#Spidey-kid Arc

[theshadowrealmitself]

Okay well now I’m thinking about Peter training Miles and the early days of that, and he brings him in when he can tell that the villain won’t traumatize him so Miles can practice, and just all of the citizens in the area are shouting encouragements at him and cheering when he catches the villain and shouting joke suggestions he can make about the villain of the week

Just. At all times I’m thinking about Peter getting the chance to actually train Miles, and how that training for him to be a confident independent hero would differ from other heroes who train sidekicks

Supportively off to the side, letting the kid stretch his wings, but there in an instant if it turns out Miles needs help, and all of New York is the same, excited for their new hero and ready to support him

[thetimelordbatgirl]

I am beyond shit at keeping up with the comics but what the fuck do you mean they finally killed Spider Boy off only to have Spider Man make a deal with Mephisto to get him back???? Girl??? What??? I would focus on them refusing to even entertain the idea that Spider Boy would be dead for a while, but I'm more focusing on Spider Man having not fucking learnt from making deals with Mephisto last time-

[on-the-clear-blue]

The idea warms are hitting extremely hard today, so outside of my usual DPxDC I give you, Spider-Man in Gotham...Not MCU Peter edition!

Give me a Peter Parker that is 18 going on onto 19, he has been Spider-Man for like, 5 almost 6 years, getting his bite very early, and dealing with all the things that happen to him younger.

And give me a Year One Batman. Who is still trying to figure out what the hell he is doing, and toting along a 9 year old Robin

Peter, falling out of a portal, and doing his standard check of surroundings, spotting Batman staring at him in clunky armor and a brightly colored child: Waves slowly

Bruce, who heard some freaky shit was happening with a cult near by and went to investigate: blinking at the blue and red being that got summoned

Dickie, who is trying (and failing) to do the Bat glare: still waves back.

And like, just the idea of this 19 year old Spider-Man taking a much older vigilante under his wing, teaching him the ins and outs of it all.

Like..

Bruce, Storming through a bag guys base gets suddenly pulled back by a web to his cape.

Peter, giving him a "bitch you dumb" look under his mask: Traps! LOOK FOR TRAPS?? AND LOOK UP? PEOPLE HID THINGS UP?

Bonus, Spider-Man bending himself into a human pretzels and Dick "I have no bones" Grayson is gleefully testing to see if he could do it too.

Jump cut, years later, Peter beats emotional intelligence into Bruce with Dick.

All the Bat kids grow up with Uncle Peter, (either Peter can't get back or has been told specifically that he can't by a higher being or something) and like...

Peter is the only one that catches Tiny Tim following them during patrol, he shows him all the places to get the best angles, even poses a few times for him.

Either is there when Jason dies and saves him, or is there mourning with Bruce

(Gotham lives in fear of the memory, Batman at his most brutal and Black Suit Spider-Man)

Teaches Jason how to control his pit rage after he comes back, what is Spider-Man if not control?

Stephanie is his bestie in puns and white girl music tastes.

Tim finds a partner in constantly staying up far to late as well as someone who likes to invent,( because I hc that Peter has pretty much worked with every scientist in New York, cus like since this is a blend of canons, he has worked with the Lizard, Doc Oct, Reed Richards, the only one he said no to an internship was Stark)

Duke gets a meta mentor that can help him with his powers, Spidey has been on more than one team with someone that had some form of light powers.

Plus I think Spider-man is Gothams daytime hero before Signal joins him, they are the daytime duo

Cass is his favorite (don't tell anyone because they already know) she can see him and he can see her in a spider sense, they do the point meme whenever they sense each other.

Little stabby Damian finds out that this person with his father has been trained by many an assassin (Wade, Daredevil, Natasha, Shield in general)

And Wade...Deadpool pops up occasionally, even he doesn't understand why or how lBruce gets a strange feeling he should punch the Flash in the face the next time he sees him)

Bruce having to deal with Deadpool is terrible for him and I sadly love it.

(Also on the point of Black suit spidey in Gotham...ESPECIALLY after Jason is murdered? Oh Peter is killing the Joker, or his arm privileges forfeit. I feel like Peter would try not to kill him but wouldn't try too hard.)

Spider-man being a founding members of the Justice League, them having to deal with Peter crawling on the ceiling, and scuttering through air vents!

Peter making Parker Industries, pointing inventions from other heros/villains from his world, he isn't above pettiness, and that's how the DC world gets some of Reed Richard's old designs he gave to Peter "Because they are practically useless" they arnt they save millions of lives. Not to mention Arc Reactors, Peter grinned the whole time claiming it was his idea.

Hope you enjoy my ADHD rambling brought to you be sleep deprivation

[not-quite-normal]

Hey! I know you worked on Across the Spider Verse so I was wondering if you could clear something up for me. Is Gwen trans? There's been a lot of discourse around this and I was wondering if it's true.

i don't have the power to officially confirm or deny that as canon but personally, as a headcanon at least, hell yea gwen is trans

i see it the same way link is trans haha like there's no way nintendo's ever gonna be like "happy trans awareness day to everyone's favourite swordsman link" but we all know it's true

i've seen the discourse and i understand the desire to get something like that officially confirmed, especially in times like these, but i feel like what's cool is how her character arc allowed trans people to relate and feel seen without it needing to be explicitly stated. and, just straight up, there are rules that animated movies have to live by and the crew had to fight to even keep the "protect trans kids" flag in the movie. there are dozens of us (DOZENS!) trans folks that worked on spidey and it was a very heartwarming display of our coworkers coming together to voice their support in keeping the flag. it made me feel very safe and proud to work alongside them every day

so, even though i don't think we'll ever get any kind of official statement saying that gwen is or isn't trans (though that doesn't mean we should stop fighting for it!), just know that her arc in the movie can definitely be read as a metaphor for coming out and i hope that some comfort can at least be found in that. and the crew that worked so hard on this movie are fully in support of and fought for trans rights <3

[sehtoast]

Tender Threads CH3 (Homelander x OC)

chapter three: initiation

chapter directory | slow burn, hurt/comfort, fluff, spidersona as original character, original trans male character, smut, sublander

summary: time to make it official. speeches, crowds, and vought's guard dog watching his every move. better not mess up, bug boy.

Word was out by fault of a leak.  Before the official announcement by Vought, news outlets had plastered Spidey over every flat surface and digital medium possible.  It wasn’t the first time Ben had made international news, but it was the first time it was to a scale like this.  He’s been a hot subject since becoming one of the only ‘rogue’ supes to not choose outright crime, though vigilantism was still technically illegal.   But he had droves of public support and pretty much always has.

Spider-Man had been gasoline added to the fire in the debate of unlicensed heroes.  He wasn’t the first, but he was certainly one of the more popular ones– though Ben could never fathom why.  Within three years of first donning the mask, he found himself trending on social media on a nearly regular basis for reasons both good and bad.

Spidey Doesn’t Kill.  Spider-Man Saves Victims Before The Seven.

Debates on his morals or potential lack thereof.

He’s not getting paid for it, obviously he’s doing it because he’s a good guy. 

What if he’s just some sick freak that wants an excuse to beat up on people?  

It was… a lot.

But it’s never been anything like this.  At least the outrage of the handful of exceptionally vocal few was satisfying.  Especially that weird guy that runs The Bugle.

Ben was given a script for his formal introduction.  Vought was going all out.  A stage, cameras, a massive crowd…

It was fucking scary.

