Tumgik
#I immediately thought of thor dark world when this scene happened!
superectojazzmage · 5 months
Text
Tumblr media
Of everything that happens in the new issue of Immortal Thor, this scene stands out the most to me as something I feel will be one of the most important scenes of both the issue and the run as a whole.
In the very beginning of gods, of Earth, of humanity, of stories, among the very first incarnations of the archetypes that Thor and Loki embody - the mighty warrior and the devious trickster - see each other and immediately get into a fight out of sheer revulsion of everything their twin stands for.
Good vs evil. Light vs dark. Order vs chaos. Brawn vs brain. Control vs freedom. Life vs death. Fate vs choice. Peace vs war. Mundanity vs magic. Law vs crime. Creation vs destruction. Love vs hate. And many more. Clashing opposites, battling for supremacy. A cycle of violence and debate passed down the generations, from father to son, mentor to student, predecessor to successor, and so on. Brother waging battle against brother just to prove a point, to fulfill their role in the story. An ideological blood feud applied to archetypes and titles and narratives. Trickling all the way down into it's present expression... Thor and Loki.
Tumblr media
Already it's clear that cycles of this sort are going to be a very large theme of Immortal Thor. The concept of recurrences and stories being retold over the years have been talked about a lot by the narrator. The comic goes to great lengths to draw attention to how Thor and his cast and, by extension, their own world in the form of comics are falling into patterns that transcend through time. And I feel that's going to be the crux of a great deal of the plot.
Loki hates the cycle. In their roles as both the goddess of stories and the god of mischief, they abhor stagnation and repetition. They want to be free of the roles "assigned" by the narrative. They want to be free of the debate, the never-ending battle of good and evil that ha destroyed their family time and again. Thor would want to be free of it too, if he realized he were part of it. But he struggles to do so. He's a rock in the sea of time. A god among mortals, a child of two worlds watching in confusion and grief as his human friends age and change and die around him while his divine brothers and sisters continue to stay the same. In this, they are trying to do what Gaea wanted to do but couldn't; to break the cycle.
Toranos and Utgard-Loki don't want to break the cycle. They ARE the cycle. Embodiments of the sins of the forefathers carrying down to their children. Representations of the archetypes of Thors and Lokis at their absolute worst, shorn of all true depth and compassion and true belief in their aspects in favor of continuing the godforsaken argument. Shades of the old festering in the blood of the young, infesting them with their baggage, holding them back from growing better, and lashing out at them when the new generations fail to meet the standards of the elders. And they may not even realize they're doing so.
This isn't the first time this theme has come up in Al Ewing's work.
Tumblr media
Immortal Hulk presents the conflict between the Hulk and his archenemy, the Leader, as a similar generational feud. Both in a literal familial sense (the Banner and Sterns families being divided and warring after Robert and Samuel Sterns turn on each other) and a larger ideological sense (people using the power of gamma for good or ill, going all the way to the first Hulk being born from a leader's selfish desire to misuse magic as a tool of conquest). Sometimes the thoughtful man is the hero, sometimes the brute is. But they always fight. Senselessly and pointlessly. And the Green Door and the horror it brings was only stopped... by breaking the cycle. By defying it. By Hulk choosing to never sink to Leader's level, or those of his predecessors, and instead choose to forgive.
And Ewing makes clear cycles and wars spanning centuries like this are common in the Marvel Universe. The Eternity Mask is passed down generations of men and women, always fighting for freedom against those who would deny it. Nick Fury passes his name and identity and role onto his son. There's always an Ant Man, inheriting their predecessor's problems, and there's always an Ultron, trying to claim dominion. Arakko and Krakoa alike are divided between those who hold to the old ways and those who seek new ways. Ebony and Ivory Kings do their work, from within and without. On and on, the wheels turn.
It even goes back to the very beginning. To prior multiverses. All tracing back to the first super battle, the first superhero and first supervillain - Lifebringer-One and Anti-All, the cosmic knight and the entropic dragon - fighting for the fate of the nascent world.
Tumblr media
Effectively, Ewing views and represents the narratives of superhero comics as we know them, as a sort of repeating song. The metatextual commentary is that all this has happened before and will happen again, because humanity will always dream of heroes battling monsters. There will always be a knight and a dragon. A warrior and a trickster. A superhero and a supervillain.
But he also acknowledges how this can go too far. How comics can fall into stagnating loops of repeating stories and stall status quos. Spider-Men being denied their stories because editors want to live in nostalgia instead of the now. X-Men getting their progress towards coexistence undone because writers can't handle change.
And this is all what Immortal Thor is about and will be about. The struggle for balance between opposites and extremes. Cyclical narratives and worlds. Ideas and stories being inherited and passed on. And all of it a commentary on comic books themselves and their history and role in culture.
It's brilliant stuff.
38 notes · View notes
lunarspiral1127 · 2 years
Text
*Thor: Love and Thunder SPOILERS*
Here's part 2 of my thoughts on this movie.
Stormbreaker is sentient in this movie like Mjolnir.....SINCE WHEN?!?! The weapon never showed signs of being sentient in Infinity War nor in Endgame, so why now in Love and Thunder is it sentient here?! I'll tell you why. It was for an unnecessary plot point of having the ax be jealous of the hammer cause Thor wanted to call Mjolnir and Thor has to talk to Stormbreaker to reassure it that the ax isn't getting replaced.....that's why! 🤦‍♀️
Jane being Mighty Thor was actually cool to see. I'm surprised that she can fight in that form cause I didn't think she had experience in combat. Must've been something granted by the hammer.
Speaking of the hammer, apparently Thor put an enchantment on Mjolnir to protect Jane when she needs it...oh okay! Apparently, Thor can do that. Maybe he wasn't aware he can do that, but I don't know.
Oh yeah, how the two broke up. It was a "Dear John" letter....I'm not kidding, Jane wrote a breakup letter to Thor and left. Y'know, I didn't mind learning how the two broke up, but there was a nice deleted scene in Thor: The Dark World with the two and it was more serious and emotional than the scene we got in Love and Thunder. I wish that was where the Thor and Jane broke up cause that came off more amicable than the official breakup.
There's a place called the Shadow Realm which is where Gorr is hiding with the kids he's taken. Now, there is a Shadow Realm in the comics, which contained the Soul Masters and I think Knull and the symbiotes reside there too, but I could be wrong with that. But, in the MCU, it's just a barren planet of infinite darkness. Everything's black and white, no color. Also, every time the Shadow Realm gets mentioned in this movie, I think of Yu-Gi-Oh! 😆
Russel Crowe as Zeus....oof....big oof. I don't know if it's because of the actor or if this is how Zeus is supposed to be portrayed in this movie, but Zeus was just....yeah. Well, they definitely set him off to be a future antagonist. And, he's an @$$hole here, which honestly shouldn't be a surprise cause he's an @$$hole in Greek mythology.....also a grapist (minus the g). His accent....I'm not sure if his accent was supposed to be a Greek accent, but it was something.
Where the hell are the other Greek gods? Where is Hera, Zeus' wife?! Cause I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be okay with her husband having a harem(?) with him during that meeting. Also, are those men and woman gods too or are they mortals? And, why did they let Valkyrie take the lightning bolt?! They just stood there and stared at Valkyrie, and one of the woman got a kiss on the hand. I shouldn't expect much from this movie, but I can't help but ask these questions.
Speaking of the kiss on the hand, that's basically all you get with Valkyrie interacting with another woman. If you're expecting to see more of her bisexuality in this movie, I'm sorry but that's not gonna happen. A kiss on the hand and her talking about her maidens is all you're gonna get. Also, Korg at end gets a husband named Dwayne (get it, cause he's made of rocks....hahaha) so he's gay. I think that's all the LGBTQ+ representation this movie has, or I may have missed some.
And now the elephant in the room, Thor accidentally being stripped by Zeus. Now, I don't mind fanservice, but I'm probably one of the few people that got weirded out from seeing this scene (once Chris Hemsworth's butt was exposed, I immediately looked away). I know there are those that'll love seeing Thor naked, but think about the circumstances that led to that. Thor was forced to be nude in front of a lot of gods and his ex and friends. Sure it was an accident, and later on Thor said that he didn't have a problem with it, but what if he did have a problem with it? What if he wasn't okay with it? It would've been bad if Thor wasn't okay with it if that's the case. I also hope that the actor was okay with filming that scene, btw. Anyway, what if it was Jane or Valkyrie that was forced to be stripped? I know more people would've been vocal if that happened to either female characters. Cause, we live in this double-standard world where it's fine to force male characters in those situations when it's not okay to have that happen to female characters. I personally think no one should be forced in noncon scenarios , whether be male, female, nonbinary, or genderfluid.
Speaking of Jane and Valkyrie, it's really messed up that they thought to wait to help Thor because they wanna ogle at Thor's nude body. Like, I get that Thor's hot, but come on! Again if the genders were swapped, people would be more vocal on why this is messed up.
Korg almost dies....honestly, I would be a bit sad, but I'd move on. It's fine if other people like Korg, I'm just kinda indifferent really.
Zeus didn't die from getting hit by his own lightning bolt. I don't know how he survived that, but he did. Guess it's cause he's a god and him being the God of Lightning wouldn't get killed by his own weapon. Would give a sense of irony though.
When Thor was talking via astral projection or something (courtesy of Axl I think), Valkyrie thought it'd be amusing to tickle his nose with her braid. This was just an unnecessary comedic moment, I think, cause he's trying to talk to the kids and it's a very important task, and Valkyrie's trying to interrupt him cause amusement.
Eternity, in the comics, Eternity was the embodiment of the Seventh Cosmos. Eternity was all that existed along the fabric of time across the entirety of the Multiverse, having been formed to ensure the boundlessness of creation. In Guardians of the Galaxy, it was mentioned that he was one of the four cosmic beings that created the Infinity stones. Here? He's a wishing macguffin. That's his purpose! Come to him? He'll grant you a wish! Well, at least they got his shape right, but that's it. Hell he doesn't even talk.
Speaking of wishes, I'm gonna have to assume that Thanos didn't know about Eternity. Cause if he did, he'd have to get something to summon the bifrost to get to Eternity and have his wish granted to wipe out half the universe. Would've saved a lot of time if he knew. Now, it seems to imply that Thor and Valkyrie heard of Eternity so that got me thinking....why didn't any of them suggest to find Eternity to wish everyone that got dusted away to come back?! Would've saved A LOT of time, time travel wouldn't have been invented, Black Widow and Iron Man wouldn't have died, a massive war wouldn't have broken out, and Captain America wouldn't have gone back to the past! Either those two didn't know, or did know but forgot about it. *sigh*
Anyway, that's it from part 2. Part 3 will be the last part.
50 notes · View notes
comfortzonequeen · 2 years
Text
Marvel's Infinity Six : The stones personified.
What if the Infinity Stones were actual people in the movie and not ...Rocks, Gems, Stones or whatever... Like they had human like bodies, physics and attributes.
I’m just saying.. they would have been under someone's protection or they would have kicked ass on their own like.... Just imagine ‘Infinity Six’ . Thanos would have had some serious trouble getting his hands on them and a lot of characters would be alive.
I could also say non-existent since the stone gave most of them their abilities but like.... They would have traveled a whole lot thought out the time, like go way back. 
Just imagine...
Captain America trying to save the Space stone (In human form of course) from Hydra in (Captain America : The first avenger 2011) then Carol Danvers befriending the Space stone (who has yet to be named) in (Captain Marvel 2019) after they had given her some of they’re power to save her life because she did not survive the blast (wink). Then, once again being rescued from Loki  in (Marvel’s The Avengers 2012) (and Clint lowkey not like them that much because the Mind stone ‘in human form’ did the whole mind control thing) then Thor stopping the Reality Gem from killing Jane in (Thor: The Dark World) of course it was just self defense because Jane got to close to her for the Gems liking and you know (WINK) shit got Real. Pun intended.
While all the way in Xandar or whatever... The Guardians of the Galaxy would have recruited the Power Stones as a Guardian as well because of their abilities.
(See how careful I'm being with the pronouns ?)
Cannot forget the Mind stone being controlled by Vision in (Avengers: Age of Ultron 2015) but that would be weird because that Stone it self gives Vision life but as we can see in WandaVision in the episode where Vision does not have the Mind Stone but still behaves like himself.
Of course there is Doctor Strange being thought how to work with the Time Stone in (Doctor Strange 2016) in Kamar-Taj. It can be like the Ancient One kept them there as one of the students because of how powerful they are, so when Doctor Strange comes along he immediately takes the Bearer of the Time Stone under his wing and they stay together. Of course Strange would be like the Time stones father or something like that since Strange doesn’t have any kids of his own. Sadly. But any who.
And what I thing would be the best part of all.... All Six of them reuniting in (Avengers: Infinity War under Thanos rule because they unfortunately don’t have a mind of their own. Mind stone would be deeply offended or not ? can’t say. But because he would use his ways of persuasion they would listen to him and wreck havoc on earth and eventually die in (Avengers: Endgame 2019) after the Avengers went back in time to get them.
It just came to my mind how the scene where Natasha sacrifices herself for the Soul Stone. Like it would not even be in the picture because the stone is personified so they can be bent at will. Or something like that. 
There you have it folks. Though, I think 70 to 75% of what happened in all those movies was possible because of the form of the stones... with them being actual stones and all that stuff (eye roll) but anyway. We are all free to dream, So please do. 
You guys let me know if a story about the stones (in human form) can be written. I would definitely pay for that.
1st person to come up with this Idea Y’all. No stealin’.
1 note · View note
zenon-karr · 3 years
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Thor and Bucky being desperate for help.....
101 notes · View notes
lokiondisneyplus · 3 years
Video
'Loki' takes over: Tom Hiddleston on his new TV series and a decade in the MCU
Ten years after Hiddleston first chose chaos in Thor, Marvel’s fan favorite God of Mischief is going even bigger with his time-bending Disney+ show.
Tom Hiddleston is Loki, and he is burdened with glorious purpose: After playing Thor's puckish brother for over a decade in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, no one understands the mercurial Asgardian God of Mischief as well as the actor. He can teach an entire seminar on Loki if given the opportunity — which he actually did during pre-production on his forthcoming Disney+ show. In conversation, Hiddleston quotes lines from his MCU debut, 2011's Thor, almost verbatim, and will playfully correct you if you mistakenly refer to Asgard's Rainbow Bridge as the Bifrost, which is the portal that connects Loki and Thor's homeworld to the Nine Realms, including Midgard, a.k.a. Earth. "Well, the Bifrost technically is the energy that runs through the bridge," he says with a smile. "But nine points to Gryffindor!" And when he shows up to the photo shoot for this very digital cover, he hops on a call with our photo editor to pitch ways the concept could be even more Loki, like incorporating the flourish the trickster does whenever magically conjuring something. The lasting impression is that playing Loki isn't just a paycheck.
"Rather than ownership, it's a sense of responsibility I feel to give my best every time and do the best I can because I feel so grateful to be a part of what Marvel Studios has created," the 40-year-old Brit tells EW over Zoom a few days after the shoot and a week out from Thor's 10th anniversary. "I just want to make sure I've honored that responsibility with the best that I can give and the most care and thought and energy."
After appearing in three Thor movies and three Avengers, Hiddleston is bringing that passion to his first solo Marvel project, Loki, the House of Ideas' third Disney+ series following the sitcom pastiche WandaVision and the topical The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Led by head writer Michael Waldron (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Heels), the six-episode drama sees Hiddleston's shapeshifting agent of chaos step out from behind his brother's shadow and into the spotlight for a timey-wimey, sci-fi adventure that aims to get to the bottom of who Loki really is. "I wanted to explore slightly more complex character questions," says Waldron. "It's not just good versus bad. Is anybody all good? Is anybody all bad? What makes a hero, a hero? A villain, a villain?"  
Even though Loki — who loves sowing mayhem with his illusion magic and shapeshifting, all with a major chip on his shoulder — has never been one for introspection, the idea of building an entire show around him was a no-brainer for Marvel. When asked why Loki was one of the studio's first Disney+ shows, Marvel president Kevin Feige replies matter-of-factly, "More Hiddleston, more Loki." First introduced as Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) envious brother in Kenneth Branagh's Thor, Loki went full Big Bad in 2012's The Avengers. That film cemented the impish rogue as one of the shared universe's fan favorites, thanks to Hiddleston's ability to make him deliciously villainous yet charismatic and, most importantly, empathetic. The character's popularity is one of the reasons he's managed to avoid death many times.
"He's been around for thousands of years. He had all sorts of adventures," says Feige. "Wanting to fill in the blanks and see much more of Loki's story [was] the initial desire [for the series]."
The Loki we meet on the show is not the one who fought the Avengers in 2012 and evolved into an antihero in Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok before meeting his demise at the hands of the mad titan Thanos (Josh Brolin) in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War. Instead, we'll be following a Loki from a branched timeline (a variant, if you will) after he stole the Tesseract following his thwarted New York invasion and escaped S.H.I.E.L.D. custody during the time heist featured in Avengers: Endgame. In other words, this Loki hasn't gone through any sort of redemption arc. He's still the charming yet petulant god who firmly believes he's destined to rule and has never gotten his due.
Premiering June 9, Loki begins with the Time Variance Authority — a bureaucratic organization tasked with safeguarding the proper flow of time — arresting the Loki Variant seen in Endgame because they want his help fixing all of the timeline problems he caused while on the run with the Tesseract. So there will be time travel, and a lot more of it than in Endgame. As Loki makes his way through his own procedural, he'll match wits with new characters including Owen Wilson's Agent Mobius, a brilliant TVA analyst, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw's Judge Renslayer. The question in early episodes is whether Loki will help them or take over.
"One of the things Kevin Feige led on was, 'I think we should find a way of exploring the parts of Loki that are independent of his relationship with Thor,' or see him in a duality or in relationship with others, which I thought was very exciting," says Hiddleston, who also serves as an executive producer on the show. "So the Odinson saga, that trilogy of films, still has its integrity, and we don't have to reopen it and retell it."
Yet, in order to understand where Loki is going, it's important to see where he came from.
Hiddleston can't believe how long he and Loki have been connected. "I've been playing this character for 11 years," he says. "Which is the first time I have said that sentence, I realize, and it [blows] my mind. I don't know what percentage that is exactly of my 40 years of being alive, but it's substantial."
His time as Loki actually goes a bit further back, to 2009 — a year after Robert Downey Jr. big banged the MCU into existence with Iron Man — when he auditioned for Thor. It's no secret that Hiddleston initially went in for the role of the titular God of Thunder, but Feige and director Kenneth Branagh thought his natural charm and flexibility as an actor made him better suited for the movie's damaged antagonist. "Tom gave you an impression that he could be ready for anything, performance-wise," says Branagh, who had previously worked with him on a West End revival of Checkov's Ivanov and the BBC series Wallander. "Tom has a wild imagination, so does Loki. He's got a mischievous sense of humor and he was ready to play. It felt like he had a star personality, but he was a team player."
Hiddleston fully immersed himself in the character. Outside of studying Loki's history in the Marvel Comics, he also researched how Loki and the Trickster God archetype appeared across mythology and different cultures. "He understood that he was already in something special [and] it was a special character in a special part of that early moment in the life of the Marvel universe where [he] also needed to step up in other ways," says Branagh, who was impressed by the emotional depth Hiddleston brought to the part, especially when it came to how isolated Loki felt in the Asgardian royal family.  
Tumblr media
There was a lot riding on that first Thor feature. For one, no one knew if audiences would immediately latch onto a Shakespearean superhero movie partially set on an alien planet populated by the Norse Gods of legend. Second, it was integral to Feige's plans for the shared universe. Loki was supposed to be the main villain in The Avengers, which would not only mirror how Earth's mightiest heroes joined forces in 1963's Avengers #1 but also give Thor a believable reason for teaming up with Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans), and the rest of the capes. Feige first clued Hiddleston into those larger plans when the actor was in L.A. before Thor started shooting.
"I was like, 'Excuse me?' Because he was already three, four steps ahead," says Hiddleston. "That took me a few minutes to process, because I didn't quite realize how it just suddenly had a scope. And being cast as Loki, I realized, was a very significant moment for me in my life, and was going to remain. The creative journey was going to be so exciting."
