#a lot of DC heroes wanna take him in

[bluerosefox]

Misunderstandings and Miscommunications

Back at it again with some

✨️ Shenanigans ✨️

Brain rot.

Here goes.

So Danny finally tells his parents the truth (Phantom Planet not happening in this AU) and due to his anxiety and fear takes their disbelief and horror and yelling (not mad or angry but like worried yelling) as rejecting him.

They had rejected Vlad a few weeks ago when he had been caught as Plasmius but they only rejected him because they had found out he had been trying to kill Jack in order to get to Maddie and had been hurting Danny behind their backs while also trying to get him to denounce Jack as his dad, it had nothing to do with him being part ghost.

They do love Danny and are just horrified their invention had killed their baby boy and that they had been trying to hurt him for a last few years because they didn't know he was Phantom (but the clues, oh the clues were staring at them in the face now, how blind they were to it oh.)

Due to Danny's panic he runs off into the Infinite Realms in order to hide with one of his ghost friends but.... he runs into some trouble (Skulker? Walker? idk pick any) and gets tossed in a random portal that had opened up.

And finds himself in the DC verse.

Danny accidentally falls into a huge battle as well and when he spots the heroes trying to protect the city he fell into from some huge evil villain he helps out despite his own emotions (it helps distract him from what he 'thinks' happened between him and his parents)

And once he's done helping he books it cause he need to process everything and doesn't stop when the hero he helped out called out to him, and phases out and turns invisible if the hero tries to stop him to talk. It isn't long until Danny is in a new city and finds some more people to help from villains and evil, and he starts using it to distract himself.

Basically Danny aimlessly wanders around and starts helping anyone to keep his mind off the thought of never being able to go home again.

Meanwhile his parents are PANICKING about not being to find Danny after he runs. They try calling his friends, but the moment they hear the Fenton's say they know about him being Phantom they too jump the gun and think Danny was rejected. They both yell, not letting the Fenton's say anything, and let slip Danny most likely is hiding in the Infinite Realms (aka the Zone) if hes not in Amity.

Tucker and Sam immediately hang up and call Jazz, whose at college, before the Fenton parents could and tell her what happened. And Jazz isn't happy.

Despite being so smart and willing to give their parents so many chances to change their views on Ghosts, she's not a child anymore and isn't going to let them hurt Danny (they don't want to). She starts making her way home to give her parents a piece of her mind.

But by the time she gets there, driving all night, her parents are missing and she finds a video message on the computer from Tucker explaining they had snuck into the house to go into the portal to try to find Danny only to see the Fenton parents suiting up and going into the zone with the Specter Speeder and Boo-o-rang keyed to Danny. "No doubt they're going to hunt Danny down, we're going to try to slow them down and find Danny before they do Jazz! We left an extra Boo-o-rang behind keyed on Danny's signature come help us when you get this message! Take Danny's Specter Bike I made sure the keylock is off!" (Let's pretend Tucker tinkered with the design of the Specter Speeder and made some bike versions, with Danny and funnily enough Johnny 13's help, it was fun bonding thing they all did)

Jazz is even more livid after that. Takes a few things and heads to the portal as well, hopefully to find Danny first before her parents.

By the time Jazz finds the portal that opens to the DC verse she's in Gotham, runs into Red Hood (and helps take down some gang goons but in the process her Boo-o-rang gets busted in the scuffle) and basically they talk. She asks if he's seen any runaway blue eyed black haired young teens around and Jason jokingly says "Nope but we better find him before the Big Bad Bat takes him and turns him into a Robin."

Jazz is very confused.

MEANWHILE

The Fenton parents are of course making a menace of themselves... They're driving around (which is a warning enough if Jack is behind the wheel) trying to find Danny to explain that they do love him and to come back home, and when they do find Danny he freaks out and starts booking it again (right as he actually stopped to talk enough with a hero too). The heroes of the DC verse whose meet Danny and those that heard about some young 'meta' teen whose been helping out and is very powerful, take note how scared and panicked he looked when facing the two and things get worse when they take note how... careless they are going after him (cause we know the Fenton's get a little extreme) and add the fact they look like mad scientists too (they haven't been sleeping well since Danny ran off)

So the DC heroes start assuming the worse for the young teen hero...

It gets even much WORSE when Tucker and Sam, who are hot on the Fenton's heels as well, show up and eventfully tell them what happened (or what they think happened) when they gain their trust.

Basically, a lot of miscommunication happens.

Danny thinks he needs to be on the run from his parents and is helping out in the DC verse to keep his mind off his own breaking heart from the rejection (if you wanna make it serious maybe have his actual core in danger from the rejection or something). And is nearly adopted by every hero who see's this sad ghost kid.

His parents are labeled mad scientists (kinda are) who are hunting Phantom down to end him or experiment on him but they actually DO love him and just want their son come back home. (due to being Fenton's they do kinda accidentally cause a lot of mayhem in their wake)

Tucker and Sam are trying to be amazing friends and stopping the Fenton's from hurting their best friend but much like Danny they are a bit too caught up in their emotions to realize the truth of what happened and may or may not alerted the JL and JLD why Danny is on the run in the first place. (when they had down time to find out where they were they found out about the meta protection laws and is kinda using that to get Danny help)

Jazz is in Gotham, has no way to track Danny down at the moment, is talking with Red Hood (coughAngerManagementcough) about finding her brother and saving him from her parents before they do anything to hurt him. Cue Red Hood (and maybe with the help of the Outlaws) helping Jazz go find her brother.

This can be serious but I mostly see it being silly with nothing but shenanigans and a lot of miscommunication.

[madametamma]

I like Danny Phantom. I like DC. I’m not sure if I want to just outright block any of the tags because I do genuinely find some good art, and fic prompts, but 90% of the time I find myself just scrolling past entirely uninterested whenever I see the DCxDP tag.

It’s because if any member of the justice league is involved with Danny, than I’m about a 99% sure of how the story is going to end.  They’re going to want to adopt him/ take care of him/ask him to join the league or Batfam, etc  Which is sweet and I don’t fault anyone for being into that.  I’m certainly not against happy endings, or even stories where I can easily predict the ending, but now it seems like the DP space is filled with fics like them and it feels tiring.

Something I love about DP fics is that you can have the same set up across different stories with different outcomes. Have Danny’s secret be revealed to his parents and sometimes they’ll accept him, sometimes they’ll kill him, sometimes it’s a bumpy ride before settling in an uncomfortable, middle. The same with sometimes making Vlad a good guy or bad guy, or the different roads that Valerie may take.

I know you see the angsty kid and you want to write for him that everything works with other superheros who’ll help him out but I’m personally just so tired of it. I’m also pretty sure someone can point me in the direction of a few good DPxDC with tragic endings but I’ve just lost my zest for these crossovers in general.

[celaenaeiln]

thinking about some quotes i’ve read and i wanna hear your thoughts on them because i have a lot and i don’t know what to do with them.

“the day Dick Grayson turns evil is the day the universe ends, not because that day will never come but because the boy will make it come”

“Dick Grayson isn’t the universal constant of good. Dick Grayson is the universal constant of competence”

“So, having said all that, it is a few but definitely significant words that fill the contingency plan on Nightwing in case the hero of Bludhaven ever turns to the dark side. Let's hope that never happens.”

YESSSSS

“the day Dick Grayson turns evil is the day the universe ends, not because that day will never come but because the boy will make it come”

This is the truest fact I've ever heard because this is really canon.

Word for word this happened.

In one of the canon timelines Clark laser blasted Bruce under mind control.

And oh how Dick took over. You know what Luthor says?

"After all, as I've heard your father [Dick] so often quoted, 'we make the hardest decisions for those we care about the most.' Well, in his case...that has meant remaking the world."

This man has the power to single-handedly control the fate of the world.

