#But Evil Wolverine FORCES situations on people

[completeoveranalysis]

[8]

Ok Evil Wolverine what do you have to say. 

Oh. 

No Evil Wolverine is full of shit. 

But I think you can see an interesting side of him here that I’m not sure has been on display before. Usually he narrates about how great his plan is or how angry he is that his plan isn’t working, but here he’s talking about something entirely different. He’s watching Lava Lamp make these choices and he seems THRILLED that making the decisions he is. 

I don’t know if he has Plans for Lava Lamp (he was originally meant to be killed by Fai after all), but lacking any future knowledge this scene is tacked onto the moment where Lava Lamp FINALLY starts to be a bit less tragically alone by having the Tsubasa Family share his decision and the consequences of it. Evil Wolverine, in turn, is celebrating the fact that Lava Lamp is making the same type of decision that HE might make. 

So we effectively see Evil Wolverine himself ALSO take comfort in the idea that other people are like him. That they’re making the same decisions and facing the same consequences that he’s so focussed on. 

Even though it’s a bit of an evil monologue moment we’re accidentally privy to Evil Wolverine ALSO being so alone and isolated in his ruins and his plans that he’s visibly excited over any perceived similarity he has with someone else. He’s thrilled into monologuing over the PERCEPTION that Lava Lamp can make the same hard choices he does, that he’s willing to cause suffering to get what he wants. 

And it’s clearly not actually the same. Lava Lamp is torn up inside to the point that the Tsubasa Family were finally moved into realising that he ISN’T as calm and collected and unaffected as he pretends to be. Lava Lamp was emotionally devastated by the choice he made here and was willing to let it destroy him before the others saw this and stopped him. 

It’s a far cry from Evil Wolverine who feels nothing as he destroys the lives of thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people - endless worlds tossed into the tragedy pyre far beyond our ability to measure - for his own private goals. 

He’s also missing the Agency factor. Lava Lamp doesn’t REALLY have any choice here. He can’t ACTUALLY choose to stay here in this time loop and never ask any questions that deviate from the plot. The time loop was ending the second they arrived. In reality, they DIDN’T make this choice. It happened around them completely independent of anything they actually did on purpose. In reality, this was a choice that EVIL WOLVERINE made by forcing this reality on the people trapped in the time loop in the first place. NO-ONE ELSE did this. No-one else set this up or chose to be here or chose to end this. It’s all on him - the ENTIRE SERIES is on him. 

It’s all choices that he forced on other people from start to finish. So even though he’s really fond of the idea that "Lava Lamp made a hard choice here and this makes him just as selfish as Evil Wolverine", he is deluding himself. Not a single other person can really take the blame for these lives that he’s destroyed, no matter how much Evil Wolverine tries to convince himself that they might. 

The only real question I have is whether Evil Wolverine is telling himself this because he’s entirely delusional or if it’s out of emotional desperation, and he’s just that eager to have a connection with the people he watches all day every day. 

Evil Wolverine is developing his own little parasocial relationship here, delighting in the percieved brutality in people that doesn't really exist and using it to back up his own warped misinterpretation of reality.

It's all just a bit sad really.

[hollow-keys]

I think a lot of people don't get that superheroes don't often have the morality of online leftist. They will see Batman go guns bad. Donate to charity. No killing. And assume his anti killing rules are routed in leftist ideology.

This isn't true. He supports state sanctioned killing in many comics. He is anti-vigilante killing. And on occasion even against self defense killing.

In Batman #420 Bruce locks KG Beast in a storage room and leaves him there to either find a way to escape himself or die (not seeming to care which, honestly if I am remembering correctly leaning towards death) but in Batman #422 he condemns Judy Koslosky's self defense killing of a serial killer who had already killed her sister because she lured him into attempting to kill her by following him around and glaring at him. Both give the villains the opportunity to survive KG Beast has to escape and Karl just has to resist the temptation to try to murder a woman.

There is Batman: The Hill where he defends the GCPD killing a 14 year old with a gun as necessary but in Batman: Under the Hood he condemns the death of Captain Nazi. This isn't the most leftist character in the world. Leftists don't tend to be okay with cops killing kids but against killing Nazis. It tends to be the other way around. I read Batman: The Hill and I do think the cops used undue force and should have at least attempted deescalation in that situation.

There is a lot to say about the vague morals of the characters. Batman does a lot for charity but he definitely classist in a lot of his appearances. Characters can be complex and imperfect. Just because he cares about people in poverty doesn't mean he doesn't look down on them.

Also the whole 'violently beat people okay' and 'child sidekick okay' because genre convention while killing bad. It's like . . . killing is also present in superhero comics? Deadpool, Wolverine, Crimson Avenger, the Spectre . . . killing is also part of the genre. It has nuance to it. But heroes have killed at least on occasion since the very beginning.

Yes, you get it! People on here take "doesn't kill/believes in redemption" to be inherently proof of support of rehabilitative justice and leftism when... it isn't lol. I've yapped about superheroes and copaganda before here (I think it's a good post, I'm proud of it) so I'll try not to repeat myself too much but a conservative can believe in people's ability to change and not killing or whatever while still supporting the structures of the police and prisons, still believing that people should be arrested and serve time, even the rest of their lives. And that's what people don't get.

The word cop has been so twisted by this site that people use it to mean "anyone who judges me" or "anyone I don't like." It's used to describe individual behaviour the person has a problem with which ends up obfuscating the fact that a cop isn't defined by their personal ideology or what type of violence they commit, they're defined by the fact they commit violence to uphold the state's power. Their personal thoughts and opinions can make them worse, more violent and more oppressive, but personal opinions do not change what they are. Batman is a paramilitary state operative, not a radical leftist. I'm sorry.

And yeah the charity defense also misunderstands the point because conservatives donate to charity all the time. Charity is used by the rich to launder their reputations. They give a tiny fraction of their wealth back to the people so people don't question the rest of their wealth. Narratively, this works the same way so writers can go "See! He tries helping people via kindness but Gotham is innately corrupt and people just choose to be evil here so of course he has to dress up as a bat every night." Narratively, his charity exists so the writers can justify why he has to be Batman and to make him look better. If he really meant to help people with his money, he wouldn't be a billionaire anymore.

You're right about killing being present in the genre since since forever. Not as consistently as other things, but still present for sure. People defend violence they enjoy as "just part of the genre" but condemn violence they don't as bad and wrong.

I support hitting superheroes with the leftist beam but the fact of the matter is that most aren't in text and Batman even less so than others.

And you can dislike this. Batman is a character who's been through a million different incarnations and interpretations and you can latch on to more liberal, understanding incarnations or make up your own but you cannot defend main universe Bruce by pretending he's something he's not.

Thanks for the ask!

[positivelybeastly]

I feel like X-force Hank needs either a hug and some tea or a really rough fuck. Now mind you I haven’t got to that plot line yet so I could be wrong

"I require neither, what I require is your absolute silence."

So, the way I interpret X-Force Beast - and this is entirely my interpretation, by the way, mostly because I don't think there's much to analyse about Percy's version, he just does whatever's most evil and bloody at any juncture - is that what he would really need, what might actually fix him, is someone who's willing to just.

Convince him, to start caring about other people and himself again.

And it's hard, because he would immediately claim, I care about plenty of things, I care about the security of Krakoa, I care about keeping its denizens safe, but that neatly sidesteps the fact that he fucking loathes every single one of them.

In his view, every single person who lives on, benefits from, draws some enjoyment from, Krakoa, is an ungrateful bastard who owes him. Not just for X-Force, but for the miracle drugs. For the Legacy Virus cure. For helping keep the multiverse from imploding during New Avengers. For twenty long years of helping when he was asked, and, it's begun to feel like, never getting the same in return.

And every time they tell him they hate him, every time they sneer, he just gives them this look

because he doesn't care that they hate him. They hated him before he was like this, he knows so, you told him you hated him. You told him in the ways that actually matter.

You told him you were willing to hand him over to SHIELD for crimes against nature.

You told him that he should just get over his PTSD.

You told him that he should be grateful that you made the hard decisions that got him tortured.

You told him he was a deserter to his race.

You got him fired from the job he'd been wanting, teaching at Harvard University, for a full decade.

You hit him in the back with a lightning bolt because he didn't want to go to war.

You imprisoned him in a cage.

I can go on. There's plenty more examples.

Yes, he fucking hates every single last one of you. Because you told him you hated him, and he believed you, because you showed him.

Because, like, fuckin' Domino and Wolverine and whoever the fuck can say that Hank was always a fucking rotten apple, but this man had the fucking greatest capacity for kindness of any of the X-Men, he was able to show empathy for fucking Mister Sinister of all people, and you did this to him.

So, the rough fuck would probably physically satisfy him, but it wouldn't fix him. Not really. It doesn't convince him that his life is worth changing, it doesn't convince him that he's wrong to think that his body is a shell that his mind is the only useful part of it. It doesn't convince him that he's wrong that the X-Men have always hated him, always used him.

And a hug and a cup of tea also wouldn't work because he would regard it as a preamble to wanting something, because that's what it ALWAYS is. It's always walk up to Hank, demand a solution to something impossible, and walk away.

And they don't really care what it costs Hank to do that. Most of the time, it's probably not that tricky for him to do, he's a fucking mega genius, but then there are the ones where you look at him, and you have to ask him to do something that he really doesn't want to fucking do, because he is, at his heart, a gentle man who doesn't like to hurt people, and you keep. Putting. Him. In. These. Situations.

Of course he fucking snapped. Of course he fucking lost it. Of course he doesn't trust you. Who ever thinks, hmm, you know what, I should check up on Hank, he's probably not doing so hot?

He'll be fiiiiiiiiiine. Hank's always fiiiiiiiiiine.

Except for when he really isn't.

So, what does he need? What could fix him?

Someone who doesn't have a history of needing his help, perhaps.

Someone who doesn't judge him for what he's done.

Someone who thinks the world of him.

Someone who genuinely cares for, and loves him.

Someone who can make him smile.

Someone who he feels comfortable telling everything.

Sound like someone you know?

[clawsofakiller]

Wolverine #49 Sabretooth War Spoilers alert and personal analysis

I am so so so sleepy rn so i can't use my byelingual skill to translate so here we go machine translation! I don't don't know what I'm talking just sleepy. I didn't take meds just sleepland lacks of me.

Try not to argue with me about my opinion as I would not have done the same to others, thank you very much.

Organize your thoughts.

