#If stevetony not canon then why?

[160502]

if stevetony not canon then why red and blue blonde and brunette life and death moon and sun short and tall dog and cat

[cloudbells]

I think I understand your frustration. Although I was always a Tony fan more than Steve, I love him all the same and his story captivates me. Some time ago, I realized some Stevetony shippers hated Steve when CW came out. Worst part being that, with all the bashing, I was beginning to hate him too. I realized this and decided to stop interacting w the ship for a few years because I wasn't happy with that bashing. Luckily, I came back to find many talented stony shippers/artist who love both Steve and Tony (both their flaws included!). I enjoy CW angst, but I feel sometimes it really makes people bash either Tony or Steve and it pisses me off.

LONG POST

One, thank you anon for the message! Two, I’m actually super curious which post of mine prompted this message lol. I have quite a few both on this account and my main. Third, you actually sent this at a time where I’m pretty passionate about this, so allow me to be a little loose and lengthy with my words for a bit.

CACW was absolute Hell for the stevetony fandom, especially for Steve stans, but in a way, I’m kind of happy I can see just who doesn’t actually like Steve and only liked him on a condition of him being around to be Tony’s buffer. You can see it in the way people write/talk about Steve. They want a blank, playdough character that coddles Tony.

I actually like CACW as a movie. I think the more I analyze how the characters behave and why they do what they do, I like it even more. I’ve said this a few times, but Steve became my favorite after watching this movie. I liked him a whole lot before, but the way he conducted himself in Civil War stole my heart straight from my chest. So when I came online to see that everyone apparently thought he was worse than Satan himself…It was the whiplash of a lifetime. It didn’t make sense to me. It doesn’t make sense to me. Even me, fully being on Steve’s side, didn't hate Tony for what I consider to be slights against Steve in that movie. So where was this visceral hatred for Steve coming from? I just concluded that people already lowkey didn’t like him. Never ask a Stony shipper their opinion on Avengers 1 lol.

I love talking about CW. I have quite a few posts on my stance about it and honestly, I wished more people asked me about CW so I could talk about it, but the reality is that they don’t need to because I already talk about it all the time lol! Everything they want to know is probably somewhere on my page or somewhere on Discord. I think CW has such a huge potential to produce some really good discourse and storylines within the fandom, but people were so blinded by…whatever they were blinded by to see that. I swear, some of the things I see, I’d bet my arm that a lot of people either didn’t watch CACW or watched it once, consumed a bunch of headcanon about it, and then proceeded to talk about it like they personally studied the film and all its nuances. 

Now, in the stony fandom, it’s clear that Tony is the fan favorite. Overall, actually. And I don’t mind that for two reasons: I’m used to liking characters that are somewhat controversial (for the wrong reasons), and I adore Tony. I actually love that man in ways words can’t express. The English language hasn’t evolved with enough intricacies that would allow me to tell you how much I am enamored with him. So seeing that other people love him too? Instant joy. BUT, this runs into the problem when Steve is paired with him because well, we see it.

My irritation comes from people either outright ignoring, mischaracterizing or not understanding Steve in CW. So many huge misconceptions were being spread around like wildfire to the point where some people think that Steve not reading the Accords is canon. They think that it’s canon that Steve only opposes the Accords for Bucky. They think that Steve was being unreasonable or  purposely uncommunicative or outright egotistical in CACW for refusing to sign the Accords. They think that Steve is against all oversight and wants to be a loose cannon. They think Steve is being immature and wants to avoid accountability for anything. They think that Steve was trying to lie to Tony when he first answered that he didn’t know about his parents, instead of it being deeper than that.

Y’know, so many of these same people accuse Steve of being boring and flat, without realizing that they are the ones stripping the nuances and complexities of his characters away from him and then turning around and whining about how one dimensional Steve is. It pisses me off, truly. It especially pisses me off in the stony fandom cause I expected better. If people still actively ship them, you’d think that they would make the effort to understand Steve instead of screeching loudly about how he’s evil AND being wrong about the reasons why he’s evil. 

And the thing is, Steve’s motivations aren’t even confusing. They just aren’t. I've had Steve fans tell me it's confusing so I should ease up, but it isn't and I won't. Do I sound like a bitch here? Perhaps, but I don't care rn. Maybe they’re more subtle, especially considering that CW took the time to spell out all of Tony’s pain and past and guilt and internal conflict to the audience while Steve’s mindset was more so hinted at in his own movie. But let me rant about that later. Steve is the only one shown on screen to be reading the Accords, and then he elaborates a bit on why he’s against them. Despite this, the audience seems to take literally everyone else's word on Steve as law (Rhodey saying Steve’s mindset is a sign of arrogance and fandom parroting about how arrogant Steve is for example) instead of just…paying attention to what Steve says and what Steve does. He actually almost signs before Tony tells Steve about Wanda. And this scene is very important to me. Because Steve was about to decide to just trust Tony, and go all in with him until Tony just told him that his objections to the Accords were already being enacted. So yeah, he reacts the way he did. It’s a shock how close he was to signing away to a document he KNOWS is evil because he read it—

Let me stop before this turns into a CW meta. But, in short, I just hate the bashing of Steve. He of all characters doesn't deserve it. The way people bend backwards to twist his every action into some malicious intention. I’m surprised people haven’t pulled muscles by the way they reach to demonize him. In his own goddamn ship. And y’know what, it’s not even just the Steve mischaracterization that causes this. So many Tony fans willingly mischaracterize Tony just to demonize Steve. But that’s a convo for a different post.

This post was gonna be much, much longer. I had a shit ton I suddenly wanted to speak on, but I decided to stop here lol. I was getting off topic when all you did was express sympathy. Thank you again!

[itsany62]

SteveTony - 22/23 favorites

Here are some of my favorite fics of 2022 and 2023 . Don't forget to leave kudos and nice comments in every fic! 

...but the place where you belong by Mireille, 2k, Pre-Relationship, Fluff, Post-Avengers (2012).

Steve meets somebody very important to Tony, and makes a good impression. (Pre-relationship fluff.)

The Northern Cascades by resurrectedhippo, 81k, Grief/Mourning, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Civil War Fix-It, Road Trips.

“I’m asking.” Steve walks two steps forward and waits. Tony’s wide eyes track his movements. “If you’d like to come. Like you said, see the country. How it’s changed. How it keeps going forward.”

***

A post-Infinity War fix-it set three years after the Snap where Steve tries to outrun his grief. This time, Tony runs after him.

met my destiny (in quite a similar way) by ishipallthings, 1k, Love Confessions, Mutual Pining, Post-Avengers (2012), Getting Together. 

“I’m in love with you.”

The spatula in Tony’s hand clatters to the floor with an audible thwack.

(In which Tony is incredulous, Steve is determined, and absolutely no pancakes are made for breakfast.)

Punitive Measures (Met your Match) by BladeoftheNebula, 19k, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Historical, Dom/sub Undertones. 

“Gods, he’s a beast,” Tiberius said from beside him, and for a moment, Tony had forgotten he was there. “I don’t envy the omegas, he looks like he’d have a strong hand.”

When the village elders bring in someone from the outside to fairly administer justice in the community, the alphas leap at the chance to send their unruly omegas to the Flagellator.