Whatever he wants, he will make it happen.

The entirety of the justice league, all the metas, heroes, and villains too stood no chance against him.

DC vs Vampires

“Dick Grayson isn’t the universal constant of good. Dick Grayson is the universal constant of competence”

I think it's true.

Nightwing is one of the most formidable figures in DC, without fail consistently coming out on top, so if Superman is iterating that Dick's personality and essence of being is the same, then there's really no room for disagreement.

But more truly, I think he is a Nexus.

By Marvel's definition, "Nexus Beings are rare individual entities with the ability to affect probability and thus the future, thereby altering the flow of the Universal Time Stream. These beings, each referred to as a nexus, act as the keystones of the Multiverse and are crucial to its ultimate coherence and stability."

That means that the universe hinges on the actions of Dick Grayson.

Not only does he control the fate of the world but his mere existence determines what will become of it by other people:

I'd like to reiterate that Neux Beings are "the keystones of the Multiverse and are crucial to its ultimate coherence and stability."

You can still be a nexus if you turn dark. For example Lore was a dark version of Wanda Maximoff but she is still considered a nexus. So you're right in saying that Dick Grayson is a multiuniversal constant of competence.

“So, having said all that, it is a few but definitely significant words that fill the contingency plan on Nightwing in case the hero of Bludhaven ever turns to the dark side. Let's hope that never happens.”

In the easiest terms as someone put it, "hope he fucks up" is Bruce's only contingency plan against Nightwing. The man doesn't have a clear plan how to neutralize Nightwing.

His exact words are: "As a result of overanalyzing any situation, this allows Dick Grayson to overconfident and misdirected. This will make himself open to a second attack."

So the plan is basically 'Dick is too smart for his own good so we'll have to go with a lucky surprise attack.' He's literally saying 'yupppp. Let's just hope he messed up because there's nothing we can do on ouR end.' Note that Bruce doesn't even have a back up like 'the second attack didn't work? we're fucked.'

For everyone else he actually has a coherent plan in mind- do this and they will fall. But for Dick? 'I hope he messes up enough for a second attack to actually stick. Otherwise we're shit out of luck. And lives. Fingers crossed he doesn't jump to the bad side.'

Tim also confirmed he would never make a contingency plan for Dick. The only person in the world he wouldn't do one for.

He's just that formidable of a man. Even now he can easily take down the Justice League if he wanted to.

And we know that Dick has one of the strongest wills on the planet.

"I have my enhancements. I have powers. Dick Grayson...what do you have?"

A world where Dick loses his emotions is a world that would not survive.

[starwrighter]

( I've seen a lot of Dp x Dc crossover posts lately and I just want to thank you guys for fueling my hyperfixation.)

Now! On to my take on the whole Lazarus pits= corrupted ectoplasm thing.

Correct me if I'm wrong but pretty much every single member of the Batfam has been in contact with Lazarus water. In most crossovers it's always Danny going "Hey! You're like me!" With Jason and then not reacting like that with the rest of the Batfam despite the fact that pretty much all of them have been revived. While Jason's pit madness is a pretty good reason for Danny to recognize him a ghostly, I like the idea of Danny recognizing the entire batfam as ghosts better.

Give the batfam a weaker ghost sense! I wanna see the batfam get all sad because they instinctively know that Danny has died and they think they failed him. Queue the batfam subtlely trying to help Danny both as civilians and vigilantes.

Make Danny completely misunderstand why his ghost sense is going crazy around these seemingly living people. I want him to be excited that there are so many halfas around Gotham and to be even more excited when he finds out they're heros like him. After a while Danny starts to be himself around the batfam, not suppressing any of his non human traits like the chirps and trills he let's out that no human voice box could mimic. (Jason is very confused as to why Danny's chirps are so calming to him but he sure as hell isn't going to complain about it.) The rest of the Batfam is confused as hell to find out their new family member is not human. They frantically search to find information on Danny species so they can help him better without the chance of hurting him, only much to their horror they find the Fenton's "research" and the fucked up mess that calls themselves the G.I.W.

It's sickening for them to think that their new youngest family member could have been and probably was brutally experimented on because apparently it's completely legal for people to kidnap and torture Danny's species. Jason loses his shit when he finds out about the anti ecto laws and Danny finds himself watching his new family beating the everliving crap out of every single member of the G.I.W they can find.

That's it, that's the post. Just Danny confusing the Batfam for halfas like him and being his adorable eldritch self. (Also nine or ten year old Danny because I'm obsessed with Damian being an older sibling.)

[jaxon-exe]

A severely underused plot point on dpxdc fanfics is the fact that in DP ghost can canonically be mind controlled. Like the possibilities!!

Like take whatever villain u want, give them a magic thingy like freakshows’ staff and have them control Danny and that be how he meets the dc heroes. Heroes that at first don’t know he’s being mind controlled and thinks he’s just a knew powerfully villain. Then over time them learning what’s happening and doing everything they can to save this kid!

One idea I had for this is that scarecrow is the villain that controls him. That he somehow learns about ghost but his info is a little off so he just thinks ghost r being made to bring humans terror. Then he gets the mind control thingy and summons the most powerful ghost he can which ends up being Danny. I think this would work best with a Ghost King Danny that is a bit Eldritch horror.

Or it could even be that scarecrow summons a bunch of ghost to terrorise Gotham and no one can do anything about it bc they can’t fight ghost. Then Danny bc he’s a halfa gets a little bit of wiggle room on the mind control and manages to get the bats to understand that non of them wanna do this

Like I said I just think there’s a lot of things that can be done with this fact and it is not used enough

[captainkirkk]

✩ WEEKLY FIC ROUND-UP ✩

All the fics I’ve read and really enjoyed in the past week-ish. Reminder: This list features any and all ratings and themes. Please look at tags and warnings on ao3 before reading.

Harry Potter

The Ordeal of Being Known by louisfake

When Auror Potter is anonymously cursed with silence by being forced to hide his own voice inside his mind, there's unfortunately only one person in the country with the qualifications to fix it: Certified and Licensed Healer Legilimens, Draco Malfoy, specialist in Mind Curses and Afflictions. It's obviously a terrible idea, a disaster waiting to happen, but Draco's never been able to back down from a challenge... especially from Potter.

Features fuzzy cartoon slippers, devious house elves, 90s music, and lots—LOTS—of memories. Ron is annoyingly hot, Hermione sees right through you, Harry is a powerful idiot, and Draco is a reclusive masochist that would buy an entire city if it would make a kid happy. (And Pansy is "5'2, I wanna dance with you, and I'm sophisticated fun.")

Super Mario Bros

Cooking Mama (Luigi)! by Little_RedHots_Riding_Hood

Luigi was having a perfectly peaceful stroll through the Toad Market - the sun was shining, he'd just found a lovely handmade blanket, and was on his way to the bakery before heading back to his and Mario's home.

Only... what was that sniffling noise from that dark, scary alleyway?

Of all the creatures he was expecting to find, the littlest prince of the Koopa Kingdom certainly wasn't it.

Star Wars

the tiger is out by elumish

Wolffe looks like he’s regretting having a second Jedi with them.

DC

Cryp-Tim by PrinceJakeFireCake

"The cons of dating Tim Drake were innumerous. For one, he was almost impossible to photograph, and so none of Kon’s friends at school actually believed he existed. His family was scary, horrifying really, and all of them seemed to find joy in making Tim regret ever being born. And Tim had charmed Ma and Pa Kent so thoroughly, they had ditched their shovel talk to instead coo at him and offer him pie and compliment him for fixing their tractor, so Kon was at a disadvantage when it came to intimidating someone with his family.”

Kon and Tim date. It goes pretty well, all things considered.

