#mcu victim blaming

[legalandnotease]

Me: The whole "making amends" idea in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is incredibly stupid and smacks of victim-blaming because Bucky should not be forced to make amends for things he was *made* to do against his will.

Its literally like telling a SA victim to apologize to all the other people their attacker also hurt.

Also, don't tell trauma survivors to *get their shit togeher* its extremely insentistive and misinformed. Mentally ill people aren't just being annoying or mean on purpose.

Sam Stans and people in wider fandom:

*That's not victim blaming! Bucky was never a victim, it was doing it all willingly anyway and that's why Sam said to make amends!

Also Sam has PTSD too. He is the only person in history who ever suffered discrimination, so Bucky trauma doesn't count and if you keep mentioning it you are a big bad racist!!

Me: OK, that's messed up. Don't dismiss and invalidate people's trauma.

Also know its not just black people who are subject to discrimination? Lots of people suffer discrimination, including disabled people and mentally ill people and this applied historically as well.

Furthermore, having been subjected to racism doesn't give Sam or anybody else a free pass to mistreat others. What's wrong with just treating those around you with basic decency, sympathy and compassion?

That includes Bucky, who is also disabled BTW.

Sam fans and others in general fandom:

"Bucky is not disabled! I already told you HE IS NOT A VICTIM he never was! He is not marginalized! Stop babying him! He's an adult and he CHOSE to do all the things he did as the Winter Soldier!"

He's just being mean to Sam on purpose and being selfish. Sam doesn't have to be nice to him! That's so tone deaf and its racist!"

Seriously poeple: if Bucky had bought up how the disability jokes and blaming him for things that caused his PTSD made him uncomfortable IRL Sam would have been receptive and understood because he's actually a decent human who knows its wrong to mock people for things they can't help. Or blame them for things that they didn't choose.

It is a shame that the writers of FAtWS and a good number of Sam Stans can't seem to grasp this.

[legalandnotease]

OK, you got me started.

Maybe you didn't know that. Maybe you honestly had no idea that you were saying something that is a direct attack against people who have gone through the exact mental illnesses Tony had and recognize his struggles as their own.

I have PTSD and depression and let me tell you something straight from the start.

Tony Stark does not represent me or anybody like me. Lose this ridiculous idea that Tony Stark has PTSD. He doesn't. He displays zero symptoms of PTSD.

He has anxiety at best, and is probably a narcissist. Yes, his actions and behaviour are very consistent with Covert Narcissism.

His "fear of loss" is the fear of abandonment, of no longer being able to control those around him.

His "my way or the highway" mentality, his inability to listen to or trust others, his paranoia and inability to accept responsibility.

All are massively consistent with narcissism.

...and before the Tony fans shriek, guess what the main cause of narcissism is? Childhood neglect. QUELLE SURPRISE! That said... His daddy being nasty to him does not absolve him being outright abusive to others. That is the excuse real life abusers use btw.

Whatever he has though: let us stop right now blaming mental health for Tony Stark's shitty actions. The idea that "trauma" absolves him is a harmful and dangerous idea which perpetuates negative stereotypes about mental health.

The sheer amount destructive and harmful things Tony does which cause mass death is what prevents him from being "representation" for mental health.

If Tony was anybody else... nobody would be saying he should not take responsibility for things which actively hurt and killed others because *muh trauma*.

Name a time when Tony was in a safe place to heal. I'll wait.

Every time he retired. He retires MULTIPLE times in between moves. Between Iron Man II and Avengers?

2 years.

Between Avengers and Age of Ultron

3 years.

Between AoU and Civil War

1 year

Between CW and IW

2 years

Between CW and Endgame

5 years.

That is a total of 13 years. Tony had 13 years of relative peace and quiet in which to get some self care and healing.

Compare that to Bucky who is confirmed as having PTSD and gets the sum total of 2 years to recover from 70 years of torture abuse, brain damage, trauma guilt and self-hatred. With NO support network. Unlike Tony, who had various people to support him. And Bucky has to contend with a fuckton of victim-blaming that Tony never did.

You literally just ignored the first part of OP's post, in which they noted that people constantly ignore Wanda's and Bruce's parts in Ultron.

These are excuses designed to absolve Tony of his responsibility for Ultron. Wanda did not mind control him: she gave him a vision.A vision he did not have to act opon. He chose to.

Tony was acting of his own free will and with his own agency the entire time. So was Bruce. This is why people blame Tony.

Unlike say,,,, hmmm I dunno Bucky who was literally mind controlled and had the very capacity for free choice and agency taken away from him, who was literally forced and tortured into doing things.... Tony was making a choice

(But isn't it WEIRD how people- usually Tony Fans) still insist on blaming an actual mind control and torture victim for his actions on the ground that "his body did it" - whilst trying to absolve the guy who was not mind controlled and had full bodily autonomy because "muh good intentions" and "muh trauma"

Yes, that's called victim-blaming.

You ignored how OP pointed out that the illegal arms dealing was Stane's actions, not Tony's, and that Tony shut it down as soon as he learned of it, saying "there are lines we don't cross.

Except... that's not what happened. Tony ran the company for 17 years as an adult. In all that time you're telling me he didn't notice his own stock going missing? He didn't notice the protests against his weapons being used on civilians in places like Sokovia?

The fact that it was only when he realized they were being used on *American soldiers* that he considered the line to have been crossed speaks volumes about Tony.

If he took drugs that were stopping him from doing his job as a CEO that is on him, not anybody else. Just like if somebody took drugs and decided to drive a car, you would not blame the car or the drugs.

Would Wanda not have attacked Tony's mind, then?

Since Tony was alreasdy planning to build Ultron even before he met Wanda, this bascailly makes no difference, but carry on.

Would Nick Fury and Black Widow have suddenly left him alone? Would he not have been dying from palladium poisoning?

How are Nick Fury and Natasha responsible for the stupid and reckless things Tony did when he thought he was dying. Did they make him do them? No. Thought not.

Would he have been able to suddenly change the route his company was taking without his friends turning their backs on him (which they did at first) and Stane trying to kill him?

Actually, yes. He's was the CEO, for goodness sake. He was also a grown-ass 38-year-old man, not a little kid.

You know he could in that capacity just fire Stane right? Right? As soon as he had evidence for his activities he could fire him on the spot? That's what CEOs can do? He could fire the whole Board of Directors if he wanted to.

But even if! Even if he went to therapy! Do you think therapy is a magical cure-all? Do you think people who go to therapy for PTSD suddenly don't have panic attacks anymore? That they don't get triggered, or fall back into their personal hells, or have days where they regress to who they'd been before therapy because healing isn't a straight line?

OK. Let;s talk about PTSD triggers.

People who are triggered may go into "fight or flight" mode. They may freeze. They may lash out. They may start having flashbacks. They may become depressed. They may become withdrawn.

What they do not do is take a highly dangerous object and use it to build abother hightly dangerous object despite warnings that it might be dangerous.

What they do not do is attack helpless unarmed people for 10 minutes with multiple weapons, pinning them against walls and attempting to blow their heads off.

What they do not do is ignore clear evidence for **years** of theft in their company, and ignore evidece their stock is falling into the wrong hands.

Nothing *repeat* NOTHING Tony does in the movies can be put down to him just being triggered. Blaming PTSD for Tony's violent and deliberately reckless actions is vile.

Honestly, shame on you for talking about therapy as if it's the cure-all for the world, as if every single problem life throws at people becomes butterflies and rainbows the instant a person talks to a professional about it all. As if Tony was The Main Problem of the MCU, and his capital sin was in not booking an appointment with a psychologist.

No, SHAME ON YOU.

People already think mental illness is an excuse for bad behaviour and Tony Stans are making this far worse with using conditions like mine as an excuse for everything Tony does.

Whether it be sexually harassing women

Building a murderbot

grooming and blackmailing a teenager,

or trying to murder an abuse victim in cold blood because he was upset about his disgusting daddy being killed.

How many people here, in real life, have mocked and derided Tony Stark as a character because he's a cis straight rich white man?

Let me tell you this right now.

