#and I have had multiple alters who have been hinting at things intentionally or unintentionally

[raccoon-queer]

I am this close to going crazy kjfadlksj

[tonguethulhu]

What is your opinion on the movie Split, if you have seen it, with regards to how it depicts DID? Because like I feel like someone with DID would be offended but at the same time don’t KNOW whether they actually would be? Like when I see anti-asexual or anti-Irish sentiment and think “Hmm. Well that is certainly offensive from an objective viewpoint, but am I personally offended?” I do feel like if the twist behind the ‘Beast’ alter being superhuman was that he had been bitten by a werewolf, because there were so many hints towards him being a werewolf and the whole backstory they gave the protagonist about being a hunter, I feel like it would have suited the story better and avoided the ‘all people with DID are evil’ trope. Am I saying this right?

I didn't much care for the movie, and I'm not an expert on mental illness. I mean yeah, it's a trope, the outsider always has to be the villain - like Evil Russian Guy. But an antagonist is a rather critical element for story telling. I feel like anyone (not some mysterious monster like The Thing, robots, or aliens, but a person) portrayed as the antagonist has to fit some kind of narrative description- American, white, native, Russian, rich, red-haired, etc... -- There has to be a description of the villain of which will represent a certain sect of people; and I don't think anyone appreciates being stereotyped in any way. Even arbitrary labels that are arbitrary but significant, goths, punks, jocks, nerds, preps, for example - each person of that sub-group has an entirely different perspective of the other that vilifies them despite the fact their only real difference is a series of interests.

Which leads me to this kind of moral question of who are we allowed to generalize as villains? Were The Huns villains in Mulan? Maybe we need to see The Huns side of the story?

BUT - on the other hand I absolutely agree - it's a horrible representation of mental illness that really only seems to serve society a viewpoint much to the similarities of "Jaws" instigating violence upon sharks.

Is it our job as individuals to utilize critical thinking and determine what we define as moral for these various stories with independent research? Or do we expect artists, visionaries be completely censored by public opinion enforced by execs for profit. In this instance, the use of mental illness was grossly misused and inaccurate; but so ham-fistedly forced that it completely detracted away from any real conversation about mental health and commodified it for a cheap thrill.

So for me it's very much context - do I so much mind that there is a movie where someone who's mentally ill does something shitty? I mean - it's a reflection of reality, mentally ill and mentally well people both do shitty things intentionally and unintentionally and I don't personally think it's inherently wrong to portray this; but it needs to be thought-out and considered from multiple perspectives.

However the concept that only mentally ill people commit 'evil' or do things 'wrong' is a consistent narrative in society in general. Anyone who doesn't fit in, function well in society, or in remain generally unproductive is given a mental health issue title. Which is really more of a tell for the upper-class who fund these movies really trying to squeeze every drop out of blood out of the working class.

Fit in and be productive until you're worthless, by any means necessary; pills, surgery, therapy, suffering through the pain, eventually withering into trained helplessness.

[yayoitree-blog]

Have we been fooled by what we saw? A.K.A. An interpretation of the Cap's Ending in Endgame

Warning: I am a stucky/ironspider fan so my point of view may not be completely unbiased. If you don't like it, don't read it. I will try my best to keep this article free from any slash context but you have been warned. Oh and yes English is not my first language so I could be wrong with some terms.

Also since the Endgame DVD isn't out yet, all the scripts of Endgame contained herein are based on my memory only.

AND

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 1. Introduction

Cap’s ending hinted that he went back to the past to stay there with Peggy there (and apparently not caring about the life or death of his other friends like Bucky and Howard). This is what many Cap fans have problems with. Fans argue that the ending destroyed the arc of Cap’s entire character.

I physically hate this ending, trust me, I really do. At first, I cried and cursed and wished to hurt someone (by someone I mean any person who works for Marvel or Disney). Cap’s ending, at least apparently, is ridiculous, nonsense, illogical, awkward, extremely OOC and plainly inconsistent with the time traveling principal applied to the entire movie. However, the more angry I was with the ending, the more it makes me think: how could it be possible for Marvel to make an ending which contained multiple, ridiculous plot holes and intentionally butcher the character, i.e. Captain America, which they have worked to build up since 1941? Other than the reason that the makers of the film are unbelievably retarded (please don't disappoint me for having some faith in your intelligence), I realize that maybe the plot holes and OOC in the ending are left there intentionally or because every Disney movie must end up with a man and a woman kissing and dancing together, so the real Marvel fans will have the fun to dig out the true ending hidden behind (especially when the Russo brothers are known for teasing fans by giving misleading scenes).