Tim Has a Hero Worship-y Crush on Every Robin Ever by PrinceJakeFireCake

"Tim as an adult was bad enough, Tim with no filter as a child was too much to be around."

Cork Board Contingencies by PrinceJakeFireCake

If you don’t use a cork board to obsessively plan contingencies for every possible way a date with your best friend can go, how can you go on a date at all?

Excerpt: “Are you free next Saturday?” Tim asked, pretty sure that Kon’s jumble of words was agreement that he wanted to date Tim.

“Maybe!” Kon exclaimed.

“Cool,” Tim commented, taking another sip of his drugged grape soda (“Dammit, Tim,” he mentally told himself. “Do not give in! Buy new grape soda! Stop drinking the drugged grape soda! I’ve shotgunned another can of drugged grape soda, haven’t I? Dammit, that makes five!”) then saying, “That gives me just enough time to pass out for fifty-two hours and plan our first date."

Immunology by JustGettingBy

Hypothetically speaking. Could a hybrid creature become suddenly not viable? Like say it survives being an embryo, makes it through growing up, and then just one day… stops? the text from Kon reads.

Tim’s heart spikes up through his ribs. Kon. What’s happening?

(OR Kon gets the flu. It becomes Tim's problem.)

Change of Plans by PrinceJakeFireCake

"Who’s your friend, Tim?” the voice asked.

Jason hissed. This was his baby! Not his friend!

“Sorry, sorry,” the voice hastened to apologize. “I mean, who’s your parent, Tim?”

AKA, who has the time to be a murderous crime/drug lord when there are kittens to adopt

Motion Blur by sElkieNight60

At Damian's school art showcase, Bruce realizes he needs to help Tim reframe their relationship.

[pluckyredhead]

Did I just read your Super Sons primer from 2020 at 3 am on a Monday morning because I'm having a real normal one? Maybe?! I'm wondering how you feel about how they and their relationship has developed since then. IMO it's... Pretty bleak. 😩

I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT IT. (Also here's the primer for anyone who missed it.)

So I will say that 95% of everything Jon has been in since he got aged up has been hot garbage, but I do think the exception is when Damian is around. But let's take it from the top!

First of all, I don't necessarily think they should de-age him again. Generally speaking I think it's better storytelling to focus on fixing things moving forward, rather than undoing things moving back. Sure, if DC came up with some big cosmic event that reset Jon to 11, I certainly wouldn't complain, but I'd rather see them, uh...do literally anything with Teen Jon that doesn't suck.

But yeah, aging Jon up to begin with still makes me livid because:

I want my baby to have had a childhood.

It's fully character assassination for Lois and Clark. They would NEVER let their 11-year-old go to outer space with a supervillain. Lois would NEVER just abandon him out there, and Clark would NEVER respond with "Well, I'm sure he's fine, wanna have marathon sex?" I honestly have no idea what Bendis or his editor were thinking.

They have not done a single interesting with him since!!!

Putting this behind a cut because it got LONG. Also spoilers for Beast World in there.

I've said this before, but I have to assume that Bendis wanted to age Jon up because he wanted to write a Legion book. But he also in his wisdom decided to bring Kon back into continuity at exactly the same time, which means we have two nearly identical Superboys that DC didn't and still doesn't know what to do with. Kon clearly couldn't have joined the LOSH because he already had a team, but you know what Super teen was available, and not 11, and who has a history with the Legion that goes back almost as long as Clark's? KARA. But I will save that rant for another day.

And honestly, Kara dodged a bullet, because that Legion book was unreadable. Bendis at his most Bendis-y wall of text interrupt-y conversations and no plot. If I give Tom Taylor any credit it's that the second he got his hands on Jon, he torpedoed Jon/Imra as a ship. GOOD.

And when the LOSH book finally went out with a whimper (that JLA/LOSH miniseries! what was that!!!), we entered the Taylor Era. Taylor's quirks are less stylistic and more narrative than Bendis's. You can spot Bendisian dialogue at twenty paces, but a Taylor comic tips its hand when it sets up a really interesting premise or a really high stakes threat and then immediately undercuts it with a little wet fart noise of nothing. To wit:

Jon's starting college! This will be an interesting challenge for him to readjust to normal life after six years in a torture-volcano and an indeterminate amount of time in the future, and also considering he never graduated from sixth grade. I wonder what will - oh no he dropped out after three pages. (He has done NOTHING in his civilian identity since, btw. I guess he's too busy hovering just behind Dick at all times to work on his GED or whatever.)

Jon is going to confront Ultraman! Finally the comics will have to engage with all the trauma he must have - oh no Ultraman's dead.

Jon is trapped in the Injustice Universe! This is a really dangerous universe that might make him question everything he knows about - oh he just lectured everyone and flounced off home.

Beast World is a perfect example. Taylor seems to think that having a hero effortlessly solve a problem makes them look badass, but it's actually the effort that makes them look badass. So like, we spent five months keeping the Kryptonians and other A-class heroes away from the spores because the spores are attracted to power and if a Super got spore'd everyone would be in big trouble...but then in the last issue, they just have Jon fly up to everyone with a spore in them, wait for the spore to jump at him, and catch it? That doesn't make the Titans look smart or Jon look tough. It makes all of them look like idiots because it it was that easy, why didn't they do that in the first place?

On top of that, Taylor doesn't ever really earn relationships. Jon and Jay is the obvious one. Jay has no personality. There's no chemistry between the two characters. Jon might as well be dating a cardboard cutout labeled "Proof of Queerness." (Or "Bernard." Ahem.) But we're supposed to be like, yes, give Tom Taylor a GLAAD award for using queer characters as props, when he's going to turn around and kiss Chuck Dixon's ass on social for being homophobic about Jon? UGH.

Honestly worse for me though is the Jon and Dick relationship. Because Taylor is writing both characters, we're supposed to believe that there's this close mentor-mentee bond there? I don't think they EVER interacted before the Taylor era. (And don't even look at me with that retconned-in scene of Dick finding lost baby Jon. You're telling me that Superman, with his X-ray and telescopic vision, needs to call Bruce and Dick for help finding his own son? Fuck off.)

Anyway it all combines to make basically every Jon appearance for the past three years profoundly unsatisfying. Even the stuff that isn't by Taylor never goes anywhere. Remember when he was jealous of the Super Twins for two panels? And then everyone forgot about it forever? SIGH.

HOWEVER.

However.

If there is one thing that Bendis and Taylor and every other writer got right, it's that Jon is crazy bonkers in love with Damian always and forever. Jon has been written like shit since 2019, but he has also not wavered in his devotion for even one single solitary second.

THE EVIDENCE:

This is the first thing Jon does when he gets back to Earth:

He then tells Damian he's contemplating not joining the Legion because he'll have to leave Damian behind. Damian tells him to go and then come get him if it's cool.

Turns out the Legion is cool. Jon comes and gets Damian. The Legion isn't happy about it and Jon threatens to leave if Damian can't stay, while gazing adoringly at Damian's unconscious body cradled in his arms:

Eventually LOSH is canceled and Jon comes home and starts following Damian around by listening for his heartbeat. LIKE PALS DO!

Then Damian gives him a pep talk!

Then there's this ABSOLUTE CUDDLE:

The way Damian nuzzles into Jon's shoulder! Can you even stand it!

And then there's this:

The climax of Son of Kal-El, btw, is one of the several times Jon is saved by Damian and confides in Damian and turns to Damian for comfort or advice...and Jay is just sort of standing there off to the side. I am fully aware I have ship goggles on but the degree of emotional investment Jon has in these relationships is not the same.

Then they had a special issue teamup:

Then we got Dark Crisis, and I actually love this interaction between them, because they are very different people with very different upbringings and this feels extremely in character to me for how they would both handle the loss of their fathers:

But even when they disagree, they still instantly support each other. Jon comes back with information? Damian makes a plan:

Also, we got the 2022 Pride issue where Jon, Jay, and Damian go to Pride together. I know that story is...contentious...but leave me here with Damian sulking while Jon and Jay kiss, okay?