Nobody would make excuses for Tony's actions the way they do if he was not a rich white male.

Just like in real life Tony can get away with things that anybody else would be thrown in jail for because he has money and connections.

Do you really think that poor people can get away with murder like Tony on the ground of abuse or trauma? No. They can't. They also can't get support or therapy. THEY will be persecuted and prosecuted, even for things they were driven to by desperation.

I am going to compare him to Bucky Barnes, fandom's favourite punchbag again because it illustrates this well.

One is working- class from a poor immigrant background who never had the power to say "no" or refuse to do what the high-ups told him. He was conscripted into into the army: if he refused to join up he'd have been imprisoned or worse.

He gets captured, experimented on, tortured, mutilated it, has his "brain put into a blender" and is forced to kill against his will?

What is the reaction? "He's still to blame. He chose to join up, he chose to go on that mission.... he could have escaped, he could have said no...."

Or "his body did it" as is the favourite excuse of Tony fans who want to entirely ignore the fact he had no control, autonomy or choice.

The other is a rich, priveleged guy with inherited money who had the best of everything. He is fully able to tell the government to go screw themselves, to refuse to do what he is told, and to buy his way out of any trouble he might get into.

He *chooses* to to drug himself into oblivion and drink himself silly when there are other options available. He chooses to do reckless things. He chooses to ignore the problems in his company. He chooses to go along with it because alternative is too hard.

He chooses to break multiple laws because his girlfriend is kidnapped. He chooses to mess with a highly dangerous supernatural artefact because he fears loss. He chooses to ignore advice, and people die. Over and over and over again because of his reckless actions and bad choices.

The reaction? "Its not his fault, he was manipulated" "its not his fault, he meant well!" "its not his fault, he's just trying to protect the people he loved"/

Its not about shaming: it is just a simple fact that rich white people can and do get away with the most henious things imaginable because of who they are. If Tony was poor like Bucky or black or Asian he would not be able to.

everyone always focuses on Sokovia and Ultron and Tony's involvement but no one ever thinks about how Bruce was also involved completely because they're both scientists. no one thinks about Wanda purposefully going in and digging in Tony's head, amplifying his PTSD and putting visions of all his friends dead in his head with the intent of making Tony create Ultron

Everyone always focuses on blaming Tony for the bomb that killed Wanda's parents but no one thinks about Tony being so shit faced he couldn't see straight at that time bec he was so deep in self-medicating his trauma that he could not even run his company and that it was Obidiah Stane that was the one in charge of the company and illegally selling the weapons that killed her parents

Everyone focuses on Tony selling weapons in the first movie but no one thinks about how it was Howard Starks company and that Tony was groomed from birth to run it and that he had tried multiple times to make something else of the company but was constantly shut down with guilt tripping until he was kidnapped and he forced the manufacturing to end

Everyone focuses on Tony being "conceited" and "arrogant" and not "caring about anyone but himself" but no one thinks about how every single action he makes in his movies are about protecting the people he loves and cares for. His biggest fear is his friends- not himself- dying. he goes into every battle he's in fully prepared to die and does make the sacrifice play many many times

everyone always focuses on what Tony did wrong, but no one thinks about how much he has grown and how he spends every single waking moment trying to be a better and better man who cares so deeply about everyone and is trying to protect everyone the only way he knows how- and that is with the brain and intellect that had been the only thing about Tony that was ever praised about

[buckydeservesthebest]

I'm going to write my own general response since some Sam Stans have started with absurd posts about how in their distorted version of reality Bucky "has been a bad friend and betrayed every black person he has ever met"... *sight* this could not be more stupid, untrue and unfair.... 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

On the subject of Bucky and the rest of the New Avengers "working for Valentina", I already wrote a long rant explaining that there is NOT a single shred of proof of this. And that at the end of it all, the OG Avengers literally were formed by a government organization (SHIELD), Sam was going to form his own team of Avengers at Ross's instruction and was going to work alongside him had the Red Hulk scandal not happened and Ross not ended up in prison. THE AVENGERS WORKING TOGETHER WITH THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT SOMETHING NEW. BECAUSE WORKING WITH THE GOVERNMENT DOESN'T MEAN BEING SUBSERVIENT TO IT.

Bucky having his own team literally does NOT in any way in the remotest way affect Sam, because literally nothing detracts from him or minimizes him as Captain America or in any other way, nor does it somehow prevent him from being able to form his own Avengers team and operate as he sees fit.

So this description of "traitor" to refer to Bucky COULD NOT BE MORE STUPIDLY FALSE AND BE FARTHER AWAY FROM REALITY.

And for those who complain that one of Bucky's team members is John Walker, does everyone forget that they already worked together briefly at the end of TFATWS to capture the FS and there was no problem??? Bucky does NOT hate John, literally the only disagreement from Bucky and Sam towards Walker was over the possession of the shield, and that problem is over, so don't come whining that Bucky can now be his ally, because there is literally no moral impediment of any kind for them to be part of the same team.

And do people forget that, again, Sam was going to work alongside Ross?? The same guy who ordered the extrajudicial execution order (which is literally illegal) against Bucky, convicted him as guilty for the UN bombing without a fair trial, which is literally also a violation of his human rights, and on top of it all lamented that the SWAT team couldn't kill Bucky. Ross is a horrible person (no better than Valentina) and literally ordered Bucky's murder, and I don't see anyone calling Sam a traitor because he was going to form an Avengers team under his instructions and was going to work in conjunction with his government.

So don't come with your shitty double standards calling Bucky a "traitor" either, when no one called Sam a "traitor" for allying himself with the one who ordered the murder of his friend.

It's almost funny how no Sam Stan has ever wanted to acknowledge the ableist and victim-blaming attitudes Sam directed at Bucky. All those horrible jokes and tasteless comments like "cyborg brain", "bionic looking machine that killed almost everyone he met", "we're not assassins" "you're going back to your frozen rat diet of your time as the Winter Soldier", that only in the mind of imbecile could be funny. All of this disgusting shit is ableist.

Sam literally held Bucky responsible for what he was forced to do as the Winter Soldier ("you were stopping all the wrongdoers *you* enabled as the Winter Soldier" ep. 5) and gave him "advice" that is exactly the same as Dr. Raynor's, and is nothing more than re-victimization.

There is absolutely nothing healthy about telling a victim of abuse that they should "make amends" for something they were a VICTIM of. Let alone showing up with the other victims of the same abuser and apologizing as if Bucky was the victimizer and not another victim. This is extremely dangerous and damaging to both parties. Already a real life therapist created a Twitter thread where she explains absolutely everything that is wrong with this.

Sam is NOT a victim of abuse or mind control, nor is he a therapist trained to talk to people who are victims of this situation, so he can NOT go around pretending to give advice on something he knows absolutely nothing about. That is unethical.

If you think that telling this truth is "racist", let me tell you that there are people in the black community who think exactly the same thing. Are they racist too??

...

Oh and regarding the Wakandans issue...I've talked about this a lot before, but in light of some Sam Stans wanting to revive this ridiculous issue as an excuse to try to vilify Bucky.. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

*sigh* first of all the reason T'Challa offered Bucky assistance in removing the Winter Soldier's programming from his brain, was not because of how magnanimous T'Challa is in wanting to help a poor man who had suffered too much, but rather that that assistance was given in the form of an apology for having spent it trying to kill him without being sure if Bucky was the one truly responsible for his father's death, and also in the form of thanks because thanks to him and Steve, T'Challa was able to get to the one truly responsible. The canonical comic Avengers Infinity War Prelude literally said so:

So while Bucky is grateful for the assistance Wakanda offered him, he does NOT owe them lifelong loyalty nor is he limited to only doing what feels right to them and did not represent a damage to their pride, because that is a stance worthy of an abuser.

So NO. In absolutely no way did Bucky betray Wakanda because Zemo's temporary freedom does NOT affect them in the slightest. Literally Bucky always intended to send him back to prison and literally Ayo understood this and that's why he gave him the 8 hour deadline to come back for Zemo, and literally Bucky NEVER objected to this.