He’d met Stillwell a week prior.  Just do it the way Homelander does, she’d said to him.  As if it were that easy.  As if his entire life wasn’t just upended by both the world’s most powerful supe and conglomerate.

So here he stands, just a few blocks away from the stage in Central Park.  Waiting for his little queue.

He can hear her over the loudspeaker.  Insincerity and public posturing dripping from her voice like venom.

Ben hates these types.  He’s dealt with them a lot in his job– well, old job– and something about her was so… wrong.  The way she smiled at him when he lifted the pen from his contract, name forever etched, soul forever sold.  Maybe it was how soothing she tries to be.  Soft voice, gentle eyes, even though behind it all is just another soulless little–

“I am so thrilled to present to you,” she says, voice bouncing off buildings and into Benjamin’s ears.

His queue to jump, to dive low and arc high.

“The newest member of The Seven–”

Go, go, go!   Drag line– zip– push off the wall– dive, momentum, go for the spectacle!  Razzle dazzle ‘em, Ben! C’mon, Stillwell! Say it!  Say the fucking line!

“The Amazing Spider-Man!”

Just as the words fly off her tongue, Ben comes into full view of the crowd.  Cheers erupt like deafening thunder, seemingly drowning out the city.  He peers down as gravity corrects his display of performative agility, sending him on a dive toward the stage.

A zipline to the rafters is all he needs to stick the landing, a quick handstand to add that pizzazz that was demanded from him, and a web from which to dangle upside down as he waved like the good little performer he was.

It wasn’t without its own beauty.  Even upside down those signs were clear as day.

We Love You Spidey! 

You Saved Us!

NY ♥️s Spidey!

The cheers, the kids in shifty little homemade costumes, his signature hand gesture that releases his webbing being held high by thousands...

Even in the air, he couldn’t see the end of the crowd.

But there’s no time for his brain to blue-screen like this, especially not when Stillwell all but grabs him and directs him to the podium.

Oh fuck, public speaking.  Christ, Ben thinks to himself, okay, imagine them all in their underwear…

The roar of the crowd silences in mere seconds as they wait for him to speak.

Thank god for the mask.  And the podium… fuck, are my legs shaking?

“Hi, everyone.” Ben begins, clearing his throat awkwardly.  He had a lot to nail here.  Poise, confidence, and whatever else was gonna help make supes look competent enough to belong in that defense bill.  Yeah, Stillwell made sure he knew not to fuck up their future as Lockheed Martin’s biggest competitor.

One step out of line could be catastrophic.

“I just… I wanna start by thanking everyone, y’know?  Everyone here, out there, friends, family… the whole shebang.”  He starts, letting the thunderous applause run its course before moving on.  “But most importantly, I want to thank Vought for giving me this chance–”

Gag, gag, gag!  This is horrible!  Ben thinks to himself as he runs his script.  Part way through some babble about small beginnings, he notices a flash of red and white behind the proscenium wall of the stage.

Homelander’s here?

“I’m just so incredibly grateful to be standing here today, y’know?  I hope I make you folks proud.  Thank you,”  oh christ, here we go with the raw corporate vomit, “and god bless America!”

Blegh.

Ben takes the slightest step away from the podium, and it’s like a jet engine firing up right in the middle of the park.  Screams and cheers, applause and all sorts of noise making doohickeys.  Beside him, Stillwell ceases her own claps to gently guide him from the podium.  Then, the noise explodes.

Whatever fanfare was for Spidey becomes infinitely louder when those colors sway out from behind the wall.

“Oh, no!  Hey, you guys!”  Homelander shouts to the masses, his smile wide and happy as he makes his way to the microphone.  He claps a hand against Ben’s shoulder and pulls him back to the podium to stand with him.  “C’mon, let’s hear it for Spider-Man, eh?”

Homelander leans in as the deafening uproar picks back up.  “Bet’cha don’t get that as a vigilante, huh?”

Then, as the noise dies down, Homelander begins his own performance.

“I, for one, am incredibly glad to have this fella join our team. It’s unfortunate that Translucent was injured so badly by an unknown enemy during his last mission, and I swear to God that we’ll find whoever is responsible and bring them to justice!” Homelander pauses. “But, I know that Spidey here will bring his own incredible qualities to our team, and I very much look forward to working with him, and the rest of The Seven, to keep our country, and world, safe!”

Perfectly impassioned.  Voice strong, tone bold but somber for his incapacitated friend.  Humble and domineering, but worthy of adoration.

He’s one hell of a spectacle up close.

Homelander’s arm slings around Ben’s shoulders, indicating that he, too, should wave to the masses.  He was showing the world how friendly they are with one another despite the real deal behind the scenes.  Despite what he’d said and done to the bug.

Benjamin wasn’t going on a patrol tonight.  No, no… after today, all he wants to do is curl up and hibernate.  Maybe it was all of the dread and anxiety for his big reveal day that had weighed him down, but he felt so heavy.  There was no way he’d be able to resist a nap on a rooftop at this rate.

Besides, this was probably one of the last times he’d ever sleep a full night here.  Well, most of a full night, given his sixth sense’s tendency to rouse him at odd intervals.  

Vought was moving him in.  Sure he could keep the apartment, but what was the point?  All of his things were going to be transferred by Vought’s moving services, so all he really had to do was pack everything up even though he technically didn't actually have to– the moving team would handle everything.  Not that there was much he could have in a studio apartment, but…

He’d gotten as far as boxing up his clothes, but everything else was still as is.

Instead of doing more, though, he just grabs that same guitar whose strings Homelander nearly broke, lays back, and picks a melody until drowsiness turns to pure exhaustion.

Unaware of the eyes watching him through the walls.

The boy was… a curious thing.  Obligation had turned to fascination, fascination became fixation, and fixation became obsession a little too quickly for his liking.  But that didn’t stop Homelander from continuing with his observations.  

It never does.

He was almost grateful that killing the bug was off the table completely.  Had he done so in that alley, he wouldn’t be here now, being practically serenaded– well, all except for some singing that Benjamin has yet to unknowingly perform for him.  Everything he’d seen over the last few weeks had driven him insane.  

Why in the hell would such an extraordinary supe choose this?   The mundane, the boring, the simple.

The mud.

He could have been so much more so long ago!  And Vought?  Vought waited this long to pursue and sign him?  What a fucking joke!  Homelander would’ve taken him over Starlight in a second had they pitched him earlier.  He supposes, though, that it was because they had been taking formal auditions back then…

But what a specimen this Benjamin was turning out to be.  So bold, yet so timid.  So happy and sad all at once.  Human, yet impeccably super.  And so very fun to watch live his boring little life.  Homelander will almost miss watching the web-head scramble to make it to work on time, swinging around the city in his cheap dress shirt, spider suit stuffed in a backpack, and then doing that stupid job as a… oh, what was it..?  Some kind of tech bullshit, whatever it was.  

Suffice it to say, it’ll be magnificent with the bug living in the same building soon.  Easier to observe that way.

