#i mean he has done none of these things in the mcu | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

iam93percentstardust · 1 year

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one of the things that really bothers me about modern franchises, and in particular over the last 5 years or so, is their refusal to commit. what i mean here when i say this is that it's not uncommon for a major franchise to make a decision, whether about the plot or the characters, that should have had huge, world-changing consequences... and then just never address that again or worse, immediately go back and undo it. and i'm gonna pick on star wars and the mcu here because those are the two big franchises i'm into at the moment (and i think they're kind of the worst at this), but i don't want you to walk away from this thinking that this is solely a disney thing. i've seen this happen with game of thrones and supernatural and plenty of other non-disney franchises. spoilers ahead, you've been warned:

in ant-man & the wasp quantumania, scott and hope make the life-altering decision to stay behind in the quantum realm and defeat kang instead of going through the portal to return to their world. this should have been a huge meta decision for the mcu, and when i first saw it in theaters, my immediate thought was wow, what is this going to mean for the mcu going forward? are we going to get a movie/miniseries about scott and hope helping to rebuild the quantum realm? how are cassie, janet, and hank going to react to the losses of their loved ones (in some cases, for the second time)? is cassie going to become the "first" young avenger because she has to take her father's place among the team lineup (and i only say first because as of this moment, none of the other young avengers introduced to the franchise are official avengers yet)? except nope, because less than 2 minutes later, cassie had fixed the portal that had broken way back at the beginning of the movie and brought scott and hope back.

and it felt like such a cheat. i was so disappointed in that theater, not as someone who was invested in these characters on a personal level (because yay, cassie gets her dad back!), but as someone who has spent years investing themselves in the story of the mcu. what was the point of wasting screentime on scott and hope accepting their new lives in the quantum realm if it was just going to immediately be undone? the entire scene could have been cut to scott and hope making it back bare seconds before the portal closed and it would have had the same emotional impact. there was nothing added by making scott and hope (and us) think that there was no way back only to rip the rug out from under us and go "gotcha! you really thought we were gonna give this movie a sad ending? haha! you're so dumb!"

and this isn't the first time the mcu has done this. one of the biggest complaints about endgame was the decision to set it five years in the future with no consideration for how that would actually change the setting of the mcu. characters were brought back to the exact place they disappeared from with no consideration for how things might have changed in the interim five years (like planes that weren't in the air anymore, buildings no longer standing, even just something as simple as a chair being unoccupied). and then the mcu didn't even really have the courage to address how this would have shaped the world other than a few jokes and making the bad guys in the falcon and the winter soldier people who cared about how the world had screwed them over during the blip.

and things like this happen over and over and over again. the accords are put into place in civil war, but by the time we get to she-hulk, they're gone with no explanation because, as best as i can tell, the writers didn't want to have to deal with the worldbuilding that went into the accords. gamora is killed in infinity war, but heaven forbid quill not have an emotional investment in a film he appears for maybe 10 minutes in so now she's back in endgame. steve got to go live in the past with his ex-girlfriend (which is in itself a refusal to commit after the mcu both gave her a different husband and had the woman herself tell him to move on) but we need to establish that messing with timelines is bad because that's what the entire next phase hinges on so actually his ending was predestined and it's only everyone else who can't change time. whoever took this entire town and also wanda hostage and forced them to live out a sitcom fantasy is bad and needs to be stopped but wait, it's actually wanda and she can't be the bad guy yet, we need her for doctor strange 2, so actually everyone's going to defend her now and say that no one else could ever possibly understand her grief. thor has decided to accept responsibility as king of asgard, but we can't use him for any more movies if he's stuck in asgard, so actually he's decided to pass it on to someone whose entire leadership capability is developed offscreen. i could list more examples but this is making me angry, so let's move on to star wars instead.

with star wars, i look at first the oft-quoted meme, "somehow palpatine has returned." yeah, i shouldn't really need to go into detail on how that counts as a refusal to commit but. the last jedi was a study in how johnson refused to commit to anything that abrams had laid down in the force awakens, but rise of skywalker was almost like abrams had looked at the franchise and said "screw you for taking it away from me, i'm going to come up with the most bullshit stuff just to spite you for doing that in the first place. and i'm going to start by undoing the most important plot point of the first trilogy: the emperor dies." and yeah, disney's kind of tried to salvage this by dropping hints into the bad batch and the mandalorian about cloning, but that only really works if you're watching the franchise chronologically and not considering that both of those series came out after rise of skywalker.

and then there's the mandalorian, my sweet summer child, who is, in my opinion, the worst at backtracking their plot points. i'm not entirely convinced that any of the higher ups for this show really knew what they were doing when they started working on it and i'm not convinced that they know what they're doing now. yeah, there's the tie-in to the last season of clone wars, but the mandalorian has managed to walk back pretty much every single major plot point it's had. din is this legendary warrior who can't be beat, but no one will watch this show if he defeats everyone too early, so he's constantly getting beat up (tbf, sometimes some of the fights he loses makes sense like the krayt dragon and the mudhorn, but a lot of them don't. at all). moff gideon is dead, no wait no he's not, now he's imprisoned, no wait no he's not, now he's definitely dead, you can totally believe us this time guys. grogu can use the force and must be placed with the jedi, but wait, the only person still actively teaching the way of the jedi is luke and all of his students will be brutally murdered ten years from now, and we can't have that, everyone will be mad at us for killing off such a cute character and no one will buy baby yoda dolls (and also we have to set up luke's character degradation from hopeful, believes-in-love cinnamon roll to "i'm going to kill my nephew") so in between seasons let's have grogu decide to go back to din (and don't even get me started on how frustrating it is that a casual mandalorian watcher also had to watch book of boba fett to understand why grogu is back). din has the darksaber now which makes him king of mandalore, that's totally going to be important and what the entire series has been building up to, right? wrong! he might have spent the first two seasons making connections, learning about the world outside his sheltered upbringing, and demonstrating the various qualities that would make for a good leader, but the entire third season will be about din realizing that actually he's super unworthy and the darksaber should actually go to someone who... saw an animal in the water.

and it's really, really frustrating as a viewer! because how am i supposed to get invested in any of these plot decisions when they almost always get reversed? why should i care that mj and ned have forgotten peter when ant-man 3 has shown me that they'll remember him the next time they're all on screen together? why should i care that tech is dead when half of the last season of clone wars was about how echo was actually alive? if none of these decisions have any permanence, then where are the emotional stakes? why should i watch your movie if all you're going to tell me is that nothing matters?

#and also i want to make a point that the early mcu did permanent stakes really well #iron man 1 ends with tony announcing that he's iron man and that's something that still resonated years later #the entire second film hinged on that one moment #loki falling into the bifrost is what leads him to the chitauri which is what kickstarted the avengers #steve is woken from the ice and the first organization who presents themselves as someone to trust is shield #which sets up the betrayal he feels in the winter soldier #these moments resonate throughout the first two stages and the decisions the characters made MATTERED #so you can't help but get invested because what if it's the wrong decision???#anyway i'm frustrated with the state of franchises #alle talks #long post

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unhingedmarvelandclassicwhobuff · 7 months

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According to the MCU wiki, the Blip is today. So I figured I'd take the time to detail the four biggest reasons why the time jump in Endgame was a universe-shatteringly horrible idea that should never have seen the light of day

the absolute biggest problem, of which there are many, is the fact that countless people died as collateral damage in the initial Snap. Hell, we are shown it in the Infinity War post-credit scene with those multiple car accidents and that helicopter slamming into a building. And that was just the tip of the iceberg; imagine how many planes crashed because the pilots were dusted, or how many babies starved because both their parents were dusted, or people who may have died on the operating table because a surgeon got dusted. All of these people are totally ignored. It's never so much as mentioned when talking about bringing everyone back, and Tony insisting that the last five years remain unchanged is implicitly saying all of those people remained dead when the dusted returned.

the second big problem with this plot point is that it's used as an excuse for every character except Nat to be totally unrecognizable. Bruce becomes Professor Hulk, Thor gets fat, Tony has a family (and I fucking love how the movie inadvertently says he just let the world rot for five years instead of using his billions of help. That is 100% in character for him), Clint went on a mass killing spree, and Steve... I actually have no idea what made him change so radically. None of this is shown to us at all, it's just told to us.

this is less a problem with Endgame and more a problem with Phases 4 and 5, but the other worse thing about this development is that absolutely nothing has been done with it. Far From Home played the time-jump for comedy, WandaVision had that one great scene in the hospital and then did nothing else, Shang-Chi had a singular throwaway line about the Blip, Hawkeye had that one neat visual of getting Snapped from Yelena's POV and then nothing else, Multiverse of Madness had a single conversation where Strange wonders if letting Tony have his way was the only way to save the universe, Quantumania had a single scene addressing the homelessness issue and then nothing else, and I think Secret Invasion tried to do a bit of a look at how Talos reacted to the Blip, but that show was so awful that I'd rather not think about it. The only projects to do anything at all with the Blip as a major plot point are Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Eternals.

the fourth and final massive problem with the Blip is pretty simple yet complicated; it ignores the absolutely insurmountable societal implications both the Snap and the Blip would have. Think about it; half the fucking universe disintegrates into ash. There are SO many things that would do to just human society alone. But even more importantly, five years after all those people were declared dead (meaning wills are executed, spouses remarried, jobs and homes redistributed, etc) those people suddenly reappear, and from their POV it's only been a second. Just to put it in perspective, the Snap happened on April 29th, 2018. Doesn't that feel like forever ago? If the Snap were real, all those people would have been gone until today. That is such a huge mindfuck that I'm shocked no one went insane. And even looking aside from the psychological impact, all those people are pretty fucking screwed. Far From Home had a single scene addressing this, then promptly forgot about it.

