#Some of the Best from Reactor: 2024

[ninsiana0]

"The 2024 edition of Some of the Best From Reactor is out today! This [FREE] bundle features just some of our favorites from the thirty-five original stories published on Reactor in the past year."

[hawkatana]

So, given everything that's happened in recent hours, I thought I might give people who don't know about Gundam some stuff to learn about. Hopefully I can give a balanced and not-racist take like some people.

What is Gundam?

Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino with help by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko and animated by the studio Sunrise (currently Bandai Namco Animation, though I refuse to call them that), the original Mobile Suit Gundam released in 1979 to initially-limited success, though would gain popularity through a combination of fujoshis shipping the characters, the sale of plastic model kits referred to as "Gunpla" and a recut of the series into three compilation movies throughout the early 80's. And as of 2024 is the 66th highest-grossing media franchise of all time, beating out Scooby Doo, Minecraft and the Simpsons.

Also, I'm pretty sure it's what sparked Japanese sci-fi's obsession with O'Neill Cylinders.

The original anime takes place in the year 0079 of the Universal Century, where the Principality of Zeon: a nation composed of orbital space colonies declares a war of independence against the Earth Federation. This "One Year War" has already claimed half the human population by series start and is waged through the use of "Mobile Suits": bipedal mecha powered by a fusion reactor capable of effectively fighting out in the reaches of space.

Main character Amuro Ray is the son of a Federation engineer who lives in an out-of-the-way space colony, though soon finds his home under attack by a Zeon infiltration. After finding the secret Mobile Suit project his father was working on: the RX-78-2 Gundam, he fights off the Zeon invaders, though finds himself and a bunch of other kids conscripted by the Federation to fight the forces of Zeon aboard the ship the White Base. Throughout his journey, Amuro and the Gundam fight many battles against Zeon, including against their mysterious masked ace pilot Char Aznable.

The series was responsible for the codification (but not creation, people get this wrong all the time) of the "Real Robot" subgenre of mecha, where the robots were relatively more realistic and used as weapons of war as opposed to the more fantastical "Super Robot" subgenre pioneered by Mazinger Z and Getter Robo.

A major theme of the show, and the franchise as a whole is "War is bad", as demonstrated through this meme:

Yes, this is the original version of this meme format.

Anyway, Tomino, a renowned pacifist who grew up in the shadow of Japan's involvement in WW2 tried to use his platform as an anime director to try and tell a story that would get people to realise war's futility and brutality.

So I hear you asking, "That's nice and all, but what about the space lesbians who beat Destiel on their home turf?" Well, let's get into that.

What is the Witch From Mercury?

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, or "G-Witch" for short is one of the more recent entries in the Gundam Franchise and a (very) loose adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Tempest. Set in the year 122 Ad Stella, the solar system is under the de facto control of the Benerit Group: a megacorporation with borderline-medieval internal politics that maintains a system of capitalism that benefits Spacians at the expense of those who live on Earth.

Main heroine Suletta Mercury enrolls at Asticassia School of Technology owned by the Benrit Group at the behest of her mother: CEO Prospera Mercury of the Mercury-based Shin Sei Development Corporation, and wins a Mobile Suit duel against a bully in her own MS: the Gundam Aerial. This however means she has now won the hand in marriage of daughter of the Benerit Group CEO: Miorine Rembran, beginning a series of consequences that shape the very political landscape of the solar system.

G-Witch was a massive hit, both critically and commercially. The first episode: the Witch and the Bride attracting record numbers for the studio and the Gunpla kit for the Aerial is currently the best-selling Gunpla kit ever.

Contrary to popular belief, G-Witch is not the first piece of Gundam media to feature a female protagonist. That honour would go to the 2002 Japan-only manga École du Ciel, nor would it have the first queer main character, which goes to 1999's Turn-A Gundam (and if you were to ask any fan of the series, they'd so it goes back to the very beginning). But it became notable for its lesbian representation in anime (in spite of Sunrise's attempts to downplay it, to the anger of the director, writer, producer, artists, animators, cast, fans and even their own parent company Bandai Namco who forced them to back off).

One thing I need to clarify: You don't need to have watched the original series to enjoy G-Witch. They're not even in the same continuity.

So if you're interested in the series and you've only watched G-Witch, I'll give out three recommendations for you all to enjoy:

Mobile Suit Gundam 00

Gundam 00 takes place in the year 2307 (the only series to use our own calendar), where the world is divided between three global superpowers: The Union of Free & Solar Nations (The Americas, Australia, New Zealand and Japan), the Human Reform League (China, South, East, Southeast and Central Asia) and the Advanced European Union (all of Europe, including all of Russia west of the Urals) who each control a space elevator near the equator and wage proxy-wars in Africa and the Middle-East over Earth's dwindling resources. This eventually culminates in the emergence of Celestial Being: a terrorist group consisting of Setsuna F. Seiei, Lockon Stratos, Allelujah Haptism and Tierria Erde, all of whom use powerful "Gundam" Mobile Suits and try to forcefully impose global peace on the Earth.

00 is pretty slow-paced and is more about the world than the individual characters, but said characters are really well-written, especially the characters from the three power blocs who are the de facto protagonists as they try to stop what are in their eyes a bunch of crazed terrorists preaching a hypocritical and incoherent ideology of "peace through force".

And to address the elephant in the room, this series is VERY post-9/11. Constant talks about terrorism, proxy-conflicts in the global south (especially the Middle-East), religious extremism, dwindling resources and the wars fought over them. While the franchise has always been political and of-its-time, you can just tell 00 was made in the mid-2000's. Again, it's good. But just something to keep in mind.

Turn-A Gundam

Turn-A Gundam is one of the weirder elements of the franchise for a myriad of reasons. Not the least of which being its unique setting taking inspiration from the famous sci-fi novel War of the Worlds.

In the Year 2345 of the Correct Century, human civilisation is at a level of technology reminiscent of the late-19th/early 20th centuries, save for the Moonrace on... well, the moon. As part of their queen Diana Soreil's plan to reintegrate both Lunar and Terran societies, several scouts are sent to the planet to set up their return to the planet. One such scout: Loran Cehack integrates into Terran society as a driver for the wealthy Heim family, though at a coming of age ceremony for the family's second daughter, a member of the Moonrace attacks the technologically-inferior Terrans. However, a mysterious mustached statue breaks apart to reveal a "White Doll": the Turn-A Gundam, allowing Loran to fend off the invaders. rest of the series becomes more of a mystery to how the supposedly-peace loving Moonrace could allow of such brutality.

The setting of the Correct Century timeline alone is one of the draws of Turn-A, though its excellent characters and compelling mystery also help a lot.

I do however have two warnings for people interested in watching it. The first is that this series was never dubbed. While it did receive an official sub in 2015, there still isn't a dub for the series. So if that bothers you, there's your warning.

The other is that there's a pretty big twist in the latter part of the series that while I will not spoil it here, it's such a big deal that I can't not mention it. It doesn't make any sense, and it actively detracts from not just the series, but the whole franchise. You'll know it when you see it. It doesn't ruin my enjoyment, but a lot of people don't like Turn-A for that alone.

Mobile Fighter G Gundam

Favourite entry. Don't care. It's peak.

In the Year 60 of the Future Century, war has been abandoned by the nations of humanity in favour of the Gundam fight: a quad-annual fighting tournament between Gundams representative of the countries of the world where the winner rules space until the next Gundam fight, all while leaving the Earth ecologically devastated in the fighting. Neo-Japan's Gundam Fighter: Domon Kasshu arrives on Earth seeking information on his older brother Kyoji, who killed their mother and led to their father's arrest before stealing the experimental Devil Gundam to Earth, beating up every Gundam Fighter in his way. However, he eventually learns of far more dangerous revelations about the incident.

G Gundam is to put it bluntly: bat-shit insane. And I love it. It basically took a look at the then-stagnating franchise in the wake of the wet fart that was Victory Gundam and said "I know what can save this franchise, Bruce Lee movies!" And it somehow worked.

Word of advice: watch it dubbed. Mark Gatha absolutely kills it as Domon every time, and puts just the right amount of ham into every line.

So yeah, that's some stuff on Gundam. This was a long post to write out. I'm gonna take a break now.

[relivethebeef]

May 3, 2024 11:58 PM: "Meet the Grahams" by Kendrick Lamar

The fastest reactors are still in the process of uploading their reactions to "Family Matters". Those streamers Drake messaged before he dropped it are still on stream and their chats start popping off with people saying "Kendrick dropped".

52 minutes after "Family Matters", Kendrick dropped "Meet the Grahams" (according to YouTube metadata, but I swear they hit twitter within 30 minutes of each other). This is the most diabolical moment of the beef and not just because of the timing. On twitter, you're still processing the fact that Kendrick already responded to "Family Matters" and you haven't listened to it yet but you're seeing all these people say they're scared. Scared?

Let's start with the cover image. It's the zoomed out pic from "6:16 in LA". The weird background is an ugly shirt Drake has been seen in. It also shows some receipts and 3 prescriptions in Aubrey Graham's name. One of them is Ozempic, and Drake had just insulted Rick Ross for using Ozempic in "Family Matters". Along with the hypocrisy, it proves Kendrick wasn't bluffing about having people in Drake's camp.

The music is straight out of a horror movie. And the lyrics? Kendrick addresses Drake's son, parents, and an alleged 11-year-old secret daughter as he talks about all of his shortcomings as a man in a disturbingly calm serial killer voice. He gets into the sexual exploitation of women with this track. There's too much for me to get into, but it has some of the best reaction compilations like this one of people reacting to Kendrick saying Drake should die.

