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irondad-defensesquad · 3 months

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i think mcu steve is extremely idealized.

first, he becomes a super human, and apparently all his disabilities and medical problems disappear. which is honestly not a good message to actual disabled people, imo.

second, his backstory is mostly mentioned. we don't see a lot from steve's childhood or anything on screen. i think they detail it more in the comics, the same way they do for tony's childhood, but the fact that it's almost absent from the movies is a problem. they only mention his mother's name as far as i remember. nothing else. (please correct me if i'm wrong, of course)

mcu steve doesn't feel like a flawed character that has to change, the same way others are, like tony. mcu tony is clearly a flawed human being with several issues and a traumatic childhood (even if the mcu tries to paint howard in a good light, it still explains why tony deals with so much self-hatred and relies on unhealthy coping mechanisms, such as drinking). we don't see steve developing as a character. they might joke in that one scene of endgame where present steve rolls his eyes at past steve, but honestly? to me they feel like the same character. steve never changes. even when he's clearly wrong, the narrative insists that he's right.

steve betrays tony and gives him a half-assed "apology" letter. steve does not mourn sam and bucky at all in endgame, instead focusing on that one girl he kissed ONCE. and steve not only abandoned bucky, he took away peggy's agency and her happy ending. she already had a loving husband and children. not to mention the implications here. steve went back to a very flawed and bigoted period of time, and it's implied that he did not try to intervene in tragedies such as bucky being turned into the winter soldier, or tony's parents tragically dying. steve just stayed home. why couldn't he fucking do that in the present? he could've retired without changing someone else's life for his own gain.

it doesn't make SENSE. the winter soldier was a great film and it showed steve that he has to move on from the past and do what he can in the present. but no, steve never leaves the past behind, he literally goes back to it. and even then, it's all about peggy. it's not about his family. nor his mother, sarah, who's probably the person who inspires steve the most. but where the fuck is she? why does she only get ONE mention?

and by the way, i used to love steve. the first avenger and the winter soldier are still solid movies to me. that's why his ending sucks ass. and i've seen many steve fans who agree with me. he's such an important character in the marvel universe, and perhaps a lot more enjoyable and human in other media (like comics and cartoons). mcu steve is... nothing. he's just a walking propaganda for hypermasculinity.

#lotus speaks #anti steve rogers #anti endgame #sorry for the anti steve posting today. i'm still pissed #also notice how female characters get the short end of the stick in steve's story #peggy; sharon; his mother who's never mentioned #they deserved better #long post

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spideytingley · 3 months

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twice in a lifetime

pairing: steve rogers x platonic child!oc

summary: shortly after getting out of the ice in 2011, Steve finds out that the descendants of one of his friends live on New York, and he decides to visit them, thinking that maybe he won’t have to be all alone anymore. thanks to this, he finds a family for him in this new time.

content warning: brief mentions of death.

word count: 1.6k

Doubt had started to creep in as Steve hesitated on the doorstep, staring at the wooden door in front of him. An elderly man had opened the building’s door for him, recognising him from the news, or maybe from a museum exhibit — he was supposed to be ancient history by now, but yet there he stood. The second World War had been almost seventy years ago, and while having lived it, Steve was barely thirty. And his friends were dead, as he should be.

That was why he was standing in front of the apartment, really. It turned out that according to SHIELD’s extensive database, a past teammate of his, Dum Dum Dugan, had family living in New York, close to where he lived in Brooklyn. It was a no-brainer that he had to visit, at least drop in to see what had become of something he’d known. Something that wasn’t a grave. (Or Peggy Carter, of whom he didn’t want to think about too much, for the sake of his heavy heart.)

He would be intruding in their life, he knew that. It was probable that none of them ever wanted a super soldier in their house, stirring up memories from long ago, which was why he decided that, in reality, it was a bad idea from the start. He heaved a sigh and turned around. Maybe next time he would have the courage to go in. Third time’s the charm, isn’t that how that goes?

The sound of a lock turning made him stop on his tracks. The door to apartment 9B creaked, and Steve had to look down to see a head peeking from the small opened space left by the door. It was one of the kids he’d seen on the files, barely ten years old and grinning up at him like she knew something he didn’t.