Doug threw Sabretooth into his victims perspective extracted from his memories to make him feel the pain of his victims being beaten, tortured and abused by him, he thinks Sabretooth has been holding on to these memories because of guilty feeling and that guilt shows that there is still goodness in his heart. When he tries to talk therapy to tell him that everyone has a chance to be good, sabretooth laughs and says that he can't feel guilty at all and that he keeps remembering these memories just because they make him feel good, and he's proud of them, and he's so good his ego bursts up, and he says that, Douglas simply can't accept that there are just people who are born differently in the world, and that not every wounded child needs hugs and cookies, and that the evil he did is what hegenuinely wanted, and even if he were placed in the victims' situation, he couldn't understand their fear; he could only explain the feeling as physical: just a racing heartbeat. And their pain, even if experienced by him, only nourishes him.

This is the evil of man. If a tiger were to experience the pain of a deer, it would only feel anger and fear, it would think it was fighting and losing against another tiger, being killed and eaten, but Creed knows that he is dealing with himself, and his narcissism has reached the point where it is horrifying to watch, and he derives pleasure from his lurid image and deeds, even though he can practically feel the pain, and more than anything else, it is pride. He is proud of his overwhelming power, being in the position of the victim makes him more aware of his power, thus he is proud to be the abuser, the one who has the power to destroy others, he knows that being in the position of the victim is only temporary, he still has the chance to go back to his own body and continue his abuse, this is a complex emotion, it's a human emotion. This part I think is sexually suggestive, Creed absorbs the pain of his victims so his body shape becomes bigger and bigger and his power grows, according to psychoanalytic theory at this point he already has an erection(well obviously he enjoyed it so much) because of what he feels, combine this with the line where he says he feels his blood flowing, he feels vigorous, because the carnal feeling is the life force and is also the force of the libido, and at this moment his libido must be bursting at the seams! Until he breaks through the cocoon that binds him, which again is a metaphor for birth, he rips open the cocoon and is covered in mucus and, is reborn, but he rips open the mother's body and is born on his own, and instead of cries he is accompanied by a primal roar. Someone is born differently, Victor confronts his psychiatrist, Doug, and he says so. The text accompanying this panel is taken from Icelandic historian and poet Snorris Thurluson's Norwegian Kings' Saga, which describes Odin's berserkers, and I'll translate it roughly: (I'm sorry I translated those lines into Chinese and it doesn't look quite the same when translated back to English)Odin's men rushed forward without armor, they were fierce as dogs and wolves, they tore at shields, they were strong as brown bears and bison, they could kill their enemies with a single blow, and yet fire and iron couldn't hurt them a bit. This is called the Berserkergang.

I really like how this whole issue shows his psyche, it fits the definition of psychopath in psychiatry, how do they feel regret when they don't repent or have deep emotions, nor normal human emotions? If there was any possibility of getting better it was lost decades ago due to permanent frontal lobe damage in the X mansion. Everything is doomed. Being born as human without the possibility of being human, some people are destined to traumatise the world, they are like natural disasters, compounded by their causes, rare and unpredictable, even harder to stop, and bound to leave broken walls wherever they go. it's nature, it can't be changed.

And Camo died before sharp comment: Graydon and Victor are the same, Victor can not let go of Logan's obsession, Graydon can not let go of his father's obsession, they are not family, they simply have the same bad blood just! His family may have genetic mental illness, after all, chained his mutant children in the basement every day with pliers to pull teeth does not look like a normal person to do things.

[newx-menfan]

I haven't read Adventures in Babysitting. What exactly happened to Julian there?

During this time period- Julian was represented as “possibly going evil” in Mike Carey’s Legacy book.

Julian, while at Utopia, beat up Karima/ONE Sentinel when she was malfunctioning to save Hope and the others and gets labeled as a “bad apple” by Cyclops and Rogue. (Even though he later HELPS Rogue, but whatevs)

He more or less gets sent to Wolverine and the school (Cyclops and Wolverine were kind of beefing at the time), who also sees him as unstable and a future villain and Logan calls Laura to visit him.

Julian before all this had his arms blown off (by a sentinel!) and is pretty clearly showing signs of depression. When Laura arrives- his room looks a mess, there’s food all over the place, Logan basically said he’s isolating himself and acting antisocial, and it’s kind of obvious he’s not showering or taking care of himself.

Laura outright says his room smells gross and is acting really coldly to Julian, and Julian breaks the window in retaliation (Liu basically tries to code Julian as “abusive” through this arc, despite him never being written that way BEFORE 🙄…)- he apologizes then tries to explain and open up to her about his recent fight with Karima/ONE Sentinel and explain to her that her leaving without telling him really hurt him. In both this book and Legacy, it’s obvious that underneath everything- Julian DOES feel a bit guilty for putting Karima in a coma. It’s OBVIOUS he sees Laura as the one person who WOULD understand, because Laura has killed people AND (according to Laura) been ostracized because of it.

Julian was already abandoned by his parents and Emma- so it makes sense Laura leaving him during a hard time in his life, where he is struggling to adjust to being disabled…really upset him. Julian has been repeatedly shown before as being “there” for Laura- being her friend despite initially being scared of her, saving her life, encouraging her to not kill/go against her training, standing up for her when Surge was fighting with her over X-Force, ect..

While Julian is doing this- Laura more or less walks away to leave, not interested in talking…which at that point, my question is- why even bother coming to see him in the first place if you’re completely DONE with him as a friend and just don’t really care at all?!!! (Answer- because Liu had to find some way to destroy this relationship, and did it in a really out of character way!)

Julian blows up, apologizes, and then grabs her arm when she is walking away to leave. I fully agree with people who criticize the scene- obviously anger is NOT the way to handle things…

Gambit gets involved and starts threatening him- telling him he’ll blow off his legs to match his arms if Julian grabs Laura again…which seems kind of ableist and a terrible thing to say to a teenager who was recently traumatized…instead of just..I don’t know, deescalating the situation like most adults would….

Keep in mind, Gambit was represented as sympathetic along with Ororo and others FOR Laura, during HER depression and isolation from others in “The Killing Dream”…to the point of following her while she went on a road trip to “find herself”…and Laura’s done A LOT worse than Julian has (even though Laura was admittedly forced by others to kill)…

Julian later calls Laura to apologize while she’s babysitting Reed and Sue Richards kids, admitting he was out of line and asking if he can see her again.

A dragon pops up after the kids play with a temporal window (Laura’s a terrible babysitter!), AND Julian shows up thinking Laura and the kids are in danger and they get transported to a space junkyard.

Hellion apologies to a pissed Laura (which-this whole thing REALLY wasn’t his fault! It WAS an honest mistake) and Julian spends the whole time while searching for the kids trying to find out if Laura is returning to the school and what the status of their friendship is. (Liu tries to frame it as Julian doesn’t care about the children at all, which seems like total bull to me, considering what happens in the arc later 🙄)

Julian at one point asks her point blank if she’s disgusted by his limbs and if that’s why she suddenly seems to hate him…and Laura more or less avoids talking with him about any of this, brushing off his feelings of abandonment by telling him he’s imagining it (kinda gaslight-y 😬), saying she cares even though her words don’t match with her current actions, and accusing him of being jealous of Gambit (which is kind of understandable since Laura’s opinion of Hellion has drastically changed since “the Killing Dream” where she admitted she missed him and implied she had feelings for him….and the only difference has literally been her traveling WITH Gambit!)

Still, Laura almost kisses Julian, sending him even more MORE mixed signals….

They find the kids with the Collector- Laura saves the kids who are currently in space, Julian has a sweet moment where he says Laura, “is the bravest person he’s ever known” (oh Julian…this is NOT gonna end well for you!) and then gets his ass beat by the Collector while saving Laura and the kids, whose oxygen has been shut off.

They return the kids home and Julian helps clean up so the kids don’t get in trouble (yeah, Julian really doesn’t care about the kids at ALL Liu… 🙄) and then again tries to talk to Laura. Laura tells him “thank you for your help” and basically plans to walk out of his life completely again with no explanation.

Julian kisses her and tells her everything will be “different now”- Laura says “I know. Good bye Julian.” And again starts walking off.

Julian asks her, “What do you mean?” and Laura tells him there’s nothing between them anymore. Julian, hurt and upset, blows up and tells Laura she’s basically a robot (which WAS mean!) and Laura tells him she has feelings, just not for him.

Then Laura tells Gambit that’s not actually true- that she does care for Julian… 😵‍💫

Yeah. WHOLE LOT OF CHARACTER ASSASSINATION.

I actually would have been fine with representing Laura pushing Julian away in fear of being close to someone…

I would have been totally fine with it, if Laura had told him she had no ROMANTIC feelings for him but cared about him as a friend. (I know people argue that’s what Julian WANTED/was a douche about…but I disagree, I think really all Hellion wanted was a friend in that moment!)

I could have EVEN understood if the WHOLE point was that Julian needed to get in a better headspace before being in a relationship… (which is true!)

This was totally about Liu hating the NXM. She went OUT of her way to represent Surge as an asshole and bully in “the Killing Dream”, have Laura tell Jubilee that everyone “judged her” and that’s why she left (one person Laura!), and code Julian as abusive.

I know a lot of fans LOVE Liu (there were some things she did in this series that I enjoyed!) but I totally find her representation of male mental illness hypocritical and honestly- sexist. The only reason Julian gets zero sympathy from anyone despite showcasing pretty much the same signs of depression as Laura was, is because he’s male and it’s anger instead of sadness.

(Sorry for everyone whose heard this rant from me a million times over lol! 😂🤣)

[glapplebloom]

Sorry Snyder fans...

So someone made an article about how Deadpool and Wolverine proved that the Snyderverse could come back. But considering most of the sources were their own website and seem to be very Pro-Snyder, I get the feeling there is strong bias for this article. Because the situation that made Deadpool and Wolverine possible is not anywhere near similar to how the Snyderverse could come back.

20 Years of Difference

The person believes the fact Snipes and Reynolds could get back together could mean Snyder and WB could get together, especially since he’s working on a Pre-300 Series. But this is ignoring the fact the Snipes/Reynolds feud was almost 20 years old compared to the 3 between Snyder’s two WB projects. So while Snyder may be okay with coming back for 300, that does not mean he would want to come back to the Snyderverse.

Time is a big thing this person really doesn’t seem to understand since another thing they point out is how Blade and Electra’s last outings were bad and this movie brought them back. Keep in mind, almost 20 years for Snipes’ last Blade movie and almost 19 for Electra’s. The last DCEU Movie, the movies part of the Snyderverse, wasn’t even a year old. They had 4 movies in 2023, this is not the same thing.