When this hit me, I stop to look at the entire time traveling theory and details in the movie, then I come to a conclusion that, there is NO fxxking way that Cap had gone back in time and married Peggy.

 2. Going back in time and its impact on the present

There are so many movies about time traveling and what the impact of going back in time and changing things in the past has on the present (or future) may be. Three theories are mainly used in the movie industry:

(a) Time Paradox/Final Destination: under this theory, you cannot change the present by changing the past no matter what you do. Even if someone goes back in time and tries to make a change, they are going to fail, no matter what. This is also the argument of Grandfather paradox, which states that you cannot go back in time and kill your own ancestor, no matter what. So when this theory is applied to a movie, it's always like this, someone goes back to the past and try to change something, however, he keeps on failing to complete the act or even if he completes the act, some new events occur and so the outcome remains unchanged (like a force of time that can fix itself. I will refer it as the "Time Band-aid"). 

We can see this theory apply in the movies like Terminator (Skynet tries to kill Sarah and John Connor in the past, but failed no matter what. Sarah and John tried to prevent the creation of Skynet, they even destroyed the chips but turned out the Skynet was still developed by other means). I also want to mention Final Destination although the movies are not related to time travel. However, it demonstrates a good example of how the time (or destiny) will create new events to make sure that the outcome remains unchanged. So basically, under this theory, you may go back in time and make small and minor changes, but you cannot change the final outcome no matter what. It's either you will fail miserably or the Time Band-aid will create new events to lead to the final outcome.

(b) Butterfly Effect: under this theory, you can go back in time and change the past but even if you unintentionally makes tiny little change, it will eventually cause the entire present to change. Most importantly, the effect of any change in the past is totally unpredictable. You cannot guarantee you will get the outcome you want even if you change specific events in the past. This theory can be easily observed in the movie Butterfly Effect, so I don't think I need to explain it as much.

(c) Parallel Universe: some people think this theory is also part of the butterfly effect theory, but I distinguish these two here. So under this theory, you may change the present by changing the past (or fulfilling a specific condition in the past), however, when you make said change (or fulfill a specific condition), a parallel universe will be created. From then on, all the subsequent events after the change or the fulfillment of a condition will occur in the alternative universe. The time and events in the original universe and in the parallel universe will be independent and unaffected from each other. However, all the events are still to come in the original universe will remain unchanged (changes will only occur in the new parallel universe).

 3. The theory used in Endgame

Dr. Banner had stated in the movie that “ ...time doesn’t work that way. Change in the past doesn’t change the future... I don’t know why everyone believes that but that isn’t the truth. Think about it. If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future. And your former present, becomes the past! Which can not be change by your new future!”

 And there is this conversation between Dr. Banner and Ancient One:

Ancient One: If I give up the time stone to help your reality, I’m dooming my own.

Bruce: With all due respect, uh, I’m not sure the science really supports that.

Ancient One: The infinity stones create what you experience as the flow of time. Remove one of the stones, and that flow splits. Now this may benefit your reality, but my new one, not so much. In this new branch reality, without our chief weapon against the force of darkness, our world will be overrun. Millions will suffer.

So one thing is clear from Dr. Banner’s speech which is you cannot change the past to change your present or future. This is consistent with the multiple journeys through time that are done in the movie: they went to the past and made some changes, but nothing had been altered in the present. So we can pretty much rule out the butterfly effect theory in this movie. Now we only have the Time Paradox Theory and Parallel Universe Theory.

It was also shown in the movie that, if you remove the infinity stones from the current timeline, it will create a parallel universe. However, the movie does not show that if you change the past, there will be a parallel universe. This is a very important point to note because if removing the infinity stones is the only condition needed in order to create a parallel universe, that means even the movie has some scenes that take place in a parallel universe (which was created after the removal of the infinity stones,) it doesn’t necessarily mean the Time Paradox Theory doesn’t apply. It also doesn’t mean that if Cap goes back to the past and does certain things (except for removing the infinity stones,) he will create a parallel universe.