Regarding Zemo. Literally the plot gives Bucky the reason to enlist his help and assist him in his escape, because as "the foremost expert on Hydra and the super soldier program" his knowledge was needed to figure out how the serum was recreated to get to Karli. This is what canon book The Art of TFATWS says, and it literally also says that Sam knew this and agreed.

People deliberately and conveniently forget that Zemo is NOT only responsible for the death of T'Chaka and the other dozen people from the UN bombing. Zemo was also an ABUSER of Bucky and one of the people who hurt him the most in his life. Zemo framed him for the UN bombing causing everyone to try to kill him, put him in the crosshairs of any Hydra member that still existed, had him imprisoned in cell that was electrocuting him all the time, subjected him to mind control and forced him to kill people and fight his friends which caused more charges to be added against him, etc, etc, etc. Now it turns out Wakandans know more about their own abuser than Bucky himself?? This is bullshit.

In just world part of Zemo's sentence should have been for all the damage he caused Bucky.

And the point is, again, Ayo understood and agreed with Bucky's plan and that was why he gave him an 8 hour deadline to come back for it. Ayo was NOT upset about that. Ayo didn't handicap and dehumanize Bucky because she felt "betrayed" but because she was upset that he had stopped her from committing unjustified murder against Walker. Bucky tried to reason with her and only defend himself with non-violent techniques, Ayo disconnected his arm in a low and dishonorable move, and now it turns out that Bucky is to blame?? 🤡

"Bucky betrayed the Wakandans" say the same people who always planned to betray him by putting a kill-safe (on a prosthetic that he didn't even request to have in the first place, but was given to him by T'Challa himself for him to fight for his nation) behind his back whose unawareness could have proved fatal to him, in case by sheer bad luck something could activate it when Bucky was hanging on to it for his life...

IT IS NOT JUSTIFIED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TO REMOVE DISABILITY ASSISTANCE FROM A DISABLED PERSON.

BEING A BLACK PERSON DOES NOT GIVE YOU A FREE PASS TO HAVE ABLEIST AND VICTIM-BLAMING ATTITUDES TOWARD ANOTHER PERSON.

And yes, people in the black community also think Ayo's attitude was unjustifiable.

Are they "racist" for daring to say this?? Of course they are NOT.

[psychicsolanum]

AOS s4 is crazy good holy shit. The way they challenge our biases by showing a Fitz that is "just like Ward" and still making us understand him and deny his cries that he's a bad person, when, at least I am, so unable to give Ward that same respect. In my mind Ward was completely irredeemable, even though his and Dr Fitz's story are parallel.

I guess Fitz's reaction to that side of himself is far more self aware than Ward's, who was in denial. that definitely helps.

i also really like tying Daisy's arc this season into it, stopping fitz from going down the same self-sabotaging spiral she went through.

[lucidasidera]

🤡 Markus and McFeely 🤡: “Yeah, Bucky’s just a POW who had his entire agency explicitly removed in not one but TWO ways but he’s for sure guilty because we don’t want him to have fruit salads with Steve”

[legalandnotease]

@rebelsabers

Millady the perpetually offended. Let me make this very VERY clear do you.

Knowing some abuse survivors does not mean you know a thing about the actual experience of abuse surivivors. Do you not get experience by osmosis.

Saying "some of my best friends are" does not mean you know a single freaking thing about, for example victim-blaming and how common it is for abuse survivors and traumatized people to be subjected to such things.

The reason we object to the writers of shows like Tha Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Cap 4 retconning Bucky's backstory is because they are very deliberately doing it to make him look like less of a victim.

They are very intentionally taking the parts of his story that underscore how he was victimized and changing them to say that not only was he not victimized but he *wanted* what happened to him. That he consented to it, and was a willing participant.

Like saying that he took the serum willngly: if they repeat that lie often enough, people wil believe it, and they do. It will soon become the accepted canon.

and it isn’t about invalidating Bucky’s trauma

It is and has been since 2021, because that is the only way the writers think they can make Sam look like the ultimate victim- the person who suffered more than anyone who ever lived. That is the only way they think they can build him up: by pulling another character down.

It is a very concious effort to rewrite history- and it is being done for one purpose alone: to build up Sam at his expense.

We’ve already seen Bucky’s arc in The First Avenger, The Winter Soldier, Civil War, Infinity War, Endgame, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Utter garbage, and you know it.

In all these movies and the TV show in particular Bucky had a supporting role. He was used as a prop to other characters. In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, especially, we were told he would be given a satisfying story arc about PTSD recovery.

Instead what we got was a lecture full of victim-blaming after 5 Episodes in which he'd had nothng but jokes at the expense of the major disabled/traumatized character and abuse survivor and constant bashing over the head with the message of how priveleged he was and how everyone else had it worse.

4 hours solid of being told that he was not a victim, he was just wallowing in self-pity and needed to stop lying to himself about not being to blame. For 4 hours solid we were told he was doing it all wilingly the entire time (just like abuse victims are told they wanted it/bought it on themselves). We were also subjected to the hideous scene, played for laughs in which he was "sold" to Selby with all the not-so-subtle undertones about SA which that included.

For it to culminate in Sam, the person who he looked up to and admired to tell him the only way to heal from his trauma was to *checks notes* - ah yes.... take responsibility for his own victimization as if he alone were responsible for all the evil wrought at the hand of HYDRA and apologize to all the other victims.

Who the heck thought that was a respecful or sensitive depiction of trauma recovery? Oh yeah- Malcolm Spellman and Kori Skogland.

He’s had plenty of screen time and emotional exploration. Sam has not.

Sam has had more *MUCH MORE* than Bucky.

The reason why you don't think Bucky deserves to have a character arc of his own, or any more attention devoted to him as a character is bacause you see him merely as Sam's accessory/love interest.

Or as just another white man. Not as a character beloved of traumatized people, disabled peoplle, and abuse survivors and many others who *crave* proper representation.

Who see in his character echoes of the kind of systematic oppression we have had to endure for centuries: from being experiemted on his is analogous to the eugenics movement, and his ECT which parallels the way people with PTSD were once tortured in insitutions, to how mental illness is still viewed today. The "mad, bad and dangerous" stereotype which he has been pushed into. Especially in the Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

We want to see him given the screen time he deserves because we want him to come into his own as a hero: which can never happen if he is a mere prop to Steve, Sam, Yelena or whoever else.

...and yes, we are sick and tired of the messaging delivered to us through the treatment of his character on screen that we wanted and chose what happened to us. That it was our fault. That we deserved it.

No, Bucky Barnes would not agree with you: or he might purely because he's been conditioned by victim-blamng and self-loathing for so long. Which is another thing the abuse survivors among us can identify with. It does not make him, or you, correct.

"Sam, you are not going to believe how exponentially badly my day is going."

"Probably not as badly as mine, Buck"

[legalandnotease]

Nobody has ever said "when I look at you I don't see your mistakes" to Bucky.

Only one person in MCU history has ever acknowledged that Bucky Barnes was a victim and that was in a post-credit scene.

it is a travesty that the character who was victimized so badly for so long has basically *never* had compassion or kindness or even just- understanding extended towards him in the movies and TV shows.

Instead we just consistently get the characters calling him a monster, the so callled "fans" making excuses for victim-blaming narratives or saying that compassion is "woobifying" him and the writers insisting on treating his as a villian.

Or as needing to be punished forever for things they themselves made it clear he had no control over.

[legalandnotease]

Yup. What's worse though is that victim-blaming narrative is carried over into other media and then blindly accepted by so many people in fandom.

Take for example *this comment* on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in which this idiot user was trying to vilify Bucky fans for not wanting him to be "held to account" for what he did as Winter Soldier.

They didn't see any contradiction in saying "Sam isn't blaming him for it but he still needs to be held to account" for things which he had no choice over.

Apparently if they don't directly say "its your fault" then its not victim-blaming.

Just rewatched Avengers movie after X many years and this scene stuck out.

When Clint regains his senses, he asks Nat “how many agents…” She stops him and says, “No. Don’t do this to yourself. That wasn’t you. That was Loki.”