“Hi,” breathed Steve, tripping on air as he made his way back to the door.

The girl giggled, sharing a look with someone still hiding behind the door. “Hi. You’ve been standing there a whole lotta time, Mr. Steve. Are you tired?”

He blinked. Maybe she did know something he didn’t.

“You know who I am?”

“Yeah! It’s the second time you’ve been to our house, but you never go in. Daddy says to give you time, but I think you need a little push,” she said, big green eyes looking up at him. “So this is me pushing you. Come on in, Dom even had time to bake some cookies while you were there!”

She made a motion of inviting him in, but as she walked towards what he guessed must be the kitchen, he stayed on the doorway. He knew her name was Flora, she was ten and a half, and barely four feet tall, which was short for her age. She was in fifth grade in a primary school in Brooklyn, and she already knew she wanted to be a doctor. Steve knew all these things about her, and he was a stranger to her — yet she was so trusting.

She turned around to look at him, a cheeky grin on her face as she said, “We have star sprinkles for you, Mr. Steve. Dad said maybe you wouldn’t like them, but Dom and I thought it would be so funny. Do you like red, white and blue sprinkles, Mr. Steve?”

It had been a while since he’d been around children, so he was unsure if Flora was some special case, or if all kids talked that much in so little time.

He managed to smile at her, about to answer—

“Flora!” a man’s voice chided, and Steve looked the other way to see who couldn’t be other than Ronan Dugan, her father, and Dum Dum’s grandkid. Ronan’s gaze settled on him, and he could see the apology swimming in his eyes. “Mr. Rogers, I’m so sorry about my daughter’s enthusiasm. They’ve just been excited to finally meet you.”

“They have?” he asked Ronan, startled. “I don’t mind it, it’s… refreshing, actually. And call me Steve, please.”

His eyes lingered on the girl running into the other room, her giggle echoing off the walls, and he was reminded of little Rebecca Barnes, who had just turned twenty the last time he’d seen her, which had been… a long time ago. She was probably dead, too.

“Director Fury told me you’d been asking around about us,” Ronan said, “and if there’s something my kids are, is nosy, so they found out about it.”

Steve had almost forgotten that detail. Most of the family had or was currently working for SHIELD both as agents on the field or offices, ever since Dum Dum had become one of the founding members of the organization—it was their legacy, and they clearly treated it like it.

Ronan stepped closer, lowering his voice. “If you think this is too much, I totally understand. You’re not obligated to be here, Steve. I can tell the kids you were called aw–”

“Nonsense,” he rapidly said. He didn’t know if he would have the courage to try again otherwise. “I’d love to meet all of you, if it’s alright with you.”

“I’m afraid Flora and Dominic would kick me out of my house if I kicked you out,” he joked, bringing an easy smile to Steve’s face. “You can leave your jacket on that hanger, by the way. The kids are in the kitchen, when Flora sensed you coming they started baking, as I’m sure she told you.”

Steve hesitated at the strange choice of words, but thought nothing of it and closed the front door behind him, hanging his aviator jacket. Soon he was being met with the smell of freshly baked cookies coming from the kitchen, where he could see Flora and a much taller boy, Dominic—who liked to be called Dom, as his file said.

As soon as he saw him, the teenager perked up, stretching a hand toward him.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Ro– Sir… Captain America,” he rushed the words out endearingly in a nervous manner.

Steve shook his hand, briefly surprised by the strength of his grip. “Call me Steve, Dominic.”

“Then you can call me Dom,” he replied, with a grin.

He glanced at the countertop, where Flora was working very hard in concentrating on handling the sprinkles she had told him about by the door. In the time he’d been deciding on whether he would enter or not, they had baked cookies that looked very appetizing—all with the color of his uniform, the flag of the United States.

The kitchen was bigger that the one he had at his apartment, which made sense given that it was for a family of three. It was cozy, and lived in, noticeable on the way the fridge was filled with stickers and photos stuck to it with magnets of places they’d visited—he felt a sudden sensation of longing in the way this house screamed home, a stark contrast to the cold place that awaited him just two blocks away.