My final point is less of a problem and more of an amusing byproduct; since Tony directly forbids Bruce from undoing the last five years, that means the events of WandaVision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, Multiverse of Madness, and Secret Invasion are on some level his fault. That’s fucking hysterical.

I suppose I'll be absolutely fair and say that rewinding time isn't a morally perfect solution either, as you would be erasing any maturity the survivors gained during those five years, as well as anyone born in that time. But that's just all the more reason to NOT HAVE A FUCKING TIME-SKIP!!! I still think the only reason it was done was for cheap shock value.

All in all, the five-year time jump is the single worst major plot point in the MCU. Fight me.

#anti endgame #the blip was an awful idea #anti tony stark

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idieokonkwo · 2 years

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6 Reasons I Disliked She-hulk (tv show)

1. I didn’t like the way that Jen talks to Bruce. She’s really annoying the whole time and acts like she knows best. Also, she seems to be constantly bragging that she’s better than him because she can control her powers sooner, when it really just means she’s privileged. The TV show doesn’t treat either of these like flaws.

2. Bruce isn’t nice either? He’s been one of the nicer characters in the past, but here he seems to have forgotten that he didn’t always want to be a superhero, and spent time helping get medicine for homeless kids before Avengers or whatever he was doing. He seems to be unwilling to imagine that Jen might not want to be a superhero, when he hasn’t always wanted to be one.

3. OH MY GOD TITANIAS OUTFIT IS THE UGLIEST THING IVE EVER SEEN

4. Why would she turn into a hulk just from a drop of his blood?? Seems super cheesy, a blood transfusion is a MUCH better backstory. Like seriously, chances are good that hulk blood has gotten places before in big battles, so if a drop is all it takes it seems unlikely no one would have been infected before.

5. Make her buff?? She’s supposed to be just as strong as the hulk.

-Women want characters who actually look like really people, while she-hulk magically gets her hair straightened when she shifts.

-Women don’t want Jen talking about how she’s so much better then Bruce because she’s a woman.

6. AND THE STEVE VIRGIN COMMENTS!!

Jen WTF it’s none of your business what Steve has or hasn’t done. If it was a male character making such comments about Natasha that wouldn’t be seen as okay, so it’s not okay for her to do the same thing about Steve. Also she’s talking about it to Bruce, who was friends with Steve (who is now dead), WHAT MAKES HER THINK TALKING TO HIM ABOUT WHETHER HIS DEAD FRIEND IS A VIRGIN OR NOT IS OKAY.

(Also Steve went back in time and married Peggy, the only way he would still be a virgin is if he didn’t want to have sex, and that could be true for literally any superhero other than Iron Man)

Also having Steve lose his virginity to a random girl on a tour seems OOC, but honestly I don’t really care about MCU Steve Rogers.

———————

(If anyone disagrees with me about any of these points, I’m fine having a friendly discussion, but I don’t want to get in a huge fight over a stupid tv show is set in a universe that has whitewashed multiple characters and is hugely problematic.)

#anti she hulk #anti she-hulk #she hulk #she-hulk #anti mcu #jennifer walters #she hulk tv #it’s fine if you like it I’m just feeling mad because I love comic Jen so much and this show felt like such a disappointment

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chushanye · 11 months

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Across the Spider-Verse was so weird because it's over two hours of just build-up with no payoff? This whole movie felt like a set up for the third part in the way the MCU does. And the thing is, they introduced two very interesting topics: parenthood and "opposing" police and then didn't deliver on either. The parenthood storyline featured set-ups like Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) and her baby. Gwen's "will you adopt me?" and possible found family especially with the repeated discussions on mentorship later in the movie. Gwen's dad commenting on how difficult parenthood is. Rio talking about how hard it is to let go of Miles being her little man. Jeff's talk with spider-man and that thing about spreading his wings. Peter B. Parker and Mayday. Miguel losing his daughter. Like there were so many threads that connected this theme of parenthood and kids learning how to be kind and responsible from adults but that they still need freedom and healthy rebellion even against loved ones. but it never went anywhere and none of it felt connected. at least not within this movie...which is 2h 20min long.

The scene where Miles is about to tell Rio he is Spider-Man could have been so interesting because the thread connecting all spider-people was NEVER cops- it was "Uncle Ben". It was and always has been family, grief, parental role-models and responsibility. but what also connects them is that all of these spider-people lied to their loved ones about their secret identity. right? like lack of communication and lying in order to "protect" them. and while the scene where you realize Miles went into the wrong universe was done fantastically - the music and atmosphere was so good - imagine how good it would have been if Miles chose to break the cycle of pain and death by being open with Rio. he breaks the cycle by being responsible, honest and having trust in his family! and they have to learn how to let him go and "fly" while trusting he will come home safe and that they will be able to care for him. + it would tie at least one theme in this movie together. but it was a fake out scene instead.

but this movie couldn't fully deliver on the parental theme because it goes hand-in-hand with the weird pro-cop thing. you have spider-punk who is there to question all authority but he can't be in the movie for too long because you just KNOW he's anti-police and we can't have that in this movie that literally relies on the assumption that what makes spider-people spider-man is that a fucking police chief dies. and also the whole spider organisation imprisoning anomalies and being judge jury and executioner of what is "right" for the multiverse, and Miguel BEATING THE SHIT out of Miles while telling him he was the original anomaly, that he is a mistake, and so on...(and lets not forget Miles is a young Black boy and all of this carried implications) and the whole plotline that the whole reason this spider-society exists is to specifically target MILES.....bro the implications are so fucking concerning.

and i mean from the first movie miles wants to become spider-man to "help" people the way his dad does so pro-cop idolization was there from the start. but then this sequel attempts to have some criticism of it as well with Gwen's storyline with her dad. where he almost shoots and attempts to arrest her. and i was watching that scene and thinking "you know this is really good criticism because it shows that 'good' cops aren't a thing because they fundamentally are there to protect a system and not actual justice." but then later in the movie they do a 180 and Gwen straight up goes "you're one of the good cops dad. you pick up that badge because if you didn't, worse people then you would" and it's like what kind of "not all cops. the good ones are somehow exempt from the system" bullshit is that? and i thought when she said "you're a good cop, dad" that she was gonna follow it up with "but you're a bad person because of it." and that would have been such a banger line and i got so hyped because that line was so good in my head but no they just straight up went the pro-cop route. also the whole "the thread that connects all spider-men is the death of a chief of police" made no fucking sense. why would the death of his girlfriends dad be super personal to Pavitr and motivate him to be a better Spider-Man???? literally what. WHY was the "thing that connects all spider-men" made to be a fucking police chief. like I'm sorry that's literally so stupid I was sitting there so fucking confused like "it was family????? the line was always with great power comes great responsibility and that they learn the lesion from someone near and dear to them. and Jeff taught miles to "go by the book" and Mile's opposing this spider-society is him refusing to do that (tying into the theme of rebellion) -> so he thematically realizes he need to oppose organisations that follow rules fundamentally opposed to his morals of not killing people....but he doesn't question his dads job? idk between that parallel and spider-punk, and gwen and her dad i thought something fruitful was gonna be there

but i guess i should be that surprised because marvel has been ramming the pro-military and pro-state propaganda for years now. it just feels so performative in this movie where gwen has "protect tans kids" on her wall and miles has a "BLM" pin.

#it is very late idk if any of this makes any sense #marvel #across the spiderverse #spiderverse #into the spider verse #spider man #miles morales #spiderman atsv #atsv spoilers #atsv

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justsomeoneunordinary · 9 months

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Since I already poked into the hornet’s nest a few times, I might as well get this out once and for all and be done with it: In my opinion, character antis and character stans are both two sides of the same coin. Both go into the extreme and more importantly, both lack nuance.