Then we get Adventures of Superman, which is objectively awful, but Jon does spend his whole time in the Injustice universe thinking about Damian like the seagulls in Finding Nemo saying "Mine? Mine? Mine?"

This whole arc is truly hilarious. Jon finds out that Damian accidentally killed Dick and his response is to a) go find Batman and yell at him for not supporting Damian enough for accidentally killing Dick, and then b) go find Damian to be like "Wow, that must have been really hard for you (accidentally killing Dick)." There's being ride or die for your BFF, and then there's whatever the fuck Jon has going on.

(Meanwhile there's an incredibly uncomfortable scene with him and Injustice Jay where Jay "tests" him by trying to get Jon to cheat on regular Jay. So. That happens.)

And then just this past month we got Nightwing #110, where we learn that Jon is still listening to Damian's heart:

He completely freaks out watching Damian in danger, and immediately intervenes when it looks like Damian is about to kill someone because he knows what matters the most to Damian. Also, this happens:

YOU WIN THIS ONE, TAYLOR.

AND THEN THEY BICKER I LOVE IT WHEN THEY BICKER:

AND THEN DAMIAN LETS HIMSELF BE VULNERABLE BY ASKING JON IF HE HURT ANYONE WHILE HE WAS A KITTY, AND JON GIVES YET ANOTHER SPEECH ABOUT HOW DAMIAN HAS NEVER DONE ANYTHING WRONG EVER, IN HIS LIFE, AND DAMIAN STAGGERS OFF, LEANING ON JON.

This isn't even getting into the Trinity backup stories in Wonder Woman, which, like...Tom King is not valid but Jon and Damian are such an old married couple in them? It's truly incredible?

It took me like 45 minutes to parse Jon's line here as the general 'you" and not specifically Jon saying Damian wasn't straight. But like..."That's for straight people, which has nothing to do with us" is a hell of a thing to say, Jonathan.

I ALSO haven't even talked about DCeased because it's a different universe, but! Jon sitting with Damian while he dies??? MY HEART.

IN CONCLUSION:

Yes, they should never have aged up Jon.

Yes, most of his appearances since have been terrible and bland.

But OH BOY, do he and Damian remain in love.

[phantomskeep]

Another hot take because I can't get the idea of queer moms ivy and harley out if my head;

So dannys on the run from the GIW (shocker) and ends up in Gotham because of Reasons™ (aka plot). He's tired, exhausted, and overall not having A Good Time. So he does what any half-dead teenager with combined mommy and daddy issues does - he finds an alley, sits down and cries a little.

Totally normal teenage super hero stuff.

When suddenly there's like a loud cackling near the entrance of the alley as well as some sus grunting noises. Danny, being a curious cat with a half life left, investigates (read: he sticks his head through a dumpster). What he sees shocks him a little bit. There's a wanna-be clown holding a green lady against a wall! Oh no! Shocker! This must be that joker guy everyones worried about, right? Because as a teenage superhero from the Midwest danny toooootally keeps up with all the other hero drama. Like an adult. He totally does, he swears it.

(or maybe alternative dimension? Or timeline?)

But so this joker lady is holding green lady hostage, right? So he steps out heroically (again, read: he falls through the dumpster and awkwardly stands there) and tells the joker lady to stop joking around and to let the hostage go!

Totally heroic.

But then joker lady and green lady look at him and kind of laugh, like "haha kid, that's funny" but dannys dead serious. Man goes "like no but seriously stop harming an innocent woman" which causes ivy to laugh and tell him he's cute. Ivy and Harley lead him on a bit to see if he's really just THAT clueless before realizing that, oh wait yeah, this kid has no idea who we are. They think it's very adorable that this child is trying to stand up to protect Harleys girlfriend/wife/lover? (idk I don't really keep up with the DC stuff) but so they kind of off hand ask Danny if he's new in town. Ofc being a (lovable) idiot he says yes. They ask if he has a place to stay. He says no.

So they abscond away to the dead mall with Danny in tow! Because if all else fails hed make a good goon.

Bonus of king shark and Danny legit getting on like a house on fire. Like he already knows a lot about plants because of Sam, but the ocean? And a talking shark? That isnt dead and wanting to fight him? The coolest thing since the Apollo 13.

[rezonan]

Red Hood, other Anti-Heroes/Villians and the issue with killing in comics.

First here's the thing before you read this, I just wanna say this isn't a post complaining about if killing is good or not, far from it so don't worry.

I also wanna say really like Jason Todd. One of my favorite Robins though I like him more as Red Hood. My only issue with him is that DC is stuck with his direction as a character(Not as much as Tim at least). For a lot of reasons

One of those things is that anti-Heroes don't work in main superhero universes at least in DC, in Marvel killing isn't looked down on much unless you do it like the Punisher(Consistently, no exceptions and extreme)

When I'm talking about Anti-Heroes I mean who don't hesitate to kill, because the definition of Anti-Heroes even include guys like Batman, Spider-Man, Iron man and Daredevil (Classical Anti-Heroes,Disney Anti Hero,) talking about the types like Huntress and Red Hood(Unscrupulous Hero) and Punisher (Nominal Hero).

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Analysis/AntiHero if you wanna know what I'm talking about.

An issue they have is that they kill criminals consistently, and those criminals include supervillains but in comic books, villians in comics are kinda a commodity. Villians are what makes the heroes. So DC obviously will never let Jason kill the Joker or Riddler or Poison Ivy or Bane, or let Frank Castle kill Green Goblin or Kingpin. That's getting rid of a commodity that writers need for stories.

It's why I laugh when people say why doesn't Batman kill the Joker or something, they won't let him guys. Joker is too popular to kill same with the rest of his rouges, the writers need the villians to continue writing more stories and if time has taught us anything is that new villians don't even catch on most of the time to replenish the old popular ones.

So Frank and Jason and left to keep offing mooks, looking stupid and incompetent for not taking out the actual threats or just offing D-listers, it then brings up the question of why doesn't JASON kill the Joker since he's always talking about how willing to kill he is. yeah sure they'll write Batman like the biggest dick to fight him not too but there has been times when nothing has been stopping Jason to do it, see what I mean?

There's also another thing that DC and Marvel just won't let chracters less popular than the big no kill rule big heroes be more effective (and this is coming from a guy whofor the most part is anti killing). You really think Marvel is gonna let Red Hood have the moral high ground with Batman or Punisher with Spider-Man or Captain America?

But yeah I don't wanna get into the whole 'should heroes kill debate' here just making a point.

This is why they honestly work in outside comic universes like the games or movies. See the 'Superhero Movie Villains Die' trope

Basically they just don't mesh well with the status quo nature of comics.

So now we have heroes/villians(yes I consider frank a borderline villian) who are known for killing but can't kill anyone significant for multiple reasons, like how Red Hood by the New 52 had like 83 kills but no one in there was anyone actually important.

This is why Punishers best run was in an entire different universe where heroes didn't exist so he could kill Kingpin without issues. With Punisher they can always stick with that or just do what they usually do and make him take out mooks and barely developed rouges. They recently made him the head of the hand and gave him superpowers, it's actually interesting in my opinion.

With Jason it's more complicated. There's two sides, he drops guns and killing and joins up with the bat family as a kind of character development or he unrepentantly leaves the bat family behind and starts killing people and using guns then runs into all the issues I mentioned above. The latter side believes that hum dropping killing and guns removes everything that makes him interesting while the former believes it's good character progression for him to drop it. I think both have good points.