Lyrics with annotations.

Mod commentary: Vince Carter it's over gif. Unsurvivable. To me, bringing each others' kids into it is a two wrongs don't make a right situation, but it happened. Idk how you listen to this song without genuinely feeling sorry for Drake's kid(s) that he's their dad. Drake fans like to say that Kendrick didn't say anything "new" about Drake, but that's just it. Drake's "new" accusations against Kendrick have no credibility. They don't line up with the Kendrick we know and they're being said by one of the biggest phonies in the industry. Kendrick on the other hand is known for integrity and has slowly built his credibility as an expert on Drake specifically. So the bomb that Drake might have a secret kid actually lands. After all, he's done it before.

Follow and turn on alerts to relive the beef as it happened.

[lemonswoop]

My game journal entry for Final Fantasy 7 remake! I decided to try to run through the game RIGHT before rebirth came out!

Start date: 1/19/2024

End date: 2/28/2024

Platform: ps4

Hours played: 75

Rating: 4/5

Officially the year of Final Fantasy for me! And what a great game to revisit! Easily the Final Fantasy that I think best mixes humor and seriousness in equal parts.

It's been a while since I played the original, but the remake does an amazing job at adding depth to these beloved characters; even getting me to love characters I previously didn't care for much. Aerith was a character who I admit, on my first playthrough as a kid, I overlooked. But the remake made her so charming and endearing I couldn't overlook her.

Events that previously seemed small on the ps1 (like the first mako reactor bombing) now show just how devastating the aftermath truly was. In the original, I never thought twice about Avalanche being correct when taking their extremist methods. It's hard to visualize just how bad an explosion of that scale would have been, and harder to convey the devastation through that medium.

"A good man who serves a great evil is not without sin"

The voice acting also adds to some of the characters a lot. Cloud, for example, absolutely thrives as a voice acted character. There's a noticeable change in voice an mannerisms as he goes from an uncaring merc who is only in it for the cash, to a person who genuinely cares about the people around him.

I do have a gripe about the ending, though. Nit the fact that it diverges from the original, I just feel like they could have gone about it in a more subtle way. Like okay, yes, square-enix. I got that the whispers represented fate without you stabbing Barret and having the magical dementors save him so we could get a scene that verbally spells out that plotline for us. I already got it before that. You're good!

That aside, at the time for writing this, I have just barely started rebirth. I am excited to see where the story goes, how it diverges from the original, and what this means for these characters, who I am reminded of why I love so much. I hope the spirit of the original stays in tact while still telling a wonderful and unique story.

Funny story about the end boss; Sephiroth pulled a move that dropped my entire teams hp down to 1, and then started the meteor countdown. Cloud started a limit break when the countdown reached one second. Screen flashed white, and I thought I died, so I put the controller down. When the screen faded back in, cloud was in the middle of his limit break and it had canceled meteor. I had won.

The entire team won with 1hp.

One of the most tense minutes of my life.

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Wednesday, February 26th

~~ In sad news, at the age of 39 Michelle Trachtenberg (who played Dawn) has passed away. May her memory be a blessing. ~~

source

The Sunnydale Herald is looking for at least one new editor. Contributing to the Herald is a great way to get your Buffy on! Find out more here.

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

BtVS Double Drabble: A New Adventure by badly_knitted (Buffy, Willow, G)

Weekly Drabbles #220 — No Strings Attached by veronyxk84 (Buffy/Spike, Dawn, PG-13)

Sin Eater by SomeKindOfADeviant (Drusilla/Darla, Spike/Drusilla/Darla, T)

leave you hanging on a wire by MadeInGold (Angel/Spike, E)

What the Drabble? Vol. 3 - ch. 20 by VeroNyxK84 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

[Chaptered Fiction]

Happy Returns - ch. 1-10 by Higgystar (Angel/Spike, Fanged Four multiple pairings, E) Complete!

Where We Went From There - ch. 1 by Pyewacket (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Spike...sings? - ch. 1-2 by buckrogers687 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

A Stroke of Bad Loop - ch. 8 by Tikiriaaa (Buffy/Spike, R)

How To Be A Heartbreaker - ch. 30 by Maxine Eden (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) Complete!

Animal I Have Become - ch. 15 by CheekyKitten (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Gargoyle - ch. 17 by ClowniestLivEver (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Redefine the Words - ch. 7 by violettathepiratequeen (Buffy/Spike, R)

Lessons: An UnExpected Sequel - ch. 8 by amerie (Buffy, HP xover, FR13)

Redefine the Words - ch. 7 by violettathepiratequeen (Buffy/Spike, R)

How to Be a Heartbreaker - ch. 30 by Maxine Eden (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) Complete!

Stringing the Bow - ch. 4 by Niamh (Buffy/Spike, R)

Gargoyle - ch. 17 by ClowniestLivEver (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Animal I Have Become - ch. 15 by CheekyKitten (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork: A very short lived car game by yarboyandy (Buffy, Giles, Oz, worksafe)

Artwork: sketches from my buffy watching sessions (may 2024, january 2025) by sketchmre (Buffy, Willow, worksafe)

Artwork: um i made some art i got bored and started messin around w ibispaint... by pretty-girls-make-gravez (Drusilla, worksafe)

Artwork: quick buffy sketch by eklerek (Buffy, worksafe)

Edit: I said: I could be a wolf for you — I could eat you whole — – by tenderjock (Buffy/Spike, worksafe)

Gifset: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER      (2x14) ɪɴɴᴏᴄᴇɴᴄᴇ by likeafantasy (ensemble, Angel, worksafe)

Gifset: Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 6 Episode 7 | "Once More With Feeling" // Season 6 Episode 16 | "Hell's Bells" by flarky (Anya, worksafe)

Gifset: BEST OF BTVS: Buffy & Giles — Season One by clarkgriffon (Buffy, Giles, worksafe)

Gifset: Cavemen win. Of course the cavemen win. ANGEL (1999-2004) "A Hole in the World" — aired February 25, 2004 by charmedslayer (Gunn, worksafe)

Moodboard: she/hir genderqueer buffy summers by courtillyy (worksafe)

Moodboard: (qpr) angel x cordelia by courtillyy (worksafe)

Dawn Gifset: Buffy the Vampire Slayer 5.01 | "Buffy vs. Dracula" by slayerbuffy (Dawn, Buffy, worksafe)

Dawn Gifset: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER | 6.08 "Tabula Rasa" by whatisyourchildhoodtrauma (Buffy, Dawn, worksafe)

Dawn Moodboard: Images tagged with dawn summers, btvs moodboard by hero-adjacent (Dawn, worksafe)

Dawn Artwork: RIP Michelle Tratchtenberg Nobody could have portrayed the strength of Dawn Summers quite like you did by gothamsgaygirlgang (Dawn, worksafe)

Dawn Artwork: Image tagged with buffy, btvs, dawn summers by frenchublog (Dawn, worksafe)

Dawn Collage: Buffyverse Appreciation - Dawn Summers [throwback] by timedragonclock (Dawn, worksafe)

Dawn Gifset: people using nicknames at dawn requested by danielosbourne [throwback] by dawniesummers-archive-blog (Buffy, Dawn, Anya, Spike, Glory, Joyce)

Michelle Artwork: Daily drawing 26 feb 2025 RIP Michelle Trachtenberg by axelmedellin (Michelle, worksafe)

Artwork: Just finished my Michelle's/Dawn's drawing by Thingol_Elu (Dawn, worksafe)

Video: Buffy the Vampire Slayer | S5 E1 | Sister? | Reactor Compilation [Dawn's intro] by Robert Kemp

[Reviews & Recaps]

Restless by mothmans-wedding-photographer

Michelle Video: michelle trachtenberg talking about dawn summer's season five journey via theladydi

First time reaction [BTVS S1] by rawraerawr

PODCAST: Episode 93: To Shanshu in LA by Gym Was Cancelled: A Buffy Podcast

[Recs & In Search Of]

Recs: Spuffy Fic Recs — February by veronyxk84

Recs: Spuffy Fic Recs — February by veronyxk84

ISO: Umkkxk seeks guidance re worth of Replica prop (Orb of Thessulah)

[Community Announcements]

fic_promptly: Wednesday, February 26 - Theme: Seasons

SummersHQ is a blog dedicated to discussing Buffy The Vampire Slayer and BTVS only! by summershq

[Fandom Discussions]

yet another very random headcanon: [Angel and Spike and the music they separately like] by xaeyrnofnbe

Spike is a beautiful trans butch lesbian [... and] was part of a riot girl band with faith by phantombranches and throesofincreasingwonder

just saw a post claiming angel never raped anyone and. can we be so serious. [pro Angel OP explains that he did] by moistvonlipwig

Ask: top five buffy episodes? answered by: lesbianboyfriend

I do like that the big threat and driving motivation of season 5 was Glory... [vs S6] by kvothbloodless

POLL: In honor of A Hole in the World originally airing on February 25, 2004. Who would win in a fight? by dailyats

POLL: would Allen Francis Doyle be a good babysitter? [OP also posted similar poll for Spike and Cordelia] by couldtheybabysit

POLL: is Angelus asexual? [OP has also posted similar for Oz and Drusilla] by aretheyace

POLL: should Wesley Wyndam-Pryce be revived? [OP also has similar polls for Gunn, Fred, Cordelia, Anya, Tara, Kendra, Jenny, Doyle] by shouldtheyberevived