[sciderman]

Sci, have you read Todd McFarlanes "Perceptions" arc in Spider-Man from 1991, it's a 5 issue arc of Peter and Wolverine teaming up and looking for Wendigo and i was wondering how you felt about it if you read it?

i recognised it immediately from the first cover - that's an ass i don't forget.

i'll be real - todd mcfarlane might be my least favourite spider-man artist, ever. not for the way he draws spidey, naw. i love the way he draws spidey - but - man should never be allowed to draw human faces, ever.

i might barf too, peter. i might barf too.

i remember trying to read this one, unsuccessfully, because every single panel just reminds me how much i hate the 90s.

this man's mask? ridiculous.

i tried reading it again, @dumbassalex beloved, but i can't do it. mcfarlane's art is just far too off-putting for me. i've skimmed it - but i can't look at those pages for more than 5 seconds. hurts my eyes. a– oH MY GOD his HAIR is even more ridiculous.

dear... god... i hate the 90s...

from what i get from the writing, i don't really like it either. logan's a little too emotional, and peter – eh, he's a little annoying.

"i don't know why he's such a goody two-shoes" i read in a 12-year-old's voice.

yeah this wolverine is not the same emotionally mature guy we read in spider-man vs wolverine a few years prior. no sir.

i think that's the thing that grates me about both of their voices in this book - they sound like children pretending to be gruff grizzled adult men.

that's what a lot of stuff from the 90s sounds like to me. like they want to sound adult but it's actually like. what a kid thinks an adult would say. i think all comics in the 90s would be improved by being dramatically read by 10 year olds putting on their best batman voice

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

{THIS IS A RANT} - Back at it again with the

ALL MY HOBIES HATE PETER B.

(Not a typo)

Another rant where I talk about hating Peter B on every level in which my soul manifests

[Stop talking about if your parenting is good so help me fucking god this has nothing to do with you and lives are at stake]

The reason I find Miguel easier to defend than Peter B is because Miguel actually has actions to speculation about in the story.

Peter spent that whole movie talking about his baby, standing completely stationary while witnessing child abuse twice (he didn't nothing when Gwen was sent home) and then go home and talk about how he's sad cause he's not a good mentor and might not be 'good at this'

Like sir who the hell cares what youre good at A teenage girl just became homeless and Miles is being hunted by hundreds of adults

Can you give us more than 'I'm bad at this mentor stuff 😭😭😭'

Put MayDay in the crib and go get Gwen.

Or at the very least tell MJ. Tell MJ that the kid that inspired you to have MayDay is in mortal danger. Tell MJ that the reason you think you're a bad mentor is because MILES JUST GOT HIS ASS BEAT

Why is his thought after ALL THAT about himself abd only HIMSELF? And how he might be a bad mentor

Like yes, you are now that we've realized that glaring fact can you like.... Do something

ALSO YOU HAVEN'T SEEN MILES IN OVER A YEAR WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT THAT

'you don't know if he was going to go get gw-'

Exactly. Cause all he did was talk about himself.

'what if the society was supporting them financially-'

if you see your boss assault a child you should quit even if you make a million a month

'he ended up joining the team anyway'

Gwen, the teenager, the homeless teenager, shouldn't be the one coming to Peter's rescue right now it should be the other way around.

The only reason he joined at the end was because Hobie and Gwen made it super convenient for them.

Had Hobie not left Gwen the watch - and Gwen hadn't showed up -

We are given NO PROOF whatsoever that Peter would've joined them.

No verbal indication or anything.

We have no idea how long Peter would've stayed on Miguel's side had Gwen not approached him.

LITERALLY all Peter did this movie was show Miles baby pictures, tell him he has to let his dad die, accidentally get him caught because he's too stupid to turn off his TRACKING watch , watch Miles get his ass beat, then watch Gwen get her ass beat, then go home and talk about himself.

At least Miguel is having an emotional arc meanwhile Peter shows the emotional range of a bad day at the office despite the fact people he knows and cares about have been hurt in front of him by someone he knows and cares about.

And people still defend him.

HE DID NOTHING. THERE'S NOTHING TO DEFEND BUT HIS INACTION

I feel like so many people excuse his inaction and failure to 'he means well' - obviously not cause when you mean well you do well and he ain't do shit.

"What was he supposed to do?"

At the very least express concern of some sort about the two missing children in his life??

Put MayDay down and try to see if you can find Gwen?

At the very least mention the fact that his boss went apeshit - or Hell, talk about ANYTHING besides himself.

I don't know how people can see that and be like yeah he's cool. This is a competent man who cares about these kids

Like.... If you care and do nothing and make them do literally everything and help them none to the point you're actively leading danger to them because you can't think ahead all while clapping from the sidelines then who the fuck cares what you care about

You don't care enough to do something. So why would I care you're a bad mentor???????

At least Miguel is doing something and we can look deeper into his emotional arc and story and motive

Peter B gives literally nothing. Nothing. Contributes nothing to no one through the whole movie. Doesn't even do a cool Spidey move or anything. Jokes dry as hell -

FUCK I'm so salty why did the write him like a plank of wood why am I supposed to be okay with his WHY WHY WHY

WANT ME TO CLAP AND SHIT MEANWHILE I'M LOOKING AT HIM LIKE

What can he do that Noir, Pavitr, and Hobie can't? Like.... They can do everything he can???? With extra abilities,??? PENI HAS A MECH?? WHAT IS HE ADDING WHAT IS HE BRINGING WHAT IS HE SERVING

NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING

____________________________________________

Anyway if you made it this far he's a master list of all my posts where I talk about why a Peter is a horribly borderline irredeemable character.

Peter watching as Gwen is put in the machine, and says nothing besides a joke to defend her, before going home to talk about himself

Hobie doesn't like Peter so neither do I

Why I believe Peter purposely ratted Miles out - If Peter didn't know he was being tracked, why would she speak out loud and give herself away. She didn't. I believe Peter asked her to track them and she responded out loud not knowing Miles was right there.

Why even if he didn't rat Miles out, that's arguably worse - How do you forget the obvious tracker watch is obvious tracking you?

UHH SO YEAH FUCK PETER B ALL MY HOBIES HATE PETER B

[whaliiwatching]

What if Deadpool and spider punk met?

(Not like in a romantic way I just picture pure chaos taking place)

aight i’ll give it a go..

something very Important To Me in the spider-man and deadpool relationship (gen) is the theme of voluntary change for the better. deadpool’s morals don’t match up with spidey’s, but spidey matters enough to him to want to be good. redemption arcs my beloved

in 616, deadpool is a mercenary, and that doesn’t jive with peter parker’s no-killing policy. hobie, however, has no such qualms, thus the flavor of 138 dp’s divergence must be altered; i’m thinking he might’ve been a retired/fired police officer, or he took government-sponsored merc jobs without caring who the target was—somethin a little fucked up like that idk

then he meets spider-punk. initially, deadpool is obsessed the way you’re obsessed with your friends’ favorite celebrities—loudly, annoyingly, facetiously. hobie at first dislikes him, but doesn’t consider him a big enough player to hate, and since punk’s core moral of radical kindness allows for second chances, he offers dp the opportunity to turn his back on the State. slowly deadpool acclimates to punk values and community, finds himself upholding core tenets of the revolution even when it means he loses out on big fat wads of fascist blood money, and becomes a scene kid

[brionysea]

miles is the only one with a healthy response to trauma

he doesn't shut himself off from friendship like gwen does (ganke knows he's spider-man so they must be close) (he was willing to pursue a career in quantum physics despite clearly being more of an artist because of how much he wanted to see his friends again) (the same friends who could've come to see him at any time but chose not to) (he says there's a first time for everything when it comes to spider-man and gwen stacy falling in love and being happy)

he knows that telling his parents who he is would turn out fine. he even has a whole character arc about it!