From the movie, we never get the hint or scene that changing the past (other than removing the infinity stones) will create a parallel universe. In fact, all the scenes related to the concept of parallel universe, including Nebula killing her past self and killing Thanos of 2014, all occurred after the removal of the infinity stones. So it is still uncertain as to whether or not changing something in the past will create a parallel universe.

 (A) Time Paradox Theory

If Endgame in fact uses this theory, that means one thing, nobody can change the past no matter what. Think about The Terminator and Final Destination, you either cannot possibly complete the act, resulting a change, or you may succeed once (or even twice) but eventually the result will be the same. This theory is consistent with the part when Tony and Thor cannot save their respective parents. I don’t want to go into details as how much these events affect the two superheroes, but if you are a Marvel fans you should know that if there is even the slightest chance to save their parents’ lives, those two will not hesitate for a second to do so and they don’t mind giving up everything they have to get their parents back. However, because the past cannot be changed no matter what, Tony and Thor had to say goodbye to their parents, and that basically meant to let and watch their parents die again respectively. So this goes to our conclusion, if the Time Paradox Theory does apply here, how the hell could Cap go back to the past and get married to Peggy Carter? There is absolutely no fxxking way! It’s physically logically and realistically impossible. If this theory is in fact true, that means Cap went back to the past, had a dance with Peggy, then he left and let Peggy live her life. He couldn’t save Bucky and Howard because the past cannot be changed, not because he deliberately chose not to save them. He then lived an ordinary life until 2024 and at the end he met Sam to pass the shield (consistent with what he told Sam that he wanted to try some of that life Tony was telling him to get). I also heard about a popular theory that Cap is actually the husband of Peggy who never named or showed up in the movie. Cap just started live incognito and nobody actually found out that Peggy’s husband was Captain America, this way Steggy will be possible without changing the past. I don’t know how they get this idea from but this is straight up impossible too. I don’t even want to get into Cap’s personality which would prevent him from doing something like this. In fact, Peggy’s husband actually passed away before Captain America 2 which took place in 2012. So if Steve was Peggy’s husband, he wouldn’t live until 2024 to pass the shield to Sam. And are they just going to pretend Agent Carter (which, btw also took place in earth 199999) doesn’t exist?? Most importantly, I don’t think Peggy would even go along with this plan (shrug.) 

 (B) Parallel Universe Theory

As discussed above, under this theory, a parallel universe will be created after you made a change in the past. This is by far the most convenient explanation to.... almost everything in the Marvel universe. See, every time Marvel gets plot holes or something they cannot explain by logic or reasoning, they will simply say it is a parallel universe, so it’s not necessarily consistent with the earlier plots.

If this theory is true, that means Cap went back to the past, had a dance with Peggy (and maybe even got married because now he can change anything he wants), then he may also go to save Bucky as well as other people. He then lived an ordinary life until he got his hand on the time-machine then he traveled back to his original universe at the year of 2023 to give the shield to Sam. I personally think this theory, although convenient, doesn’t seem to apply to Cap’s time traveling experience at the end of the movie. There are a lot of bugs and logical errors in this theory if we think closely: (1) If the old Cap was indeed from another parallel universe, that means he was teleported here by using one of the Ant-man’s machines. Is this is the case then why is he wearing his ordinary clothes??

(2) From the movie, we can only perceive that the time machine only allows you to go back to a time in your own universe. As a matter of fact, during the multiple time-travelling occurrences earlier in the movie, they all went back to the past of their original timeline instead of some random parallel universe. So how the hell did the old Cap travel back to the timeline of his original universe instead of the 2023 in his new parallel universe??

(3) Why wouldn’t Tony and Thor saved their parents then? If saving their parents means to create a parallel universe where their parents can live their happily, I don’t see there’s anything holding them back.