Buffy-Boards: Michelle Trachtenberg has Died by multiple posters

Best Dawn moments by burrunjor and others

BuffyForums: Report that Michelle T has died by multiple posters

Anyone else find the lack of technology makes Buffy comforting? by jdpm1991

Favorite Buffy parodies and references in other media? by Gallantpride

Everyone who portrayed Buffy Summers by jredgiant1

There should have been more Faith by CauseProfessional512

Who was Buffy's most loyal human ally? by InfiniteMehdiLove

Xander standing upto Angelus at the hospital in season 2, is one the most gutsiest things Xander did... by Passion211089

Buffy stopped being the slayer before Prophecy Girl [the Slayer line] by Knight_Machiavelli

Do you remember the first time you watched "The Gift"? by jdpm1991

I hope wherever Emma Caulfield is, everything in her life is great. by Public-Childhood8848

Tara & Dawn’s bond was one of the most touching relationships on the show by Petunia13Y

SEQUEL: Marti Noxon & Jane Espenson by Great_Ad8503

Dawn: Some Dawn moments 🧡 by Educational_Cow111

Dawn: In honor of our fallen Dawn/Michelle, share some of your favorite moments of Dawn in the show by davect01

Michelle: Michelle Trachtenberg dies at 39 [BTVS megathread] by GlamourCatNYC

Michelle: Michelle Trachtenberg passed away [Angel thread] by DonutDaniel

Michelle: Tributes [to Michelle] from the Buffy cast [screenshot collection with discussion] by authenticriver

Michelle: Sweet interaction with Michelle years ago by buffydisneypotter

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

Variety: Michelle Trachtenberg Dead: 'Gossip Girl' Actor Was 39

Deadline: 'Buffy,' 'Gossip Girl' & 'Harriet The Spy' Co-Stars Mourn Michelle Trachtenberg's Death

Rolling Stone: Michelle Trachtenberg Tributes: Rose O'Donnell, More Honor Actress

David Boreanaz (Angel) IG: [tribute to Michelle]

Emma Caulfield (Anya) IG: [tribute to Michelle]

Clare Kramer (Glory) IG: [tribute to Michelle]

Alyson Hannigan (Willow) IG: [tribute to Michelle]

James Marsters (Spike) IG: [tribute to Michelle]

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

[zmediaoutlet]

fic: the spare bedroom

the nostalgia bug has got me good, y'all. And man, it's so much easier to write for a new fandom, haha. For the four of you who might see this --

title: the spare bedroom pairing: Cloud/Barret rating: E length: 5000 tags: Game: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (2024), Gongaga (Compilation of FFVII), Friends With Benefits, Size Kink, Oral Sex

summary: After getting out of the desert and making their way to Gongaga, everyone splits up. Cloud comes to check on Barret.

(read on AO3)

Cissnei's house is nice enough. Small. A few beds, like maybe desperate folks have crashed here before. A kitchen. Maybe Tifa'll cook something, if they're lucky. Pay back their host for her generosity. From the burn marks on the stove they better not rely on Cissnei to provide.

Barret's not hungry, though. He's tired but he doesn't want to sleep. Piece of shit of a day, worse than just about any he's had in four years. He sits on the bed shoved against the wall in the back room and rests his elbows on his knees, trying to figure it. Between the plate getting dropped and losing his team and the reactor back in Corel blowing and his arm being shot to bloody broken bits—yeah, he's got a list. Previously he'd had the ranking pretty well defined. Maybe on some later day he'll feel less like a sorry sack of shit about the whole thing but right now, every time he closes his eyes he sees that holding shack at the prison, and he feels the hot dust under his fingers, and in his ears, his best friend saying—

"What are you doing," Cloud says. Barret jolts, opens his eyes.

"I'm bo-ored," Yuffie says, from her slump in the living room around the corner. "This town was supposed to have materia."

"It isn't just going to appear midair. I thought you were a hunter. Go find it." Barret snorts. Kid doesn't even sound like he's trying to be rude. Perfectly practical, that's our SOLDIER. Yuffie makes some whiny noise—Barret is truly not looking forward to Marlene being fifteen—and Cloud sighs, and like he's making a great concession says, "I think I heard the GYC guys talking about training with magic. Maybe you can convince one of them to hand something over."

"Really?" she squeals, and then, calling like to a distant friend, "Materia, never fear! You shall be mine!"

Running sneakers on the stone, the front door slamming closed. Barret tips his head back against the wall, watches the afternoon light coming in through the strange stone-hewed windows. Town's nice. Peaceful. If it were some other day he bets he could enjoy it.

Cloud appears in the archway. His lips part on seeing Barret and then he shakes his head. "Figures. Last place I look."

"Ain't everything in the last place you'd look?" Barret says. He stretches his boots out on the stones. "'Cause you'd stop looking then, right?"

Those big, pretty eyes narrow. "Right." Cloud studies his face and Barret lets him. Nearly all his awful secrets are out in the light, now. Don't make sense to pretend otherwise. Anyway, the rest of 'em didn't abandon him in the desert or kill him where he stood, so he figures little fearless leader here isn't about to run him through. Though, really…

"You need something?" Barret says. Better to head those kinds of thoughts off at the pass. "We ain't moving out already, are we?"

Slight head-shake. "Mission break. We don't even know if that reactor's the right place to look. Everyone needs some downtime."

Barret's got enough going on that he thinks he can be forgiven how it takes him a few seconds. Cloud's looking at the ground, his arms folded over his skinny chest, and Barret stares at him in silence until he sees how the kid's ears and cheekbones are going that telltale pale pink. He'd laugh if he didn't feel like his guts had been torn out and left all over the desert. "Don't know if I'm gonna be good company for that, man," he says.

Cloud rubs the back of his neck. "You're never good company," he says, after a second, and Barret's surprised enough to snort. Cloud's mouth tilts, barely, and then his jaw firms. "That was—messed up, today. It shouldn't have gone down like that."

"My best friend shouldn't have been mown down in a hail of bullets by Shinra goons? With it being my fault?" Barret shrugs. "Yeah, guess I'd agree with that."

Strangest look on the kid's face. He blinks hard, shakes his head. Barret frowns—he knows he sounds bitter but he didn't mean to make the kid cry, damn—but after a few seconds Cloud says, softer than he normally says just about anything, "I can't imagine." He stands there, quiet, while Barret takes a full breath, deep in his lungs, trying to clear out the thick tense fucked-up misery that's solid there, all of a sudden, his chest full of iron ore and sandstorms. Then Cloud steps forward, hands loose at his sides, cheeks pink, chin lifted. "Let me help take your mind off it."

"Cloud—" Barret starts, but Cloud gestures vaguely to the rest of town, interrupts with: "Yuffie's out chasing materia; Red's mushroom hunting; I think Cait's charging; Tifa and Aerith are… I don't know, they're doing girl stuff." He tips his head to the side, toward the real bedroom. "I'm betting that door locks."

Barret sighs. "You thought of everything, huh?"

"I try," Cloud says. He sucks his lower lip into his mouth and lets it out slow through his teeth, so it shines in the dim light. Nervous and doing a hell of a job of hiding it, and it might even work if Barret hadn't seen his badass act fail about fifty times by now. "I don't know how to make it better. Maybe it doesn't get better. But there could be an hour that didn't suck."

Damn if the kid hasn't had a 180 in personality from the day they met. Barret's heart's still lead, but—hell, the kid's right. He doesn't want to feel like this anymore. "Long as you promise it won't suck," he says. Feels heavy coming out but, damn, he's trying.

Cloud steps forward between his boots. "Or what," he says, dry.

Barret reaches out, flattens his hand over the kid's chest. The tank's thick wool, surprisingly soft. "Ain't got the energy to mess with you, man," Barret says, more honest than he means to be. Cloud's eyes change, quick as that. He gets a little nod. Barret curls a finger under one of the leather straps on Cloud's armor and tugs. Cloud leans down slow, bending at the waist, pausing for some reason when his breath touches Barret's skin—meeting Barret's eyes, checking, like Barret's some virgin that needs to be gentled—and Barret holds there like a stone until Cloud reaches whatever internal decision had to get made and sinks down the final few inches and kisses him, close-mouthed. Sweet.

He is sweet. Clumsy still, even if they've done this already. Barret holds him by the small of the back over the thick leather brace and lets Cloud take the lead, the weight still dragging at him, but distracted at least—the kid's skin smelling like salt and river-water and the jungle green they waded through to get here and also that weird sharp tang that's always around him, the mako seeping up somehow through his pores. His girl-soft mouth and his girl-soft skin, the touch of wet against Barret's lower lip, his hands warm even through the leather gloves when he frames Barret's jaw, when he sucks in a shuddery breath through his nose, when he makes this tiny deep sound in his chest, like he's tasting something he's been wanting for a while.

Barret's gut wakes, slow. Like it's remembering that he's a man and not just a hollow thing for grief to fill. He presses Cloud's mouth wider, licks his top lip, and Cloud shudders, lets Barret kiss him—deeper—his hands sliding from Barret's jaw to clench in his vest. Then he breaks away—mouth red, wet—and blinks at Barret, and then pulls at his vest, hard, that unnatural strength hauling Barret upright before he's ready so he stumbles forward into the kid, who catches him like it's nothing, and pulls again, until they're in the bedroom, the door slamming behind Barret's back as Cloud pushes him up against it. Cloud has to lift up on his toes and Barret has to bend to get their mouths together again but damn if it's not worth it, with the kid better every time, making those little noises like he's surprised, like he's learning something, like he didn't know he could like it. Hot as hell and not the first time Barret's thought it and certainly not the last, with this warmth building up in him. He was dead ten minutes ago and now he wants—damn, he wants a lot, too much, shit he can't do with responsibility about to come knocking any second, in the bedroom of some stranger's house, with a door that—

"No lock," Barret says, fumbling behind himself. Shit, shit—

Cloud stares up at him hazily, breathing heavy. "Fuck it," he says, rough. "You're a doorstop, right?"