he asks if the spidey having Harrowing Memories in the hall is okay while everyone else ignores how concerning that behaviour is because it's just standard to them

he has a normal reaction to the discovery that all of his friends have had a police captain die in their arms

and because this whole spider-society thing of saving the multiverse and hunting down anomalies is miguel's trauma response, which everyone else is taken in by because their experiences are more like miguel's than miles, miles is in the minority when it comes to the "it happened to me, i suffered and lost people, so you have to as well" logic being messed up and not what spider-man is about. knowing someone's about to die and doing nothing to stop it - in fact, actively fighting to make it happen - is in the same moral ballpark as killing them yourself; it heavily reminds me of tobey maguire peter parker letting that thief go only for him to later kill uncle ben. it's an abandonment of their great responsibility as spider-man

hobie, being an anarchist, knows it's messed up the whole time but hasn't directly done anything besides stealing parts to build his bootleg watches yet, because the personal cost to him and his friends wasn't that great before miles showed up to necessitate direct action. gwen and the rest of them take a while to come around, and when they do it's because of miles - once gwen talked to her dad like miles thought she should, she was free to get the watch hobie left with him and move into the next stage of her character arc: siding with miles - and it's distinctly all the younger spideys taking a stand against miguel's idea of inherited generational trauma

miguel says that miles is just a kid who doesn't know what he's doing in an attempt to diminish him, the same way actual younger people are mocked by disillusioned adults for trying to make a difference, but miles is right. just because their canon was horrible and full of unaddressed trauma and killed their spirit, doesn't mean his has to be. it's an echo chamber of their trauma being "inevitable" when it's really not, which is why miles as an anomaly with more emotional intelligence than your average spidey is able to break out

[dr-spectre]

What other games (other than sonic and splatoon) do you like?

I shall show you some of my favourite games! Not a lot but some of them!

Ultimate Spider-Man is phenomenal. It's a short yet sweet game where you get to play as a really fluid feeling Spidey and a fucking awesome take on Venom. The first Venom mission is him EATING A CHILD AND FIGHTING WOLVERINE! THAT'S SO RAW!

The art style, THE MUSIC!!!!!!!! HOLY SHIT THE MUSIC! IT'S SO GOOD! I mean sure there's a couple of missions that make me groan, but most of them? Oh my GODDDD!!!!! Top tier game design and boss design too. You cannot top the Spider-Man vs. Venom fight on top of the Trask building, with all that fire and rain my GOD! IT'S SOOOO COOL!!!!!

Ridge Racer Type 4... I'm gonna tell you to do something that will change your life.

Listen to 'Move Me' from the OST. Just listen to that single song and it will all come together on why this game is amazing. I am not gonna elaborate on the phenomenal gameplay, controls, track design, art style, etc, just listen to that song. PLEASE!

This game right here, top tier, a near flawless masterpiece in puzzle design. It's difficult yet fair and i only got stuck at the very end of the game where i feel like it's at it's weakest. Act 1 and act 2 of this game is nothing short of fantastic art direction, storytelling and mechanics. It even has J. K. Simmons bro. J. K. FUCKING SIMMONS! THE GOAT! THE LEGEND! If you don't know who that is i will actually punch you i swear to god....

And the final two songs?... That shit makes me CRY MY EYES OUT! WHY IS IT SO EMOTIONAL?! HOW IS IT SO EMOTIONAL! GAHHH I'M GONNA CRY ME A RIVER BRB!

Yeah... Yeah this? This is awesome. I was so impressed by it's visuals when i first played it, i was thinking to myself "how the hell is the ps4 rendering all this grass?!?" EVEN ON PS5 IT'S SO IMPRESSIVE! HOW CAN THAT CONSOLE RUN THIS GAME AT 60FPS?!?!? IT'S MAGIC I TELL YA!

The story of this game, holy shit the STORY! It's awesome. It's packed with intriguing character arcs, Jin Sakai, what a phenomenal protagonist.

The combat feels so fluid and brutal, the music is so atmospheric, the world is so dense and packed with so much detail. It's an awesome game.

And the final boss... The last 30 minutes... Don't even talk to me about it because I'm gonna start crying again.

I mean do i have to really say anything? Do i even need to add any sort of reason or explanation on why i like this game?

I haven't finished the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series and i got stuck at 3. The games are long and can be filled with a lot of cutscenes. But I'm telling you, this game? This game rocks and it's a god damn rollercoaster of fun, drama, insanity, etc.

I decided to save this one for last. Because this game means a lot to me and it's sequel too. I remember playing the re-release on Switch and i had to have a moment after just sitting around in the Comet Observatory, like i stopped playing and i had to cry for a solid 10 minutes. I'm not sure why i broke down randomly but i can figure out why. This game is the perfect encapsulation of my childhood and the sort of vibe i grew up in.

I had a Wii as a kid and so this game captures that sort of aesthetic and atmosphere that part of my life had. Playing this game, thinking about it, hearing the music, seeing the visuals... It makes me cry. It makes me sob. Space Junk Galaxy, the domes, Freezeflame galaxy, Honeyhive galaxy... Man...

The power of visual storytelling this game has is just... 100/10 for me.

And... Rosalina's storybook.

I'm actually crying so much looking at this. I'm actually breaking down right now as i type this. Just this single image is enough to destroy a man's soul. It is some of the most powerful pieces of art I've ever had the pleasure of viewing.

And i wanna end it off with this. The Garden. The final dome in the game.

This is just... I... Man...

I'm crying again.

Anyways, that's all!

[nitewrighter]

On the (continued) topic of Spidey in DC, if I can be a bit crass with the subject matter... how many DC heroines (or DC villainesses, if you want to dip your toes in that puddle) do you think would find Peter/Spidey genuinely attractive as a person, even if they might not actually get to see his face? Not to step on Gwen or MJ's toes or anything but I feel like a lot of DC ladies would see that prime real estate and want in on that property, iykwim.

I just feel like there'd be, on more than one occasion, moments where a few random lady members of the League would absolutely play a few rounds of FMK if bored enough, Spider-Man would be among the choices, and it's usually F or M, but almost never K for the webslinger.

Honestly Spider-Man's like a brother to me, and a kid brother at that (...maybe because he's my younger brother's favorite superhero...), so beyond MJ (and to a much lesser extent Deadpool), I never really 'got' the concept of Spidey as the Marvel Comics Community Bicycle. He talks too much, and when he's put next to other heroes, it very quickly becomes "talks too much because he's self-conscious," so like, he's relatable to me, absolutely, but he's never really been that much of a romantic lead in my head. He's too much of the narrative's chew toy to be that, so like... you do have some overlap with Jimmy Olsen in that respect.

That being said, if I had to pick like... potential DC characters that would be into him, I'd say definitely Misa, my deep-cut fave from the 90's Superman comics that everyone has forgotten about. She has a fun tech-hippie look. She's obnoxious, she likes to cause problems on purpose--but deep down she's actually surprisingly well-meaning and very supportive of other characters going through really sloppy points in their own character arcs. She can be delightful fun in that "Aren't you tired of being nice? Don't you just want to go apeshit?" sense that I think would be a good contrast to Spidey. On top of that, they both have a passion for gadgetry! I'd love to see her tinker with his spider-suit capabilities! This, again, is Spidey moving into Jimmy Olsen's territory, because Misa was also a romantic interest for Jimmy Olsen for a handful of issues.