(I came from the MCU Tony Stark fandom into the Founders Tobirama fandom and it’s crazy how much they parallel each other. All fandoms have some similarities, but in this case, the antis, the stans, the tropes, the mischaracterization are so much the same, it’s freaking mind-blowing.)

The thing about the founders characters is that they’re just a footnote in the whole Naruto story—we don’t know enough and that means we have to interpret a lot of things. And naturally, interpretations vary. If you look at Tobirama and decide that he’s some bigot, then you can do that. (I’m not going into the whole racist debate about him, I have already stated my thoughts on that.) To me, though, this is such an incredibly boring interpretation. The fascinating part about the founders is that none of them are morally good characters due to the times they grew up in. Some might be darker grey than others but, in the end, they all have good sides and bad sides and that’s what makes them interesting to me. That’s what makes them 3-dimensional characters, rather than flat ones.

It’s absolutely wild to me that you would want to imagine any character as bigot at all, instead of trying to put yourself into the character’s shoes and try to see where they might come from. We don’t see any of his thoughts ever, we only have his words and what we do with them is up to us. Maybe he did put the Uchiha all in the police to close them off from the rest of the village in hopes it’ll be their demise, but isn’t that a bit boring? Isn’t that also a bit of a wild theory, considering there’s no assurance the Uchiha will perish once he’s gone? If anything, he would want to get rid of them while he’s still around and holds a leadership position. He says he did it to integrate them more into the village and give them a good purpose, and isn’t that more interesting? If he really, genuinely thought that and failed so massively? Doesn’t that make him a way more interesting character, a character with his own weaknesses? Sure, you can imagine the former but I fail to see how that’s more interesting than the latter. In the end, we don’t know what’s true anyway, we don’t know what’s going on in his head, we don’t know how he went from “grown-ups are stupid and just need to make a truce” to being so ready to kill the Uchiha and not believing in peace at first, so we might as well go with the 3-dimensional interpretation, no?

Similarly, people who put him on a pedestal, who believe he has done no wrong, who see him as the good dutiful brother, while Hashirama, in contrast, is in the wrong—how do you take a character who’s so multifaced, who shows intelligence and leader capabilities, who went from not believing in peace to wanting to protect it at any cost, but who’s also way too prejudiced of the Uchiha to the point he threatens a teen before he even knows what’s up, and make him flat? Tobirama is no saint. A man who can create the Edo Tensei and use it often enough that every other Kage immediately recognize it is not a morally correct person. I will not get into the debate if the Edo Tensei is morally bad or not, since killing people is equally fucked up and the point is thus moot because no shinobi is a saint. But the way he talks about the Uchiha is fucked up. Personally, I think it’s hilarious how he calls Sasuke a little shit and how he loses his temper. From an audience view, I love it. But from a character analysis view, it’s wrong. That’s a whole grown-ass man who was Hokage and before that the Hokage’s right-hand man and he wants to attack an Uchiha teen just like that before he even has all information.

If you think he could somehow have been a better Hokage than Hashirama, then you can do that but I fail to see how. I don’t think he’s some bigoted asshole with no good qualities, but he’s not faultless either. We don’t know what is going on in his mind at any time but we see he has good qualities and bad qualities alike, and you can just latch onto one of these qualities and pretend the other don’t exist but in my opinion, that’s how you create a flat character.

(On a different note: I know so many people are mad about the “curse of hatred” thing and I get it but it’s so weird to me that they hate Tobirama for this instead of Kishimoto. This isn’t presented to us as an opinion but as a fact. Kishi came up with all kinds of new things when it comes to the Uchiha and the curse of hatred just was his newest nonsense. Hate the message; not the messenger.)

And while I’m already on the topic of wanting to interpret characters as bigots: Izuna doesn’t have a character. Izuna isn’t even a character; he’s a plot device. People can imagine him however the fuck they want and there’s zero right or wrong. However, I fail to see why people would want to imagine him as a bigot. They heard him saying not to trust the Senju when Hashirama asked for peace and decided clearly, he must be a warmonger, a spoiled little bitch, an idiot etc. Absolutely wild to me. You literally have free reign, you could try to put yourself into his shoes and try to see why he thinks so, why he’s so mistrusting, how it must look from his point of view, and instead you decide to portray him in the worst way possible. I mean, you can do that and no one can tell you you’re wrong, but wow, this could never be me. Sorry, I prefer to imagine characters in a more multi-faceted way than have such a flat view of them.

Now, Hashirama is far more established as a character than Tobirama is but he is, like the other founders, still just a side character with so many unknown variables and a whole lot of freedom for interpretation. But, I think if you somehow think of him as a master manipulator, as someone who’s a bad leader, as an idiot… you can think that. There isn’t enough canon material to disprove that completely. However, if you think that, I think you missed some crucial parts about him. You missed his strive for peace since he was a child, you missed that the Uchiha willingly deserted over to the Senju when Hashirama was clan head and that the Senju were ready to make peace with the Uchiha under his rule, you missed that Hashirama was voted Hokage by a majority. None of this would make sense if he were a dumb, bad leader, now, would it?

Usually, Hashirama depicted as an idiot also goes hand-in-hand with the Tobirama stans who see him as a bad brother. I already talked about this, so I won’t go into detail, but Hashirama rightfully calling Tobirama out when he’s being a prejudiced shit toward the Uchiha doesn’t make him a bad brother. His threatening Tobirama when Tobirama is about to kill Madara doesn’t make him a bad brother either. It is wrong. He’s overly emotional over this and he’s being unfair in that moment but that alone doesn’t make him a bad brother, it just makes him a well-written character who has his own faults. Sometimes he’s too emotional, sometimes he’s too idealistic, and if you see that and decide it means he’s a shit brother and also an idiot, then you can interpret it that way but I couldn’t disagree with you more if I tried.

To me, he’s a good man, a charismatic man who’s trustworthy, who always strives for peace and the best in general, but also a product of his times, a son of his father, a man who goes his path straight ahead and doesn’t look left and right which then leads to fucked up situations such as almost killing himself in front of Tobirama, or also killing Madara in the end instead of trying to find a different way. It makes him interesting.

At the end of the day, my opinion is always, if you have to push other characters down (Hashirama as an idiot; Izuna as a bigot; Madara as a madman), so you can pull up your fave (Tobirama as the only right one, the better leader, the better brother), then the problem is you. It just shows me that you don’t know how to prop your fave on his own and who he simply is when you can’t do it without making others look bad. Sorry not sorry.

(This really happens in so many fandoms—you have a character who’s shown as the good one but then you get to see his bad sides and people latch so much onto that that they then portray him as the devil incarnate. Vice versa, you’re given an asshole character who’s shown to have his good sides and fandom somehow manages to twist it so much that suddenly this character is the real saint. It’s maddening.)

Lastly, Madara is just like the other characters a complicated character with his good and bad sides. I think it’s crazy how some people only see a madman and a terrorist in him, and how others find he was right with everything. Again, you can interpret is such, but… no. He’s a deeply traumatized and grieving man, who believes in peace and wished it badly but saw that it would never be achieved because humans will always fight each other no matter what, and then makes a decision that is nuts. The Infinite Tsukuyomi is utter bullshit even without Zetsu and Kaguya, but he is right in pointing out that there will be no real peace. The problem is just that there’s no perfect answer for that—the answer is democracy, therapy and transparency of the higher-ups, which is a boring solution for the world Kishimoto created because in a world where cool fights go brrrr and friendship is magic a political answer like that is not going to cut it. Which is why he had to come up with a bigger threat and make Madara look insane, even though the points he made were right, only his methods wrong.

My general opinion is, when you have characters that are so little established, that leave so much room for interpretation, I don’t see why anyone would want to interpret them in such a flat manner. I like my characters 3-dimensional, I like to take the good and the bad in stride, and you can do you, that’s fair enough. But if you come to me to put Tobirama in the good light and Hashirama in the bad one, or in converse, to tell me what a bigot Tobirama is, then you’re at the wrong address here, and that’s on that.

#naruto founders #senju hashirama #senju tobirama #uchiha izuna #uchiha madara

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deanwinchesterswitch · 4 months

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December 2023 Monthly Fic Recs

Well, December went out quietly for me which I was perfectly fine with. Glad 2023 is done.

Several different fandoms on this list. Great stories - and not all of them are Christmas fics. :)

Enjoy!

Many of these blogs and fics are NSFW-18+. Please honor any requests from a blog regarding no minors. I am not responsible for the content you choose to consume; heed the warnings for each fic.