Things that Joss bloody Whedon understood but the very people who wrote Bucky tortured into obedience could not.

Also Steve, all of 28 years of age, putting on his 98 year old voice and snapping, “Son, don’t!” Is the sort of shit that would have had Bucky and the Howlies snorting in the sidelines.

[braveclementine]

Newspaper articles 1

Warnings: None, Readers under 18 can read this book.

Copyright: My OCs are Coach Yonce, Emma, Ila, Tempus, and Itty Bitty. I own these characters. I do not condone any copying of this.

NEWSPAPER EXCERPTS:

August 17, 2014

HENRY GOODMAN KILLED IN CAR CRASH

Early this morning around seven-thirty, police were called to the scene of a car crash involving the 64-year old actor Henry Goodman. It seemed that Mr. Goodman had finished recording in a new Marvel release whose trailer had only been released the day before. Police were not certain where Mr. Goodman was headed, as his car was pointed in the opposite direction of his house. However, his wife, Sue Parker, has said he already contacted her earlier that morning and said he was heading to Marvel Studios to get into contact with Anthony Russo about something unpleasant he had experienced in the recording studio. What sort of unpleasant, he did not tell Mrs. Goodman. Anthony Russo says that he was not contacted before hand and therefore, has no ideas what Mr. Goodman wanted to talk about. He said that he contacted the studio and was told that Mr. Goodman had not said a single complaint to them about anything. More details will be released as new information comes in.

September 8, 2014

HENRY GOODMAN CAR CRASH UNDER INVESTIGATION AFTER RUSSO TRIAL

FBI are now digging into the Goodman car crash to see if there was foul play. This decision comes after the first day of the Russo Trial reveals that Henry Goodman was aware of the atrocities being committed at the hidden Facility being used as a studio for the newest Marvel Movie; Avengers and the Mutant Children. The trailer, however, was more about HYDRA taking children and turning them into mutants with superpowers, however this is not what really went on in the facility- if Sebastian Stan is to be believed. FBI now suspect that Henry Goodman's car was either tampered with as he drove to the Marvel studios, or someone was waiting for him on that road- which is normally empty during that time of the day. Either way, FBI now suspect that Henry Goodman was killed by first degree murder, though the killer or killers remains unknown.

September 12, 2014

FBI DETERMINE KILLER WAITED ON ROAD TO KILL HENRY GOODMAN

FBI are proclaiming that a killer waited in his or her car for actor Henry Goodman to drive that way. It seems that there is some gunpowder and bomb residue that was overlooked by police forces- a force which was paid off by an account under the name 'Tempus'. It seems safe to say that Mr. Goodman was fully aware of the crimes going on in Marvel studios and the murder of these children. Police Chief of a different county says it is a disappointment that the police allowed themselves to be bought out to cover up such an important murder where children are involved. It is also a disappointment that Mr. Goodman did not put the news out or tell someone else beforehand, as the children may have been found faster. 

⬅️➡️

[amarriageoftrueminds]

Stumbled upon an old post about what awful lines were said about Bucky in TFATWS and holy fuck it is horrific.

"Your overextented life"

"Before you were his pet psychopat"

"Big cyborg brain of yours"

"They cleared the bionic staring machine and he killed almost everybody he's met".

Don't get me started on removing Bucky's arm without his consent. You DON'T take away someone's limb, especially not as a punishment for "bad behavior."

And people honestly wonder why some of us had issues with how Bucky was treated in that show. I remember people accusing us of not liking Bucky's story because "we don't want trauma survivors to find happiness and healing". Like I'm sorry but just because he's smiling at the end of the show doesn't mean his arc was written well. As a trauma survivor myself I don't have high expectations when it comes to Hollywood but Bucky's recovery arc (if you can even call it that) has been among the worst depictions of trauma and healing from it I've seen in recent years.

(I'd appreciate a link to that post so I can reblog it please, Anon! I was wondering the other day how many horrible lines there would be, if you put them all together. 😬 Yikes.)

.

*warning: this is gunna be salty af cuz I've been binge-watching House and have his acerbic voice in my head.

You're right not to call it a recovery arc, Anon. Bucky has never had a recovery arc, because that requires acknowledging he has something to recover from.

TPTB refuse to, because they want to paint Bucky as generic Crossbones dudebro villain, who needs to 'do better' after being a mind-controlled slave, and deserves to be verbally and physically abused.

As demonstrated by supposedly 'good' character X treating him like crap (ha! so hilarious! boys will be boys!) and/or not standing up for him when other character Y treats him like crap in front of them. (And yes I have to include Steve in this writing, too.)

Bucky in TFATWS is spoken of literally as Secretary Ross talked about Bruce et al in CACW. Comparing them to weapons. Things... not people. Just how a villain would talk about human beings. (And even badly-written!Steve was appalled by that, remember?) No alarm bells ringing in the TFATWS writer's room, tho? Hmm. Guess they were too lazy to watch the movies.

Although Disney skipped the actual arc towards happiness, to relegate SebStan to cheaper cut scenes, Bucky did have happiness and healing in the movies (thanks to Ryan Coogler, not the Russos. Thanks Ryan.)

But TFATWS had to shit on that, via the VA's Second-Worst Counselor. They wanted to take credit for what Coogler did -- by limp-dickedly retreading the exact same story beats (too lazy to come up with something original? too dumb? too reluctant to include Bucky in the first place?) Only with a different set of black people swapped in to replace T'Challa, Shuri, and the village people kids (because they're interchangeable? or because only black Westerners count, now? Ah but I'm forgetting that Arabic guy who came up to- uhh- thank the American Air Force? 😬 Genuinely jaw dropping. Gotta love those good clean Iron Man values.)

"I remember people accusing us of not liking Bucky's story because "we don't want trauma survivors to find happiness and healing."

I can't stand people who hijack that kind of therapy-speak to bullshit that that's why they like something.

IMO the truth is that fans don't want to admit that the writing sucks, that the writing of Sam has been sucking since CACW, because they like Sam and see TFATWS as his show -- when, jesus, is it really tho? Just because his name's on it?

Zemo and Walker got more attention and arc than Sam. Even Izaiah got the better speech. Steve got to demolish an American alphabet agency, what did Sam get to do in his show? Introduce the Flagsmashers when Sam is reluctant to dress in the flag, and he doesn't even get to lead them He gets stuck protecting the status quo?

That's the danger of 'media consumption' with Disney these days. Woke-washing.

It's... kind of like how fast fashion chains will greenwash their products, to pass off plastic fabric as organic material.

People who think of themselves as X-leaning, (or want to be seen as X), also want to believe they would recognise Y-leaning portrayals... but they lack critical thinking skills when it comes to media analysis.

So corps like Disney know they don't actually have to be left-leaning in their portrayals, because they can pass off any right-wing thing as a genuine progressive doodad just by cloaking it in the correct language or aesthetics.

(Hey, right wing writers! Want to make a dehumanizing ableist gag? Make a black woman do it! Ever wish sexual assault in the office could be shrugged at again? Make a white woman do it! (Make sure she's Upper Class and English, too!) Want to to make sure your protags can't be read as queer? Want to get away with basic locker-room homophobia without being nagged about it? Just play on the nostalgia of interracial 'buddy cop' movies, and - as usual - make a black guy do it! Want to portray the USAF as an heroic force in the Middle East? Make an Arab say thanks to a black American Airman! Wokewashing -- it covers all ills!)

Time was, Disney would only do this with their villains -- and you do get a hint of that Classic Disney long-coated predatory gay villain with Zemo.

Only now, instead of getting away with it because of widespread homophobia, Disney and fans can get away with it by accusing anyone who criticises of it being a homophobe.

But they're still writing the creepy gay scene-stealing villains. 🤔

Same with a shitty victim-blaming portrayal of a therapeutic 'arc'. The people who don't give a shit about that won't criticise it, and those that do- well, they must just hate trauma victims IRL, uwu. 😥

Insidious, isn't it?

Disney may be virulently allergic to giving SebStan anything significant to do these days, for fear of getting more gay cooties on Captain Comphet, or distracting from Captain Coloniser: Creator's Pet... but you cannot deny even those idiots M&M wrote a better arc for Steve and Bucky than the idiots that had a whole show arc to accomplish that for Sam and Bucky.

(Seriously, how do you fuck up in six attempts a thing you've already seen someone else manage in two? Oh- wait. Right. They haven't seen them manage it in two. They didn't watch the movies. 🤦‍♀️)

As far as friendship goes, I would have preferred Sam and Bucky ended as mutually-respectful frenemies (or even - imagine! both apologising for things they've actually voluntarily done to each other!)

Rather than just slapping some schmaltz onto a turd at the last second and calling it a rose. As you said: one instance of Mackie & Stan breaking character to smile at the end of a lazy montage does not equal a written arc. Let alone a well written one.

[lucidasidera]

I am seeing so much analysis of the Thunderbolts trailer and are we all really still pretending that the MCU puts that much thought into things? Girls. Come on.

[legalandnotease]

The biggest problem with Bucky defenders like you is that you refuse to acknowledge anyone else’s suffering. Never denied Bucky grieving nor being a victim of horrific proportions, but he was far from the only one grieving.

"I don't deny Bucky was grieving" but then 10 seconds later you be like "he doesn't have the right to grieve and has zero right to any of his feelings".

There's a word for what you're doin there. Its called *gaslighting*. Its what my abuser used to do to me- yes, you're talking to a real life abuse survivor in the flesh.

That's the problem with a lot of Sam fans. They cannot identify with any other character or their experiences.

I mean this here a prime example of what I am saying:

You really need to get off of Bucky’s fictional dick and stop believing that he’s the grand winner in the trauma olympics

You believe Sam is the grand winner do you not? People like you are convinced Sam and Isaiah have some kind of monopoly on suffering, and because of this they are incapable of identifying with the trauma of others and understanding how other people's suffering impacts them. (Legit they are getting as bad as Tony fans..)

Thus anybody who has feelings or emotions that do not align with what Sam wants is condemned. This is absolutely classic gaslighting, and its also incredibly narcissistic: recognize Sam's struggles by all means but nobody is required to supress or alter their emotions to cater to him.

Nobody is required to turn off their trauma to make him feel better: not that they can.

How Bucky managed to not grapple or try to understand Sam’s mental strife ... means he’s an obtuse little fuck when it comes to emotionally attaching himself to an inanimate object in lieu of feeling abandoned.

Yeah.... um its called the grieving process. Grief impacts different people in different ways.

You're basically saying here that because Bucky doesn't grieve the same way as Sam it means his grief is not legitimate. Gaslighting again.

Sam and Bucky have different experiences, ergo their experience of grieving is different. Although Bucky feels to a degree for others involved in the fight against Thanos he didn't really know any of them aside from the Wakanadans. So its harder for him to grieve for somebody like Natasha because he didn't know her. People generally don't grieve for strangers - that's not selfish its just how we are.

The only person he really knew was Steve Rogers: Steve is the man who literally saved Bucky's life when everyone (including Sam) was telling Steve to kill him.

That's why the shield means so much to Bucky. Its the object that was used to save his life by his brother. It doesn't mean the same thing to him as it does to Sam because they both associate it with different things.

Both their experiences are valid: but of course you want to say that Bucky's are not.

But him feeling betrayed and hurt gives him no leeway to be a bastard to Sam as he was

Ah yes, here we come to it. Bucky has no right to his feelings and he has no right to his trauma responses. Gotcha. He should turn off his PTSD to cater to Sam, did I say that already? Only problem is it doesn't work that way.

You see here's the thing: the vast majority of Sam fans who write things like this do not have PTSD or trauma: but the vast majority of Bucky fans do.

This is why Sam fans don't get it: they are looking at things from an outsider perspective. They see a traumatized person acting a certain way and they think they're choosing to do that because they're just being a dick.

What they don't understand is that trauma messes you up. It makes just living from one day to the next a sruggle. Traumatized people do not have room for others because they are struggling to just survive themselves. Not because they are selfish but because they have been harmed in horrific ways and it keeps impacting them long after the event.

Also, certain conditions predispose people to act and respond in certain ways, so when they people say say incredibly misinformed things like this:

Being a victim doesn’t give him a forever pass to be an asshole to those that didn’t cause his pain.

...All they they reveal is that they cannot comprehend trauma. That they have absolutely zero understanding of hiw trauma impacts human beings. That they are incredibly ignorant and certainly in no position to lecture anybody else on trauma healing or say they understand.

See here's the thing about PTSD, the condition that Bucky has. You don't have to be around the person who hurt you to react in a certain way.

In fact, anything that reminds you of your trauma and pain can cause a certain response. These things are called triggers. And when I say it cane be anything I mean *anything*. Objects, sounds, even certain words can remind a person with PTSD of the experience which caused their condition, and this by turn can cause unpleasant responses.

Lashing out, freezing, panic attacks, etc. Bucky doesn't like notebooks because the Soviets used a notebook with the Russian words to activate his programming: that's why Raynor's notebook annoys him so much. Its probably one of his triggers.

This means that Bucky is not being mean to Sam because he's malicious: he's a traumatized person who has been triggered by something or somebody.

Most likely, the talk of the shield reminded him of how Steve had to save him when he didn't feel like he was worth saving- and then he had somebody telling him HYDRA were "his people" so he was feeling like shit all over again.

Of course the vast majority of Sam fans don't see that: all they see is somebody being mean to their fave, and that is an unforgivable sin.

And Anthony Mackie stayed talking shit in the interviews whenever asked what was involved in the films, but you’re 100% ready to believe the character that Sam was only reached out to ‘taunt’ Bucky? Are you fucking serious?

Actually, yes.

Sam taunting Bucky with those text messages is entirely consistent with the behavior he displays throughtout the show- making jokes about his disability, mocking his trauma and the symptoms of his brain damage etc.

Like you pointed out, he was a counselor and knew the importance of contact but he’s only reaching out to fuck with him, not to check in, not to try to connect over similar experiences of losing time and friends? Shows how much you know the character.

Do you remember what I said about certain Sam fans being incapable of identifying with anybody else?

The same goes for Sam himself. Believe it or not, Sam is an able-bodied person who has never experienced things liks captivity, mind control, torture and sexual assault. He hasn't been forced to kill people against his will.

As such, Sam cannot identify with disabled people or abuse survivors. That's why he does things like mocking Bucky's appearance or making fun of his bionic arc and his propensity for staring. Which is due to brain damage btw.

You call that banter- but its very much more like the way able-bodied people act towards the disabled in real life. The kind of casual cruelty or insensitivity able-bodied people display when they ask intrusive or hurtful questions about disability or make off-color remarks about certain condtions.

Sam isn't necessarily trying to be insulting or offensive (although sometimes it appears he is) he probably thinks calling Bucky a "freak" or a "cyborg" and asking him if he killed anybody lately is just a harmless joke, but he is nevertheless being incredibly insensitive.

And like you said "intentions don't mean shit in regard to hurt feelings". Yeah the same applies to Sam. It doesn't matter if his remarks weren't meant to offend Bucky- they clearly did and he had a right to be offended.

You don’t get to dictate how what Bucky said affected Sam and you don’t get to pretend that some of the shit he said didn’t reek of self centeredness.

Guess what? You don't get to dictate how what Sam says effected Bucky either. Just because you think Sam was seeking to bond over mutual experiences it does not make it so.

Its entirely possible that Sam said things in those texts Bucky ignored that were incredibly offensive, insensitive or triggering and that's why he ignored them.

Its like if you sent me a text saying " how is (naming my abuser) today and did you freak out?"

You might think that's a harmless joke, but guess what? You don't know how that is going to impact me.

Being a counsellor doesn't mean Sam cannot also be an insensitive dick. As I said before- Sam is not an abuse survivor so he cannot identify with Bucky's experiences as an abuse survivor.

Which means he also doesn't understand how his negative attitudes and behaviours are likely to impact people who are. That also makes him more likely to engage in things like victim-blaming, and casual ableism.

That’s the way to heal, but Sam giving the advice was such a big problem fer y’all stans and I’ll never understand why.

Um, no.

You don't get to tell traumatized people how they heal. When you don't know anything about PTSD or trauma its very likely you also don't know anything about the long, slow process of healing, so I won't bother going into the complexities of it.

What I will do though is tell you why Sam's "advice is such a big problem".

Sam was doing what is known as victim-blaming. Victim blaming is a phenomena where victims are told that what happened to them is their fault, and that they caused or wanted it in some way.

Sam telling Bucky he had to "make amends" whilst he lectured him on the importance of "being of service, being present in his life and surrounding community" was akin to telling a person who was r*ped that they have to go and apologize to their attacker, and then they have to go find other people who were attacked by the same person and apologize to them as well.

Instead of like, bringing the rapist to justice and telling them to make amends.

Everything about what Sam says is implicity and explicitly telling Bucky that he was 100% responsible for what HYDRA did to him. He was to blame, it was his fault and he has to make right. Victim-blaming.

The fact that this came at the end of a series in which *every single character* as well as the narrative itself said that Bucky was serving HYDRA willingly and wanted to do all the things he did as the Winter Soldier makes it even worse.

Its like if they retconned Nastasha's story and decided to say she joined the Red Room voluntarily and then make her Dreykov's lover or something.

Oh and in addition to that several major characters outright say that Bucky is an evil monster and a pyschopathic killer and can never be anything other than that. Sam never once challenges or questions this version of events. He goes along with it, in fact.

So yeah, that's why Sam's advice is such a big deal- because it and the series itself are constantly shoving this idea down our throats that Bucky was never a victim. That he chose to do everything he did as Winter Soldier, and he is to blame for all that happened to him: which is why according to Sam and everybody else he has to "make amends" help others.

He's not a victim, therefore he doesn't deserve care or compassion. Therefore he doesn't need self-care. He just needs to stop kidding himself and admit it was all his fault. Oh and he then needs to do something which could explicity put his life in danger by confronting the families of victims. Cos' last time he did that it ended so well (Tony Stark almost killed him...)

All the while, remaining HYDRA operatives are walking free, allowed to do as they please.

As for the rest of your post: Bucky had zero intention of allowing Zemo to remain free forever, he fully intended to hand him over to Wakanda when he didn't need him anymore. He literally explained that. He was using the guy as a means to an end and the Wakandans were welcome to him when he was finished.

But if you want to talk about betrayal- how do you think Lemar Hoskins family would have felt seeing Sam treat the little terrorist bitch who murdered their son as some kind of fallen hero on live TV? The same little terrorist bitch who had burned innocent people to death and said she would do it again: the same little terrorist bitch who got her serum off a *Nazi*.

Whilst we're at it this is the most antisemetic piece of trash I have ever had the misfortune to read.

And lastly, while this is a fictional show, real world imitates art and vice versa. Sam not feeling he could follow in Steve’s footsteps, the literal blue eyed, blond poster boy of America, was saturated with racist ideologies.

That show had the fucking audacity to say that Steve became Captain America because he adhered to some kind of Aryan stereotype.

I was going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they did not watch The First Avenger but no- actually I am not going to do that because the showrunners probably did watch it and chose to ignore it anyway.

They still had the FUCKING audacity to say that the Jewish Doctor who chose Steve for the serum chose him because he looked Aryan? Yes, Dr Esrkine was Jewish.

At a time when Jews in Europe were literally being murdered by the Nazis because they were not considered to fit the Aryan model of racial perfection closely enough

As opposed to the actual truth: Dr Erskine chose a disabled puny son of Irish immigrants for the serum, who was the total opposite of the perfect race stereotype.

If you want to pretend that racist connotations didn’t exist in either the show or the movie, go play dumbass somewhere else.

Racist connotations exist in ths show: its fucking racist against Jews just for a start. Not only did they try to retcon the heavily Jewish coded Bucky to be a fucking Nazi they then tried to say Dr Erskine chose Steve for being a good little Aryan.

Its also utterly and disgustingly bigoted against every other minority group in existence.

...and then to top it all in the movie this continues with Sam saying Bucky chose to get the serum in the same way Steve did. As opposed again to the real truth: he had it put into him against his will when he was being experimented on by Nazis in a Prisoner of War camp. (Just like actual Jews and actual Eastern Europeans were experimented on by actual Nazis in actual real-life prison camps)

I am going to put this in big bold letters.

Sam being subject to racism does not give him a free pass on victim-blaming or being a bigot to disabled people, people with PTSD, Jews, women or anybody else.

Nor does Malcolm Spellman or Kori Skogland or whoever wrote that shit get a free pass on the trash they produced on that basis.

After watching the only scene in BNW that mattered to me, I wanna emphasize how important it is that bucky says one of the most emotionally mature things that a character has said in the MCU in a long while.

He asks sam “Why?”

He doesn’t correct Sam. Tell him he’s wrong. He doesn’t make the moment about himself.

It shows that Bucky fucking grew after TFATWS. a show where he is so self-obsessed (because of his trauma which isn’t inherently his fault) that he rarely considers Sam’s emotions.

Bucky Barnes has one of the best arcs in the MCU, and I think him even saying “I love you” is another sign that he is frankly pretty damn emotionally intelligent and either the writers or Sebastian Stan decided that it was important to include.

[buckydeservesthebest]

I just wanted to say that I agree with everything you said in defense of Bucky. As someone who has trauma-induced PTSD, I think his arc has been grossly mishandled. I both want to see Thunderbolts for more Bucky, and worry what they are going to do to his character. Also, thank you for liking my masterlist post! I can promise that I will handle Bucky and my OC with utmost care through their respective healing journeys.

Thank you very much dear @lithepetal for reading my two cents worth of analysis!

I think Marvel has no idea how harmful and dangerous the bad messages they convey and promote can be, and that's abominable.

Bucky is a character who has been through so many traumatic experiences and injustices that many people can relate to him in one way or another... That's why Marvel has an obligation to represent all of these issues in a respectful, empathetic and healing way. But the horrible depiction of therapy seen in TFATWS does nothing but scare away anyone who has ever intended to go there IRL. The constant ableism, victim-blaming and all other forms of discrimination are an absolute offense both to Bucky and to anyone who has gone through a similar experience... This is why speaking out and voicing our dissent is so important...

I'm also very concerned about how Marvel is going to handle Bucky's character, they already did enough damage to him in CW and TFATWS.. All I ask is that at least they stop trying to vilify Bucky and just once they can acknowledge him as an innocent victim and give him a chance to be recognized as the hero he always was...

At least I'm glad that there are writers like you who can do justice to what Bucky's healing process must be like.. 🥺

[p-taryn-dactyl]

dreams on fire: an introduction

a/n: hi guys! i thought this was a fun idea, which came to me after watching Black Widow and all of the X-men movies. in this one, you (reader) is based off of one of my mcu ocs BUT since i hate the whole 'giving reader a first name' thing, Y/N is used and not my ocs name. also, warning, idk if none of the timeline stuff makes sense bc this is fanfiction word count: 2.1k warning(s): descriptions of torture, experimentation, and abandonment | if you don't like charles xavier then you're not in luck here | Y/N is gay, you're gay, what a surprise | blood and blame | the world is my oyster | um please don't hate this pairing(s): yelena x sister!reader & (potentially) valentina x fem!reader

plot: Yelena and Natasha weren't the only daughters of Melina, weren't the first family assigned to her. You're her first daughter, the one Melina had allowed Dreykov to study the difference in your genes. Now, after seeing your 'sister' on TV, you reach out to show her the world is only going to get crazier and that for what's coming, her team and your school needs to be alligned.

Yelena remembers only flashes of the Red Room, flashes that plague her dreams and wake her up in cold sweat, the screams of her victims and pleas of her sisters echoing throughout the walls. Tonight was no different, her dreams quickly turning to nightmares. But, new memories soon resurfaced, faces she had long forgotten making a reappearance. 

This dream felt real, like she was back in the Void. 