This is not the same Wolverine

They point out that Hugh Jackman would be playing Wolverine for the last time in Logan, a movie that came out in 2017. Ignoring the time difference, they pointed out that like how Hugh Jackman returned to the role that could mean others could return to their roles. But there are two things to point out. First, technically he never said he was retiring from playing Wolverine. When you tend to see brackets, the person taking notes makes assumptions on what they meant. 

So when they heard Logan would be his last X-Men movie, they presumed he is retiring from playing the character. In this same interview, he said he would continue to play Wolverine if the MCU was involved. And guess what movie now has MCU implications? Which leads to the next point: this is not the same Wolverine he played for years. Logan was indeed the end of that character. This Wolverine has a completely different story.

While it most likely was similar, this Wolverine wasn’t really a team player. He wanted to be, but just didn’t want to seem like he did. Until one day, the X-Men were no more. Their deaths weighed heavily on his mind and he now has the suit they were offering him as a memento that he failed them. Between this story and having more references to classic X-Men comics that Fox wouldn’t or couldn’t do, this is a completely different Logan than what he last played.

Which means there is no real incentive for the actors to come back because if the idea was to bring back the Snyderverse, they’re going back to the roles that they probably had a bad experience with. Between the online detractors, behind the scenes issues, or one of them being an actual criminal, I see no reason for them to want to come back.

Justice League is not a Multiverse Story

They really seem to bank on the idea that the Multiverse being a thing would help the Snyderverse return, but that is not a good idea. First, we’re getting a new DC Universe in movies led by Gunn and Warner Brothers would need to focus on making those successful before trying to do the multiverse angle again. Especially after how Flash Bombed the idea. But the other idea is that we know what Snyder planned for the sequels, and they are not that good.

As seen here, basically Superman becomes evil, Batman leads a resistance force, time travel to fix that, and Darkseid’s forces Vs Earth’s forces where in the future it ends with Superman’s Powerless son becoming Batman. Like honestly, I don’t think people would like this if it did happen. 

In the end, ironically, Ben Kenobi probably said it best... “Let the past die.” James Gunn’s movie hasn’t even come out yet. We should at least wait before asking for the old universe back. Maybe fans of Snyder would enjoy what Gunn brings to the table. I hope I will.

[kurt-wagner-official]

Post #4: UXM issues 98-100

The Sentinels are back! The last couple issues have been cutting away to Steven Lang’s plot to revitalize the program, which he finally does here. But first, there’s a couple pages of the characters hanging out in the city. I love these scenes where the X-Men are just chilling; one of my favorite things about the Claremont run is how the story alternates between being very busy and absolutely nothing happening, something that a lot of writers don’t do as much as I’d like. Jean’s back with the group, and right now they’re just talking about how they love Christmas (except Logan, who’s standing off to the side brooding). This is also the first appearance of Amanda Sefton, who’ll be a very important character later, although here she’s just a girl flirting with Kurt. Unfortunately, the plot must continue, so the Sentinels show up to ruin everyone’s night. Clarermont’s getting much better at writing fight scenes, mainly because he’s learning to trust the artist enough to stop describing every movement. Speaking of which, I haven’t talked much yet about Dave Cockrum’s art. He’s an underrated artist; I don’t think these are the definitive looks for any of the characters, but his action scenes feel very alive and dynamic. Anyway, back to the story: the Sentinels kidnap Jean, Sean, and Logan and fly off to their satellite base. Meanwhile, Xavier is hanging out with Peter Corbeau, an astronaut who’s trying to help identify the solar system that Xavier is seeing in his dreams of Lilandra. They’re interrupted by a Sentinel who grabs Xavier and flies off. Back up in space, Lang gives his evil monologue to Jean about how bad mutants are and how he’s gonna save humanity by using Jean and Charles as bait to trap and kill the X-Men. Logan manages to break himself, Sean, and Jean out of their shackles, and they think they’re free until they break down the wall and find themselves in the vacuum of space.

Issue 99 picks up there with Sentinels saving them from suffocation by trapping them in energy spheres and bringing them back in. Back on Earth, Corbeau has gotten the X-Men onto a space shuttle so they can go rescue their friends. There’s a little backstory dump when Peter has a panic attack thinking about his brother Mikhail, a cosmonaut who “died” in a rocket explosion (not really, but that’s not revealed for another 20 years). He instinctively transforms to his metal form, destroying his space suit, so when, big surprise, they get to their destination and the Sentinels blow a hole in their ship, Corbeau is forced to crash into the satellite, getting them into its air supply but destroying their exit plan. Ororo is stranded outside, but she soon realizes she can control solar winds, which she uses to destroy the Sentinel sent to kill her. Side note- back in the 70s, most Marvel writers liked to put their characters in underdog scenarios against more powerful opponents, and I love that Claremont consistently does the opposite with Storm and makes her the MVP of every situation. He truly is Ororo’s biggest fanboy. Back inside, the others are fighting Sentinels. Claremont continues to find what makes his characters unique- this is the first fight where we see Kurt having fun and being flamboyant for the sake of it, and the first time he and Peter casually banter while destroying robots, which will happen a lot over the course of the series and make me happy every time. Storm rejoins them, and Cyclops and Corbeau go off to save Jean and Xavier while the others go rescue Wolverine and Banshee. Cyclops finds them with Lang and starts beating him up until he reveals his true evil plan- android replicas of the original X-Men to kill the new ones.

I don’t have much to say about issue 100. Most of it is devoted to the fight between the X-Men and the X-Sentinel imposters. The most notable thing to come from it is actually the first use of the phrase “fastball special,” which is the official name for Colossus throwing Wolverine at people. The X-Men are losing until Wolverine smells their enemies and realizes they’re robots, at which point the real X-Men stop holding back and rip them apart. Meanwhile, breaks free from his restraints and goes berserk on Lang. When he pauses to free Jean, Xavier, and Corbeau, Lang gets to a ship and tries to fly away, but his controls jam and he crashes into the wall. The X-Men return to their own ship, but there’s a hole in the cockpit and the autopilot is destroyed, meaning someone will have to manually pilot fully exposed to solar flares. Jean mentally takes Corbeau’s pilot knowledge so she can do it, hoping she can telekinetically protect herself, and then knocks out Scott so he can’t stop her from dying. She takes the ship through the flares, but as they get closer to Earth, her shields start to get overwhelmed by them...

Stray observation from this arc: a couple of ships are teased. The first is Logan’s love for Jean; years from now that plotline will be insufferable and overused, but right now it’s fine as just another wrinkle in the web of relationships. The second is Ororo and Peter. Claremont will end up dropping this ship before it goes anywhere, and weirdly doesn’t do end up doing that many stories with that pairing. They definitely have a very close friendship that I love, but looking at the core characters of the first half of Claremont’s run- Ororo, Kurt, Logan, Peter and Kitty- I feel like Ororo and Peter have the least explored one-on-one relationship of the group.

[lacrimosathedark]

Does Deadpool Collect Kids?

Here I am in Spideypool Hell, which results in me looking at the closest people to both of them. I sort of grew up with Spider-Man (video games, cartoons, and movies long before I ever touched a comic) so of course I’m looking at Deadpool first. Who doesn’t love new information? Treading old ground is boring!

(Also Spiderverse shit is confusing. So. Many. Spiders.)

And I came to the realization that Wade’s kind of...surrounded by kids.

Of course he has a kid (multiversely he has a few) but he’s close with more than just that kid.

So here is what I think of as Wade Wilson’s Pseudo-Family aka Kids Who Put Up With His Shit. Be prepared for way too many pictures.

Eleanor Camacho

This adorable baby is Ellie. She’s eight-ish years old (maybe nine or ten now? comic book time is weird) and currently Wade’s only canon child in main continuity. Her whole situation is a bit complicated, but Wade loves her more than anything in the world. And actually, she was a lowkey fan of Deadpool before she knew he was her dad. She loves her dad and she even goes behind her foster mom’s back to try to get him to visit, said foster mom being SHIELD Agent Emily Preston. Wade has forgotten she exists (again) to protect her (AGAIN) but she watches news reports about him and actually interfered with a killing mission he had in a theme park her class happened to have a field trip to.

She’s a baby Spideypool shipper too.

Ellie is Wade’s weak spot, and he only tells people about her if he trusts them. The ones that come to mind are people he likes, namely Shiklah, Spidey, and Rogue, as well as two kids further down on this list. Wolverine and Captain America know too, but because they were part of the mission where he found out about her. Super Soldier team-up.

Also, here’s her in the future. She’s a badass.

I love her so much.

Warda Wilson

(Full disclosure, I did minor editing on this panel because this is the one image of her full body without her mask and they gave her pupils that she has in no other panels and it bothered me so I fixed it)

Wade’s daughter in the 2099 future with his ex-wife, succubus and monster queen Shiklah, and she goes by Deadpool. She had a vendetta against Wade at first for supposedly betraying Shiklah and held him captive. But Ellie rescued him, they cleared things up, and they work together as a family, all three of them, plus brain-ghost Preston.

Deathpool

Exclusive to the video game Marvel Strike Force, but she’s so neat I had to include her. Literally born from “the power of love” between Deadpool and Death, she takes over her mom’s job but is a total daddy’s girl; he trained her to wield weapons and be a quippy little shit, and until he was snapped by Thanos because he’s got issues, she’d visit him on occasion.

(She doesn’t have a canon “normal” name, but I like the name Evita Wilson. It rearranges the letter of the word “vitae” which is Latin for “life” and y’know irony. Plus Evita is the name of both a musical and a Madonna album and you cannot tell me Wade wouldn’t love that)

Itsy Bitsy

Not a friendly, but biologically his daughter (and Spidey’s) from Evil Science Shenanigans. Formerly Susan Mary, a play on “Mary Sue”. She calls both of them “daddy” and even wears a Spiderpool emblem shirt. She’s pretty extreme. Bloodthirsty. Wade actually had to stop Spidey from killing her because Peter was so scared of her and someone was messing with his head. He cut Wade’s head off to try to keep him from interfering. It was kinda nuts. Wade ended up doing what he thought was killing her to keep Spidey’s hands clean. She’s not gone though...