Tiberius Stone can't understand why his omega keeps acting up so much.

by your hands or mine by apricity_and_soulshine, 1k, Alternate Universe - Western, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics. 

A short little one-shot featuring protective parent Tony and equally as protective mate Steve.

•••

Steve looked comfortable where he had dozed off at his desk. His arms crossed over his chest, boots propped up lazily. His Stetson was tipped down to block out the light bleeding in through the windows of the Sheriff's office. Steve's peace, however, like most days, could only last so long before he was so very rudely startled from his mid-afternoon nap. He jolted awake at the shouting that ensued as Alexander Pierce clambered into the station, Tony hot on his tail. The sheriff barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his mate and the man who owned most of the town spitting curses and crude remarks at one another.

this love came back to me by meidui, 8k, Breaking Up & Making Up, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie).

It’s been five years.

Tony is softer than he remembers, in navy blue wool, silver in his hair and beard, laugh lines deeper around his eyes and mouth, holding onto his little girl. Steve thinks he must look rougher than Tony remembers, from the way Tony holds her tighter and steps back from him when he shuts the door of his car, as if looking for an escape.

As if he could get away from Steve.

The Best Laid Plans by ChocolateCapCookie, 3k, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Single Parent Tony Stark.

“Pete, we need to set dad up with Mr. Rogers!” said Harley excitedly. “Think about it, they’d be perfect for each other! Dad’s always so tired and stressed, he could use someone like Mr. Rogers to calm him down a bit. And I know Mr. Rogers is single, he’s always talking about it being just him and his dog…”

“Harley, this is a stupid idea,” Peter interrupted. “You don’t know that Mr. Rogers is into men. And even if he was, what do you want to do, lock them in a closet together?”

"Yes."

"No, Harley”

On Today's Agenda by Annie D (scaramouche), 779, Established Relationship, Mpreg.

Tony and Steve have been on a baby-making agenda, and Tony wants to get right back to it.

Today Was a Fairytale by iam93percentstardust, 2k, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Prince Tony Stark, Getting Together.

Today was a fairytale You've got a smile that takes me to another planet Every move you make everything you say is right Today was a fairytale

~

Steve gives Tony daisies.

And it’s… nice.

Tony’s suitors send him roses and exotic orchids and genetically modified blossoms that bloom in impossible colors no one could ever hope to find in nature. His mother makes sure there’s always a fresh bouquet of irises in his room—they usually come from her own garden, but he still doesn’t know how she manages to find them even in the middle of winter.

And Steve… Steve gives him daisies.

love me like a sinner by ArabellaAM, 5k, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie),  Misunderstandings. 

“So,” he says in the end, attracting Steve’s gaze towards him. “Is that everything you wanted?” It’s only then —when he swears he can feel Steve’s breath tickling his cheek— that he realizes how close they actually are. So close the hunger in those blue eyes is undeniable, just as it’s undeniable Steve is no longer looking at him in the eye, but rather to his lips. “Not really,” Steve says, voice raw and thick, as his eyes move quickly to Tony’s annular finger before returning to his lips. Tony tilts his head and asks, in a tone that sounds more like a dare, “then what are you waiting for?” Steve doesn’t actually answer; it’s Tony that makes an educated guess as he tries to grasp for air once Steve dips his head and drowns in his lips.

Or, Steve visits Tony after five years and it's not the salvation of the world he's after.

as long as you love me so by ohjustpeachy, 1k, Established Relationship, Snowed In, Christmas Fluff. 

“For what it’s worth, this is not how I imagined our first Christmas going,” Steve groans from where he’s sitting on the floor. It’s hard wood, and Tony knows it simply cannot be comfortable sitting that way. Even super soldiers aren’t immune to backaches, surely, and after the day they’ve both had, Tony wants nothing more than to lay right there beside him, ice and snow and ruined Christmas and failed mission be damned. 

Or, after a mission goes wrong, Steve and Tony find themselves snowed in at a cabin in the middle of nowhere. On Christmas Eve.

[soliloquent-stark]

How about 2 (stony), 7, and 15 (steve) for the pet peeve ask game?

2. What's your biggest [insert pairing] pet peeve(s)?

i wasn't sure if it meant fandom takes or my pet peeves about the pair, so i went for the former because i could not think of a specific pet peeve i have about them as a duo?

so, from a fanfic/fandom pov, it's probably when someone has a preference that is so obvious, it ruins the balance of the ship. for example, being able to tell that someone kinda dislikes steve by making him uncharacteristically mean, or forgiving and justifying all of tony's actions but catastrophising all of steve's etc. i think the beauty of stony is that they're both fucked up in their own way and they keep misstepping and trying to fix things, and portraying one as a victim and one as evil doesn't sit right with me (it can work for certain prompts, but i'm thinking more about some mcu canon fics/takes).

7. (Without naming names) what's something you've come across in a fic that made you genuinely uncomfortable and/or angry?

ahh, this is hard. one thing that comes to mind is when an immortal supersoldier steve pressured tony into taking a not-very-safe early version of extremis just so they can be together forever? or something like that. i remember thinking not only would steve never ask that of him, but he'd definitely be against the risks?

15. Name an aspect of [insert character] that you think gets frequently overlooked in fanfiction characterizations/deserves more attention/exploration

this is for mcu steve: i understand why we all kinda minimise steggy as part of steve's journey from a stevetony perspective, but i always feel like her death and steve having to carry her coffin in the midst of the civil war drama is a bit overlooked. i think steve was at an all-time low in that film, and it reinforces why he fought as hard as he did for bucky. after she passed, he was truly his only anchor to the past. and as much as i don't like his ending, i think steve fooled us all that he's fine and has adapted to the new century, but i think he carried this trauma with him all the way to the end, and when he saw an opportunity to belong again, he went for it. i guess my point is that, canonically, steve presents himself as strong no matter what, but i don't know that he ever felt fully at home in the future. so, even if he's happy with tony, i don't believe that would be enough to fix it all, and similarly to a widowed person who will always love their late partner because it wasn't a breakup that separated them, steve would always have a part of his past deep in his bones, and he would need therapy, and him and tony would have to navigate that, together.

[starvels]

SteveTony Reclist: Road-Trips

@stevetonygames 2023 team future. challenge: camouflage. a reclist in the style of the inspiring @carsonian ! (thanks for your fun reclisting haha)

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A Long Road To Share [FANART] by SirSapling

Summary:

After 50 years in the ice and a couple exhausting years leading the Ultimates, Steve realises he isn't quite sure he knows anything about the new modern America he's supposed to represent. Luckily, Tony has an idea how to show him.

Notes:

such a sweet hopeful look at ults in the future! the landscape is warm and so is my heart. this comic encapsulates the road trip vibes in its scenery, colors and soft focus on steve and tony discussing believing in each other.

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After the Devil is Gone by Ironlawyer

Summary:

When Steve leaves to travel the country on his bike, Tony comes with him. But Steve is not ready to face those particular demons yet.

Notes:

CW for noncon offscreen. a super sharp desolate view of steve's 616 roadtrip, this fic aches to its core! the things it doesn't have to say ring so loudly and painfully across the text.

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Are we satellites? by starvels

Summary

In between sunrises on the road, Steve is speaking, eating, stepping into diners to save people like coming back to his childhood home. And Tony, Tony is watching him. Tony is relearning being awake. - A cross country roadtrip where Steve and Tony find the typical American town, a fuckton of trees and finally, finally, find the right questions to ask each other.