(4) Don’t forget that the Avengers fought Thanos against the odd of 1 out 14,000,605 (0.00000714%). It could even be said that the final victory was in fact a miracle. If Cap indeed started a new live in a parallel universe, how could he make sure that the Avengers will win against Thanos in this universe?? He had changed so many things in this universe. He can’t even guarantee that the same avengers will appear when Thanos come! Is he just going to not care about half of lives in the universe being wiped out by Thanos in this universe??

So I don’t really buy the Parallel Universe Theory unless Marvel can explain the above bugs with reasons. I don’t think they will or can, but I am gonna give them the benefit of doubt. Let’s say they actually explain how the Parallel Universe Theory applies to Cap’s ending perfectly, it still doesn’t avoid the butchering of Cap’s character:

(1) Peggy moved on after Cap’s death. She got married and had two kids. Her life without Cap was good. When she first met Cap in Captain America 2, she actually told Cap that she had lived a life and her only regret was that Cap didn’t get to live in his. So Cap knows that this woman was happy with her life and she got no other regret in her life (she didn’t even regret not marrying him for crying out loud!). So why would he step in and ruin everything for Peggy? How is he so confident that he will do better than Danielle? I have only heard about people going back to the past to mend a mistake or to save a life, I have never heard about a person gong back to time to wreck a home, let along that person being the symbol of righteous and justice.

(2) So Cap actually made out with his own niece?

(3) If this is indeed a parallel universe, there will be another Cap in this universe. How are they going to solve this problem other than studying Kama Sutra? Is he just gonna let his alternative self freeze in the ice so he can get Peggy all by himself?? Wow, Cap, I  thought you were selfish, but I didn’t know you would go so far as let your alternative self suffer. See? Marrying Peggy, even in the parallel universe, is illogical, awkward and ridiculous. I am not even going to argue about whether Cap deserves to retire, whether he deserves to be with the woman he loves. This is just plainly wrong if anyone look at this situation with sense!

 4. The real ending of Cap

I just spent three hours typing the above context and I am not trying to tell you why I have problem with the Cap’s ending, rather I am trying to tell you that the Cap’s ending, hinting Cap marrying Peggy could indeed be a fake ending. It could be a fake ending not because I don’t like it, but because it is just impossible and unachievable (if we are using the Time Paradox Theory) or illogical and immoral (if we are using the Parallel Universe Theory and if Marvel can actually explains the bugs therein). Marvel cannot possibly make Cap marry Peggy without creating a huge logical plot hole in the movie or without butchering Cap’s character entirely.

There is also another hint in the movie that Cap didn’t get married to Peggy. During the end, Sam asked Cap if he wanted to talk about the lady. Cap actually replied “I don’t think I will”. Cap’s response is indeed very strange if he married Peggy. I think everyone in America knows the history between him and Peggy. What’s there to hide? Especially Sam is the first and best friend of Cap he met in the modern time. Sam always always went all the way Cap. Why would Cap try to hide the name of his wife in front of Sam? It is very possible that Cap wears the ring to remember Peggy, the lost love he couldn’t have. So he didn’t refuse to answer Sam’s question, rather, because he didn’t get anyone to talk about. Also, I have been following the interviews of the directors and writers of Endgame after it was on theatre. From what I learned so far, none of the director or writer of Endgame ever confirmed that Cap and Peggy were married. They did however, confirm the dance they had. So at least I am quite satisfied with my theory that Cap’s ending is not him marrying Peggy and staying in the past for good.

The movie didn’t actually show what Cap did in the past so we might never know. There are too many possibilities. However, none of the possibilities could involve marrying Peggy for all the reasons I just explained above. I am totally down with the idea that Cap went back to the past and just stayed there to live an ordinary life. Why? Because it is the idea consistent with the previous Captain America movies!  

Cap is always a person out of his time. He didn’t fit in to the modern time and he always misses the time in the past. We can see these in all the previous movies: he plays music in the old days, Peggy told him that her only regret was he didn’t get to live his own life, the world has changed to much for him to cope with, he never liked the politics the authority they made him go through, etc. So he wanted to go back to the past and actually live his life as an ordinary person.