Hiddleston relished the opportunity to go full villain in Avengers, like in the scene where Loki ordered a crowd to kneel before him outside a German opera house: "It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation," says the Machiavellian god. "The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."
"I just knew that in the structure of that film, I had to lean into his role as a pure antagonist," Hiddleston recalls. "What I always found curious and complex about the way Loki is written in Avengers, is that his status as an antagonist comes from the same well of not belonging and being marginalized and isolated in the first Thor film. Loki now knows he has no place in Asgard."
Loki did find a place within the audience's hearts, though. Feige was "all in" on Hiddleston as his Loki from the beginning, but even he couldn't predict how much fans would love him. Feige recalls the reaction at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con: "Did we know that after he was the villain in two movies, he would be bringing thousands of people to their feet in Hall H, in costume, chanting his name? No, that was above and beyond the plan that we were hoping for and dreaming of." It was a dream Feige first got an inkling of a year earlier during the Avengers press tour when a Russian fan slipped past security, snuck into Mark Ruffalo's car, and asked the Hulk actor to give Hiddleston a piece of fan art she created. "That was one of the early signs there was much more happening with this quote-unquote villain."  
Despite that popularity, the plan was to kill Loki off in 2013's Thor: The Dark World, but the studio reversed course after test audiences refused to believe he actually died fighting the Dark Elves. Alas, he couldn't out-illusion death forever. After returning in Taika Waititi's colorful and idiosyncratic Thor: Ragnarok, Hiddleston's character perished for real in the opening moments of Infinity War. In typical Loki fashion, before Thanos crushed his windpipe, he delivered a defiant speech that indicated he'd finally made peace with the anger he felt toward his family.  
"It felt very, very final, and I thought, 'Okay, that's it. This is Loki's final bow and a conclusive end to the Odinson saga,'" says Hiddleston, who shot that well-earned death scene in 2017.  
But, though he didn't know it yet, the actor's MCU story was far from over.
Tumblr media
Credit: Charlie Gray for EW
When Hiddleston returned to film two scenes in Avengers: Endgame in 2017, he had no idea where Loki portaled off to after snatching the Tesseract. "Where'd he go? When does he go? How does he get there? These are all questions I remember asking on the day, and then not being given any answers," Hiddleston recalls. To be fair, it's likely the Powers That Be didn't necessarily have answers then. While Feige can't exactly recall when the writers' room for Endgame first devised Loki's escape sequence, he does know that setting up a future show wasn't the primary goal — because a Loki series wasn't on the horizon just yet.
"[That scene] was really more of a wrinkle so that one of the missions that the Avengers went on in Endgame could get screwed up and not go well, which is what required Cap and Tony to go further back in time to the '70s," says Feige. Soon after that, though, former Disney CEO Bob Iger approached Feige about producing content for the studio's forthcoming streaming service. "I think the notion that we had left this hanging loose end with Loki gave us the in for what a Loki series could be. So by the time [Endgame] came out, we did know where it was going."
As for Hiddleston, he didn't find out about the plans for a Loki show until spring 2018, a few weeks before Infinity War hit theaters. "I probably should not have been surprised, but I was," says the actor. "But only because Infinity War had felt so final."
Nevertheless, Hiddleston was excited about returning for his show. He was eager to explore Loki's powers, especially the shapeshifting, and what it meant that this disruptive figure still managed to find a seat beside the gods in mythology. "I love this idea [of] Loki's chaotic energy somehow being something we need. Even though, for all sorts of reasons, you don't know whether you can trust him. You don't know whether he's going to betray you. You don't why he's doing what he's doing," says Hiddleston. "If he's shapeshifting so often, does he even know who he is? And is he even interested in understanding who he is? Underneath all those masks, underneath the charm and the wit, which is kind of a defense anyway, does Loki have an authentic self? Is he introspective enough or brave enough to find out? I think all of those ideas are all in the series — ideas about identity, ideas about self-knowledge, self-acceptance, and the difficulty of it."
“The series will explore Loki's powers in a way they have not yet been explored, which is very, very exciting.”
The thing that truly sold Hiddleston on the show was Marvel's decision to include the Time Variance Authority, a move he describes as "the best idea that anybody had pertaining to the series." Feige and Loki executive producer Stephen Broussard had hoped to find a place for the TVA — an organization that debuted in 1986's Thor #372 and has appeared in She-Hulk and Fantastic Four stories — in the MCU for years, but the right opportunity never presented itself until Loki came along. "Putting Loki into his own procedural series became the eureka moment for the show," says Feige.  
The TVA's perspective on time and reality also tied into the themes that Waldron, Loki's head writer, was hoping to explore. "Loki is a character that's always reckoning with his own identity, and the TVA, by virtue of what they do, is uniquely suited to hold up a mirror to Loki and make him really confront who he is and who he was supposed to be," says Waldron. Hiddleston adds: "[That] was very exciting because in the other films, there was always something about Loki that was very controlled. He seemed to know exactly what the cards in his hand were and how he was going to play them…. And Loki versus the TVA is Loki out of control immediately, and in an environment in which he's completely behind the pace, out of his comfort zone, destabilized, and acting out."
To truly dig into who Loki is, the creative team had to learn from the man who knows him best: Hiddleston. "I got him to do a thing called Loki School when we first started," says director Kate Herron. "I asked him to basically talk through his 10 years of the MCU — from costumes to stunts, to emotionally how he felt in each movie. It was fantastic."
Hiddleston got something out of the Loki school, too. Owen Wilson both attended the class and interviewed Hiddleston afterward so that he could better understand Loki, as his character Mobius is supposed to be an expert on him. During their conversation, Wilson pointedly asked Hiddleston what he loved about playing the character.
"And I said, 'I think it's because he has so much range,'" says Hiddleston. "I remember saying this to him: 'On the 88 keys on the piano, he can play the twinkly light keys at the top. He can keep it witty and light, and he's the God of Mischief, but he can also go down to the other side and play the heavy keys. And he can play some really profound chords down there, which are about grief and betrayal and loss and heartbreak and jealousy and pride.'" Hiddleston recalls Wilson being moved by the description: "He said, 'I think I might say that in the show.' And it was such a brilliant insight for me into how open Owen is as an artist and a performer.'"
Tumblr media
Owen Wilson as Mobius and Tom Hiddleston as Loki in 'Loki.'| Credit: Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios
Everyone involved is particularly excited for audiences to see Hiddleston and Wilson's on-screen chemistry. "Mobius is not unlike Owen Wilson in that he's sort of nonplussed by the MCU," says Feige. "[Loki] is used to getting a reaction out of people, whether it's his brother or his father, or the other Avengers. He likes to be very flamboyant and theatrical. Mobius doesn't give him the reaction he's looking for. That leads to a very unique relationship that Loki's not used to."
As for the rest of the series, we know that Loki will be jumping around time and reality, but the creative team isn't keen on revealing when and where. "Every episode, we tried to take inspiration from different things," says Waldron, citing Blade Runner's noir aesthetic as one example.
"Part of the fun of the multiverse and playing with time is seeing other versions of characters, and other versions of the titular character in particular," says Feige, who also declined to confirm if Loki ties into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and/or other upcoming projects.
Making Loki was especially meaningful to Hiddleston because they shot most of it during the pandemic, in late 2020. "It will remain one of the absolute most intense, most rewarding experiences of my life," he says. "It's a series about time, and the value of time, and what time is worth, and I suppose what the experience of being alive is worth. And I don't quite know yet, and maybe I don't have perspective on it, if all the thinking and the reflecting that we did during the lockdown ended up in the series. But in some way, it must have because everything we make is a snapshot of where we were in our lives at that time."
While it remains to be seen what the future holds for Loki beyond this initial season, Hiddleston isn't preparing to put the character to bed yet. "I'm open to everything," he says. "I have said goodbye to the character. I've said hello to the character. I said goodbye to the character [again]. I've learned not to make assumptions, I suppose. I'm just grateful that I'm still here, and there are still new roads to explore."
Tumblr media
519 notes · View notes
wrenhyperfixates · 3 years
Text
Loki Series Thoughts—Glorious Purpose
Ok, I’m always nervous about posting my thoughts, but here we go. Spoilers ahead of course!!! (Disclaimer: Any gifs or images are not mine.)
Let’s start out with the episode’s name: Glorious Purpose. I know some people were a bit miffed about the emphasis put on the line, but I actually thought it worked well. It’s not so much that Loki actually believes in this “purpose,” but rather he is clinging to what he’s been told his purpose is. And by the end of the episode, he’s finally working through some of the things he’s been hurt by, abandoning what he’s been forced into and ready to be who he wants. Granted, it’s still going to take some time for him to come to grips with all that has happened, but I’m excited to see the journey.
The TVA. They undeniably suck. Whether or not it will be addressed directly, they are the (or one of the) antagonists in the show. What they are doing is, frankly, tyrannical. Three “time keepers” have taken it upon themselves to force countless versions of time and people into one single stream. And you know what? They can’t control that timeline. Not like they want to. As much as Loki’s line about “the weak” applies to himself, it applies to the TVA, too. It’s a facade of control that they cling to; if they truly had the right, the ability, to control time, everyone would follow their path. There would be no variants. Now, I could write a whole separate analysis on the MCU’s explanation of time travel. It’s convoluted and in a large way doesn’t make sense.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
I’d like to talk about Loki’s characterization. I am, in a word, relieved. From the trailers, Tom seemed to be over-acting, something rather strange for someone so good at conveying deep emotions through nuanced actions. Now I believe any exaggerated lines from the trailers are just Loki trying to separate himself from who he’s been told he is, and trying to reinvent himself. I don’t think that’s a bad thing either; they’re not rewriting Loki, he’s just growing in a new way. And though this way is “new” I think it will be similar to what we’ve seen before. From what we’ve seen so far, there is good continuity, and they are addressing things about Loki that should be addressed in canon.
Loki projects. Most notably in the Avengers, but also a bit in Thor 1 and The Dark World, a lot of Loki’s lines can be applied to himself, though he is talking generally or towards another group. What comes to mind is actually something he touches upon again in the series. The illusion of freedom. And though it is not said that line in particular is him thinking of himself, it can be inferred based on his admission that the line in the gifs above apply to him. Also that little gesture when he says “weak” breaks me. He’s hurting so much.
Loki is not a villain. He may think he’s one because everyone else is telling him that, yet we’re already seeing it brought up that it’s not true. I can only hope that we’ll see Loki state this himself later in the series. He was largely forced to do what he did. It is not his fault, so how can he be a villain?
Loki cares. Tom’s acting is just *chef’s kiss* Seeing his mother’s death hurts so much. I love that his first response is denial. Loki is thrown into something he’s never known about before, being shown things that, to his knowledge, have never happened. But then when he’s had a few seconds to wander around the TVA on his own terms, he’s more come to grips with all that’s going on. So, when he’s by himself and see’s Frigga lying there, dead, it gets to him. Then seeing Odin still call him his son, he feels the slightest glimmer of hope, but also regret; he already knows in the back of his mind that he’s not actually going to get that. Loki’s living from second to second, trying to hold on. He probably thinks this ends with his death. (I do have issues with that Odin scene in context of Ragnarok but that’s more a tangential aside, so I’ll gloss over it for now.) Then seeing Thor and himself acting like brothers again is heartwarming. So just when he’s feeling uplifted, Thanos comes into the picture. He realizes how much control the titan still had over his life; he never really escaped. And in the end, Thanos made good on his promise. And that is terrifying! And he laughs at it. It’s a sad sort of laugh, one that’s slightly crazed. Loki feels that no matter what he does, it ends in pain. By the end of seeing all that, he is a man broken. Rather, more broken than he already was.
Loki is struggling. That’s nothing profound; it’s obvious. But where it really stands out to me is actually in a part I originally thought to be out of character. I am referring to “What if I was a robot and I didn’t know it.” Upon closer inspection, I realize it’s actually that his perception of himself has been so thrown that he really isn’t sure about his own chemical makeup anymore. Odin and Frigga keeping from him that he’s a frost giant made him so unsure of himself, he thought he might not even be a living being.
Nervous tics. Was I the only one noticing his leg bouncing when he talked to Mobius? And what about that scene when he’s sitting on the steps? He begins to pick at his hands. Note, that’s something he did in T1 after finding out he was a frost giant and while confessing to the Warriors Four about how he was the one who told the guard of their trip to Jotunheim. Just a little detail I really appreciated. (If anyone has gifs of any of these things, feel free to share :)
Tumblr media
Mobius. I’ll be honest, I’m a bit undecided. I’m hesitant to say he’s evil. After all, we haven’t seen that much of him yet. However, I will say he is unscrupulous and manipulative. His questions weren’t to help Loki work through his trauma. Mobius was trying to goad him into helping, and likely was trying to gauge how much this Loki is like the variant he’s tracking. When Loki makes any admission of his feelings, it’s something he already knew, not a conclusion Mobius helped him reach. Mobius mocks him a bit and pushes his buttons because he sees Loki as a means to an end, and wants to know how easily he can get him to work with him. And what strikes me is how similar Mobius’s deal is to Thor’s deal in TDW. Thor doesn’t offer Loki freedom, he offers revenge. Mobius’s deal is just another variation of this. He can’t offer “salvation” but he can offer something “better”. Working for the TVA really isn’t better, though. So what does he mean? Well, I think he means a chance for Loki to prove he’s a hero. I hope as the show progresses it’s addressed that Loki doesn’t have to prove himself to anyone. That’s what he’s been doing his whole life, but I want Loki to see for himself that he doesn’t have to.
Tumblr media
Miss Minutes. Propaganda. Plain and simple, it’s propaganda. Besides the way it praises the “time keepers” as amazing saviors, necessary to keep the world in order, it’s essentially saying “don’t think for yourself.” The whole point of the video is “the time keepers are great. The TVA is flawless. Trust us to decide everything. You have no autonomy in the world we want, so surrender your free will. Submit to the system we’ve decided is perfect and everything will be just fine.” Of course, by “just fine” they mean the variant will be pruned and the timeline will keep going as the time keepers see fit. The animation style was great though! It really fit.
The infinity stones. I think their inclusion makes sense. If you remember from Endgame, the stones being in the right place in the right time keeps the timeline from branching, and thus prevents the multiverse from being created. Likely, the time keepers used the stones to make their “sacred timeline.” Naturally, any variant time stones would cause a problem. That’s why they have so many extras. But think about how pointless so much of what happened seems. Nat, Gamora, Vision, Tony, everyone who was snapped, everyone who was left. So, literally the entire universe was flipped upside down for paperweights. It really puts Thanos’s pursuit of the stones into perspective, doesn’t it?
The cloaked figure. I think there’s some misdirection going on here in one way or another. Mobius says he’s chasing a Loki variant, then immediately it cuts to a scene with the cloaked figure. Our minds are likely to assume that is the variant then. But they don’t actually say it’s Loki, so I’m inclined to believe it’s not. Though, I don’t have enough information to say who I do think it is, I could make a couple of educated guesses and say Mephisto (he certainly interacted with Loki in the comics, plus there’s the stained glass window) or Sylvie. Well, whoever Sophia Di Martino’s character is. I know she was previously listed as Sylvie on sources such as IMDb, but that has since disappeared. But why would you have a “young Sylvie” (Cailey Fleming) without an older version? There is speculation Di Martino’s character will be Lady Loki, but I hope this won’t happen. If they make Lady Loki her own character, I doubt we’ll see Variant Loki get to be fluid. Even if it’s confirmed on the record, it’d be nice to see actually happen beyond a piece of paper. And with twist villains being such a prominent force in modern media, I’m interested to see who our cloaked friend really is.
Time travel. Like I said earlier, this is a lot. But I can’t talk about the episode and not mention this aspect in at least a little more depth. I don’t like how the MCU deals with time travel. I think it’s an unnecessarily complicated mix of a number of different, already complicated theories. However, I think Loki will ultimately escape from the TVA and create a multiverse too difficult to prune (and maybe he’ll actually get to burn the place down too!) This will then tie directly into Doctor Strange 2. Do you guys know what that’s called? The Multiverse of Madness. Actually, in the Miss Minutes propaganda, they almost exactly say “will throw the multiverse into madness.” Will we get to (finally!) see a certain raven-haired god meeting Dr. Strange? And maybe even the Scarlet Witch herself? Well, I’m not sure, but right now I think it’s looking pretty good!
And some random things that didn’t really anywhere else:
Peggy is in the background?! My thought here is that Steve wasn’t supposed to stay with her. This made not only a Variant Steve, but also a Variant Peggy. We may not see Steve, but I bet he’s been taken care of too!! And who knows? Maybe there will be a cameo later. Otherwise, it might be something that was cut from the show, or just a fun easter egg of sorts.
The score was so good! It sets the mood perfectly.
Loki is a good fighter. Even if he’s overpowered, he finds a way.
Some of the humor didn’t land, but that might just be a personal thing.
So now my final thoughts. It’s their strongest pilot yet. So much emotion crammed into less than an hour. A lot of exposition, too, yet it didn’t feel tedious (Endgame I’m looking at you). And then we get to delve into Loki’s psyche, something that really appeals to me! Overall, 9/10. I hope the rest of the series is as good!
Did I miss anything? Was there something you were hoping I’d mention and didn’t? Or do you have something to add or (politely!) disagree with? I’d love to hear it all! Remember, fandom is a safe space to talk about, analyze, and debate about things you enjoy. My ask box is always open with anon on. Reblogs and comments are great too. Thanks!
Me after watching the episode:
Tumblr media
86 notes · View notes
popquizhot-shot · 3 years
Text
You’re not him Chapter 1
" Hey Casey, how're you doing?" you walk in and ask the receptionist.
"Hi L/n, nothing much, just  reporting in some standard violations nothing more." Casey replies in his enthusiastic way.
"Nice, where's Hunt?"
" Oh, she's just patrolling, Mobius is in court, and he asked me to hand you all your assignments for the week" he replies, handing you a file.
"Thanks Casey, go on, I'll see you at lunch." you say walking towards your office.
Loki's pov
( The dialogues are not correct, cuz I'm writing out of memory)
"What is this? This never even happened, more lies, tricks." Loki shouts at Mobius.
"Not yet, not to you" Mobius replies, fast forwarding to where Loki and Frigga are talking.
" Then am I not  your mother" Frigga asks
Breath shuddering, Loki says, "You are not."
Tears filling her eyes, she then chuckles humorlessly, " You're so perceptive about everyone but yourself."
Mobius continues, " And then the dark elves attack Asgard and you think you lead them to Thor, but instead you lead them to.."
He fast forward to Frigga, being stabbed by a dark elf as Loki watches on in horror, tears forming in his eyes.
"W-Where do you have her, where is she?"
"You lead 'em right to her." Mobius softly says.
"No! Yo-you're lying! It's not true!" Loki accuses.
They argue back and forth until Hunter B-15 came in and asked to talk to Mobius.
And during that time, Loki like the mischievous scamp he is, escapes.
~~
After completing a few of your assignments, you decided to head to the cafeteria and have some lunch. They did have some bomb salads.
On the way there, you suddenly saw a glimpse of blue that looked a lot like the tesseract from the corner of your eye. Turning to your right, you saw nothing. Putting it down to your imagination, you sighed and walked on when you bumped head-first into Hunter B-16, a good friend of yours.
"Hey Hunt! Where have you been?" you asked smiling
"Hi Y/n sorry can't talk, there's a rogue variant in the premises and I have to look for him!" She replied hurriedly.
"Oh! Well let me help you, who is it?" you replied suddenly becoming serious.
Hunter hesitated to speak.
"Ask Mobius Y/n, he'll explain everything."  she said before running down the hallway.
Confused, you headed down the hallway, but not before spotting a mop of very familiar raven hair heading towards Mobius's office.
Eye's widening you chased after the guy only to run into Casey and  couple of other agents.
"Wha-Casey! What happened? Why the hell is everyone rushing around?" you asked him.
"I don't know Y/n, there was this guy who came and threatened to turn me into a fish or something and he took that blue cube thing and ran away!"
" Blue cube thing-blue cube thing? Wait you mean the tesseract?" you urgently enquired.
"Yes! That's what the thing is called!" he says
" Oh my god." you say and start running towards Mobius's office, where you met Mobius outside.
" Mobius what's happening?" you ask him.
______
Loki was in Mobius's office, just managing to escape the agents when he saw it again, the view of his mother, cold and dead, because of him.