The hallway was cold and metal, screams bouncing off the walls and crashing into Yelena, sending her stumbling backwards as she tried to walk forward. The screams echoed, overlaying and intensifying until Yelena fell to her knees, hands over her ears. 

“Bob? Bob, stop, please!” She cried out, mind reeling with the idea of Void returning. Only, nothing happened. Until the screams narrowed down into one voice, one terrified, painfilled screech. 

“This isn’t him,” a voice, too familiar yet too distant, sounded behind her. Yelena shot around, hands now reaching for weapons she didn’t have. Her eyes widened as she took in the woman sitting on the floor behind her, back against the wall as she stared at Yelena. 

Y/N Vostokova. The first daughter of Melina Vostokova, before Natasha, before Yelena, before her fake marriage to Alexei. 

“Привет, сестренка.” You spoke, your voice soft and strained, like the screams had been coming from your throat. Yelena’s mind reeled, her eyes blinking like you were a phantom and could disappear at any moment. You sent her a small smile before standing, raising an eyebrow at Yelena who flinched at your movement. 

“None of that now, I have something to show you.” 

You held out your hand, watching the blonde who looked at it like it was a bomb. Eventually, she took your hand, allowing you to pull her to her feet. You didn’t let go of her hand, your warmth seeping into Yelena, the realness of your form confusing her. Instead, you linked your arm with hers, like you were just two friends on a stroll, and started walking down the hallway with ease. The screams started again, yet this time, they didn’t push against Yelena. 

“The first time is always disorienting, though, you know what they say - you never forget your first.” Your teasing tone caused Yelena to stare at you, her expression incredulous. You shrugged, flinching slightly as the screams got louder, like you were approaching the source. 

“What is going on, Y/N? How are you-”

“Alive?” You finished her question, your grip on her arm almost becoming painful. You scoffed, shaking your head as you took a deep breath. 

“There are many things you don’t know, маленький паук, about the Red Room, about our world, about our mother.” Your voice broke on the last word, like it physically hurt you to remember her. Yelena jolted as you suddenly came to a stop, your eyes staring into a room, one that wasn’t there before. The doorway felt like it was both a few feet in front of Yelena but also a few miles. She felt her mind go hazy, the walls and the floors inverting on themselves. She stumbled against you, nausea building in her throat as she felt everything around her get brighter. Yelena felt warm, too warm, too real, hands cupping her face, pulling her focus back to you. 

“Someone is waking you up. We can talk again later, сестренка.” 

Your words were the last thing she heard before Yelena’s eyes shot open, arms flailing, fists attacking the figure shaking her shoulders. 

“Hey, hey, hey! Stop that!” Ava’s voice centered Yelena, bringing her back to reality. Her fists fell limp against her mattress, all the fight drained out of her as her friend brushed her hair off of her forehead in concern. 

“We could all hear you screaming, I phased through your door before one of the boys could break it down so you can thank me for that later,” Yelana laughed half-heartedly, swatting Ava’s hands away as she sat up. 

“I had a nightmare,” she paused, looking down at her hands, the warmth from yours still lingering, “of someone who died a long time ago.”

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

The next night, Yelena found herself slipping into a peaceful and deep slumber. Maybe it was the essential oils Bob had sprinkled over her pillows and room, maybe it was John’s reading Moby Dick out loud, or it could have been the white noise Ava projected over the speakers. Either way, she felt herself fall into sleep like one falls into a comforting hug. 

The bed under her shifted, the soft mattress changing into a firm cushion. Light flickered in from a window she swore she closed the curtains on. Yelena’s eyes blinked open, sleep heavy on her limbs as she rubbed her eyes, looking around in shock as she realized where she was. 

“Ah, the маленький паук awakens! Or, well, I should say, have fallen asleep since you’re technically sleeping right now.” Your voice alerted Yelena to your presence, her eyes finding you as you stirred coffee in a mug. You smiled at her, a real smile - not one weighed down by haunting screams. “I thought this may be a better location this time, since you don’t seem to have many places in your mind that give off comforting vibes.” 

Yelena just stared at you, mouth agape as you, oblivious to the circus happening in the blonde’s thoughts, looked around the house. 

“It is a nice house, even if it’s in Ohio. Very sturdy, very clean. Better than I ever had.” You sounded bitter towards the end, your smile growing strained as your eyes met with Yelena’s, the intensity causing her to move deeper into the couch. Rolling your eyes, you waved a hand in the air as if you were brushing off your memories. 

“Bygones or whatever. It wasn’t your fault what happened to me, even though sometimes I wish I got it easy like you.” 

The words, meant to hit Yelena hard, anger her, shot through Yelena like a bullet, causing her to leap off the couch, aimed to attack you. But you simply snapped your fingers and Yelena paused, mid-attack. Setting down your mug on a coaster, you took a seat in the leather recliner Alexei had bought, flicking your hand towards Yelena. The blonde, as if time was reversed, found herself back on the couch, her legs tucked under her and a cup of steaming tea in her hands. 

“You think I had it easy?” Yelena spoke through gritted teeth, all confusion from what was happening overshadowed by your words. You smirked before picking up your mug again, your eyes softening as you shook your head. 

“No. None of us did, I’m sorry. I’m working on the whole blaming others for my trauma thing, although it’s just so easy to do.” 

You took a large sip of your coffee, eyes widening as you pulled the mug back to look at the coffee inside. 

“Проклятие, this is good. Do you know how hard it is for me to get a good cup of coffee nowadays? It’s like British people are allergic to anything other than tea-”

“Y/N.” 

The trembling in Yelena’s interruption made you pause. 

“What is happening? How are you doing this? How are you alive? Melina, mama, mourned you - we all did, even if Natasha and I were mourning the time we never had with you.” 

You stared at her, something unreadable in your eyes. 

“You really don’t know?” Your question was soft, but sharp. It cut through Yelena, making her hands shake and slightly spill the hot tea. She jolted at the feeling, even more confused as to how this dream felt so real. You stood up, coffee gone - as if it was never cradled in your hands like a lifeline, your eyes a weight against Yelena’s chest as you stared at her. 

“Pigs weren’t her first test subject,” you started, hand clenching and unclenching into fists at your side, “But at least she was able to choose to experiment on them. Dreykov made her hold me down, take my blood, my tissue, my DNA, and play with the electrical response in my synapses. Chemical subjugation or mind control is so easy to discover when you obtain a mind so moldable.” The last sentence sounded like you were imitating Dreykov, the harsh accent rolling off your tongue like thorns caught on skin. Yelena blinked, shaking her head. 

“No, no - he only started everything after Natasha blew up his daughter and-”

“Сука, don’t tell me you really think that it all happened so fast? You really can’t be that dumb.” Gone was any warmth in your tone, any semblance of comfort had been seeped from the room. The walls now felt cold, the sun blocked out and the couch prickled under Yelena’s skin. Yelena’s breath started coming in bursts, realization solidifying into panic in her throat. She shook her head, standing up, raising her hands in the air. 

“What the hell is this? You appear in my dreams, seemingly controlling them, ALIVE, tell me that Dreykov had been planning the subjugation for years and what? What for? What the hell is happening, Y/N?” 

Your eyes widened and you bit the inside of your cheek, something flashing in your eyes as you looked at the woman in front of you, someone who in another life was your sister. You shook your head, drained from all the emotions. You collapsed back into the chair, crossing your arms like a protection. 

“I saw you on TV,” You started, the simple sentence making Yelena also return to her seat, “part of the ‘New Avengers’,” you spoke with air quotes, smirking as Yelena glared, “and realized there are things you needed to know about. Not about Dreykov or Melina or the Red Room. I’m sorry for even bringing it up, emotions are always heightened in the dreamscape.” You seemed to relax after Yelena nodded, accepting your apology. She was too confused to hold a grudge. Amusement flashed in your eyes and you sat up, holding your face in your hands as your elbows balanced on your knees. 

“By the way, who’s the woman who announced your team? I think I’ve seen her on the news but I was too focused on staring at her rather than learning her name.” You bit your lip, holding back a laugh as Yelena struggled to comprehend what you said, pure disgust painting her features. 