Personally I think they should lean into the supernatural side of him, like go all in and make him the dude in the Batfamily that handles supernatural threats, his the only one in the family that has straight up superpowers (Edit: forgot Duke, forgive me but he got them before him so point stands I guess) with his All blades so take those and have him to team up with Zatanna or Constantine, fighting vampires and zombies. (Happy to see they are doing this with Cass kinda I haven't read Spirit World)

Or they lean into the Task Force Z/Outlaws/DCeased aspect of him leading other Mistfits, Anti-Heroes and Villians into becoming better people like with the thunderbolts from Marvel. Maybe hook him up with some kinda of government connection so people he kills aren't illegal during this redemption quests or something.

Well I've got nothing else to ramble about.

[on-leatheredwings]

damn..... at least i was smart enough to copy it

--

talia hating you with passion just to slowly warm up to you cus you make her son happy (smth which was considered nearly impossible).... yummy...... 🤤

sadly, i don't can't fully get into comics right now since I'm kinda busy with uni and paperwork but the stuff I've read so far was fun

my only question is WHy there are so many of them?!?? good for the fans ig but how am i supposed to read it without a guide??

I remember picking up some Batman and Robin volume where Batman turned out to be Dick. "is Bruce dead or something?" i thought jokingly.... 😔

Yes. Yes, he was dead, as i quickly found out..... At least now i put more thoughts into what i pick up to read

about btd - if your only problem is the artstyle you may check out The Price of Flesh. it was created by one of btd artists (the one who drew the fox guy) and it's relatively new, so the visuals are way better

no like getting into comics is genuinely so ridiculous and dumb lmao .... like the only way to read them is to go by like... character i guess?

if u wanna read damian, read batman and robin by tomasi and all its related runs, robin 2021 ... to read tim, read a lonely place for dying, robin '91, a lot of 90s batman also has tim as robin but not all-- UGH ITS SO FRUSTRATING.... kinda why i was a cartoons-and-video-games-only girlie back in 2017-2020 like i just need less options/more streamlined progression 😭😭😭😭

there are guides out there BUT OH LORD WHY DO WE EVEN NEED ONE... GUIDES TO READ MANGAS ARE LIKE: START AT CHAPTER 1. :)

AND YEAH NGL I FORGOT BRUCE WAS FR DEAD FOR A SECOND IN THE 2010'S AND DICK WAS BATMAN WHILE DAMIAN WAS ROBIN. LMFAOOO....

and hmmmmm !?!? ill check out tpof :3

something that makes me laugh is how bruce really should be like fucking 60-70 but so he can keep being batman, he's just eternally 40s-very early 50s. i think canonically the timeline from dick > jason > jason DYING > tim > jason COMING BACK > steph's small robin stint > damian > duke/cass is like. 10 years. which is kind of insane considering the decades of content. they would have to undergo these arcs EVERY DAMN DAY FOR THIS TO MAKE SENSE 😭

if dc was brave they'd retire batman and have cass take over while damian does more growing to inherit (altho he shouldn't . imo.) and what the fuck is tim doing

ppl are kinda fine with it but i feel him going robin > red robin > drake > robin is such a lame regression. he should have his own identity. red robin was already too much like robin, but now hes just ROBIN while damian is also robin. which is fine without context, im okay with multiple robins but come on can tim be his own hero now.

so yeah in general i just pick and choose what arcs i wanna read... i was huge into injustice back in the day which was an alternate universe games/comics canon. its rlly simpler living that way 🚬

[woltourney]

ROUND 1 / SIDE B / POLL 14

Naru (@blucifer08) v. Fortunate Storm (@kanden)

Naru:

q. What is your WoL name and pronouns? a. Naru, she/her

q. What is your WoL's species? a. Xaela

q. What is your WoL's class? Or classes? a. Reaper

q. What data centre/server are you on, if you want people to find you? a. N/A

q. Tell us a bit about your WoL! a. Naru became a hero in search of a missing piece of herself! She never felt satisfied in her home of the Steppe. She was an orphan, and although she had an adopted family, she sought out more from beyond the Steppe. She enjoys helping, but I don't think she likes the word 'hero.' In her free time she paints environmental paintings, tries out her bartender friend's drink combinations, and sunbathing :)

q. Why should YOU win? (Answer IC!) a. "Ah… I'm not too sure. I suppose I'll win if fate chooses me. I'll accept failure, no matter how bitter… Though I don't see it as likely."

q. Anything else you wanna add? a. In my canon, she got fully turned into a sin eater and she uses light instead of void powers as a reaper :)

Fortunate Storm:

q. What is your WoL name and pronouns? a. Fortunate Storm and he/him

q. What is your WoL's species? a. Hellsguard Roegadyn

q. What is your WoL's class? Or classes? a. His main class is ninja.

q. What data centre/server are you on, if you want people to find you? a. DC: Aether; Server: Jenova

q. Tell us a bit about your WoL! a. Fortunate is 28 years old and had a late start when becoming an adventurer. He kinda goes with the flow when learning about being an adventurer and taking up a class. But he has a kind heart and enjoys helping others out, so him becoming a hero felt right to him. He is naive when starting out, and while the events of ARR bring him down, he still holds a strong hope in the future and is willing to fight for the people around him. He is fine with being a hero, but feels some pressure when people look up to him. In his free time, he likes to cook and fish, and sometimes plays some games at the Gold Saucer.

q. Why should YOU win? (Answer IC!) a. I think I should win because I'm a cool person and I can cook something good for you if you vote for me! *thumbs up*

q. Anything else you wanna add? a. I'm a free trial player and I have only finished ARR, so not a lot of lore for Fortunate, but I have some ideas for him.

[moonstone27ls]

X-men 97 thoughts so far...

Gonna give one spoiler warning....

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Why? Because if reviewers haven't spoiled it, most youtubers have dozens of dozens of clips. Literally no point in me saying it much....

Sooo... that pretty much it....

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.....Spoiler warning....ends.......

............................................now....(Also warning I do not have a Disney+ account. I'm on a budget I'm relying on clip unfortunately)

So my thoughts initially when I was hesitant to really look at it. Not so much because Disney owns this now. Its just been a long time. I kinda quit watching the original cartoon I wanna say before the last two seasons.

First ep didn't really grab me. At first the animation turned me off. I can't give a definitive reason why. Just something about when they first talked. And also.... did everyone suddenly get paler? oO No I'm not accusing them of whitewashing Storm. I'm referring to in general. I mean even Magneto looks a bit bleached.

It at best seemed decent. Ep 2 was shown and I was intrigued to see Magneto was apparently in Charles will and just gave him everything. Either he loved/had faith in Magneto more than he showed or just dang he pulled a 180 as they say. Lol I kid, I do think Xavier did all that out of good faith.

That one grabbed my attention a lot more. To see Magneto struggle against what he's use to. To try and be better for Xavier and the X-men. I admit seeing Storm lose her powers was a shocker. But I don't believe she'll stay human forever.

As hard as it is sometimes to see the other side. The show did actually attempt to show a pov for humans. (And no not referring to friends of humanity group). Its just a youtber pointed it out, that although Storm was protecting Magneto, yeah through a humans' eyes the powers could look more terrifying. And although it was stupid of the doctor to refuse aid to Madelyne (Jean's clone, sorry warned earlier on spoilers).

I've watched enough hero shows to see... the doc had a point. DC's Ace accidentally killed her parent as a baby. Cyclops has had accidents. So the fear wasn't totally without cause. Still cool though that Rogue could absorb medical knowledge and the nurses complied.

Enjoyed Wolverine's face when she said the baby was coming. Baby Nathan was cute. And the monologue Magneto gave the UN was really well done.

Ep 3 came and well wasn't entirely shocked the Jean, Cylcops had a baby with would turn out to be her clone. I dunno if it was everyone guessing or the comic reference. Hmm for me it was her face in the background. I swear Madelyne looked more angry than shocked.