Shuffling in his seat, he reached forward and pressed the 'fast-forward button'.
The projector skipped to Odin, talking with him and Thor.
"I love you my sons" Odin said before disintegrating into a pile of stardust that floated above to the heavens.
Click.
Now it was Thor,
"Loki, I thought the world of you." Thor said," I thought we were going to fight side-by-side together."
The scene cut to the brothers, along with the hulk and a woman in a Valkyrie suit. There was another woman with (h/c) hair, who was walking close to Loki, her face wasn't clear, but he could see she was close to him.
Click.
Now it was focused on the woman, he couldn't see her face, she was turned away from him, again all he could see was her mop of hair. She seemed to be talking to future-him.
Loki, promise me you'll stay alive, don't be stupid." she said to him
"Darling, we both know there's nothing to worry about, Thor and Valkyrie have a plan, we're not going to die, and who knows? Maybe after this we can go back to Earth, you have missed your family."
"Loki, I'm looking out for you here ok? Please stay alive. I don't what I'd do without you, you're way to important to me...and to Thor."
"Love, don't worry" he said kissing her forehead gently as if calming her down.
" Don't be stupid, and yes, we will mostly be going there and I'm looking forward to having a cheeseburger so don't ruin it for me by dying!"
"Ok, I won't die." He said
"Promise"
"I promise I won't die" he said chuckling softly.
Loki couldn't believe it, after all this time, all his failed relationships, he found someone to love, someone who loved him back and he started crying, this time tears of happiness.
That all changed the moment he clicked again,
This time he was being choked, choked by the Titan who appeared in his nightmares, the reason he was in this mess.
The entire time, he could also hear the girl's heart-wrenching screams.
" You..w-will never....be ...a-a.......God..." Future him choked out blood streaming out if his ears and eyes, face a chalky white, all while Loki looked on in horror.
CRACK! Came that vomit-inducing sound, causing him to turn away.
Turning back he saw Thor and the girl crying onto his chest.
The girl was screaming and sobbing her poor heart out and Loki's heart broke for her.
The ship exploded and the file came to an end.
Loki sat there, too shocked to do anything, after everything was finally going good he died.
He then started laughing humorlessly.
Glorious Purpose indeed.
~~
"Mobius what's going on?" you ask urgently to the man who was looking a little worried.
"Y/n I'm going to need you to stay here, you know the person inside, and you can see him, after I talk to him." he said looking guilty. He knew how much Loki meant to you and he felt really bad for what he going to do, but he needed the variant's help.
"But who is he Mobius?" you ask him, eyes wide and breathing heavy.
"Y/n, I'll call you in five minutes." he said, walking swiftly inside and locking the door immediately so you couldn't come inside.
"Wait the doors locked- what the hell Mobius!" you shout and start to work on picking the lock.
~~
" I can't offer you redemption, but I can offer you a chance, there's a rogue variant killing all our minutemen." Mobius said.
" And you need the God of Mischief's help to catch him. Why?"
" Because the variant is you."
At that exact moment you managed to pick the lock and deciding to be a dramatic bitch, you kicked the doors open
and that's when you saw him.
Your eyes widened and your mouth dropped in shock, you were expecting it but it still didn't make it any less surprising.
God, he looked good, and he also looked younger, meaning....this was him from 2012, the guy who escaped.
And that meant-
" Who are you?" he asked.
Oh shit
57 notes · View notes
wolvesandpetals · 3 years
Text
Postscript. Part 3 of 3.
Loki x Sylvie "Our divorce never went through" Modern AU. Angst, Rated T.
Masterlist of my Sylki fanfics here.
---
Exactly three weeks later, Sylvie walks into his bar. Her eyes drift immediately to the counter, where she spots him bartending, and she gives him a little wave.
[[MORE]]
He waves back, dumbfounded, having no idea how to react when a scene from his dreams becomes reality. She makes her way through the crowd, and takes a seat on a stool in front of him. "One whiskey please."
"With water or something else?" He asks, trying his best to recollect himself and act professional.
She shrugs. "You already know how I like it."
He returns a moment later with her whiskey on the rocks, and she takes a long sip. The bar is busy, and he has to quickly turn his attention to the other customers.
She sits there quietly for the next two hours, watching him work, sipping her drinks, before the crowd thins and he can return his attention to her. "Hello again", she says with a grin.
"Hi." He answers with a low, nervous laugh. "How did you find this place?"
She shrugs. "You know I was always a good stalker."
"That, you were." He says with a grin, remembering the days in the college when she used to grab his phone and go through people's profiles to figure out little things about them. Blackmail Fodder, she used to call it. "So what brings you to my little corner?"
Sylvie knows that if it wasn't for the alcohol in her system from the three neat drinks she has downed, she wouldn't have the courage to say what she's about to say. "I wanted to see you again."
He feels his heart skip a beat. That treacherous thing never listens to logic when it comes to her. "Why?"
"Do I need a reason?" She asks, and orders another drink. He cuts her off, deciding she's drunk enough. He announces last call, intending to lock up early- he has already messed up at least a dozen drinks, and really, how can he focus when she's here?- and she clings to the stool, watching him close up.
He tugs on an ear nervously when it's just the two of them left inside. He has not been alone with her in an extremely long time, and he can feel his body starting to betray him, as he starts noticing how incredible she looks in her skin tight jeans and top, the outfit clearly a deliberate decision on her part. "Let me call you a cab."
"No." She protests immediately, struggling to stand up. He rushes to her side and offers her support, and she steadies herself with a hand on his shoulder. "I'm okay, I'm okay."
"Yes, clearly." He says sarcastically. He reaches for the phone in his pocket, then wonders if it's safe to leave her alone in a cab in her current state.
A very bad idea occurs to him then, one that every single one of his friends and family would scold him for if they knew. "Come with me." He urges her gently, and she follows without a question.
He takes her to his apartment upstairs, and leads her to his room, the one place where nobody except him is allowed- not his family, or friends, or the rare dates he brings over.
She stumbles inside, and the first thing she notices is the photo on his nightstand.
"Shit." He realises his mistake too late.
Sylvie stills for a moment, before walking over unsteadily and taking the photo in her hands. It's one from their honeymoon. They couldn't afford a fancy place, and had decided to take a staycation instead. It's a picture of them in their old apartment, on their old couch, sipping on coffee in their old mugs. She runs her fingers over the glass and the wooden frame, searching for the warmth that resonated in her heart during those days. "Do you still have the mugs?"
"I did, for a while... But they eventually broke." He tells her guiltily.
She can picture him smashing them into pieces out of rage, and she can picture him accidentally dropping them on the floor and being anguished over it. She's not sure which one actually happened.
"You didn't ask for anything in the divorce." He points out. Then a dark thought occurs to him. "Do you want something now?"
She blinks. "I-" she sits down on the bed, placing the photo frame back, but upside down in her inebriated state, and she lets out a bitter laugh. "I don't even want a divorce.'
His heart skips another beat, now on the verge of feeling an emotion that is dangerously close to hope. Seeing her on his bed is not helping things either. "You should get some rest."
He proceeds to leave, but she tugs at his hand and stops him. "Stay with me."
"Sylvie." He scolds. His heart beats ridiculously, and he can't get his hand free from her.
"Please?" She pouts, and his eyes automatically drift to her lips. They are soft and inviting, and he really should leave swiftly.
He steps closer to her, and places a small kiss on her forehead. "Sleep well."
He turns out the light and closes the door shut on his way out, and spends the rest of the night tossing and turning on the couch, images of Sylvie on his bed burning brightly in his head.
---
Sleep does come, around dawn, and when he wakes up it's already past eleven.
Sylvie is in the kitchen in last night's clothes, and she's making pancakes for lunch, like she always did. This is how it was, when she was his.
She gives him a small smile. "Morning."
"Mmm", he hums, picking up the newspaper from the counter, reading the headlines but registering nothing. Words seem to lose all their meaning when he's with her. He watches her go about, her movements very familiar but a distant memory at the same time. Finally, he asks. "You still haven't told me why you're here."
Sylvie tries her best to appear confident and unfazed, when inside, she feels herself shaking. "I... I felt that we left some things unsaid."
Loki winces. "Please don't tell me you want us to scream at each other some more."
She laughs, trying to ease some of the tension. "No, that's not what I mean, at all." She turns the stove off, and finally gives him her full attention. "I know I have no right to say this, and I know I have no right to ask this, or anything of you, and I know you will probably say no, and I understand, but..." She finishes her rambling, and takes in a deep breathe. "I've been kicking myself for the last three weeks for not saying this. I need to say it."
"Okay." He says quietly, ready to hear her out.
"How do you think Thor feels when he meets Sif now?"
"That's an unusual question to keep you occupied for three whole weeks." Loki notes. When he notices her waiting for an answer, he shrugs. They work together, they meet every day. It's not a big deal. "Indifferent, I suppose. That's how people feel when they move on."
"Precisely." She toys with a stray strand of fibre in her jeans. "Do you feel that way when you look at me?"
He really shouldn't answer that. He really shouldn't open himself up to a world of hurt again.
But foolishness is in his blood, and his blood has been rushing to unexpected places when she stands so close that he can smell her intoxicating perfume. He can't help himself. "No."
Her face brightens visibly, and a smile spreads across her lips, a shadow of the woman she was when they first met. "Neither do I. When I look at you, I realise how much I've missed you. How much I... I still..." She can't finish the sentence, but she doesn't need to.
His hands are clenched into a fist next to him, and he's breathing heavily. "You could have called."
"How could I?" She asks, her voice sad once again. "I walked out on you. How could I ever expect you to take me back?"
He closes his eyes, trying to push the bitterness down. "I kept calling you. For months. You never returned my calls. Not once."
"I couldn't." She places a hand on his arm, willing him to look at her. Her eyes mirror his- fearful, hopeful, and tear-stained all at once. "I couldn't go back. I wasn't ready, back then. I needed time... And I... I'm ready now."
He shakes his head. "Wow. This is unexpected."
She takes in a shaky breathe. "Loki, I know you don't owe me anything. But all these years, something has been missing from my life. I always knew, but I didn't know at the same time, if that makes any sense. When you called, and when I saw you, it finally clicked. I... I know what I've been missing. I know what I want. I really do want to try again."
"And what happens if you decide to give up again?" He wonders aloud. "Where does that leave me?"
She closes her eyes, letting the tears fall. "I've spent countless nights awake, picturing you sleeping next to some nameless woman, kicking myself for giving up. I was young, and stupid. But I'm not any of those things anymore. I will fight for us this time, I promise you." She reaches for his hand, and his grip is tight, almost painful, but he doesn't speak. "Say something, please." She begs after a while.
"I don't want to get hurt again." He says, but he tugs her closer, until his arms are wrapped tightly around her and his face is buried in her chest. His voice comes out muffled. "And for the record, I've missed you too."
Her hand finds its way into his hair, and she inhales his scent, the familiarity of it bringing her comfort. When you have love, you only need one other thing- timing. This this time around, she has a feeling they have got that right.
She doesn't know what else to say, isn't sure where to start. But she'll figure it out.
They will figure it out. Together.
"When you're young, you just run, but you come back to what you need."
(The end.)
35 notes · View notes
Text
Love Cuts Deep
Chapter 13- Avengers. Assemble
Summary: With the new Infinity Gauntlet finally put together, things are about to get more chaotic then you could have ever realized. But in the aftermath, there is a joy within the sadness.
Warning: fighting, some blood, angst, fluff, bucky returns!
Masterlist
Tumblr media
With no time to waste, Tony’s robotic tech ever so carefully placed the Infinity Stones onto a new gauntlet specially crafted by the man himself. With the utmost precision, he designed the piece in the familiar likeness of the Ironman suit, specifically taking into account the hand area. All in all, it looks just like that blasted Infinity Gauntlet that’s caused yourself and the universe so much pain.
But you known this is different, this is necessary above all else and must happen or you’ll face the dreary facts of never seeing Bucky ever again. No one still left behind in the aftermath like yourself will ever see their loved ones again, and Natasha’s death would all be for nothing. This is it.
You stand around Rocket with the rest of your friends, everyone suited up for the inevitable unknown while he carefully finishes up a few lasting touches on the metalwork with the aid of Tony to keep it steady.
“All right, the glove’s ready.” Affirms Rocket with a confident nod as everyone stands around him waiting expectantly, “Question is, who’s gonna snap their freakin’ fingers?”
 The room keeps to a heavy silence before Thor immediately makes hastily overconfident steps forward, “I’ll do it.” States the bearded god of thunder, no surprise to you, like he’s even in the right headspace to take on such a task. Especially looking like he just walked out of a homeless shelter.
Thor quickly earns a puzzled look from Tony. “Excuse me?” Asserts Stark with a raised brow as just about everyone else gives Thor a similar look of bewilderment.
Thor waves him off with a casual swing of his thick paw, “It’s okay.” Calmly dismisses Thor as he walks in closer to the perched gauntlet, eyes set for the powerful object within arms reach. Tony, Steve, and Clint immediately raise their arms to hold him back for the time being as your eyes widen at his go-getter attitude for something so seriously dangerous. He would fucking die.
“Stop, stop. Slow down.” Advises Tony while Steve steps between the gauntlet and an eager Thor. Blue eyes set and steady though a friendly softness flashes through them knowing the true reasons why Thor wants to do this above all the others, “Thor. Just wait. We haven’t decided who’s gonna put that on yet.” Implores Steve while Thor blinks, clearly not satisfied with this answer.
“I’m sorry. What, we’re all just sitting around waiting for the right opportunity?” Laughs off the large Asgardian as his eyes trail around the room to the unclear hesitant faces of you all.
“We should at least discuss it.” Interjects Scott as Thor turns to face him before looking to all of you again.
Thor finds Steve’s conflicted gaze of uncertainty, “Look, sitting here staring at that thing is not gonna bring everybody back.....I’m the strongest Avenger, okay? So, this responsibility falls upon me...”
Tony sets a friendly hand on his chest, “Normally you’re right...”
“It’s my duty.” Interrupts Thor, more heatedly this time as Tony slowly draws him away from the gauntlet. Doing his best to sway Thor’s mind, “It’s not about that...” Begins Tony as Thor interjects. “It’s not that...” Rambles Thor as you frown, eyes set on the glowing Infinity Stones as they rest comfortably atop the Vibranium laced metalwork.
“Sheeesh stop it!” Whines the agitated god of thunder, “Just let me....Just let me do it.” Whispers Thor in defeat, face falling with remorse as he focuses on Tony, “Just let me do something good. Something right...”
Tony lets out a disheartened sigh, “Look, it’s not just the fact that glove his channeling enough energy to light up a continent. I’m telling you. You’re in no condition.” Sincerely adds Tony, trying his absolute best to sway Thor from doing this to himself.
“What do you think is coursing through my veins right now?” Asks Thor with a reasonable bout of self confidence while Rodney throws a sarcastic. “Cheez Whiz?” In reply. Thor clenches his fist, pointing a threatening finger to him but ignores the verbal blow.
Eyes set on Tony as the god smiles, “Lightening.”
Tony doubtfully nods, “Yeah.”
“Lightening.” Says Thor again, like that’s going to hold all the answers and save everyone from oblivion.
Taking an anxious breath, you’ve already made your decision as you take a step forward, “Lightning won’t help you this time, Thor. You couldn’t take it.” He sends you a defeated look, eyes falling to the floor as the others gain your attention. Frowning, your eyes study the glowing colors of the new Infinity Gauntlet as you nervously swallow, “I’ll do it.”
“Y/N...” Begins Steve like a concerned father while his blue eyes grow with apprehensive doubt, he opens his mouth to speak more on the matter but you cut him off with a stern look, “My body can regenerate its genetic makeup, essentially I should heal from anything it does to me, it won’t kill me Stev...”
“We don’t know that,” Interjects a worried Bruce as he walks in closer to your little group, “It’s gotta be me, we saw what those stones did to Thanos. They almost killed him, these are the Infinity Stones we’re talking about. None of you could survive.” Explains Bruce honestly as he finds your troubled gaze, “Even you, Y/N.”
Your brows furrow in thought while you let a depleted sigh escape your lips, “How do we know you will?”
“We don’t.” Begrudgingly admits Banner, “But the radiation’s mostly gamma. It’s like...” He stares solemnly down at the beacon of destructive hope for a small moment, its shimmering colors glowing with a dangerous beauty, “..I was made for this.”
“Then it’s settled then.” Declares Tony with a confident nod, “We do this today. Everyone suit up, we have no idea how this is going to go.” And with that does the room quickly file out, your small team of nine hastily on the move to prepare yourselves for the impending future still held in mystery and a growing hope.
Soon, you and the rest of the Avengers nervously watch as Bruce picks up the metal gauntlet while Tony sends him a concerned brotherly look. “Good to go, yeah?” Wonders Tony as he stands a couple feet away for safety reasons like everyone else. Bruce gives the stones a last fleeting glance before raising his eyes up to meet him, “Let’s do it.”
“Okay, remember, everyone Thanos snapped away five years ago you’re just bringing them back to now, today. Don’t change anything from the last five years.” Warns Tony as Bruce nods. “Got it.”
Everyone takes a cautious step backwards, making sure to shield themselves from whatever’s about to happen next with either their actual suits or in Steve’s case his legitimate shield. All you got on is your usual dark attire that’s armored comfortably in the areas needed. That and your uncanny but evidently helpful ability to heal yourself instantly. Which may either become unneeded, or hold true to its helpful wonder if things go south for whatever reason.
Tony quickly has Friday adorn the protective barriers around the buildings interior so whatever happens inside, stays inside. A moment later Banner puts the gauntlet on with a hesitant grimace, the metal grows as it adjusts to his hand, immediately the power of the stones glows bright. The raw energy crawling wickedly up his arm as Bruce falls to his one knee in pain. Loud grunts of strained discomfort emitting from the half-hulks throat. Shit that looks painful.
“Take it off! Take it off!” Worries Thor as Steve throws up a cautious hand. “No, wait. Bruce, are you okay?” Banner groans in agony as Tony adds, “Talk to me, Banner.” More pained moans are heard before Bruce is finally able to give a reassuring nod, well, at least the best one he can manage.
“I’m okay.” He mutters through clenched teeth, sending a small spark of relief through everyone as he forces his fingers to reach one another. Yelling like a charging warrior through the pain of battle, Bruce forces his stiffened digits into submission, snapping his fingers through the gauntlet with all the strength he has left before a blinding bright light emits forth in an instant. Cascading the small lab into an almost heavenly glow, you can’t see anything it’s so obnoxiously bright.
When the light fades a swift moment later, you’re able to witness the aftermath of a brave Bruce Banner who’s currently semi-unconscious on the floor, metal appendage laying a couple feet away from him as Steve races to Banners side, “Bruce!” Panics Steve.
“Don’t move him.” Warns Tony as he sprays some type of healing particles onto the ashen green of Bruce’s right arm to increase the natural healing process from the stones hefty damage. “Did it work?” Wonders a drowsy Banner while he blinks back the blurry fuzz of the gauntlet's intense power.
Thor smiles brightly, “We’re not sure. It’s okay...just relax, it’s alright you did it.” Both him and Steve give Bruce some more encouraging words of praise as you take a step back from the scene to release a breath you didn’t know you had.
Holy shit, you think, heart slowing down from the adrenaline rush of it all. Trying to take in everything's that’s just happened, you ignore as Scott wanders away to the giant opening windows as your ears prick to the sound of Clint’s phone ringing on the nearby metal table. You watch curiously as he slowly walks over to it before picking it up and answering with a teary eyed grin from witnessing the picture of his beloved significant other. The sound of his confused wife reaching your ears in an instant and your heart immediately swells with joy.
Bucky!
Suddenly a dark shadow bestows itself upon the compounds opened sunroof, you quickly twist on your heel to face the others who are looking up at a dark shape with an equally as baffled expression. A second later your world turns to darkness.
Then nothing.
——
Someone’s shaking your shoulders. God that’s annoying.
But you can’t see or hear anything, can’t even feel your own body but the stuffy thick air that flows forcibly into your healing lungs. Slowly, your senses of touch and perception come back to life, vision deciding to wake up from the blurry void next and with that so does your hearing, “Y/N! Wake up! Come on, wake the fuck up!” Shouts the annoying voice of.....Clint. While his dirt smudged face flashes with uncertain panic. The fuck does he want? And where the hell are you?