I don’t think this is a perfect ending for Cap either but at least this has been built up through the entire Captain America series (and Chris Evans is leaving the franchise so you have to find a way out for Cap without killing him off because if you killed him too it will make Ironman’s death less impressive). Further, even if he chose this path, it does not butcher the arc of his character: he didn’t save others because he either cannot possibly do so (Time Paradox Theory again) or he didn’t want to risk anything to affect the victory they fought so hard against Thanos.

 5. Conclusion

I think I have gotten down all my arguments of what I think the Cap’s ending is. Thank you very much for taking your time to read this. Even if you don’t agree with me, I am still thankful.

Please feel free to re-tweet, re-post, or quote this article or any part of it, wherever you like, as long as you credit me as the author.

Special thanks to Becca (AO3 ID: A_R_Alistair) who beta this article for me, Shililiuguang (lofter ID: 十里流光) who helped me to recite the scripts of Endgame and Pipipipidan (lofter ID: 皮皮皮皮蛋) who helped me to make the pictures (they are amazing!). If you would like to re-tweet, re-post or reuse the pictures, please credit her as well.

Please feel free to leave me a message if you would like to discuss the Cap's ending or want to correct me for anything. I am opened to suggestion and would be grateful if you could tell me what you think about this article as well.

So until next time.

xoxo

[geraltcirilla]

Exploring Karen’s Past

In this post I’m going to be going over things we know about Karen from details dropped in Daredevil canon, looking at what cast have said about her past, and her comic origins to hypothesize where the show might be going with her.

This will be under a cut because it gets quite long.

All the things we know about Karen so far in the MCU canon:

She was from a small town of Fagan Corners, Vermont that had around 400 people. (2x05)

Her parents are Penelope and Paxton Page.

She was on the basketball team in high school. (1x07)

Her brother Kevin Page died in a motor vehicle accident at the age of sixteen. According to the news article: At about 1:40 pm, Kevin Page was driving his car. While heading east on Vermont Route 12 from the hill Road exit ramp off Interstate 89 Page veered off the roadway into a chain-linked fence. The responding medical services sent his body to Windler Medical Center where he was pronounced dead on arrival. It took some time before the state police was able to resolve the investigation of the incident. The article was titled “Mystery Accident Causes Teen Fatality”. (2x09)

Karen says her brother wasn’t good and tying ties so she used to do it for him. When asked what he was like by Matt she said "Uh, he's sweet. He's a good brother.” (2x04)

When Wesley asks her if she loves New York she replies “I haven’t been here long enough.” (1x11)

She appears to have no friends or relationships outside of Matt and Foggy. She does not appear to be in contact with her family.

"Do you really think this is the first time I've shot someone?" Karen to Wesley (1x11)

When discussing her past with Ben and the information he uncovered on her: "Stories like this are built on sources, Miss Page. Credible sources. I did some digging into your, uh past activities.” (1x04) / "And who'll believe me when they start digging? When they find what you found when you were looking into me." (1x12) / “Look, Ben didn't care, and I don't, either." (2x09) / “Although, you know, why you'd wanna see good in the man who pulls the trigger is beyond me.” (2x10)

Things cast have said regarding Karen’s past:

Deborah Ann Woll noted that Page's backstory would be different than the one from the comics. source

"There’s something that happened in Karen’s past — we allude to it, Ben alludes to it — and when she grabs the gun she says, “You think this is the first time I’ve ever shot somebody?” That's a secret from her past that she doesn’t want anyone to know. The fact that she shot him once, you can explain that as self-defense; but then she pretty much unloaded the gun into him. That crosses a bit of a line. The last thing she would want is for those two to be horrified by what she’s done." -- Steven Deknight, showrunner of Daredevil season 1. source

Karen’s story in the comics:

Her family was well-off.

She graduated with a 3.8 GPA from the University of Vermont.

Her father became the super villain Death’s Head, who fought Daredevil and ultimately died saving Karen’s life.

She begins making pornographic movies while hooked on heroine.

She is ultimately killed by Bullseye.

MCU vs Comics

Karen does not have a brother in the comics.

In high school Karen was on the cheer squad in the comics but the basketball team in the MCU.

Where in the MCU she has a dark past, in the comics she has an innocent past but a grim and ultimately tragic future.