Notes: a self rec! this is an ode to winding american roads, the trauma and aches of being a superhero, the longing that comes with being in love with your best friend, and both steve and tony being the little spoon.

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BACK IN BLACK!! Eyes on the road Tony… [FANART] by @shaggybeetle

Summary:

MCU roadtrip featuring sing alongs to blaring music, delicious snacks and a phone ready to topple off the dashboard

Notes:

what a style! what a scene! steve and tony jamming out is so fun and they both look so at peace and ready to dig into vacation. great atmospheric details like trees through the windows!

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Flight of Icarus by Missy_dee811

Summary:

“Tony,” said Kamala, hurried. “I loaded up some music to give you a little boost,” she said. “Oh no,” he said, shaking his head. “Don’t worry,” she added. “It’s not mine.” He smiled. I knew I liked you. She wished him luck. He thanked her, though he didn’t believe in luck. He had one try, one try to get it right. She was counting on him, they all were. It felt good to be needed. It felt good to be useful. All these years, he had wanted nothing more. He couldn’t fail now. Not again. [Written for Lights On Park Ave - Round 13.]

Notes:

a marvel avenger's video game rec! a wistful retrospective of tony dealing with the loss of steve, flipping through memories like a photo album, topped with a reunion cherry!

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the honeymoon suite by CapnShellhead

Summary:

Wade Wilson is getting married and he's assembling a team to get him to Vegas for his bachelor party. Requiring a team with a special set of skills, he asks Wolverine, Spider-Man, Special Agent Preston and Captain America to come along. Steve decides this would be a wonderful opportunity to fix a rift between him and an old friend.

Notes:

a thoroughly enjoyable 30k 616-verse fic based in an oft-overlooked moment in canon featuring delights such as: bed sharing! team fight scenes! wistful conversations! snark! accidentally thinking of your crush while jerking off!

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On the Road We Find the Journey Home by navaan

Summary

In the Aftermath of Secret Empire, Steve goes on his Road Trip to find out who Captain America can be after Hyda!Cap put fear into the hearts' of the people who used to cheer for him. His thoughts trail back to Tony.

Notes:

follows 616 canon for steve's post-hydra road trip gives this fic the opportunity to have steve connect genuinely to things in a way that reminds us all why we love cap. the end pay-off is good and the writing is so very even keel and wonderfully paced.

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somewhere along the oregon coast by Marvellous

Summary:

Tony stared at the door of the coffee shop they’d pulled up to, watching multiple people come and go. He crossed his arms and laughed to himself, “How much do you want to bet he’s having a very in depth conversation right now?” A deep but agreeable woof sounded from the backseat of the car.

Notes:

small and sweet like a little dessert! a tale of a pup and a love so warm it melts your heart to look at it. sometimes, it is that easy.

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ride (with) me [FANART] by wingheads

Summary:

kobik brought steve back. tony woke up from a coma. a road trip seems like a good place to start some reacquaintance. square filled: e1 motorcycle lol i really wanted that stevetony roadtrip in 2018 bc it had been a long time ?? since steve and tony were together where steve isn't old (i love old man steve btw) or evil and tony isn't in a coma or an ai. etc. etc. inspired by steve's road trip.

Notes:

a vibrant scene of steve and tony on their way to reconcile some loving feelings, complete with a gorgeously detailed motorcycle. the vibes here are so picturesque and the pose is so sweet.

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You Go Up Instead of Down [FANART] by MissionCritical

Summary:

This is set in the universe of the 1966 Marvel Superheroes cartoons (Earth-600026). Only two years ago, Iron Man and the original Avengers discovered Steve, frozen and floating in the Arctic Ocean, and rescued him. It's been rough for Steve, adjusting to this new world, but he has a lot of support -- from two people in particular. Tony Stark is brilliant, handsome, and a generous benefactor to the team. He's even given Steve a place to live in his own actual mansion! Steve doesn't really understand why, but it's clear Mr. Stark is good man, devoted to helping the Avengers. And then there's Iron Man, who has quickly become Steve's best friend, Iron Man is brave, and determined, and just a terrific teammate. He's given Steve the thrilling experience of flying into battle by riding on his back! And in that gleaming suit of armor, Iron Man always has Steve's back. Steve is Iron Man's biggest fan.

Note:

a delightful lil glimpse into a fun, small universe, this edit is such a delight to experience! we all need a little more flying steve in our lives, don't we?

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go forth: stevetony beans, greens, potatoes, you name it! and give these treats the resounding kudos/comment/retweet/reblog chomps they deserve!

[wingheadshellhead]

(tried hard to make this sound not-snarky and couldn't manage, sorry, but) i genuinely found hilarious how in your post about canon-compliant stevetony you only talked about tony's fast food relationships and completely ignored steve has been back with his ex this entire time, like sdklfn pretty sure tony would have a much harder time in finding an opportunity to approach a steve who's single

no no you're totally right. at least from what i remember (and granted i'm not as up to date with steve's appearances as tony's) there's been breaks in between steve sharon and they're very on and off. they're also very "main canon pairing" coded to me where they'll get paired together in a cap run when a writer wants to incorporate a romantic interest for steve. they feel very "i'll always love them even if i'm not in love with them" which somehow feels more par for the course and less intimidating than having to contend with a new love interest so frequently.

tony being such a mess trying to approach a single steve is why i think he'd never be able to make a move. whereas steve might have an easier time but only if tony was single. they're both complete and utter disasters regardless

[sineala]

what do u think 616 stevetony and ults stevetony would think of each other if they met?

Thank you for the question! I don't get many asks these days.

I feel like I already have tackled this a couple different ways, fictionally; a surprising number of my Ults stories have some kind of multiverse component, and the two that actually involve some subset of Steve and Tony meeting each other are The Best of Intentions (Ults Steve meets 616 Steve and Tony) and Wish Fulfillment (616 Hydra Steve meets Ults Steve and Tony).

So I haven't actually written one that was more Tony-focused, but luckily, canon has taken care of that for us, because the Secret Wars miniseries Ultimate End has 616 Tony meeting Ults Steve and Tony. I brought some panels.

(This post also contains spoilers for relatively recent issues of AXE Judgment Day.)

Granted, I still have very little idea what is actually going on in Ultimate End, but it does have some good character interaction. (616 Steve is not there; the 616 Cap is Sam, but the 616 Tony is wearing Bleeding Edge, so you can see why I'm a little confused about the situation here on Battleworld. The 616 Steve and Tony who would be contemporaneous with the end of Ults never survived the end of the incursions, and at any rate this can't be the very end of Ults because Ults Steve is still alive.)

Anyway, Ultimate End does in fact give us some interaction between Ults Steve and 616 Tony, like this scene in issue 4:

(There is more interaction between them than this but I just grabbed a random panel. Ults Steve is usually a little grumpier than 616 Steve would be, yes. And, yes, I know I said 616 Tony was wearing Bleeding Edge and here he isn't but this is actually him remote-piloting a bunch of older suits.)