"Screw you," Barret says, surprised into laughing, and Cloud smiles at him and then hooks his sword off that magnet on his back, leans it against the wall—careful like he always is, like the thing that cuts dragons in half will get chipped if he doesn't treat it nice—and then pushes right back in and kisses him, wrapping his arm around Barret's neck, pulling him down enough that it's easy, and then his other hand skimming down Barret's belly to his belt to the front of his fatigues, gripping there, small but firm.

Hell of a lot bolder than he was before. Barret grunts, dips and kisses the kid's jaw, lets his hips curl forward. He's not all the way there but Cloud's curious, feeling the length and the thickening girth and it feels—damn, just right, muffled pressure that's not enough to go crazy over but that feels—like a strong hand gripping his and pulling him out of swamp-muck. His nuts don't mind, that's for damn sure. He drags his fingers down the center of Cloud's back, pressing through the leather, kisses there under the kid's ear and grips his ass in a big handful, squeezes, gets a sweet tiny gasp against his jaw that makes him grin, all unexpected.

"Shut up," Cloud said, and then before Barret can protest that he didn't say nothing at all, he immediately says, "Do you want to—like before?"

Fucking the sweat-damp tunnel between Cloud's thighs, the kid squirming and panting and overcome under his bulk, so hot he's half-surprised the room didn't catch fire. Something that'll be good dreams, as long as he manages to keep his sorry ass alive. Still—"Don't think we can screw up Miss Cissnei's bedroom like that," he says. Regretting it sincerely but also somewhat glad to see Cloud pull back and blink, confused. "Made a mess, creaming you up."

His cheeks are about the color of one of those hibiscus outside, speaking of catching fire. "Right," he says. Just barely unsteady. Barret squeezes his ass again, pulls him in closer against his thigh, and Cloud half-stumbles and—yeah, he's hard too, stiff enough through the uniform that Barret could probably just get the kid to ride his leg, desperate and dizzy with it until he made a mess of himself. And that'd be fun as hell, especially if excuses had to get made about ducking back out to the river for a swim, but Barret's more selfish than that, and, anyway—

"Right," Cloud says again, harder, and then licks his lips, and drops without so much as a by-your-leave to his knees—drops, all at once, hitting the floor with a thud—and reaches for Barret's belt, and Barret's too shocked-stupid to stop him.

Belts aren't complicated and neither are trousers and Cloud's got him unzipped in record time, and that's also when Cloud gets to find out that it's been a long journey and there hasn't been much time for worrying about the delicates. He takes a deep breath and curls his hands into the waistband. "Commando, huh?" He flicks his eyes up.

"You complainin'?" Barret says, spreading his boots. Goddamn, that's a sight.

"I figured you'd need a special sling for this thing," Cloud says, cool as a mountaintop like Barret can't see his ear-tips glowing red under the mess of his hair. He pops the bracer on his right wrist and drags the leather glove off with his teeth, and it's ghostly-pale fingertips on the low of Barret's stomach, dragging down the trail from his navel to the bush he's let grow kinda thick and then touching the root, curious, feeling him all fat and ready. Ready—damn, feels like he could hammer nails—but he doesn't have to wait much longer, with Cloud's fingers peeling back the v of the fatigues and pulling down just enough that his dick—ah—pops free, hanging heavy but hard enough that it's standing out from his hips. Cloud curls his left hand around it—the leather strange and battered-soft—hefts him, fingers barely meeting his thumb—and frowns, and lifts up higher on his knees, and then dips and—presses his lips to the side, over the vein, dry, the heat just—

"Yeah," Barret says, thoughtless, and Cloud glances up at him hot-faced and then closes his eyes, licks instead, his lips dragging stutter-soft up the side of Barret's dick. "Cloud. You done this?"

He holds there with his lips just under the head, bangs hiding his face. Barret fits his hand around the back of Cloud's neck, something twisting so hard and vicious in his gut it almost hurts except that his nuts surge like he could shoot right now, no warning. He slides his thumb up over the soft hollow spot at the top of his spine, feeling the soft puffs of Cloud's breath over the head of his cock—quick, warm. "Wet your mouth," he says, quiet. Tiny space between their skin—he hears the slick noises, Cloud sucking his lower lip—and Barret closes his eyes tight but then opens them again, because hell if he's gonna miss this. "Gotta relax your jaw. Don't try to fit the whole thing. You suffocate, there'll be hell to pay."

"You'd bring me back," Cloud says, absent-minded, and Barret uses the grip at the back of his neck to pull him away—Cloud blinking up at him, startled—but he has to curl down and kiss the kid for that one, knocking his mouth open and really licking inside, pushing his jaw wide, feeling him—wet, yeah, slick and warm and good, and then he stands up again and brushes his thumb over Cloud's smooth cheek and watches him sway softly under that tenderness—what in the hell, every minute's like meeting a new merc—before Cloud licks his lower lip, and bolsters Barret's dick high, and bends to fit his mouth around the head.

Wet shock. Slick, hot—god, there are times Barret prefers this to pussy, of whatever gender. He's too big and most never offer, much less try. Cloud's tongue slicks smooth and strong under the head and Barret grips his hair, presses his hips hard back against the door not to fuck in and maybe actually cause an injury. Little grunt and Cloud pushes down another inch, pulls back, coughs. "Good," Barret says, like a dumbass. "That's good, baby."

"Don't call me that," Cloud says, but he must not mind too much because he licks a sloppy kiss there at the tip and tries again, sliding the tight ring of his lips down and down, the inside of his mouth—he sucks and it's the silk inside his cheeks and his tongue sliding and a hint, ow, of teeth, but with how hard he's trying even that's a kind of harsh hot thing that's swirling tensely at the pit of Barret's belly. Cloud switches hands, gripping with the bare right instead and sliding his left down to hold Barret's nuts, and he laps right at the slit, pressing hard, and Barret—damn, he's trying but he's mortal, isn't he?—fucks his hips forward, chasing it. Knocks into Cloud's throat, makes him yank back, coughing—and Barret does feel like a piece of shit, says, "Damn—sorry, sorry—" but Cloud, being a crazy-ass, says, "Shut up," and kneels up gripping Barret's hips and forces his mouth down. The angle's all off and he hasn't done this or at least hasn't done this with a cock as big as Barret's and he only gets maybe halfway down, but that's insane-making enough, Barret's cockhead threatening the pit of his throat and feeling that tight spasm, his hips pushing forward because he can't not under that demand, closed up in all that heaven. He's so turned around he tries for a second to grab with his right hand, forgetting somehow that it's been gone for four years, and ends up leaving his gun-arm laid heavily over Cloud's back, clanking against his iron pauldron. It's a mind-bending handful of seconds buried about as deep as anyone's managed in years before he remembers he's not supposed to kill the kid and he pulls Cloud away by the hair, his dick emerging into the horrible cold air slick and furious, calling him a fucking dumbass for not leaving it right where it belonged.

Cloud coughs once, slurps spit and air. Barret tips his head back and there are—fuck—tears in his eyes, his face red, his eyes furiously blue. Looking up like it's a challenge and like he's got not a thought in his head, all at the same time. Barret keeps his head still and pushes forward, his dick standing straight out from his hips, lets the cockhead kiss Cloud's mouth. Lets him lick at it, soft-pink and wanting. Pushes past, sliding the sticky-wet along Cloud's bizarrely soft skin, watching the fat dark of it smear along the pale cheek and past, dipping under his ear, brushing the soft ends of his hair until Cloud's lips are pressed to Barret's skin, Barret's nuts against his chin. Barret slides his own fingers against the underside of his dick, brushing Cloud's jaw. Cloud tips his head forward, forehead against Barret's belly. Kisses, careful, at his sack. God, if it were possible. If there were a dozen nights where Barret could hold his head just so and coax him and open his throat, feed in—all the way, past the constriction, in—

He can't wait. He spits in his palm and wraps his fist around his dick, and from lack of options—even crazed-headed as he is he's careful, careful, with the gun, nudging Cloud back with the muzzle against his collarbone—Cloud's eyes opening wide, darker, his jaw dropping—so Barret can feed the head in—just the head, jerking himself, Cloud watching and gripping Barret's hips and then his nuts and then just holding there, cupping Barret's sack and slurping and suckling and licking soft and sweet at the cockhead, this hot urgency in him, wanting it bad enough that he'd choke if Barret let him. Fuck, Barret could choke him. He wrings at his dick, that coil turning in and in and in on itself, tighter and hotter and clawing its way out of his nuts, and he should warn Cloud, should pull him back, should say at least—should say—except it's one of those things he knows, down somewhere deep past every other thing, that no, that this is going to be—that he will—

He bites his lip hard so he doesn't yell out. His hips jerk, once. He follows the pumping release, fisting up and up and up, drives—in—just barely, Cloud gripping his hips and then wrapping his hands over Barret's hand, holding it, letting him pump inside. Cloud's mouth opens and he gasps wetly and Barret watches the white shine on his lip and wrings his dick viciously to pull out another gob of it and then chases that right into Cloud's mouth, forces it back inside when he seems like he might lose it over his chin, and Cloud holds the back of his hand and closes his lips over Barret's thumb and sucks it clean, blurry-eyed, good. Fuck, he's good.