In both the MCU and comics Karen’s relationship with Matt dissolves after he reveals his identity as Daredevil.

In MCU Karen leaves Nelson & Murdock to become a journalist, in the comics she leaves Nelson & Murdock to become a film actress.

In the comics: Karen grabbed Bullseye's gun and threatened to kill him, but Bullseye was not scared because he knew his gun was not loaded. / In Marvel’s Daredevil: Karen grabbed Wesley’s gun, who claimed he wouldn’t have left a loaded gun on the table within arms reach of Karen She shoots him and it turns out the gun was loaded, and he dies.

Things the MCU has not confirmed yet:

The age difference between Karen and her brother Kevin.

When Karen moved to New York from Vermont.

Breakdown

Although it was confirmed Karen’s story will be different in the show versus in the comics, we can assume writers will take inspiration from the comics and borrow some ideas. Throughout Daredevil, Defenders and Punisher we have seen that the writers don’t ignore the comics, they simply take inspiration and let the character grow from there. So I don’t think it’s wise to entirely disregard the comics in our own theories. We can use them as a starting point and go from there.

For example, we can assume Karen and Wilson Fisk will have a confrontation in Daredevil season 3. If Wilson finds out Karen killed Wesley he’ll likely want revenge, and might hire Bullseye to kill her. The show won’t actually kill her like the comics do but I can see them psyching us out to think she was going to die and severely injuring her in the process. In this way they are both faithful to the comics but have created their own unique story, which is really what the MCU is all about.

We can use the same logic and apply it to her past. Take a little bit of the comics, use the knowledge we have from the show, add a bit of reasoning and you can piece together what might have happened.

A common theory I’ve seen is that Karen killed her brother, whether intentionally or unintentionally, from what she had told Wesley about shooting a man and what we know about Kevin being dead. This is unlikely as her brother died in a car accident. But that doesn’t mean Karen hasn’t shot someone before. The wrong thing to do is assume every time Karen discusses her past, she is talking about the same singular traumatic event. I believe multiple things happened to Karen and her brother’s death was the instigation of it all.

Hypothesis of Karen’s timeline

We can start by assuming Karen had a normal happy childhood with her upper class wealthy family (starting where the comics did). She was close with her brother, close enough to tie his ties for him. (We can assume they were close in age due to this, but more on that later.) She was on the high school basketball team and she was a “mean three-point shooter”. Then her brother dies in a MVA at the age of 16. This is the beginning of Karen’s downward spiral.

The circumstances surrounding the death of described as “mysterious” in the news article. At the time the article was written the death was still unsolved, which is strange considering it was a single car crash into a chain-link fence, what’s there to be confused about? How is that so hard to piece together? Ultimately the police were probably puzzled as to how the car crashed in the first place if no one else was involved. Car accidents usually involve two people unless the one person is altered level of consciousness from drugs or alcohol and simply drove themself into a wall. But we can assume Kevin’s blood work was clean because if this was the case the death would not be mysterious, the investigation would not have taken so long to wrap up, and the title of the article would be “Intoxicated Teen in Tragic Accident”.

Everything surrounding Kevin’s death is strange but we can assume Karen had nothing to do with it. A) She’s only a teenager herself at the time, B) The news article does not mention a sister or another person involved in the crach, and C) Karen is presumably incredibly close with her brother, so close that to this day he is still a sore subject for her (despite several years having gone by since then). She cries when she sees his news article and lies to Matt that he is alive by using present-tense when describing him. But if Kevin’s death was strange and Karen wasn’t involved, who was and what happened?

This is where I introduce Karen’s father, who we know nothing about in the show: Paxton Page. In the comics he is the villain Death’s Head. Brief run-down: He was a scientist who created the cobalt bomb, refused to sell it to the US government, was branded a traitor, continued to work on it in secret, went insane because of the radiation, developed superpowers and fought Daredevil, and died saving Karen from a molten cobalt spill. Remember, to figure out what the MCU’s truth is you take what the comics give you and you adjust it to the universe of Daredevil. So let’s assume in Daredevil Paxton is still a villain, just not insane and super-powered from radiation. A villain more suited for the “real world” of the MCU. Paxton would be evil in the Fisk or Wesley sort of sense: manipulative, self-serving, megalomaniac. And let’s say he is a scientist and is working on weapons for the government (or a private contractor) (which is why he is wealthy). He’s evil not because because he can project fireballs, but because he doesn’t care who his weapons hurt as long as he is paid. If Karen’s father is a villain or shady we can probably connect Kevin’s death to him. Either Paxton was directly responsible for Kevin’s death because Kevin found out what his father was doing and was going to rat on him, or the government/private contractor Paxton was working for killed him as revenge for Paxton not sharing his “new weapon” with them (the cobalt bomb, or in the show something different.)