Issue 2 also has that one scene everyone loves with 616 and Ults Tony:

I think 616 Tony is the only person who's ever gotten Ults Tony to stop drinking. I also think that even in these panels we can see that 616 Tony has a more finely-honed sense of self-loathing and Ults Tony actually has to tell him to stop blaming himself. I guess that's only to be expected when Ults Tony is a Tony with approximately 50% fewer canonical suicide attempts than 616 Tony. (I say "approximately" because I'm not sure whether World's Most Wanted should count but Ults Tony has one (off-page) and 616 Tony has at least two (on-page). So, I mean, it's not like either of them are sterling examples of mental health but I feel like Ults Tony is at least doing a slightly better job not hating himself.)

As for what they'd think of each other? I mean, if you believe Ultimate End, 616 Tony thinks Ults Tony drinks too much and Ults Tony thinks 616 Tony hates himself too much and honestly those seem like pretty fair reads. They do seem to basically get along, though.

Since 616 and Ults Steve have never canonically met, that one's up to fandom. Honestly, I don't think they'd like each other that much, so, really, that was what I wrote. I imagine the difference between them that would seem most salient is that 616 Steve would probably be appalled at some of the words that come out of Ults Steve's mouth and the attitudes behind them. Like, can you imagine 616 Steve saying this?

I cannot imagine 616 Steve saying this. I cannot imagine 616 Steve thinking that any amount of casual misogyny was okay and, yeah, I think he would notice a difference. Ults Steve seems to have a more fragile conception of his own masculinity than 616 Steve does, generally speaking, and I think 616 Steve would notice that too. Ults Steve is angrier. He has more of a chip on his shoulder. I don't think 616 Steve would like Ults Steve at all.

And I know that this is probably partly down to differences between the stakes and general ethos in 616 and Ults, and the fact that Ults has permadeath turned on, but I feel like Ults Steve would find 616 Steve's optimism... unbearably naive? 616 Steve is the guy who is always there with an inspiring speech. And I'm not saying that Ults Steve isn't a good leader or that he can't rally people to fight, but I think 616 Steve fundamentally believes in the goodness of humanity and in their ability to triumph in a way that I don't think we see Ults Steve exhibit.

Like, check out 616 Steve in Judgment Day. He has failed, here in Judgment Day #3:

In fact, the entire planet has failed. And yet he's still out there, believing:

That is Judgment Day #4.

Judgment Day #5 gives us Steve sitting in the snow, drinking coffee, and being maybe a little discouraged about this:

Then he gets up anyway. He gets up and faces down the Celestial who is judging them, and he knows that he's not going to make it through this alive, but he still, deep down, really does believe in humanity:

He just... keeps standing. He gives people hope. That's who he is. That's what he does.

See also, Steve's famous speech to Thanos in Infinity Gauntlet:

I mean, it's basically the same speech.

I don't think Ults Steve really... represents the entire planet... in the same way that 616 Steve does. Which is fair, because mostly he isn't called upon to do that. I mean, I know he's been the president of the US. But that's still not what 616 Steve does. That's not the same thing at all.

Cataclysm is basically the most comparable event in terms of power level -- they are fighting 616 Galactus -- and Ults Steve is, at most, a battlefield tactician. Granted, he's a very good tactician. But that's all we see him do:

When he sacrifices himself to buy time for everyone else to fight Galactus, there is no inspiring speech:

The last thing he says is "how much time do you need?" That's it. There is no further dialogue.

He just... dies.

I think he believes in individual people, certainly. And he's capable of rallying the troops, sure. But to the best of my knowledge, that thing 616 Steve does? That thing 616 Steve does basically as naturally as breathing? He doesn't do that. Not that I can remember.

So I think he would look at 616 Steve and be like "are you fucking kidding me?" because I don't think he believes in the innate goodness of humanity the way 616 Steve does. This doesn't mean I think he's a bad person -- narratively, he's been put in a world that is hell of a lot harder, so it makes sense that this is how he's turned out. I love him a lot as a character. But I don't think anyone would call upon Ults Steve to be the world's optimist. And I don't think he'd understand that about 616 Steve.

So, yeah. Those are my extremely off-the-cuff thoughts about 616 vs. Ults Steve and Tony. This was way more about Steve, but I feel like for Tony, canon already answers the question for us.

[cowboyhorsegirl]

CAP-IM Rec Week: Absolute Faves Monday

a quick & dirty reclist of all some of my absolute best beloved stevetony fic faves <3

You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) by @kiyaar

“Why don’t you take that off,” Tony whispers back, and he tugs at the guy’s mask. He tries an arm around his waist, firm, solid, hot. Tony is hard and it’s obvious. He thinks he’d be more of a gentleman about it under normal circumstances, but in this place, it’s like a handshake. He shudders and his back muscles move beneath Tony’s hand. Tony’s pants grow tighter. He smells like Barbasol. A well-respected man. Tony wants to disrespect him. (an AU where Steve never gave up the Nomad mantle, Tony has a coke habit, and they meet on the dance floor at Studio 54.)

Podfic available from @whenasinsilks!

Please everyone go read this fic immediately and then report back so we can all go disco dancing together while screaming abt the SteveTony identity porn mutual pining drug-fueled blowjob of all time <3

Sins of Omission by @kiyaar

A Post-Civil War, Pre-Secret Invasion AU where Steve is dead, Tony's a mess, and everything sucks. In which Tony deals poorly with Steve's death, falls off the wagon, sees ghosts, and misses a lot. Oh, and the Skrulls are about to invade.

Literally a classic, this fic is the SteveTony Odyssey.

Under God by @isozyme

“Captain America represents the values of our country. The recent allegations about his sexuality are specious and designed to smear an American icon. Captain Rogers regularly attends the Church of Saint Agnes and invites the citizens of New York to attend worship with him this Sunday, April 14th. God bless America.” Nobody was ever going to know. Steve would be a good husband, a good father, and he’d never give in to sin and touch another man. But Steve makes two mistakes, one after the other: he leaves two words out of the Pledge of Allegiance, and he doesn’t notice a camera flash among the strobe lights of a dark club, because he’s dancing with his clumsy hands on Tony’s hips.

Podfic available from Cathalinaheart!

No words, only ugly beautiful emotions about being gay in the Zeroes, internalized homophobia, falling in love, and perhaps even preempting the Iraq War.

the face and the mask are mirrors, baby (the genderqueer remix) by @imaginaryelle

When Tony’s young, he thinks maybe he’s built wrong. He thinks: Maybe one day, if he gets good enough, he’ll be able to redesign Tony Stark. Cast himself in a new mold. One day, he’ll be better.

I actually think this fic was created in a secret lab specifically for me to read and be irrevocably changed and made better by it; sharing so that you all can also partake in the revolutionary experience of reading this fic and being better for it too :)

Semaphore by DevilDoll

"I’m trying to like you, Tony. You’re just making it very hard."

Podfic available from crinklysolution!

To me, this is always The 2012 Avengers-era SteveTony fic. In my eyes, it eclipses and predominates the whole of its fandom. It was I think, maybe the first MCU SteveTony fic I read back when I first got into this fandom over 10 years ago and it's stuck with me ever since, and if that isn't enough of a recommendation then I simply do not know what is!

Amor Fati by citsiurtlanu

Tony Stark has always known what the words on his wrist are supposed to lead to. What he's never known is who the words are for. 616 soulmate AU.