~MCU~

Cookies and Hints ~ @navybrat817. Author's Summary: Bucky tries to get hints about his gifts as you bake together.

No Title ~ @navybrat817. Author's Summary: None (Drabble; Bucky Barnes x Reader)

Touched ~ @wayward-and-worn. Author's Summary: The days of Bucky “James” Buchanan Barnes’ recovery in Wakanda. He’s been de-programmed and given his Vibranium arm. In his days of recovery and therapy he met someone that has piqued his interest in a way that reminds him of when he wasn’t the Winter Soldier. He has set his sights on her and finally has a chance to be near. As near as he can get.

~Miscellaneous~

Midnight ~ @kittenofdoomage. Author's Summary: New Year’s Eve brings a surprise at the end of a crappy year. (female!reader (Y/N) x unnamed male)

~RPF~

Smokin' In The Green Room ~ @impala-dreamer. Author's Summary: Settle in for a pre-show party as you relax with Jensen and Rob in the Green Room before a concert.

~Supernatural~

Christmas by Dashboard Light ~ @impala-dreamer. Author's Summary: Stranded by the side of the road, Dean and Y/N still find a way to enjoy Christmas Eve

Couldn't Resist ~ @wayward-dreamer. Author's Summary: Y/N can’t resist Dean when he’s wearing a suit.

“(Don’t) Hurry Down The Chimney Tonight” ~ @talltalesandbedtimestories. Author's Summary: Dean saved Reader from the supernatural on Christmas Eve years ago. Every Christmas since, she has always found a way to show her unending appreciation.

Imagine…Decorating The Bunker ~ @luci-in-trenchcoats. Author's Summary: None (Drabble; Dean x Reader)

Imagine getting caught in the rain with Dean... ~ @supernaturalfreewill. Author's Summary: None (Drabble)

Just Thought You Should Know ~ @smellingofpoetry. Author's Summary: It was just one of those drunk calls until it wasn’t anymore.

No Title ~ @supernaturalfreewill. Author's Summary: None (Drabble; Dean Winchester x Reader)

Recreational Recreation ~ @wayward-and-worn. Author's Summary: Dean fondly remembers the first time they were “together.” Sort of. Rather than simply reminiscing, he proposes fully revisiting that moment. Who is she to argue?

We Don't Really Do Christmas ~ @octoberclidan. Author's Summary: None (Dean Winchester x Reader)

Wicked Desire ~ @impala-dreamer. Author's Summary: There’s never any promise in a one-night stand, never any certainty when you catch a stranger’s eye. It’s dangerous, but there was never any question when Dean asked you to join him for a drink…

~Ten Inch Hero~

Code Red ~ @zepskies. Author's Summary: When you call him for help, Priestly realizes that he finally has the relationship of his dreams.

~The Walking Dead~

Queen ~ @wayward-and-worn. Author's Summary: She disobeyed him. And Negan makes a point to put her in her place.

~On Patreon~

Rebekah Jordan (Impala-Dreamer)

Temptation & Consequences ~ Author’s Summary: Jensen has been busy all weekend at the convention, leaving little time for fun with his girl. Luckily, Y/N knows how to get his attention... and more...

thinkinghardhardlythinking

Close to Home-Parts 2 and 3 ~ Author’s Summary: Y/N and Dean are neighbours, and friends. The thing is Dean is a ladies’ man and she has always known it, if he wasn’t, maybe he’d be the ideal guy…but his eye for the ladies, how well they work as friends, as well as the fact that he’d never even think of her that way, all means that they are meant to be just neighbours and friends. Doesn’t it?

#monthly fic recs #fabulous writers #dw's witch reads #december 2023 #010124

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ufonaut · 2 years

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Will you please share your black adam thoughts?? I was also very nervous about it and how it would handle the JSA but i actually really liked it! I actually work at a movie theater so i saw it twice already 😂

i'm putting these together because they're all related to my thoughts on black adam 2022 and i thought it'd be more convenient for everybody (even if they're wildly antithetic povs)! i absolutely loved black adam and i think i'm gonna see it again quite literally as soon as i can. given that i only got back approx ten minutes ago, here's some jumbled thoughts right off the bat:

i think what makes or breaks a superhero movie is whether the people involved think comic books are beneath them or not (as the folks over at the mcu often seem to do) and black adam certainly loves comic books with its entire heart and soul and you can tell. from various black reign panel recreations to carter's picture perfect thanagarian ship from hawkman 2002, this is a very sincere and earnest movie with none of the parodic tone i so often despise in superhero media.

VISUALLY GORGEOUS. SIMPLY GORGEOUS. the fact that 99.9% of the film takes place in daylight immediately resolves the lighting issue of all modern cinema but lawrence sher (of joker 2019 fame) as cinematographer simply changes the game with this one. in fact, i can say the same thing about the magnificent use of cgi -- cyclone's powers, in particular, are one of the most beautiful things i've ever had the pleasure of seeing in action.

while there are certainly a few things i disagree with, such as carter's estate and kent seemingly having a chauffeur/butler, i think most of the major changes were unavoidable either in a lost in translation sort of way or simply in order to make this movie palpable to average audiences used to marvel. over all, i felt the jsa's dynamic was captured perfectly and what drew me to the team in the first place is very much still there in a way that's definitely absent from stargirl, for example. they're still a horrible little family made up almost exclusively of weird uncles.

SPEAKING OF. AL PRATT? I SCREAMED.

i thought it was made clear that this isn't the entire team but rather just the members carter chose for this particular mission, which i also enjoyed. and while we're here, to touch on some of the points from the anon, i don't think any marvel-style humour was actually present? or at least, it didn't come across that way to me. i mean, it's a very funny film, i was laughing nearly the whole time (or tearing up! or simply absolutely on the edge of my seat!) but it all felt perfectly natural to me, especially in al's case where it's a clear consequence of powers he's obviously still unused to. the relationship between him & carter is actually exactly the element that made me feel a first spark of recognition like.... man i'm seeing my favourite lil comic book guys up there on the big screen.

ALSO THE LEGEND OF CARTER - KENT GAY HOMOSEXUALITY LIVES ON. OLD FRIEND? CARTER CRYING? YES OKAY OKAY I'M ON BOARD. IT'S NOT CARTER IF HE DOESN'T HAVE A BIZARRE WARRIOR BOND WITH SOMEBODY.

considering i was all set on hating this portrayal of kent, i also can't believe how much i ended up completely utterly loving him. the movie definitely has a knack for making you fall in love with its characters nearly instantly (maxine!!!!!!!!! oh maxine!!!!!!!) because it's so well written but kent's random outfit changes for no reason whatsoever, the bit where he's parading around in a dressing gown on carter's ship, "i'm not that kind of doctor", the entire scene in adrianna's apartment... yeah babey. actually i was losing my entire mind at "i remember the day i saw my first aeroplane...", the way pierce plays him might not have been intended to be hilarious but by god, giffen himself couldn't have done a better job. you can tell he's not all there (and i did also enjoy maxine calling him possessed by fate) and it's precisely how kent should be even in the absence of unnatural youth.

the narrative actually allowing carter to be his usual arrogant asshole self-appointed leader with a heart of gold self was also a welcome bonus, i loved seeing him the way he's always been written at his best and i loved that his sharp edges haven't been dulled any by a script that could've easily gone the sanitized route. his black and white thinking is also something that's always been a part of him and i don't think it's necessarily odd to have him say superheroes don't kill -- superheroes certainly don't kill as easily and indiscriminately as black adam does, not even the jsa.

on that point, the jsa's actions are clearly framed to be in the wrong? i loved black adam's arc, i thought mr the rock was acting his little heart out and succeeding like never before but we're also definitely pushed to be on his side to begin with. adrianna and amon are the moral centre of the movie and they certainly stand with black adam! the movie doesn't simply co-opt anti imperialist languages for the hell of it, the jsa is plainly told they're coming here with a us-centric pov and helping nothing & nobody in the name of some nebulous form of justice. i thought it was definitely abundantly clear that the conversation opened around a colonized kahndaq does not condemn adam's actions against intergang etc.

FINALLY, MY THOUGHTS ON THE FATE HELMET AT THE END? HERE'S HOW JARED STEVENS CAN STILL WIN.

this got long enough but god, i really did love it. i loved black adam. i loved the jsa. a respectful, loving, beautiful cinematic adaptation like i never thought we'd ever get.

#asks #anon #black adam #jsa

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endlesstwanted · 1 year

Text

What Have We Become

My entry for the @flashfictionfridayofficial #201 prompt Comedian’s Night and the @domaystic day 17 prompt Marked date in the calendar!

Fandom: Original Work

Rating: General Audiences

Characters: Blue (OC), Richard “Ricky” Jones

Tags: First Person POV, slightly codependency, Secrets, Angst and feels, Non-verbal communication, Domestic Fluff, Ambiguous Ending

Summary: Rick takes Blue out to a comedians’ night the night before their big mission.

Wordcount: 809

Author's note: This is set in one of my MCU-verses, but given that none of their characters appear in this piece, I tagged it as Original Work! Things are being ambiguous and nothing is clearly discussed on purpose (even though the summary gives a clue), so I’m sorry if it’s confusing. I promise it makes sense with the rest of the story, but this was not a scene to spill every detail onto. This piece, unlike the rest of my writing, will not be posted on Ao3.

Thanks for reading, ficlet under the cut!

Ricky has said it was a good idea.

I didn’t want to get out tonight, given what day tomorrow is. And I don’t understand how coming to see random people talk to a bunch of strangers and trying to make them laugh is a good idea, but everyone seems chilled here. Maybe it’s me, who can’t understand their humour, and maybe Ricky is just pretending that this is actually fun so we don’t call it a night yet.

We’ve been here for an hour now, and it’s definitely not fun, at least for me. But well, I know what I am getting when I agree to anything he suggests —as if I had the ability to tell him no.

Ricky has been listening to the speakers and holding my hand. We’ve never done this before, outside our room, but I’m holding his back. It feels nice. Very nice. He’s also been laughing at some of the jokes, chuckling at the rest of them. And looking at me, from time to time, like trying to guess if I’m still here or not.

I’ve mastered the art of being in one place and having my mind in another, which is usually work, and that’s where I am right now. Tomorrow’s date has been marked in my calendar for quite some time, and I have only just told him today. I feel terrible for keeping it away from Ricky, making every second I’ve spent with him since I was assigned this task a waste, by not making the best out of it, but I had orders to follow.

I’m sick of orders and I’m tired of this place.

On top of that, I have just realised we have never done anything like this before tonight, nor in the years we’ve known each other or in the ones in which we have been living together. This is something Ricky has never asked me to do, and it can be his way of dealing with my departure.

This seat is getting uncomfortable and I shift, squeezing Ricky’s hand and bringing it closer on the table. I can feel his eyes on mine, and even if I’m focusing on the speaker’s lips and on trying to make sense out of whatever they are saying, I know by my side there is a better view.

So I turn to look at him, and his eyes tell me everything I need to know. He doesn’t want to go home.

Well, coming back to a bunker turned into a room and a bed we’re going to share for the last time in maybe forever doesn’t sound suitable for anyone, that’s fair. Even though he doesn’t know this last part, I know very well what is happening after tomorrow, what needs to happen if I want to fulfil my mission and finish living in this lie I’ve turned both of our lives into.

The only reason why I’d like to come back home tonight instead of running away is because I’ll be doing it with Ricky, and he’s the one giving some meaning to that name. The moment we close the door, he’s going to wrap his arms around me. Probably will pick me up to take me to bed, and most likely pepper my face with kisses until I feel my head burst from laughing.

We’re going to cuddle in bed later, entangling our fingers like we were made to be mixed with the other, and if I get lucky, he’ll remember some kind of story he’d start to tell me. If he doesn’t, or is not feeling up for it, he’ll be skipping that part and jumping to where he rests his head close to mine and whisper kind words to carry my soul to sleep. Words of freedom, hoping for a better tomorrow, and a future in which we’ll be in charge of our own fate. Words of hope, close to daydreaming of a life we could be living only if we were different people.

I’ll pretend to believe them; I’ll snuggle closer to him. But he’ll look at me like anyone’s looked at me before, like he does every night, and I’ll let it pass, praying that he keeps looking at me like that forever, simply because I cannot say the words I want to say to him. I don’t know what is going to be like to get away from his skin, his magical voice and the warmth of his presence.

And I don’t really want to find out.

So for now, all I have to do is focus on the person speaking into the microphone, and on Ricky’s laugh and his touch on me, and hope for the night to last, or at least let it be one to remember and recall in the worst of days that will be there to come.

#domaystic2023 #original work #angst and feels

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cblgblog · 2 years

Note

Is Comic!Peggy a nazi/hydra? Or in general a bad person? I'm a Peggy fan who hasn't read the comics and idk if what people are saying is true or not these days 1

No. As usual, people are cherry picking things/haven't read the comics themselves because they're too lazy/don't care about anything that doesn't serve their own agenda.

So when they brought comic! Peggy back in the last couple years, they basically revealed that she'd been doing a riff on what both Nat and Sharon have done in the MCU. What I mean by that is that she was on the same side as Steve--the non-Nazi side--they both wanted the same bad guys dealt with, but they were essentially doing different assignments, without Steve knowing. It's like in Cap 2 after the ship when Nat's like, I did my thing. I just had another objective that you didn't have.

So, as per the most recent run, Peggy’s revealed to have been part of a group called the Daughters of Liberty. Secret thing that’s been around the whole time, supposedly, we just never knew about it because the writer of this particular run hadn’t made it up yet. Essentially, it’s yet another secret organization meant to protect the world, that’s been here all along, with members including Peggy, Sharon, Sue Richards of the Fantastic Four, Misty Knight…a lot of badass Marvel women were secretly in this thing, okay? Including ‘It was Agatha all along’ Harkness, because comics are weird. Peggy was recruited into this thing, she did not start it, but she did recruit Sharon later.

Anyway, during the war, she and Steve did their whole punching Nazis thing, but she was also tasked with getting close to him/generally making sure that this new super weapon man was on their side and trustworthy. So again, kinda what Nat did in Iron man 2, kinda what Sharon did in Cap 2 when she was watching him from across the hall.

She was never a Nazi. She was never Hydra. She was working towards the same basic goals as Steve, they were just working for different people, essentially. So yeah, she lied by omission, and behaved somewhat shadily, but that’s, you know, kinda what spies do. And there’s no indication her feelings for him weren’t genuine. She never says that, Steve never says that. He’s annoyed that he wasn’t in the know, but generally speaking, he’s just happy she’s not dead, and they end the run on good terms, even though Sharon is his main love interest in the books.

So yeah, there’s a lot of bitching about oh, she’s a liar, she made Sharon a liar, everyone lied to Steve, these horrible bitch women. Which, fine, but it’s nothing that hasn’t been covered in the MCU to an extent already/nothing to the infinite number of times Nick Fury has also parceled out information selectively, comics and MCU both.

She was never Hydra. She was never pro-Nazi. Steve was, in the comics, that one time none of us like to talk about because fuck you Nick Spencer, but she wasn’t. She lied by omission, but she didn’t fabricate feelings for Steve or use him for her own gain, and when it was all done with, Steve came away mildly annoyed and that’s about it. The run still ends with Steve, Peggy, Sharon and Bucky all chilling and having a beer together.

She was a spy. She was written like a spy, she did some shady spy things, and that’s about all you can take from that run. Unless you’re a semi-illiterate Peggy anti, obviously.

#comic! Peggy #Peggy Carter #anti peggy antis

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icannotreadcursive · 1 year

Note

For the fandom ask game, I feel like I should know the answers to this, already, but I am GENUINELY curious. So, The Old Guard.

Okay, let's effin' go--

Favourite Female: It is a damn near tie between Nile and Andy but based on hiw often I have Nile as my POV character when I write I think I have to give it to her by a hair.

Favourite Male: Nicky [insert Marge Simpson "I just think he's neat" here]

3 Other Favourite Characters: Andy, Joe, Booker

3 OTPs: Andy/Quynh, Joe/Nicky, and uhhhhhh Booker/therapy

Notp: Nile/Booker. I really hope the Book of Nile shippers are having fun but I want them to do so far far away from me.

Funniest character: Joe, no question

Prettiest character: So I just stared at this for a good 3 minutes while my tea steeped because, like, none of the main cast strike me as pretty. Some of the actors are, depending on context, but the characters are mostly either handsome or plain, and that's not gender dependent. So mu actual answer for prettiest character is the French girl at the pharmacy--what's her name? Celest? Is that canon or fanon, I don't know. You know who I mean.

Most Annoying Character: Merrick, hands down. Bless Harry Melling he is very good at playing an obnoxious self centered bastard.

Most badass character: Y'know what, I was gonna say Andy--I'd typed it and was about to move on to the next question--but I think it might be Nile. Or maybe it's a tie. They're badass in slightly different ways. Andy has the whole "has forgotten more ways to kill than entire armies will ever learn" thing going and the badassery of persevering and trying to do what's right even when you're exhausted and feel hopeless, and Nile has the badassery of stepping up and owning a new situation you've been thrown into with little preparation, doing what you feel must be done, because it's right, even though it would be easier and in many ways more comfortable to walk away.

Character I’d like as my BFF: Hmm, can I have the whole team? If I only get one I pick [stalls for a minute to think] Joe. I pick Joe.

Female Character I’d Marry: ........if I marry Nile do I get her military pension? If not I'm going with Celest again.

Male Character I’d Marry: Nicky

Character I hate/dislike/least like: Okay so here's the thing........this movie is extremely well written. Every character does and is exactly what the story needs them to do and be. When I say I hate a character, I mean as a character, not as a person if they were real and I met them in real life. I hate characters who are dead weight, who bog down the stories they're in, who are mishandled, or seem to exist just to be irritation for the sake of being irritating--I hate the grape headed guy from BnHA, I hate Thanos as he exists in the MCU. I don't hate anybody from The Old Guard. That said, I do love-to-hate Merrick.

#eiiri answers #ask game #the old guard

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alikat7 · 2 years

Note

I read your post for your opinions based upon FATWS…and I completely agree! Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed the show but things could have been better.

However, I have one big complaint and it is one I’ll never be over because it’s so sad.

Why was it ever okay, in the show, to make light of Bucky’s internal struggles and his PTSD. His therapist? Absolutely Horrible. I mean, this woman was HORRIBLE.

Sharon and Sam making jabs at him multiple times about being a killer or his “cyborg” brain. One person….ONE person told him “thank you” and that was it. This guy has dealt with more in his life than any of them, yet he was treated like some sideshow and trash talked because of his past. It made me so angry and it especially made me angry that Sam was one of the main culprits and when Sam told Bucky that the business with the shield “didn’t concern him…” I wanted to fly through the tv and smack him. More than anyone, other than Sam, the business with the shield DID concern Bucky. The writers took a character, with a very good (though traumatic) background and trashed him. It’s really sad.

At one point closer to the show airing I did go over this part too. I think it bothered me more when people other than Sam did it mainly because Sam would pick on him then turn around and ask if he was okay. I got madder about John Walker and Zemo (maybe Karli, I can't remember) who made very cruel comments that implied that he took the serum by choice -

"This is all really easy for you, isn’t it? All that serum runnin’ through your veins" John Walker

"The serum never corrupted Steve." Zemo - bothered me because it didn't corrupt Bucky either. Brainwashing corrupted The Winter Soldier. Bucky never had a chance to prove he couldn't be corrupted. BUT as soon as he escaped the brainwashing he made the choice to be a hero . There are more quotes but those are two that always stuck with me.

I love the MCU but I feel like at times they don't think about what they're saying about real-life emotional and psychological problems using fictional characters. Like the fact that they dig so deeply with trauma with certain characters over and over again - Bucky, Thor, Wanda, etc But then they turn around it make it a joke.

Like Thor's weight problem in Endgame. It would have been funnier if he had just got fat partying, maybe I guess. But he was eating due to extreme depression, grief, and PTSD. And they made jokes and mocked him. What does that say about real life? Depression and mourning are funny? Wanda and Thor are repeatedly losing people and not one person in the Avengers ever sat down and asked are you okay except Vision with Wanda? Or the fact that after Endgame Wanda was left completely alone. Everyone she knew just left her to go to their family or they had died. Someone with that much power should never be left alone and in mourning, because if they have the ability to solve their pain using bad methods - holding a town hostage or killing a girl to get her power - they can do it and no one is there to say 'hey wait, let's talk about this'

They forced Bucky into therapy but yet none of the other Avengers were treated for PTSD. Although his therapist amused me at times - Bucky shouldn't have to make amends unless HE feels like he needs to. I'm sure no matter what he feels a ton of guilt so if he wants to make amends on his own, good for him. But not court-appointed. In Civil War Ross made a special point of showing the Avengers how much damage they had done to the world while saving it. The Hulk almost broke South Africa, and Wanda set Hulk in motion and blew up a building by accident, etc. None of them are required to make atonement. Yes, Bucky killed people one on one as the Winter Solder unlike some of the actions the Avengers did that had bad outcomes. But still - he's the only one forced to make atonement.

In some ways. I agree with Zemo about Super Soldiers and Super Heroes. Too much power is a curse. Think of Tony blowing up things at his birthday party because he was depressed.

Semi-related, me and my sister are very different. But Civil War is a topic we cannot discuss. At all. Ever. We have gotten into screaming matches because she defends Tony, thinks Steve and Sam are hypocrites, and cannot see that what Steve did doesn't make him a bad person. She often brings up how many people probably got hurt in the street chase after Bucky. Steve went after Bucky for 2 reasons. Bucky was like a brother two him and he knew that the Winter Soldier could probably kill anyone else. He thought he was going to Romania to get the Winter Soldier, not Bucky so he was trying to help. Then they went to Siberia to get the other super soldiers. Once again, trying to do the right thing. Yes, they broke tons of laws. They destroyed an airport and anyone could have gotten hurt at the airport. But Tony is not the saint that everyone says he is. He wanted the Sovokia accords because HE felt guilty about Ultron. He demanded Cap turn on his childhood friend to sign the accords even though Steve didn't agree with the accords. Why did Tony think he had the right to make up Steve, Sam, or Wanda's mind? Also, from the beginning of that conversation to the end, Steve was protecting and defending Wanda and all of the Avengers. Not once did Tony defend Wanda's bombing accident. She killed people BUT more people would have died if she did nothing. And it was an accident. So basically Tony's covering his ass and not defending anyone else. Then after that -

1 - He goes to NY to pick up a 15 yr old kid to fight other enhanced people including possibly the Winter Soldier. WHAT? I love Spider Man but come on. Tony considered the WS deadly and through Peter Parker into a fight not knowing what the WS might do to him

2 - When Vision - on his team - hit Rhodey with a blast and Sam tried to help then came to Tony to check on Rhodes, Tony blasted him directly in the face. The bruise was horrible so I'm assuming it could have been worse. So his intense emotions over his bff made him assault a fellow Avenger and Cap is 'off the reservation?? Cap didn't hurt anyone in retaliation for Bucky being hurt.

3 - Then the fight with Bucky/Cap. I get Tony wanting to kill Bucky. I would too if it were my parents because you can't be logical about people you love being murdered. But Tony was willing to kill Cap to get to Bucky. Steve was just trying to stop Tony and Bucky was fighting back and defending himself. So how can Tony be in the right?? My sister claims that Bucky and Steve ganged up on Tony and that Steve took out the thing that powered Tony's suit which was wrong. But really, Bucky and Steve were trying to stop Tony and defend themselves and each other. Neither one of them had any intentions of killing Tony. And cutting off the power to his suit was the best way to shut it all down.

4 - Steve sent a message to Tony, in the end, saying he would always be there for him and Tony didn't want to even call him in Infinity War. He was that childless about it Then he attacked Steve in Endgame for stopping Tony from creating an Ultron-like defense implying Thanos was basically all Steve's fault. He's rarely a selfless leader or hero but he'll criticize Steve for the one time Steve said fuck it, I'm doing the wrong thing to protect my friend. No one else in the world would have defended Bucky while Tony always had lots of people to defend him at any time - including Steve.

Wooowwwww this was so long-winded. I almost deleted most of it but shit, I'll post it lol I should get paid by the letter lol

#Falcon and the Winter Soldier #sebastian stan #bucky barnes #steve rogers #tony stark #wanda maximoff #thor #Civil War #Infinity War #Endgame #Marvel #wordy wordy so very wordy

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astromechs · 1 year

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I want to preface this with I love Gunn's work with the guardians a lot. I know he's been the best for them in the mcu. I do believe he put a lot of love in vol 3. That said I have seen a lot of people blaming the Russo Brothers choices in IW for any messy parts of vol 3 and the thing is James Gunn wasn't helpless. He was a producer on IW/EG. He's talked about how he had to sign off on what happened and he's said that he did so because it served the story they were telling. This isn't me saying he's a bad guy or that he's never made good choices for Gamora. This is me saying that there were too many people who looked at Gamora's story as an abuse survivor and decided to prioritize her abuser and making him sympathetic. Gamora died all alone at the hands of her abuser while the spirit of a Nazi watched everything. None of that was necessary. There were other ways to make Thanos sympathetic. Or better idea is to not try to make an abusive genocidal maniac sympathetic

I do believe Gunn didn't love the choice and there probably was a lot of professional courtesy involved where he didn't want to knock what they wanted to do. But that still doesn't change that there are way too often biases in whose stories get priority and whose don't. I think women continue to be the ones most likely to lose out. There was no way that Steve Rogers or Thor for example were having their story end like Gamora's. especially not without any sort of intense emotional follow up. I don't think Gunn would have been keen on Rocket dying the way Gamora did either. Can't imagine Peter ending his time with guardians barely knowing who they were in a story he helped build. None of this means Gunn hasn't predominantly done amazingly well with gotg. It's just an example of how it often takes more effort and mindfulness to see the bigger picture of choices that get made for some characters.