Coming to, you suck in a needed breath before he quickly sits you up against a rock, a dull throbbing making itself known from the right side of your forehead that feels oddly wet. Ignoring his concerned gaze, you press a hand to it only to find your fingers coated in blood, “Clint, what the fuck just happened? And where the hell are we?” You grumble before taking a good look around you, finding nothing but rocks and ruble. “This looks like a sewer system, goddammit my suits ripped.” You complain, still a tad bit disoriented from the head trauma that’s still healing while you eye up the nasty blooded gash on your left thigh.
Clint huffs in frustration before taking a calculated look around at your minimal surroundings of rock and red warning lights as he takes a step forward, boot quickly smashing into something hard as he looks down to find the fucking gauntlet of all things right by his feet as something oddly familiar sounds in your sensitive ears. Oh, shit. Jumping to your feet, you turn your head to the cavernous tunnel on the right, night vision giving you the perfect view of... “Space dogs. Fucking space dogs!” You fearfully whisper yell as he sends you a perplexed look.
“Ugh what?” Mutters Clint as you throw him a look of pure panic, understanding something is most definably wrong if you of all people are scared shitless, he quickly sends a lighted arrow past your head before catching a glimpse of exactly what you were warning him about. Thanos’ army of monstrous bastards from space. This is your nightmare all over again.
“Shit.” Mumbles an alarmed Clint as he tugs on your arm before the two of you book it in the other direction, screams of fury and death sounding from the beasts pursuing you. For a good twenty yards do the both of you run until by some wondrous act of the universe are you able to climb your way to a higher level where the creatures can’t get to either of you. Clint shooting a skilled blow to the creatures brave enough to pursue you further, killing them quickly enough so you both have a moment to rest. And inhale much needed oxygen from the swift sprinting session you just unwillingly endured.
Laying on the metal floor next to a worn out Clint, your breaths are heavy and labored when Nebula randomly walks out of nowhere like she owns the place, glad to just see a familiar face you pay her no mind when she leans down and quickly retrieves the gauntlet from Clint before raising her hand to her ear and speaking, “Father...I have the stones.” 
Uh, what? Oh wait! Your eyes widen in fear as you swiftly jump to your feet, Adamantium claws protruding out of your fists as you prepare yourself for a fight to the death over that damned gauntlet when without warning she sends a swift blast straight through your chest. Shit, you can barely breath.
You gasp, falling to the metal earth as she’s immediately confronted by some green chick and another Nebula, though you’re too frazzled and in pain to listen to their arguing. A couple long moments later the traitor Nebula is shot, falling to the ground right next to you as your lung muscle and bones fuse back together again. Body at long last letting you take in a proper breath. Dammit she got you old western style too.
Clint’s at your side in an instant, “Jesus Y/N, you okay? That looked bad.”
Grumbling in annoyance for the misadventure you’ve just found yourself in, he kindly helps pull you to your feet, “I’ve had better days Clint, I’ve really had better days.” You deadpan as he chuckles before the both of you follow Nebula and the green woman out and into the clearing of the destroyed Avenger’s Facility.
Once foggy ashen sunlight hits your dirt smudged blood spattered face, a pearl white pegasus flies above you and Clint, “The hell?” Mumbles Barton as the two of you start jogging into the destroyed landscape of the desolated Avengers base that’s currently in the midst of a chaotic battle between Thanos’ army and the Avengers, and clearly a lot more then just your lost friends. God today just keeps getting worse, not to mention weirder.
“Come on, this way.” Shouts Clint as you two begin making your way through the mess, both on a mission to protect this stupid gauntlet and try not to get yourselves killed in the process. Though soon some type of giant lumbering beast starts trailing you two as Clint calls in to anyone listening, “What do you want us to do with this damn thing?” You can’t hear what they’re all saying due to the fact that your earpiece is broken, but quickly enough Clint glances at you.
“Y/N! We gotta find Scott and that ugly brown van of his, it’s got the time machine portal in it so we can get these stones away from here!” Shouts Barton as he jumps over a protruding piece of shrapnel before one of Thanos’ loyal creatures jumps near, throwing him to the side as you launch yourself onto the beast. Digging your shimmering talons deep into its neck as it screams in agony, dying a second later.
“Give me that fucker, I can see the van from here.” You urgently exclaim as he hands it over to you without a second thought, too exhausted to run any longer. With the stones in your possession now, you book it on swift legs across the demolished battlefield as monsters of all kinds pursue you.
You’re luckily able to slash a few while dodging heated blows in an attempt to stall your progression, although unknowingly to you while you’re sprinting like a bat out of hell, mumbling a distressed chorus of “Fuck off, Fuck off, Fuck off..” to no one in particular. Bucky’s gaze is able to track your panicked form as it races across the destroyed landscape, Infinity gauntlet in hand. So that’s what you’re doing, thinks Bucky with relief, glad to know you’re okay. Well, for the most part.
Slipping from his curious view, you make it a good ten yards before a lumbering beast knocks you from your stable legs and onto the ground just as T’Challa ends its ugly life. Body hurting all over, you finally give up the gauntlet into the arms of the Black Panther, “I got it Y/N, you’ve done well.” Praises the king of Wakanda as you give him a weak thumbs up in reply, too damn winded to really answer with anything fully comprehensible.
God it’s a good thing you heal quickly cause shit, your everything hurts.
When will this shit end! Huffing in irritation, you swiftly pull yourself up before joining the Avenging masses into the storm of chaos. You slay monster and beast of all kinds before Proxima of all beings throws her spear at your head, just narrowly putting a full damper on your already hectic day as you dodge left.
“Didn’t I kill you already?” You growl in irritation as she begins hand to hand combat with you, more so claws to sword then anything else. For the next minute do you two hash it out on the battlefield, Thanos and other brave Avengers doing what they can to fight the Infinity Stones off of him as you slice up her face in a moment of valuable weakness.
Unfortunately she’s able to kick you into the cement, raising her shimmering blood coated weapon before thrusting it downwards straight for your naked jugular when suddenly it turns to dust against your exposed skin. Eyes wide in bewilderment as you breath in heavy breaths, you’re pleasantly surprised when the bitch disappears completely, nothing left but ashes floating on the breeze.
Wiping some fresh blood from your nose, you slowly stand on sore legs, eyes quickly scanning the surrounding area only to find all of Thanos’ army turning to dust as well. A relieved smile falls upon your chapped lips, though quickly enough your heart sinks when you wander over to Steve and Thor as they watch Pepper say her last goodbyes to a dying Tony Stark. So he was the one who did it, he killed Thanos for good. And this is the price that must be payed.
Your chest rises and falls with labored breaths from battling the enemy as his reactor core flickers, white light slowly going out soon after. You frown deeply as Pepper sobs by her husbands side as you notice the others beginning to slowly gather around behind you, and the ones nearest to him. Peter, Rodney, Steve, and Thor.
The dismal scene breaks your heart to watch so instead do you drop your gaze to the ground where you study the ripped fabric of your pants and the dried blood that coats it. You can’t believe after all this shit and time spent tirelessly in pursuit of those fucking stones has the deed been done at last. Two friends lost in the taxing journey to save the world from a deepening pit of confusion and despair, but it’s done, and Thanos will never hurt anyone ever again.
You’re so tired you could probably curl up and fall asleep on the rocks below, but yet your body shakes with adrenaline that keeps you from submitting to the earth for a long rest.. “Y/N?” You freeze, going still as a statue when your ears fully register the voice it belongs to. You’d recognize that voice anywhere.
Blinking hard, you turn around, your eyes slowly trailing up to meet the beautiful blues of the one and only, James Buchanan Barnes. Your breath catches in your throat, it truly feels like your whole world has just stopped and reset itself. Tears immediately prick at the corners of your eyes from the intense feelings of being overwhelmed from battle and by him, he looks exactly the same as when he left you five whole years ago. Long dark hair falling to his broad shoulders, metal arm apparent as it shows itself freely in the cloudy sunlight.
His eyes of stormy ocean studies your awestruck expression, handsome face softening as he takes a cautious step forward, “Y/N.” Mutters Bucky as your lip begins to quiver, so many emotions rushing through you like a giant waterfall, a couple stray tears draw clean marks down the sides of your dirt smudged face as your heartbeat begins to race.
You feel like hyperventilating right now but are to astounded to completely lose your shit, instead do you let him silently walk the rest of the way to you before gently placing his hands against your tear stained cheeks. He hands you a handsome grin of pure love and adoration as you place your shaking hands against his forearms. So incredibly awestruck that he’s actually with you right now in the flesh for you to form a coherent sentence.
You swallow, eyes furrowed as they wander all over his beautifully dirty face, “Please tell me this isn’t some sick dream.” You whisper, voice raspy while you try and keep your inhales as less erratic as possible. “Oh God I hope this isn’t another dream.”
Bucky chuckles a sweet tune of joy before engulfing you into a ginormous Bucky bear hug, he gently wraps his strong arms around your tired vessel with ease, burying his head in the crook of your neck as tears flow freely out of you now. Shaky hands holding him as close and humanly possible while you breath him in for all he’s worth. Your Bucky, finally in your arms at last.
You can’t believe it, after everything you’ve endured, after a thousand nights spent alone and days lasting for too many hours to count. He’s holding you like his whole life depends on it, every single muscle and fiber of his entire being wills himself to hold you in his arms like nothing and no one else matters.
Because right now, in the midst of a desolated battlefield, you can finally feel at peace with the man you have never stopped loving for even a single second. The man you will swear on your life to never leave his side ever again if you can help it. Your sweet James Buchanan Barnes. Your beloved Bucky.
You can feel as a feather light kiss brushes past your hairline before he slowly pulls away, metal and flesh hands still holding yours as his blue eyes soften, “This isn’t a dream.” Chuckles Bucky as he studies your teary eyed face, a growing confusion clear on his puzzled features, “Why would this be a dream Y/N? I mean, well I’m not sure where we are actually or how I got here or why your hair looks different now....and uh...clothing too?” His brows furrow as he trails his gaze all over you, clearly unaware of the time differences between you both and what troublesome lengths it’s taken to see him again.
He doesn’t know. Biting your bottom lip anxiously, you blink with saddened eyes before resting a hand on his metal shoulder for a bit of self comfort, “How long until you came through those portals?”
Blue irises flicker to the ground in puzzlement before finding yours once again, “Uh, I think it was about five minutes actually....it’s, it’s weird. I remember seeing you by Steve and then, I don’t remember anything else until it felt like I blinked and suddenly these huge portals were appearing in Wakanda. And you weren’t with me. I don’t know what happened....I’m not sure why you look a little different now either?”
Smiling at his adorable confusion, you trail a hand up to drag it through his messy dark locks, “You weren’t gone for five minutes Bucky, you were gone for five years.”
His lips part likes he’s about to speak though nothing comes out, handsome face slowly falling into a frown while he gently touches the side of your bloodied cheek, “What?” Whispers Bucky in astonishment, “Five...five years? Five whole years? That’s why....that’s how....how you, Jesus Y/N...”
“You have no idea how much I missed you James....how much I, I...” Your throat feels like it’s tightening as you lip quivers, voice unable to produce any sounds but your labored breaths. You feel like bawling.
Bucky takes this like the dutiful lover that he is, pulling you flush against him once more as he gently squeezes you close, face pressed into your neck as he mumbles out a soft but meaningful, “I love you Y/N.” That causes you to almost crush him in your loving embrace.
“I love you too, so fucking much.”
——
Standing on the grassy edge of the Starks riverside house somewhere in upstate New York, dressed in your usual dark attire. Though for this instance, it’s a rather dismal affair that truly represents the black clothing adorning your body with more purpose this time. But you don’t feel as terrible as you thought you would have.
A soft late summer breeze blows your hair back as you keep your hands deep in your jacket pockets while you let yourself enjoy the beautiful view of the water shimmering in the sunlight. It truly couldn’t have been a nicer day for such a day filled with melancholy for the loss of Tony. In fact, when you arrived for the funeral today, you could barely look at Morgan without feeling the urge to shed a few tears.
She’s surprised you though, her little heart is stronger then you’d realized, she’s clearly filled with confused grief for the sudden loss of her father. But she’s admittedly able to handle the dreary situation better then you’d expected, though it is true we all grieve in our own way and in our own time. Luckily she has a plethora of friendly people by her side, plus your cat Silver who you let her adopt considering you’re technically homeless.
Soon the familiar sound of footsteps walking across the grass alerts you to a new presence approaching you nearby, you could smell his scent a mile away. The blue eyed man in question, stops by your side, eyes trailing over you while you keep a steady gaze on the water. “Y/N.” Your name on his tongue, spoken so gently as he forms your letters into a term of simple greeting.
A smile immediately tugs at the corner of your lips when he literally says anything now, you turn to face him as you raise a brow, imitating his tone, “Bucky.” You practically tease.
He flashes a quick grin before shrugging, eyes glancing up to the house before finding your undivided attention once more, “They made sloppy joes if you want one. They’re not too bad actually, I had one so....yeah.”
“I’ll take your word for it, but uh...I’m okay thanks.” You add, gaze set back onto the water beyond as you let out an admittedly tired sigh, “I’m just, I don’t even know.....whatever, I’m okay.” You mutter while giving a weak shrug, a frown crossing your features as your mind wanders to your lost friends and the reason why you’re even at this funeral. It’s been a long fucking road to peace, if this even is peace.
Bucky, noticing your disheartened expression, gently nudges your arm, “Hey, you know you can talk to me.” Assures your sweet lover, eyes softening as he gently tugs at your sleeve, “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Making a sour face at the water, you avoid his gaze while your heart swirls with a conflicted sadness, “No. Not really.” You freely admit, “Both of them, I never got a chance to say goodbye. I wish I could have, I really do Buck.” Biting your lip to hold back the tears, Bucky wraps a comforting arm around you, knowing how much this all pains you since he’s been back and was filled in on everything that’s happened.
You don’t even hesitate to relax into the warm embrace as you throw an arm around his waist to bring him in even closer to you now, “Truth be told Y/N, I never got a chance to tell Tony how sorry I am for what I did to his parents. If there was onl...”
“He forgave you, Buck.” He shares a puzzled look with you.
“He did?” Whispers Bucky in confusion though a slight hopeful relief laces his words.
 You nod, “Tony...we had a long conversation about that when I was visiting once for some birthday party, it was a difficult subject. But after everything we talked about, he forgave you for what you did. Of course we had no way of knowing this was all going to happen but uh, I just want you to know that. And so did he even if you weren’t there to hear it. Guess it was the thought that counts.”
“oh.” Mutters Bucky in clear astonishment as he keeps silent for a long moment, truly processing the solid fact that Tony Stark actually forgave him for such horrendous crimes committed against his closest family members. Bucky lets out a heavy breath of relief, giving you a small squeeze before speaking, “That’s, that’s good. Yeah, alright um...” His eyes flicker to the side as he pauses for a brief moment, “..you, you want anything up there?”
Chuckling, you roll your eyes at him, “What? Let me guess? You’re still hungry and don’t want to eat alone?”
Bucky keeps silent for a brief but telling moment as he mumbles out a soft, “Yeah.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
He nervously laughs before gently squeezing your shoulder, “Or we don’t have to, it’s fine I was just wondering...”
“Buck.” You throw him a humored glance as he smiles before you lose your grip on his torso, “Come on hot stuff let’s get you a sandwich.” He grins as you start backing up towards the house filled with multiple guests of all kinds still socializing amongst one another.
“Y/N I could go myself if I wanted to.” Says Bucky as he wanders across the grass by your side, “I could....but yeah, I’d rather have you with me.”
You snicker quietly as his stubbled cheeks redden in slight embarrassment, “Well Mr. Barnes, if you must know, I don’t plan on letting you do anything alone for a long time so get used to my company.”
“Sounds good to me.” Smiles Bucky as he gently nudges your shoulder, “But seriously you gotta try these sandwiches they’re really good.”
“Buck, I don’t doubt it.”
-
Tagged:  @diegos-butt @minigranger @bibliophilewednesday @holyhumorliteraturelight @lilacs-lavender @a-girl-who-loves-disney @starkssnarks @vikingqueen28 @bizarrebibitch @atomicpersonacheesecake @jmstz @staygoldsquatchling02 @marvelbros-oneshots @shawnartmendes @mischiefmanaged71 @jckie94  @iamasimpingh0e @mjaudrey  @thescarlettvvitch
85 notes · View notes
crystal-witchiness · 3 years
Text
***Okay so I found this in my notes from May 2021 as a reaction to the scenes in the beginning of Endgame when Captain Marvel first brings Tony and Nebula back to Earth, when they first get off the ship, and when Tony yells at Steve a few scenes later when he looks like ‘Death Warmed Over’ in his robe and i thought I’d share -
Every time someone argues with me about my ABSOLUTE 100% belief that Steve and Tony had romantic feelings for each other, I’ll just show them this scene. “And I needed YOU.” He didn’t say “You guys” or “Your help.” Tony looked at Steve with so much pain in his eyes and said, “I needed y o u.” And Steve is just as broken watching Tony. This isn’t the first time this has happened between them. They had MANY scenes like this in Civil War (but I like to pretend that movie didn’t happen cause ‘ow blow a hole in my ship why dontcha?’) I mean technically I could submit that whole movie as evidence of their feelings but there are too many negative emotions wrapped up in it and it hurts. This movie is the first time they’ve seen each other since Civil War and when Tony first gets off the ship he basically falls into Steve’s arms. First of all, Steve fricking S P R I N T S when he sees Tony getting off the ship, then Tony sighs in relief and lets Steve take his weight. AND IMMEDIATELY begins unloading his grief about losing Peter cause he knew Steve would understand and comfort him. You can SEE s e e when Pepper runs up that (Ofc Tony does another sigh of relief that the snap didn’t take her (which I wish it did sorry Pepper your character stopped being interesting in the 2nd Iron Man)) Tony has to pull himself off of Steve and pretend to have it more together than he does because Pepper immediately begins crying and Tony has to comfort her. But Steve doesn’t leave his side. Tony cradling Pepper but he’s turning his body so that Steve can cradle him and ugh. Honestly I would have accepted a polyamorous relationship. Tony NEEDED someone to be the leader. THATS LITERALLY WHAT PEPPER WAS TALKING ABOUT. Tony NEVER rests because he always thinks he has to be the one to do everything, EXCEPT for when Steve’s around. Steve is the Captain and even though they bump heads (a lot, awww couples’ squabbles) Tony ALWAYS defers to Steve when it’s important. And Steve? Steve HAS to be a leader, to be helpful, in a healthy way because he couldn’t be that for most of his life in the past. He was a scrawny defenseless guy who always had to depend on Bucky. So to be able to take care of this group of wonderful people who are so powerful and yet STILL NEED STEVE? It’s who he his. It’s who Tony is too but he doesn’t WANT to be that way, he does it because he has to. He does it when no one else can or he doesn’t want to lose anyone else. This scene right now is Tony feeling helpless and so he lashes out at the easiest person, Steve. Steve is their leader and has saved them many times. Tony saw that picture of Peter and couldn’t handle his own feelings of helplessness so he lashed out to bring down the next ‘leader figure’ of the group. Steve and Tony have always been the parents of the Avengers. Steve is the most dad-est dad ever to dad. Meanwhile, Tony invites everyone to live with him while feeding them, clothing them (armor and civilian clothes) and making sure they have top of the line protection. HE LITERALLY EVEN SAYS THIS IN AGE OF ULTRON. SUCH a mom. So he wanted to make Steve feel his pain because Steve made a promise that they would lose together and Steve wasn’t there on that moon. And OF COURSE Tony knows that Steve was on earth fighting his own battle against Thanos but he wasn’t WITH Tony. And they are always stronger together than apart. (Civil War kinda proved this too) Tony sees Steve’s absence as the reason they lost, because ‘if only they’d been together’ ‘maybe we could have won if we’d only been together.’