And also dang that was good moment to show us they could let go of some restraints. Besides the excellent animation in both their fears being shown and Goblin Queen's fight with X-men and Magneto. And I'm gonna say it... Jean's talk with Wolverine. Very sweet moment, it made me a Jean/Logan shipper. And I recall as a kid I wasn't really into it.

Though will it happen... dunno. Probably not. But I wouldn't be entirely against it. Especially watching that whole ep. Just neither one can remember when they got switched. Just awkwarddddddddd. And while it was sad Cyclops had to say goodbye to his baby, granted I had not read the comics but was told enough to know it was gonna happen. Changed obviously but cartoons does their own thing.

Ep 4 was okay, Jubilee's okay but stuff with Mojo was never my thing. I just enjoyed it when her and Roberto finally became an item. Super cute. Though surprised that the X-men just basically bent over when Magneto said "no" to Jubilee's birthday wish. I mean granted yes he owns their group?/or home. But they all literally wanted to enjoy/and give Jubilee a birthday party. Just surprised not even Wolverine offered to take them out.

Storm's arc was so far ok(waiting for part 2 to full give opinion). Felt sorry for her the entire time cause she clearly missed her powers. And was a bit surprised Forge made those weapons... (dunno if thats a direct ref to the comics).

Then on to ep 5... the one I think so far has clearly blown our minds. I'm not gonna lie part of me saw what happened with Genosha coming because I follow people who explain comic history. So moment the place was mentioned I thought "oh boy what are they gonna do". I am a bit surprised Cable attempted to stop it. Or warn others of it? Sooo... is Madelyne dead? Went to fast to show if she survived.

Action scenes were intense to say the least. Not gonna lie I will be super pissed if they killed off Remy just so Rogue can run back to Magneto. Yes I know what the robot said and everyone's all "Magneto's dead".... but considering how this ended I wouldn't be surprised if he's shown alive later. Guess just a bit surprised people died in general. I mean its not Invincible level but you get the idea still surprising.

Any personal notes... okay what I liked. Voice acting's good, glad they got back the original actors, animation, music even pretty good, some of the story has done fairly well. I like some of the new characters.. I mean I guess.. its been 5 episodes I can't say there's been a lot. All of the cameos and easter eggs.

Anything I don't like...the love drama. Cyclops love rectangle(had to add Wolverine). Not sure were the writers are planning to go with this. And Emma Frost is here, as a character I dunno. But her role with Cyclops I DO remember. Please people don't add more. Lol. After this ep I can already see his variables. One, Madelyne's alive and he choses her. Two, Madelyne's dead and he wants Jean back as a rebound; though she's clearly in my opinion should be given space instead of being asked to choose whom to love right now. Or three she's hurt and he drags his feet in between both. Which sucks.

Honestly although I know Logan turned Jean down. I would prefer Jean go "I need space". She finds her space and she just asks Logan on a date. Just to see where it goes.

Then there's the one I REALLY didn't ask for Rogue/Magneto/Gambit. Yes I know this was in the comics but even then I didn't like it. But onto the show version. Don't like it cause there was no hint of it in the series. And secondly felt like the story was trying to give us Rogue/Gambit as a couple. So to see them trying to find their footing and then shoehorn this love triangle in was EXHAUSTING. I mean I love Magneto as a character both hero/antihero and villain. But I don't ship him with Rogue. He's old enough to be her grandfather and the animation doesn't really do well of hiding it either. He's a cool grandpa but still grandpa to me.

AND yes I know this is a revival. But even their attempts to give it justification felt off. Their background made it more awkward. I'm giving my opinion to be clear. You don't like it don't read it. From what I can tell Rogue was kicked out as a teen. And according to the wiki she was 13.

She met Magneto (according to this revival ) sometime after Mystique took her in. What time? I admit it doesn't say. Given how she's in her mid 20s in the show. We still have to assume she was still a teenager when they met.

Again can't give a precise age besides the fact that it was vague on purpose. Secondly, the animators made her look her 20s age even when she met Magneto. And I'm not buying that. I get it they're attempting to not make this triangle so out of the blue.

But doing it like this now and then I'm gonna be blunt watching his actions/and that dance felt wayyyy more predatory than it did romantic. At least Wolverine wouldn't put Jean on the spot so he could get into her pants. I mean come on writers Magneto could literally have ANYONE else without making it feel predatory BD;.

I'll say it again, I will be PISSED if Gambit is killed and Magneto lives. And just so we can push a may/December romance NOBODY asked for. And at Gambit's expense.

Thats it. I'll write my opinions when the rest of the eps are shown. Later till then!

[volfoss]

Leaving it up to Tumblr to choose my next comic chronology in like... 2 months when I'm free of green lantern (2 months is not very generous I fear)

Reasoning under the cut :3 (very long)

Duke- pretty short (less than 200 issues), I really like his character from what I've seen of him. I think it will also be hell (as is the nature of most batman adjacent chronologies) but it'll be worth it... Nice and short one and also swag character

Jefferson- 1. Black lightning is very fun early on and 2. I've already made the spreadsheet so I just have to read it. He's just like... A very cool character and I like him a lot so far. I just am gods scaredest soldier with long chronos (which his isn't too bad but it's ALSO batman adjacent and those are so scary)

Barbara - my best friend Babs but also if I have to reread the killing joke I AM killing Alan Moore ok. In theory I love her SOOOO much. In practice I think the fact I'm having to keep a "how bad is the disability rep" counter next to each issue says a lot. Unfortunately. Also already made this spreadsheet but I think it would be a very bad and good time.

Clint- again in theory would be fun. He seems right up my alley but alas if I have to see Tony Stark I do fly into a blind rage. And unfortunately I think he appears a lot... And also unfortunately I think I would suffer due to blonde man disorder ok (as I always do)

Silhouette+Aaron- package deal bc they're siblings. I've already started this one and then stopped because whoever is writing the early stuff SHOULD go to hell for what they're doing. For those unfamiliar, silhouette is one of the only heroes I've ever seen using forearm crutches (pretty awesome) and her power is that she can kind of travel via shadow iirc? Which would be really cool if they didn't like... Make her lose all her clothes and mobility aids when she's doing this. Which is why I quit. But she's very very cool minus that (and in my mind... I know she's written better later on) and her brother is his own can of worms (in... Definitely a way). In theory tho I rly gotta get through their stuff

Theodore - first off: I am a FIEND for marvel 70s horror comics. Second off: he is better than swamp thing. Third off: his big red eyes. But to be serious though like .. the Steve Gerber and Gerry Conway era of man thing is SO good and like .. political in an interesting way. I just need motivation to get around to it. Also he's cutesy ok!!!

Jason Blood- another consequence of the 70s horror era fan but this guy has CRAZY lore. He's a medieval knight who got possessed by a demon thanks to Merlin and then he's just lived through the centuries and become an occult guy. Reasons why I stopped this one - sometimes old horror comics are bad and horrible. And also a like 60 issue Garth Ennis written series. But I do really wanna finish his stuff bc he's like .. DC's version of Hellstrom (which. Genuinely awesome character, if you're interested in older horror comics def check his original run out <- my plug for my silly husband hellstrom who sucks so much or whatever. He's rly good tho seriously)

Jennifer - I've already made her spreadsheet and started it but the writers are soooo fucking bad most of the time. It's actually horrific. Pros for her- pretty good character when written well (her hellcat series stuff was REALLY nice for me. But I'll always hype up patsy walker aka hellcat at any chance) cons for her- the misogyny ... And my reward for finishing it is watching the she hulk show. So take that as you will

Dracula- I started his stuff bc I was PROMISED Gerry Conway (who is like.. one of my top 5 writers. He does amazing old horror comics and made a bunch of very cool characters). And then he left like 2 issues in and it went downhill. Some of the same authors who did some of the good (other marvel vampire who is redacted for my own safety ok) issues did stuff for drac. In theory this would be silly campy 70s horror comics fun. In practice oh my god I am gaining new authors to hate so bad...

[dr-runs-with-scissors]

The Thad Thawne and Shigaraki rant

Gonna go and preface this with I'm absolutely sure some people will disagree with me and that's fine. Also gonna say there's probably a fair chance no one knows who tf inertia is so. Just roll with me I'll explain as much as my little brain can

ALSO I'm going to be referring to the OG run and Thad's kid zoom run and that ending. I've admittedly taken massive steps away from DC and I think there was stuff with his character post 2016 that I haven't read enough of. Clear? Okay.

Tw- gonna be a long post, mentions of abuse, creepy older men, spoilers for both series's

Thaddeus starts out his life as a clone of another character, Bart Allen and he's raised by his "father figure" president Thawne to just be a hateful little bastard really. Thad is a means to end for him and his only goal is to get rid of Bart - a lot of his initial characterisation in the impulse comics comes from his mission and relationship (or lack there of) to Bart.

Tomura was abused by his dad (to some extent anyway we can talk about that in a separate post) and after accidentally killing his family he's taken in by the story's big bad, All for one (AFO) who uses him as a means to an end, both grooming him to be his replacement body (we'll get there don't worry) and using him as the punchline to a joke with his nemesis. See tomura is the grandson of Nana shimura, the teacher and mother figure to All Might, one of the big damn heroes in MHA.

So already they're both starting strong with heavy connections to hero's and heroic families. They're trained and groomed by older men as a means to an end that ultimately isn't really their fight.

The next thing is a smaller thing, it's heavily implied that if That's were shown kindness and love he would have turned out well...not a murderous maniac but when he's offered that chance he ultimately declines, and that's in and of itself a nuances thing but ultimately he's never "saved". Tomura was left to the mercy of his family who he described as "rejected him" and when he kills them he's left traumatized and scared (he's only 5) wandering the streets and no one, absolutely no one comes to help, he's even more or less shooed off by a lady - it's all for one that comes to his rescue and takes him in, ultimately leading him down a hard track. Obviously there's differences here but the theme of needing someone in a moment and not getting it (too late in Thad's case and not a real saviour in tomuras) is interesting I think.

Last thing I wanna talk about and it's related to current events in MHA (as of ch374) so this might change but I doubt it.

Thad's story more or less ends with him dawning a new villain title 'Kid Zoom' - the sidekick for Zoom, one of the reverse flashes and after a series of reasonably complicated events he's eventually killed...by the other rogues from the flash's rogue's gallery. Which I always thought was super disappointing. In the end Thad ended up the same way he started - a tool for other villains and despite having what was a wonderfully interesting concept and potential he was reduced to yet another cog in the Allen's Vs Thawnes conflict.

Seem familiar? Yeah that's cuz Tomura is currently in the same position. Reduced to a means to an end in a longstanding grievance battle. All for One is possessing his body and it's looking like his only out is having izuku (the protag) save him which...just doesn't sit right with me like this for various reasons. MHA has increasingly become about the all for one Vs one for all conflict and tomura (and izuku) have become cogs in a conflict that wasn't even theirs. It's inherited. It's not a writing decision I'm a fan of, and people are more than welcome to disagree or argue with me.

Okay sorry for the rant but I'm sure I'll end up adding more to this as days go by

@multi-lefaiye this is your fault for enabling me (but thank you)

[maxwell-grant]

Thoughts on Mortal Kombat's favorite Jackass, Johnny Cage?

A lot of times when people bring up the more comedic characters in franchises as "the actual/objective best character", it's usually done so in ironic or semi-ironic jest, like that "Dan Hibiki is the Streetest Fighter" gag, but I'm not being ironic in the slightest when I say that Johnny Cage is genuinely a serious contender for The Best Mortal Kombat Character, and it frankly wouldn't even be close if his design and moveset had that "it" factor that other characters like Goro and Raiden and the ninjas had.

The worst thing you can say about Johnny Cage is that his fatalities and moveset used to be lame for most of MK's history and that the games didn't consistently tap into his appeal until MK9. But by the time he was tattooing his name on his chest, fulfilling the same role in the MK9 Story Mode that he did for the movie, breaking his glasses and getting identical replacements for every win pose, and also doing stuff like karate-chopping heads to shove Oscars in the vacant neck holes, that's when they started going somewhere with him.

Johnny Cage was the first character we shot, so he’s like the father of Mortal Kombat. When we were shooting him, we did every movement we could think of to try to get some kind of idea of what path to take during the game.

People think Johnny Cage is based on Van Damme because that’s what the game was supposed to be, but he was really modeled after Danny Rand, AKA Iron Fist. Same thing with Jax, who is actually modeled after Power Man. So we goof around and say that this was really the first crossover, because we were inspired by Marvel comic books, but the game’s owned by DC.

Johnny Cage was first, and my original idea for his fatality was to punch the guy so hard that his head goes flying off. But then John was like, because Van Damme had said no, “You want to poke a little bit of fun at Van Damme?” And I was like, “Uh, what do you got in mind?” He was like, “You can do the splits, and we’ll have him punch people in the nuts.” So I did that - An oral history of Mortal Kombat

I think a lot of what works about Johnny Cage, where other funnyman fighting game characters don't, is that Johnny started out unique in his own way, too. While visually he was just a dude in tights, he made a hell of an impression in the first game. Not just because of the Nut Shot, unheard of in fighting games at the time and still pretty rare even now ever since Cage made a name as “the fighting game character that punches you in the dick”, but also thanks to his fist-pump-and-sunglasses victory pose that kind of immediately established him in MK1 as the character with the most personality, even before you knew he had this movie star background, character traits the movie would wind up expanding on as it essentially defined much of Cage’s role and personality going forward. 

I suspect he’s probably the favorite character for the devs to write because so much of the dialogue and jokes surrounding him comes out so naturally. He has terrific interactions with everyone in the cast whether they’re hero and villain, they get to insert as many references and in-gags as they like in said lines and still be in character, they get to constantly refer to his in-universe film career and make interactions out of what the characters think of it (still love that he only has one in-cast fan, in Tremor), really, Johnny Cage’s personality is so much more well-defined than that of most (if not all) other characters, even today, that in MK11 he was one of the few characters who was given the honor of being an Announcer, a honor that’s only reserved for Boss characters and characters with deep and impactful voices (Raiden and Robocop). Johnny Cage was the exception because the devs rightfully knew people would wanna hear Johnny Cage get to roast and name-call everyone. Johnny really is a league of his own in terms of characterization.

Johnny's always had not only a unique hook and niche, but an important niche in the cast, as the funny human character who’s out of his depth next to all of these gods and monsters and warriors, who gets to be vain and goofy and as humiliated as he is humiliating to fight against, and he gets to be at genuine risk since his storyline contract wasn’t death-proofed until the reboot (and even then, Cage still gets the shit kicked out of him a lot, and usually in ways that hurt a lot more than what usually befalls guys like Scorpion or Liu Kang). I’d argue Cage is the most successful comic-relief character in fighting games partially because, unlike other comic-relief goofballs like Dan Hibiki or Paul Phoenix, Johnny Cage is part of a franchise that for the most part (that is, regrettable exceptions like Bo’Rai Cho aside), really, really doesn’t have any explicitly funny characters, or even that many human characters. 