Honestly and truly and genuinely don't have the words to articulate how heartwrenchingly gorgeous this fic is. It has pulled real life tears from me and imprinted itself into my memory. For all the ups and downs of 616 canon, we can thank every moment of it for having existed because citsuirtlanu was able to distill it down into this incredible, incredible story. <3

Five Days a Week by @festiveferret

The day after Pepper's funeral - after Rhodey has come and gone, after Natasha has come and gone, after Tony has forcibly sent Happy away - Tony looks out of the front window, Morgan snoozing in the crook of one arm, and sees a dark, heavily-tinted car in the driveway.

The perfect, the perfect Endgame fix-it. There's a certain kind of magic in this story that I don't think I've found in any other stevetony fic to date. This fic is heartbreak and grief and guilt and friendship and romance all rolled into one indescribably lovely story.

[yanderefreud]

also i want you to rank the multiversal stevetonies: 1872, 616, ults, mcu, and any others you want to include ✨

OOOOO BOY. Okay

So number one is extremely unsurprisingly going to be 616. They're the ogs and absolutely no one does it like them. The slow burn, the extremely unresolved homoeroticism, and the angst (the ANGST!!!!!),, all of that is just unparalleled. None can compete with that much lore and all those moments of them just saying sappy gay shit like "you gave me a home" or "i'm not half as good at anything as i am when i'm doing it next to you", or absolutely heart-wrenching things like "it wasn't worth it" or "he loved you, and he admired you, even when you fought"

After some deliberation with my own self I have decided that 1610 (Marvel Ultimates) is my second favourite. I just love the dynamic A LOT. Imagine you're this repressed homosexual man who was transported a billion years into the future and you fall in love with the most obnoxious man ever and then you find out he's dying. The struggle of reconciling with your own self and then trying to pursue something with someone who might as well be dead. There are just so many possibilities

MCU is going to be a respectable third. I have a lot of fondness for it because it is what introduced me to stevetony (when I first saw the helicarrier scene all I remember was thinking "these guys have sexual tension and I want to be there when they resolve it"). One complaint I have is the initial hostility that they had, because I think A LOT of people got hung up on that lmao. I don't really watch marvel movies anymore, not even old ones bc they just make me sad :-(. Still, they have some absolutely incredible moments like "i'm home" or "do you trust me" "i do" and "i thought you and Tony were still gazing into each other's eyes (thanks natasha)"

1872... Oh 1872. I have a lot of feelings and not enough Canon content, and that's the only reason why it's so low on the list. I love how Steve was literally the CATALYST for Tony becoming Iron man like. That is so sick omg... He was so grief-stricken that he literally went mad. I also fucking love their interactions "I think you pulled enough corks for today, Stark. It ain't even noon" "oh why hello there sherif. I guess you have nothing better to do than infringe on my constitutionally guaranteed right to pursue happiness (can't argue w that ngl)"

Avengers Assemble!! I actually fucking love them ngl but the reason why they're number five is that there isn't enough angst. Where is the bloodshed and death and tears????? I need to see grown men crying and screaming in agony thanks. Other than that, I love their dynamic and how fucking domestic they are. They are so married they're making my parents look single omg like GET A ROOM GUYS. My favourite thing that Steve ever said in that show was "iron or not, you're still the man" hell yeah boy get that dick

Marvel's avengers 2020 (the video game!!). God. I did not play it myself but I have seen Stevetony scenes and they are so SICK. Tony being so fucking DEVASTATED at Steve's death is really entertaining and makes me very happy. He should continue being sad hehe >:-))

Other than that, I haven't seen any other universes w them in it. There's EMH, and I'm planning to watch it eventually (I'll let you know what I think!) and as for 3490, I think that needs a separate post in itself. I hope this answered your question hehe ty <33333

[elvain]

ask game!

Anything that you'd like to write but feel like you're unable to?

Top three favourite fic tropes.

Do you have a word/expression that you always use in your writing?

Give your writing a compliment.

Wildest AU scenario you have written?

2. Anything that you'd like to write but feel like you're unable to?

i really wanna write some stevetony set during civil war but i obviously can't do that yet :sob: but it's the dream! i also want to write more silm fic but that one is just a matter of more confidence/rereading the source material.

10. Top three favourite fic tropes.

answered here

32. Do you have a word/expression that you always use in your writing?

hmm. i do "clenched and unclenched their jaw" often i think? i do like that one honestly. the emotional turmoil it conveys... chef's kiss.

33. Give your writing a compliment.

i like to think my writing is good at character development/character-driven narratives. i will never write something if i don't think i can understand the character well enough or do their development justice. this is part of why i always test out new ships/characters with some quick one-shots or ficlets first.

39. Wildest AU scenario you have written?

so i've only written a couple AUs - Beau Monde and Another World. i am not a huge fan of writing or reading AUs beyond like "canon divergence" but i think the "wildest" one i wrote here was probably Beau Monde. regency/bridgerton style x-men hits different i think. but nobody knows how

writing asks

[imagine-a-sanctuary-like-this]

Thoughts on AUs in fanfiction and why they may fall flat

So the other day I was having a conversation with a friend of mine about fanfic on ao3 and shared some thoughts on a very good SteveTony AU I'd read recently on ao3. We talked a little about that, and I was surprised to discover that my friend didn’t enjoy AUs because he felt that they defeated the point of writing about those specific characters. For him, an alternate universe (not canon-divergence, I mean like a serious AU that changes the setting completely) is more like an original work thinly veiled with the names of characters from fandom. Out of their specific stories they become something else - i.e., they are no longer the characters they are claimed to be, but simply OCs.

As someone who loves all kinds of AUs and who regularly filters by the Alternate Universe tag on ao3, I found this idea interesting. It got me thinking about the kinds of AUs I find successful and those that I feel fall flat, and in the end I came to the conclusion that it’s absolutely possible to write an AU that is wildly different from canon but still tells a story about the same essential characters. Since I've been reading a lot of SteveTony recently, I use Tony's arc (the MCU one) as an example here quite a bit, but you don't really need to be in the fandom to understand the point of the post.

Before all that, though, a quick poll:

Okay, so with that done...

I’ve decided to post my simple musings here, where perhaps other people would like to contribute to the discussion. I know many people enjoy AUs like me, and I always like to hear their reasoning for things like this.

Character Essence

First I guess we have to think about what makes a character who they are, since this is what the whole issue seems to hinge on. I’d imagine if I were asked to loosely define a character, I would say that broadly speaking they are a person (not necessarily a human person) in a work of fiction. This is good enough in that it seems to capture what I think of as the concept of 'character', but it's not helpful in so far as it gives us nothing to really differentiate one character from another.

So maybe what distinguishes a character from others is their personality. But if this is the case, it certainly does not encompass the whole idea - otherwise we would have no real way of distinguishing between characters who are as people the same, but end up in different circumstances that force them to act differently (an example of this would what I call type-b parallels within a same story, where characters with the same essential personality are thrust into different circumstances, probably to highlight their differences or make a thematic point). Probably a bigger issue here is that characters personalities change, sometimes almost to the point of becoming unrecognizable, or at least significantly different as a matter of personality (Jaime Lannister in season 1 vs season 4 of Game of Thrones, Bucky Barnes compared between Captain America: The First Avenger and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Powder/Jinx or Jayce over S1 of Arcane to name a few examples). Still, we would generally consider someone whose arc includes a strong change ‘the same character’, even if they are not the same personality.