Barret stares at that, for a few seconds. Maybe for eternity. This insane fucker, acting like Barret's giving up the lifestream itself. His tongue pushing hard along the ridge of Barret's thumbnail. How he swallows, and gasps weird around Barret's wet thumb, and then swallows again. Then Barret's brain logs back in, or at least halfway, because he rips his hand away and grips Cloud by the bicep and hauls him bodily to his feet—fucks his tongue into Cloud's mouth for a stolen second to taste himself—bitter, god that's bitter, salt and bleach and Cloud's tongue—and then turns them around, slams Cloud back against the door and goes to his own knees, less gracefully but no less happy to do it.

"What," Cloud says, raw-voiced—god, god, because Barret fucked him there—and Barret says, "You gotta help, baby, can't do this one-handed," and Cloud stares down at him before he fumbles at his waist—rucking up the wide back-belt, peeling open his uniform, and there's—sweet, standard issue Shinra grunt white boxer-briefs with his little dick standing up so hard in them, pushing forward the cotton desperate enough that there's a damp spot at the tip, pink skin shining through the wet. Even kneeling Barret's too tall for this, though—he fumblingly helps Cloud push the trousers and briefs down to his mid-thigh and then picks up one leg, hauls Cloud's knee over his left shoulder to lift him higher—one boot thudding against his back, the other scrambling to brace on the stone floor—and it's awkward, yeah, but at that moment the bed feels a mile away and anyway he can just—"Oh!" Cloud says, as brainless as he's ever been. Barret slurps down, down, to the base—easy—while since he's had the pleasure but it ain't the kind of thing you forget. "What—Barret—"

Barret pulls off, kisses the inches of bare white thigh by his cheek. "Gotta stay quiet, you don't want the whole village coming to see," he says, and when he glances up Cloud's covered his mouth with his gloved hand, staring wide-eyed like Barret's something he never expected to see. Barret'd laugh at how fussed he is—wet-eyed and pink-faced and fluffy-haired as a chick—but it's more fun to grip his tight little ass with his good hand and push him forward into Barret's mouth. Stiff pole of it, leaking all over the place, salt and clean skin and again that strange metal flavor, a tang, somehow all off and weird and addictive all at once. Good mouthful, his nuts a sweet smooth package pulled up so tight to the base he seems ready to shoot, with thirty seconds' worth of decent attention. Barret wants to do him better than that, though, to give back even half of all that good—"Suck," he says, tapping two fingers against the metal back of Cloud's glove. A blink, confusedly hazy. "C'mon, now. My mouth's busy."

Slurped right in, after that. He ducks back down and laps at the smooth sack—truly, he'll never be over how the kid seems to be entirely hairless from the nose down—and kisses Cloud's belly and the knobby little turn of his pelvis where he's too skinny and bites real careful just under his navel, makes Cloud's cock jerk like it's on a damn lead up against the underside of his chin. His fingers are getting what he'd bet would be the gold-star VIP treatment at the Honeybee, Cloud sucking as eagerly as he did dick, and goddamn, if Barret were younger they'd have a real issue on their hands. Even so his nuts are interested, wanting another try.

"Good," he mumbles against Cloud's belly. Another jerk—his dick's pearling clear, oozing. Barret pulls his fingers out of Cloud's mouth and gets a stuttery little gasp, and then a choked noise when he applies them to the red dripping head, smears all the wet around. "Cover your mouth," he says, and Cloud doesn't quite obey but slips his own fingers inside, biting, and that works, too—well enough that when Barret slips his hand around and presses against his asshole the only sound is a chest-deep grunt, not something that'll get shouted to the village and the whole jungle, besides.

Cloud ain't a princess and he's so desperate he don't need coaxing; Barret rubs the wet around, feels him tight, flexing, and doesn't ask before he pushes his middle finger in, quick and all-at-once to the knuckle. Cloud jerks and Barret slurps his dick back in, sucks in little pulses to match his finger fucking in, and Cloud's naked hand fumbles to Barret's shoulder, grips his vest so tight Barret hears a stitch pop. Insanely hot inside. Maybe hotter than other people—those mako treatments, again?—and the ring of muscle clamping hard—and easy, damn, so easy, Barret scrubbing his finger along that front wall where all the good stuff happens and Cloud's breath going strange and high and whiny around his fingers, his thigh flexing over Barret's shoulder and his hips not knowing whether to push back or crush forward. Barret makes it easy for him, encourages the thrust, letting him rock between Barret's hand and his mouth. It feels nice, anyway, right, his lips tight, letting Cloud rock against Barret's tongue pushed flat and hard up against the base, his taste leaking all over 'til Barret's sure he'll only taste that salt-and-metal for days after. He can feel Cloud quickening, though, his tiny noises going deeper, his hips getting desperate, and he crushes his finger in hard and pulls Cloud all the way up against his face, his beard grinding against that smooth sweating skin, his nose crushed in against his belly, sucking, demanding, and—yeah, Cloud's breath stops and his whole body seizes and his bootheel bruises Barret's back and he—shoots, right up into the back of Barret's throat, quick jets that Barret swallows down right away before he pulls back, slurps soft at the head, gets those last few drops. Slippery as mercury.

Cloud's head is tipped back against the door. Fingers still in his mouth, his chest heaving. Barret kisses his cockhead, all flushed and wetly red, and his belly, and then, watching carefully, he tugs his finger out of Cloud's body and then presses back in with two. Thick—he knows, his two fingers are thicker than a lot of men's dicks—but Cloud swallows them up without a whine or a flinch, his body clamping tight but just—taking it. He missed his calling, Barret thinks, and then feels bad for thinking it but—not that bad, really.

"You're so good, baby," he says, meaning it about as sincerely as he's meant anything, and Cloud's eyes open up above and his head drops down, his chin against his chest, meeting Barret's eyes. Not protesting at all. Tilting his hips when Barret grinds his two fingers thick into that spot, his pupils huge and his lips open and everything about him seeming to say—go ahead. Go ahead, make me.

If only. Barret kisses Cloud's belly again, right at the root of his softening dick, and pulls out his fingers and then stands up, bracing against the door to do it. His knees crack, gun-shot loud. Cloud blinks at him, looking up of a sudden with Barret so close, and then gets one of those tiny, goofy smiles.

"Don't you say a thing," Barret says.

"Hm," Cloud says. He looks to the side, where one of the high windows is pouring in that syrupy late afternoon light. "Maybe we can get you a potion, later."

"Man, what'd I say," Barret says, and Cloud grins and then turns back and goes on his toes and kisses him, quick. Just this brief unselfconscious peck, not asking for another thing. He drops back to his heels and he's not smiling anymore but his eyes are soft, and Barret chucks him under the chin, gentle. Dumbass, crazy kid.

He zips up. Cloud gets his uniform back together. In less than a minute, other than how Barret's mouth tastes like cock and metal, looking around the bedroom, no one'd suspect a thing.

Cloud pulls his discarded glove back on, clicks his bracer back together. Twists his wrist back and forth to check the fit. Says, looking down, "You good?"

Barret takes a deep breath. He feels—he doesn't know. It's still this shitty day but it's not worse. His bones feel looser in their sockets and his brain feels somewhat clear and he doesn't—regret at least one thing that happened today. "I'm good," he says. Not exactly true but maybe there's not anything truer.

A steady look, sidelong across Cloud's shoulder. "Good," he says. A little soft. The tip of his tongue touches his lower lip and he swipes one gloved thumb across his mouth, like he's trying not to think about it. If he keeps doing that it's gonna be hell on Barret's composure. But then he settles his shoulders, and picks up that big-ass sword and lets it clank heavily into its place. Looks more like the badass merc he's meant to be. "I'm going to check on the others. If nothing's going on maybe we can rest here, tonight, go on to the reactor in the morning."

"Sounds good to me," Barret says. He opens the door—no one waiting in awkward silence in the rest of the house, thank the planet—and follows Cloud to the entry. Watches Cloud reach for the knob and then grabs his arm. "You—" Cloud lets himself be held still, looking over his shoulder. Barret clears his throat. "You meant it, huh. 'Bout having my back."

Cloud looks at him entirely clear-eyed. No weird tenseness or like he's thinking of ten other things or brooding on whatever dark-ass secrets he keeps locked tight. Just this kid—man, Barret amends—standing there with him. For a minute, steady as a mountain. He nods, once.

Barret swallows. "Hope you know it goes both ways."

A slow breath. "I'm counting on it," Cloud says. Means it, too.

Barret nods back, something settling low at the base of his spine. Something steel-forged, solid. He ain't got a lot of best friends left. He'll do what he can, for this one.

[world-cinema-research]

A Review of Blue Velvet (1986) with shared similarities to Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai (1999)  

By Cris Nyne

Blue Velvet is a film noir murder mystery that is both polarizing and captivating. The film is a product of surreal storyteller David Lynch and it begins in almost a dream sequence from the heart of the American dream that churns into the dirt within the first two minutes of it’s opening. Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) is home from college after his father has a stroke. While walking through a field, he finds a severed human ear that he brings to the home of detective John Williams. Jeffrey then strikes up a relationship with detective Williams’ daughter Sandy (Laura Dern). After some inside information from Sandy, Jeffrey begins to stalk jazz singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini) who is seemingly connected to the ear. Soon thereafter, he finds himself caught in the tumultuous world of a drug-fueled psychopathic sadomasochist gangster, Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper), who potentially has Dorothy’s husband and son.

The film is edgy, with lots of tense interactions and scenes filmed at night. The sexual violence perpetrated towards Dorothy from Frank made a lot of viewers uncomfortable and made for a very divisive film. Roger Ebert initially gave the film a one-star review, then followed that review with another take titled, “My Problem with Blue Velvet.”