ALSO DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON TONY LITERALLY GIVING STEVE A REPRESENTATION OF HIS HEART. I know he did it out of anger and to make a point but he took away this piece of him, that he made SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE HE FELT VULNERABLE WITHOUT THE ARC, and gave it to Steve. Once again shedding that responsibility and giving it to Steve. Because even with the residual anger over Civil War, Tony trusts Steve. He says otherwise in this moment out of anger but that “vision” he talks about here? He literally watches Steve die (YEAH THATS RIGHT I SAID STEVE. Not PEPPER, NOT RHODEY, NOT ANY OF THE OTHER AVENGERS.) Wanda showed him his worst fear in Age of Ultron and it was the death of the Avengers, but he didn’t see THEM die. Everyone else, Thor, Bruce, Natasha, and Clint were already dead. Tony watched STEVE die and it was STEVE saying that Tony could’ve saved them that spurred him into creating Ultron. He was so scared of losing them and letting Steve down (and letting him die) that he wanted to wrap the whole world in armor to protect him. And he tries to do it again in this scene. He means it to be spiteful but he gives Steve his armor and tells him to hide from Thanos. WHICH IS ANOTHER THING UGH. Tony doesn’t know that out of all of the people who fought Thanos in Wakanda that day, Steve was the one who engaged in hand-to-hand combat with him. Everyone else had armor and suits, weapons, etc. Steve has his serum strength and he u s e d it. It didn’t help for very long but he used his BARE HANDS to fight an alien-monster wielding 5/6 of ALL POWERFUL infinity stones, and ofc he was never going to win, but even Thanos looked at Steve in incredulity at his bravery and resolve. A human (a super charged one at that but still a human) fought him with his bare hands and wasn’t going to stop. (Steve proved this again at the end of Endgame when he’s the last one standing against Thanos and his entire army and just tightens the strap on his broken shield, (and most likely broken arm, based on the flinch/hiss) and readies himself to fight alone. Steve also gave Wanda time to destroy the mind stone (unfortunately, that didn’t mean anything in the end)
AND YET Tony doesn’t know any of this. He doesn’t know how hard Steve fought, just like Tony did on Titan, to stop Thanos. And I REALLY wish we had seen Tony’s reaction to Steve standing up to Thanos at the end of Endgame OR EVEN WIELDING MJOLNIR, but anyways.
Back to the basics. Boss level stuff most people don’t remember or think about- Tony’s dad very unhealthily IDOLIZED Steve. He canonically compared everything Tony did to Steve. So Tony grew up idolizing this man that he also despised because it fueled his father’s abuse of him. Tony shows this anger in the first Avengers. When they have their argument on the quinjet. “Everything special about you came out of a bottle.” He even says something about how Steve didn’t live up to his father’s hype (I don’t remember Tony’s exact words but that’s the gist) And ofc Steve says Tony’s nothing without his armor. But then they go on the prove each other wrong multiple times, but mainly in their last moments in the MCU. Steve proves it by standing alone against an ENTIRE alien army and later by picking up mjolnir. And Tony? Tony is that ONE factor in a million that Stephen sees. Tony, a beautifully pure human-being, with no powers or serums to help, takes on the powers of the stones. KNOWING it would kill him. He had proof. It nearly killed Thanos and Bruce and they were hulking (pun intended) beings with super strength and all that.
Tony and Steve were always set up to be spoils to one another and that makes them perfect together. They balance each other out. Pepper was a boss b****, no doubt, and I loved their relationship in the first two Iron Man movies, but as their characters grew and Tony’s personality was intrinsically changed through trauma- Pepper was no longer right for him. She was good for him, no doubt, but Tony couldn’t relax with her as he did with Steve. Tony could trust Steve to take over and everything could be fine. Pepper was like that for Stark Industries but not in other ways. Tony always saw himself as Pepper’s protector. I will 100% give her props for telling Tony that he’d never rest until he tried Scott’s time travel theory, but other than that she wasn’t particularly supportive of Iron. Man. What Pepper never seemed to understand, and what Steve didn’t understand when he FIRST met Tony, is that Tony and Iron Man are synonymous. Their is no ‘man outside the suit.’ Tony Stark is Iron Man and Iron Man is Tony Stark. Steve was placed into an already created persona of Captain America. Steve didn’t create Captain America even though that’s who he was. He was literally MADE for the role. Tony on the other hand, MADE Iron Man. He was the one who built the first suit - dying in a cave in Afghanistan. He was the one who took responsibility for Obadiah and his father’s actions and became a superhero to save the countries that were affected by Stark tech. Steve may have volunteered to be a superhero because he felt like he had no one other choice but Tony DIDN’T HAVE TO. He had fame, money, power, ALL OF IT. He could’ve EASILY hidden his company’s dark underside once he found out. But instead, Tony was like “Hey um so my company has done some bad things and instead of delegating aid through my money and power, I’m going to personally handle this with a titanium alloy suit and technology that I helped create in a cave while being held captive by a terrorist cell.”
Where was I going with this? OH YEAH.
I will believe in TonyxSteve (Stony) for the rest of my life and I will use fanfiction to fill the void of their deaths. Basically, if I lost anyone in the word vomit above, what I’m trying to say is that- Steve and Tony completed each other. They provided something the other needed. Tony needed stability and protection. He needed to feel like he could let go. Steve needed an anchor in the present. Someone lively and opinionated, SOMEONE ADVENTUROUS AND FUNNY, who Steve could smile with and protect. But also. Steve trusted Tony to be a leader as much as Tony trusted him. They had their ups and downs. Trauma and the Accords didn’t help their relationship at all, but should’ve been it for each other. And I honestly believe they would have t h r i v e d.
.
.
.
Honestly I applaud anyone who made it this far. I don’t know where this all came from but I will not apologize✌🏻
I rest my case your honor.
28 notes · View notes
eunoiaflow3r · 3 years
Text
when worlds collide - h.p. x gn!avenger!reader
Tumblr media
a/n: bahahahahaha no one reads harry x reader lmaoo you don’t have to tell me - i know. but still, i thought this was a cute idea and i went with it. hope you enjoy :)
not edited.
also: timelines don’t match up bc i don’t want to do the math so harry is like 20 - 21 and your like 19 - 20 in 2020. Civil War and everything on didn’t happen. Fred didn’t die.
gn = gender neutral
warning(s): “language!” - captain america.
word count: 3.1k
request(ed): no.
summary: stephen sends y/n to a strange new place with...wizards?
————————————-&—————————————
Never doubt Stephen Strange. That's something that pretty much everyone has accepted. Never second guess the wizard man. Usually you'd agree. Usually you'd just let the man babble about whatever he needed to and then go about your day.
Not now.
The fuckery.
Now you were here (wherever here was) after some flashes of orange and a "be careful." Did he even do the spell right? Is this really where you were supposed to be?
It was dark, and dirty and you just wanted to go home and not talk to anyone so you turned yourself invisible.
You were born with your powers - you think. You were adopted so you wouldn't know where your powers came from. All you know is that one day your parents couldn't find you, even though you were right there. Instead of thinking you were some kind of alien and throwing you out to labs, they helped you control it the best you could.
It was difficult at first, all things considered, but you got through. You discovered you had another power as well. Force fields. Those came in handy during the battles. (You helped where you could), and Tony Stark took you in afterwards as his own. He helped you create your suit, and your name, and discover more about your powers, he was basically a dad to you.
Your parents were a little hesitant letting you join the Avengers, but once they realized this is what you were meant to do, and you had people just like you protecting you, they couldn't keep you from that. They just couldn't.
So here you were, invisible, in some dark and creepy alley. There were doors either side of you, so you got out of the way considering they could open and smack you in the face at any given moment. You heard loud voices and laughing and cheering from both ends of the alley so you walked towards the one in front of you.
The voices were so loud and echoey that you really couldn't focus on anything else. Maybe that's why you didn't hear a boy behind you trip and fall into you from behind.
"I'm so sorry." he said helping you up.
You turned around to help him, he got awfully dirty, and searched for his glasses that fell off his face.
Once standing, he took out a stick, waved it over him, and all of a sudden the dirt and gravel was gone.
"How did you do that?" You were no stranger to magic, but this was something you've never seen before. And why would he do it in front of you? For all he knew, you were an unknowing human.
"What?" He asked eyebrows furrowed together, accent strong.
"With the stick."
He chuckled shoving the stick back in his cloak.
"The stick." He smiled and looked you up and down. "It's a wand. You must not be from around here."
"Yeah, what tipped you off?" You noticed the lightning bolt scar on his head. You wondered how he got it.
"The accent, the clothes, the inability to recognize a simple wand, the ability to be here, not recognizing me, and wait - where is your cloak?"
"Cloak?"
"You were just invisible a moment earlier but I don't see your cloak anywhere."
"I don't have one. I can make myself invisible without a piece of fabric or your fancy stick." You say sarcastically. Were you flirting?
"Handy." He grins. "The name's Harry Potter."
He holds his hand out for you to shake. "Y/N L/N."
He asks you if you want to talk somewhere besides a dark dirty alley. You agreed. It took some convincing though to let him use his stick to clean the clothes you had on, but to change your outfit to something less, standout-ish.
When you felt the witch hat on your head you immediately snatched it off your head and glared at him.
He just laughed.
Once out of the alley, you breathed in the now clean air, and was mesmerized. People were bustling in and out of small shops, animals were flying and chirping around their owners, children were running around with their friends and siblings, and people were waving sticks, or wands, just like Harry used.
"C'mon, this way." He smiled at your awestruck face. It reminded him of when he first arrived with Hagrid all those years ago.
He brought you inside a coffee shop, and sat you at a booth near the window knowing you'd probably want to still look outside at the new scenes.
After ordering, and a few moments of silence as you looked around, you decided to ask some questions.
"Where am I?"
"We're in Diagon Alley. It's like an outside mall."
"I mean like, planet? I guess?"
"Earth."
"Earth?"
"Well, more specifically London. Diagon Alley."
"London?! I'm in London?!"
"You've never been? To Earth? Or London?"
You rolled your eyes silently cursing Strange. "I'm from Earth. The United States, actually. I just wish he'd put me on a fucking plane or something instead of making it seem like I was going to Mars."
"He?" Harry was very curious.
You looked into his green eyes, your mind wandering. The guy in front of you was very attractive. His dark hair complimented his eyes, and his glasses made him even more attractive.
"You guys are wizards right?"
"Really? What gave you that impression?" He asks sarcastically. "The sticks, the pointy hats, or the big bowl with green liquid sitting outside?”
You rolled your eyes. "Very funny. It's not my fault you live into the stereotype of brewing potions in your cauldrons -"
"Oh well I can only assume you're one of those Avengers from the States, yeah?" He grins. "You guys are all over the news."
"Yes, sure -"
"And don't one of you wear capes and another shoot lasers or lightning or whatnot? Sounds very stereotypical to me."
You laugh as the waitress brings over your drinks and muffins. You thank her. "No, well yes, that's Strange and Thor, but that's besides the point -"
"Well of course it's strange." He grins and winks and you over his mug. He was purposely annoying you and found great joy in it.
"Anyway," you sigh getting back to the point. "Do you guys have a Wizard here, like a powerful, trusting, all-knowing kind of guy?"
His eyes dropped slowly and his smile dimmed for a moment before slowly widening once again.
"Had. His name was Dumbledore."
"Our guy is Stephen Strange. Or Dr. Strange. He sent me here, and I'm not sure why."
"Hmmm." He hums setting down his mug. "Are the states in danger? Were you sent here on a secret quest that would put you through tough trials that would risk your life but would ultimately save everyone you've ever loved so you just have to do it?"
You were in a silent shock. "Uhm. No, not that I'm aware of, no."
"Well then perhaps your Wizard Strange is playing matchmaker."
"Matchmaker?"
"Well you were sent here weren't you?" You nod. "Arrived outside the exact place where I was and I just happened to bump into you? Sounds like a set-up to me."
"Or a coincidence."
"I'd like to think it was fate that I bump into the most attractive person I've ever seen and they don't know who I am and won't judge me 'cause of my past." He took a bite of his muffin.
"Should I be worried?"
"I guess you'll have to figure that out yourself." He winks.
You decide to eat your muffin as well. It was a comfortable silence until you looked out of the window and noticed a guy crouching down behind a cauldron...with a camera.
"Harry?"
"Hm?"
"Why is there a man outside taking pictures of you?"
His eyes widened. "Oh shit." He whispered. "Here." He took out a baseball cap and put it over your head, hiding your face from the camera.
He gets out of his seat quickly pulling you along with him to the back of the shop but before you could say anything he had his wand pulled out.
Next thing you saw was a couch and living room.
"Wow." You panted. "What a way to bring a girl home."
"I apologise Y/N, I block them out so much I forget they're even there and now they've seen you, and have a story and -"
"Wait, wait, wait, are you wanted for murder or something?"
Harry walks over to his bookshelf and pulls out a rather large book. After opening up on the table, he waved his wand over it and beckons you over to read it.
'Boy who lived.'
'Golden boy defeats Voldemort'
'winner of Triwizard tournament'
And there was so much more… 'Harry Potter' in bold just strewn across the pages. His whole life story.
Your eyes widen at everything. "So both and neither. War hero. How come I've never heard of you? Or any of this?"
He smiles at the pages fondly, running his fingers across the letters and reminiscing on his times at Hogwarts.
"Unlike you Avengers, we like to keep our business private and quiet. We don't like prying eyes."
You scoff. "Not our fault we have alien invasions every year."
Harry agreed and for the rest of the night you sat on his couch talking and sometimes arguing, over every little thing. It felt like you two had known each other forever.
You're not sure when, but you fell asleep there and woke with your head on his chest and his arm wrapped around your waist. You're not sure how the two of you ended up this way, and you realized you were practically strangers, but you didn't want to move. You just wanted to tangle your fingers through his dark hair.
But you didn't. Instead you stared at his closed eyes, and focused on his long, dark, eyelashes that fluttered a little from time to time. You thought about how you could get used to this. Waking up with his arm wrapped around you.
You told him last night that if he was actually a serial killer, and wanted to kill you that you had a whole team of people who would rip him limb from limb. He had no doubts and looked actually scared of your threat.
You thought about what it'd be like to live here among people like you.
Stomach grumbling, you decided to get up and see if he had anything you could make for him. It's the least you could do. His face turned when you left his arms, but you quickly pulled the blanket over him so he would be able to sleep a little longer.
You found his bathroom, and washed your face. In your backpack was a toothbrush and some toothpaste so you brushed your teeth, fixed your hair, and got dressed.
By the time you got out of the bathroom, you noticed Harry was still sleeping so you went into the kitchen and tried to find anything remotely close to breakfast foods. By the look of his inventory, you could tell he was very good at cooking but hadn’t been to the store in a while. He did have some eggs and toast though so you decided to make that.
In the middle of it, you got a phone call from Strange.
“Strange?”
“Harry Potter.” he says.
“What?” you were so confused as to how Stephen knew ANYTHING.
“You’re in his place, we've been tracking you.”
“So I guess we should probably have a talk about privacy? I don’t know, it just seems like something we should discuss you know? Cause usually people can respect that - especially people who just DUMP you here in the first place -“
“Calm down that’s what the mission was. While you were sleeping, we searched the place with a camera we put on you and he’s not who we thought he was. You completed the mission L/N. Great job.”
“Is he a danger?”
“Not necessarily. Just making sure your fine is all.”
“What -?”
He hung up.
Why wouldn’t Strange tell you his intentions? Why would he let you stay here if he thought Harry might have been a bad guy? Why would he risk that?
Right as you hung up Harry Potter walked into the kitchen with his lenses in between his shirt - he was cleaning his glasses.
His dark hair hung over his eyes but his eyebrows were raised.
“You made breakfast?”
“It was the least I could do. I didn’t mean to fall asleep but thank you for letting me stay.”
He smiled and put his glasses back on. In doing so his gray shirt lifted and you could see his abs. You turned away a blushed.
“It was no big deal. Thank you for making breakfast, love. You didn’t have to.”
You didn’t say anything and instead placed both of your finished plates on the dining room table. He followed you and sat down immediately digging in.
“These are the best eggs i’ve ever eaten Y/N thank you.”
You smiled in response but then frowned remembering your conversation with Strange. You should probably tell Harry.
“So,” you cleared your throat. “You were wrong.”
He gave you a look that meant “about?”
“Dr. Strange - the wizard I work with - he likes to check out potential threats and make sure that ya’know - the earth stays safe and everything. Je can kind of see the future and its propabilities. He did the same thing with Thor and his brother Loki.”
“Okay, go on.”
You cringed. “And so he called me and told me that he sent me here so he could see you? I don’t know I guess he saw you as a threat and wanted to make sure you weren’t.”
You looked at Harry but his face was clear of any and every emotion. He just continued to eat his eggs. It was silent.
You ate a bit at your eggs too until he spoke up which made you look up.
“I can’t say I’m very surprised honestly. With everything you guys manage to fuck up there I’d wanna know if someone else was about to create shit problems too.”
You sighed with relief. He wasn’t mad.
“I’m sorry really Harry, I didn’t even know.”
“No yeah it’s fine. I get it. I still think he sent you specifically for a reason though. There’s just no way we aren’t soul mates or something.”
“Oh shut up Potter.”
He smiled. “I’ve been thinking.”
“Gee your head must hurt.”
He squints at you jokingly. “You should let me take you out. I can show you around today. Y’know, so you can see what wizards are like.”
“Is this a date?”
His face flushes red and he looks down at his plate. “Yeah, yeah it’s a date.”
And a date it was.
“What the fuck is wrong with you Harry! Again?!” You practically screamed. Harry called it aparation but you call it hell. You let it go the first time but damn. He barely even warned you, just took your hand, held it tight, pulled you close, and waved his wand.
It was teleportation. Something you’ve never ever done before.
“Fucking hell Potter I’m going to murder you.”
“And Strange was worried about your safety? This is like your 4th time threatening to end my life and besides, it wasn’t even that bad.”
You rolled your eyes.
Throughout the day Harry showed you all sorts of things you’d never ever seen before. This consisted of every flavor jelly beans (and by every flavor they really meant every flavor), a chocolate frog, and never ending bubble gum. And that was just on the candy side.
He took you inside this joke shop ran by two of his friends from his old school he called hogwarts. They were twins that went by the names of Fred and George. The only twins you had ever met was Wanda and Pietro but telling the story of Pietro’s death seemed to sour Harry’s mood but excite the twins. The fact that he sacrificed himself for a little boy made him a hero in their eyes. They begged you to tell them more stories.
By the end of the day you went back to Harry’s place and you were exhausted. You can’t believe all that you’ve seen and eaten. How was this stuff even possible? How was it all hidden? You were amazed.
Harry was glad to see you had a good day and glad that he had met you. When you got back, he told you that you could stay another night...and perhaps in the bed instead of the couch. He hadn’t meant it in a dirty way but that didn’t stop you from laughing until tears came out of your eyes. He was so awkward at times. Once he had to ask if it was okay to take your hand while you were in the street and it was so cute how he couldn’t really find the words even for something as simple as hand holding.
“Harry?”
“Hm?”
You both were laying in his bed facing the other.
“I had a lot of fun today. I feel like i’ve known you forever.”
He grinned from ear to ear and was glad that you couldn’t see him. He would have been beyond embarrassed if you’d seen how unmistakably happy that made him.
“I had fun with you Y/N. You’re great company.”
You were silent for a moment.
And another.
“Harry?”
“Yes?”
“Can I kiss you?”
You were scared of his response and your heart was practically beating out of your chest. What if he was just being friendly? What if he just wanted to be friends? You would have made a huge fool of yourself. You were going to turn away embarrassed until his hand came up to your face and slipped onto your cheek. He was so warm. His lips pressed against yours for a moment and then he pulled away.
After a moment he reconnected and moved his lips against yours slowly. Your hand went to the back of his neck and toyed with his hair. He groaned into your mouth. You smiled and scooted even closer to him. All you could hear was the sound of your breathing and kissing. You didn’t want to pull away but you had to.
“Harry.” you said practically breathless.
“Yeah.” he was breathless too.
“I want to show you my world. You should come see New York.”
“Yeah? You wanna show me those alien invasions and robot attacks?”
You laughed and snuggled into Harry. He wrapped his arm around you and kissed your neck.
“Mhmm.”
“I’d love to see it.”