Again, I'd also like to see Spidey get sucked into the Forever People polycule. There's no escape. Just osmose him in.

I should probably try and veer this to more recognizable names, but I could also see 20-something Spider-Man getting with a Green Lantern. Either Kyle Rayner or Jessica Cruz. The mainstream Justice League I largely see perceiving Spider-Man as pretty much a kid. Zatanna could be a fun option, and also versatile depending on like, what level-of-maturity Spidey you want to work with.

OHH DONNA TROY OR CASSANDRA CAIN. WOMEN WHO WILL ELBOW-DROP HIM AND HE'LL THANK THEM FOR IT. Guy who goes "Hiiiii" and girl who goes "Bruh" power couples.

Blonde Twink stick-in-the-mud Brainiac-5 is an option, too. Someone to be geeky with but who is also kind of a bitch to offset your obnoxiousness. (Give him back his looong haaaaair).

Also I don't know if this would be shippy, but I would be interested in seeing him interact with Raven. Just the combination of Hope/Despair/Crushing Responsibility/Empathy would be very interesting to watch.

[linkspooky]

Fun little comment I got the other day on one of my posts, but it did get me thinking. This wasn’t really a question asked in good faith, but I’m gonna answer it anyway, because it gives me an opportunity to talk. 

I think the ideal superhero story is one that criticizes its heroes relentlessly. The same could be said of any story I suppose, main characters who are challenged to grow are more entertaining to realize about than main characters who remain stagnant. The whole point of a story is conflict, if there is no conflict there is no story. It’s like playing an RPG where you’re level one hundred from the start and kill every enemy in one hit. There’s no point to even playing the game because it’d be awfully dull to just walk right through it. 

Of course there is a super hero story where the main character kills everything in one hit, ironically, but even that character is challenged by the depression and emptiness he now feels because despite being the strongest dude in existence his life was otherwise kind of empty. 

Superho comics especially seem to relish in relentlessly punishing their heroes. If you look up the lifetime of a single major hero in American comics, Nightwing, Batman, especially Batman their lives are filled with tragic events and people they failed to save. Perhaps that is where the SU)PER in superheoes comes from, they are held to an especially high standard. They live their lives selflessly sacrificing for others over and over and that eventually takes it’s toll on them, because the second part of superhuman is “human.” The thing is I don’t hate heroes in stories. I LOVE heroes. 

I just don’t like the heroes in MHA that much. 

Let me give an example, with the greatest superhero of all time.       

Peter Parket, AKA Spiderman. I’ve read posts about how Matt Murdock isn’t much of a hero because hell’s kitchen is like two blocks in New York and they are bad and incorrect because the best heroes aren’t the ones who save the world, the best ones are the ones who don’t have that power and then do their best anyway. Spiderman is at his best as a character when he is just your friendly neighborhood Spiderman, he’s a local hometown hero, he patrols New York, he is really bad at balancing his love life, his job, and his time as spiderman. He is a person before he is a hero, and a very flawed person at that. 

Spiderman’s very origin is his failure to save someone, because when suddenly given amazing spider powers, regular kid Peter Parker, kind of bullied, kind of put-upon immediately uses his powers to become a pro-wrestler and a television star. A pretty selfish use of his powers, but Peter is a teenager at this point. Coming home from one of his television appearances Peter sees a burglar being chased by a security guard. The guard calls out to Peter for help, but Spidey refuses on the grounds that catching crimminals is not his job. 

When Peter later comes home that day, he discovers that his Uncle Ben had been killed by a burglar. Outraged, Peter dons his wrestling outfit and then goes to hunt the man down, only to discover that it was the same man he let go earlier that day. Peter could have easily stopped the man right then and prevented Uncle Ben’s death. Ben’s dying words are what save him however, that with great power comes great responsibility, rather than continuing to use his powers for his own gain he decides to selflessly devote himself to fight crime.

But it doesn’t stop there. One of the most famous story arcs of Spiderman of all time is him once again failing to save someone, and this is not Peter as a fledgling hero but rather when he had been Spiderman from some time. The Death of Gwen Stacy, and yes yes, Gwen didn’t deserve to be sacrificed for Peter’s character development, women in fridges and all that, but there’s a reason this storyline is famous and it’s because it’s IMPACTFUL it mattered in the comics years, even decades after the story was originally published. Here’s an example, the trope “women in refridgerators” was coined by Gail Simone after Kyle Rayner’s girlfriend who was killed and then stuffed into a refrigerator for him to find. Do you even know what Kyle Rayner’s girlfriend name was? However, Gwen Stacy is at least remembered which means there is something about her plotline that works, and for me it’s because it centers around this theme of “failure” again. 

Peter, young and in love, failed Gwen Stay in a lot of ways, Peter’s whole character revolves around this idea of his many responsibilities and how he has a hard time balancing these things because he is just one person. One of the early storylines is in fact, Peter failing to save Gwen’s father from Doctor Octopus, which makes him overprotective of her, to the point of not telling her his secret identity ostensibly “for her protection.” What sets off the plotline that leads to the Gwen Stacy’s death however, is one Norman Osborn aka The Green Gobling, the only one at the time to know Peter’s secret identity. 

Due tot hat fact, he decides to target Gwen Stacy as a way of getting at Peter. Gwen Stacy with no idea who Spiderman, unaware of this incredibly dangerous aspect of Peter’s life that she is involved with due to being in proximity to him is taken completely off guard and easily captured. Spiderman at the time is also incredibly sick and off his game, because once again Peter Parker is someone who will work himself to death trying to take care of his one million responsibilities. 

Goblin at that point threatens Gwen Stacy’s life on the top of a bridge in order to get Peter to give up his identity of Spiderman, of course he’s not going to do that so he fights with Goblin like it is any other hero and villain confrontation. Goblin manages to slip past him and knock her off the bridge, and then you know what happens next. However, what most people don’t remember is what made Gwen Stacy’s death so effective is for a moment it looks like Peter has saved her. Peter, in a moment of borderline arrogance even quips about it because webbing people to catch them from falling buildings is something he has done a hundred times before this. 

Only to learn that it was Peter’s method of saving her by catching with her web that delivered her untimely death, as the force of falling and then suddenly coming to a stop snapped her neck. Peter believes he’s saved her until he cradles the body and finds she’s not moving, and after that has an emotional breakdown repeating to himself over and over again that he’s saved her. 

Now, I don’t believe it’s Peter’s fault because it was genuinely an accident, and Goblin is the one who chose to throw her off the bridge as a way of getting at Peter. The same way you could say Uncle Ben’s death is not Peter’s fault because he had no way of knowing the robber would later shoot his uncle. Yet, both times it seems like a failure of the main character, because heroes are supposed to save people, when they don’t save someone something’s gone wrong.  

Peter, overconfident at that point despite the fact he is sick, and off his game goes in swinging against Green Goblin, and you can even say he focused more on defeating the Green Goblin in a physical fight then the immediate danger to Gwen’s life. He also is way overconfident when he does try to web her to save her, which is what directly leads to him snapping her neck because he just wasn’t thinking about the danger of a fall from that high. 

There is also the added element of Peter never telling Gwen about his secret identity, she never knew her life was in danger to any one of Peter’s enemies who would have wanted to target her to get to him. Would she have dated him if she knew this was the case? We never knew because Peter never gave her that choice. 