“Valentina?!” She exclaimed, looking at you like you had two heads. You snapped, pointing at her. 

“Yes! That’s it! Is she single?” 

Yelena choked on air, shaking her head while pretending to gag. Your face dropped slightly and you narrowed your eyes at her. 

“Are you homophobic? That would be crazy due to your haircut and your makeup and your general aesthetic-” 

“No! I’m not homophobic! I’m Valentina-phobic though.” 

You snorted, slapping your knee before once again looking serious. 

“Okay but is she single?” 

“Y/N! Gah, I think so? I don’t really care about her life that much.” 

You nodded to yourself, not to subtly fist pumping the air next to your hip. 

“This is great news, anyways, I think it’s time for you to wake up.” 

Yelena felt like the air had been grabbed from her lungs, reality hitting her. For a moment, she had imagined what life could have been like with you and Natasha as her sisters. Her heart grieved for the sister she lost and the one she never had. 

“What? No, it’s only been- it can’t have been longer than thirty minutes and you still haven’t explained everything.” 

Your smile was knowing and tired as you stood up, the air and room around you fading away. 

“I thought it would be easier if it felt like no time was passing. Sorry if it’s weird but you’ve definitely been asleep for a good eight hours,” your brow furrowed and you cocked your head to the side, “I think John Walker is making pancakes and Bob just asked for chocolate chips.” 

Yelena focused, only hearing faint words, like someone was speaking underwater. When she opened her eyes, you had left the spot you were standing. She turned around quickly, seeing you open the front door, the outside an endless light. You waved goodbye, your expression telling her this wouldn’t be the last time she’d see you. 

“Next time, we talk in person,” You promised, like it was written in the book of fate, “and maybe I’ll even find out for myself if Valentina is single.” Your laugh echoed as you left the room, influenced by Yelena exclamation of disgust. 

As the dream fell apart and Yelena found herself waking up to the smell of fresh pancakes and coffee, there was a pit in her stomach. 

Something was coming and you were the herald.

a/n: hi please don't hate this i have so many ideas. im also going back to my bestie!yelena Drabble/fic series bc i love it so much and thunderbolts has given my brain the kick it needed.

[nrilliree]

"If character X was a man, you would love her, but she's a woman, so you blame her!!!11 And that's blah blah blah..."

Anonymous just made me realize why I hate the character of Wanda Maximoff in the MCU so much. Because she's the Alicent Hightower of the Marvel universe!

1. Fans of both characters think that because something bad happened to them in their youth, they deserve to be called eternal victims and all the bad things they do should be justified. Because they are THE victims. And of course, fans don't see their guilt, only the men - Viserys, Larys, Tony, Stephen...

2. Both consider themselves morally right when they hurt and sentence to death people around them, because they think they deserve something. Whether it's fictional children from the Sims game in Westwiew, or a throne that never belonged to them. Alicent is guilty of the deaths of the Strongs, the lords in the Red Keep, of starting the Civil War that led to the slaughter of entire family, but so what? After all, her rapist son should sit on the throne belonging to Rhaenyra, because Alicent deserves it. It's exactly the same with Wanda - people in Westwiew were tortured, mentally raped and so traumatized that thousands left the city, Wanda from another dimension was turned into a murderer by mental rape, and dozens of people defending a 14-year-old from death were murdered? So what, after all, Wanda deserves it. After all, they are victims of evil men!

3. Both are infantilized by their fans, who pretend that Alicent did not know that the Civil War would break out, and Wanda did not know what would happen when she read the Darkhold. These are adult women aware of their (bad) choices, not children.

4. Defending these women's "feminism" while dragging other women through the mud. Alicent's fans call Rhaenyra a whore and at every turn belittle how Alicent made her life hell for her own selfish reasons. Same with Wanda's fans who spread hate towards Rebecca Kaplan (you know, the woman who was actually a mother and not just played at being one for 3 days) because Billy Kaplan thinks she's his real mother, or towards 14 year old America who had the nerve not to die for Wanda's happiness.

Thanks, anonymous from mailbox, now I hate Wanda even more <3!

[amarriageoftrueminds]

Hi. I'm somewhat confused about how the Winter Soldier's past is handled for Bucky in Thunderbolts. I mean, as part of his political campaign for Congress, his past had to be touched upon, and I think that's where Bucky's comment to Mel about if she claims to know him, she must know his history too comes from. And while I'm very glad that no one has rubbed Bucky's past in his face and openly criticized him for it (not even Val! that's saying a lot), I can't help but feel that Mel's “I know who you are” comments, and the other about whether "she's talking to Congressman Barnes or the Winter Soldier" feel like some sort of criticism. Because precisely, if like many others, Mel knows Bucky's past (besides the information that was given publicly by Bucky now being a public figure but also by the information OXE has on him) she should know that the Winter Soldier's name is not accompanied by positive connotations because of course it's tied to Hydra as their tool that was used to accomplish their purposes.

I've heard some people consider the fact that Bucky said that, unlike Mel, he didn't choose who he worked for, as groundbreaking, when in reality I think it's not much different than the way he has always acknowledged that he had no choice (the same thing he acknowledged as Steve in CW, and the same thing he said to Yori in TFATWS) but it's a line that is always accompanied by the unspoken words “but I did it”. Although I think compared to “Hydra was my people” from TFATWS that's a big improvement.

So while I think that, thankfully Bucky didn't face criticism and backlash for trying to make the Winter Soldier look like an innately bad/corrupt part of him, I think it's still handled with a certain wariness so to speak...

I would love to know your opinion. And sorry for the long ask xd

@buckydeservesthebest

Yh, I can't really speak on this much as I haven't seen the film, but characters continuing to refer to Bucky as the Winter Soldier is fucking annoying and inaccurate, and calling what he did 'working for' Hydra is still mischaracterizing it. (If that is a direct quote; but even if they used the phrase 'did for' or whatever, that's still missing the most crucial point.)

He didn't work for them, he was enslaved by them. They may as well be paraphrasing that Thor: Ragnarok line. 'Oh, he wasn't a slave, he was a 'prisoner with a 'job.'

Not much better than calling Hydra 'his people,' IMO!

And the Winter Soldier being framed as a part of Bucky, a corrupt part, is a stupid retcon from TFATWS' writers who want to victim-blame/villainize him and were too lazy to watch the movies. Absolute bollocks.

(That line should be 'Congressman Barnes or Bucky Barnes', because those are the only two fuckn options. Although CACW also has Steve saying similar stupid shit; you could already see them beginning to turn on Bucky, even then!)

I've said it elsewhere, but the Soldier is not a part of Bucky; it's the absence of Bucky. No personality, no memories, no capacity to have morals because of said lack. It's a blank void that can be ordered to act in anyway you want. (Which you'd think they'd pick up on in a film that has Bob in it, but oh well!)

The Soldier was an automaton with a good man trapped inside; the source of that metallic scream which made CATWS's soundtrack (why else would he be screaming, if this was always a part of him? wouldn't it be a metallic laugh, instead? if this was a part of him, why wouldn't he retain his personality? It's important not to mix comics and MCU here!)

It was not some Evil sub-personality that was always alive inside Bucky and just waiting to come out under the right stressors.

To use a fantasy analogy...

You could say that Bucky is not a werewolf; but the Winter Soldier is a zombie.

That's it. The Winter Soldier is the zombie of Bucky Barnes.

Imagine Hydra had Steve bitten by a zombie and turned into a zombie, Hydra made him do some zombie stuff, but then he got cured and turned back to normal.

Now, you might look at Zombie!Steve and say 'that's Steve,' but you wouldn't look at completely sane and normal Cured!Steve and say 'he's a Zombie.'

But we've got this situation where Bucky has been cured of his zombiedom and got his mind back and everything, to the point where he can even become an elected official (!)

And yet characters are still coming up to him like 'omg am am I talking to Bucky Barnes or ...The Zombie??' 👀

Bitch do you see him eating brains? Is he stumbling around and visibly rotting? No?? Then stfu then! 🤬