Obviously things like ‘character name’ or how they look don’t really seem to work on a fundamental level. I think a little closer to the mark is something like ‘the story the character goes through’, i.e., the events that happen to them or action they take over the course of canon. These define the arc, because you bounce the character off the events around them to form an image of how they change (or how they stay the same, in the case of flat arc. Basically imagine this as mapping their internal journey as a function throughout the story) or a deeper look into their psyche.

I think this is where me and my friend would diverge, because while I think characters’ specific stories and events are important, this view sort of misses why they are important.

Why tell stories?

The story is about something. I suppose the conventional term for this ‘about’ would be the ‘theme(s)’. The story - and therefore the character’s arc - has some essential components that align with the theme, or else act as a mode of its expression. What I’m saying is that in terms of narrative layers, the theme is probably the most fundamental. What comes on top of that - places, names, specific events - map onto the theme and all those core ideas underlying the narrative, usually in a way that follows ‘narrative beats’ (in that, moments in the story that are significant to the theme) that are usually not one-to-one specific to that situation. Often these involve exploring questions about human nature, psychology, morals, etc., which don’t in themselves require a specific context to be followed to a T.

By the way, I’m not saying it’s just this that differentiates a character, that would probably be too reductionist, but at least for me when I analyze a story, this is mostly what makes a character ‘who they are.’ Themes, beats.

Which is why I think AUs have great potential to be fully in-character and in line with ‘who the characters are’ in canon (if that is indeed the goal. To be honest though, I don’t always see the point of writing strong OOC on purpose because here you’re certainly not writing about the canon character anymore) while also adding fun new elements and worlds into the mix. This way you can change events dramatically, but as long as they have the same thematic relevance or fulfil the same beat in the story as in the original, it is hardly out of character at all.

Compatibility

Of course this works better for some universes than it does for others. Some thematic beats are simply too fine-tuned to the story - for example, I have trouble visualising a drastic AU of something like Better Call Saul that keeps up with even most of this stuff. ‘A drastic AU’ here would be something like removing the ‘lawyer’ element from the story completely. I mean, one of the other reasons you probably couldn’t do that is because ‘law’ is among the themes of BCS. Some themes necessarily imply certain content, so you can't really write about these characters without writing about the law somehow.

On the other hand, other arcs are very adaptable to this kind of AU-fication. An example that springs to my mind is the MCU (not 616!) Tony Stark’s arc. It’s fairly complex, but after some reflection - and drawing on a LOT of SteveTony AU fics done well - I've found the themes are very ‘universalizable’.

To illustrate, here are the main things Tony's story is about: sacrifice/selflessness, redemption, purpose (very big in Iron Man 1), moral choices like security vs freedom (Civil War), identity I guess (big in IM3), security taken on its own (obsession with extra-terrestrial threats after what he saw in the wormhole in Avengers 1 is the cause of PTSD in IM3, creation of Ultron in Age of Ultron and the whole thematic thing they did with Thanos in Infinity War), dealing with strong emotions (Civil War)…

So there’s a lot to draw from. And what I mean when I say this kind of arc is 'universalizable' is that a lot of these can be mapped onto other stories without losing much of this meaning. This is coincidentally why I believe AUs “before ‘modern science’ was a thing” still work for Tony, because nowhere in his arc is Tony necessarily a scientist. I see it more as a tool for these themes than a theme of its own. It seems there are many beautiful AUs out there where Tony is not a scientist/engineer, yet remains in character (though I guess if you consider it a necessary part of his character, he isn’t in-character, and my argument is circular. I don't think it is though. I might make a post about this sometime...).

Anyway. That's some stuff in favour of AUs from a the story structure standpoint. They can be non-OOC.

Now, of course, an AU is not bad if it isn’t in line with what the original story was about. Well, okay, firstly there’s probably gradations of how close you are in terms of loyalty to the shape of the original story. Some AUs are almost one-to-ones moved into a different setting, some are a little more vague but follow with the general idea and map onto the most important things in the original story. If your criterion for a 'good' AU is just characters staying in character (which in my view is a little... shallow) then I guess you have a way of differentiating between fics. Personally, I think a lot goes into a good AU, and being in-character or OOC is just one factor (though not a small one).

Interpretation

There's just one more thing to talk about, and that of course is the matter of interpretation.

Different people may interpret what a character's story is about very differently. This is a complicated question that tracks back to the nature of truths and all kinds of things that are beyond the scope of this post, so I'll only touch on this briefly. Coming back to the Tony Stark example (I swear I have others, but months of reading SteveTony are... showing). I have seen people claim that Tony's arc is essentially about him realizing that 'making weapons bad' and finding ways to right his wrong and become a better person. I don't think this is... entirely wrong. That does happen in the first Iron Man movie.

But the broader point is: the people who claim this and me have looked at the same material and drawn different conclusions. Is either of us mistaken?

I think the answer in this case is yes. The reason is evidence. There is a lot more evidence against the above statement than for it (this doesn't mean my vision of Tony's arc is accurate, mind you, only that this one is inaccurate) which I think resolves the question nicely.

Some people think that discussion about literature consist of nothing but opinions, and evidence is... irrelevant. I disagree. Value-statements are certainly opinions, but examining a character's arc is not entirely a value-statement, a lot of it is working with material. The material is the story, and a lot of it can be used as concrete evidence - events, things characters say or do, things they think even. These do form a picture, and while it's sometimes hard to find a single thing they point to, it's usually pretty easy to weed out things they definitely don't point to.

Now of course, I think some variation will exist without any statement being correct or incorrect, but most of the time for the fundamental ideas in stories there will be a bunch of clearly wrong interpretations, and very strong - true - evidence that shows why those interpretations are wrong.

Endnotes

Anyway, wrapping up, that’s my thoughts on AUs and why some of them may fall flat for people like my friend. I think for a guy like him, the reason he hasn’t read many good AUs is that he hasn’t read many in general, so there’s not a big sample to draw from. And then once you’ve made a judgement about a kind of fic, you don’t try it again, so you never really end up changing your mind even if there is a chance that it might be.

If any of y’all have thoughts on this (you like AUs/dislike AUs, maybe your ideas about what makes a good AU) I would love to read them. Drop a comment!

- S

[ravenirene]

///P3dophilia mention

.....

.....

....

I'm tired of u nasty ass mfs. stop taking this panel out of context. Red skull is not calling steve gay, HES CALLING HIM A P3DO. He very specifically says boys and not men.

Red skull: cap likes underage boys lol. Some of yall: omg my canon bi😊

Steves face isn't a "oh no u found out my secret" its "how dare u call me a p3do" he literally punches red skull right after this too

Especially stucky shippers who use this as "proof" for their ship cause "boys in costume" is referring to bucky. But 616 bucky is the robin to steves batman, HE WAS A KID WHEN STEVE A GROWN MAN. Shipping 616 stucky is disgusting and anytime ppl(usually villians) tried to call bucky/steve dynamic romantic, it had terrible implications and isn't the flex u think it is. Idk why some of yall are so advocate for steve to be a creep.