Tags:
@romance-geek @gooseyhouse
191 notes · View notes
opinions-of-loki · 3 years
Text
Loki - Episode One, Summary bullet points in form of an unnecessarily detailed opinion
- What I found sort of funny was Loki, who immediately hit the dessert and immediately hurried to the next higher stone, as if this were the pedestal that was his equal, only to be able to explain / present himself to the Mongolian inhabitants, only that they did not understand him and asked again who he is. It kinda gave me Hela vibes. Black haired Odin children have a tough time getting heard.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
ALSO! THE SASS! Yet staying polite despite him being confused of what is going to happen to him - Trying to be all intimidating, but nobody takes him serious, as always! You can’t scare the time space cops my boy :/ Finding out how the company works and being all confused was honestly a very sweet and funny moment
- What’s up with the soundtracks??? Someone give this dude a raise who composed these Blade Runner-que music for the TVA followed with those cool bagpipes traditionally used for Scandinavian folk music? FUCK YES! Also the end credits music, it’s just excellent!
- Loki questioning if he’s a robot or not! I mean, he was told to believe he was an Aesir but in the end wasn’t. So who knew if Odin adopted a robot son? Better check on this one - I kinda got cute vibes from Mobius and Renslayer, they seem to perhaps have a closer connection towards another, especially after he greeted her with a formal Hi and talking to her on a somehow personal level - Mobius at first seemed like a very kind man and being patient with Loki, even supportive, but he is an experienced cop and knows how to handle complicated people, especially Loki variants. Mobius gives off a vibe of an older Blade Runner who takes his job very serious. But in the middle I kind of started to hate him a little
- The story of why Loki is an American crime legend D.B. Cooper just because he lost a bet to Thor when they were younger! Hilarious! Most of the most legendary pranks ever! I would have been more happy about the details of why Thor demanded this, or if it went like ” Loki! Cause some chaos on Midgard. Humans are easy to impress.” ” Say no more, Brother!” - Though Mobius seemed like the only person ever who had the ability to call out Loki to his actions: That he isn’t a God of mischief, because he confronted Loki about if killing innocent people is part of his fun, if it brings enjoyment to him to torture people who had nothing to do about Loki’s past. Loki denying that it’s not true, Mobius harshly confronts him about his earlier maniac like expression when removing someone’s eyeballs, if this is still harmless mischief-making. - BUT! Where is it mentioned he was controlled by the mind stone and the thriving fear of Thanos to get killed??? Loki was under pressure, to get killed by the Mad Titan, and he wasn’t thinking rationally when he invaded New York? For someone who studied Loki’s life so well, Mobius sucks to get a point to this one, or it will be mentioned in the future, I better hope so - Loki doesn’t trust easily, because “Trust is for children and dogs.” Gave me Natasha vibes. Because she and him were sharing a quite similar conversation a few hours earlier.
Tumblr media
- SEEING FRIGGA’S DEATH! Loki giving great speeches about wanting to free everyone, being a ruler of the Nine Realms to hide away what he truly desired and that nobody would understand his thoughts and emotions, but seeing 2012 Loki seeing that HE gave the coordinates to the Dark Elves, unknowing Frigga would be on this very wing, you can see how hurt he was and panicked! He completely lost all trails of thoughts, asking where she is, if the TVA also kept her, if she is okay! He wanted to save her so badly, he doesn’t want to become the version who will kill her once again. - Mobius saying that there is nothing he can change and that Frigga HAS to die to get back in the flow of time, OUCH! - I get more TTDW vibes when everything that has been explained to Loki, that he will only bring death and chaos no matter what he does, that not only Frigga is destined to die, but Loki is about to die at some point, it made me think of Odin’s words:
Tumblr media
Mobius said the same things, Loki’s destiny is to bring death or to ultimately die himself, no matter if he goes the bad or good path. It left me with weird vibes about Mobius being like Odin, just less of an abusive father mentor thing. He was made to cause pain, death and suffering. It hurt. Knowing those weren’t Loki’s goals, he came to the realization that Mobius is right, but doesn’t want to admit it, or at least denies it, but agreed in the end in a very subtle way - MOBIUS AND LOKI FIGHTING!! ” Do you enjoy killing?” “I will kill you!” “Like you did to your mother?” MOBIUS! FUCK YOU! At this point, he lost any sympathy from me towards him. He was guilt-tripping Loki, perhaps even gaslighting him. But this is also part of his job. He isn’t supposed to be Loki’s friend, he is a cop after all. Loki is an emotional and vulnerable being, so hitting him at the worst spot to get out more of him probably wasn’t the kindest thing to do, but probably the most effective for Mobius. Loki likes to pressure other people, but doesn’t like to be the pressured one. - Loki’s purpose is to bring those together he ultimately tried to remove according to Mobius, Loki brought together a team of legendary superheroes together that barely knew each other, and they grew strong together thanks to Loki’s wrongdoings. It somehow hurt a lot, but in the end, Mobius was speaking the harsh truth -  "I will gut you out like a fish!” “What's a fish?!” BLESS CASEY!
- Endless Infinity Stones! I am in love with this idea! I don’t know why I saw people getting confused by it because even though the Stones are what hold the universe together, the TVA doesn’t live in that very universe, they are beyond that very space and time we don’t know and can’t grasp, they visit timelines after timelines, so of course it happens they find stones and keep them, either knowing or not knowing what they are, or they simply don’t care, because they have no purpose in the TVA. Perhaps these stones are variants too and don’t belong to a certain timeline and needed to be removed, such as Loki’s Tesseract
- What got me the most, and we all know what I mean, Loki crying privately when he once again viewed the life of his alternative self, viewing the loss of his family, the loss of his own life. I don’t really know if he mourned over Odin too, but in this series, Odin never threatened to kill or imprison Loki which perhaps didn’t cause any damage towards his anger. Though he was aware that Odin took the other Loki in a cell, but it was a destiny he could avoid now that he knew how things will turn out when he returns to Asgard. He will never get arrested, Frigga probably wouldn’t die because of him, though I get a feeling the Dark Elves will come nevertheless, but this time, it shall be Thor’s problem not to screw it up. Though it was a relief to see him smile soon after when he realized Thor was the only one believing in him, even though their relationships always has been kinda weird, as Loki always was jealous of him being everyone’s first choice, but in the end, Thor was alive, everything that was left, and Thor didn’t hate him - End of File - I don’t know why, but reading this, Loki himself reading this, the very end of his life, it made me shiver. He saw his memories of what could be, what MUST happen to him, and that there are more happy memories. But in the end, there are no memories anymore - end of file. That’s it. That was his life. - I can’t imagine how many thoughts must have been go through his head to see Thanos again, Loki’s try to kill him, just to see his neck and wind pipe getting cracked. He currently recovers from the effects of a full year of torture, both mentally and physically, just the same he would treat his ‘Children’. I can imagine Thanos promised him the world, something small to rule over to expand over more realms. Thanos triggered Loki’s fear and anger, who had to deal with the information he never belonged to Asgard in the first place. Whenever Loki would try to flee or play games with Thanos, I can imagine Loki got punished for it, he never even spoke sassy with Thanos during Infinity War.  Loki is terrified of him for good reasons. I imagine this young man, feared, terrified, trapped on a rock with daily mental manipulation and pain. Loki became obedient and would have done anything for Thanos, whatever he ordered, including an exchange of power. Even if Thanos never fully was on his side and used Loki as a puppet with power and sorcery, being useful, I get a feeling Loki clung to his words and promises to rule over Earth as a savior and liberator, which completely went wrong - His laughter following after could have many reasons, relief, stress or disbelief. He was still crying between those laughs, which could be taken as desperation about no matter what he does, his actions will lead to harsh consequences. Disbelief of what he just saw, as if it felt so unreal to even believe what he had just witnessed, that it was all real, a destiny that was meant to him. But what else did Loki do during serious situations? He avoids them, he doesn’t want to acknowledge problems and shoving them away with a sassy comment or a smile to cope with it - which could mean this laughter could be part of his coping mechanism
- Him opening up, addressing why Loki hurts people, was honestly the best scene to me. He spoke about his inferior complex, his fear of not being strong enough to survive, building up a facade, a fake personality to survive also with the help of his magic. He thought he can be superior to anyone if he could scare everyone, gaining respect and love in form of war and destruction, as he perhaps thought of Odin being a former warlord, he would prefer a son who is able to conquer, being merciless. He doesn’t want to get hurt, he doesn’t trust anyone easily, that’s why he has to hurt people, to avoid of getting hurt or betrayed in the end. He became a double-edged sword I’m open for opinions and private chatting if you guys want to add something ! :DD
29 notes · View notes
valeriethepussycats · 3 years
Text
Inside Out
Chapter 4
Pairing- Loki x Reader
Warning-cursing and childhood trauma
Your thoughts and other characters are in italics.
Flashbacks are in bold.
Tumblr media
“The celebration had been going on strong for the last few hours, and there wasn’t an end in sight. Asgardians strolled through the streets, rejoicing the fact that the Nine Realms were safe at last. Friends laughed, kids played, and warriors recounted their many victorious battles.
Y/n,Gambit,Sif, and The warrior three are all drinking in the castle, until Y/n starts to get flashes of Loki. He was in the scorching sun day in and day out,and they deprive him of water for weeks, and someone used the mind stone on him. Outside her head all the glass bottles and wine glasses bust, and Gambit immediately looks over at Y/n and see the black vines on her arm but before he could make his way over to her but time freeze.
Y/n gets up and runs to the dungeon, when she gets there she just stands in front of Loki’s cell looking down at her feet. Having a hard time looking at him and not see what she saw.
“Y/n, what’s going on?” Loki said as he looks around and see everyone is frozen. “Are you doing this?”
“why didn’t you tell me....why didn’t you tell me you were tortured.” Y/n questioned.
Loki looks at Y/n with wide eyes. “How do you do know that.”
“The stars, our minds all of that is Connected remember. How you not tell me.” Y/n said with Infrequent blinking.
“I didn’t want you to see that.” Loki answered.
“You were alone before you came to earth.” Y/n said as a tear rolls down her face.
The Black vines starts to slowly climb up her arm and appear on her face. Loki see that Y/n is in distress from what she learned. He knows what will happen if he let her feel those emotions. So he walks up the to the shield and use his up most calming and soothing voice he could muster at a time like this.
“It’s ok I’m fine Y/n look at me look at me.” Loki pleased.
Y/n looks at Loki with an empty stare. “No it’s not fine.....you were tortured. You were tortured into do what you did on earth. You was being watched. Even if I was aware of what was going on with you there was nothing I could’ve done. Nothing you could’ve done cause if you would’ve said or done anything differently they would’ve killed you.”
“I tried my best to get to rid those memory. I knew you would be able to feel it.” Loki said.
“I never wanted to experience those feeling.....not again?” Y/n quavered. “Not again.”
“What do you mean by ‘not again’?” Loki dais with a firm voice.
“The people that took me did this to me they put someone else’s X-Gene inside of me and I have to learn how to control it....and when I couldn’t control it they would put a collar around my neck then throw me into a dark room. The feeling of loneliness every day inside that room...if it wasn’t for Gambit....” Y/n trailed off. But Loki knew what she was going to say.
“I’m so sorry. I am here.” Loki puts he’s hand on over the Barrier of the cell walk and Y/n copies his movement.
“The person that did that to you.” Robin started. “What was there name?”
“Thanos” Loki answered.
“Thanos.”
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
At that same time, back on Asgard, Heimdall, the all-seeing keeper of the Rainbow Bridge, stood at his post at the edge of the observatory, scanning the cosmos. He did not turn when Thor approached, but spoke as soon as the prince was behind him.
“You're late.” Heimdall announced.
“Merriment can sometimes be a heavier burden than battle.” Thor stated.
“Then you're doing one of them incorrectly.” Heimdall commented.
Thor chuckles. “Perhaps. How fare the stars?”
“Still shining. From here I can see Nine Realms and ten trillion souls.” Heimdall looks at Thor for a moment. “You recall what I told you of the Convergence?”
“Yes, the alignment of the worlds. It approaches, doesn't it?” Thor asked.
“The universe hasn't seen this marvel since before my watch began. Few can sense, even fewer can see it. A world that's infected can be dangerous. It is truly beautiful.” Heimdall explained.
They looks out into the stars. “I see nothing.”
“Or perhaps that is not the beauty you seek.”
Thor laughs. “How is she?”
“She's quite clever, your mortal. She doesn't know it yet, but she studies the Convergence as well. Even...” Heimdall stops as he senses something.”
“What?” Thor stressed.
“I can't see her.”
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
We see Jane being infected by the Aether] [after Jane is infected with the Aether she reawakens in the factory, she runs out to find Darcy has called the police.
“Jane! Where the hell were you?” Darcy exclaimed.
“Tell me you didn't call the police!” Jane inquired.
“What was I supposed to do?” Darcy asked.
“Not call the police!” Jane yelled.
“I was freaking out.” Darcy stuttered.
“You call the cops they tell the feds, the next thing you know we have Shield crawling all over area fifty-one-ing the place.” Jane proclaimed.
“Jane!”
“We had a stable gratification anomaly, we had unheeded access. Our only competition was ten years old!”
“Jane, you were gone for five hours!” Darcy disclosed.
“What?....”
Suddenly the weather turns, it starts raining and they hear the sound of thunder, Jane looks around her and puts her hand out.
“That's weird.” Darcy noted.
They see it's raining but it's not raining on Jane and Darcy, there's an invisible barrier protecting them, suddenly Jane sees Thor standing a few feet away from them, Jane hands her gadget to Darcy and walks towards Thor, as she walks away the invisible barrier follows her and the rain starts falling on Darcy.
“Typical.”
Jane walks towards Thor.
“Jane.”
“As she reaches him suddenly she slaps him hard in the face. “Sorry. I just needed to make sure you were real, it's been a very strange day.”
“Well, I am. Jane...”
Suddenly she slaps him again. “Where were you?!”
“Where were you? Heimdall could not see you.” Thor said.
“I was right here where you left me. I was waiting and then I was crying and then I went out looking for you. You said you were coming back.” Jane said in a level tone.
“I know, I know, but the Bifrost was destroyed. The Nine Realms erupted into chaos, wars were raging, marauding hordes were pillaging. I had to put an end to the slaughter.” Thor explained.
“As excuses go, that's not terrible. But I saw you on TV, you were...you were in New York! Fighting with Y/n.” Jane said without trying to sound Jealous.
But she was he was spending all that time with Y/n. Ok she was the only person that believe him but Jane did to (with reason).
Does Thor have Heimdall to look in on Y/n.
“Jane, I fought to protect you from the dangers of my world, but I was wrong, I was a fool.” Thor places his hand Jane's face. “I believe that fate brought us together. Jane, I don't know where you were or what happened, but I do know this.”
“What?”
“I know...”
“You do?”
“Do what?”
They lean in close and just as they are about to kiss Darcy interrupts them; referring to the rain.
“Hey! Is that you?”
Thor looks up and the rain stops.
“Uh...we're kind of in the middle of something.” Jane sigh of irritation as she look at Darcy.
“Um...I'm pretty sure we are getting arrested” Darcy replied.
Jane look over at Thor. “Hold that thought.” She turns and runs towards the police.
“Look at you, still all muscly and everything. How's space?” Darcy asked.
“Space is fine.” Thor answered.
Jane walks over to the police. “Excuse me?”
“Are you Jane Foster?” One of police officer asked.
“Yes.”
“Do you know this man?” police officer said referring to Ian.
“He's my intern. My intern's intern.” Jane answered.
“This is private property and you're trespassing, the lot of you. You'll have to come with me.” The police officer goes t grab Jane's arm but suddenly the force from the Aether creates a powerful force which pushes the officer and everything else away,
Thor runs towards Jane who's lying on the ground.
“Jane! Jane?” Thor said as he helps her stand. “You alright?”
“What just happened?” Jane asked.
The other police officer approaches Jane apprehensively. “Place your hands on your head, step back!”
“The woman is unwell.” Thor answered.
“She's dangerous.”
“So am I.” Thor disclosed.
Talking into his radio. “Requesting armed response officers to the scene.” Thor grabs Jane and pulls her closer to him.
“Hold on to me.”
“What are you doing?” Suddenly the Bifrost opens and Thor takes Jane to Asgard; Darcy looks up as they disappear
“Holy shit!” Darcy shouted.
Thor and Jane travel through the Bifrost and enter Asgard where Heimdall is guarding as always, Jane looks around her in amazement.
“We have to do that again.” she notices Heimdall for the first time. “Hi.”
“Welcome to Asgard.” Heimdall announced.
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Returning to their homeland, Svartalfheim, Malekith kneels and grabs a handful of dust from the ground. “Look at my legacy, Algrim. I barely remember the time before light.”
Algrim places his hand on Malekith's shoulder. “Our survival will be your legacy.”
“The Asgardians will suffer as we have suffered. I will reclaim the Aether. I will restore our world and I'll put an end to this poisonous world.” Malekith replied.
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Asgard.
Loki is laying down on his bed, think about what happened the other day. The way Y/n was angry for him and what he saw. He didn’t know if he deserve such passion. What has he done to deserve that from her.
Maybe Odin is right
Y/n appeared in his cell, looks over at her and see she’s looks upset.
“What’s the matter? Did you have a another memory?” Loki said sitting up.
“No.... I just had to say goodbye to Gambit that all.” Y/n said with a downturned head.
“Gambit, he’s alive?” Loki questioned looking shocked.
“Yes, he is. Why you asked me that?” Y/n wondered then realization hits her. “Did you see one of my memories?”
Loki nods yes.
“Which one?” Y/n said with an intriguing voice.
“He was dying.” Loki answered.
“Oh.....that one.” Y/n said in a small voice. “That day would ever be known as November 18th. That was the day I lost control...caused an earthquake and black out in the upper east of the United States.”
“What happened?” Loki wondered.
“I had a nightmare but it wasn’t like any other nightmare it was vivid. I the way his blood felt on my hands. I ever since that day my father was trying to find ways to conceal my powers and when he did I will get the senses when something good or bad was gonna happen sometimes it was painful sometimes it wasn’t.” Y/n explained.
“You’re the only person I’ve ever told that to.”
Loki walks over to Y/n and lif her head up with his index finger so she’s looking at him. “Why would you tell me?”
“I don’t know it just felt like the right thing to do.” Y/n answered smile. “That’s what you do when you care about someone you open up to them.”
“You caring for me only make things worst.” Loki said with his head down. “After your two weeks you will never see me again. You dealing with the feeling of yearning will not be good for you or your powers.”
“My powers?” Y/n said in a curious tone. “What makes you think I won’t stay on Asgard?”
“Y/n...you just got someone you care about back into your life and you would willingly leave them behind for me?”
“Gambit, with understand.” Y/n replied.
“You would hate to living here on Asgard.”
“No, I won’t because you’re here.”
Loki walks over to Y/n and lif her head up with his index finger so she’s looking at him. “Y/n, when your two weeks are up....you are going to have to let me go?”
“No..No I’m not letting anything go.” Y/n said putting some space between her and Loki. “And don’t you say if you love me let me go.”
“If you don’t you could hurt people.” Loki said walking up to Y/n hugging her from the back.
“Since when do you care about people?” Y/n asked sarcastically.
“Because your care about people.” Loki answered.
Y/n turns around and gives Loki Direct eye contact. “Don’t ask me to let you go because I won’t.”
“Y/n....” Loki said struggling to find the right words to say.
“I should go I have to met your mom.” Y/n said.
And just like that Y/n is gone and Loki stands there facial muscles tensing.
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
As the Asgardian physicians study Jane and the force within her. “What's that?”
“Be still.” Eir said in a snappy voice.
Thor watches with one of the nurses as they examine Jane. “This is not of Earth, what is it?”
“We do not know, but she will not survive the amount of energy surging within her.” the nurse turns and walks away as Thor looks at Jane with worry.
“That's a quantum field generator, isn't it?” Jane asked.
“It's a Soul Forge.” Eir answered.
“Does a Soul Forge transfer molecular energy from one place to another?” Jane questioned.
Eir looks impressed. “Yes.”
Jane looks at Thor and whispers. “It's a quantum field generator.” Thor smiles at her.
Odin enters the room as the Thor looks on to Jane as she is being examined. “My words are mere noises to you that you ignore them completely?”
”She's ill.” Thor disclosed.
“She is mortal. Illness is their defining trait.” Odin replied.
“I brought here because we can help her.” Thor told Odin.
“She does not belong here in Asgard anymore than a goat belongs at a banquet table.“ Odin replied.