“Gwen: As much of a victim of Spiderman’s lifestyle as Peter Parker? “

The comic itself brings this up, Goblin was the one who killed her, and yet Peter failed in his responsibility towards her in a way. Gwen Stacy’s death becomes a last point of guilt and trauma for Peter that he continues to struggle with, it adds a deep personal conflict for him. There are later comics where Peter remembers what happens to Gwen and tries to do better to make up for what he has lost. 

Now, let me compare this to one of the more recent happenings in MHA, a case where a hero has failed to save someone. Bakugo dies in the fight against ShigAFO, and SHIGAFO pointed out that if heroes are going to put inexperienced children on the front lines some of them are going to die.

We have this same setup as we did with the Green Goblin. The villain threatens the loved one of a hero in order to hurt them, the hero fails to arrive to save them. Even if it is the fault of ShigAFO for being the one who killed Bakugo, the heroes still played a role in it, because they made the decision to bring him to the frontlines of a battlefield and directly put his life in danger. The same way that Peter not telling Gwen Stacy his identiity meant she was totally unaware of the danger that would have come with dating him. 

Peter tries his absolute best to save Gwen, he made a promise to her father that he would always protect her, he was fighting against Goblin with everything on the line, and yet he still doesn’t save her because of one moment of overconfidence where he thinks webbing her will be enough. Peter as a hero is not perfect, and he cannot save everyone, and Gwen Stacy’s death is a cruel but effective lesson to him in that, and yet his ability to pick himself up and keep going after such a terrible loss and even learn from it to make sure that he doesn’t make the same mistake twice results in character development. However, what happens after Bakugo dies?

LIterally one chapter later, the heroes conveniently have a way to restart his heart with a hero named Edgeshot who has been a background character the entire time. Did anyone know he could do this? Was this foreshadowed and established in any way? People made jokes about this plot twist for weeks because it makes no sense, but for the most part they didn’t care because they wanted Bakugo back... but is the plotline better served if he just immediately pops back up because the plot convenience fairy waved her magic wand? 

Imagine if this had happened to Gwen. Gwen got her neck snapped, and then the next issue she just popped back up alive like “Hey, just kidding Peter!” or, while Peter is holding her body some guy just comes along and says he has the super power to heal broken necks. One of the most compelling stories in Spiderman’s history, would have ended up being really lame. 

I’d also like to mention I’m a fan of Gwen Stacy’s character. In fact, Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane are two of my favorite female comic book characters of all time, because unlike most comic book love interests they were their own people, with their own little lives, thoughts and feelings they didn’t revolve around Peter. However, the plotline is effective because Gwen Stacy Dies. A story where a hero fails will always be more exciting than the one where the heroes always succeed, because their failures are what makes you sympathize with them. Peter Parker is not perfect, far from it in fact. If you’ve watched the movie “Spiderverse” Peter B Parker in that was super popular with audiences, and at the same time he was a man-child divorcee who is scared of having kids because he’s not mature enough to have them with really bad depression and all of those flaws he had was what made the audience connect with him. 

I would argue also that the heroes are compelling characters for the first three arcs of MHA, because they consistently fail. The tournament arc Shoto is completely isolated because no one notices the trauma his father has inflicted upon it, and he doesn’t start to come into his own as a person until Deku reaches out to him. Shinso feels failed by his adult mentors because they didn’t give him a fair shot at pursuing his dream at becoming a hero. 

Iida himself fails as a hero when he decides to try to kill Stain out of vengeance for his brother, not only does he fail that but Midoriya and Shoto nearly die as well and are put in harms way because they helped him against Stain. In the camp raid arc, Deku saves the little boy yes, but because he compeltely destroyed his body fighting against Muscular he fails to rescue Bakugo and he’s kidnapped. In the Overhaul arc, Mirio and Deku don’t save Eri when they have the chance and then feel horrible crushing guilt when they realize she is going to suffer more abuse because they didn’t save her right then. Mirio in trying to make up for letting more harm come to Eri, even has to sacrifice his quirk to a quirk erasing bullet because he can’t let her get hit any more times. 

During the Pro-Hero arc, Enji is told by his whole family basically none of them care that he defeated a villain, because he hasn’t made up to them the abuse they suffered under him in any way. 

The heroes are compelling characters when the story is about their failures, because they are characters, human, flawed, capable of improvement. However, after a certain turning point in the story all criticism of the heroes basically stopped. 

When the public is rightfully upset that the heroes are not doing their jobs, you know their government jobs as protectors of society, the things they get paid for (spiderman does this for free you know he doesn’t get anything out of it) Uraraka gave a big speech on how people need to be EASIER ON THE HEROES, because look how much THEYRE SUFFERING. 

When Hawks kills Twice, when Enji’s own son reveals himself as a villain, basically the only consequence they have to face is making an insincere apology at a press conference. Enji did not even write his own apology, Hawks wrote it for him. 

The story is no longer about the heroes failing, instead we get the story telling us over and over again how good the heroes are at protecting people, how noble they are. 

This whole speech reads as kind of preachy and insincere considering that the heroes right now are wielding all their power to beat up three children who were in fact not saved by heroes, Enji destroyed Toya’s life, Toga watched her best friend get murdered by a hero, Nana abandoned Kotaro, and when All Might had the chance to reach out to Shigaraki knowing he was Nana’s grandson and that he had been captured by AFO for who knows how long he just didn’t do anything. 

Peter isn’t a moral paragon, he’s a whiny asshole at times, an overconfident brat however what makes him a hero is that he has all of these flaws and he keeps trying. The heroes in MHA are also flawed, but the story acts as if they aren’t, and nothing is their fault anymore. Which is why I’m critical of the heroes, because I am hoping they will finally show some character development and go back to being the compelling characters they were in the first half of the story. If the heroes are making mistakes here, then the plot should recognize them and challenge them to do better. If the heroes are perfect... then why is this story even about them? 

[starksvinyls]

Title: Kitten Around Rating: Gen Pairing: Peter Parker & Tony Stark Tags/Warnings:  Animal Transformation, Irondad and Spiderson, Fluff, Platonic Cuddling, Magic Summary: The Bad Guy of The Week hits Peter with magic and turns him into a kitten. Notes:  fills square I5 'animal transformation' on my @pparkerbingo card!

AO3 Link

“Oh, fu-“

“Peter?” 

“Spidey, report.” 

“Kid?” 

Mew 

— 

“Well,” Clint stared down at the pile of red and blue fabric that once had a teenager inside it. “That’s different.” 

The brown kitten, that was sitting in the middle of the fabric pile, blinked up at him. 

“What the hell happened?” Tony demanded as he landed, his face plate flipping up as he metallically stomped over to where Clint and Natasha were standing. He came up short when he noticed the kitten. They were all silent.

The faceplate flipped back down and Tony demanded Friday connect with Karen to find out what happened. The footage from Peter's suit came up on his HUD and Tony watched as Peter came face to face with the baddie of the week they had been attempting to subdue. 

A spark arced between the villain's hands as Peter tried to talk to the man, throwing out a quip about turning himself in, and then the wizard was shooting that spark at Peter. It hit and suddenly Peter was falling off of the streetlight he had been perched on before the camera cut out. 

“From what I can tell,” Karen spoke up. “The spark that hit Peter turned him into the kitten. The kitten was inside the suit when the suit hit the ground.” 