“Can you eat cookies?” asked Flora, bringing him out of his evaluation of their home. “Dad isn’t really allowed to, he’s supposed to be on a diet.”

“I can eat pretty much anything,” he confessed, with a smile. “And however much I want, thanks to being a supersoldier.”

“Great, because we made too many cookies!”

“Come on, Flora, there’s no such thing as too many cookies,” said Ronan, bringing one to his mouth. “Especially when they taste this good. I might have to ban you two from the kitchen, eh? Not all of us can eat without getting fat.”

Steve laughed at the dig, and took the cookie that Dom was offering. His eyes widened. “This is really good.”

The kids high-fived each other, bright smiles on their faces for a job well-done.

“What’s that?” asked Dominic, lazily pointing with his index finger to the leather notebook in Steve’s hands.

They had brought the trays to the living room and had turned on the television, and Steve had gotten it out of his pocket when something interesting had shown up on the News, ready to write it down for later.

“It’s where I write general knowledge events that I missed, so I can learn about them,” he said, handing it to him. “Director Fury gave me some of those, but I’ve been collecting them ever since I woke up.”

Flora stood behind the couch, reading the notebook from over her brother’s shoulder. “Steve, you’re missing a lot of stuff! I can’t believe Mamma Mia isn’t there,” she whispered in shock.

He hummed, recognizing the name. “That’s a song from ABBA, right?”

“And only the best musical of all time!”

“Says a ten-year-old,” laughed Ronan, sharing an amused look with Steve.

“Whoever recommended just Star Wars has clearly never watched Star Trek,” said Dom, a frown on his face as he read.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” breathed Steve, brows knitted together. “I tell you what, you both can write whatever you think I’m missing from this century—“

“—and the previous one,” piped in Ronan.

“And the previous one,” he agreed, and hesitantly looked at the kids. “And maybe you could show me some of it?”

Their eyes lit up, excitement shining in them.

“You are so watching Mamma Mia!” squealed Flora, running out of the living room.

Steve’s eyes followed her as she left, Ronan’s laugh filling the room. “You have a problem in your hands, she’s getting her CDs from her room.”

A beat passed.

“What’s a CD?”

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers #steve rogers x oc #steve rogers x original female character #original character #original female character #captain america #marvel fanfiction #captain america fanfiction #steve rogers fanfiction #dum dum dugan #found family #leah writes #i love seeing him happy #steve rogers deserved better in the 21st century #how did you let this man be alone for so long marvel #children #steve rogers’ notebook #original child character

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sebastianstan-stanner · 5 days

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Peggy Carter minding her own business in the late 1940’s

Steve Rogers walks up to her

Peggy: Oh hey Steve what’s- BLOODY HELL AREN’T YOU DEAD

Steve: Nope

Peggy: Then where’s your friend Bucky?

Steve:

#steve rogers #bucky barnes #sebastian stan #incorrect marvel quotes #peggy carter #chris evans #hayley atwell #bucky deserves better #peggy deserves better #marvel #incorrect quotes #Mcu #captain america #winter soldier

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luna-rainbow · 2 years

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lightyear, the endgame dissertation

You know that post along the lines of "Lightyear as a movie was okay but then you learn it was a video length essay rebuke against Endgame Steve's ending and it is chef's kiss"...it is 100% on the money.

First thing's first, I never got into the Toy Story franchise, and in fact I found it pretty hard to connect with most of the Pixar movies, despite how much accolade they get.

Lightyear by itself is...par. It's got humour, it's got heart, it's got a solid central message around friendship.

But when you put it in the context of a Endgame critique then you realise how much BURN it packed in there.......

(Massive spoilers under cut)

I want to start this off by saying Izzy is adorable and she had a solid character arc that wasn't overshadowed by Lightyear's. She went from bluster to feeling inadequate to forcing herself to confront her worst fears for a friend. Two separate character arcs in one movie, imagine that, Marvel!