“I am not one of the film's admirers. Or perhaps I should say, I admire its craftsmanship but am not one of its defenders. I believe Lynch is a talented director, and that in "Blue Velvet" he has used his talent in an unworthy way. The movie is powerful, challenging and made with great skill, and yet it made me feel pity for the actors who worked in it and anger at the director for taking liberties with them.” -Roger Ebert, “My Problem with Blue Velvet” October 1986

Isabella Rossellini defended her role and David Lynch in an interview with IndieWire. “I try not to read reviews. They’re always depressing. There’s always something that, even if [the review is] good, there is always one sentence that is negative and stays inside you forever. But I remember I was told that Roger Ebert said that [Lynch] exploited me, and I was surprised, because I was an adult. I was 31 or 32. I chose to play the character.” -Rossellini March 2024

During the release of Blue Velvet, many important historical events took place during 1986, including the largest man-made disaster in history with the Chernobyl nuclear reactor meltdown. Ronald Reagan also confessed to illegal arms sale to Iran in what is now known as "The Iran-Contra Scandal."

Although the original reviews were mixed, today Blue Velvet has obtained cult status and is regarded as one of Lynch’s most important films. American Film institute lists the film at number eight in it’s all-time top ten mystery films. Lynch was nominated for an Oscar for Best Director. Blue Velvet was named Best Film at by Boston Society of Film Critics, Sitges (Catalonian Film Festival), Los Angeles Film Critics Association, New York Film Critics Circle Awards, and the National Society of Film Critics Awards. Dennis Hopper also pulled in numerous Best Supporting Actor awards, including the Montreal World Film Festival. Rotten Tomatoes gives Blue Velvet a 95% rating with critics and an 88% score with over 50,000 audience members. Blue Velvet had a budget of six million dollars and generated more than ten million at the box office. Although Lynch was becoming a well-known director with films like Eraserhead and Dune, the smaller budget, independent release and challenging storyline made the film more unconventional than mainstream.

Speaking of unconventional films, my choice for week seven was Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai (1999), featuring Forest Whitaker. Whitaker as Ghost Dog is a modern-day samurai who quotes Hagakure (a spiritual guide for warriors, first published in 1716), has a best friend that only speaks French- which he doesn’t understand a word of, and lives on a rooftop with his pigeons in a fictional city. Both movies take place in fictional locations. Blue Velvet is set in “Lumberton”, a cozy suburban logging town, but it was filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina, which is about 80 miles southeast of Lumberton, NC. They are not related. Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai was primarily filmed in Jersey City, New Jersey, but the location is never mentioned in the film. Ghost Dog seems to be an amalgamation of cities from the northeast United States.

The main characters in both films are male, and their adversaries are gangsters. In Blue Velvet, Jeffrey (Kyle MacLachlan) finds himself in the grasp of psychonaut/psychopath Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper), the leader of a pack of misfits and miscreants. Their main objective is unclear, but drugs and violence are involved. Frank has the air of an extremely malevolent drug-fueled mob boss. In his role as Ghost Dog, Forest Whitaker is a hired hitman for Louie, an arm of a mob family. After a hired hit from Ghost Dog doesn’t go as planned due to an unexpected witness, the mob wants Louie to have Ghost Dog killed. Both main characters find themselves in the crosshairs of people whose business is violence.

Blue Velvet and Ghost Dog both were released by independent production companies (DeLaurentis and JVC, Le Studio Canal+, and BAC Films, respectively). I found it amusing that Lynch was born January 20th and Jarmusch January 22nd, seven years apart, but both auteurs were born under the artistic/philosopher sign of Aquarius. Both directors share the same contemporaneous timeline and have very distinctive styles. Although the film’s differences were noticeable, the similarities also reverberated throughout the film. Finding the similarities between two different genres of film has been an interesting lesson in critical thought. I would suggest both films for anyone not versed in the worlds of Lynch and Jarmusch.

[philtatos01]

Honored to be featured among Reactor Mag’s best articles on fiction, reading, and writing in 2024! Grateful to be in such stellar company. Check it out: https://reactormag.com/some-of-reactors-best-articles-about-fiction-reading-and-writing-in-2024/

[jcmarchi]

Smart handling of neutrons is crucial to fusion power success

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/smart-handling-of-neutrons-is-crucial-to-fusion-power-success/

Smart handling of neutrons is crucial to fusion power success

In fall 2009, when Ethan Peterson ’13 arrived at MIT as an undergraduate, he already had some ideas about possible career options. He’d always liked building things, even as a child, so he imagined his future work would involve engineering of some sort. He also liked physics. And he’d recently become intent on reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and simultaneously curbing greenhouse gas emissions, which made him consider studying solar and wind energy, among other renewable sources.

Things crystallized for him in the spring semester of 2010, when he took an introductory course on nuclear fusion, taught by Anne White, during which he discovered that when a deuterium nucleus and a tritium nucleus combine to produce a helium nucleus, an energetic (14 mega electron volt) neutron — traveling at one-sixth the speed of light — is released. Moreover, 1020 (100 billion billion) of these neutrons would be produced every second that a 500-megawatt fusion power plant operates. “It was eye-opening for me to learn just how energy-dense the fusion process is,” says Peterson, who became the Class of 1956 Career Development Professor of nuclear science and engineering in July 2024. “I was struck by the richness and interdisciplinary nature of the fusion field. This was an engineering discipline where I could apply physics to solve a real-world problem in a way that was both interesting and beautiful.”

He soon became a physics and nuclear engineering double major, and by the time he graduated from MIT in 2013, the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) had already decided to cut funding for MIT’s Alcator C-Mod fusion project. In view of that facility’s impending closure, Peterson opted to pursue graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin. There, he acquired a basic science background in plasma physics, which is central not only to nuclear fusion but also to astrophysical phenomena such as the solar wind.

When Peterson received his PhD from Wisconsin in 2019, nuclear fusion had rebounded at MIT with the launch, a year earlier, of the SPARC project — a collaborative effort being carried out with the newly founded MIT spinout Commonwealth Fusion Systems. He returned to his alma mater as a postdoc and then a research scientist in the Plasma Science and Fusion Center, taking his time, at first, to figure out how to best make his mark in the field.

Minding your neutrons

Around that time, Peterson was participating in a community planning process, sponsored by the DoE, that focused on critical gaps that needed to be closed for a successful fusion program. In the course of these discussions, he came to realize that inadequate attention had been paid to the handling of neutrons, which carry 80 percent of the energy coming out of a fusion reaction — energy that needs to be harnessed for electrical generation. However, these neutrons are so energetic that they can penetrate through many tens of centimeters of material, potentially undermining the structural integrity of components and damaging vital equipment such as superconducting magnets. Shielding is also essential for protecting humans from harmful radiation.

One goal, Peterson says, is to minimize the number of neutrons that escape and, in so doing, to reduce the amount of lost energy. A complementary objective, he adds, “is to get neutrons to deposit heat where you want them to and to stop them from depositing heat where you don’t want them to.” These considerations, in turn, can have a profound influence on fusion reactor design. This branch of nuclear engineering, called neutronics — which analyzes where neutrons are created and where they end up going — has become Peterson’s specialty.

It was never a high-profile area of research in the fusion community — as plasma physics, for example, has always garnered more of the spotlight and more of the funding. That’s exactly why Peterson has stepped up. “The impacts of neutrons on fusion reactor design haven’t been a high priority for a long time,” he says. “I felt that some initiative needed to be taken,” and that prompted him to make the switch from plasma physics to neutronics. It has been his principal focus ever since — as a postdoc, a research scientist, and now as a faculty member.

A code to design by

The best way to get a neutron to transfer its energy is to make it collide with a light atom. Lithium, with an atomic number of three, or lithium-containing materials are normally good choices — and necessary for producing tritium fuel. The placement of lithium “blankets,” which are intended to absorb energy from neutrons and produce tritium, “is a critical part of the design of fusion reactors,” Peterson says. High-density materials, such as lead and tungsten, can be used, conversely, to block the passage of neutrons and other types of radiation. “You might want to layer these high- and low-density materials in a complicated way that isn’t immediately intuitive” he adds. Determining which materials to put where — and of what thickness and mass — amounts to a tricky optimization problem, which will affect the size, cost, and efficiency of a fusion power plant.

To that end, Peterson has developed modelling tools that can make analyses of these sorts easier and faster, thereby facilitating the design process. “This has traditionally been the step that takes the longest time and causes the biggest holdups,” he says. The models and algorithms that he and his colleagues are devising are general enough, moreover, to be compatible with a diverse range of fusion power plant concepts, including those that use magnets or lasers to confine the plasma.

Now that he’s become a professor, Peterson is in a position to introduce more people to nuclear engineering, and to neutronics in particular. “I love teaching and mentoring students, sharing the things I’m excited about,” he says. “I was inspired by all the professors I had in physics and nuclear engineering at MIT, and I hope to give back to the community in the same way.”

He also believes that if you are going to work on fusion, there is no better place to be than MIT, “where the facilities are second-to-none. People here are extremely innovative and passionate. And the sheer number of people who excel in their fields is staggering.” Great ideas can sometimes be sparked by off-the-cuff conversations in the hallway — something that happens more frequently than you expect, Peterson remarks. “All of these things taken together makes MIT a very special place.”