Master Matrix

Another Spideypool kid, no shit. A good one too! And a rare boy on this list! A robot of some type discovered by Richard and Mary Parker, so already hitting home for Peter. After a short villainous confusion after waking from stasis, he was basically taken under Spider-Man’s and Deadpool’s wings and called them both “Father”. The arc is literally officially titled “My Two Dads”. They act like his parent and it’s just *chefs kiss* It’s a whole thing. MM gives off weird vibes, but all in all, he just wants to help. He’s a good boy!

He even gets them to hug!

He then proceeds to send them on a bonding road trip with just...so much Spideypool. That’s where the “Why are you holding my hand?” “It helps me focus.” comes from. And so much fourth-wall breaking and writer interference. Spidey even plays along with Wade’s fourth-wall-breaking shenanigans even though he doesn’t believe it. It’s the best.

Now we move to ones who aren’t his kids!

Gwendolyne Poole

Gwenpool and Deadpool weren’t chummy at first; she didn’t read his book and thought he was too “lol memes”. But they actually got to be pretty friendly. They’re buddies now.

He helped Gwen when she was having an existential crisis and is currently the caretaker of her pet Jeff the Land Shark who is the cutest thing and I love him. He even dresses as Gwen once to make Jeff happy it’s adorable.

I also think he rocks Gwen’s look. He looks great.

Ellie Phimister

Everyone knows about Negasonic Teenage Warhead from the movies where they have that affectionate deadpan snark between them. When they first met, Wade’s group had been contracted to kidnap her. She evaded everyone else, but when met with Deadpool who literally tried to talk her into being kidnapped, she had a vision where he said he wouldn’t leave her behind, and she literally just surrenders.

When Wade finds out what is happening to his targets, he goes in to save her. She has a particular loyalty to Wade and sticks by him pretty much no matter what, but she gradually settles into that deadpan sarcasm.

She takes his nonsense with a straight face and doesn’t tolerate his bullshit. Or at least snarks right back at him.

She’s also one of the few who for sure know about the other Ellie, Eleanor, and looks out for her.

Gabrielle Kinney

A little unexpected, but adorable! Gabby Kinney, also known as Scout or Honey Badger, which is amazing. She don’t give a FUCK. She’s a clone of Laura Kinney, aka X-23 and Wolverine, who is another clone daughter of Logan/James/OG Wolverine. She and Wade bonded over their scars and they’re besties now.

There aren’t a whole lot of instances of Wade and Gabby together, but every SINGLE one is absolute gold. They’re so fucking CUTE. Prepare for so many panels.

Have you seen anything more precious? Best friends.

Evan Sabahnur

Formerly Kid Apocalypse, also known as Genesis. Long story, but pretty much explained in the above page. Wade in particular was determined to save him, as killing him didn’t sit right for some reason, and he was certain that despite everything, Evan was a good kid. When shit went down and Evan didn’t think he could return to the Academy, Wade took him in. Like, brought him to the home he bought across the street from Eleanor and the Prestons.

Wade even says he’ll never have a son, (this is before MM, but it’s funny cuz biologically and multiversely, he does only have daughters) but if he did he’d like him to be like Evan, which is hilarious to me. But that kinda makes what Wade says super sweet.

He also saves Ellie.

Haruka Hida

From Deadpool Samurai, she goes by Sakura-Spider and is a blatant Peter Parker rip-off. Literally she lives with her Aunt Mei and her Uncle Tsutomu which the kanji can also be read as Ben. No shit. The only real difference is the spider bit her on her face and it scarred, hence the spots under her eye. BUT she’s Deadpool’s partner in Japan and she’s super cute. Typical manga protag girl but what can you expect?

(Legit buy them they’re super fun and it’s worth it especially if you like manga it’s so dumb and I love it please buy it)

Neiro Aratabi

Another Deadpool: Samurai character. As said above, she’s an idol in Japan. She’s bonded to an amnesiac symbiote she calls Kage (in case you aren’t up on Japanese, it’s pronounce like “kah-gay” and it means shadow). They like chocolate. She doesn’t get a lot of screen time, but she’s happy being part of the team. She’s content as long as people think she’s cute, for, of course, over-dramatic very anime reasons.

That is ELEVEN CHILDREN. And I’m a newb, this might not even be all of the kids he’s close to!

For comparison, Bruce Wayne has SIX kids (Dick, Jason, Cass, Tim, Duke, and Damian). He has a few other pseudo-kids, Barbara Gordon, Stephanie Brown, and maybe Helena Bertinelli and Maps Mizoguchi, but like...dude.

I need everyone to know that Deadpool is good with kids.

[sabre-tooth]

Basement arc #Final

I don’t know how to express my full thoughts on the basement arc beyond sheer anger and pain and frustration and sadness.

Nowadays online, we sometimes see the slogan “if you can’t make your own neurotransmitters, store bought is fine.” The basement arc really shows how much that kind of stupid positivity really has to stand up against. The stigma against mental illness, and the stigma against treatment for mental illness beyond mere talk therapy, is massive. In the 1990s, when this story was written, the vast majority saw medication for mental illness an addictive crutch for moral weakness. A lot of people still feel the same way today, if they would say it out loud or not.

I don’t know what story the authors and editors of these issues of X-Men, Uncanny X-men, Wolverine, and X-force thought they were writing. Maybe they thought they were writing a story about a bunch of heroes who tried their hardest to help someone who just turned out to be a monster not worth saving. But that isn’t the story that they put on the page.

What they put on the page was the story of a deeply mentally ill victim of trauma and abuse seeking help after he’s no longer able to self-medicate. And the people who claim they are helping him: refuse to medicate him, declare him morally and emotionally weak, physically restrain and bind him, lock him in a prison cell, put him in a ‘soothing’ environment he has no connection to, dehumanize and treat him like an animal, ostracize anyone who doesn’t participate in his dehumanization, and ultimately wash their hands of him and send him to prison.

Things that bother me the most about the basement arc:

Sabretooth provides the X-men an actionable solution to suppress his killing urge that harms no one, and they refuse to participate from a condescending angle of moral superiority. This situation is strongly reminiscent of the stigma against mental health treatment and medication.

Charles Xavier acknowledges that Magneto’s crimes come from his trauma, but refuses to acknowledge Sabretooth’s history of abuse and trauma.

While Sabretooth is mentally incapacitated due to brain injury they literally dehumanize him and treat him like an animal while still claiming that he’s untrustworthy and evil.

The X-men/X-force stigmatize, ostracize and berate the only person who treats Sabretooth with sympathy; while the narrative acknowledges that Tabitha treats him with sympathy due to her own experience with abuse and trauma.

The X-men insist on confining Sabretooth in an unfamiliar and dehumanizing ‘soothing’ environment, despite Sabretooth expressing his discomfort toward and alienation from said environment.

Gambit deliberately taunting and retraumatizing mentally incapacitated Sabretooth with not only images of his past crimes, but also just generally terrible things he didn’t actually do.

The X-men finally give up on Sabretooth not because of anything he did or said, but because of violent thoughts in the privacy of his own mind. Violent thoughts that weren’t even directed at human beings, but rather toward the same animals that humans hunt and kill for food.

The X-men soothe their own egos when Sabretooth goes berserk and escapes by saying they ‘did all they could’, despite, as above, being presented with an actionable, harmless solution at the outset.

[completeoveranalysis]

[7]

Oh man I LOVE the tableau this scene is selling, with Yuuko and Kohane in matching but opposite garments, surrounded by the slow falling cherry blossoms, as Yuuko holds her hand out to Kohane and affirms that all the truths that she’s been avidly sticking to as her final promise WERE worthwhile and valuable and have actively turned the situation around for her. 

And yet it’s still fresh enough that when Yuuko mentions the truth she told about her mother, the memory still hurts Kohane and she looks down, breaking the gaze between them - but even so Yuuko continues to smile at her and explain further. 

And not to intentionally drag anything away from this scene, but I think this is such a CORE Yuuko moment. We see her gentleness, her care, the kindness in her - and also her role in the universe, so clearly. She states here that nothing can actually change the past - which is fine, because Kohane wasn’t trying to do that, and instead this is affirming that the choice to quell rumours is MUCH more achievable. But it also sets this moment as such a CLEAR opposite to Evil Wolverine and literally everything he has ever tried to do. The past cannot be changed - but that is what I assume he’s trying to do. He’s breaking the rules of the universe intentionally, manipulating layers upon layers of events so that everyone else pays the cost instead of himself - entirely selfish, entirely taking, actively against the threads of the universe itself. 

Yuuko works in tandem WITH the universe, upholding the rules and keeping everything in balance - entirely selfless, unable to do the things she truly wishes to do, acting as a neutral party even when she deeply cares for the people in stake, but even then, as we see here, she STILL CAN find ways to be kind, to show affection, to make sure people have the love they need, even while sticking to her role. She is so GOOD - but by her own design, and not by accident or by force. She is technically neutral, and very strictly so, but SHE HERSELF is always acting with care. She is a force of order, but with compassion and reason, and always moving on and moving towards healing when it’s deserved. Evil Wolverine is purely a selfish chaos, undoing all the rules he possibly can for his own goals, obsessed with undoing something that’s already happened - an unhealthy, destructive obsession, no matter the cost.

They are such stark contrasts to each other that I really think the plot itself is going to have to break the balance between them when things start to get really dire, and I’m already pre-emptively depressed over what this might mean for Yuuko. 

But coming back to this moment in particular, Kohane’s mother has all the same tendencies as Evil Wolverine - a destructive obsession with the past, trying to cause harm to correct events that can never actually be changed, uncaring of how much this hurts other people. She parallels him but on a much smaller scale, a more personal story, and even JUST with the story focussing on how much it hurts Kohane, it’s clear that the universe does not and could never reward this kind of obsession. Instead, what Yuuko is saying, and what Kohane wants, is to move on instead, to focus on the happiness you CAN have if you let go of obsession and appreciate the love you still have in life. Even when bad things happen, the only real way to exist is to grieve, slowly move on, and always move towards a purely personal happiness that only you can achieve for yourself. And that is the balance of the universe.

[gerec]

Ao3 Dirtybad Recs  

For @irelise​ - the second half of my dirtybad rec list! You can find the corresponding kinkmeme dirtybad rec list here.

Also, some shameless self promotion -  here’s my own series of dirtybadpornz aptly titled The Dirty Bad :D

There are 36 Ao3 recs here with the bulk under the cut. Lots of different pairings; all PWP; all dirtybad (obviously mind the warnings/tags). If you have a fave not on this list it might be because I felt it was dirty but not BAD enough to be considered dirtybadpornz. There’s also the chance it wasn’t to my taste; this is a personal rec list after all, and I make no claims to liking the same things you might like lol! Anyway I hope you find something here to enjoy!!! 

