inhumans being brought back into the foreground (such as Swain and Panacea’s relationship and the status of Gorgon’s son, Petras).  It’s impressive that the issue packs so much plot yet the characterizations doesn’t at all feel pushed to the back burner.  

Lots of intriguing questions are asked not just about The Royals’ mission, but also over what is going on for each of the cast members.  What is Marvel Boy’s ulterior motives?  Why is Gorgon pushing himself so hard?  What secret is Black Bolt harboring?  Why is Crystal leaving so soon after reuniting with her daughter?  What so compels Flint to join the team?  Why is Swain so reluctant over her powers?  And most importantly, is Medusa going to be okay???

I’m happy to report that I very much enjoyed the art by Jonboy Meyers and Ryan Kinnaird.  The initial preview had me a bit worried that Meyers’ kinetic, manga style would not be to my liking… that it would look too similar to those 1990’s-era books from Image Comics that so turned me off.  There’s a lot of flash to Meyer’s illustration.  The poses are exaggerated and the action jumps off the page with dynamic energy.  Yet he also does quite well in using facial expressions to relay emotion.  Medusa’s sorrow, Noh-Varr’s smirky arrogance, Flint’s anxious determination and Black Bolt’s stoic unease are all extremely evident in the way Meyers’ details their faces and expressions.  Top marks.

Furthermore Meyers’ page composition and backgrounds are very nicely executed.  In short, I’m relived and excited that my reservations over Meyers’ art were completely unfounded.  

A brand new chapter of The Inhumans mythos starts here and it is a truly fantastic (albeit frightening) beginning.

I’ll be very interested to hear what others thought about this debut issue.  As an Inhuman super-fan, I feel like I’m not very suited to write an unbiased review.  Nevertheless, with this issue, I’m feeling rather confident that others are going to share in my enthusiasm.

Of course recommended; Five out of Five Lockjaws.  

#Inhumans #The Royals #spoilers #Al Ewing #Jonboy Meyers #Ryan Kinnaird #review

[sparda3g]

My Hero Academia Chapter 164 Review

The holidays are the seasons to be grateful towards everyone. In the last chapter of the year, it certainly fits the bill almost perfectly. There’s just one problem: these kids are out of control and these failed students need to act like young adults. That is a tough exam indeed. It’s an amusing chapter with a good potential to be fun relaxing event with more of good characterization of others.

The first page practically set the tone for the rest of the chapter: light-hearted and comical. It’s nice that Inasa starts having a different yet polite conversation with Shouto, rather than rude and hateful. It’s a good step for him. The only problem is that he is pushy with random topics with Shouto, while still maintaining his solitude, and it comes off more of awkward than anything else. I understand he’s trying to make friends, but this is going to aggravate outsiders. Bakugou gives a clear sign of annoyance.

This arc is setting up to be a continuation from the Hero License Arc and I don’t mean because of the fact that these students are in provisional license exam. I mean it has characters from that arc and present them in a different light. For example, Mera is so zoned out that his character is now called Tired Mera. It is fun change-up for many characters to come.

It also has new spectators along the way; most notably Endeavor. I believe he is trying to encourage Shouto in front of other students from afar, if you can call it that, but it is interesting to see him taking a part in this arc. Not only it has potential to develop them as father and son, but it also has potential to develop him as a character. We’ll get back to that later.

It’s mostly confirmed that Camie here is actually the real self. I don’t see a purpose for Toga to be part of the disguise in this type of arc, so I can safely say that it is her. Camie doesn’t remember what happened or anything about the exam, so that’s why she was placed here for check-up purposes. That said her personality is more pronounced here. If you thought what we saw “her” before was how she is, it’s actually different yet matches her design closely. She’s a Gal character and by that, I mean from the use of slangs, quirky, and can be seen as sexy.

It’s up to the fans whether they like this approach or not. I can understand that people would be bothered by her way of speaking, but I don’t mind for now. I think it is fine to have some other types rather than what she was presented earlier. I just hope for good character development regardless if she may not be that relevant in the long run. It’s best to do something with her in the exam rather than potentially be a fan service, especially how this chapter somewhat says that way.

If you asked me on who shines the most, my pick will be on Gang Orca. He pretty much stole the chapter. After witnessing him like a villain, we don’t know much of his personality or how he is as a teacher. This chapter provides that and it’s pretty funny. The best I can say is that he’s a ruthless teacher that resembles to a sergeant from Boot Camp. The mood was fine until he barges in and killed every ounce of happiness.

The part that got me laughing is how he disciplines the three students and flings them like a rag doll. Each of them has their own flaws and he quickly and savagely throws them and classified them on how much of guidance they need. The paneling is done in a good comedic style, which makes the moment hilarious. I didn’t think seeing Shouto fly like a scrub would happen but Orca made it possible.

I do like the tie-in of why they’re here in the first place. The key flaw for all is they lack “heart.” It is neatly connected with their failures. Bakugou didn’t care for the civilians, and Shouto and Inasa got into a grudge while ignoring them. This fits in on why Orca is providing guidance to them with the next major step to their challenge. The buildup feels like it’s going to be harsh and deadly. Well…it sort of is.

Behold, the children are on the loose and they must take care of them. It’s funny how the tone still matches up well with Orca’s discipline. The idea of taking care of kids could potentially be fun and humorous, but it could also be annoyance. Kohei has to be careful with this approach, but so far, it starts off good. These individuals have their own personality, such as a wannabe cool kid, jealous kid, and so on, which could bring a good amount of laughs.

The reactions from the students are amusing and that helps out. Shouto is like a guy who is trying to fit in and educate them, but these kids are intolerable, so he has no time to react and trying to get his words across. Inasa is disinterested or rather easily distracted with the sight of Endeavor, vowing to never be like him. That’s cool, but pay attention. Camie is seen as a sexy object, since that kid got “lucky” with a hug, but already starts unpopular with the girls. Kids are growing real fast these days. As for Bakugou, well do I really have to explain? It’s expected and that won’t be easy at all.

Mic amuses me when he lost his temptation and has to narrate the situation. Imagine him in Dragon Ball Super; that would drive people nuts. One thing is certain when the anime adapts this, the headphones will be destroyed with a lot of loudness from every places. It’s just warning for the future.

The most interesting part is Endeavor and All Might having a chat, which is a relief that it won’t be done off-paneled. What’s interesting is that early on, Endeavor as a number 1 hero was treated by fear and has weak reactions from the students. All Might as a retired hero however was treated with cheers and great applause. That speaks volume that the notion of number 1 isn’t fixated on the position, rather who’s in it. The direction is Endeavor struggling to be an iconic first hero.

It’s good that Kohei is developing his character. It’s reasonable that Endeavor has to present as one yet failing because it did happen so sudden. It’s like you want to be the commander so badly in a war, but when it was given on the spot, you’ll be lost. It’s clear that his image isn’t good, so he has to work that out. The advice he seeks from All Might is about “Symbol of Peace.” What does it truly means? This intrigues me.

So far, this is going well, thanks to this amusing chapter. It may be on break from chaos, but it can be a fun one, more so than Hero License Arc. We can also get some of intriguing developments from other characters. Let’s see what next year would bring for this series.

#boku no hero academia #my hero academia #chapter 164 #review