[drmikewatts]

Weekly Review 27 September 2024

Some interesting links that I Tweeted about in the last week (I also post these on Mastodon, Threads, Newsmast, and Bluesky): 

This is the real danger with AI, it can be used to supercharge surveillance, and big tech companies can make a lot of money doing so: https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/16/oracle_ai_mass_surveillance_cloud/

In addition to needing a lot of energy, AI also need a lot of water for cooling: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/generative-ai-data-center-water-use/

Using AI to eliminate bias in hiring. Except the AI inherits the biases in the data used to train it: https://www.datasciencecentral.com/how-machine-learning-is-delivering-next-generation-talent-acquisition-processes/

Are the EU regulations really stifling development of AI? Or is this just big tech companies whinging? https://www.computerworld.com/article/3535551/eu-privacy-regulation-stifling-ai-innovation-claims-open-letter-masterminded-by-meta.html

OpenAI really doesn't want people testing their new AI too hard. What are they hiding? https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/09/openai-threatens-bans-for-probing-new-ai-models-reasoning-process/

AI needs a lot of energy, and it's contributing to climate change. But AI can also optimise renewable energy generation:  https://www.informationweek.com/sustainability/the-ai-power-paradox

Microsoft is teaming with a power company to recommission a nuclear reactor, to generate the energy needed for AI computation: https://www.nextplatform.com/2024/09/20/ai-powerhouses-choose-the-nuclear-option/

AI is good at making predictions, which is useful in supply chain management: https://www.datasciencecentral.com/role-of-ai-predictive-analytics-in-supply-chain-management/

Ways in which AI can make a meaningful impact on a business: https://www.datasciencecentral.com/how-to-transform-your-business-digitally-with-ai/

AI needs a lot of energy, and currently that's being met with fossil fuels. But AI can also help boost renewable generation, so I don't think it will derail things: https://www.informationweek.com/sustainability/will-future-ai-demands-derail-sustainable-energy-initiatives-

Microsoft scraped data from LinkedIn to train their AI, and updated their terms of service to allow it after they did it: https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/19/linkedin_ai_data_access/

An expanded context window for a conversational AI. So while it won't forget what you're chatting about, it will still hallucinate: https://spectrum.ieee.org/ai-context-window

A social network app populated entirely by AI: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/09/dead-internet-theory-comes-to-life-with-new-ai-powered-social-media-app/

Can quantum computers provide the computing power needed for AI? https://www.datanami.com/2024/09/17/quantum-and-ai-navigating-the-resource-challenge/

California bans election-related deepfakes near election time. Will it be enforced? https://www.informationweek.com/it-sectors/california-s-new-deepfake-laws-await-test-of-enforcement

Five ways to screw up an AI project: https://www.informationweek.com/machine-learning-ai/how-to-avoid-common-ai-newbie-mistakes

The UN releases a plan for how AI can help humanity: https://www.computerworld.com/article/3532360/un-lays-out-plans-for-how-ai-can-best-serve-humanity.html

Too big, too small, size does matter after all. At least when AI are concerned: https://www.computerworld.com/article/3529501/smaller-genai-models-for-every-app-might-be-the-future.html

An open call for questions that could stump an AI: https://futurism.com/the-byte/humanitys-last-exam-ai-benchmarks

An AI that can detect misinformation in social media: https://spectrum.ieee.org/fight-misinformation

Google is going to start labelling AI generated images in its search results: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/google-c2pa-generative-ai-search/

A portable AI controller for robots: https://spectrum.ieee.org/machine-learning-and-robotics You want SkyNet? Because this is how you get SkyNet

No guardrail setup can stop all the harms an AI could cause: https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/17/ai_models_guardrail_feature/

[athomewiththecicadas]

Morning Coffee

What about: Joint Militia Detachment "Brigade"

The Joint Militia Detachment Brigade.

Best I got.

Sergeant Major Nathan Marksmith, North Wales Militia/ Joint Militia Detachment Brigade (Virginia Militia Association)

-------

And..... I'm personally proud of this. Our standard model for the latest microprocessors. Which includes the new AI protocol system.

Kind of show you what I'm talking about with the new AI

I dont know... some comments. I think he was talking about tradition and ethics.

And, not to displace our commonality, being chatter from the United Kingdom, but still relation to foreign commerce none the less.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ireland-vote-removing-sexist-references-women-constitution-2024-03-07/

Well, everybody knows within the institution the term "Military Dominance." I had to move the tour destinations to "several days," just to support it domestically. It's a plutonium reactor. And you think, somewhere it says "firearms."

That's just not the way we do it.

Here you go. A story about American Women.

Right? The States are limited?

You're right. That's a battalion.

[hazmatblogs]

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ‘SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME’

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So first off, WOW! Watching this in cinemas was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had watching a film.

Also

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

...

To the point though; I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the fates of all the villains who return home at the end of the film; since some people I know have put forward the idea that they feel that certain villains such as Doc Ock STILL return home to their deaths when they get back to their respective universes, I actually have a different idea.

I think they’re all Variants now after returning home (for those who haven’t seen ‘Loki’, a Variant is a version of a known character that has temporally deviated in some way from their ‘main’ self and now exist as a separate entity; here’s some Loki Variants as examples)

Without further ado; this is what I feel happened to each villain when they returned home to their respective universes.

Lemme know what you guys think! :)

...

Raimiverse (Earth-96283)

Norman Osborn (Green Goblin): Returns to his universe’s 2002 after the death of his alternate self. Despite being relieved of his powers, the Goblin still exists within the back of his mind (he’s more of a psychological threat than a physical one now). He goes on to use mirror-based illusions to brainwash Harry Osborn into becoming his successor for three continuous years from 2004 to 2007, manipulating his son into taking revenge against Peter. His eventual fate is unknown after Harry’s death.

Otto Octavius (Doc Ock): Transported to his universe’s 2024 (20 years after the death of his original self; thematically reflecting having genuinely learned from his past) with the Arc Reactor he takes from the MCU. After serving time for his crimes, he is successfully rehabilitated. He uses the Arc Reactor as a basis to complete his original goal of creating safe, renewable energy for the whole world, whilst continuing to watch over Peter Parker (proud of the man his student has become, and biologically now only 4 years older than him).

Flint Marco (Sandman): Returns to his universe’s 2007 after his alternate self is forgiven by Spider-Man. He uses the fact that another version of him is out there causing chaos to remain anonymous, attempting to find other ways to provide for his daughter from afar.

Webbverse (Earth-12063)

Curt Connors (Lizard): Returns to his universe’s 2012 a broken man due to the loss of his arm once again. Continues to search for alternate methods of improving motor functions for those who have lost limbs in secret, whilst his alternate self serves his sentence in prison. Eventually learns to live with his disability. Witnesses his alternate enhanced self join either Norman or Harry Osborn’s Sinister Six in 2018 from afar.

Max Dillon (Electro): Returns to his universe’s 2014 without his powers, post-the initial disappearance of his alternate self after he is overloaded with electricity. Initially disheartened, he slowly learns to accept himself for who he is and appreciate the new chance at life granted to him. Witnesses his alternate super-powered self join either Norman or Harry Osborn’s Sinister Six in 2018 from afar.

[themculibrary]

Under 1K Fics Masterlist 2

Links Last Checked: January 21st, 2024

part one

A Binge-Fueled Reveal (ao3) - camichats tony/sam G

Summary: The thing about being in a secret relationship with Tony Stark was that he often forgot their relationship was hidden when he was tired.

Chronic Pain (ao3) - Golden_Asp phil/tony G

Summary: Tony took a hit during the last battle and the pain from the reactor flares up. Phil takes care of him.

Cracked Edges (ao3) - songofdefiance bruce/natasha G

Summary: Neither of them need to have this moment, but they do.

doghouse (ao3) - thangam steve/tony, bucky/natasha/sam G

Summary: Tony scrubbed a hand over his face. “Start from the beginning. Like you’d explain to Thor. Drunk Thor.”

Steve winced at the volume. “Really it’s not my fault, Nat’s the one who-”

Tony cleared his throat impatiently. “That doesn’t sound like an explanation. At all. Please explain to me, slowly, as to why Captain America is sitting in a fucking jail cell with his best buddies.”

Handful (ao3) - thangam steve/tony T

Summary: Steve ran his thumb over the apple of Tony’s cheek, smirking as he caught sight of the hickey blossoming right under his jaw. Steve moved slowly, carefully to not wake the omega wake up and disturb his much-required sleep, before padding quietly to the bathroom to use the toilet and brush his teeth.

He heard footsteps and the door opening with a click as Tony walked in sometime in and wrapped his arms around Steve’s slim waist. “Hurgh,” he mumbled against Steve’s back.

Steve laughed and spit into the sink, “You alright, sweetheart?” before turning so that Tony was caged in against the bathroom counter. Tony leaned back gratefully against Steve’s chest, croaking out, “I feel thoroughly used.”

Marching Orders (ao3) - AuroraMarie2310 bucky/tony G

Summary: The team lets off some steam, and Tony and Bucky get a clue.

or;

With some inappropriate use of truth serum and a silly game of truth or day, Tony and Bucky finally figure things out.

me and my arrows (ao3) - haveufoundwhaturlookingfor clint/tony N/R

Summary: Clint gets injured during a mission, and his alpha is not happy about it.

Nothing a warm hug can’t fix (and get you out of the blues) (ao3) - ScarletPotter tony/stephen G

Summary: Peter gets scared during a thunderstorm. It's his dads to the rescue.

On Your Knees (ao3) - InkDippedFingertips tony/stephen E

Summary: Tony giving Stephen a blow job.

Opposite Sides (ao3) - haveufoundwhaturlookingfor tony/sam G

Summary: Tony and Sam are secretly dating, and things get complicated when the Accords come around.

quick sand (ao3) - orphan_account steve/tony E

Summary: Tony sobs, as his brain and body cry for his alpha, and slick leaks copiously down his thighs. Christ he wants Steve.