His Favorite Sin by dreamlittleyo

AU future fic, three years down the line. Charles finds himself cornered in one of Magneto's secret research facilities. Azazel can't keep his hands to himself.

Outside Upside Inside Down by Rubynye 

While waiting for Erik to come rescue Charles, Shaw and his Hellfire Club disport themselves. Then Erik finally arrives.

Drag Me On Down, Gladly I'll Follow by TehChou

Charles enjoys a night on the town and wakes in the bed of the stranger he met last night. He insists that nothing happened between them, but that doesn't stay true for long.

Erik fails miserably at not being jealous and when he finds out who the 'stranger' was, things come to a head.

Keys and Cages by orphan_account

When Charles and Raven are taken captive by King Shaw, they're separated and married off -- Charles to Shaw and Raven to Erik. There's nothing but the worst to assume of the man known as the Black King and his stoic right-hand.

Beneath Me by Magnetism_bind

Charles is a young lord staying at his family's estate for the summer. Erik is his family's stable-hand.

Hospitality by fatal_drum

In another world, Charles was forced from his home only to find a place by Sebastian Shaw's side as his trusted telepath and plaything. When Erik inevitably comes seeking revenge, Shaw decides to give him a taste of the benefits of being an evil overlord - starting with Charles. 

To Be Anywhere Else by helens78

Charles wakes up drugged, with Erik's boss demanding tribute. He gets it, even though Charles doesn't want to give it to him.

Play with Me by PoppyX

Teacher!Erik enjoys looking at jailbait!student!Charles and said boy enjoys making Erik look(fav of all fav kinks omg). Cue some resolved sexual tension and desk sex. Also, Charles sends porny notes hidden under his papers.

but everything looks better when the sun goes down by Coshledak 

It's become some unwritten rule that, if they should argue, Charles retreating to bed for the night is as figuratively a closed door as it is literally. The argument is over, at least until morning, and that's it. Erik doesn't know, precisely, how it was that this rule popped up, but he's been dealing with it for months.

Something Primal by zimothy (orphan_account)

Charles struggled to get out of his seat, hurrying to stand when the reality of the situation hit him. Erik Lehnsherr was his Alpha. Erik Lehnsherr was here to claim him. Erik Lehnsherr was going to do it in the middle of the classroom full of his peers.

At Any Time by musical_emjay

Strangers on a train. Things go as you might expect.

Treasure by professor

Knight Erik thinks he's going to slay the dragon and take the beast's treasure. He's very, very wrong about that.

He Ate My Heart (You Little Monster) by citizenjess (givehimonemore)

Erik decides to teach Emma a lesson about earning her keep in the Brotherhood. Set after "First Class."

The document title for this one is 'oh god did I really'. Says it all. by tahariel

“Erik seems to have got such a lot from you, Mr Xavier, that I thought it would be a shame for the rest of us not to have a try and see what other wonders your ass has in store for us,” says Shaw, just his lower legs and spit-shined shoes visible from Charles’ flattened position among the papers and pens of the desktop.

Secrets And Meetings by orphan_account

Logan comes to visit, and Charles gives into temptation as he too often does these days.

Xavier Bitch by Anonymous

Charles is unfortunately used to Kurt prostituting him out, but this time the client's dog wants in on the action too.

Broken by gregorin_greymalkin, twisted_id

AU from X-Men. Rogue doesn’t get captured at the railway station. Wolverine and Cyclops do. Toad tongues Cyclops while a tied-up Wolverine watches. Sabretooth makes everything worse. Major League non-con.

A Matter of Trust by a1_kitkat

Because there's a severe lack of X-Men:First Class Gangbang fics

Cocktail Party by Not_You

Alpha!Emma and Omega!Charles

The City is At War by theydonotmove

A non-powered High School AU, in which Charles and Erik are as obsessed with each other as they are with getting other people into bed.

Masterpiece by professor

An artist sculpts his finest creation.

Missed Connections by thatoldbroad

On a subway ride, a random stranger catches Charles's attention and from there his obsession begins.

Deep Cover by Subtilior

Omegas in heat? The perfect whores. Sebastian Shaw? The bastard who kidnaps them for his Hellfire Club. Erik Lehnsherr? A hard-boiled detective who's been on the Hellfire case for months. The catastrophe that unfolds when he goes in on retrieval and finds Charles Xavier still writhing in a Hellfire bed? .... Deep Cover.

Times Are Gone For Honest Men by citizenjess (givehimonemore)

"He used to cry, but Shaw won't draw it out too much if Charles doesn't show too much emotion."

It's Not Sharing If You Throw It In The River by tahariel 

Erik brings home a stranger to fuck Charles while he watches and gives instructions.

Does It Feel Like This When by helens78

Erik keeps everything -- body, mind -- under wraps, leaving Charles no choice but to find other outlets for his desires. When those desires cut a little too close to home, though, everything comes out into the open.

Barefoot Muse by velvetcadence

Prompt: "Charles is deaged to a small-sized nerdy looking kid/teen. Erik is fascinated and can't keep his hands off the soft smooth skin of this Charles. Charles obliges, trusting Erik blindly because Raven had told him that Erik is a close friend of his older self.

Beatus Vir by velvetcadence

Erik’s descent to hell began with a whisper, a breathy, “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.”

Sham by OffTheRocks

As they settle in Westchester, Erik finds out something disturbing about Charles' history in that house.

Charles is a clever child who wants to be a grown-up. Harry simply offers to teach him.

sugar milk and molasses by pearl_o

The first time Charles gets fucked, it's with Raven's cock.

Who's Come a-Knockin'? by ShadyQuiet

Logan follows his nose to the degraded remains of a pack in Westchester. Or to the omega there, more specifically. He doesn't count on the odd-ball co-dependent pair he comes across, or the unkempt and uncared for omega named Charles. Every man's got standards, even a wandering one like Logan, and Charles needs a bit of work before he's fit for the claiming.

That isn't about to stop the alpha from taking what's his though, with or without the help of Hank-wannabe-alpha-McCoy.

Run, Lottie by a_q

Inspired by a prompt in the meme (but not strictly fulfilling it) of going into heat while surrounded by fighting alphas. Charles as always-female!Charles, aka Charlotte.

Leave Me To Lay But Touch Me Deep by Synekdokee

David pulls out a chair and sits down, facing Charles. He beckons with his hand, a gesture so subtle and efficient it seems calculated, measured.

Or programmed, whispers the voice in Charles's head, but it's too fleeting for Charles to grasp. So Charles obeys, goes to stand next to David, his body swaying lightly as he struggles to keep his eyes open.

"In my lap," instructs David, guiding Charles with his hands until Charles is straddling him.

Cannot Fill The Chasm by Rubynye

"One of the boys... riding Erik while Charles gives them telepathic cues on what to do."

XMFC/DOFP Porn Battle Entry (2015) by Kernezelda

Prompt: Erik/fem!Charles, Shaw/Erik, Shaw/fem!Charles, pregnancy, pregnant sex, dub-con, captivity, anal

Eternal by Unforgotten

After being changed into a vampire, Charles goes home to change Raven into one too - but not before having a little fun with her, first.

[positivelybeastly]

I'm curious as to how much flack Percy gets in regards to his x-force and wolverine run.

This cap doesn't have anything to do with anything, I just find it funny.

So, in regards to Percy's writing of X-Force and Wolverine, I'm going mostly based off of Reddit and Tumblr for these general impressions, because these are the social networks I spend the most time on - minus Twitter, but Twitter is frankly always a cesspool, and people don't actually talk that much about X-Force or Wolverine on there, they talk primarily about X-Ladies.

Reddit actually just wrapped up a poll asking people to rank their least favourite Krakoa era books, and the results were. Interesting.

So, Immortal X-Men was voted the best, with Hellions and X-Men Red trailing in second and third place - well deserved, frankly, those are all really quite excellent books. But we're not here to talk about excellent books, we're here to talk about Ben Percy!

Both of Ben Percy's comics were ranked as being in the bottom third of all Krakoa era comics (not including mini series). That's. Not great, honestly. That's usually what you'd call an indicator of a not well loved comic book.

Now, that's not to say that these runs don't have their appreciators - for one thing, they are objectively drawn pretty much consistently gorgeously. For all the flack I personally give Percy, he is competent at creating interesting body horror situations. There's a firm fanbase that's quite invested in Omega Red's redemption arc.

But I don't think there are many people who actually love these comics.

For one thing, the pacing is glacial. They are the single longest running ongoings of the Krakoan era, bar none, both of them looking to hit #50 in an era where other series are getting cancelled or cut short at #10 or #18 - and they have only just started to wrap up their major plot points. Beast was established to be pure evil back in issue #9, and it took until Wolverine #35 for him to be acted upon in a meaningful manner. Colossus was established to be under mind control years ago, also, and that has only JUST NOW been resolved.

A common response to this criticism was that Ben Percy is a novelist, and therefore used to writing his stories in a certain format - to which I say, cool, but you're writing for comic books, motherfucker. Adapt your style. I don't turn up to a watercolour painting class with a can of spray paint.

Another point people like to bring up is that Percy got 'screwed' by the higher ups extending the Krakoan story arc due to Hickman leaving and the other X-writers deciding to stick around in this stage of the story for longer. The theory goes that he has a set end point, and he's had to stretch the story out to make it work.

To which I say, if he's had even more time than he was meant to have, why do we know less psychologically about Beast now than we did at the beginning of the series? Why are Sage and Omega Red and Domino all begging for table scraps of story? What the fuck was even the point of the Kraven arc? A good writer who is interested in their characters and what they can say about them relishes more time to have them talk, not less, especially if you're getting paid to write it.

How in the goddamn hell did we have a company wide crossover event featuring a godlike being that forced characters to be judged for their actions, motivations and philosophies, and we didn't hear a single thing about Beast or Omega Red?

You could also just? End the story? Would the world really be that much of a poorer place without the adamantium surfboard and the evil space Nazi prison that literally mattered so little that Beast got arrested for it, then turned up again next issue like nothing had happened?

Which leads me to my next point - Beast's descent into villainy, whether or not you think it makes sense with how the character has been treated this last decade, does not make a fucking lick of sense. Everyone on the goddamn island of Krakoa is a fucking moron because X-Force is happening and no-one is watching what obviously evil Bond villain Beast is doing.