The premise is that Buzz makes a mistake during an emergency launch and strands the entire crew on a semi-hostile planet. Feeling immense guilt that he's ruined the mission (and thereby, much of the team's dreams of being "Space Rangers"), Buzz commits himself to running dangerous solo missions to trial fuel combinations that could get the ship off the planet. With each trip he approaches hyperspeed, he experiences time dilation, and he is so focused on his mission that he barely notices his best friend (Alisha) ageing until he comes back one time and realises she had already passed on.

When Buzz finally finds the right fuel combination, he's 80 years in the future. The crew and their descendants have truly settled into the planet, but in recent weeks the planet has been invaded by a ship of ominous looking robots.

He meets his best friend's grand-daughter, Izzy, and her crew of misfits. Then for the next 40 minutes, Buzz learns he doesn't have to do things alone, and that he doesn't have to shoulder all the responsibility on his own.

And as he learns this, he gets transported up to the spaceship to meet the villain who is, I kid you not, Old Man Buzz. Old Man Buzz came from the same past as young Buzz, but he almost got arrested on one of his return journeys and became so disillusioned with the world, he flew off into hyperspeed and realised he could jump back and forward in time. Old Man Buzz knows the pain young Buzz suffers, and entices him with the prospect of going back in time before a mistake was ever made. It is also worth noting that young Buzz has friends that he is shown to now depend on and trust, while Old Man Buzz only has himself and in his drive to achieve his mission, destroys his only 2 semi-sentient robot companions (Sox and Ivan).

What follows is the greatest dissertation against Endgame I have ever fucking seen in live motion.

Old Man Buzz says that Alisha will get to be a Space Ranger again and young Buzz pointing out that "but...she won't have her family. She won't have Izzy". Old Man Buzz says dismissively "She's not going to miss anyone if she never meets them in the first place" and young Buzz looking absolutely SHOOK by those words, realising this old man was going to wipe out 80 years of lived experiences so he can have his past. Young Buzz then tries to appeal to the old man's rationality and point out that Alisha had an entire life and Old Man Buzz dismisses it as "what kind of life is that?!" because he has in his mind what kind of life she should have, while refusing to acknowledge the life she had was fulfilling and full of joy. Old Man Buzz presses him with "You don't want to live like this Buzz, waking up with the same nightmare, haunted by your mistake, but you can finally let go of that."

And Buzz does, by walking away from Old Man Buzz and refusing to go back to the past. Buzz owns and then forgives himself for that past mistake (and accepting fallibility and forgiving oneself is a recurring theme in this movie, not just for Buzz, but for the other characters too) by accepting the present it has created, because he realises there are good things about the present worth living for.

"You're going to erase everything!" Young Buzz yells at Old Man Buzz as he preps the crystal, "People's family, their friends. My friends."

As much as Buzz misses the friendships of his previous life, he values the connections he has made in the here and now and he doesn't want to erase them for what has already passed.

Buzz defeats Old Man Buzz by destroying the fuel source, i.e. the only hope of Buzz going back in time, and the day is saved by everyone coming together to help each other instead of Buzz struggling to do it on his own (and also why Old Man lost because he only had himself and his robots, who he didn't value).

In the end, Izzy asks Buzz about the now destroyed fuel source, "Your mission...you've always wanted to go home."

Buzz smiles, "You know, for the first time in a long time, I feel like I am home."

AND SUCK ON THAT, ENDGAME.

#anti endgame #lightyear #steve rogers #like legit i almost got teary in aspects thinking this is what steve deserved #all the guilt and grief he had carried with him #for him to realise that he didn't need to do it alone and that he didn't need to impale his life on that one mistake #and you can interpret that mistake to either not getting off the ship or not stopping bucky's fall or not stopping hydra's infiltration #but how much i wished to see steve to have walked onward from that and acknowledge that #it is okay to be human and to be fallible but what's more important is the way you pick yourself up and walk on #and the way that you open your arms and let other people into your world #and that the solution to a mistake IS NEVER TO GO BACK INTO THE PAST TO FIX IT but it is to LIVE IN THE FUTURE AND MAKE IT BETTER #fuck endgame #spoilers #lightyear spoilers

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