Tony stared at the screen, not seeing anything, taking a moment to process. The guy turned Peter into a kitten? Well, fuck.

–

Natasha had carried Peter back to the tower, and the kitten had fallen asleep curled up against her chest, so she sat down in the common room still holding him. The purring was absolutely adorable, and Tony wanted to snatch the boy away from Natasha, but he knew it would just piss off the spy and disgruntle Peter. 

The team gathered on the couches and they all stared at the fluff ball that was now Peter. The fur was the same chocolate brown as his hair, and they had noticed earlier that his eyes were the same, as well. So at least they knew it was Peter for sure. No one said anything for several minutes before Steve finally cleared his throat. 

“Well,” He seemed at a loss. “I suppose we should work on finding this guy so he can turn Peter back. I’ll go back out with Clint and begin the search.” 

“I’ll have Friday start combing the cameras around the city, see if we can figure out which way he went.” Tony couldn’t stop staring at the kitten. 

“Oh, here,” Natasha stood, took the three steps over to Tony, and then held out the kitten for him. 

Peter made an unhappy squeak and Tony quickly took him so he wouldn’t just be dangling there from the spy’s hand. He tucked Peter in close to his chest and Peter started back up that little motor in his chest and snuggled in close. A ghost of a smile crossed Tony’s face. When he looked back up, everyone was staring at him. 

“What?” 

“Nothing,” Bruce chuckled. 

Tony narrow his eyes playfully, and then stood. “I don’t have to sit here and take this,” He started for the elevator. “Me and Pete are gonna go hang in the lab. Isn’t that right, Pete?” 

The kitten said nothing. 

–

It took a day and half to track down the wanna be wizard, but it turned out he couldn’t do anything for Peter. Apparently, it would wear off on it’s own after a few days. May had called Peter out sick from school, and Tony agreed to keep him at the tower since May didn’t want to leave a kitten home alone while she was at work. 

Peter spent his time on four legs following Tony everywhere. Every time someone saw Tony walk by, a brown kitten would be trotting along behind. He explored the lab and caused mischief in the penthouse, refused to eat anything but canned tuna, and seemed to have a hard time with the litter box. 

None of them were sure if Peter was still himself in that cute little fuzzy head, but Tony made sure to talk to him like he was still a 16 year old kid, throwing out all his ideas as he worked in the lab, despite only getting a crash of something being knocked over in reply. DUM-E had a blast helping to destroying the lab, much to Tony’s annoyed amusement. 

On the fourth day of having Peter be quadrupedal, Tony was down in the lab trying to work on the new StarkPad. A crash, the third one in the last hour, sounded from the other side of the room. With a sigh, Tony got up to go see what it was - an old coffee can of nuts and bolts. DUM-E was zooming away from the scene of the crime and Peter sat there looking up at Tony. He could swear there was a gleam of mischief in those eyes. Having had enough, Tony scooped up Peter, and headed up to the penthouse. 

“Alright, nap time.” The couch cushions sunk comfortably under Tony’s weight. “Just curl up and go to sleep, you’re a cat, it shouldn’t be hard.” 

Peter squirmed, trying to get away, but Tony held firm, keeping Peter on his chest. Eventually, the kitten tired and curled up, the tip of his tail secure under his front paws. Tony closed his eyes and slipped off into a cat nap. 

Sometime later, Tony woke to Peter wiggling. Before he could say anything, there was a flash of light, blinding him, and then human Peter was sprawled on top of Tony. By some miracle, the kid was wearing clothes. 

“Oh my gosh, Mister Stark!” Peter jolted when he realized he was laying on his mentor. “I’m so sorry.” 

“Shh,” Tony closed his eyes again. “It’s still nap time.” 

“But-” 

“Lay down and go to sleep, kid.” 

Peter laid back down after a second, half tucked into the space between Tony’s body and the back of the couch and half on top of Tony. He relaxed, his arm thrown over Tony’s belly, and his head resting on the older man’s shoulder. 

“Good to have you back, Pete,” Tony smiled when he felt the kid snuggle closer. 

[oliveroctavius]

been itching to get back into the 1610 comics, of all things. but first a rundown of what I remember my feelings on them being (having read only up to Peter's first death)

didn't enjoy:

extreme sliding timescale pacing. those first 133 issues of USM don't portray time moving whatsoever. like it's still the same school year and the seasons haven't even changed. in ASM that number of issues spanned at least 4 in-universe years!

pacing again: it's like they're racing to get every notable thing that ever happened to ASM Peter in under the wire.

great job on writing authentic 00s teenagers but boy can they be annoying especially when they aren't aging out of it

SHIELD swooping in at the end of every other arc to send Peter home and clean things up (and/or make things worse). More interesting to me when a Spider-Man has to deal with the consequences of their own actions completely unobserved

Why switch so many plot beats/traits between Gwen and MJ? I don't get it. At some points it feels like they switched names and it doesn't make either character that much more compelling

These Goblin designs are so generic-monster I'd concluded I didn't like a transforming goblin until I saw the Spiderverse re-tool

Venom is much less interesting as a nonsentient synthetic Parker invention instead of a freaky drift compatible alien beast

in general, the efforts to weave the story together more tightly by making everything interrelated is maybe well done, but to me feels artificial and world-shrinking.

gut eyeroll at 2000s edgelord bullshit

why is doc ock magneto powers and also the jackal

really enjoyed:

by the 90s/00s, mainline marvel was also full of edgelord bullshit; things are handled in an intense but usually super interesting because-of-the-intensity way here.

Aunt May characterization. letting her be the POV character in some situations and express complex feelings on raising this crazy kid was just great. Uncle Ben being a fully realized guy was great too. In general the adults are well-realized from the start

the teenagers were written pretty authentically (see above). They hate each other except when they don't and it's great.

I like Kenny Kong! he's an interesting new player

Once they ran out of things to copy from ASM I started liking the original developments more in general

Nonpassage of time aside, events have consequences. Sticking with the same writer + couple of artists for an extended period of time solves like 80% of my modern mainline marvel quibbles. Subtext doesn't get obliterated by writers without the time or will to actually think about past comics!

I know this is a stupid sucker thing to like but the Raimi movies being a thing within USM and Peter hating them is great.

Despite my earlier SHIELD complaint, I think resonates strongly for a modern high school age Peter to feel surveilled and railroaded. He's out of his depth all the time and blisteringly angry about it. Even if I prefer an adult Spidey that IS the teenage experience.

I grew to enjoy SHIELD when it was actively imploding. The shadow government cleaning up after our hero and sending him to bed is boring. A badly managed government agency stooping to ask a 15 year old to help them chase a flaming naked goblin man through Trump tower with full understanding of how stupid and irresponsible that is? Now we're talking.

I LOVED the Norman Osborn characterization in his first "death" arc. perhaps my favorite Norman of all time. just ideal combo of steely control freak and off-the-wall deluded guy

[shokuto]

What are your favorite aspects when it comes to Miles and Gwen's characters in the Spider-Verse films?