Jean Grey is staring Beast in the face, telling him that she believes that she thinks there's still good in him, while he's mentally thinking about what dead animal carcass to throw to Wolverine to break his mind and spirit. SHE IS A FUCKING TELEPATH.

MAKE IT MAKE SENSE.

Nightcrawler says Beast is utterly unethical and he doesn't trust him. Won't talk to him, though. Or check in on him. Or act against him. Beast was running an evil space Nazi prison in orbit, got caught, got taken away in handcuffs, and just. Walks. Away. Scot free.

From the Quiet Council.

How. The FUCK. Did that meeting go?

I don't know, but we'll never see it!

And every time you bring these things up, even the X-Force defenders just kinda have to shrug their shoulders and go, look, dude, I'm just here for the rad art and to watch how far Beast is gonna go this issue. Every other run during this era makes a grand effort to be connected, for Krakoa to feel like a breathing, living island . . . except for X-Force and Wolverine. They all just kinda. Exist in their own little universe.

It's called the Percyverse, incidentally. Legitimately. There's a full on term for it, this effect is so well documented and has been an issue for so long.

So, on Reddit at least, there's a pretty common derision for these runs. Some defenders, but no-one is ever gonna say that they're their favourites of the era. Most people are just kinda like, ehh, it's fun pulp, don't think too hard about it.

On Tumblr . . . yeah, this is something I actually have some personal experience with. You see a lot of X-Force panels posted from major comic book blogs because they catch attention and get a lot of notes, especially if it's a 'Beast does something evil' panel because you inevitably get a flood of people in the comments going HEY WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS, but you wanna know what I pretty much never see?

Fan art.

Idk, maybe I'm looking in the wrong place for it, but there's no fanart, for X-Force. I've seen exactly one piece of fan art for war criminal Beast. Exactly one. I've seen more explicit porn depicting the PS5 and Nintendo Switch fucking in weird robot form than I have fanart of X-Force. Fanfics, also, are very thin on the ground - I've seen maybe five, six, maybe seven?

I actually have one of the higher rated (in terms of views and kudos) X-Force related fanfics on AO3 by virtue of the Irredeemable Beast following on from that plotline, and even then, most of my comments are from people saying, oh hey, it's nice to see Beast back to his proper characterisation again (which is really nice to see, I love that!). I've had one or two people say that they think Beast is still evil, in the context of my story, but . . . honestly, that's an audience I want to cultivate and challenge, so I don't mind that. But still.

That's. Not a lot of fan engagement.

Hell, to go back to the Reddit point - there was a thread a month or two back asking what everyone's favourite X-Force incarnation was, and most people picked Uncanny X-Force (Remender's) or the original 90s run. A few people picked the Utopia era run.

Pretty much no-one I saw picked the Krakoan era book. And I was checking. I was craving that validation. And oh boy I got validated.

There's just. Not a lot going on in these books that's going to foster a dying love in a fan for them, honestly. There's not a lot of in depth characterisation, there's no grander point to the story other than 'CIA bad (but if it were run by these good guy field operatives who understand the necessary evils rather than the stupid bureaucrats, it would be better'). It's just. A pulpy comic book with a lot of violence and a one-note villain.

Who's going to go to bat for that?

In terms of more official flack, well, it's bad form to bad mouth your co-workers, so you're not gonna see a lot of people directly telling Ben Percy he sucks, BUT.

You've seen these panels before, right?

. . . Guys, is this a joke?

And I don't mean, is this a badly produced panel that makes no sense, I don't mean, is this an insult to comic books, I don't mean, are you serious.

I . . . seriously kinda think that this panel is a joke.

Poking fun at X-Force.

Because X-Force Beast is the kind of boring psychopath who can only convey his argument through a PowerPoint. Like, that's a fucking meme. That's straight up a meme. That's the equivalent of, in this essay I will --

Now, this one is also pretty funny, but also . . .

If you were a comic book writer, and you were in charge of a comic book that was getting some fairly intense criticism about the fact that a 60 year old legacy character is being written as the worst villain this side of Charles Manson, and LITERALLY EVERYONE on the internet is screaming that this HAS to be Dark Beast because it literally just doesn't make sense . . . what would you ask editorial to do?

Would you, perhaps, ask that Dark Beast be shown on panel in a different writer's book, acknowledging Beast's evil? That would give you some legitimacy, wouldn't it? Although, that's - a pretty desperate move, isn't it . . .

Especially considering the writer of that book (Kieron Gillen) fucking loves writing Beast. Like, legitimately loves him. You can tell.

This is not dialogue you give to a character you dislike. This is dialogue you relish getting to write because it's fucking fun. This is you getting free licence to get as esoteric and as wild with your dialogue as you want because you're getting to write Beast today.

Beast is fun to write. The writers of the 90s animated show literally said he was their favourite character to give dialogue to because he's so goofy and weird and intellectual.

Not convinced?

This is the same writer, Kieron Gillen, from years and years later (S.W.OR.D was 2009, this book is from 2015).

This is why I think Kieron Gillen was digging at Percy there. Because he clearly loves this character, clearly really is invested in Beast and Abigail's relationship - they were BROKEN UP in normal comics by this point, and yet he went OUT OF HIS WAY to do this. To express a tenderness of feeling and a love and an affection for these characters that scans as genuine.

Hell, look at this.

Is . . . Gillen poking fun at the fact that this fairly important relationship was ended on a whim eight years ago and no-one knows why? Because that's kinda what this reads as to me?

When I met Kieron Gillen at a comics convention a few years ago, I got him to sign my copy of S.W.OR.D. He said, and I quote, that he was fairly certain he'd signed every copy of it ever made. We both kinda laughed, because yeah, that story sold like shit, but also . . . everyone who read it got it signed, huh? And you remember this little 5 issue mini-series that got cancelled well enough to make a joke about it not selling well, with a distinct vibe of, everyone who actually read it loved it, sigh.

Interesting.

It's also worth noting that Jed McKay, currently writing the Avengers, has said that he wished he could have Beast on the roster, but he couldn't. He went out of his way to say that in an official interview.

Interesting.

It's ALSO worth noting that both Grant Morrison and Jonathan Hickman, when asked about Beast at an anniversary livestream, said they didn't see Hank as the kind of character who should be a villain, but merely someone who got into bad situations and reacted like a human to it. Which is. Not something you'd say about X-Force Beast, is it.

Interesting.

Very interesting.

[sebastianshaw]

☕️ (House of M. More specifically his relationship to his teammates out of the field. Like Marrow)

I imagine that House of M Shaw is almost all Shaw’s better traits raised to the max, and his worse ones significantly lessened, but he also has flaws that 616 Shaw doesn’t have. For instance, he stopped Sentinel production when he found out he was a mutant, so unlike his 616 counterpart, he does have species loyalty. .  .but that’s not necessarily a good thing. He enforces King Magnus’s rule as director of SHIELD and the Red Guard, but we know that’s a rule which is unfair to humans. So unlike 616 Shaw, this is a Shaw who is loyal to mutantkind even at the expense of humans, but was ready to make anti-mutant death machines when he thought HE was a human. It’s clearly a VERY different mindset than 616 Shaw’s “whatever makes me money” attitude. Which, speaking of, I don’t think he’s greedy, certainly not to the extent his 616 self is. I mean, he stopped Sentinel production and helped Magneto to sabotage many of the Sentinels already on the market, even though these were making him money. And since he’s now working as SHIELD Director, it can be assumed he either gave up being the CEO of Shaw Industries, or is sacrificing a LOT of time in order to be SHIELD Director, and time is money. I’m sure the position pays well, but I very much doubt it’s on par with being the multi-billionaire that being a businessman made him. He’s very. .  .lawful. He literally is the head of law enforcement, the top of the chain of command. Early Shaw in 616 had some Lawful Evil traits, but I prefer to think of House of M Shaw as Lawful Good, since being Lawful Good in itself can be bad so long as that “bad” is what is the law, and I think that fits what I described about him enforcing a system that has unjust aspects. That said, the Good part still provides a lot of contrast to his 616 self. Speaking of---he’s the brave, calm, commanding, very strategic leader that we see him be in The Dark Phoenix Saga and Secret Empire. He’s not the most personable, buddy-buddy boss, but he’s only strict, not cruel, tolerating no nonsense but also looking after his people. He’s very by the book, which can make him seem stiff and like a stick in the mud, but also this means he does follows due process and respects the law even when it benefits the suspects/perpetrators. He keeps his team in line, which includes not letting them use undue force on a target, and if a suspect is cooperative, does not resist, etc., he will note that if he’s asked to testify regarding them. Very strict, very lawful, very fair---when he can be. He can’t mete out the law fairly when it comes to when the young princes causing trouble, for instance. He’s not a “father” to his squad and nor does he try to be, but he treats them with respect and I think Marrow appreciates that. They don’t WANT him trying to be their pal, they don’t WANT someone trying to be close to them, but they lowkey do think of him in a somewhat paternal sense because he is such a strong male authority figure, and they appreciate his fairness towards them, his equal treatment, the fact he does care for his squad’s safety but also doesn’t tolerate insubordination, etc. They can see he has guts and a strong sense of strategy, he gets things done, he keeps things in line, he doesn’t abuse those under him. Marrow respects these things and while they DO get out of line a good bit themselves, Shaw can typically pull them back in because of that respect. Shaw returns that respect. He knows he can count on Marrow and they’re good to have, even if they need a calming influence at times. But that’s fine---he’s got more than one firecracker on this team, after all. He doesn’t show them any favoritism, but I think he might feel just a bit towards them (and Rogue) due to being the youngest on the team. Again, he never oversteps the line into fatherliness, he’s not warm, but he looks out for his team, he looks out for them, while still having high expectations and expecting top performance---as he should, it’s a top team. No kid gloves, but no cruelty either. He appreciates what Marrow brings from a practical standpoint, and treats them like, well, a person, isn’t going to let them burn out or mess themselves up, also isn’t going to let them be overly aggressive with someone when it’s not necessary. He is far less informed about trans stuff than 616 Shaw, so he doesn’t get the they/them thing and thinks that when Marrow says they aren’t a man or woman, means they have some kind of intersex condition. Seeing as that would be impolite to inquire about, he doesn’t ask, and just goes with the pronouns. Marrow can do their job, and that’s all Shaw really is concerned about, not what’s in their pants. I kind of like the idea Shaw might have been the one to pull young Marrow out of the sewers. It might not work timeline wise depending when exactly Magneto took over, but I like the idea. The mutant massacre PROBABLY didn’t happen, but there might well have been SOME kind of SHIELD rescue mission he was involved in. It didn’t result in a deep father/child bond or anything, he’s not Wolverine, he didn’t take them in or raise them as his own, but they do remember him as scooping them up and getting them in a helicopter years ago before they grew up and joined SHIELD themselves, and they’ve never discussed it with him since he’s never brought it up either. In their day to day interactions, Marrow calls him Boss and Chief most of the time in a slightly-jokey way, and will push his limits without ever actually pushing past them. They’re amusing, even if Shaw does a very good job keeping stony-faced, not truly disrespectful, with a knack for getting into trouble. Several of the team have this knack too-- Rogue, Toad, Kurt, probably more---but Marrow’s is very much all their own. They’ve been on the surface for a lot longer if we go with the “pulled out of the sewers/danger by Shaw as a kid” route so they’re better adjusted to things but occasionally stuff still throws them for a loop and it does often fall to Shaw’s shoulders (or Logan’s but why should he get to be the only one?) to Explain the Thing. He has also definitely thrown them at people during combat before and THEY LOVE IT. They don’t interact OUTSIDE of work but that’s because Shaw keeps a very strong divide between work and home, and Marrow feels much the same. They don’t really have a home life to protect like he does, but they do keep people at a distance. They meet him outside the job once, with his family, and it gives them a very weird feeling. Partly is it’s just weird when you encounter people outside the sole role/situation you’re used to them in, like seeing a teacher outside school, because you have no idea what the rules for appropriate interaction are now, but also partly because they very much see Shaw as the leader of their group (which, he is) and seeing him with his family really makes it REAL that he has an entire other ‘group’ that he values and takes care of and it just makes them feel . . . strange, especially given their lack of a bio-family. They give him the cold shoulder for a few weeks after because they just don’t know how to deal, and if he notices, he doesn’t say it (he does, he is just letting it be) They also really like that he DOES bring in snacks for the squad and it’s always really good savory stuff, like authentic pork bao buns from Chinatown with an egg yolk in the middle. Overall they have a bond of mutual respect and while there is a power imbalance/hierarchy it’s one that he does not exploit or abuse, and he takes responsibility for them as much as command. They don’t get any closer than is professional, as befits him being all-business and them being guarded, but do look out for each other and get along well. 