Rules of Courting (ao3) - ifeelbetter clint/sam N/R

Summary: Clint and Sam are trying to date. Avengers keep getting in the way.

sleepy boys (ao3) - haveufoundwhaturlookingfor thor/sam G

Summary: Sam is reunited with Thor at his big "Becoming Captain America" party, and decide to take a little nap together because they're both sleepy boys.

The Hawk And The Falcon (fanfiction.net) - ozhawk clint/sam T

Summary: What happened when Hawkeye met The Falcon. As seen through the eyes of Steve Rogers. Rated T for language, but otherwise reasonably kid-safe.

you did good, kid (ao3) - cinnamontoastcronch T

Summary: Post-Homecoming Vulture Fight

—-

Peter wanted this to feel more like a win.

[aion-rsa]

Black Widow Timeline Explained

https://ift.tt/3yH3sEi

This article contains Black Widow spoilers. Read our spoiler-free review here.

Who is Natasha Romanoff? It’s a question Marvel Studios coyly teased for years and then… failed to answer as a full decade and the entire “Infinity Saga” passed us by. Yes, the long overdue Black Widow movie is finally reaching theaters this weekend, but Nat was killed off years ago in the sacred timeline of Marvel Cinematic Universe canon.

Nevertheless, we are happy that the character and Scarlett Johansson received some much deserved closure, and in a film which fills in many of the blindspots in the Black Widow mythos, not least of which includes what she got up to between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War.

With her narrative being seemingly closed for good, it’s time to unpack the oft-obscured life story of Natasha and consider whether she at last balanced out all that red in her ledger.

1984

The child who would become Natasha Romanoff is born in Stalingrad to a mother who is forced to give her over to the Soviet government. Despite the mother’s best efforts, she is unable to free Nat from the system. (Fury’s Big Week, Black Widow)

1992

After years of indoctrination and training in the Widow program, which is run out of Soviet Col. Dreykov’s Red Room, eight-year-old Natasha is selected alongside three-year-old Yelena to be part of KGB agents Alexi Shostakov and Melina Vostokoff’s cover story. The quartet of sleeper agents move to Ohio, posing as an all-American family while gathering American state secrets. (Black Widow)

1995

Alexi and Melina succeed in obtaining critical information and escape U.S. soil. Eleven-year-old Natasha and six-year-old Yelena, who’ve become increasingly Americanized and attached to the family identities they assumed, are traumatized. (Black Widow)

2002

Natasha completes her Widow training and graduates from the Red Room, which includes a “ceremony” where she is asked to execute a man bound to a chair. She is then sterilized on an operating table. Dreykov believes robbing “widows” of the chance to have children makes them more ruthless killers. (Avengers: Age of Ultron)

2002 – 2007

Natasha is involved in multiple mysterious and apparently bloody Widow operations, which include incidents of murder in São Paulo and a separate “hospital fire” atrocity she is still haunted by. (The Avengers)

2007 – 2008

Clint Barton recruits Natasha into the West’s international SHIELD organization. Part of her defection comes at the price of assassinating Dreykov in Budapest. However, it is merely Dreykov’s young daughter Antonia who feels the fire of Nat’s explosives. (The Avengers, Black Widow)

2009

Natasha has her first run in with the Winter Soldier when she attempts to extract a defecting nuclear engineer out of Iran. A brainwashed Bucky Barnes steals her prize by running her car off a cliff in Ukraine and then shooting a bullet through Nat’s stomach and into her asset—killing him instantly. (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)

Around this time, Natasha becomes an unofficial member of Clint Barton’s secret family, who live on an idyllic farmhouse. She’s known there as Auntie Nat. (Avengers: Age of Ultron)

2010

Natasha infiltrates Stark Industries under the alias of Natalie Rushman, working as a legal assistant who moonlights as a model in order to catch Tony Stark’s lascivious eye. (Iron Man 2)

Natalie becomes Tony’s assistant but is actually spying on him for SHIELD, which has come to realize Tony’s arc reactor—which saved his life in Afghanistan—is now poisoning him. Nat eventually reveals she’s a SHIELD agent and helps prevent an assassination attempt on Stark’s life by rival forces. (Iron Man 2)

Read more

Movies

The Black Widow Movie You Never Saw

By Don Kaye

Movies

Florence Pugh’s Best Roles: What to Watch After Black Widow

By Kayti Burt

2012

Nat abandons her infiltration of the Russian underworld to recruit Bruce Banner to SHIELD after Loki arrives on Earth, brainwashing Clint Barton and planning world domination. She later successfully interrogates and manipulates the supposed God of Mischief. (The Avengers)

Natasha becomes one of the founding members of the Avengers after saving the world from an alien invasion alongside Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the Hulk in the Battle of New York. (The Avengers)

2014

Still working for SHIELD, Natasha infiltrates a pirate-commandeered SHIELD vessel to protect/steal precious SHIELD secrets while Captain America naively thinks they’re there to save hostages. (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)

Black Widow goes rogue alongside Cap after an assassination attempt on her mentor, Col. Nick Fury. Fury of course survived and forms an underground operation with Nat and Rogers to root out HYDRA sleeper cells who’ve slowly taken over SHIELD leadership during the past 70 years. (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)

After saving the world from HYDRA’s latest attempt at world domination, Natasha publicly reprimands the American government at a baffling Capitol Hill hearing where she is being questioned by Pentagon brass. (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)

… MEANWHILE the Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton from circa 2023—nearly a decade older and sadder—time travel to 2014 in order to undo the damage Thanos caused when he snapped half of life in the universe out of existence with the Infinity Stones. They journey to the planet Vormir where they’re told one will have to die in order to obtain the Soul Stone. Black Widow and Hawkeye fight over who will have the right to sacrifice themselves for the other—Natasha wins and falls to her death, thus ending her tragic timeline in the past. (Avengers: Endgame)

2015

Black Widow becomes a full-time Avenger, joining the team as they dismantle the last HYDRA base in Sokovia. They regain Loki’s powerful scepter with an infinity stone inside. (Avengers: Age of Ultron)

Black Widow strikes up an intimate and unrequited connection with Bruce Banner. She is the only Avenger able to talk the Hulk down from his rages. The pair consider running off together, but their burgeoning romance is thwarted by the arrival of Ultron—an artificial intelligence that wants to… destroy the world. (Avengers: Age of Ultron)

Nat and the Avengers prevent Ultron from killing all organic life on Earth—which involved lifting Sokovia’s capital city into the sky and then dropping it like an asteroid—but in the carnage, Banner/Hulk chooses not to pursue a relationship with Nat, disappearing to parts unknown as she accepts her role as a leader of the growing Avengers roster. (Avengers: Age of Ultron)

2016

Black Widow is part of an Avengers operation in Lagos, Nigeria, which goes horribly wrong when in an attempt to stop terrorist Brock Rumlow from stealing a biological weapon, an entire office floor of civilians is killed. (Captain America: Civil War)

Shortly after the Lagos incident, the Sokovia Accords are signed by the UN, requiring Avengers and other superpowered individuals to register themselves under the jurisdiction of the UN Security Council. Natasha at first accepts this as a reasonable path forward. She changes her mind when pro-Accords Avenger Tony Stark comes to blows with the resident skeptic, Steve Rogers, in Berlin. Romanoff helps Rogers escape and then also goes to ground. (Captain America: Civil War)

As a rogue agent, Natasha is invited back to Budapest and reunites with her faux-little sister Yelena, who reveals Dreykov is still alive and now is literally controlling the minds of the other young women he’s trained to be widows via mind-altering drugs. (Black Widow)

Nat and Yelena decide to track Dreykov down and kill him for real, and do so by freeing their “father” Alexi from Siberia and reconnecting with their “mother” Melina, who is still loyal to the Widow program. Melina nonetheless takes her girls to the Red Room, the hidden air fortress where they were trained as children. Yelena kills Dreykov and Natasha frees all the women under Dreykov’s control, including his daughter who did not actually die in Budapest. (Black Widow)

Natasha reconnects with Steve Rogers and helps him free Wanda Maximoff, Scott Lang, Sam Wilson, and Clint Barton from the government’s “the Raft” prison vessel. (Captain America: Civil War, Black Widow)

2018

As Thanos’ alien forces invade Earth, Rogers, Romanoff, and other renegade Avengers come out of hiding to save the universe. Natasha is reunited with Banner, and all of them converge in an epic battle against the armies of Thanos in Wakanda. (Avengers: Infinity War)

After the Avengers fail to stop Thanos from collecting all the Infinity Stones, Nat watches many of her friends turn to dust, along with half the living creatures in existence. (Avengers: Infinity War)

Black Widow and the Avengers track Thanos down to an uninhabited planet, only to discover he’s destroyed the Infinity Stones they planned to use to resurrect the universe. Thor decapitates Thanos in a pyrrhic attempt at revenge. (Avengers: Endgame)

2023

Natasha has become the top leader of the Avengers, organizing their superheroism throughout the cosmos via intergalactic Zoom sessions with Captain Marvel, Rocket, and others. Yet she and Rogers quietly cling to the hope of reversing Thanos’ victory. (Avengers: Endgame)

When Scott Lang returns from the Quantum Realm, revealing he’s inadvertently discovered time travel, Nat and Steve get the original Avengers lineup back together to travel into the past in order to steal the Infinity Stones. Return to the 2014 section to find out how that ended for Black Widow… (Avengers: Endgame)

2024

After Natasha traveled to her destiny in the past, Yelena visits her grave in Ohio… and is recruited for a new kind of team. (Black Widow)

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