Moving on. So what happens to Karen after Kevin’s death? I believe Karen took Kevin’s death harder than anyone in her family because of the tiny hints we are given throughout seasons 1 and 2 of Daredevil to how close they were. (She said she tied his ties for him as kids and she is still raw over his death years later as she A) weeps at seeing the news article of his death and B) inadvertently lies to Matt that he is still alive by describing him as “sweet” and a “good brother” in present-tense.) When siblings are close it’s usually because they are close in age, so I think it’s fair to assume Karen and Kevin are either Fraternal or Irish twins. 

This is where I go back and reference Karen’s darkest history in the comics: the heroine addiction and pornography. I think the writers will dabble with this a bit, but not to the extremes of the comics. Karen’s downward spiral in the comics comes after she moves to LA to pursue a career in acting, which happens in her future. Like I said before in the show, the darkest part of Karen’s life happened in the past. If acting wasn’t the instigation it was no doubt the death of her brother. This especially makes sense because the brother didn’t even exist in the comics, so he was invented specifically for the show and specifically to be a key piece of Karen’s dark and mysterious past.

So her brother dies, right? And she’s devastated, her whole world is over, and she is just 16 herself. What happens when 16 year olds think their life is over? They act out. Drugs, drinking, partying, etc. (We know Karen can hold her liquor from Daredevil.) She’s probably going to try and escape from her realty through drugs, but not something hard like heroine from the comics. Something a teenager could get at a party like ecstasy or other pills. (Once again taking an idea from the comics and watering it down with a spin that would fit in the current verse the writers are working in.) And what happens when a teenage girl is getting fucked up at a party without anyone looking after her? Boys are going to try and prey on her. It would be so easy for teenage Karen to find herself in a situation where someone is trying to hurt her or rape her because she is vulnerable. But we all know Karen will do whatever it takes to protect herself. Cue her shooting some fuckboy to death after he tries to attack her. This is her killing a person in her past without making her a murderer (which would be inconsistent with her characterization).

Ben and Karen had discussed twice in season one how her past made her an unreliable witness to Fisk’s crimes. So it’s something you can easily find doing a background check but nothing so illegal it would get her into trouble. Just hurt her reputation. But it’s also something neither Ben nor Ellison care about, so likely something they can sympathize with. I think a rich little party girl drunk as shit killing someone in self defense as right about fits that narrative, doesn’t it? Hell, add in Karen having been suicidal at the time (Ingredients: just lost an immediate family member + only a child + probably a drug and alcohol problem = recipe for suicidal ideation) or even attempting suicide and all her credibility as a witness goes out the window. It’s not right or fair but it’s how the world treats depressed people--they aren’t trustworthy or reliable. And you can bet your ass Fisk would’ve spun the hell out of this story if she took a swing at him on her own.

This is not necessarily saying that’s exactly what happened and why she shot someone, but I’m pretty confident her brother’s death and the possible shooting are not related and are in fact two separate incidences. I’m also pretty sure whoever Karen shot, it was done in self defense.

So if all of this stuff had happened to Karen (hypohetically) it would make sense why she would leave Vermont and move to New York to reinvent herself. She’s running away from her past.

Conclusion

That’s about all that I got at the moment. I just wanted to introduce some ideas I thought people could mull over that they hadn’t been thinking about before when it comes to Karen. 

Her father is a villain in the comics.

Her “killing” someone in her past is a different incident than her brother’s death.

That multiple events could have happened to her in succession rather than one single event.

Her brother’s death is the instigation to the chain of events that has her leave Vermont and cut off ties with her parents.