[hannahstarshade]

Pride month has come and gone, but we are still here

Gif credit: @bisexualdonatello

I don’t talk about it very often (mostly because I am not officially out) but I’m bisexual. I am attracted to those who identify as my own gender (female) and those who identify as an opposing gender. It has taken a few years of rationalizing and actually sitting with myself to come to accept this. In fact, very recently I had contemplated the legitimacy of my sexuality again. This is due to a few things: I have never had a relationship of any kind, I live in a conservative community, and I am still learning about the terminology and culture that comes from the LGBTQA+ community as a whole. Popular media—visual media specifically—has been a great influence in this regard. The older I got, the more access I had. The more access I had, the more I was able to learn. I grew to have a better understanding of the world around me and could explain how and why the media I consumed resonated with me personally. It took a while, but this is how I got here:

Bi Awakening (Film)

It was the late 00′s when I saw Van Helsing for the first time. I was immediately hooked. It has all the things I loved and still love to this day: monsters, a gothic aesthetic, an anti-hero with a heart of gold, bad-ass women who are immaculately dressed and fight hard, and a tragic ending. I had always been interested in Hugh Jackman ever since I watched him play Wolverine in the X-Men films. This character was what did it for me. Van Helsing was brave yet troubled. He had a knack for fighting evil and finding good where others couldn’t see it. This is a character I would daydream about going on long adventures around the world with. After watching the movie several times, my eyes also followed Anna Valerious, played by Kate Beckinsale. She was determined and a fighter through and through. Her skills and her dedication to her family drew me in. I wanted to hug her and fight monsters by her side. Oh, and did I mention they were both highly attractive? Because they are, just look at them, oh my gosh!! I took a while, but I finally admitted to myself that I like both men and women. Despite never acting on these feelings, I felt content with the conclusion I’d come to. This went on for a few years. It wasn’t until this year that I started questioning it all again.

Bi Confusion (YouTube)

I’ve watched my fair share of ContraPoints videos. In her video Shame, Natalie explains how she came to the conclusion that she is a lesbian. Throughout the video she explains how she was in a heterosexual relationship that, while loving and nice, was not fulfilling. She brings up the topic of compulsory heterosexuality, the feelings some women experience due to the norms of our society. I went in search of the “Am I a Lesbian” article mentioned in the video and read through the whole thing in one sitting. I came away from it feeling like I had unlocked some secret. Maybe I had been confused and conditioned all this time. Often my fantasies with women are more detailed and complex than my fantasies with men. That must mean I'd been avoiding one and embracing the other, right? And since I’ve never been in any kind of relationship, maybe I’d just been conditioned to include men in the equation from the start and couldn’t let it go? I had been entertaining a man I’d met online and had felt the relationship was forced on my end. Maybe I’m just not into men? After much consideration, I decided to give the lesbian label a try. That sounds horrible in retrospect, but I did it. I said the word to myself in private. I thought about spending my life pursuing only women. I excluding men from my fantasies. That didn’t last long. It just didn’t fit me. I learned through that exercise that my feelings for one gender don’t outweigh my feelings for another gender. The reason my fantasies vary is because of limited experience, not lack of interest. The reason I cut things off with the guy I’d been speaking with wasn’t because I was a lesbian, but because we just worked better as friends. I wasn’t a lesbian. I had just overthought my feelings. I’m attracted to people, not just their genders.

Bi Confirmation (Video Games)

My first exposure to Resident Evil was through several LP’s on YouTube. I have managed to play through a few games myself, though. The past few years have been really good for the Resident Evil franchise, the most noteworthy additions being the remake editions of Resident Evil 2 & 3. Leon’s a bad-ass super cop who just wants to do the right thing. Claire is an amazing person who cares so much about the people closest to her. Jill’s the most OP character in Resident Evil and just wants to save the world. Carlos is a genuinely good guy who wants to help. These people are heroic, bad-ass, and hot? Excuse me, I need a minute...Basically, I want to be these characters and be with them. I can confidently say that I am bisexual. There are other fictional characters I can point to that I would say affirm my sexuality—Casey Jones and April O’Neil from TMNT, Diana Prince and Steve Trevor from Wonder Woman, Markus from Detroit: Become Human, Harley Quinn from Birds of Prey—but Resident Evil has the most characters I love in a single franchise. When I was questioning my sexuality, I looked at these video game characters I had come to like and realized there was no denying myself. It’s okay to like both. Both is good.

Bi Acceptance (TikTok)

In conclusion, sexuality is weird. You might think you’re a young straight when all of a sudden you realize you find both a dashing monster hunter and a beautiful cursed princess attractive. Then, years later, you might watch a YouTube video that has you questioning yourself all over again, only to realize you are who you though you were after playing a game about fighting zombies. Basically, visual media helped me discover myself. But that’s not the end of it. I’ve found myself on TikTok a lot since the pandemic started. It’s nice seeing people in the LGBTQA+ community having fun and making the most of a shitty situation. I rediscovered Sarah Schauer, which was a nice surprise. Come to find out, she’s bisexual too. Seeing this community band together in times like these has been a heartening experience. So many positive vibes. There may be people out there who say you should only like one or another, or that being in a heterosexual relationship diminishes your sexuality, but those people are wrong. The bottom line is that you cannot tailor how you feel to fit the expectations of others. This post is kind of weird and out of nowhere, and a little very self centered, but I had to get this off my chest. This will likely never be read by anyone. However, if you are reading this and you have had a similarly weird experience, know that you are not alone. You may have just realized your feelings, you may have known for a long time, or you may still be trying to figure things out. That’s okay. Your feelings are valid. Your experience is valid. You are valid.

TL;DR Whenever I am questioning my sexuality I remember Resident Evil and I am at peace. Also through all this I’ve learned I have a type: bad-ass hero with a kind heart.

[daresplaining]

What If? Daredevil Vs. Elektra

    I have been meaning to write a full post about this chilling alternate universe, and Halloween seemed like the perfect time to do so. With the success and popularity of Spider-Gwen’s Hand ninja Matt Murdock, it can be easy to forget that he is not the only one. The first story of a Matt whose life took a darker and more ninja-y path was told in the one-shot What If? Daredevil Vs. Elektra, which is a chilling tale of murder, regret, and painful memories that won’t stay buried. 

    The story is told from the point of view of Elektra Natchios, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who, in the midst of a successful career in espionage, is forced to face again a traumatic event from her past-- a hostage situation in college, in which her boyfriend tried to rescue her and was killed. 

[ID: A flashback to Columbia University, Elektra’s origin story. Cops outside a building shoot into an upper window.]

Cops: “They’re killing the hostages! Wait... what’s that? I can see something... Yeah, a clear shot, and I’m taking it...”

Elektra: “Matt!”

[ID: Young Matt Murdock gets shot multiple times. Young Elektra kneels on the floor, holding his body in her arms.]

    It’s a memory she has learned to live with, a little piece of trauma she has long since buried, but then, suddenly, people around her start dying. She and her fellow agents begin to investigate scenes of carnage, carried out with terrifying stealth and skill by an unknown enemy. 

[ID: The Kingpin’s office, chaos. The Kingpin sits at his desk while a ninja in red clothes and a devil mask fights Bullseye. The ninja slices Bullseye’s head off with his sword and then advances on the Kingpin.]

Elektra (off-panel): “His bodyguards slaughtered upfront, Fisk’s personal assassin... Poindexter... Bullseye... whatever they called him... was the Kingpin’s only prayer.”

    Elektra, horrified but still clueless about how this connects to her buried memory at this point, investigates further. Her character development is an interesting variation in this universe, which presents a fairly clear-cut role switch between she and Matt. Her experience in college was painful, and her career as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent has given her a fairly jaded view of life and people, but she has retained some of the optimism and naivete that was snuffed out in the 616 universe by her father’s death. Elektra wants to see justice done, even if the only people so far killed have been dangerous criminals. She asks around, and eventually finds a surprisingly informed old blind man in a bar. 

[ID: A bar. Stick is playing pool and talking to Elektra, who is dressed in a black coat and red head scarf.]

Stick: “Ever heard of the Hand?”

Elektra: “As in ‘talk to’?”