The other issue is that there is an entire documentary on Disney about women in the mcu and Gamora is featured. The whole episode about her credits her for being essential to the guardians team and how she's the moral backbone. It also talks about how special her relationship with Nebula is. I loved the documentary but it made it even more obvious how awful killing her off was. She is the guardians. What she stood for, what she wanted out of life, what she wanted for herself, all of it embodies being a guardian and as much as I like vol 3 and love Rocket getting his time to shine, Gamora was the absolute last character who should have ended the trilogy only just beginning to have a new attachment to all of that. The very fact that there are people now arguing about if she has the right to be a guardian anymore goes to show what's depicted on screen matters.

gunn definitely isn't blameless, for sure; he signed off on it, and if his recent interviews are to be believed, actually had a plan to kill gamora off in vol 2 originally. (though part of me is like... that death for her would've been better than the one we ended up getting, because at least she would've gone out fighting of her own volition, and not murdered by her abuser with all her agency taken away, but that's a conversation for another day. still stupid af and why did she have to die at all, but... god lol, the bar is on the ground for anything being better than "murdered by her own abuser and thrown off the fucking fridge cliff.")

i think the issue here is we have a bunch of cishet white male creators, gunn included, who get this idea of, like, "oh this would be cool in the story," and don't have a good handle on their own internalized misogyny; this story would've never happened to peter, and it would've never happened to rocket, but.... sighs.

i love gunn's work, and he's gotten better over time (i really recommend peacemaker, especially, that show is really indicative of how much he's grown as a creator), but, yeah. it's not 100% the fault of markus and mcfeely/the russos, with gunn totally blameless.

#asks #anonymous #gotg spoilers

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stewardofningishzida · 1 year

Text

Chapter 7: The Research Begins

Here we go! A day early and I might do some bonus content posts in a bit if I feel like it. =)

T for language, FYI.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Doctor Stephen Strange wanders aimlessly through the suburban neighborhood of a foreign yet somehow still familiar universe while fuming in silence. He knows we aren’t malicious, but by the Vishanti, this whole situation is frustrating. From what he figures, none of his spells are going to work to get himself home. So, what then? Will those in his home universe just replace him? Will something like Dormammu or Thanos show up again and try to wipe out countless lives? He’s trying to stop spiraling and contain his growing fear and frustration.*

*Laer's in her rented car, cruising towards Steward's house from the hotel she checked in late last night. She slows down as she sees a rather uncanny and familiar figure making his way down the sidewalk. She rolls down the window as she cruises to a stop adjacent to him.* Hey—what're you doing out here?

*Stephen pauses and lets out an annoyed huff. He glares at the woman in irritation.*

Stephen (exasperated): …Not more of you…What do you want from me now?

*Laer's brow rises and she raises her hands from the wheel.* Nothing, nothing. Just a question. Though I'm gonna warn you, you're gonna get stares dressed like that in a neighborhood like this. There's no convention nearby.

*He looks around to make sure there are no other witnesses before magically changing to a casual outfit.*

Stephen: Do any of you know anything about multiversal travel here at all? For all I know, something else has already destroyed my universe by now. *He’s in a state of frustration, desperation, and silent helplessness.*

*Laer huffs a breath* I wish I could say we do. There's a multiverse theory—several theories—in this universe but to my knowledge, they're just theories. *She eyes the street up and down with a soft frown.* Look, if you need to just walk off the stress, I'll leave you to it and meet you at the house when you're done. But if you'd like what info we have now, I can take you to my hotel and show you what I've dug up so far. But I don't want to have this convo in the middle of the street.

*He listens, clearly stressed out. Though he briefly pinches the bridge of his nose for a moment to quell a slight headache starting to develop.*

Stephen: …Fine. Just…Let me have a moment to myself. I’ll be back at the house in a bit…*He’s reluctant, but resignedly agrees. Any chance or scrap of info is welcome. He’s not going to admit to the fact that he pissed me off yet.*

Laer: Yeah, sure thing. Nice to meet ya.

*She lifts a hand and rolls up the window, then drives off to head off to the house. Only when he's out of view does she grin and squeal.* Oh my god oh my god it really _is_ him ahhhhhh. Right, get it out of your system. You're an adult. It's all good.

*Meanwhile, I’m gardening with far more aggression than I usually do, tearing out weeds and tossing them ferociously in the bin. Occasionally, I grab my trowel and stab it firmly into the dirt to hack away at any particularly tough roots. All the while, muttering quietly to myself.*

*Laer pulls up in her car. She raises her eyebrows at Steward and her jerky movements within the garden.* Bad morning? *She calls out from her car, pulling out her purse and a folder filled with printed information.*

*I stab the trowel deep into the ground just to place it somewhere so nobody trips on it.*

Me (deadpan): Yep…The stress caught up to him and he took it out on me. I know he’s worried, but that was uncalled for. Taking it in stride because I get it, but he kinda pissed me off. I’ll be fine. Just getting the energy out…*I huff to release a bit more.*

Laer: I mean, you should know how he is, if he's anything like his MCU self. A lot of his comic interpretations are calmer—though a couple of them are asses too, actually. Depends on the writer. Anyway, what version is he?

Me: I know…Though this Stephen seems to be some sort of hybrid. He’s aware of or has experienced a lot of stuff in the comics AND the MCU. He’s rivals/enemies with Mordo, has fought Nightmare, has fought Dormammu, etc. Pretty sure this one hasn’t been through the latest movie. That’s what I know so far.

Laer: Well thank God, no one should have to suffer through Waldron's writing. *She half smirks to herself before sobering.* Try and give the guy some space. In hindsight, calling like 5 of us to gawk at him probably wasn't the best move, but I have a peace offering in the form of my start on multiversal research. *She gestures to the folder.* He can have it. You probably want to go to the local library and rent out any books that may be useful, too. Or help him get a library card. Maybe a subscription to one of those science research websites? I mean, there's so many places to look. I dunno. This is just wild.

Me: Understandable. The gawking kinda happened by accident. I was trying to hide him originally, but Trix got suspicious and I owned up. The rest, you kinda saw unfold live via text. The info will probably placate him, yeah. As for the books, I can help with that using my card. Also, since I work as a researcher in the local university, I’m already subscribed to those websites. He can use my login info. We’ll hopefully find something. Heh. Wild. You’re telling me? He literally fell into my bedroom while I was browsing on the internet.

Laer: Yikes. *Shakes her head.* How many people do you have staying over?

Me: It’s just me and him. I’m on the second floor and he’s in the guest room on the bottom floor. I minded his space and such. I’m not the touchy-feely or clingy sort. You know that. *I curl my lip, slightly amused.* I think I was just the damn fool who walked in at the wrong place and time.

*Stephen has calmed down and is walking over. He hears my self-degrading curse.*

Stephen: …Look…I-

*I hold up a hand to shut him up.*

Me: It’s fine. Let it go. There’s a lot to unpack here and we should focus on getting you back. Laer here has a folder of research and I figured you can have me use my library card and research access from the university to figure something out.

*He sighs and looks slightly ashamed of himself.*

Stephen: …Thanks.

Laer: Right. Uh. Like she said, I'm Laer. I took a few days off to see if I can find something in research, but we don't have contact with other dimensions and the like in our world… at least, not to public knowledge. Nothing's been leaked showing anything like that. We do have actual UFOs that the Pentagon admitted to though like 3 years ago, so that's pretty neat. No found alien life though. Um, yeah. That's about it. You can have this though *Hands over folder.* Give you an idea of where we are for like, multiverse stuff.

*He accepts the folder and nods at her.*

Stephen: I appreciate it. *He gives me a slight, apologetic look. I nod in acknowledgement.*

Me: So…Want some leftover soup or anything or are you good for now?

Laer: Soup for breakfast sounds legitimately gross. *Makes a face.* Don't you have, like, a breakfast place around here or something? Or a Starbucks?

Me: Well..About 2 miles that way, there’s a Starbucks…*I point in its direction.*

Laer: Well if that's the best you got, it's still better than soup. *Looks at Stephen.* Do you have Starbucks in your universe?

Stephen: Yeah. The Sanctum disguises itself as one.