If u want gay ships for comic steve there's stevetony and samsteve. For comic bucky there's sambucky and winterhawk(bucky x clint) and for those who want childhood best friends there's bucky x toro raymond/the original human torch sidekick

[psychiccatpanda]

Tony Stark Bingo Party - Never have I ever written anything comics-compliant or comics-adjacent

I am really hoping that I catch up on these NHIE posts before our next party! 😁 And TSB party people - if you want your work included in these kind of rec lists, join us during the next party for a round!

@illogicalkat - The spaces in between. (fanfic) Rating: General. Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply. James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark. He should really invest in a bed, at least. He’s getting too old to sleep like this.

“If you’re getting old, what does that make me?”

Tony whirls, hands out, ready to call his suit, even as he recognizes the voice.

@polizwrites - Behind the Mask. (fanfic) Rating: General. Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply. James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark. Bucky didn’t know how he’d managed to fall so hard for a man whose face he’d never seen and whose voice he’d only heard through an electronic filter.

@tinystark616 - Stevetony Games 2023 Ficlet Compilation. (fanfic) Rating: Explicit. Archive Warnings: Major Character Death. Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Natasha Stark. Note: this particular chapter is not explicit, but DOES include the MCD. For team Present, square: "consequence", challenge: "it's canon", 300 words. (using the canon quote "it wasn't worth it" from Civil War: The Confession).

@illogicalkat - After All the Dreaming, I Come Home Again. (fanfic) Rating: General. Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply. James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark. Tony stares at the notification for a solid three seconds before authorizing the purchase. He knows the offer will be accepted; cash purchase, quick closing, and offering nearly $70,000 over asking. Most importantly, the buyer is not obviously connected to him; he knows Bucky would refuse any offers to help that involve money. And Bucky must need that kind of help, because why else would he decide to sell his childhood home?

@deehellcat - Loving You Never Felt Like Falling. (fanfic) Rating: Teen+. Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply. James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark, background Natasha Romanov/Pepper Potts, background Steve Rogers/James "Bucky" Barnes. Wealthy science whiz James Rhodes meets Army vet and recovering alcoholic Tony Stark, and neither of their lives will ever be the same, they just don't know it yet.

@psychiccatpanda - Desire Is Hunger Is the Fire I Breathe. (fanfic) Rating: Explicit. Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply. James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark. Bucky Barnes has tried to keep his crush - if raging lust can be called that - on Iron Man a secret. It's worked... for the most part, but that's not helping anyone these days. Then Bucky throws caution to the wind and asks The Daily Bugle's Enemy Number One on a date when the opportunity presents itself.

@illogicalkat - New Year's Eve. (fanfic) Rating: General. Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply. James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark. Of course, the year Bucky finally convinces Tony to spend New Year's Eve in Shelbyville instead of Manhattan, the weather decides not to play along.

[cloudbells]

4, 9, 18, 38 for your mcu ask game! ILY❤️

HI THANK YOU ILY TOO MWAH MWAH <3

4. NOTP (Least favorite ship)

I have a couple answers to this that I can be normal about hating…but I fear the facade of me being not absolute bonkers coo coo crazy has long faded. So I will answer this with truth.

If I could mentally eradicate the existence of WinterIron from the minds of every single person who has contributed to its success…I’d wallow in the ethics of that for about 5 minutes and then immediately do it #mindwipingiscoolactually #giveMEthemindstone. I truly, truly, despise that ship with everything in me. And this isn’t a secret! Anyone who has ever spoken to me knows I hate this ship. Just the mere sight of it makes me sick to my stomach oh my goodness. Everyone knows to the point where I'll get disclaimers about any hint of winteriron in fic recs (also i love you guys who do this y'all are so REAL). And it’s not even for, like, morals reasons. I just hate it so much because of how I’ve seen it portrayed. I wish I could say the ship not making sense is the reason I hate it most, but it isn’t! Even though I firmly believe it makes no sense. That’s not anywhere near my main problem with it because I have plenty of ships that don’t make sense (Never ask user cloudbells what her current favorite ultra-sparkly rare pair is [the two characters aren't in the same fandom or even sister fandoms]). 

I hate it for petty reasons. And I hate that it’s so popular. Why is it one of the most popular ships?! Why do people like them? Well, I know why people like them, but I wish I could live my entire life with never seeing it ever again. Every time I’ve ever saw it, it involves some weird ass Steve characterization. But also, I just hate the idea of taking Steve’s top ships and making them in love with each other and then all the weird hateful undertones when it comes to Steve? Plus, in no way are Tony and Bucky ever getting together. I can’t even stand them as besties if we’re gonna get real lmao. I can handle them becoming friendly…maybe friends eventually, but anything further than that and I need Ativan or something to chill out. Omg, I can’t think about this anymore, someone get the straightjacket. I’ll admit myself to residential. But I do always love the chance to talk about things I don’t like. 

9. Favorite fight scene

Gotta say I’m a sucker for the scenes in CATWS where Steve fights Bucky. I love them so much. I love how you can clearly see the way his body twists, the way his muscles tense and release, the way his strikes flow - how sharp his jumping, punching and kicking are. UGH. It does everything for me. I loooooove Steve’s fighting choreography. He fights so clean…at least to me, someone who isn’t a trained fighter. Hm, well, maybe with this in mind, I should say I love the elevator fight. Or Hell - Natasha’s fight scenes. Side note that has nothing to do with the MCU: this just reinforced how much I love hand to hand. I remember when I watched Naruto and used to complain constantly over the lack of good taijutsu fights. I like seeing contact!!

18. Things you'd do if you're one of the MCU writers

Erm…SteveTony canon? Just kidding. But I wouldn’t say no to adding more undertones.

In all honesty, if we’re not talking about re-writes…I would absolutely give more weight to the Clint and Natasha relationship. I just mentioned this to someone, but I would do anything for a movie or mini-series or something just to see the moment where Natasha came to kill Clint and he instead decided to take her in, convince Fury to help, assisted with deprogramming her, ect. I’d love it. Seeing Natasha learn to trust again, seeing Clint struggle and being active in her healing. Natasha coping with everything she’s done, ect. Their bond forming…I need it. If any has any fic recs…

If we’re talking about Steve specifically, I would single-handedly force everyone to keep his deleted scenes and find somewhere to put them. I just wish we had more context on Steve himself. Like, I don’t need to see him having a self vs self angst we see with many other characters, because he’s not the type that needs that - but his external circumstances are fucking shitty and I’d love to see those explored more. I’d rewrite CACW to be more blatant on Steve’s motivations. I mean Hell, they were pretty damn clear to me, but apparently I can’t use myself as the leading authority on things like this (boooooo) and since it’s a CAPTAIN AMERICA movie, it should center around him. I shouldn’t have to defend Steve from the fandom concerning his own damn movie. 

I have some more thoughts but this post is getting long omg, I might not have enough space.

38. Favorite and least favorite villain

Favorite? I really like the potential Kang has (though he wasn’t really…great to me in Ant Man tbh). But anyways, my favorites are Alexander Pierce and Killmonger. I’ve mentioned why I like Pierce as a villain before, but it boils down to how calmly and near seamlessly he executed his power. I’ve always loved a villain that is so outwardly calm and calculated and manages to manipulate even the most suspicious of people, precisely because from his view, his goals aren’t very different from some heroes’. And because he believes in his evil so deeply, it makes him more patient and determined to carry forward. I like that. Chills!