Stick: “You’re a barrel, too, y’know that? The Hand. Corrupted ninja order. Heirs to the Beast. Intent on infiltrating the empires of man. In other words-- one bad outfit. Their current leader, ‘the Advocate’, is a servant turned master. He uses a unique approach to taking out his foes. He finds a discontented underling, exploits their dissatisfaction, nurtures it into betrayal... then attacks from within.”

Elektra: “Very Hong Kong triple-feature, old man. How does it connect to Fisk’s murder?”

Stick: “The Kingpin’s lawyer. Talk to him. And while you’re at it, talk to your boss... he just might help you find another blind guy whose kung fu is better than yours...”

    It doesn’t take Elektra long to find the Kingpin’s lawyer, Foggy Nelson. She discovers him sitting alone in his apartment, a bitter shell of the Foggy we know in the 616 universe. Losing Matt hit him hard, and-- as is true in several other alternate universes as well-- sent his life into a tailspin. 

[ID: Flashbacks from Foggy’s life: in the library with Matt in college, Foggy sitting at a desk in the Kingpin’s office, a body (Ben Urich) with a bag over its head, Foggy defending the Kingpin in court.]

Foggy (off-panel): “The two of us had high hopes... aspirations. We were gonna open our own practice once we passed the bar... and change the world, or what little of it we could. Funny how life goes. After law school I could barely pay back my student loan. I was desperate for money. Fisk made me an offer I would have been an idiot to refuse. A six-figure retainer. When he was on trial a few years back for placing a hit on Bugle reporter Ben Urich... having an honest, decent man shot dead... body dumped like trash... I fought for his freedom like my life depended on it. Probably did. In the end, it was the judge who’d been bought, but I was party to it. My life had become a sick joke.”

    He is bitter with regret and disgusted by the person he has become. He admits to Elektra that he was the weak link in the Kingpin’s organization-- the person indirectly responsible for his murder. He also gives her the name of the man who did the deed-- the Advocate-- along with some terrifying news: that  his next target is S.H.I.E.L.D. Sure enough, ninjas attack one of the helicarriers shortly afterward, killing Nick Fury and many of Elektra’s other friends and co-workers. Elektra realizes what she is up against. She realizes who she is up against. The Hand have brought Matt back from the dead and turned him into a killer, and she has to do something about it. 

    Elektra returns to Stick. She trains with him, attempting to prepare herself to face the Hand. When Stick suddenly vanishes, Elektra takes things into her own hands. She takes the name Sai and forms the new Chaste (one of my favorite alternate universe teams). They prepare to attack the Hand at their home base, and finish things once and for all. 

[ID: Elektra, now dressed in her 616-verse red outfit, addresses a group of other heroes: this universe’s versions of Wolverine, Black Widow, Power Man, Iron Fist, Echo, and Silver Samurai.]

Elektra: “Our differences may be many, but we share common ground. Each of us has lost someone... something... to the Hand. We are now the Chaste. The only ones who can stand against them. This is how we go in...”

Caption: “Old names forsaken, each member of this new order of seven took on another one to signify rebirth-- Claw. Sting. Stone. Flame. Seer. Sword. Sai. Woe to the Devil and evil men.”

    This comic is relentless in its carnage, which feels exactly right for the flavor of the story it is telling. When the new Chaste storm the Hand’s headquarters, Elektra discovers that Stick is dead. Matt has killed his first teacher, and Elektra knows she is out of options. She has to stop Matt herself. 

[ID: In the Hand’s fortress. Elektra has discovered Stick’s severed head.]

Elektra: “Stick... teacher, I’m sorry... you were right. Time to grow up.”

    She seeks him out. Of course, he is expecting her. 

[ID: The Hand’s fortress. Elektra approaches Matt from behind. He is dressed in a red ninja outfit but without a mask. His eyes are an unnatural red. Elektra has her sai; Matt is holding a gun.]

Elektra: “I’m here to stop you.”

Matt: “From doing what? Bringing order to chaos? Imagine these widowmakers without my guidance. You’re still holding onto the ideals of youth. Your father raised you in a sheltered, protected bubble allowing you limited contact with the rest of the world. Clouded your thoughts with fairy tale notions of ‘good’ and ‘evil’. Isn’t that why you hate him? You know this world is a savage garden. Beauty in duality. Good and evil intertwine like copulating serpents. Indistinguishable. It’s not worth saving because there’s nothing to save.”

    Here, we see the other half of the role switch. Reanimated Matt is brainwashed, and that is part of it, but his words have the feeling of a deeply ingrained truth. His existence has been nothing but pain. An attempt at heroism cost him his life, and since he has been back, all he has seen is the worst of people. His words echo 616-verse Elektra’s mindset in the wake of her father’s murder-- that the world is a cold and uncaring place and all one can do is attempt to survive in it as best one can. And like 616 Matt in the equivalent situation, Elektra is horrified to see what has become of the hopeful, caring person she knew in college. 

    They fight, and Elektra realizes the inevitable-- there is no saving Matt. And she is Elektra, no matter the universe, and so finds the strength to do the deed. 

[ID: Elektra shoots a bullet past Matt’s head. He drops to his knees, his hands pressed to his ears in pain.]

Caption: “The gun is S.H.I.E.L.D. ordinance... with a built-in sonic disruptor. It sends the Advocate’s senses into overdrive.”

[ID: Elektra draws her sai and stabs him through the chest.]

[ID: Matt lies, dying, on the ground. His eyes now look normal. Elektra kneels beside him.]

Matt: “Elektra...?”

Elektra: “Matt...?”

Matt: “Terrorists... taken care of... you and... your father... safe?”

Elektra: “Yes, darling... we’re safe... we’re safe.”

    It’s a beautiful little one-shot, bloody and tragic and poetic as the best Elektra and Matt comics are. I’m sure I’ll discuss it again, but for now, I wanted to give it the attention it deserves as an important alternate universe story and a compelling re-exploration of Matt and Elektra’s relationship. 

[kurt-wagner-official]

X-Men 98-100

The Sentinels are back! The last couple issues have been cutting away to Steven Lang’s plot to revitalize the program, which he finally does here. But first, there’s a couple pages of the characters hanging out in the city. I love these scenes where the X-Men are just chilling; one of my favorite things about the Claremont run is how the story alternates between being very busy and absolutely nothing happening, something that a lot of writers don’t do as much as I’d like. Jean’s back with the group, and right now they’re just talking about how they love Christmas (except Logan, who’s standing off to the side brooding). This is also the first appearance of Amanda Sefton, who’ll be a very important character later, although here she’s just a girl flirting with Kurt. Unfortunately, the plot must continue, so the Sentinels show up to ruin everyone’s night. Clarermont’s getting much better at writing fight scenes, mainly because he’s learning to trust the artist enough to stop describing every movement. Speaking of which, I haven’t talked much yet about Dave Cockrum’s art. He’s an underrated artist; I don’t think these are the definitive looks for any of the characters, but his action scenes feel very alive and dynamic. Anyway, back to the story: the Sentinels kidnap Jean, Sean, and Logan and fly off to their satellite base. Meanwhile, Xavier is hanging out with Peter Corbeau, an astronaut who’s trying to help identify the solar system that Xavier is seeing in his dreams of Lilandra. They’re interrupted by a Sentinel who grabs Xavier and flies off. Back up in space, Lang gives his evil monologue to Jean about how bad mutants are and how he’s gonna save humanity by using Jean and Charles as bait to trap and kill the X-Men. Logan manages to break himself, Sean, and Jean out of their shackles, and they think they’re free until they break down the wall and find themselves in the vacuum of space.

Issue 99 picks up there with Sentinels saving them from suffocation by trapping them in energy spheres and bringing them back in. Back on Earth, Corbeau has gotten the X-Men onto a space shuttle so they can go rescue their friends. There’s a little backstory dump when Peter has a panic attack thinking about his brother Mikhail, a cosmonaut who “died” in a rocket explosion (not really, but that’s not revealed for another 20 years). He instinctively transforms to his metal form, destroying his space suit, so when, big surprise, they get to their destination and the Sentinels blow a hole in their ship, Corbeau is forced to crash into the satellite, getting them into its air supply but destroying their exit plan. Ororo is stranded outside, but she soon realizes she can control solar winds, which she uses to destroy the Sentinel sent to kill her. Side note- back in the 70s, most Marvel writers liked to put their characters in underdog scenarios against more powerful opponents, and I love that Claremont consistently does the opposite with Storm and makes her the MVP of every situation. He truly is Ororo’s biggest fanboy. Back inside, the others are fighting Sentinels. Claremont continues to find what makes his characters unique- this is the first fight where we see Kurt having fun and being flamboyant for the sake of it, and the first time he and Peter casually banter while destroying robots, which will happen a lot over the course of the series and make me happy every time. Storm rejoins them, and Cyclops and Corbeau go off to save Jean and Xavier while the others go rescue Wolverine and Banshee. Cyclops finds them with Lang and starts beating him up until he reveals his true evil plan- android replicas of the original X-Men to kill the new ones.

I don’t have much to say about issue 100. Most of it is devoted to the fight between the X-Men and the X-Sentinel imposters. The most notable thing to come from it is actually the first use of the phrase “fastball special,” which is the official name for Colossus throwing Wolverine at people. The X-Men are losing until Wolverine smells their enemies and realizes they’re robots, at which point the real X-Men stop holding back and rip them apart. Meanwhile, breaks free from his restraints and goes berserk on Lang. When he pauses to free Jean, Xavier, and Corbeau, Lang gets to a ship and tries to fly away, but his controls jam and he crashes into the wall. The X-Men return to their own ship, but there’s a hole in the cockpit and the autopilot is destroyed, meaning someone will have to manually pilot fully exposed to solar flares. Jean mentally takes Corbeau’s pilot knowledge so she can do it, hoping she can telekinetically protect herself, and then knocks out Scott so he can’t stop her from dying. She takes the ship through the flares, but as they get closer to Earth, her shields start to get overwhelmed by them...

Stray observation from this arc: a couple of ships are teased. The first is Logan’s love for Jean; years from now that plotline will be insufferable and overused, but right now it’s fine as just another wrinkle in the web of relationships. The second is Ororo and Peter. Claremont will end up dropping this ship before it goes anywhere, and weirdly doesn’t do end up doing that many stories with that pairing. They definitely have a very close friendship that I love, but looking at the core characters of the first half of Claremont’s run- Ororo, Kurt, Logan, Peter and Kitty- I feel like Ororo and Peter have the least explored one-on-one relationship of the group.