It’s one thing for a cartoon character to exist in a setting that’s already skewed towards funny or cartoony or silly characters, but when the game is fought between realistic-looking designs and the setting is an eternal life-and-death struggle between vicious superpowered murderers who, even at their most benign, commit unspeakable acts of gore and torture as a player reward with the fate of Earth and the universe hanging in the balance, having one character who’s both a lot more lighthearted than the others, as well as the one most prone to looking at it and going “hey, that’s kinda fucked though, I don’t wanna kill weird lizard dudes I don’t know just cause an old man’s telling me to do it”, goes a long way to making him stand out and also ensuring that his jokes land, even when they’re not that funny. His jokes don’t even need to be consistently that funny or well-written, the fact that he’s a self-obsessed douchebag boomer goes a long way in ensuring even the most childish or basic insults are still in-character, but the fact that he’s cracking these kinds of zingers against these monsters and badasses at all in open defiance to them and their power definitely is also part of what makes him endearing to the audience.

Johnny’s a comic relief character who really emphasizes the “relief” part of the term, and there’s an interesting contrast with Johnny in that he’s got this laundry list of character flaws that all the others will extensively comment on, but on the other hand, he’s also consistently one of the most decent people in the entire setting and one of the most unambiguously heroic characters. Unlike a lot of other MK anti-heroes who will switch allegiances on a dime, it’s never into question that Johnny will fight for Earthrealm and even sacrifice himself to fight in the name of good and protect his world and his family.

I also realize that I’m saying this about a character who I just described as one who will karate chop skulls to then stuff trophies into the leftovers for an ironic gag, the same character who rips people in two and then holds their dangling torsos to pull off the world’s shittiest ventriloquist dummy act, something you can have him do against his wife and child but, look, it’s Mortal Kombat, you kinda have to get used to everyone turning into a bloodthirsty psychopath at your command no matter how they’re otherwise written in lore. Also, it’s funny and that goes a long way. 

Despite the way I’m describing it, I actually think Mortal Kombat is really, really silly a lot of the time and that’s actually how I tend to prefer enjoying it, and I definitely appreciate when the devs have fun packing humor into it as well (I know this is gonna sound lame or whatever but I actually like the Friendships more so than pretty much most Fatalities. I think they paint a more interesting picture of the characters (even if inaccurate) and they make me appreciate the characters more, even those I’m otherwise indifferent to), so I’m definitely not opposed to Johnny Cage being around making a fool of himself and everyone else, if anything he usually makes the Story Modes of these games more bearable for me.

I also really like what they’ve been doing with him character-wise since the reboot, not just in terms of his humor but also in his general role in the plot. I like that they’ve let him age and mature, have a kid who’s the next-gen protagonist in her own right and who one-ups her old man by punting people in the groin so hard their spine and skull wind up ejected out of their body, and let Johnny come on his own as a family man and warrior and hero, even putting him next to his younger version for contrast to show how far he’s come, and yeah I absolutely think the character deserves props for actually having consistent character development across the games, and for them to have turned him into a genuine family man on top of a great hero. They’ve let Johnny Cage mature and grow real nicely without having him lose what makes him funny and entertaining. I think he’s a really, really solid, well-made character who has consistently some of the best lines and moments of all characters, he’s not quite my favorite (although he’s definitely in the Top 5) but I could very well agree with the idea that he’s overall the best character. 

I especially love also how lately they’ve been further incorporating actor antics into his playstyle, giving him moves where he summons a stunt double, bashes your skull or stabs you with his trophiesm does a mime act that can lead to a Brutality where he smashes your skull with an invisible door, having him stun opponents with a camera flash which can melt their face off, bump into a boom mic between rounds, using said boom mic to impale opponents through the mouth and then doing a mic check, and that absolute 10/10 Fatality where he’s trying to uppercut someone’s head off poorly and they have to keep redoing the takes while he gets frustrated, before he just throws the head against the camera and literally breaks the 4th wall even further. I absolutely love this direction they’ve taken with his moveset and I would love to see it get pushed even further. 

It’s hard to even fault Johnny Cage for having that much of an ego when, not only is he a genuine badass and funny hero, but it’s so readily apparent his creators have a blast writing stuff for him, he’s gotta be at minimum the favorite character of at least someone in the MK staff. He’s like the one character who actively allows for the dumb jokes that have consistently defined MK’s sense of humor, to the point they canonized his Friendship (a character-breaking show of sillyness for most other cast members ) where he gives an autographed picture of his face to an opponent as something he just does on the regular, and even his new Friendship where he does the Warner Bros Frog Dance is comparatively tame compared to all the other bullshit Johnny gets up to on the regular like win poses where he poses his own action figures. I don’t actually have to work very hard to come up with texts of positive stuff to say about Johnny Cage, I just have to describe all the great stuff that he already does in the games. His appeal is incredibly self-evident as well as his role as one of the greatest and most iconic of fighting game characters. 

Frankly I wish he’d get into more crossovers, the way the ninjas or Raiden seem to. He seems like a great and ideal character to have show up in just about anything, as clueless and out-of-his-depth as he was when he first started in the tournament but not letting that stop him from being a great hero and an even greater jackass to whoever has the misfortune of being in ear-shot of him. He’s a ready-made magnet for other characters to insult or reference having history with, as much as he’s the kind of character you can very easily have fun with imagining the ways he’d interact with a different cast of characters for him to antagonize and be antagonized by. Cage just has it all.

[syresdcthings]

DC Highschool long skit again! Mall things

This post includes: assortment of Villains, assortment of Heros. All Characters will go by their real names apart from Joker.

The group of friends are at the mall.

Joker: Wow! These slushies were worth the 50 bucks!

Harvey: I was a little skeptical of the person who sold them to us but… these are amazing. Well worth the money indeed!

Crane: Could’ve got em for free if you let me test my stuff on them…

Harvey: Your “stuff” is water laced with a dangerous amount of Fentanyl, Johnathan. And you keep it in your bag… what if you mistake it for actual water? Plus, it was only 50$ each.

Harley, got to the mall late because Ivy was driving: Mmm Puddin’! Thanks for gettin’ lil old me somethin’ too!

Joker: Of course! You’re my girl buddy after all! I don’t mind throwing some money around for ya!

Lex: You are all acting like it wasn’t me who paid for everyone.

Joker: And we love you for it, Lexie.

Pamela: Can’t believe you guys are actually drinking that stuff… you know it’s probably like, drugged or something?

Edward: Then we get lit for free, win win.

A familiar voice suddenly calls to them.

Selina: Hey, losers! Over here.

Joker: CAT!!! WOW! Today just keeps getting better and better!

Bruce slides out from behind Selina awkwardly.

Joker: Oh, my, GOD. IM PRACTICALLY CRYING IN HAPPINESS!

Selina: Can’t believe you guys are here as-well. Fun coincidence, hm?

Harvey: Heh, not really a coincidence, this is the only Mall in our district.

Harley: Shu’up. Brain freeze!

Bruce: Selina. Could we get to our shops and then leave..?

Selina: Hey, I’m talkin’ to my friends here. Don’t be rude. Go… do something I d’know.

Bruce: What can I do?…

Selina: the rest of you is still back at the Vending Machines. Go play with ‘em.

She puts a cent in his hand and he trudged away grumbling.

Crane: Ahah! I can test my stuff on that golden retriever boy! BRUCE! WAIT UP.

Harvey: I wouldn’t mind catching up with Bruce. We haven’t spoken in a while… Also I really wanna see if your “stuff” works.

Crane: C’MON THEN COIN BOY!

They runs towards the sullen boy, giving him a fright.

Joker taking a loud prolonged sip: Anywho, Se~li~na~! You on a date with loverboy?

Selina: Eh, can’t really call it a date when his entourage follows us everywhere.

.

.

Selina: is that a slushie?

Harley: Yup!! Mistah J and Lex over here got us them from sum homeless guy in the parkin’ lot!

Selina: Sounds like you’re making very inspired life choices, props.

Joker: Awh, you think my life choices are inspired?

Pamela: Good lord don’t encourage him..