My like for Killmonger is more…it’s a little removed from the MCU verse. I’m a black American, so I really understood where his anger and sense of betrayal came from. I mean, we're also from the same exact city. And I grew up with all typa diaspora wars between black people and African people that felt reflected in the movie…it all just really connected with me. He’s still the villain no doubt for how he went about it, but I truly, truly got his resentment. His emotions and motivations make sense! And I love a character that makes sense. 

Least favorite? The Howard guy in WandaVision. Ouuuuu, put me and him in a room for 2 minutes and he’ll be handled, permanently! I don’t even think he’s a badly written character because he (unfortunately) makes sense. But oh my goodness, I hate him so much. Now, least favorite as in boring or bad? Ultron, in my opinion. He could have been so much cooler, much more formidable, much more terrifying…but if they really dived into it, Ultron’s reign wouldn’t have started and ended in just one movie. But damn, was he disappointing.

Oh! If Namor counts as a villain (he does) I really like him. And NOT just because he's sexy and I have had a period of time where I had a very guilty and shameful crush on him.

Thank you for the ask!! <3

[polizwrites]

PoliZ’s Birthday Self-Recs: Stony

Indulging myself in the week leading up to my birthday by sharing some of my favorite fics I’ve written, grouped primarily  by pairing/relationship.  

Next up is Stony - aka SteveTony aka Steve Rogers/Tony Stark.   I’ve written 38 Steve/Tony fics  and  nine  Steve &Tony fics  (note: another relationship could be the main focus in these).

To my understanding this ship is a little more supported by canon in the comics/ animated shows,  but it’s not too much of a stretch to see a connection between them in the MCU as well.  They are both opinionated men who feel strongly about  many things and when the writers allowed Steve and Tony to work together, they did so beautifully.  

Their complementary character traits give me lots to work with in canon-adjacent as well as AUs.   And while I might not have written as many fics featuring these two together,  my word count more than makes up for it, as four of my five longest fics involve Steve and Tony as the main characters.

Here  - in reverse chronological order  by pub date - are my half-dozen favorite Stony fics I’ve written, at least as of this moment.   If you want to know why I picked these, feel free to ask.  Also if you go read them, I’d love to hear what you think, either here or as a comment on the fic!  Finally - I will award a shiny  No Prize to anyone who identifies the songs that 4 of these titles came from!

Home of the Brave 

(General, historic AU, dragon AU, 42,206 words) Blacksmith and inventor Anthony Stark has convinced himself he is satisfied with his life.  A tragic accident cut his career as an aviator short, so he retreated to upstate New York and a hermit life.   He unintentionally becomes companion to a runty dragonet who is more than he seems, and it turns his life upside-down. (NOTE:  This is a platonic Steve & Tony fic with background Tony/Pepper)

Sometimes a Fantasy 

(Explicit, No Powers AU, 28,024 words) - Steve works mornings at a coffeeshop in a downtown NYC skyscraper.  He’s got a slight crush on one of the customers who stops by for his daily dose of caffeine. Not that Steve would have a chance with the genius playboy (straight - SO straight) billionaire philanthropist, of course. But Steve also moonlights as a phone sex operator, working for Fury Enterprises.  Anthony, an older guy still more or less in the closet and just starting to explore his bisexuality, becomes one of Steve’s steady clients. Along with the steamy scenarios they play out, they actually get to know one other.   Cue the identity porn with Steve's two worlds colliding (eventually)

The Lengths That I Will Go To 

(Teen/Mature, Canon-divergent, 92,739 words) After forty-five years,  Howard Stark discovers the wreck of the Valkyrie and that Captain America somehow survived the crash and nearly a half-century of being frozen in the ice. Tony Stark,   having been brought back to the fold after several years of freedom, finds himself face to face with his childhood idol (and teenage crush) when he is recruited to help care for the recovering Captain Rogers, whose existence is being kept a secret.

To Shield from the Storm       

(Explicit,  canon-adjacent a/b/o AU,  42,872  words) The Avengers have gone their separate ways after the Battle of New York and Tony Stark is on his own in the Tower.  He's successfully kept his omega status secret from all but a very few for decades; the suppressants have (mostly) done their job, but not for much longer.  Learning to team up with Captain America --  possibly the most famous alpha of the 20th century and someone Tony's already managed to alienate --  is going to be just that much more difficult, now, isn't it?

Go Ask Friday  also available as a podfic

(General,  canon-divergent Alice in Wonderland fusion, 4475 words) In a last-ditch effort to defeat Thanos, Tony finds himself in a somehow familiar waking dream. As he works his way through the story, confronted at every turn by those he thought were his friends,  he can't help but question everything about himself.

Earth’s Mightiest Heroes at the Happiest Place on Earth

(General, canon-adjacent Disney fluff, 3535 words) Tony Stark takes the Avengers (and Avengers-adjacent personnel)  to Walt Disney World - and gets to spoil his beloved a bit along the way.     A series of vignettes where our faves have fun (mostly) at the Happiest Place on Earth. (with Steve/Tony bookending the story)

[valyrfia]

Hello ! For the fic writer asks :

Of the characters you write for, which is your favorite? Has that choice been swayed at all by your followers/readers’ reactions to certain ones?

Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

Link your three favorite fics right now please.

Thank you very much !

Thank you anon!

I really enjoy writing Max, I think that's why I tend to prefer to write from his POV. Max is really ruled by his head (vs. Charles who is open about being ruled by his heart) so it makes it super interesting when his logic and his emotions come into conflict, like the logic of all he has to do is win vs. the pesky emotion of wanting to be loved. That being said, Charles is also super fun to write. He's absolutely ruthless on track and I like extrapolating that to what lurks beneath his PR perfect facade, lots of jealousy and unhingedness. These two are probably the most fun I've ever had writing characters in a ship mainly because they're both absolutely deranged and Fucked Up and needing therapy but in wildly different way. For a non-Lestappen character, I'm going to go with a bold choice and say George Russell, the moment I'm done with Lestappen Week and can write about the inherent repression of the English Upper Class it's over for all of you. George Russell love was definitely inspired by the super unexpected but lovely reaction to Grid Dynamics.

My wildest ride isn't even a recent Lestappen fic, it's one I wrote when I was much younger and is a post-Endgame stevetony fic. I wrote this fic in an absolute fever dream out of the theatre the evening after seeing Endgame, with my final end of school exams literally the very next week and even though I don't read/write stevetony anymore, it's still the one I'm the most proud of.

Three favourite fics right now:

melepathic. or something. I literally talked about this in a previous ask but it's just way too good I need to talk about it more. The prose and the writing style is just addictive and Lando and Oscar are pitch-perfect characterisation (as in Lando is dumb and doesn't think and Oscar is a bit confused but also long-suffering).

i'd sing you a morning golden and new It's ABO which I completely get if you're not into that but the Capri scenes in this fic actually have me feral. Even better, there's a companion fic from Charles's POV which is being updated at the same time. I have cried over these two fics more than once.

algorithm This is a classic Lestappen fic I feel like, but is just so so good. A canon compliant San Junipero AU (if that makes ANY sense at all) which made me feel like I'd aged YEARS by the end of it