Jane sits up and looks at Thor. “Did he just...?” Jane started. “Who do you think you are?”
“I'm Odin. King of Asgard. Protector of the Nine Realms.” Odin answered.
“Oh. Well, I'm...”
“I know very well who you are, Jane Foster.”
Jane turns to look at Thor. “You told your Dad about me?”
“Something is within her, father, something I have not seen before.” Thor explained.
“Her world has its healers, their called doctors, let them deal with it. Guards, take her back to Midgard.” Odin said as two guards approach Jane and go to grab her, suddenly the energy force within her sets off again throwing the two guards aside.
“Don't touch her.” Thor said as he leans down and tenderly touches Jane. “Jane, are you alright?”
Jane nods her head, Odin inspects the energy force running through Jane's body and realizes it's the Aether. “That's impossible.”
“The infection, it's defending her.” Eir said in a shocked face.
“No, it's defending itself.” Thor corrected.
“Come with me. There are relics that predate the universe itself. What lies within her appears to be one of them. The Nine Realms are not eternal. They had a dawn as they will have a dusk.” Odin said showing Thor and Jane an ancient book. “But before that dawn the dark forces, the Dark Elves, reigned absolute and unchallenged.”
Thor reading from the book. “Born of eternal night, the Dark Elves comes to steal away your light. They were these stories mother told us as children.”
“Their leader, Malekith made a weapon out of that darkness, it was called the Aether. While the other relics often appeared as stones, the Aether is fluid and ever changing. It changes matter into dark matter and seeks out to host bodies, drawing strength from their life force. Malekith sought to use the Aether's power to return the universe to one of darkness. But after eternities of blood shed, my father Bor, finally triumphed, ushering in the peace that lasted thousands of years.”
“What happened?” Jane chimed in.
“He killed them all.” Odin answered.
“Are you certain? The Aether was said to have been destroyed with them and yet here it is.” Thor specified.
“The Dark Elves are dead.” Odin commented.
“Does your book happen to mention how to get it out of me?” Jane questioned.
“No, it does not.”
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Y/n is sitting crisscross apple sauce in her room’s balcony. Thinking about what happened between her and Loki.
Was that our first fight?
Y/n’s emotions were at a frenzy. She didn’t understand why Loki was acting like that. She wanted to be mad. Something happened to change his mind on everything.
What if i’m overthinking it Gambit did say I think and feel more then anyone else
Y/n let’s out a sigh of irritation.
“It’s ok if my thoughts run a mile but focus on one.” Y/n said closing her eye.
So am I supposed to just sit here.
Yes I am going to be spinning this day with my daughter
Y/n can hear Frigga’s voice clear as day. She doesn’t know if it’s was her inner or outer voice.
“I didn’t know Thor had a sister.” Y/n mumbled to herself.
Y/n gets a knock on her door and she opens it with the flick of her hand.
“So I see your trying to meditate that’s a good start.” Frigga said walking in the room. The door shut close as Frigga makes her way over to Y/n.
“Yes. But I’m failing miserably at it.” Y/n laughed at herself. “I learned that my mind is a satellite. I’m always going to pick up others people thoughts. So I had to learn how to store them in the back of my mind. But even then it still feels crowded.”
“You poor dear, I can not imagine how you feel but I think I can help. Close your eyes imagine everything in your head.” Frigga said.
Y/n takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.
“Now I want you to think of the similarities of Asgard and Midgard.” Frigga said.
“That’s kind of hard Asgard is beautiful while Earth only as hidden gems.....the sunset are beautiful.” Y/n answered.
“When you think of the sun, what do you think of?” Frigga asked.
“Warm light.”
“And what is light?”
“Electricity....and electricity is power.”
“How does one turn off power?” Frigga wondered.
“By flipping a switch.” Y/n grinned.
“Now turn it off switch.” Frigga told Y/n.
Y/n flips a switch off in her mind and everything going quite. She opens her eyes and looks up at Frigga smiling.
“It’s gone. It’s not crowded anymore. Thank you.” Y/n rejoiced.
A rainbow appears in the sky as all the clouds disappear. Y/n gets up from the ground and hugs Frigga, then immediately letting her go.
She’s a queen you have to remember that
“Oh I’m so sorry.” Y/n said with a downward gaze.
Frigga smiles. “Y/n, it is fine.” Frigga looks out and sees a rainbow. “That wouldn’t be your doing would is?”
“Sorry.” Y/n goes to fix the sky but Frigga stops her.
“I think it’s rather lovely.”
Y/n smiles at Frigga.
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
back on Svartalfheim, in his ship Malekith plots his vengeance against the Asgardians.
“The Realms will be aligned soon.” Malekith takes out a knife and turns to Algrim.“You'll be the last of the Kursed.”
Malekith stabs Algrim in the stomach with his knife. “Let my life be sacrificed. The same as our people.”
“You will become darkness, doomed to this existence until it consumes you.” Malekith started. One of the dark elves places a molten rock in Malekith's hand and Malekith places it inside Algrim's stomach. “And then no power of our enemies will stop me.”
“I'll destroy their defenses and resurrect the universe.” Malekith looks to one of his dark elves as he carries a mask.
A/n- I can’t believe the Loki tv show season one is done. (Sigh) I guess I’ll be waiting.
21 notes · View notes
stanknotstark · 3 years
Text
Astral Pt. 13 (Loki x Reader)
I’m introducing ANOTHER character :D Morgan is very interesting and her powers are like Kang’s I’m very curious as to who would win in a fight tbh i wish i could’ve written an action scene because she can mind control and OH the drama that I could have played with! You guys are lucky cuz i had something worse written >:D
Tumblr media
You and Loki are eating breakfast together in silence. When you finish your plate Loki tells you to grab a book from his quarters, while he finishes, so he can help you research Asgard. Then meet him in the common area since no one is there right now. 
Loki likes to teach you and watch your curiosity flare as you read up on Asgard, its customs, how healers work, how royalty works, instead of telling you. It’s the least he can do since you’ll never actually see Asgard in person. He’s a fantastic storyteller but you know he has a weakness, that weakness being that when you truly concentrate on something sometimes you stick your tongue out a bit and narrow your eyes. Other times you look at the book with guileless fascination. Plus, Loki knows there’s more satisfaction from learning on your own. He’s always there to answer your questions and debate with you though.
You walk back into the common area after grabbing the book, Loki looks at you, then a cloud of dark green appears between you both. Before you can react accordingly feminine arms are yanking you into the cloud of magic and you’re in someone’s arms definitely not at the tower anymore. You can only imagine what Loki is thinking. The last thing he probably saw was the book fall when you dropped it. Now he’s probably thinking the worst is going to happen, that you’re going to die, and honestly you don’t know what’s going on. For all you know you might actually be about to die. 
You try to wave off the nausea and dizziness following the teleportation you endured and assess your surroundings but someone is roughly pulling you somewhere. Just as you get your wits back there is a tight rope constricting your hands behind your back and around your ankles. You’re shoved into a rocky wall, twisting, back first causing you to let out a breathless grunt and slide into a sitting position on the ground.
Looking up you see a beautiful woman. She stands tall, her chin out in confidence. Her pale, petite face is framed by pitch black hair, the long tendrils held in braids resting on her chest and trailing to her hips they’re so long. She wears a green and black corset that flows into thigh armor that is engraved. No not engraved, made of actual scales, you shiver at the thought of what could have scales that big, nothing from Earth that’s sure. To end her amazing outfit, her green with black lace boots are thigh highs. You can faintly smell leather and something sweet you’ve never smelled before. You’re pretty sure this woman could be a really good dominatrix if she wanted to.
“That was much easier than expected. If the Avengers are Earth’s best defenders I’m disappointed, to say the least.” The woman tells you looking at her nails in boredom. You pick out her British accent.
You realize you’re not in immediate danger and say, “While I don’t mind getting kidnapped by beautiful women I usually like to know their names first, maybe take me on a date before you bring me back to your place.”
The woman chuckles. “My name is Morgan Le Fay of Britain, the world’s strongest sorceress, Morgana. That is until you came along.”
You frown. “That’s a mouthful.” 
Morgana shakes her head with a small smile. “Cute.”
“Look I’m not that powerful, I think you have the wrong person, most of the magic I use I can’t use for long because it gives me migraines.” You say while shifting around to get more comfortable. 
You finally take in your surroundings. All you can assess is that you’re in a cave, no telling how far from New York City, home. You know Loki could track you down if you could astral project but you don’t trust Morgana enough to take your eyes off of her. Maybe Tony is tracking your cell phone which you feel sitting in your back pocket. 
“Such a shame you’ll never discover your true potential. I’m here to kill you, child, but I had to get a taste of what runs through your blood before I do.” Morgana says kneeling in front of you. 
Morgana brings a hand to your head and when she touches you she gasps and closes her eyes. You simply watch from under her hand as she shivers. When she pulls her hand away her eyes are bright with curiosity but far away in thought. 
“Why would your mother want to kill someone so powerful, I would think having you on her side would be more preferable.” Morgana says under her breath. You only hear her because she’s so close to you. 
“My mother sent you?” You say trying to stall now that you know her intentions. 
Morgana hums. 
“I know my mother doesn’t love me but I never thought she’d send a glorified assassin after me. I’m honored, honestly.” You say your fingers playing with the rope around your wrists seeing if you could escape somehow. “How does my mother know you anyways, she doesn’t have any powers why would she know a sorceress?” 
Morgana frowns at you, “I like your humor in the face of death.” She quips with a hint of annoyance at your nonchalance of the situation, “When a celestial tells me to do something I tend to not question it.” You look at Morgana like she’s crazy then you watch as realization dawns on her face. 
“My child...You truly do not know?” 
You stop fiddling with the rope and look at Morgana with a raised eyebrow. “Know what? And I’m not a child.”
“Your true birth mother, celestial Madonna.” Morgana says ignoring your plea to be respected.
At this you freeze and lose all the breath in your lungs. 
Thor was right, you’re adopted.
“It was prophesied that celestial Madonna would give birth to the most powerful being in the universe. Kang wanted to be father to such child and hunted her down. He impregnated her, held her captive until she birthed you. She fled when she had the chance but couldn’t take you with her.” Morgana explains while standing and pacing the cave’s floor. “Kang, who was being chased by the Avengers, planted you in an alternate universe and time. No one has known where you were until a few years ago when you used magic for the first time.” Morgana finishes, stopping and looking down at you.
She gives you a look of pity as you process everything. It all made sense now. Kang wants you to be his weapon of destruction. Why your parents have always hated you and treated you like shit. 
“My mother wants me dead and sent you to do her dirty work...Meaning she’s alive somewhere?” You ask trying to not panic with the influx of information.
“She’s here on Earth until she knows you’re dead. Said you’re more of a liability than anything. I’m being paid handsomely for your head.” Morgana says. She then brings a hand up and flicks it. Dark green magic flows and through the smokey magic you see a quin jet then see flashes of Loki, Steve, Natasha, Tony, and Thor talking, concerned and frightened looks on their faces but hear nothing. 
“Your friends are near.” Is all Morgana says like it’s an afterthought. She makes the magic disappear and looks at you with determination. “I have a proposition for you, child.”
You’re not really in the position to argue so you nod at her.
“Promise me you’ll hunt down Kang and right before you deliver the last strike on his miserable life you call on me and let me do it. While I love your mother dearly I have a penchant for revenge.”
“Fine.” You say. At this Morgana looks at you, sizing you up, but decides you’re harmless enough and makes the rope around your wrists and ankles disappear. When you stand she magics a gold ring with a square emerald on it and gives it to you. 
“When the time comes throw this on the ground and stomp on it with your foot then stand back, I shall appear where the ring is.”
You nod and slip the ring onto your right ring finger finding that it fits perfectly. 
“Do not use it for anything else, it is a one time use. If you use it for something trivial I will kill you without hesitation, our deal will be void.” Morgana says, she frowns and without asking places a hand on your head again. This time you feel her magic search your mind and gasp when she does something that makes you feel energetic and calm.
When Morgana pulls her hand away she explains, “Your powers were behind a barrier, I simply destroyed it. You should be able to wield magic without headaches now but you’re going to use your full power unless you learn how to tame it. Do not kill yourself or I’ll bring you back to life just to kill you again.”
You look at Morgana in disbelief and annoyance because she keeps threatening your life.
 She gives you a sympathetic look. “I’m truly sorry such a fate has fallen on you, child.” And then she’s gone and you’re left in a dark cave. 
You hadn’t even realized Morgana had used magic to light up the space you both inhabited until you’re left standing in pitch black. Without hesitation you light up both fists with fire and start to make your way out of the cave. You plan to contact Loki when you truly know where you are. However, when you reach the entrance you see the quin jet landing in an open field not that far from the cave’s entrance on the side of a mountain. The first person out of the ship is Loki and he is sprinting towards you, Thor not far behind with Steve and Nat pulling the flank. 
When Loki reaches you you open your mouth to tell him you’re ok but he pulls you into his chest hard and squeezes you till you’re breathless. Then he holds you at arms length and looks over your face first, then body.
“Are you hurt, did she use any magic on you?” He asks urgently.
“I’m fine, Loki, we just talked, she’s not a danger to us.” You say with a small smile that you’re sure doesn’t reach your eyes because Loki doesn’t lose the concerned look on his face. He doesn’t push it either though. Thor stays suspiciously silent when he reaches you both. He touches you as if to check that you’re real but drops his hand and claps Loki on the back more for calming him instead of camaraderie.
You look at Steve and Nat with a small wave and embarrassed grimace when Loki, Thor, and you reach them as you all walk towards the quin jet. After you’ve told them multiple times that you’re fine they all relax a bit but not by much. You mostly feel embarrassed you were taken so easily. You didn’t even put up a fight.
You’re sitting in the quin jet quiet other than to answer their questions without going into details because you’re still trying to unravel what you’ve been told. 
“Why did she take you?” Steve asks, standing in front of you, arms crossed, with Nat next to him while Loki sits at your side, holding your hand. You know he has questions because his fingers keep playing with the new ring on your hand and he gives you looks you can’t decipher. Thor is speaking with Tony in the cockpit so you’re free of their questions until later thankfully.
“She wants me to find Kang so she may kill him.” You say.
Thankfully Loki and Thor had told the group of superheroes who Kang was after the incident with the Growing Man. They told them what they knew of the man which honestly wasn’t much. 
At your words you feel Loki stop playing with the ring. He understands its purpose now. He must have used his magic to look over the ring and see if it was a danger to anyone but especially you, sensing it had magic dwelling in it.
“That doesn’t explain why she took you specifically. She could have told all of us. She didn’t have to kidnap you.” Natasha says knowing you enough to know you’re hiding valuable information. 
You frown and look at your feet. “I-”
You go quiet and everyone stays quiet too, you listen to the engine of the quin jet and Thor and Tony bickering in the background. You think about how Loki’s hand fits perfectly in yours and is soft but has rough patches of callouses from his use of daggers. You take a deep breath in through your nose, closing your eyes, and smell leather, sweat, and that smell the quin jet emits like a new car. 
When you open your eyes you look up at Steve and Natasha and ask, “How did you find me?” 
Natasha frowns at your very obvious deflection. Steve answers. “Tony tracked your cell phone but it’s thanks to Loki we found you so fast. He used his magic to track your magic or something.” Steve says uncrossing his arms and shrugging while glancing at Loki.
You look at Loki who raises a brow at you. “Our bond.” Is all he says at your inquisitive look. You nod in understanding. 
“Where are we, exactly?” You ask them.
“The border of New York and Pennsylvania.” Steve says. That explains why they were able to reach you so quick. If Morgana teleported you so close that means your stalling is the only reason you’re alive. She planned to make you a quick death.
When Nat opens her mouth to ask you another question you shake your head at her. “I’m exhausted can I take a nap before I tell you everything?” You ask, realizing you’ve got at least 45 minutes of free time since the jet isn’t going full speed.
Nat looks a little apologetic and Steve nods and says, “We’re happy you’re ok.” and then they both make their way to the opposite side of the quin jet. 
You and Loki settle into the quin jet’s seats as comfortably as you can. He stays suspiciously quiet about everything but brings an arm up and around your shoulders and lets you lay your head on his shoulder where it meets his neck. When you’re settled he keeps holding your hand but his free hand around your shoulder comes up to stroke your hair. It doesn’t take long to fall asleep. 
Pt. 12.1/Pt. 13/?
Tage list: @justfangirlthingies​ @emelieh99​ @high-functioning-lokipath​ @loveableasshole​ 
28 notes · View notes
mtab2260 · 3 years
Text
Okay, I desperately need to rant about Apocalyptic Natasha Romanoff in this episode of What-If and I've decided to do it here over Reddit. Screw me.
First off...
Holy Fucking Shit! That was bloody AMAZING!
Second, I'm basically going to be explaining my excitement and jumping on the ceiling about each scene she was in, but also pointing out a few things as well.
Tumblr media
(This feels like a Guardians of the Galaxy reference. No?)
I absolutely love this line because it says so much. In the main timeline, Steve had no clue about her Russian Vodka Family (as I've seen someone call it). In that timeline, I don't think she told anyone, not even Clint. But in Peggy's timeline, that Natasha clearly had to have opened up to Peggy which just shows how close those two had become during the year following the Battle of New York. Natasha Romanoff isn't an open person with anyone, in any timeline— even with Clint, the person she literally sacrificed herself for so he could live.
That says a million words I can't explain.
I also love the fact that the filter on Apocolypse Ultron World is dreary and it dulled out all the colour, and the sun's missing too. But in this shot, you can see hints of the sun shining through. It represents the hope Natasha saw when she saw them. The colour on Peggy's face and hair pop out. It automatically feels less dark and hopeless.
Also, I don't care what anyone might say this line is what sold Natasha that Peggy was an ally and that something was going on that she didn't yet understand. At the mention of Alexei, she just knew.
However... I must point out there are a few inaccuracies with this line. Actually, this entire line doesn't work.
Not really.
As because, up until ghosty Red-Skull said it on Vormir, Natasha had no clue what her birth father's name was and Peggy getting the serum instead of Steve wouldn't change that. So if she didn't know, there's no way she could tell Peggy.
And for the second part of that line... up until the events of Black Widow (the movie), Natasha was still lying to herself that their family in Ohio wasn't real— that it was just a mission and they were all just roles, nothing more.
But, I will say, maybe in that universe she and Peggy had a talk about it and Peggy make it clear she was a bloody numpty for thinking that and it was real regardless of the reason they were brought together. That could've happened in that universe. It's been made clear that those two traded stories with each other as her Nat knew about Steve, yet, main-timeline Nat didn't know about Peggy until she saw him staring at her photo. So who really knows.
But regardless, I still let out a jump of joy at this line because the What If series is letting the Russian Vodka Family be real!
Not that it wasn't real, but you get what I mean— anyways, onward!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
This scene... oh my gawd... bloody-hell it's fucking terrific!
I cannot say how fucking overjoyed I am that when it came down to it, fucking Natasha Romanoff and bloody Clint Barton saved the entire bloody-fucking multiverse!
The (and I quote some random asshole) "Useless Avengers", saved everything ever known while also being the only survivors in an entire universe.
Let that sink in.
IT'S FUCKING AWESOME!
Like...
Holy Shit That's Awesome!
(I need more adjectives)
That's Bloody Insane.
I don't care how tacky they may be, I fricken loved these slow-mo arrow shots. And with the mirroring of Clint's (albeit fucking stupid) sacrifice coming full circle and to a close is outstanding.
Which brings me to my next point, that's kinda also this point too.
This point is part II we'll call it.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
I
Am
So
Fucking
Happy
They
Didn't
Forget
About
What
Clint
Meant
To
Nat
And
Also
Just
Plainly
Forget
About
Clint
'Cause that would've sucked. I would've sued Marvel if that happened.
This scene. These two shots.
For someone who hides behind fake smiles and witty remarks, these shots show exactly what she's thinking at that moment and it's amazing. You can literally see the absolute peace on Nat's face that they did it, they ended Ultron, she avenged Clint's death, she avenged everyone's death, it was over. And hey look, Yelena, they didn't even need one of the big ones to do it!
But also look, see what I said about the filter— Natasha's hair actually looks fiery red instead of vibrant brown. Also, SUN!
Moving on...
Tumblr media Tumblr media
I don't really have much to say about this line, but I fucking loved it, and serves the dude right.
She Has A Very Valid Point.
Tumblr media
The pure amazement and life in Natasha's eyes and face is everything.
She saw everything she ever knew nuked and murdered because a robot spent five seconds on the internet and yet here she was now in a clusterfuck war full of life. Life that was at war with each other. But an alive war nonetheless and that's all she cares about at that moment.
Tumblr media
Natasha and Clint being best buds part threeeeeeee........
On come on we all know what was going through Natasha's mind at this moment.
PAYBACK BIATCH!
Seriously I just love this short little bit. And the fact that Loki took over the world in a week, yet, this Natasha took him out with a kick and a small poke says things.
It's awesome.
Tumblr media
As heartwarming as this scene was, I was hoping for more and truthfully it's a load of bullshit.
I don't care whatever the fuck Nick Fury has seen in his days, he did not know about the multiverse and if he wasn't happy as hell to see her on that Helicarrier then he was suspicious as hell as to who was this Natasha Romanoff imposter was. I'm sorry, I refuse to believe otherwise. No one's first thought after they've seen an alive version of someone they buried in the ground is—
"Oh, you must be Natasha just not my Natasha. Yeah, that makes sense."
Yeah, no.
Also... might I again remind you EVERYONE ON HER PLANET WAS FUCKING NUKED TO DEATH?! Did everyone seem to forget about this?
The first time we've seen Natasha Romanoff cry (almost cry) was Fury's death in The Winter Soldier. That's proof enough for how much Fury meant to her.
So the first person in like over a year (probably) she sees that she recognizes (besides Thor) who she also knew for a fact was dead— her reaction should've been more than a smirk. Especially if it was someone she cried over when they died. The line the two Natasha's share after Peggy's "I've got the shield. You've got the sword." line proves that different universes don't change a person's personality. So her seeing Fury again should've been a helluva lot more emotional for her, hell, for the both of them.
It probably should've gone something more like...
"Natasha...?" A very familiar voice behind her breathed. It wasn't one she's heard for over a year but she recognized it immediately. She froze— which was not a thing she did, ever, but it was only truly hitting her now that not everyone she knew was dead anymore. That the Steve Rogers over there was, in fact, alive. That the Nick Fury behind her was alive. That hundreds, millions, billions of other people were alive.
Natasha turned around slowly like her limbs were stuck in the gallons of maple syrup Cooper put on his pancakes.
"Fury—" She choked, honestly too overwhelmed to say anything else coherent. The tears in her eyes stung as she didn't let them fall.
Nick's one eye narrowed, he was pissed. "Who the hell are you?" He questioned, voice threatening. "I know you ain't Natasha Romanoff 'cause she's dead. So who are you?"
She was sure she just stared at his face probably for a full minute but she didn't really care. It was really nice to see and hear another face and voice.
Nat took a much-needed breath. "I know your Natasha is gone, the giant baby-man cape dude said so. I'm not her. I'm from somewhere else. But I am Natasha Romanoff... and it is really good to see you, Nick..."
Ah, shit the tears fell.
But maybe it was worth it as his eye widened and some form of recognition or some sliver of understanding set in. It was honestly hard to tell through her blurry eyes.
"You're aware none of that makes any sense, right?" He asked, voice much gentler now. Fury looked over her outfit and very dirty/beat-up appearance. "And I take it wherever you're from didn't have showers either? Because I can smell you from here." His nose wrinkled as he smirked.
She knew he was trying not to gag.
Natasha choked out a wet laugh. "Not for like a year, they kinda got all nuked from a psychopathic robot."
She was pretty sure that was the first time she'd ever seen Nick Fury actually shocked.
Okay, yeah so basically something like that.
And the reason I kept saying over a year is because Clint lost an arm and was honestly ready to die. He did die. After a year of being almost the only person on an entire planet and losing Laura and the kids, he hit his breaking point. In the five years of the blip he definitely became close to his breaking point, probably was about to hit it before Nat showed up, and that was with half the universe gone and he was alone without Nat. It could honestly be longer than a year, it probably was much longer, but then I started thinking about food and how much food would actually be safe to eat— or actually there. It was a matter of time really until both starved to death honestly.
And the shower thing, it's honestly impressive anyone could stand near here and not pass out. Like seriously if everyone is dead, I doubt any showers still worked— let alone be standing.
Anyways, I do have a couple problems with this episode despite how much I loved it.
Going back to the "EVERYONE ON HER PLANET WAS FUCKING NUKED TO DEATH?! Did everyone seem to forget about this?" part I mentioned earlier.
It seems no one outside of Nat actually seemed to acknowledge that everyone was dead. That Natasha, previous to their arrival, was the only living thing in that universe and that was it. You would think even Peggy would show some care or sympathy or some consoling words to her so-called BFF. If not that at least recognize the truly apocalyptic scene around her and look at it with disbelieving eyes. For someone who has so much compassion, she seems to have none in this case. Or at least she didn't outwardly show it. Which is completely fine. But it just bothered me no one seemed to really think about it all.
Another thing:
This isn't really towards the episode per-say but I'm just really fucking pissed about it.
It's great— no sorry— it's absolutely amazing that Apocalyptic Natasha is now in a universe that was thriving with life. It's awesome and she deserves it.
HOWEVER....
Are you fucking serious that out of all the universes that Natasha died in, you put her in a one that ALSO has a STILL DEAD Clint Barton???
SERIOUSLY?!??!?
I've said this what, three, four times now— Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton are more cursed than FitzSimmons. Because at least FitzSimmons always find their way back to each other in the end, Nat and Clint always just find the other fucking dead.
I swear, how the other doesn't have PTSD from heights now is a bloody miracle.
Anywho:
That's my entire rant on this week's episode. If you actually read this all, one, I'm so sorry for wasting your time, two, wow— congrats.
Also, I really need to see someone make a fic about Apocalyptic Nat seeing Laura and the kids for the first time again, and also for Coulson too.
8 notes · View notes
thesaltofcarthage · 3 years
Text
Loki takes over: Tom Hiddleston on his new TV series and a decade in the MCU
from Entertainment Weekly
Ten years after Hiddleston first chose chaos in Thor, Marvel’s fan favorite God of Mischief is going even bigger with his time-bending Disney+ show.
By Chancellor Agard May 20, 2021 
Tom Hiddleston is Loki, and he is burdened with glorious purpose: After playing Thor's puckish brother for over a decade in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, no one understands the mercurial Asgardian God of Mischief as well as the actor. He can teach an entire seminar on Loki if given the opportunity — which he actually did during pre-production on his forthcoming Disney+ show. In conversation, Hiddleston quotes lines from his MCU debut, 2011's Thor, almost verbatim, and will playfully correct you if you mistakenly refer to Asgard's Rainbow Bridge as the Bifrost, which is the portal that connects Loki and Thor's homeworld to the Nine Realms, including Midgard, a.k.a. Earth. "Well, the Bifrost technically is the energy that runs through the bridge," he says with a smile. "But nine points to Gryffindor!" And when he shows up to the photo shoot for this very digital cover, he hops on a call with our photo editor to pitch ways the concept could be even more Loki, like incorporating the flourish the trickster does whenever magically conjuring something. The lasting impression is that playing Loki isn't just a paycheck.
"Rather than ownership, it's a sense of responsibility I feel to give my best every time and do the best I can because I feel so grateful to be a part of what Marvel Studios has created," the 40-year-old Brit tells EW over Zoom a few days after the shoot and a week out from Thor's 10th anniversary. "I just want to make sure I've honored that responsibility with the best that I can give and the most care and thought and energy."
After appearing in three Thor movies and three Avengers, Hiddleston is bringing that passion to his first solo Marvel project, Loki, the House of Ideas' third Disney+ series following the sitcom pastiche WandaVision and the topical The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Led by head writer Michael Waldron (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Heels), the six-episode drama sees Hiddleston's shapeshifting agent of chaos step out from behind his brother's shadow and into the spotlight for a timey-wimey, sci-fi adventure that aims to get to the bottom of who Loki really is. "I wanted to explore slightly more complex character questions," says Waldron. "It's not just good versus bad. Is anybody all good? Is anybody all bad? What makes a hero, a hero? A villain, a villain?"  
Even though Loki — who loves sowing mayhem with his illusion magic and shapeshifting, all with a major chip on his shoulder — has never been one for introspection, the idea of building an entire show around him was a no-brainer for Marvel. When asked why Loki was one of the studio's first Disney+ shows, Marvel president Kevin Feige replies matter-of-factly, "More Hiddleston, more Loki." First introduced as Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) envious brother in Kenneth Branagh's Thor, Loki went full Big Bad in 2012's The Avengers. That film cemented the impish rogue as one of the shared universe's fan favorites, thanks to Hiddleston's ability to make him deliciously villainous yet charismatic and, most importantly, empathetic. The character's popularity is one of the reasons he's managed to avoid death many times.
"He's been around for thousands of years. He had all sorts of adventures," says Feige. "Wanting to fill in the blanks and see much more of Loki's story [was] the initial desire [for the series]."
The Loki we meet on the show is not the one who fought the Avengers in 2012 and evolved into an antihero in Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok before meeting his demise at the hands of the mad titan Thanos (Josh Brolin) in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War. Instead, we'll be following a Loki from a branched timeline (a variant, if you will) after he stole the Tesseract following his thwarted New York invasion and escaped S.H.I.E.L.D. custody during the time heist featured in Avengers: Endgame. In other words, this Loki hasn't gone through any sort of redemption arc. He's still the charming yet petulant god who firmly believes he's destined to rule and has never gotten his due.
Premiering June 9, Loki begins with the Time Variance Authority — a bureaucratic organization tasked with safeguarding the proper flow of time — arresting the Loki Variant seen in Endgame because they want his help fixing all of the timeline problems he caused while on the run with the Tesseract. So there will be time travel, and a lot more of it than in Endgame. As Loki makes his way through his own procedural, he'll match wits with new characters including Owen Wilson's Agent Mobius, a brilliant TVA analyst, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw's Judge Renslayer. The question in early episodes is whether Loki will help them or take over.
"One of the things Kevin Feige led on was, 'I think we should find a way of exploring the parts of Loki that are independent of his relationship with Thor,' or see him in a duality or in relationship with others, which I thought was very exciting," says Hiddleston, who also serves as an executive producer on the show. "So the Odinson saga, that trilogy of films, still has its integrity, and we don't have to reopen it and retell it."
Yet, in order to understand where Loki is going, it's important to see where he came from.
Hiddleston can't believe how long he and Loki have been connected. "I've been playing this character for 11 years," he says. "Which is the first time I have said that sentence, I realize, and it [blows] my mind. I don't know what percentage that is exactly of my 40 years of being alive, but it's substantial."
His time as Loki actually goes a bit further back, to 2009 — a year after Robert Downey Jr. big banged the MCU into existence with Iron Man — when he auditioned for Thor. It's no secret that Hiddleston initially went in for the role of the titular God of Thunder, but Feige and director Kenneth Branagh thought his natural charm and flexibility as an actor made him better suited for the movie's damaged antagonist. "Tom gave you an impression that he could be ready for anything, performance-wise," says Branagh, who had previously worked with him on a West End revival of Checkov's Ivanov and the BBC series Wallander. "Tom has a wild imagination, so does Loki. He's got a mischievous sense of humor and he was ready to play. It felt like he had a star personality, but he was a team player."
Hiddleston fully immersed himself in the character. Outside of studying Loki's history in the Marvel Comics, he also researched how Loki and the Trickster God archetype appeared across mythology and different cultures. "He understood that he was already in something special [and] it was a special character in a special part of that early moment in the life of the Marvel universe where [he] also needed to step up in other ways," says Branagh, who was impressed by the emotional depth Hiddleston brought to the part, especially when it came to how isolated Loki felt in the Asgardian royal family.  
There was a lot riding on that first Thor feature. For one, no one knew if audiences would immediately latch onto a Shakespearean superhero movie partially set on an alien planet populated by the Norse Gods of legend. Second, it was integral to Feige's plans for the shared universe. Loki was supposed to be the main villain in The Avengers, which would not only mirror how Earth's mightiest heroes joined forces in 1963's Avengers #1 but also give Thor a believable reason for teaming up with Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans), and the rest of the capes. Feige first clued Hiddleston into those larger plans when the actor was in L.A. before Thor started shooting.
"I was like, 'Excuse me?' Because he was already three, four steps ahead," says Hiddleston. "That took me a few minutes to process, because I didn't quite realize how it just suddenly had a scope. And being cast as Loki, I realized, was a very significant moment for me in my life, and was going to remain. The creative journey was going to be so exciting."
Hiddleston relished the opportunity to go full villain in Avengers, like in the scene where Loki ordered a crowd to kneel before him outside a German opera house: "It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation," says the Machiavellian god. "The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."
"I just knew that in the structure of that film, I had to lean into his role as a pure antagonist," Hiddleston recalls. "What I always found curious and complex about the way Loki is written in Avengers, is that his status as an antagonist comes from the same well of not belonging and being marginalized and isolated in the first Thor film. Loki now knows he has no place in Asgard."
Loki did find a place within the audience's hearts, though. Feige was "all in" on Hiddleston as his Loki from the beginning, but even he couldn't predict how much fans would love him. Feige recalls the reaction at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con: "Did we know that after he was the villain in two movies, he would be bringing thousands of people to their feet in Hall H, in costume, chanting his name? No, that was above and beyond the plan that we were hoping for and dreaming of." It was a dream Feige first got an inkling of a year earlier during the Avengers press tour when a Russian fan slipped past security, snuck into Mark Ruffalo's car, and asked the Hulk actor to give Hiddleston a piece of fan art she created. "That was one of the early signs there was much more happening with this quote-unquote villain."  
Despite that popularity, the plan was to kill Loki off in 2013's Thor: The Dark World, but the studio reversed course after test audiences refused to believe he actually died fighting the Dark Elves. Alas, he couldn't out-illusion death forever. After returning in Taika Waititi's colorful and idiosyncratic Thor: Ragnarok, Hiddleston's character perished for real in the opening moments of Infinity War. In typical Loki fashion, before Thanos crushed his windpipe, he delivered a defiant speech that indicated he'd finally made peace with the anger he felt toward his family.  
"It felt very, very final, and I thought, 'Okay, that's it. This is Loki's final bow and a conclusive end to the Odinson saga,'" says Hiddleston, who shot that well-earned death scene in 2017.  
But, though he didn't know it yet, the actor's MCU story was far from over.
When Hiddleston returned to film two scenes in Avengers: Endgame in 2017, he had no idea where Loki portaled off to after snatching the Tesseract. "Where'd he go? When does he go? How does he get there? These are all questions I remember asking on the day, and then not being given any answers," Hiddleston recalls. To be fair, it's likely the Powers That Be didn't necessarily have answers then. While Feige can't exactly recall when the writers' room for Endgame first devised Loki's escape sequence, he does know that setting up a future show wasn't the primary goal — because a Loki series wasn't on the horizon just yet.
"[That scene] was really more of a wrinkle so that one of the missions that the Avengers went on in Endgame could get screwed up and not go well, which is what required Cap and Tony to go further back in time to the '70s," says Feige. Soon after that, though, former Disney CEO Bob Iger approached Feige about producing content for the studio's forthcoming streaming service. "I think the notion that we had left this hanging loose end with Loki gave us the in for what a Loki series could be. So by the time [Endgame] came out, we did know where it was going."
As for Hiddleston, he didn't find out about the plans for a Loki show until spring 2018, a few weeks before Infinity War hit theaters. "I probably should not have been surprised, but I was," says the actor. "But only because Infinity War had felt so final."
Nevertheless, Hiddleston was excited about returning for his show. He was eager to explore Loki's powers, especially the shapeshifting, and what it meant that this disruptive figure still managed to find a seat beside the gods in mythology. "I love this idea [of] Loki's chaotic energy somehow being something we need. Even though, for all sorts of reasons, you don't know whether you can trust him. You don't know whether he's going to betray you. You don't why he's doing what he's doing," says Hiddleston. "If he's shapeshifting so often, does he even know who he is? And is he even interested in understanding who he is? Underneath all those masks, underneath the charm and the wit, which is kind of a defense anyway, does Loki have an authentic self? Is he introspective enough or brave enough to find out? I think all of those ideas are all in the series — ideas about identity, ideas about self-knowledge, self-acceptance, and the difficulty of it."
“The series will explore Loki's powers in a way they have not yet been explored, which is very, very exciting.”
The thing that truly sold Hiddleston on the show was Marvel's decision to include the Time Variance Authority, a move he describes as "the best idea that anybody had pertaining to the series." Feige and Loki executive producer Stephen Broussard had hoped to find a place for the TVA — an organization that debuted in 1986's Thor #372 and has appeared in She-Hulk and Fantastic Four stories — in the MCU for years, but the right opportunity never presented itself until Loki came along. "Putting Loki into his own procedural series became the eureka moment for the show," says Feige.  
The TVA's perspective on time and reality also tied into the themes that Waldron, Loki's head writer, was hoping to explore. "Loki is a character that's always reckoning with his own identity, and the TVA, by virtue of what they do, is uniquely suited to hold up a mirror to Loki and make him really confront who he is and who he was supposed to be," says Waldron. Hiddleston adds: "[That] was very exciting because in the other films, there was always something about Loki that was very controlled. He seemed to know exactly what the cards in his hand were and how he was going to play them…. And Loki versus the TVA is Loki out of control immediately, and in an environment in which he's completely behind the pace, out of his comfort zone, destabilized, and acting out."
To truly dig into who Loki is, the creative team had to learn from the man who knows him best: Hiddleston. "I got him to do a thing called Loki School when we first started," says director Kate Herron. "I asked him to basically talk through his 10 years of the MCU — from costumes to stunts, to emotionally how he felt in each movie. It was fantastic."
Hiddleston got something out of the Loki school, too. Owen Wilson both attended the class and interviewed Hiddleston afterward so that he could better understand Loki, as his character Mobius is supposed to be an expert on him. During their conversation, Wilson pointedly asked Hiddleston what he loved about playing the character.
"And I said, 'I think it's because he has so much range,'" says Hiddleston. "I remember saying this to him: 'On the 88 keys on the piano, he can play the twinkly light keys at the top. He can keep it witty and light, and he's the God of Mischief, but he can also go down to the other side and play the heavy keys. And he can play some really profound chords down there, which are about grief and betrayal and loss and heartbreak and jealousy and pride.'" Hiddleston recalls Wilson being moved by the description: "He said, 'I think I might say that in the show.' And it was such a brilliant insight for me into how open Owen is as an artist and a performer.'"
Everyone involved is particularly excited for audiences to see Hiddleston and Wilson's on-screen chemistry. "Mobius is not unlike Owen Wilson in that he's sort of nonplussed by the MCU," says Feige. "[Loki] is used to getting a reaction out of people, whether it's his brother or his father, or the other Avengers. He likes to be very flamboyant and theatrical. Mobius doesn't give him the reaction he's looking for. That leads to a very unique relationship that Loki's not used to."
As for the rest of the series, we know that Loki will be jumping around time and reality, but the creative team isn't keen on revealing when and where. "Every episode, we tried to take inspiration from different things," says Waldron, citing Blade Runner's noir aesthetic as one example.
"Part of the fun of the multiverse and playing with time is seeing other versions of characters, and other versions of the titular character in particular," says Feige, who also declined to confirm if Loki ties into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and/or other upcoming projects.
Making Loki was especially meaningful to Hiddleston because they shot most of it during the pandemic, in late 2020. "It will remain one of the absolute most intense, most rewarding experiences of my life," he says. "It's a series about time, and the value of time, and what time is worth, and I suppose what the experience of being alive is worth. And I don't quite know yet, and maybe I don't have perspective on it, if all the thinking and the reflecting that we did during the lockdown ended up in the series. But in some way, it must have because everything we make is a snapshot of where we were in our lives at that time."
While it remains to be seen what the future holds for Loki beyond this initial season, Hiddleston isn't preparing to put the character to bed yet. "I'm open to everything," he says. "I have said goodbye to the character. I've said hello to the character. I said goodbye to the character [again]. I've learned not to make assumptions, I suppose. I'm just grateful that I'm still here, and there are still new roads to explore."
Additional reporting by Jessica Derschowitz
26 notes · View notes