Laer: Haha, no shit. How the hell does that even work with the personnel and the regional managers in New York wondering where the hell this extra Starbucks came from? What happens to people's money? Wait, does that mean that the Sanctum can create food items out of thin air? I mean I guess that does happen, but still, it makes -no- sense—oh, I'm sorry. You don't need to answer all that, I just find it fascinating. Did you want me to pick something up for you? *Looks at Steward.* Did you want something too?

*Stephen looks at Laer and just lets her speak for a while. This still takes some getting used to. He didn’t get this level of attention in his universe.*

Stephen: Erm…It’s difficult to fully explain. No, it’s fine. I still have some pastries left from the bakery.

Me: I’m okay. Thank you, though. I’ll probably just finish up whatever’s left from yesterday.

Laer: Right. Well, I'll get out of your hair. I'm going back to the hotel after breakfast. I'll send you any additional info I find while I'm here.

Me: Thanks, Laer. We’ll need it.

Stephen: I’ll look through the folder. Thank you, Laer.

Me: See ya! It was nice meeting up, at least. *I wave.*

Stephen: Bye.

*Laer offers a normal smile at Steward and a beaming smile at Stephen, then heads back to her car and takes off.*

Me: …So…Might as well look through the folder and try stuff out. I’ll give you my login info to the university database. If we can’t find anything that works today, you have two options: Come with me to work and you can check stuff out in the library while I’m in the lab or stay here and keep looking online.

Stephen: First, let’s see the resources at our disposal. If nothing decent comes up, I’ll consider my options.

Me: Deal.

**To be continued**

#doctor strange meta fic #multi author #dr stephen strange #doctor strange #doctor stephen strange #stephen strange

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the-faultofdaedalus · 1 year

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Every issue the MCU has ever had stems from the fact that they were, are, and will continue to be completely unwilling to commit to the bit!

Let mfs be evil! Let mfs be unrepentant! Fuck the justifications! Doom is gonna suck unless they cut that out

YEAH like i do hate the "oh all the villans have to be Sympathetic" trend so much, combined with the. they still have to be The Bad Guys. like its... trying to be complex and interesting while also disallowing your heroes to ever have to deal with the fact that they are maybe not always the best people in situations

like you CAN do good villans with justifications - like, victor DOES have his justifications, he just also doesn't ever pretend to be anything he's not. does he have his reasons? yes. are some of them even like... good reasons (protecting his country, trying to save his mom, also protecting. all of earth (mcu adapt dicks out for bast challenge 2k23)) but that doesn't mean he doesn't do horrible things about it.

like im litterally So afraid of what mcu could do to victor because he IS incredibly complicated and he is an evil manipulative bastard but hes also incredibly complicated and CAN very much be a good person and do good things and mcu is good at Fucking None Of That. like!!!! there's so many things about victor that can even seem contradictory at times and there's so many parts of him that are Essential to who he is as a person (childhood as an outcast even within a persecuted group of people, experiencing a tremendous amount of violent oppression, the murder of his parents, the drive he has to save his mother's soul, the drive he has to save his country, the fact that he's a magician and a scientist and genuinely almost unmatched at both of these, like so many victor adaptations just... drop the magic thing entire) that i do not think mcu will do well with at all! fucking for all we know they're gonna make him sokovian and like NO! FUCK YOU!

like, god stane was an incredible villan for a lot of reasons and they have, genuinely, not done anything even close to him since. which makes me worried for anyone who is a villan going further in the mcu. also REALLY not feeling good about you know, the general treatment of romani people after everything to do with wanda, and i'm not saying that is the kind of villan victor is at all because it's really really not but like, still.

hopefully i will be pleasantly suprised and they do a good casting of an actual romani actor and make him as evil and complicated and weirdly altruistic as he should be

but likely... no

#is this a bad time to mention that my dream intro of victor into mcu #would be as either a) extremely complicated politics vs wakanda. not actually any wars just like. actual political drama #OR since we have riri (i havent watched wakanda forever. dw abt it)#as like. just fully do infamous just litterally start victor off as Being infamous iron man #fuckin. get rhodey in do armor wars like that. or some kinda armor wars like that #that would be GREAT just be like. yeah fuck you hes a superhero now #also like. idk how namor is as a villan (or if he is a villan? tbh all i know is that they cgi'd out his bulge. rip)#since. again. i have not watched wakanda forever.

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angelique-of-the-volturi-guard · 1 year

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It’s 2:30 in the morning, I’m severely depressed because I left my laptop at my best friend’s house, everything out is gross and rainy, and it fucking hailed today so I’m doing the only thing I can think to do which is give my hot take. And it’s this:

Bruce Banner and Natasha Romanoff would be the best parents in the entire MCU. Bar none. End of story.

And I know there are going to be people like “But what about Stark?! What about Barton?! Did Wanda and Vision’s story mean nothing to you?!”. To you people: Sit down. This is their moment. Y’all had yours already, and they likely never will so let me get this out of my system okay?

Bruce and Natasha would be incredible parents because they both understood what it felt like to hurt as children. Natasha was raised as part of a project with a fake family. Bruce’s father was severely abusive and killed his mother. They both have done everything they could to make sure no one would have to suffer as they did.

And before you go “but what about the Hulk?!”, I’m here to tell you: If you don’t think Bruce would do everything in his power to protect that baby from the hulk, you’re wrong. And if you think the hulk would harm a kid, then you’re forgetting that he was born out of Bruce’s anger over his father’s treatment of him AS A CHILD and his mother. I know we all love to just think about the hulk smashing things but come on. He has a heart.

They would love and spoil that child rotten. Both of them having fertility issues means that either by virtue of adoption or a combination of magic and science, that child is a miracle. And they would do everything to give them a good life. Both of them are polyglots so that kid would grow up learning multiple languages. Bruce is a genius, so if they wanted to homeschool, they could. Nat is skilled in marksmanship and would make sure they could hit targets and exercise. But despite them both being introverted people, they would make sure that kid got out there to make friends because they understood what it was to be lonely, and would never want it for that child.

Bruce reads stories and gives baths every evening, getting to enjoy playing with them. Natasha spends time chasing them around, playing whatever imaginary games they enjoy, just happy to see them so unburdened.

Gender means nothing here. Boy, girl, non-binary, or trans, this kid is getting taught everything. Bruce is shockingly great at baking and would spend stormy nights baking cinnamon buns with his child, the way his mom did when he was upset as a kid. Nat would never let a girl be told she couldn’t make a basketball team, or let a boy be told he couldn’t do ballet. She would work with them and show them that they could do it.

Bruce is a master at helping with emotional intelligence. He has enough for himself that he can pass on his mistakes and victories to a child, and hope that they’ll learn from him that anger can be a messy feeling, but when channeled correctly and carefully, it can be a force for good. Nat teaches them how to know when it’s safe to let their guard down with someone, because sometimes it’s dangerous but other times, it can be rewarding.

The two of them often flip traditional gender roles in the face. Bruce enjoys being as much of a stay at home dad as he can, often answering questions and making good memories with their child. Nat, meanwhile, loves going out in the field and feeling as though she accomplished something, going home to be rewarded with snuggles and excited exclamations about what they did today. The two of them often switch off with working, but always come to every event that child has, in an outpouring of support.

This is not to say that they aren’t sometimes triggered by this child they love so much. Because oh, it happens. Bruce catches himself starting to yell like his father used to and stops mid-sentence before hugging them, apologizing, asking Nat for help, and then going to deal with his feelings. Nat sometimes tries to push that child away when she feels touched out, but then remembers what it felt like on those lonely nights as a child when she did something wrong, and hugs them, later on having a drink and thinking through what she could have done better. The two of them talk often about what they’re going through to the other and are incredibly supportive to one another. Parenting isn’t easy, but it’s worth it.

The two of them believe in one another, they say how proud they are of the other often. Kisses are exchanged, and the time after bedtime is spent curling up with some tea and Netflix on the nights when they don’t have to clean as much. They’re affectionate as a couple but private. The child somehow understands this and reflects their quiet sort of love with gestures of help and remembering what they like in regard to food, music, jewelry etc. for birthdays, Christmases, and important occasions.

Natasha gets to see this child grow up completely secure and loved with no secrets between them. Bruce gets to be the dad he always wished he’d had, and it heals him in so many ways he can’t explain. And while they sometimes wish that they had more family around, more normal jobs, more money, or just more time, they both know that they’re giving this kid everything they have. And at the end of the day, they go to bed smiling about it.

Bruce and Natasha would be the greatest parents in the MCU. And we were robbed of seeing it.

#outofguard #mun post #natasha romanoff #natasha romanov #bruce banner #the incredible hulk #hulk #marvel mcu #MCU #marvel #marvel cinematic universe

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