For Miles, I like how seriously he’s taken as a superhero, let alone Spider-Man. In the comics (Post Secret Wars 2015, and especially nowadays) people “little bro” him, if that makes sense. Villains, civilians, even editorial themselves don’t give him the same respect they’d give Peter Parker, someone’s always calling him “kid”, making him out to be an inexperienced rookie well on the fast track to getting himself killed, or going out of their way to establish that there’s another Spider-Man out there they can be counting on, whereas in Peter’s stories, Miles may as well not even exist. So in that vein it’s extremely refreshing for Miles to be portrayed as not only as NY’s sole Spidey, but the one that everyone counts on, and damn well better respect too. At least, I got that last impression when he outright told Peter not to call him kid, and outsmarted the spider-society in its entirety (bars) solely because they underestimated him. Watching the Spider-Verse movies gives me the same feeling as reading his Ultimate comics for the first time, so full of promise and untethered to an editorial office constantly trying to remind us what the score is and keeping his stories low stakes.

I also like his relationship with his parents, not because of the love, but because of the conflict that not only coexists with, but stems from that love. I feel Miles’ relationship with his parents in the comics, while loving, doesn’t even bother with introducing a little friction, a little conflict between these people who love each other and instead lay all the positivity extremely thick. It’s like a dream sequence where nothing bad happens, no one says or does anything they don’t mean or don’t like and there aren’t any misunderstandings. Which is just, completely unbelievable to me. Spider-Verse Miles’ relationship with his parents is 100% more interesting than the one in the comics because it feels so much more real.

For Gwen, I like how they perfectly maintain how much of a mess her life is. ITSV was mostly from Miles’ perspective, so her one awkward moment (“Gwanda. It’s African. South—African.”) doesn’t stand out as much as Miles literally tearing her hair out when hitting on her goes wrong. But as the indisputable deuteragonist of ATSV, we get to see more of her perspective, more of her shortcomings, more of the honest and vulnerable side to her that we didn’t have the time to see all that well in ITSV.

And for the both of them? Well, I like how their arcs perfectly entwine with how gone they are for each other, how they seek the comfort and understanding they can’t really get from anyone else just as they’re getting used to being tragically misunderstood. When BTSV sticks the landing they’re gonna be like, the best cbm romance to ever grace a big screen.

[samasmith23]

Diving into The Abyss arc of Donny Cates' Venom!

I'm currently marathoning Donny Cates' Venom run in the "Venomnibus by Cates & Stegman" that I got as a birthday present this year. I re-read "The Abyss" arc published in Venom (2018) #9-12 just a few nights ago (which was the last arc from the run that I originally read back in 2019), and holy FREAKING crap... I had honestly forgotten just how effectively heavy and powerful this arc truly was!

When I first read this storyline back in 2019, it completely blew me away with its sheer amount of shocking twists and revelations, ranging from the backstory of a teenage Eddie Brock being involved in a drunk driving accident in which he ran over and killed a kid, but ultimately got off despite wanting to plead guilty due to Eddie's abusive father Carl Brock violently forcing him to plead innocent, to the revelation that his older sister Mary Brock and past experiences with cancer were actually false memories implanted by the symbiote in order to manipulate Eddie into staying with it, to the fact that he has a son named Dylan Brock who was accidentally conceived during that brief time his ex-wife Anne Weying bonded with Eddie's symbiote and briefly became "She-Venom" during the 90s miniseries Venom: Sinner Takes All.

But re-reading the story now I can look back and greatly appreciate the sheer amount of craft that's on display with Cates' writing in this arc, since he carefully foreshadows all of these plot twists all throughout the arc through subtle hints and double-meanings in the character's dialogue. Aside from the brilliant narrative subversion of fooling the reader into initially believing that Eddie is the kid who's run-over in the flashbacks before pulling to rug to reveal that in actuality Eddie was the one behind the wheel, the twist that Eddie's sister was simply a false memory was expertly foreshadowed through both Carl & Dylan being absolutely confused whenever Eddie mentioned the name "Mary."

Another that I really love about the drunk-driving backstory is how it not only recontextualizes Eddie’s motivations as both an anti-hero and as a supervillain. In regards to his anti-hero persona, Eddie's constant proclamations about wanting to "protect the innocent" were rather ill-defined back when the character received over a dozen miniseries' during the 90s. But here Cates' emphasizes how Eddie's guilt over accidentally killing a kid and being let off due to being manipulated by his abusive father has made him want to try to protect "real innocents" from people like himself. but also during his time as a villain pursuing Spider-Man. As for how this backstory recontextualizes Eddie's tenure as a Spider-Man villain, during in the original David Micheline era in which Venom first debuted, Eddie’s hatred for Spidey was connected to the classic Death of Jean DeWolfe storyline, wherein Eddie wrote a series of interviews for the Daily Globe with a man he believed to be the notorious serial killer, “the Sin Eater,” whilst hiding the killer’s true identity under the guise of “first amendment rights and protecting his journalistic source.” But Eddie was eventually forced to reveal his source’s identity due to mounting police pressure and the Sin Eater’s rising body-count, which led to Eddie outing the Sin Eater as Emil Gregg. But literally 30-minutes later it was revealed that Gregg was just a copycat, as Spidey caught the real Sin Eater who turned out to be policeman Stan Carter, which led to Eddie being fired and refusing to take responsibility for his own failures by projecting the blame onto Spider-Man. Additionally, the Micheline's Venom: Lethal Protector & Zeb Wells' Venom: Dark Origin miniseries highlighted how Eddie’s relationship with his estranged father partially influenced his writing of the Sin Eater interviews in an effort to bolster his reputation, but following his firing permanently destroyed any chances of reconciliation with Carl Brock.

And in those classic stories Eddie constantly proclaimed that he was “once an innocent whose life Spider-Man ruined,” even though his actions as a journalist were incredibly morally dubious and unethical. So the drunk driving backstory of Eddie being violently forced to plead innocent by his father and ultimately getting off? That only further fleshes out Eddie’s inability to accept responsibility and false projection of “innocence” onto himself during his villainous phase in those original stories, while also showing how much Eddie has grown since then by acknowledging that he’s not a “real innocent.”

Plus, there's also a strong thematic through-line in this arc about the nature of abusive relationships in the form of Eddie's co-dependent bond with the Venom Symbiote plus Carl's abusive behavior towards Eddie in the past & Dylan in the present day. Additionally, Cates also touches upon ideas of self-improvement and redemption, not only through the backstory of Eddie's motivation to "protect the innocent," but also through the story ending with Eddie deciding to raise Dylan himself after helping him escape Carl's influence, as well as the Venom symbiote willingly leaving Eddie & Dylan after the former denounces the symbiote's manipulative behavior, with the symbiote proclaiming that it's, "Trying... to... be... better... both... of... you... better... without... me..."

It shows that the key difference between Carl and both Eddie & the symbiote is that Venom at least acknowledges his past monstrous behavior and makes efforts to change unlike his coward of a father, thereby simultaneously allowing Eddie to overcome the demons of his past with his abusive father, as well as making the symbiote's later reunion with Eddie in Absolute Carnage more believable!

Like... hot dang! There's a reason why "The Abyss" arc in particular left such a lasting impression on me when I initially read the first 12-issues of Donny Cates' Venom series a few years ago! Not only does it still hold up phenomenally well from both a narrative and thematic standpoint, but it's gotten me even more excited to dive into the rest of Cates' Venom run and the corresponding Absolute Carnage and King In Black events, which will be my first time ever reading those stories!

However, I do have some thoughts regarding two minor points of contention about Cates' run as a whole and "The Abyss" arc in particular that I've encountered from toxic fandom spaces here on Tumblr that I also wanted to address, which I'll link to right here: