#and i KNOW that the mcu is not a 1 to 1 retelling of the myths thats why i say this is SILLY and INCONSEQUENTIAL

[thorarms]

Silliest and least consequential fic pet peeve of mine is when people describe loki picking at food or not eating much when in the myths he has an appetite that can quite literally rival a forest fire

[f10werfae]

Welcome to @f10werfae's library of Henry Cavill💫 Enjoy your stay!

Disclaimer: This story is fiction and should not be taken literally, the behaviour is simply imaginative and the content may be inappropriate

Here is my main masterlist for everyone else I write for♥️

[🌟] Favourites/Popular

[☁️] Fluff

[*] Smut

[🌧] Angst

Taglist Form

Lumberjack!Henry x short!shy!reader masterlist

-To request, please send in an Ask or PM me✨

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

➼ Heart Warming [*/☁️]

(Husband!Henry Cavill x Wife!Reader)

: Things get a bit hot when Henry uses his magical methods to comfort Y/n ;)

➼ Birthday Cake [☁️/Slight🌧]

(Boyfriend!Henry Cavill x Reader)

:When everyone bails on Y/n's birthday, all seems to be doomed, but not for long

➼ In Sickness and In Health [☁️]🌟

(CEO!Husband!Henry Cavill x Reader)

: Y/n tells a white lie, which ticks Henry off, in the most caring way

➼ What About The Game? [☁️]

(Henry Cavill x Reader)

: Henry introduces Y/n to the world of rugby, not realising what he’s gotten himself into

➼ Dangerous Protection [☁️/slight🌧]

(Mafia Husband!Henry Cavill x Reader)

: Welcome to the life of Henry and Y/n Cavill, the most powerful couple in the whole of Europe and maybe even the world. Watch their romance bloom along with their son Charlie

➼ For Kal, Of Course [☁️]🌟

(Henry Cavill x Interviewer! Reader)

: Henry falls head over heels for someone, over his dog??

➼ Period Pains [☁️]

(Henry Cavill x Reader)

:Henry and Y/n clash on her period, but of course Henry always has something up his sleeve

➼ Brother Bear [☁️]

(Husband!Henry Cavill x Reader)

: Henry and Y/n adjust to their new life with their newborn baby boy

➼ Another One?! [☁️]🌟

(Henry Cavill x Reader)

: Henry is at the premier for The Witcher season 2 and he also took Kal with him, meaning Y/n's been left unsupervised

➼ It’s The Little Things [☁️]

(Henry Cavill x Reader)

: Henry Cavill realising Reader is the one when she does little things for him and Kal, showing that she truly loves and knows them

➼ Hospital Visits [☁️]

(Husband!Henry Cavill x Doctor!Reader)

: Henry injures himself and there’s only one person he trusts enough to look after him

➼ A Proud Boyfriend [☁️/slight * ]🌟

(Boyfriend!Henry Cavill x Flight Attendant!Reader)

: Henry and Y/n are on two different flights, although Y/n knows better than to question the fact that Henry always gets his way

➼ Big Bear Hug [☁️]

(Henry Cavill x Reader)

: When Y/n gets asked to look after her best friend’s dog, she gets a lot more than she bargained for

➼ The Worst Days [☁️/Slight🌧]

(Henry Cavill x Reader)

: Y/n can’t help but feel drained but Henry is there to be the master of distraction

➼ Beard Or No Beard? [☁️]

(Husband!Henry Cavill x Reader)

: reader is trying to brush and bath Kal, but he’s being a diva when it comes to the bath part and being playful. Later on, Henry asks her if she can help him shaving his beard, which at first, she doesn’t want to because she likes it, but he has to shave it.

➼ What's Your Emergency? [☁️/🌧]

(Fiance!Henry Cavill x 911 Dispatcher!Reader)

:Y/n has a challenging day at work and it all comes to blow, thankfully she has her own superman to come and save the day

➼ How Much Is Too Much [☁️]🌟

(Husband!Henry Cavill x Doctor!Reader)

: Fans retell the best moments of what they see from Y/n and Henry's relationship

➼ Silly Me [☁️]🌟

(Henry Cavill x Singer!Reader)

:Innocent flirting between 2 stars + a cockblock James Corden =??

➼ Marvel VS DC [☁️]🌟

(Husband!Henry Cavill x MCU Actress! Reader)

:Fans Retell their favourite moments between Y/n and Henry VIA tweets

➼ All Worn Out [☁️*]🌟

(Husband!Henry Cavill x Wife!Reader)

: Movie night turns sauce ( not joking, might be the sauciest thing i’ve ever written)

➼ Henry Cavill Fatherhood Scenarios 🌟

(Dad!Henry Cavill x Wife!Reader)

=Not a series, just a compilation

Chapter 1

➼ Sign of Love [☁️]

(Henry Cavill x Deaf!Florist!Reader)

:Headcanon of you and Henry's relationship♥️ With a lot of flowers

➼ Handyman [☁️]🌟

(Husband!Henry x Pregnant!Reader)

: fans on social media are absolutely in love with Henry and Y/n's relationship, and can’t ignore the fact that the woman is stunningly glowing

➼ Doctor, Doctor [☁️]🌟

(Husband!Henry x Doctor!Reader)

: Fans retell their favourite moments from Henry and Dr. Y/n's wedding movie

➼ Baby Doctor [☁️]🌟

(Husband!Henry x Doctor!Reader)

: Fans retell the events of what’s going on in the Cavill fam, especially with two new arrivals, the twins Poppy and Lucy

➼ Video Star [*]🌟

(BF!Henry x Excamgirl!GF!Reader)

: After watching one of Y/n's old camgirl streams, a sense of dominance overpowers her boyfriend Henry

➼ Cavill Clan [☁️]🌟

(Husband!Henry x Primary Teacher!Reader)

: fans react to Henry's announcement that not only has he gotten married during lockdown, but there is a new addition to the Cavill Clan...a daughter

➼ Wedding Labour [☁️]🌟

(Husband!Henry x Wife!Reader)

: doctor reader goes into labor at her and Henry’s wedding? The twitter reaction format please?

➼ My Wife is fine, thanks [☁️/slight 🌧️]🌟

(Husband!Henry x Wife!Reader)

: Some friendly and not so friendly fans, react to Henry and the reader’s 10+ year age gap

➼ Strawberry Shortcake [☁️*]🌟

(Husband!Henry x Shy!Wife!Reader)

: henry cavill x shy! reader kitchen smut, pls! Apron + daddy + slap on the ass + cock sucking + gropping + size kinks

➼ Sleepy Snuggles [☁️*]🌟

(Boyfriend!Henry Cavill x Girlfriend!Reader)

: Henry loves on his cockdrunk girlfriend all through the night, especially during Christmas season

➼ Sugar Sweet Thong [☁️*] 🌟

(Lumberjack!Henry Cavill x Wife!Reader)

: After Y/n gets a new thong, away up in his cabin where no one can touch her but him, her wild man of a husband can’t keep his hands off her (Major Dom Henry)

➼ You’re Already So Sexy [☁️*] 🌟

(Lumberjack!Henry Cavill x Wife!Reader)

: Henry has to uplift his woman after she has some major insecurities about herself and his pussy, but all she needs is him (Major Dom Henry)

➼ Quick, It’s BeReal [☁️*] 🌟

(Henry Cavill x Girlfriend!Reader)

: Henry where his BEREAL goes off during sex and their friends react; reader has hickies all over her chest and neck and tied up

➼ Mr. Clingy and Kal [☁️] 🌟

(BF!Henry Cavill x Shy!Oblivious!Actress!Reader)

: Fans retell the moments of Henry and Y/n L/n’s relationship despite her being quite the opposite of him. (major clingy Henry)

➼ Two For One [☁️/*]

(Husb!Henry Cavillx Wife!Reader xHusb!Michele Morrone)

: When Y/n ends up in a polyamorous relationship with both of the sexiest men, it only makes sense for her to enjoy herself

➼ My Little Love [☁️/*]

(Boyfriend!Henry Cavill x Short!Reader)

: they're at his parents house because she's meeting his family and one of his relatives says something about their size difference which triggers Henry's size kink (Major Dom, Loving Henry)

➼ No Panties Indoors [☁️/*]

(Lumberjack!Husband!Henry x Wife!Reader)

: Housewife Y/n can’t help but find her wild husband extremely sexy while he’s fixing another one of his projects (Major Dom possessive Henry)

➼ A Virgin’s Lesson [☁️*]

(Boyfriend!Dom!Henry x Virgin!Shy!Girlfriend!Reader)

: When Henry finds out his virgin girlfriend’s needs, and her fears, he takes it upon himself to teach her a finger or two(Dom Henry‼️)

➼ Kissies and Waxed [☁️*]

(Lumberjack!Husband!Henry x short!Shy!Wife!Reader)

: Y/n gets all shy and adorable with her grumpy husband on their wedding night, letting him enjoy his waxed present(Dom Henry)

➼ But That’s Mine Hen! [☁️*]

(Lumberjack!Husband!Henry x short!Shy!Wife!Reader)

: Pouty Y/n gets jealous when her grump of a man is approached by a certain woman; she can't help but stomp her foot and whine, showing everyone that he's hers and vice versa (Dom!Henry)

➼ Expect the Unexpected Baby [🌧️☁️]

(Henry Cavill x Pregnant!Reader)

:Henry breaks up with Y/n, only to discover he’s left something of his behind, his baby. Does he try and reconcile? or Does he just accept the path he’s made?

➼ Sugar Sweet Tongue [☁️*]

(Lumberjack!Husband!Henry x short!Shy!Reader)

:Sweet little Y/n has caught the eye of the local lumberjack, and he gives her a lesson or two in tonguing and kisses

➼ Soldier Snuggles Butterfly [☁️*]

(pairing: Soldier!Henry Cavill x Shy!Wife!Reader)

: Henry comes home to his sweetheart, his butterfly, and she needs his touch to help her sensitive button get to sleep(Fluffy!Soft!Smut) (Emotional sex)

➼ More Kissies and Workouts [☁️*]

(Lumberjack!Husband!Henry x short!Shy!Reader)

: Sweet shy little Y/n joins her new older boyfriend for one of his workouts, but can she keep up?

➼ Sugar Plum Princess [☁️*]

(Lumberjack!Husband!Henry x short!Shy!Reader)

:Y/n feels a little under the weather after a snow day so Henry gives his sweet shy wife a taste of his special “medicine” (Major Dom Henry)

➼ One hot mama [☁️*] (Mechanic!Henry Cavill X Single!mom!Reader) :Henry becomes a daddy when a special woman enters his life, and his garage... and his home (DILF Henry) (Emotional!Henry)

➼ Baby Subway [☁️] (Husband!Henry Cavill x Shy!Pregnant!Wife!Reader) :Henry has to order for his shy pregnant wife when she wants a sandwich and he just has a cuteness explosion over her, and so do some fans (DILF Henry)

➼ Barefoot and Pregnant [☁️*]

(Lumberjack!Husband!Henry x short!Shy!Reader)

: Henry and his cockdrunk wife go through an emotional love-making experience, after being pressured by her friends to give her husband a 'hall pass' because of her growing body (DILF!Henry) (Dom!Henry)

➼ Pregnancy on the Brain [☁️*]

(Lumberjack!Husband!Henry x short!Shy!Reader)

: Now that Henry's successfully knocked up his precious darling wife, he has to keep an extra eye on her and their little miracle (Dom!Henry) (Emotional loving)

➼ Sugar Bun Cuddles [☁️*]

(Lumberjack!Husband!Henry x short!Shy!Reader)

: while on her period Henry has to put up with a little more attitude than normal, whilst also cuddling his precious sweet girl, and making sure she's taken care ot, and baby Marly (Sweet!Henry) (Brat!Reader)

➼ Daddy’s Princess Fairy [☁️]

(Husband!Dad!Sy X Wife!Mom!Reader)

: Sy comes home to his newborn babygirl and wife after his last ever deployment, and he’s desperate to meet his tiny twin, and get into his wife’s panties (Dilf Sy)

➼ Sy, I am Backup [☁️]

(Captain!Sy x Girlfriend!Sniper!Reader)

: Reader is like a total badass super deadly sniper and she leads like a badass group of women who are also deadly soldiers. Anyways the ladies are called in to help rescue Sy and his team?

[delicatebarness]

bring him home | chapter four

Summary: It's 3 months after your fight in Germany. Reader is in Wakanda for the first time and comes face to face with someone she thought she never would again.

Warnings: MCU Spoilers. (Potentially but not really) Captain America: Civil War & Black Panther. Flash Back Chapter.

Word Count: 1929

Masterlist | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

A/N: I wanted to write more about Bucky and Reader's relationship. I thought now would be a good time, not exactly halfway through but enough for their love for each other to have already been set. It was also a lot longer than my typical mid chapter flash back so here we are.

Tags: @vampirethingz | @whiminiferous | @armystay89 | @bucky-just-needs-love | @esposadomd | @motylekrozi | @erica2024 | @wintrsoldrluvr | @mega-kittyglitter-1

I DO NOT CONSENT TO HAVE MY WORK POSTED, TRANSLATED, OR PUBLISHED TO ANY THIRD-PARTY SITE OR APP. IF ANYONE SEES MY WORK ANYWHERE BUT HERE, IT HAS BEEN REPOSTED WITHOUT MY PERMISSION.

As Genius As Your Mind Is

Flying into Wakanda, you couldn't believe you were here. You had been formally invited to meet with Princess Shuri and discuss tech and science. You were incredibly excited. Since Germany, your dad has been much more protective than usual—limited access to the suit, very little mission exposure, and many safety meetings. However, after he received contact from Wakanda explaining that King T’Challa was impressed by your knowledge and passion for new tech; he would love for you to visit and help the country with resources. Tony, being the bragging type of parent, of course, agreed for you to go.

“My daughter was personally chosen by a KING to help develop his country.” Would be all anyone heard about for the next month until the jet landed. Little did he know then that the country was fully developed and far more advanced than any Stark could imagine.

Just as you thought the Wakandan Jet was about to land in a farmer’s field, the sky seemed to open up and you carried on flying. You rushed over to the window as you flew, your jaw dropped as you took in the high-tech skyscrapers and motorways. “Is this real?” Your mind, your brilliant genius mind, could not apprehend your surroundings. So many questions, and possibilities. “Why do you need me?”

You were greeted by King T’Challa himself when you landed, his sister and mother stood by his side.

“Y/N, it’s great to meet you again!” T’Challa exclaimed as you walked out of the jet. “Thankfully the circumstances are an improvement.” You shared a knowing look between the two of you. Fair, you were both technically on the same team during the fight however you did secretly betray said side.

“Your Highness, it is my absolute honor to be in your country,” Once again looking around the scenery surrounding you. “Incredible.” An almost inaudible whisper to yourself as the endless possibilities wandered around your mind. “However, I can’t help but notice that I may be a little out of my league here,” Using your arms to gesture around you. “Wakanda seems pretty well developed already.”

“Miss Stark, as genius as your mind is,” T’Challa began to state as you noticed the long box they started to bring out from inside what you can only guess to be the palace. “It is your heart we require to further our research.”

Panic.

No amount of safety meetings from your dad could have prepared you for this. You start to reach for your hand repulsor as you watch them begin to open the box. Yes, you betrayed a king and his mission to arrest but was it really this drastic?

~

As the box began to open, your heart raced with a mix of excitement and apprehension. What could be inside that would require your heart rather than your intellect? After the box had opened and you saw the contents, you retracted the repulsor and with trembling hands, you approached the device, your mind racing with possibilities and uncertainties alike. Where did they find this? You knew from your dad's retelling that it had happened but T’Challa? As far as you knew, your dad didn’t know he was anywhere near the fight between him, Steve, and Bucky. 

“Your Highness, I don’t mean to sound, I don’t know,” Words all of a sudden had become unknown to you. Thoughts were in a secret language even you couldn’t crack the code to. “How did you get this? And, why does it involve me?”

“Well, Miss Stark, we believe you may be a very important part of his deprogramming,” 

“His what?”

Be Careful

Looking out at the field, your heart felt like it had stopped. There he was, armless, hair just as long as it was when you last saw him. It was as if nothing about him had changed, yet, everything seemed to be different. You watched as he threw hay around the field, goats following closely behind him. He looked peaceful, that was until he noticed you standing at the top of the hill watching him. 

You began to raise your hand to wave slightly at him, confusion took over his face as a small smile appeared on yours. His thoughts must have been racing with what-ifs and how comes about your sudden appearance in his haven. Neither of you knew who should make their way over to the other first. 

“Miss Stark, you are no help just standing there,” Ayo spoke to you through an ear comm. Sighing, you remembered how much you hated this part of the job. Always having voices in your ear. “You need to approach to make cont-.” Her voice was silenced by you, removing the comm. This man had never once hurt you, even when his mind was not his own, he couldn’t. The Winter Soldier tried but James Buchanan Barnes did not allow it. 

“Why are you here?” Your body jumped in shock when he suddenly appeared in front of you, your guard was down while removing the comm and you didn’t see him jog over to you. “You can’t be here.” He towered over you due to his added height and muscle from the serum. 

“Sergeant Barns,” Trying to calm your breathing back down as you looked up at him, trying to stand your ground and not show weakness to his stealth and stance. “I have been invited here to assist Princess Shuri and Ayo in your recovery.” Taking a deep breath, you close your eyes not wanting to see the potential pain that word may cause. “I hope you don’t mind, I don’t quite know myself why me or how I can help but I promise you, I will try my hardest to find you peace.” 

“I was peaceful until,” Stopping mid-sentence, he also took a breath before continuing. You could tell he was considering what to say next. Guilt immediately rushed over you as you remembered how his demeanor changed when you showed up. “Until you weren’t safe anymore.” His words hung in the air, a silence fell over us. The only sound was the goats in the distance.

His words continued to teach in the newfound tense atmosphere, and the weight of his confession began to settle heavily on your shoulders. A whirlwind of conflicting emotions began to form within you. You couldn’t find the right words to say back to him. Regret was once again tugging at your heart as the realization of your presence had come with unintended consequences.

“I’m sorry,” You whispered, your voice laced with sincerity. “I never meant to cause you any sort of distress.” The air once again felt heavy around you, uncertainty clouded you both. After a moment, Bucky softened, letting out a sigh.

“I know,” He replied, his voice becoming a new sort of gentle. A gentle you’ve never come across in anyone, not even Steve, before. “Just,” he sighed. “Be careful.” The tension began to ease between you, Bucky’s guard lowered and you couldn’t help but notice how his features told his story. The battles he’d fought, both physically and mentally. 

“I will,” You made him a promise, determination in your voice as looked into his eyes. “I’ll do everything in my power to ensure everything is alright.”

His eyes softened, and the edges of his lips pulled into a small smile. He didn’t know what it was about you, yet you eased something in him. He couldn’t corrupt that.

“Thank you,” he said, as he fixed the sling around his shoulder. “That means more to me than you know.” 

I See You

Before you knew it, you had been in Wakanda for almost a month. Immersing yourself in your work with Shuri and Ayo that will help aid Bucky’s recovery. Shuri explained early on that in conversation with T’Challa when he returned with Bucky, he and Steve discussed how The Winter Soldier and Bucky had responded to your presence. They believed that since you are the only person to have a positive exchange with both then you’d be the best candidate to support him throughout the process. 

Of course, you tried your best to stay out of their way as well. It was clear that as much as a Stark you were, Shuri was more adaptable to the science and tech life, having better resources than you could imagine. So, you did what you could in creating a new arm for Bucky. You thought he suited wondering the farm without one. With Ayo, you did what she asked when she asked. If she wanted you to be there for the trigger words therapy, you tried to be. Bucky wouldn’t allow it still. “No.” He’d bark at both you and Ayo whenever he heard that you’d be asked to come to the outskirts.

As every day passed and you both faced new challenges, you were beginning to see progress and small glimpses of the man he was back in the 40s. You began to forge a bond with Bucky, or as you insist on calling him, James. This connection grew as you both opened up more to each other. In the quiet moments, you would be with each other either by an evening fire or walking through the Wakandan countryside. Within the solace of each other’s presence, you learned more about his childhood in the 40s as he learned about yours in the 90s. You began spending the afternoons together tending the goats or beating him at chess.

~

The peaceful Wakandan Countryside evening encouraged you both to sit by the lake in front of Bucky’s hut. The only sound was the soft lapping of the lake and chess pieces moving around the board. It became evident that Bucky had a remarkable intellect, and you shared an interest in reading and literature too. Shortly after your first day in Wakanda, you were discussing The Hobbit. He opened up about the anticipation surrounding its debut, you introduced him to the film adaptation. 

“You didn’t stop me from calling you ‘James’.” You mumbled breaking the silence that had lasted who knows how long, It was the first time since you landed he hadn’t autocorrected you to ‘Bucky’ when you referred to him as James. He responded with a hum focused on the chessboard between you. “I did say ‘It’s your move, James.’,” you repeated. “I called you ‘James’ and you didn’t correct me.”

“I didn’t want you to stop.” He confessed softly as he continued to ponder his next moves. 

“Why?”

“When you say my name,” A pause, he was gathering his thoughts. He is debating in his mind on the best way to describe it to you. “It feels like you see me. You see who I truly am, not the mistakes and regrets that replay in my mind.”

“James,” Your voice was louder now, stern with sincerity. It was that moment when he stopped planning what to do next and looked up at you. “I see you.”

Your heart raced as you looked at Bucky, his eyes meeting yours. Without a word, he leaned in. He pressed his lips gently against yours, sending sparks through your body. It was simple yet, felt like it was what you both had been missing. You fit together.

“Thank you,” Letting out a whisper of gratitude as he pulled away from your lips for a moment. You gazed up at him with flushed cheeks and a giggle, your heart swelled with happiness as he pulled you in for another, only this time with longing and passion.

[cowboyhorsegirl]

Why do you think the MCU made an ults adaptation instead of a 616 adaptation? I have some theories but lmk know what you think of this conundrum

This is such an interesting question!! I will preface this by saying that I haven't yet read a lot of Ults or 616, and a lot of what I've learned of canon has been gained through osmosis from other, much more knowledgeable people in the fandom (@sineala, I'd love to hear your take on this ask!). That being said though, I think the main reasons why the MCU was adapted primarily from Ults instead of from 616 was because:

Ults had less canon to work with than 616, so it's a bit easier to ascertain a linear narrative that hasn't been rewritten and retconned multiple times. (For example, in 616 Tony had originally helped found SHIELD; this was completely retconned later on.)

Ults isn't as fantastical as 616, or as we all say colloquially, Ults is the grittier, 'more realistic' version of events that happened in 616. This would be particularly beneficial for a live-action remake, where the commonly held industry thinking is that audiences don't have as high a capacity to suspend their disbelief as they might for animation or live theater. The realism of the medium would necessitate a more grounded comics canon to build off of.

Ults origin stories lend themselves to the strategic vision of MCU Phase 1 much better than 616 origins. I think this is most apparent with Steve's origin: in 616 he was discovered only by the Avengers whereas in Ults, Steve was found by SHIELD (though I believe some of the other Ultimates were also there). I imagine this version of events would be much easier to tweak so that each member of the MCU Avengers had their own separate movie establishing background and characterization before throwing them into a very busy ensemble cast.

I don't actually think that all of these reasons for choosing Ults as the main canon to base the MCU on ended up working in the MCU's favor though. Like, Iron Man 1 is clearly set within some sort of nebulous Middle Eastern conflict that the US is involved in, for a variety of reasons. This conflict would have been easily recognizable to American audiences in 2008: at the time, the US has been in war in Afghanistan since 2001 and in Iraq since 2003. You don't have to waste precious movie minutes establishing a war for Tony to be making weapons for when American audiences are already primed to fill in the blanks if you give them the implication of a war in the ME. The setup of a vague Middle Eastern war acts as cinematic shorthand to establish Tony Stark's background and character to a broad audience, and to the many who hadn't read any Iron Man or Avengers comics, this was their first introduction to Tony Stark's origin story. Additionally, the setting acts as a plausible 1:1 retelling of Tony's original introduction in 616 (elements such as Yinsen, the life-threatening shrapnel to his chest, and Tony inventing the Iron Man suit instead of building weaponry for the terrorists who had taken him captive are all taken directly from his 1960s origin story), revamped for 21st century moviegoers by changing the indeterminate Southeast Asian war from the 1960s comics to an indeterminate Middle Eastern war for the MCU.

However, you literally never see MCU movies dedicate themselves to this level of realism again, for good reason. Whatever cultural shorthand you draw on by placing Tony Stark's weapons-manufacturing backstory in the context of an actual real-life geopolitical conflict also comes with the baggage of all the Islamophobia, xenophobia, and imperialism that comes with that conflict. In Iron Man 1, the inciting incident that causes Tony to want to halt SI's weapons production is the fact that his weapons are being used by the terrorists to harm American soldiers. But what about all the hundreds of thousands of innocent Middle Eastern people your weapons harmed and killed Tony?? What about them, huh?! What about the instability that America has wrought in the region, Tony, backing up political capital with firepower that YOU provided to them??

Immediately, the MCU backs off of America's actual real-life military operations as a basis for their fictional world. I like to think that they did this because they realized that it's very difficult to make your billionaire weapons-manufacturer superhero sympathetic in a world where both billionaires and the American military are coming under more scrutiny by more people every day. I'll guess that the real reason has to do with the fact that those story elements made it much harder to sell international audiences on the franchise.

It's frustrating too, because to this day I would say that Iron Man 1 is one of the best MCU movies out there, but in my opinion, the reasons for this aren't that IM1 was the most realistic or the most plausible or the most grounded superhero movie. What drew me to the MCU in the first place was the emotional depth of the characters and the stories, a depth that I think is best exemplified in Tony Stark. As the MCU moved forward and began to (but never fully) shed it's commitment to realism, the movies started to lose their ability to tell emotionally-compelling stories with high stakes that actually leave you in suspense of the ending. The fatal flaw of the MCU is in believing that audiences don't have the capacity to accept emotionality in stories that aren't limited to the bounds of our reality, when the whole point of a superhero story is to challenge ourselves to imagine more fantastical worlds than our own.

[delulu-with-wandanat]

Fics recs: 1-THE ROMANOFF CHRONICLES, an astounching groundbreaking, never seen before (literally) masterpiece, 100/10. It's mainly set in those 5years post snap, it explains the development that each character presented in endgame in a way the Russos wish they did, it represents the friendship between the avengers in a way marvel never allowed them be, it respects Natasha ( skill set, humanity, personality, affiliations,..) it's nat centric, it's only flaw: it's not complete but don't worry it has 60 medium to long chaps.

2-ON THE COVER - RED WHITE AND BLACK | New York Magazine | Dec. 30th, 2024, this is the most beautifully written farewell, tribute to Natasha Romanoff I have ever seen, it's written in a format that I think has never been used in fanfics, it's a soul touching poetic masterpiece

3- Ohio years, an exquisite bittersweet mini series of 1 shots that's written in a captivating style that keeps your attention, it showcases how the Russian murder family but mainly nat & Melina come to love & connect to each other.

4-FIREFLIES, it's written in such a bittersweet melancholic reminiscing way, it's just so beautiful. It's an 18 1 shots about nat encountering fireflies & being reminded of Ohio years &then others being reminded of nat by seeing them.

5- DISTURBING THE PEACE, an excellent 100/10 tear-jerker masterpiece, it's a very long 1 shot about what if post apocalyptic lonely nat , it also showcases her friendship with og avengers & nick.

6- I USED TO HAVE NOTHING, - WIDOW SISTERS AND MANY MARVELOUS MARVEL WOMEN - WE ARE MEANT FOR MORE THAN THIS, it's cute well written comfort, fluff, a bit angsty 3 different series of mainly 1 shots by 3 different authors about yelena and Natasha. They're my all time favorite comfort read.

7- I LOVE YOU, GOODBYE, it's a very very long 1 shot of AU of endgame in which Wanda survives & wandanat happens that hit me so hard I needed hours to process it & get out of it, my only quell with it is that it reset nat & Wanda's relationship with each other at postAOU where they would definitely be distant to each other.

8- IT'S FUN TO LOSE AND TO PRETEND, an absolute tear-jerker, a masterpiece, a beauty, a greatness, it's a 5 parts multichaps which takes place just after Westview, before Hawkeye where nat is given another chance ending up at Wanda's door, Wanda is given the healing marvel denied her with nat, Sam &bucky not being limited by the shackles of the screen & actually interacting with the events of their universe,Clint and yel meeting with their beloved. The ending was a bit unsatisfying to me but nonetheless as martin says this is CINEMA.

9- HOW NATASHA ROMANOFF MARRIED WANDA MAXIMOFF, it's a medium paced 38 chaps retelling of "how Nancy Jackson married Kate Wilson" but with wandanat with huge changes. It's sweet & adorable, the beginning was a bit rocky to me, there parts I would wince where I didn't like it but otherwise an absolute entertainment, I wanna kiss the head of it's author irl for giving me this absolute comfort for FREE. God or whatever higher power bless this person.

10-OUR LITTLE GROUP HAS ALWAYS BEEN (AND ALWAYS WILL UNTIL THE END), it's 9 part series of mini chaps, it's very creative concept,a wild imagination, it's the biggest au to ever au as its author puts it. To me it's the truest form of fanfic, the author took majority of the plot of MCU & toyed with it &come up with their world which has everything cute adorable wandanat, yelenat, the maximoffs, yel and Pietro, loving Russian spy parents, coulson's Lola, overall it's cuteness overload. God bless this author too.

If you ever decide to read them pls leave them a comment & let me know how you feel about them, also do you have more nat centric fanfics or just good fanfics about nat and anybody else.

oh my FUCKING GODDD THANK U ANON!!!

im def gonna read all ur recs! So far i had this one fanfic i rlly like but i forgot the title. I’ll let u know when i rememberr

[seek--rest]

So I'm an MCU fan trying to get into spiderman comics. What are three runs that you recommend for someone dipping their toes into the comics? I know that might be an impossible question to answer but there are sixty something years of comics to sift through and even the condensed 'must read' lists feel a little overwhelming.

YOU CAME TO THE RIGHT PLACE

I’d recommend, in no particular order and based purely on my own personal tastes:

Kraven’s Last Hunt

Classic. Excellent PeterMJ. Kraven is actually interesting and I love the back and forth. Listen to work song by hozier while reading I PROMISE IT MAKES IT BETTER

Spider-Man: Blue

This is essentially a retelling of Peter and Gwen’s love story, as told from Peter’s POV. It’s an idealized vision that hints and recaps a lot of those earlier comics but it’s also just!!!!!!!! One of my favorite stories ever. I could talk endlessly about it but I won’t so just read it so we can talk about it then 😌

Back in Black

This is set immediately post Civil War and 1) shows you how badly the MCU fucked up and 2) is the pre-cursor to one of the single worst storylines Spider-Man comics has ever done BUT!!!!!! It also gave us this panel of Peter showing that “Spider-Man doesn’t kill but Peter Parker might”

You might be thinking “seek what if I don’t understand what happened before” you won’t! That’s fine! Things are really easy to pick up on once you’ve started I promise.

Happy reading!!

[inquisimer]

✨20 Questions for Fic Writers✨

thanks @nirikeehan for the tag!

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

42

2. what’s your total ao3 word count?

226,296

3. what fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Dragon Age at the moment, plus a hint of Dishonored. In the past I've also written for The Mortal Instruments/Shadowhunter Chronicles and MCU.

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

Grace In Denial: oneshot, f!Hawke x Anders - mostly fluff with a hint of emotional hurt/comfort Ended in Love: oneshot, f!Trevelyan x Cullen - some classic mage-Templar angst (cw: forced sterilization, abuse) Lamentations of the Living: oneshot, f!Mahariel x Alistair - the Dark Ritual/Ultimate Sacrifice debate It Will Have To Be Enough: oneshot, f!Lavellan x Cullen - Cullen waits for her to come back at Adamant Conditionally: oneshot, f!Lavellan x Cullen - Lavellan's clan does not approve of her relationship with a human

5. do you respond to comments?

I try! But I am very slow at it, and when the backlog gets too much I psych myself out about it. Currently working on convincing myself that it's not weird to reply to comments from many months ago😅

6. what’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably Mostly A Lie,about an Inquisitor who breaks up with Blackwall at his judgement and a Blackwall POV of her subsequent relationship with Cullen

7. what’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Apple Whiskey, which is an all around fluffy fic about Alistair helping my Inquisitor Neria escape one of Josephine's parties.

8. do you get hate on fics?

I haven't yet, nope! And I know that if I did, I would bitch about it to my friends, block the user, and delete the comment. So what if we just didn't, hm?

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

A bit, perhaps. It's an eventual goal of mine to be more comfortable writing it, but that's definitely a work in progress.

10. do you write crossovers? what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Nope! Personally not a fan of crossovers.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope!

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope!

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

Sort of, as I participated in the DAFF Discord Server round robin anniversary event where we all popcorn wrote a crackfic. Other than that, nope! I think it could be really fun, though :3

14. what’s your all-time favorite ship?

Horation Caine x Marisol Delko (CSI: Miami - I will never write fic for them but their canon story makes me f e r a l)

15. what’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

My Inquisitor!Carver AU. The idea is compelling af, but I have other DAI retellings that I want to write more.

16. what are your writing strengths?

Character backstory, description in general

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

DIALOGUE, dialogue tags, making endings (to chapters or oneshots) sound like endings without being cheesy AF

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I like it, both as a reader and a writer! It can be used well for character flavoring, but is also frequently misused in a way that makes fic harder to read. If it's large chunks of text, especially with plot relevant information, I prefer another indicator that the language has shifted, like italics or a dialogue tag. I think it works best when the author has a reason for it besides "they're speaking another language", like they don't want the readers to understand what's being said, or the character is trying to deceive someone who doesn't speak that language.

19. first fandom you wrote for?

MCU Avengers

20. favorite fic you’ve ever written?

HMMMM probably a toss up between Inquisitor as a Companion: Neria Surana Lavellan (faux DA wiki page entry for my inquisitor) and after all this survival (a snapshot of Siobhan Hawke as Viscountess in Kirkwall)

Blank template below the cut! Tagging: @oxygenforthewicked | @rosella-writes | @demarogue | @plisuu | @exalted-dawn-drabbles | and anyone who wants to use me as their excuse to do this :3

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

2. what’s your total ao3 word count?

3. what fandoms do you write for?

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

5. do you respond to comments?

6. what’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

7. what’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

8. do you get hate on fics?

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

10. do you write crossovers? what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

14. what’s your all-time favorite ship?

15. what’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? T

16. what are your writing strengths?

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

19. first fandom you wrote for?

20. favorite fic you’ve ever written?

[stony-ao3-feed]

lost (in the labyrinth of my mind)

Read it on AO3

by derelover

A retelling of the MCU through Steve's eyes, but with lots of pining for Tony. Labyrinth is such a Steve song, I will die on this hill.

Words: 8906, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain America (Movies)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Major Character Death

Categories: M/M

Characters: Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Bruce Banner, Clint Barton, Thor (Marvel), Sam Wilson (Marvel), Pepper Potts, Thanos (Marvel), Wanda Maximoff, Vision (Marvel), Peggy Carter

Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/James "Rhodey" Rhodes (mentioned), Bruce Banner/Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson, Natasha Romanov & Steve Rogers, Past Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers - Relationship

Additional Tags: Pining Steve Rogers, Fluff and Angst, mostly angst, Happy Ending, Avengers Endgame Fix it, Song: Labyrinth (Taylor Swift), Based on a Taylor Swift Song, Song fic, sadly nat doesn't live, Please Don't Hate Me, steve rogers character study, there's very little dialogue, since we obviously know what happens, the purpose is to study steve, POV Steve Rogers, i've been obsessed with the idea of steve speaking french, ever since i saw him speak it in caws lmao

Read it on AO3

[ao3feed-stony]

lost (in the labyrinth of my mind)

by derelover

A retelling of the MCU through Steve's eyes, but with lots of pining for Tony. Labyrinth is such a Steve song, I will die on this hill.

Words: 8906, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain America (Movies)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Major Character Death

Categories: M/M

Characters: Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Bruce Banner, Clint Barton, Thor (Marvel), Sam Wilson (Marvel), Pepper Potts, Thanos (Marvel), Wanda Maximoff, Vision (Marvel), Peggy Carter

Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/James "Rhodey" Rhodes (mentioned), Bruce Banner/Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson, Natasha Romanov & Steve Rogers, Past Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers - Relationship

Additional Tags: Pining Steve Rogers, Fluff and Angst, mostly angst, Happy Ending, Avengers Endgame Fix it, Song: Labyrinth (Taylor Swift), Based on a Taylor Swift Song, Song fic, sadly nat doesn't live, Please Don't Hate Me, steve rogers character study, there's very little dialogue, since we obviously know what happens, the purpose is to study steve, POV Steve Rogers, i've been obsessed with the idea of steve speaking french, ever since i saw him speak it in caws lmao

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/44525806

[talkintomytv]

I've always felt cautiously optimistic towards the thought of an MCU run of Daredevil Born Again but as more and more quotes and rumors start to come out about the show it all has me feeling more cautious than optimistic.

I'm particularly worried about that one quote going around that suggests they may retell key events from the original series. Mostly because I'm not too sure what they could have meant by it so my brain is left to spiral on its own.

Are they gonna use clips from the original series as flashbacks I wonder? Or perhaps film new scenes set in those times to add some new context to the older scenes? Will they reenact some parts? Or maybe the events of the original series only come up conversationally sort of how Matt described his practice to Jen at the bar in She-Hulk. I'm driving myself crazy over here just trying to make sense of it. Are they gonna completely ignore or retcon some things already established and do them again to try and make some sort of bullshit multiverse excuse out of it? Ahh, it's freaking me out! I wish I could just feel excited about the new show instead of worried. Y'know?

I'm having a hard time understanding why they won't just embrace the original series fully. It's not even a Netflix show anymore. Disney owns it completely so why hold something so well-received at arm's length I'm left to wonder?

I could just be misinterpreting quotes spoken by cast and crew who literally know nothing about a project that's still in flux and are simply just trying to hold a conversation during an interview. This new series could still be very much a continuation of the old while starting again with a season 1. Sort of like how Naruto became Naruto: Shippuden hahaha.

I still worry this iteration of the character is going to de-canonize that incredible performance between Daredevil and Fisk in the final episode of season 3 and be completely riddled with cameos split up across multiple sequels, in other people's stories. Spending his series runtime setting up some other larger-than-life event to face off against later with no real stakes or conclusions of its own.

But, hey! Daredevil may actually don the "DD" insignia on his suit this round so if the series is not as good as it was before at least they're all gonna look so damn good doing it.

It feels good to toss some words out into a void at no one in particular so If you made it this far thank you for reading all of that!

What sorts of things are you looking for in Daredevil Born again? I'm lookin' to change my tune. Take care out there!

-M

[polizwrites]

WIP Update - 26 Oct 2022

A decently productive writing week -  I touched 6 fics (1 WIPs & 5 new works) for a total of 2578 words.  

I’m catching up on getting stuff posted -   Over on Ao3,  @psychiccatpanda posted the epilogue to our Stucky --> Stuckony non-traditional A/B/O fic, and I posted a Rhodey POV scene retelling from IM3 as well as  a post-Endgame canon divergent fic where Bucky reconciles with Tony,  and a  WinterIron Old Dark House fluffy ficlet. On Tumblr I posted a  Stony domestic fic with bonus IronBros for last week’s @flashfictionfridayofficial prompt and a  Thor & Natasha mission/friendship fic to fill an @avengersbingo square as well as two October writing challenges. 

I’m still at 12 active WIPs  (with a couple of maybe TBCs)  with my current   deadlines being three October creative challenges:  @fictober-event,  @flufftober & @whumptober.  The @reforgedzine  deadline is also looming large.  :: bites nails::

See below cut for the WIPs  (arranged more or less by bingos/challenges/etc) I am working on  -   feel free to send me prompts or plot bunnies as well as asks regarding any of these projects   (or any other WIPs I’ve got out there) – they really help feed the Muse and keep me motivated!

Whumptober, Flufftober & Fictober [ Running thru 31 Oct]

I’m going to attempt to fill prompts from these three creative challenges - at least one per week of the month - preferably combining one prompt from each into a single fic.  

I’ve filled prompts for Day 1 (Fic, Whump & Fluff),  Day 7 (Fic and semi-Whump), Day 12 (Fic, Whump & Fluff), Day 18  (Fic and Fluff) and Day 25 (Fic and Fluff)  with Day 29 in progress.  I  may circle back and fill a few more belated prompts  at some point. 

Reforged - A WinterIron Zine [Deadline 12 Nov]

I got accepted to submit a  1k-3.5k fic for this project, and have submitted a basic idea &  belatedly completed the final checkin.    I am stressed and struggling, already up to 3404 words and still need to get the main plot wrapped up - I basically need to finish the damn thing and then ruthlessly edit to get down to the max word count…  

Avengers Bingo [AvB] (Runs thru 24 Dec)

Ten fills posted (7 to Ao3)  and 0 WIPs - I decided to further challenge myself on this 16-square card by pairing up each square with a unique combo of 2 original MCU Avengers, with the final square being PolyVengers. With the help of the STB Enthusiasts Discord folks - I’ve got all 16 squares  planned out, at least in terms of who to write about, and half of them have some sort of idea or crossover square to go along with them. Feel free to toss other plot  bunnies my way…  

* B3 - Road Trip  -  Bruce & Thor  - Post Grandmaster, pre-Thanos  space shenanigans

* B4 - Age Gap   - Thor/Tony - possible crossover with TSB One Night Stand  (obvious title: Thunderstruck)

* C1 - Opposites Attract - Clint/Thor  - there was a fun Tumblr  headcanon going around about a Bumbling Foreigner whose ignorance of  local customs  results in him flirting with/proposing to the prince -  this seems like a perfect matchup! 

* C2 - Soft under Hard Exterior Trope -  posted Opening Up, Step by Step,  to Tumblr yesterday - it’s a Natasha & Thor kinda-sorta mission fic that also fills the @fictober-event prompt “You know I’d do anything.” and @flufftober First Dance prompts. 

* C3 - Reincarnation AU  -  filled this with  A Unexpected Reunion as a crossover with  last week’s @flashfictionfridayofficial prompt [#FFF172 A Ghost from the Past]  It will get posted to Ao3  before the bingo closes.

* D1 - Friends w/ Benefits  - Clint/Steve - crossover with MWAPB Hawkeye/Clint Barton and possibly SRB - Never Have I Ever

* D2 - Romeo & Juliet AU  -  basic idea:  Steve (jock) & Tony  (geek) trying out for title roles in R&J - despite their respective  FWB groups thinking it’s a terrible idea.  Title:  Two Polycules, Alike in Dignity

*  D3 - Bed Sharing  -  Bruce/Natasha - AoU compliant.

Man With a Plan (Steve Rogers) Bingo [MWAPB] (Runs thru 31 Dec)

Twelve fills, 1 WIPs and several Vague Ideas/potential cross fills with other bingos.  Prompts cheerfully accepted!  

* B3 - Farmer’s Market  -  crossover with TSB Doing Groceries. Moodboard + ficlet?

* I1 - Steve is here for TFAtWS  - this might go well with my BBB  “Oh, hell no"  square - Steve trolling  Bucky & Sam by sending the old man in with his shield?  (moodboard & ficlet?) 

* N1 - School AU/Teacher AU  - if I decide to continue on with Technicalities   - I could fill this square  :: ponders::

* N3 - Online shopping - this might be fun as a crossover with BBB Thighs  Sam buys a revealing swimsuit for Bucky as a gag that gets Steve in a tizzy.

* N4 - Soulmates -  got inspired by a dream to start a Stucky fantasy AU (magician!Steve/ensorcelled!Bucky) that @bill-longbow  is collaborating on with me.  This will also fill my Stucky Bingo AU: Supernatural square.  We’re currently sitting at 1640 words  (984-ish of which are mine). Current Last Line:  "My men will accompany you back to Brookline in the morning.”

* G4 - Canon Divergence post CA:TWS - possible  crossover with BBB  Kill List – Bucky wreaking havoc on Hydra bases and  Steve & Sam catch up with him

* G5 - Friends to Lovers -  might use this for Chapter 3 of Mutual Pinning

*  O2 - Sex Pollen  -  Teenage Groot pollen =  aphrodisiac  hi-jinks. Quill & Gamora  warn the  couple (stucky)/throuple (Stuckony)  ahead of time, so no  dub-con.

* O3 - Hawkeye/Clint Barton  -  see AvB - Friends w/ Benefits  above.

StarkBucks Bingo - Round 3  (SBB_R3) - Ends 31 Dec

Eight fills (six posted to Ao3), 1 WIPs and several Vague Ideas - soliciting plot bunnies or other kick-starters.

* B1 - “I wouldn’t mind wasting my time on you.“  - Possible crossover with  BBB - KINK: Seduction Mission?  

* B3 - AU: Canon Divergence -  posted  Clearing the Air  on Monday as a crossover with  TSB Canon Divergent: Nobody Dies.  It’s a Bucky POV of a post-Endgame canon-divergent return to Wakanda where he has a chance to make amends with Tony.  It’s based on some discarded bits from “Ain’t No Party Like a ‘Saved the Universe’ Party” and came in at in at  790 words.

* I2 - Mistaken Identity - crossover with TSB K5 - Protectiveness -  “The Mechanic, The Soldier & The Artist” - mob/assassin AU with a Mr. & Mrs. Smith twist?  

* I4 - Canon: Avengers Academy  - will probably do Stuffed Marvels sketches of Tony and Winter, as I know very little about the game/canon.  

* I5 - Matchmaker Bots - possible crossover with TSB Occupational Hazard

* N2 - Blanket - Thanks to the July BBB Discord party , I have an idea for combining this with my TSB   AU: College square and BBB Funeral square.

* N5 - “Wanna make a bet?”  Used this in combination with the Day 18  Fictober (“I don’t think this is your problem.”)  and Flufftober  (Soulmate AU) prompts for  Marked-Up Soulmarks  - a soulmate AU where Tony discovers he and Steve have something (and someone) in common. I may expand on this before posting it to Ao3 and/or claiming it as an official fill.

* G3 - “This might as well happen.”   Posted  In Hindsight - a Stucky –> Stuckony meet-awkward fic inspired by a series of posts with @needyoucap over on the STB Enthusiasts Discord server. This  alternating POV  ficlet (which also fills my TSB square  Hindsight)  came in at 1660 words.

* O1 - Royalty - crossover with TSB - IronWidow  &  BBB   AU: Arranged Marriage -  pick Lady Natasha’s Consort and Lord Steve’s Companion  back up?

* O6 - AU: Biker  - Grease 2  fusion  anyone?  😁  I watched the movie a couple of weeks ago and took notes -  It’s not gonna be a faithful adaptation, but hopefully fun - tho am having a tough time deciding who is Michael (probably Bucky, tho a case could be made for Tony)

Hero Hardships Bingo  [HHB]  (Runs thru 31 Dec)

One fill so far  with a few Vague Ideas …  need to see what might play well with Whumptober prompts!

* I3 - Unimaginable Grief  – I‘m thinking an post-Endgame Rhodey POV would work nicely here…

* O3 - Dating a civilian -  this would fit perfectly with another chapter of Takin’ What They’re Givin’ (‘Cause I’m Workin’ for a Livin’) , for which I currently have a basic plot point or two rolling around in my head.

Bucky Barnes Bingo - Round 4 [BBB_R4] (Runs thru 7 Jan 2023)

Twelve fills,  four WIPs  & ideas for everything except one square  - Working on a Column B bingo to start.

* B2 - Funeral - see SBB N2 - Blanket  above

* B3 - Sam Wilson|Falcon - this would be a good candidate for a continuation of After One Or Two False Starts

* U2 - AU: Roommate  - Still wanting to use the Meet Ugly prompt: 02. I bought a house three months ago but I’m finally moving in and discover you’ve been squatting because you’re homeless    – probably WinterHawk with  recovering!Bucky being the squatter in Clint’s apartment building.  

* U4 - AU: Arranged Marriage - will probably pick Lady Natasha’s Consort and Lord Steve’s Companion  back up for this one.  

* U5 - Kill List -  see MWAP  - G4 - Canon Divergence.  Post CA:TWS above

* C2 - “Oh, hell no” - possible crossover with MWAP I1 - Steve is here for TFaWS

* C4 - KINK: Aftercare -  possibly MWAP Sex Pollen or  TSB KINK: Concubine

*C5 - “This might as well happen” -  Used this for the Sept BBB Round Robin  (crackfic - Emperor’s New Groove inspired)  wrote 276 words toward it  - not sure if/when it will post,  but will add a link when it does.   😁

* K3 - KINK: Edging  - crossing over with TSB KINK: Orgasm Denial/Edging & I finally got a start on the WinterIron PWP for this (Bucky POV with toy play and Tony as a power bottom)  Hanging by a Moment is sitting at 96 words at the moment.

* Y2 - Never the fall that kills you -  this might be the title for a reverse hanahaki WinterIron prompt from @lacrimula-falsa ….  

* Y4 - KINK: Seduction Mission - crossover with SBB - B1 - “I wouldn’t mind wasting my time on you.”  

* ADOPTED1 - Peggy Carter -  potential WW3some shenanigans ahead - another 3 prompts –> Summary inspiration   currently  395 words into a  Peggy & Bucky conversation at the moment.  

Steve Rogers Bingo - Round 2  (SRB_R2) - Ends 31 Jan

Fourteen fills posted  & 0 WIPs at the moment   – happily accepting plot bunnies here as well.  

* A1 - Never Have I Ever -  see AvB  Friends with Benefits

* A4 - Touch Attention/Denial  - I have an idea for this that will also fill (heh) my Stucky Bingo  KINK - Double Penetration square.

* B2 - Mile High Club -  this seems made for Stony sexy shenanigans…

* E2 - Comics Nomad Steve  - SWC sketch of Nomad!Steve

Tony Stark Bingo - Round 6  (TSB_R6)  [Ends 28 Feb]

Ten fills and five WIPs at the moment -    with  Vague Ideas for almost every other square.  

* S2 - Canon Divergence: Nobody Dies - see SBB AU: Canon Divergence

* T1 - One Night Stand - see AvB - B4 - Age Gap

* T2 - Doing Groceries - see MWAP B3 - Farmer’s Market

* T3 - Pepper Potts/Rescue -  remix of sabrecmc’s  Indecent Proposal

* T4 - KINK: Concubine - possible crossover with   BBB C4 - KINK: Aftercare?

* A4 - AU: College - see SBB N2 - Blanket

*A5 - Scott Lang  - @27dragons shared an interesting plot bunny during the Sept TSB Discord party that I may end up using; that or a follow up to A Piece of the Action

* R1 - Tony’s Poor Life Choices - @somesortofitalianroast had the excellent idea to turn this on its head - now that he’s with [partner of your choice] - he’s making fewer poor life choices?

* R2 - IronWidow -  next chapter of Lady Natasha’s Consort and Lord Steve’s Companion ?

* R4 - Occupational Hazard - see SBB I5 - Matchmaker Bots

* K2 - Secret Admirer -  carried this over from last round so I could try my hand a remix of Seeds of Love  (WinterIron hanahaki fic by the super-talented @hddnone).  Potential title:  Wraps Around My Heart, Refusing to Unwind

* K3 - KINK: Orgasm Denial/Edging -  see BBB KINK: Edging  

* K5 - Protectiveness -  see SBB Mistaken Identity

*ADOPTED1 - Movie Retelling -  Posted Tested to the Breaking Point  on Friday - it’s a Rhodey POV of the panic attack scene from IM3  and came in at 717 words.  

Stucky Bingo Round Four [SB_R4] (Ends 31 May 2023

Four fills and three WIPs with a couple of other vague ideas.

* B4 - Artist/Muse - rough draft of  A Work of Heart done as of this morning; coming in at 622 words. It also fills Day 29 of  Fictober (”You love this, don’t you?”) , Flufftober (Leaves) and Whumptober (”Better me than you.”) and will post on the 29th.  

* B5 - KINK: Double Penetration - see SRB   Touch Attention/Denial  above.

* O4 - AU: Supernatural - see MWAPB Soulmates  above.

I also adopted the Writing Format: Remix one of your fics  square  – am thinking of taking one of my Stony or WinterIron  No Powers fics and adapting it to a Stucky pairing – if you have any requests - hit me up!  

WinterIron - No Powers AU  –  Stony No Powers AU

————

On other creative fronts:  I have a Steve from Blue’s Clues Stuffed With Character figure in progress. Am also  working on commissions from the classic monster/horror con I attended earlier this month and prepping for a superhero con in March - so am kind of booked up.  Plus I have to make space for Marvel Trumps Hate -  bidding started on Saturday - see my auctions here!

if  you’re looking for one of a kind gifts for the holiday season, check  out Stuffed With Character   over on Facebook for a full list of my designs (now over 80!).   They’re  mostly Marvel and monsters, but I have some Star Wars, Star Trek, DC   and Disney figures as well. Plus I love to take custom design  requests  for any fandom!

[lokiondisneyplus]

'Loki' takes over: Tom Hiddleston on his new TV series and a decade in the MCU

Ten years after Hiddleston first chose chaos in Thor, Marvel’s fan favorite God of Mischief is going even bigger with his time-bending Disney+ show.

Tom Hiddleston is Loki, and he is burdened with glorious purpose: After playing Thor's puckish brother for over a decade in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, no one understands the mercurial Asgardian God of Mischief as well as the actor. He can teach an entire seminar on Loki if given the opportunity — which he actually did during pre-production on his forthcoming Disney+ show. In conversation, Hiddleston quotes lines from his MCU debut, 2011's Thor, almost verbatim, and will playfully correct you if you mistakenly refer to Asgard's Rainbow Bridge as the Bifrost, which is the portal that connects Loki and Thor's homeworld to the Nine Realms, including Midgard, a.k.a. Earth. "Well, the Bifrost technically is the energy that runs through the bridge," he says with a smile. "But nine points to Gryffindor!" And when he shows up to the photo shoot for this very digital cover, he hops on a call with our photo editor to pitch ways the concept could be even more Loki, like incorporating the flourish the trickster does whenever magically conjuring something. The lasting impression is that playing Loki isn't just a paycheck.

"Rather than ownership, it's a sense of responsibility I feel to give my best every time and do the best I can because I feel so grateful to be a part of what Marvel Studios has created," the 40-year-old Brit tells EW over Zoom a few days after the shoot and a week out from Thor's 10th anniversary. "I just want to make sure I've honored that responsibility with the best that I can give and the most care and thought and energy."

After appearing in three Thor movies and three Avengers, Hiddleston is bringing that passion to his first solo Marvel project, Loki, the House of Ideas' third Disney+ series following the sitcom pastiche WandaVision and the topical The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Led by head writer Michael Waldron (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Heels), the six-episode drama sees Hiddleston's shapeshifting agent of chaos step out from behind his brother's shadow and into the spotlight for a timey-wimey, sci-fi adventure that aims to get to the bottom of who Loki really is. "I wanted to explore slightly more complex character questions," says Waldron. "It's not just good versus bad. Is anybody all good? Is anybody all bad? What makes a hero, a hero? A villain, a villain?"  

Even though Loki — who loves sowing mayhem with his illusion magic and shapeshifting, all with a major chip on his shoulder — has never been one for introspection, the idea of building an entire show around him was a no-brainer for Marvel. When asked why Loki was one of the studio's first Disney+ shows, Marvel president Kevin Feige replies matter-of-factly, "More Hiddleston, more Loki." First introduced as Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) envious brother in Kenneth Branagh's Thor, Loki went full Big Bad in 2012's The Avengers. That film cemented the impish rogue as one of the shared universe's fan favorites, thanks to Hiddleston's ability to make him deliciously villainous yet charismatic and, most importantly, empathetic. The character's popularity is one of the reasons he's managed to avoid death many times.

"He's been around for thousands of years. He had all sorts of adventures," says Feige. "Wanting to fill in the blanks and see much more of Loki's story [was] the initial desire [for the series]."

The Loki we meet on the show is not the one who fought the Avengers in 2012 and evolved into an antihero in Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok before meeting his demise at the hands of the mad titan Thanos (Josh Brolin) in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War. Instead, we'll be following a Loki from a branched timeline (a variant, if you will) after he stole the Tesseract following his thwarted New York invasion and escaped S.H.I.E.L.D. custody during the time heist featured in Avengers: Endgame. In other words, this Loki hasn't gone through any sort of redemption arc. He's still the charming yet petulant god who firmly believes he's destined to rule and has never gotten his due.

Premiering June 9, Loki begins with the Time Variance Authority — a bureaucratic organization tasked with safeguarding the proper flow of time — arresting the Loki Variant seen in Endgame because they want his help fixing all of the timeline problems he caused while on the run with the Tesseract. So there will be time travel, and a lot more of it than in Endgame. As Loki makes his way through his own procedural, he'll match wits with new characters including Owen Wilson's Agent Mobius, a brilliant TVA analyst, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw's Judge Renslayer. The question in early episodes is whether Loki will help them or take over.

"One of the things Kevin Feige led on was, 'I think we should find a way of exploring the parts of Loki that are independent of his relationship with Thor,' or see him in a duality or in relationship with others, which I thought was very exciting," says Hiddleston, who also serves as an executive producer on the show. "So the Odinson saga, that trilogy of films, still has its integrity, and we don't have to reopen it and retell it."

Yet, in order to understand where Loki is going, it's important to see where he came from.

Hiddleston can't believe how long he and Loki have been connected. "I've been playing this character for 11 years," he says. "Which is the first time I have said that sentence, I realize, and it [blows] my mind. I don't know what percentage that is exactly of my 40 years of being alive, but it's substantial."

His time as Loki actually goes a bit further back, to 2009 — a year after Robert Downey Jr. big banged the MCU into existence with Iron Man — when he auditioned for Thor. It's no secret that Hiddleston initially went in for the role of the titular God of Thunder, but Feige and director Kenneth Branagh thought his natural charm and flexibility as an actor made him better suited for the movie's damaged antagonist. "Tom gave you an impression that he could be ready for anything, performance-wise," says Branagh, who had previously worked with him on a West End revival of Checkov's Ivanov and the BBC series Wallander. "Tom has a wild imagination, so does Loki. He's got a mischievous sense of humor and he was ready to play. It felt like he had a star personality, but he was a team player."

Hiddleston fully immersed himself in the character. Outside of studying Loki's history in the Marvel Comics, he also researched how Loki and the Trickster God archetype appeared across mythology and different cultures. "He understood that he was already in something special [and] it was a special character in a special part of that early moment in the life of the Marvel universe where [he] also needed to step up in other ways," says Branagh, who was impressed by the emotional depth Hiddleston brought to the part, especially when it came to how isolated Loki felt in the Asgardian royal family.  

There was a lot riding on that first Thor feature. For one, no one knew if audiences would immediately latch onto a Shakespearean superhero movie partially set on an alien planet populated by the Norse Gods of legend. Second, it was integral to Feige's plans for the shared universe. Loki was supposed to be the main villain in The Avengers, which would not only mirror how Earth's mightiest heroes joined forces in 1963's Avengers #1 but also give Thor a believable reason for teaming up with Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans), and the rest of the capes. Feige first clued Hiddleston into those larger plans when the actor was in L.A. before Thor started shooting.

"I was like, 'Excuse me?' Because he was already three, four steps ahead," says Hiddleston. "That took me a few minutes to process, because I didn't quite realize how it just suddenly had a scope. And being cast as Loki, I realized, was a very significant moment for me in my life, and was going to remain. The creative journey was going to be so exciting."

Hiddleston relished the opportunity to go full villain in Avengers, like in the scene where Loki ordered a crowd to kneel before him outside a German opera house: "It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation," says the Machiavellian god. "The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."

"I just knew that in the structure of that film, I had to lean into his role as a pure antagonist," Hiddleston recalls. "What I always found curious and complex about the way Loki is written in Avengers, is that his status as an antagonist comes from the same well of not belonging and being marginalized and isolated in the first Thor film. Loki now knows he has no place in Asgard."

Loki did find a place within the audience's hearts, though. Feige was "all in" on Hiddleston as his Loki from the beginning, but even he couldn't predict how much fans would love him. Feige recalls the reaction at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con: "Did we know that after he was the villain in two movies, he would be bringing thousands of people to their feet in Hall H, in costume, chanting his name? No, that was above and beyond the plan that we were hoping for and dreaming of." It was a dream Feige first got an inkling of a year earlier during the Avengers press tour when a Russian fan slipped past security, snuck into Mark Ruffalo's car, and asked the Hulk actor to give Hiddleston a piece of fan art she created. "That was one of the early signs there was much more happening with this quote-unquote villain."  

Despite that popularity, the plan was to kill Loki off in 2013's Thor: The Dark World, but the studio reversed course after test audiences refused to believe he actually died fighting the Dark Elves. Alas, he couldn't out-illusion death forever. After returning in Taika Waititi's colorful and idiosyncratic Thor: Ragnarok, Hiddleston's character perished for real in the opening moments of Infinity War. In typical Loki fashion, before Thanos crushed his windpipe, he delivered a defiant speech that indicated he'd finally made peace with the anger he felt toward his family.  

"It felt very, very final, and I thought, 'Okay, that's it. This is Loki's final bow and a conclusive end to the Odinson saga,'" says Hiddleston, who shot that well-earned death scene in 2017.  

But, though he didn't know it yet, the actor's MCU story was far from over.

Credit: Charlie Gray for EW

When Hiddleston returned to film two scenes in Avengers: Endgame in 2017, he had no idea where Loki portaled off to after snatching the Tesseract. "Where'd he go? When does he go? How does he get there? These are all questions I remember asking on the day, and then not being given any answers," Hiddleston recalls. To be fair, it's likely the Powers That Be didn't necessarily have answers then. While Feige can't exactly recall when the writers' room for Endgame first devised Loki's escape sequence, he does know that setting up a future show wasn't the primary goal — because a Loki series wasn't on the horizon just yet.

"[That scene] was really more of a wrinkle so that one of the missions that the Avengers went on in Endgame could get screwed up and not go well, which is what required Cap and Tony to go further back in time to the '70s," says Feige. Soon after that, though, former Disney CEO Bob Iger approached Feige about producing content for the studio's forthcoming streaming service. "I think the notion that we had left this hanging loose end with Loki gave us the in for what a Loki series could be. So by the time [Endgame] came out, we did know where it was going."

As for Hiddleston, he didn't find out about the plans for a Loki show until spring 2018, a few weeks before Infinity War hit theaters. "I probably should not have been surprised, but I was," says the actor. "But only because Infinity War had felt so final."

Nevertheless, Hiddleston was excited about returning for his show. He was eager to explore Loki's powers, especially the shapeshifting, and what it meant that this disruptive figure still managed to find a seat beside the gods in mythology. "I love this idea [of] Loki's chaotic energy somehow being something we need. Even though, for all sorts of reasons, you don't know whether you can trust him. You don't know whether he's going to betray you. You don't why he's doing what he's doing," says Hiddleston. "If he's shapeshifting so often, does he even know who he is? And is he even interested in understanding who he is? Underneath all those masks, underneath the charm and the wit, which is kind of a defense anyway, does Loki have an authentic self? Is he introspective enough or brave enough to find out? I think all of those ideas are all in the series — ideas about identity, ideas about self-knowledge, self-acceptance, and the difficulty of it."

“The series will explore Loki's powers in a way they have not yet been explored, which is very, very exciting.”

The thing that truly sold Hiddleston on the show was Marvel's decision to include the Time Variance Authority, a move he describes as "the best idea that anybody had pertaining to the series." Feige and Loki executive producer Stephen Broussard had hoped to find a place for the TVA — an organization that debuted in 1986's Thor #372 and has appeared in She-Hulk and Fantastic Four stories — in the MCU for years, but the right opportunity never presented itself until Loki came along. "Putting Loki into his own procedural series became the eureka moment for the show," says Feige.  

The TVA's perspective on time and reality also tied into the themes that Waldron, Loki's head writer, was hoping to explore. "Loki is a character that's always reckoning with his own identity, and the TVA, by virtue of what they do, is uniquely suited to hold up a mirror to Loki and make him really confront who he is and who he was supposed to be," says Waldron. Hiddleston adds: "[That] was very exciting because in the other films, there was always something about Loki that was very controlled. He seemed to know exactly what the cards in his hand were and how he was going to play them…. And Loki versus the TVA is Loki out of control immediately, and in an environment in which he's completely behind the pace, out of his comfort zone, destabilized, and acting out."

To truly dig into who Loki is, the creative team had to learn from the man who knows him best: Hiddleston. "I got him to do a thing called Loki School when we first started," says director Kate Herron. "I asked him to basically talk through his 10 years of the MCU — from costumes to stunts, to emotionally how he felt in each movie. It was fantastic."

Hiddleston got something out of the Loki school, too. Owen Wilson both attended the class and interviewed Hiddleston afterward so that he could better understand Loki, as his character Mobius is supposed to be an expert on him. During their conversation, Wilson pointedly asked Hiddleston what he loved about playing the character.

"And I said, 'I think it's because he has so much range,'" says Hiddleston. "I remember saying this to him: 'On the 88 keys on the piano, he can play the twinkly light keys at the top. He can keep it witty and light, and he's the God of Mischief, but he can also go down to the other side and play the heavy keys. And he can play some really profound chords down there, which are about grief and betrayal and loss and heartbreak and jealousy and pride.'" Hiddleston recalls Wilson being moved by the description: "He said, 'I think I might say that in the show.' And it was such a brilliant insight for me into how open Owen is as an artist and a performer.'"

Owen Wilson as Mobius and Tom Hiddleston as Loki in 'Loki.'| Credit: Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios

Everyone involved is particularly excited for audiences to see Hiddleston and Wilson's on-screen chemistry. "Mobius is not unlike Owen Wilson in that he's sort of nonplussed by the MCU," says Feige. "[Loki] is used to getting a reaction out of people, whether it's his brother or his father, or the other Avengers. He likes to be very flamboyant and theatrical. Mobius doesn't give him the reaction he's looking for. That leads to a very unique relationship that Loki's not used to."

As for the rest of the series, we know that Loki will be jumping around time and reality, but the creative team isn't keen on revealing when and where. "Every episode, we tried to take inspiration from different things," says Waldron, citing Blade Runner's noir aesthetic as one example.

"Part of the fun of the multiverse and playing with time is seeing other versions of characters, and other versions of the titular character in particular," says Feige, who also declined to confirm if Loki ties into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and/or other upcoming projects.

Making Loki was especially meaningful to Hiddleston because they shot most of it during the pandemic, in late 2020. "It will remain one of the absolute most intense, most rewarding experiences of my life," he says. "It's a series about time, and the value of time, and what time is worth, and I suppose what the experience of being alive is worth. And I don't quite know yet, and maybe I don't have perspective on it, if all the thinking and the reflecting that we did during the lockdown ended up in the series. But in some way, it must have because everything we make is a snapshot of where we were in our lives at that time."

While it remains to be seen what the future holds for Loki beyond this initial season, Hiddleston isn't preparing to put the character to bed yet. "I'm open to everything," he says. "I have said goodbye to the character. I've said hello to the character. I said goodbye to the character [again]. I've learned not to make assumptions, I suppose. I'm just grateful that I'm still here, and there are still new roads to explore."

[opbackgrounds]

Has it ever felt to you, like One Piece should be four or five different ongoing comics (a la the DC or Marvel Universes)? Like there's just way too much going on at the same time, and way too many parties separate from the Strawhats, to squeeze into one title?

No. That kind of storytelling gets real complicated real fast, and as anyone whose familiar with the MCU knows can be very limiting to individual creators since characters have to be at point X, by Y, because Z. That, or you get into the mess that is serialized American comics and have everyone doing their own thing until the big crossover episode, which runs into problems of its own.

One Piece benefits from being the vision of a single creator. Multiple comic book runs means multiple writers and artists, so some of that unique flavor is lost.

This is more of a personal thing, but I also think that to an extent it’s unfair to expect an audience to have to buy multiple titles just to understand one overarching story. I don’t follow American cape comics, but if I wanted to get into, say, Batman, there’s a gazillion different universes and stories and retelling and reboots that make it impossible to know where to start.

But for One Piece, all I have to do is go to chapter 1.

Now, I do believe that as time goes on we’ll get more novels and supplementary material to fill in the gaps, and some of these might even be turned into comics a la the Ace novel. But comics in general are such labor intensive projects whose limited word count per page make for some ridiculously inefficient storytelling. It’s much easier for Oda to send an outline to some for-hire author and make a bunch of short stories than to turn that same outline into a comic. But none of those materials will—or should be—required reading.

[sineala]

Tony Stark and Arthuriana

Coming to you by special request, a very long post about 616 Tony's interest in Arthuriana, with a focus on all of Tony's run-ins with Morgan le Fay!

I feel like I should disclaim the extent of my knowledge here, which is that I still haven't managed to read anywhere near every issue of Iron Man -- at least, not yet, anyway -- so I'm just going by the things I know I've read, and Morgan le Fay's Marvel wiki entry is frustratingly under-cited, so it's very possible I've missed something relevant, but I'm pretty sure I've got the big stuff down. My other disclaimer here is that I'm not as big an Arthurian nerd as Tony is, which is to say that most of my familiarity comes from modern retellings -- T. H. White's The Once and Future King, Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon, Mary Stewart's The Crystal Cave, Rosemary Sutcliff's Sword at Sunset -- and not so much the usual classic sources on the Matter of Britain, though I've read bits and pieces of them.

(This is because I wanted to read versions of them that were as close to the original as possible but so far have not ended up finishing any of them because, well, that's hard. So I've never read the Mabinogion because I do not know Welsh. I've got the Norton Critical Edition of Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, which is probably the best student edition if you're looking for something without modernized spellings, as I was. I've also got -- well, okay, it's my wife's but I'm borrowing it -- a relatively recent Boydell & Brewer edition (ed. Reeve, tr. Wright) of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), which is, you guessed it, in Latin with a facing English translation. I haven't gotten very far in it because, in case you didn't know this about Latin texts, the beginning is pretty much always the hardest, so I gave up and read some Plautus adaptations instead. Anyway, if for some reason you too want to read Geoffrey of Monmouth in the original Latin I'd recommend that one, but I can't recommend any particular English translations because I've never read one by itself. I bet you didn't think you'd be getting Latin prose recommendations in this post. I mean, maybe you did; it is me, after all.)

Okay. Right. King Arthur. Here we go.

We've got:

Flashbacks to Tony's childhood in late Iron Man volume 1

A brief discussion of Morgan's origin story and Avengers #187

Iron Man vol 1 #149-150: Doomquest

What If vol 1 #33: What if Iron Man was trapped in the time of King Arthur?

Iron Man vol 1 #249-250: Recurring Knightmare

Iron Man: Legacy of Doom #1-4

Avengers vol 3 #1-4: The Morgan Conquest

Civil War: The Confession

Mighty Avengers vol 1 #9-11: Time Is On No One's Side

In terms of universe-internal chronology, we know from Iron Man #287, from 1992, that Tony has been a fan of King Arthur since childhood. This is an issue of a fandom-favorite arc which features Tony having a lot of childhood flashbacks, including the famous "Stark men are made of iron" line (in #286) that for some reason MCU fandom decided it loved; I mean, seriously, I've seen that quoted in way more MCU fic than 616 fic. But slightly later, in #287, we get an entire page devoted to Tony's love of King Arthur.

The narration reads: "Over the next few years, I learned as my father intended. Discipline of body. Strength of character. But in what free time I was allowed, I worked my way through the school's library. At thirteen, I discovered Mallory [sic], who showed me a whole new world. A world of dedication to a cause greater than oneself. Of chivalry and honor. And the fantastic deeds -- of armored heroes."

The art shows Tony as a child sitting under a tree, reading a book labeled Mort D'Arthur by Mallory [sic] -- no, don't ask me why nobody at Marvel checked how to spell either the name of the book or its author -- and daydreaming of King Arthur, the Sword in the Stone, knights, et cetera. Just in case you somehow missed the extremely blatant hint that we are meant to understand that Tony's knight obsession heavily influenced him becoming Iron Man as an adult, we see one of his armors mixed in with all the drawings of knights. So, yes, canonically Tony is Iron Man at least partly because he's a giant King Arthur nerd, which I think is so very sweet. I love him. He's such a dork!

(This issue is currently in print in the Iron Man Epic Collection War Machine, should you need your own copy.)

This isn't actually the only reference to Tony as a King Arthur fanboy in this era of canon, either; a little later, in IM #298, we see that one of Tony's passwords is actually "Mallory." (Yeah, no, they still couldn't spell. But it's cute.)

But in terms of actual publication order, this is definitely not the first time we have seen in canon that Tony is into Arthuriana, as I'm sure you all know. I would assume, in fact, that giving Tony a childhood interest in Arthuriana is because Doomquest is one of the most beloved Iron Man story arcs of all time, and that all started at least a decade before IM #287 here was published.

The villain of Doomquest -- the one who isn't Doctor Doom, at least -- is Morgan le Fay. Yes, that Morgan le Fay. Yes, Arthur's evil half-sister Morgan le Fay. Yes, all of this King Arthur stuff is canonically real history on Earth-616. Morgan's first appearance in Marvel, per the wiki, was in Black Knight #1 (1955), which I have not read, and judging by the summary I feel like this is probably just supposed to be a straight-up comic retelling of Arthurian legends for kids; I don't think Marvel really had the whole Marvel Universe in mind as a concept in 1955, so I'm not sure this was meant to connect to anything else. I feel like this is another one of those instances of Marvel discovering that they can write comics about characters in the public domain for free -- like, I'm pretty sure that's how we also ended up with, like, Norse, Greek, and Roman mythology wedged into 616.

As far as I can tell from the wiki, the first time Morgan tangled with the Avengers (or indeed the larger 616 universe) in any way actually predated Doomquest -- it was in an early arc in Spider-Woman (#2-6) and then Avengers #187, which came out in 1979, actually right when Demon in a Bottle was happening over in Iron Man comics. If you read #187, Iron Man is not in it because he's off the team due to his drinking problem and also his accidentally murdering the Carnelian ambassador problem. So Wonder Man's filling in instead. This issue is part of Michelinie's rather sporadic Avengers run, which makes sense, I guess, considering where we see Morgan next.

Anyway, Avengers #187 is the classic issue where Wanda is possessed by Chthon, but what you may not remember from Chthon's backstory (I sure didn't!) is that he was summoned by Morgan le Fay because she was the first person who tried to wield the Darkhold to summon him. As you can imagine, this did not work out especially well for her and her followers and they had to seal Chthon away in Wundagore Mountain, which was where Wanda found him. (The Spider-Woman stuff is only slightly earlier and also appears to be about Morgan and the Darkhold; the Darkhold is not one of the areas of 616 canon I am especially conversant with, alas. It's on my to-read list.)

Doomquest, as you probably know, was a classic Iron Man two-parter in Layton & Michelinie's first Iron Man run that set up Tony and Doom as rivals; Doomquest itself was IM #149-150, in 1981, and then in their second IM run they came back and did a sequel in 1989, Recurring Knightmare (IM #249-250), and then the much later four-part sequel to that was the 2008 miniseries Iron Man: Legacy of Doom, which was also by Layton & Michelinie but generally does not seem to be as popular as the first two parts. They've all been reprinted, if you're looking for copies; I have a Doomquest hardcover that collects the first four issues and then a separate Legacy of Doom hardcover. Currently in the Iron Man Epic Collection line there's a volume called Doom, which confusingly only collects the 249-250 part of the storyline (as well as surrounding issues), because for some reason the first Layton & Michelinie run isn't in Epics yet but the second one is. So the beginning of Doomquest isn't currently in print, as far as I can tell. I'm sure you can find it anyway.

So what's Doomquest about? Okay, so you remember how Doctor Doom's mother's soul is stuck in hell for all eternity? Well, Doom's obviously interested in getting her back, and the strategy he has embarked on is to try to team up with other powerful magicians who can help him out, and he thinks Morgan le Fay would be a good choice, for, uh, his quest. Doom's quest. A Doomquest, if you will. (If you've ever read Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Triumph & Torment, you're familiar with the part where he later ends up waylaying Strange for this and they go to hell together. And if you haven't read Triumph & Torment, you really should, because it's amazing.)

So Doom is off to his time machine to go team up with Morgan le Fay and Tony thinks Doom is up to something -- Doom has been stealing components for his time machine from a lot of people, including Tony -- and he follows him and it turns out one of Doom's lackeys has a grudge and wants to trap Doom in the past forever, and Tony gets caught up in it. Now they're both in Camelot. Surprise! #149 is actually all setup; they don't get to Camelot until #150.

IM #150 begins with Doom and Tony thrown back into the past; there's a fandom-famous splash page of them locked in combat, only to realize that they have found themselves in Camelot.

They are then discovered by knights; Doom would very much like to attack them, but Tony, who naturally would be happy to LARP Camelot forever, persuades him to play nice. Also Doom thinks Iron Man is only Tony's bodyguard so he keeps referring to him as "lackey," much to Tony's annoyance. Somehow everyone thinks they're sorcerers. Can't imagine why. The knights take them to meet King Arthur himself, and Tony has clearly had his introduction all ready to go, as he introduces himself in a timeline-appropriate manner, says he's here to apprehend Doom, and demonstrates his "magic" by levitating Arthur's throne. Doom's response is essentially "I'm the king of Latveria," which is, y'know, also valid. So they're guests at Camelot for the night while Arthur figures out what to do with them.

We then have a page devoted to Tony alone in his room, musing sadly about how alien he feels, how he doesn't know if he'll ever get home, how he could never fit in here without his beloved technology. Then a Sexy Lady shows up to keep him company for the night, and he decides maybe it's not all bad. Thanks, Marvel. I guess they can't all be winners.

Doom is using his evening much more productively; he compels one of the servants to tell him where Morgan's castle is, because he's still interested in having that team-up. Then he jets off. Literally. He has a jetpack.

The next morning Arthur's like "one of you is still here and one of you has punched a hole through the castle wall and flown off to join Morgan so I guess I know which of you is more trustworthy." He then explains to Tony who Morgan is, because Tony professes ignorance, because clearly we had not yet retconned in Tony's love of Arthuriana. Tony offers to go fight Doom and Morgan with Arthur; meanwhile, Morgan and Doom have teamed up and Morgan has offered to help get Doom's mother out of hell if he commands her undead armies against Arthur because for Reasons she can't command them herself anymore. So that's a thing that happens.

So, yes, it's Tony and Arthur versus Doom and Morgan. Fight fight fight!

Tony tries Doom first but then decides to hunt Morgan down, and in the ensuing fight we get what I think is Tony's first ever "I hate magic," a complaint that we all know he still makes even to this day.

Anyway, Tony freezes a dragon with Freon (mmm, technology) and Morgan gets upset and disappears, so the battle comes to an end, and of course Doom is extremely mad at Tony because he blames Tony for Morgan not sticking around to save Doom's mom, because I guess Doom trusted her to keep her word? Weird. (Like I said, for the next chapter of Doom saving his mother, go read Triumph & Torment.)

Doom says if he and Tony work together, the components in both of their armors can send them both home. So Tony has to trust Doom. Which he does, because he really has no other choice. They build a time machine and Tony makes Doom agree to a 24-hour truce when they get back, so they can both get home. So it all works out okay, and they end up in the present, and Doom tells him, ominously, that they will meet again. Okay, then. That concludes the original Doomquest. It's fun! You can see why fandom likes it.

So that's all well and good, but you might have noticed that Tony's ability to get home hinged on Doom actually being trustworthy. And Doom was. But what if Doom hadn't been? What if he'd just stranded Tony in Camelot forever As you may have surmised from the form of that question, that is in fact a question Marvel asked themselves, because, yes, there's a What If about this! What If v1 #33 is "What if Iron Man was trapped in the time of King Arthur?"

The divergence point from canon, as you can probably guess, is the very end of Doomquest. Instead of Doom bringing Tony home, he deceives him and leaves him in Camelot. And since Tony cannibalized a lot of the tech from his armor to make the time machine, he doesn't have a way to go home.

This is not a story where Tony comes up with a way to go home after all. He really doesn't get to go home. But instead of drowning his sorrows in mead -- because, remember, Demon in a Bottle has already happened and Tony is sober now -- he decides he might as well just play the hand he's dealt. So with what's left of his armor, he defeats some enemies that Morgan rounds up to send against Camelot. And for his services, he's knighted. He is now Sir Anthony.

Tony acknowledges that he is both living the dream and would also like very, very much to go home.

He does end up having some fun in Camelot; it's not all miserable. But he obviously doesn't want to be there.

So if you're at all familiar with King Arthur, you know how this goes, right? Arthur fights Mordred and Mordred kills him. And that does happen in this version. Except Tony is right there, and with his dying words, Arthur asks Tony to rule Camelot... and Tony agrees.

So, yes, Tony Stark becomes king of the Britons after Arthur's death and he never goes home again. The end. Man, I love What Ifs.

Heading back to main 616 continuity, there is still more of this arc to go. The original Doomquest was only two issues, yes, but it was popular enough that Layton & Michelinie did a sequel a hundred issues later, in their second run of Iron Man, and that's Iron Man #249-250, Recurring Knightmare. (In the intervening issues were Denny O'Neil's IM run, specifically the second drinking arc (#160-200), and then Layton & Michelinie came back and most famously gave us Armor Wars (#225-232). I would have to say that Armor Wars is definitely the standout fandom-favorite arc of their second IM run; for their first one, I think a lot of people would have a hard time choosing between Doomquest and Demon.) But anyway, yes. Recurring Knightmare.

Recurring Knightmare is... well, the best way I can describe it is "a trip." It is definitely a sequel to Doomquest, and it is also definitely not a sequel you  would ever have expected to see for Doomquest.

Much like #149, #249 is pretty much just setup. Fun setup, but the big action is in the next issue. We open with Doom in Latveria, on his throne, pondering which of his servants he should have disintegrated. Anyway, he's just hanging out there when a mysterious object appears. In California, Tony is suited up and entertaining the crowd at a mall opening when the same object also appears! He takes it to his lab. Please note that this is after the Kathy Dare incident, so Tony is still recovering and is walking with a cane. Doom sees on the news that Iron Man has found the same object, which cannot be carbon-dated, and he shows up at Tony's house. He criticizes Tony's taste in art.

Anyway, Doom basically orders Tony to work with him. Tony refuses, and then Doom sends some robots to attempt to steal Tony's version of the object because he thinks if he has them both he will be powerful. Doom manages to steal it, and when he puts the pieces together, both he and Tony disappear.

So where do they go, you might ask? Camelot?

Not exactly. The future! There is a great callback to the Doomquest splash page.

It turns out they are in London in 2093. Merlin brought them there. Tony still hates magic. And in the future, King Arthur is still there, except he is now a child, because he has been reborn. But he does remember Tony from Doomquest, at which point Tony kneels. Doom, of course, is not impressed. He asks why they have been brought to the future.

The answer is that things are going wrong in the future. If you do not personally remember United States politics in the 1980s, I need you to google the words "Strategic Defense Initiative" right now. I'll wait.

Back with me? Okay, so this is a future where Reagan's Star Wars program actually happened the way he wanted it to, and the satellites are still hanging around the Earth in the future and messing everything up, and Arthur and Merlin need Tony and Doom's help to stop them. Doom once again flies away with his jetpack, of course.

Tony is game to help, but he's not in an armor that can stay in space for long. This is when Merlin takes him and Arthur to the mall and Tony manages to get everything to upgrade his armor at Radio Shack. You see what I meant about this issue being weird.

Tony is out in space trying to disarm the SDI platform, which is where he runs into his future descendant, Andros Stark, who is in armor you will probably recognize from Iron Man 2020. He is referred to as "the resurrected spawn of Iron Man 2020" so I assume he's actually directly related to Arno rather than a direct descendant of Tony; Wiki confirms that Arno is his grandfather. This is all from way before Arno was contemporaneous with Tony in canon. Anyway, he's fighting Tony.

Oh, by the way, Future Doom exists. Future Doom would like to rule this future Earth and for some reason Andros would like to help him. Meanwhile, Present Doom finds out from Merlin that he can't leave except by magic and he can't leave without Tony, so he is reluctantly on Tony's side.

They need help from the Lady of the Lake, except the lake has been paved over and is now a parking lot. Merlin makes the lake come back and then of course they get Excalibur. Arthur is a kid, so he can't wield a longsword; Doom assumes he's going to take it because he is basically a king, and he's pretty grumpy when the sword picks Tony. Tony then uses Excalibur to destroy the space lasers, and I bet that is a sentence you never thought you would read. It's pretty cool. Tony concludes that magic has its good points. Tony stops Andros and Doom stops, uh, himself, and the world is saved and they get to go home. Also, Doom finds out Tony is Iron Man, but when Merlin sends them back he conveniently erases their memories, so neither of them remember anything about this and Tony's secret is still safe. And that's the sequel to Doomquest.

And if you think that's weird, wait until you see Legacy of Doom.

Iron Man: Legacy of Doom is a four-issue miniseries from 2008, also by Layton and Michelinie. Even though it's from 2008, it's set during a much more classic time in Iron Man, continuing on from where we left off in this Doomquest saga. We start with a framing story in 2008. Tony, who has Extremis now, is busy scrapping some of his older armors and reviewing his logs when he suddenly remembers that there was a whole thing with Doom that happened that he seems to have forgotten about until right now. So the whole thing is narrated by Tony in flashback.

Tony's in space fixing a satellite when a hologram of Doom shows up and summons him to Latveria. It's not really clear why Doom needs Tony's help in particular here, but Doom tells Tony that he's discovered that Mephisto would like to bring about the end of the world, which Doom finds, and I quote, "presumptive." So Doom has his Time Cube, and with it he takes Tony to hell.

(Yes, I promise this is relevant to Doomquest. There will be some Arthuriana shortly.)

Doom brings Tony to Mephisto, and it turns out it's a setup! Doom trades Tony for an item he wants from Mephisto, leaves, and Tony's going to be trapped in hell forever! Oh no! (I mean, he's not. But it's quite a cliffhanger.)

At the beginning of issue #2, we find out what the Arthurian connection is, which is that we learned that after the events of Doomquest, Morgan had been granted sanctuary by Mephisto in exchange for a shard of Excalibur that she had somehow stolen. Doom still wants Morgan's help with some magic -- he doesn't mention what it is here, but he says he needs someone of Pendragon blood, and that'd be her -- so he traded Tony to Mephisto in exchange for, I'm guessing, Morgan and the Excalibur shard.

I have probably mentioned this elsewhere, but Legacy of Doom #2 is one of my favorite issues of Iron Man ever, solely because of the next scene. We return to Tony in hell. Howard Stark is also in hell, and he is now a demon, and Tony has to fight him. Mephisto brings popcorn and watches. This is the one time in canon when Tony actually confronts his father, and okay, yes, it's a fistfight in hell and Howard is a demon, but that's comics for you. Howard spends several pages insulting Tony -- specifically insulting his masculinity, but that's a whole other essay -- until he finally insults Maria too, and that's when Tony fights back, because his mother taught him to be good. Honestly if you're a Tony fan I'd recommend this issue just for that scene.

Anyway, we go back to the Doom and Morgan plot, and Morgan casts the spell Doom wanted, which was fusing the Excalibur shard with Doom's armor. Then Doom sends her back to Camelot rather than hell, because he's still mad that she never helped him get his mom out of hell like she said she would.

Tony freezes Howard with Freon -- yes, the same trick he pulled on the dragon back in Doomquest -- and tells him, "You're no father of mine." It is immensely satisfying.

(I had been going to mention that I thought it was a shame that neither canon nor fandom seems to have really engaged with this confrontation, and I know canon never believes in narrative closure but fandom sure does -- and then, anyway, it occurred to me that since the framing story of Tony remembering this is set when Tony has Extremis, there's a very good chance that he no longer remembers remembering it. Goddammit, Marvel.)

(If I got to retcon one canon thing about Tony, I think "the entirety of World's Most Wanted" is up there. I mean, okay, a lot of things are up there, but WMW is definitely on the shortlist.)

Okay. Tony has now engineered his way out of hell, and he's back with Doom in Latveria. Doom has Excalibur. Doom would very much like to fight him. While wielding Excalibur. You get the sense that this is going to be bad. Another cliffhanger!

Legacy of Doom #3 opens with Tony destroying Doom's lab to buy time and running away from Doom and Excalibur. I should probably mention that Doom still doesn't know Tony is Iron Man (anymore), so he thinks he is dealing only with Iron Man, Tony Stark's lackey. Meanwhile, some scientists at SI think there's something weird going on with space. Meanwhile meanwhile, Tony is in a forest taking a breather when a mysterious old man walks up to him.

It's Merlin! Surprise! Merlin wants Tony's help to stop Doom from doing whatever he's doing with Excalibur. The sword makes you invincible and the scabbard makes you invulnerable, so Merlin sends Tony to Scotland on a fetch quest for the scabbard. Doom has now magically sent the sword in search of the scabbard, so the sword flies away to meet it and Doom follows. Turns out the thing that's wrong with space is a thing that's going to hit Earth at the exact place Tony and Doom are. What a coincidence! So Tony and Doom get trapped in a stone circle and fight some stone warriors and then Tony ends up with the scabbard. And by "ends up with," I mean it fuses to his armor. Next issue!

Legacy of Doom #4 is when things really, really get weird. A giant demon made of eyes (???) appears, and this demon is apparently what Doom had been preparing to fight (because it's mad that Doom stole one of its spellbooks), and now he can't, because the sword and the scabbard aren't together. Thanks, Shellhead.

That's when Merlin shows up and says all is not lost. They can defeat the demon... if they put the sword into the scabbard.

"But I'm the scabbard now!" Tony says, uncomprehending.

"Yes," Merlin says. "You are."

Then Tony gets it.

So, yes, Doom has to, um, penetrate Tony. With Excalibur. I love comics. I love comics so much.

So that's a thing that happens.

And then Tony flies off and, I guess, resolves to never, ever think about any of this again.

We head back to the framing story, in which Tony, now having remembered all of this, flies to Britain, buys the land the lake is on, and paves it over, presumably so it will be there for Merlin to bring back in Iron Man #250. The end.

Whew.

Okay, yeah, I know I didn't have to summarize the whole thing, but Legacy of Doom here really is one of my favorite Iron Man miniseries. And I just want to share the love. Please read it. It's great.

But the Arthuriana fun doesn't end there! In fact, now we get an Arthurian-themed arc that actually isn't in Iron Man comics. It's in Avengers! Iron Man is involved, though.

(There is also apparently a Morgan arc in Avengers #240. I actually haven't read it. It seems to be yet another Spider-Woman arc. I get the impression that this isn't really Arthuriana other than having Morgan in it fighting Jess, though, so it doesn't seem quite as relevant. Morgan also apparently has some appearances in FF, Journey into Mystery, and Marvel Team-Up, but those seem like more of just basic villainy. Also, probably not involving Tony.)

Kurt Busiek's 1998 Avengers run, volume 3, is in large part the kind of Avengers run that is a nostalgic love letter to older comics. Heroes are heroes and villains are villains and good triumphs over evil. The Avengers all live in the mansion and are BFFs. I love it. It does assume that you are already a fan of the Avengers, because it starts out by summoning pretty much everyone who has ever been an Avenger and is available to the mansion, and that is... a lot of people. Thirty-nine, by my count. Also, when the entire team is magically whisked away, we are treated to the following narration, as Steve disappears: "And Captain America's last thought, as the world goes white around him, and he with it -- is that Iron Man would hate this."

The narration doesn't tell you why Iron Man would hate this, or how Captain America would know that Iron Man hates this. This is not explained later on. But if you have read comics -- or if you have read the above summary of Doomquest -- you know that Tony is absolutely, one hundred percent, thinking, "I hate magic." And Steve knows it.

The reference is not relevant to the plot; if you don't get it, you'll be fine. But that's what I mean when I say this is a nostalgia run. There are definitely Easter eggs for people who have read a bunch of comics. Busiek does this a whole lot in his work -- there's a reason you can buy an annotated edition of Marvels -- and, yeah, it happens here too. Just know that there will be references you're not getting, if you're new to comics.

Anyway. So Busiek's run actually starts out with an Arthurian arc, #1-4, "The Morgan Conquest." The name is a dead giveaway. Yes, Morgan le Fay is back. Again. For once, Doom is not involved.

The Avengers are all back from their sojourn on Counter-Earth after fighting Onslaught -- don't worry about it -- and mysterious things are happening. There are a lot of monster attacks. So pretty much everyone who has ever been an Avenger is summoned to the mansion, at which point we learn from Thor about some mystical artifacts that are being stolen. (They are the Norn Stones and also the Twilight Sword. That sounds like something from a Zelda game, doesn't it?) The Avengers go to try to stop this, end up in Tintagel, and then they run into Mordred. He wants to capture Wanda, presumably for Magic Reasons. Morgan le Fay casts a spell on all of them, reshaping reality. Yes, all of them. Surprise!

So now all the Avengers are living in a medieval castle and/or town; Morgan is their queen, and thanks to the power of mind-control they are all basically living in Ye Olden Times. The Avengers are all some variety of knight, except for Wanda, who is chained up in the dungeon so Morgan can steal her magic and use it to fuel all this reality-warping.

Wanda calls for help, and that snaps Steve (Yeoman America!) out of the mind control (or altered reality or whatever you want to call it) pretty fast, because Steve's always been very good at resisting mind control, and then Steve promptly goes and snaps Clint out of it, because I guess Steve is also good at inspiring people to snap out of mind control. "Oh, man!" Clint says. "Not another alternate reality! Not again!" (I assume he's referring to Counter-Earth? Maybe?)

So Steve and Clint go around reassembling the Avengers and orienting them as to reality. They get Jan and Monica easily, but then Steve insists on trying to get Tony because, I guess, he likes Tony and would really like to hang around Tony, who is half-naked and asleep in his bedroom, and certainly I am reading nothing whatsoever into this. Clint tells Steve it's not going to work. Tony has historically been fairly susceptible to mind control; it was only pretty recently at this point that he'd been doing Kang's bidding in The Crossing. But the more serious impediment is that this is Tony Stark and he would obviously like to LARP being a knight forever and ever. Tony, therefore, does not believe Steve, and throws him and Clint out of his bedroom and into the barracks.

"Iron Man's a good guy, normally," Clint says. "But he's waaay too into his whole nobleman/lord of the manor trip. That spell musta hit him right where he lives!"

Clint speaks the truth, clearly.

Anyway, they go around and manage to make pretty much every Avenger in the room other than Tony snap out, and attempt to rebel against Morgan while Tony is stil fighting them because he is Still A Knight. There's a lot of punching, because some of the Avengers still aren't free; they weren't ones Steve found.

The day is saved when Wanda manages to channel Wonder Man and break free. This gives the Avengers a fighting chance against Morgan and the Avengers are all lending Wanda their power when Tony finally snaps out of it and is on the side of good. 

Then they take Morgan down, go home, and attempt to figure out which of these thirty-nine people should be on the active Avengers team. Hooray.

But that's not the end of Morgan le Fay showing up to screw around with Tony's life! There's more to come! Not much, but there is one that I know of, and at least one more memorable reference. 

(I haven't read all her appearances or anything, but one of them definitely involves Tony; I can't swear that he doesn't appear in any of the other books Morgan shows up in, but it'd be a cameo for him, because I only know of one more arc that she's in in a book that Tony stars in.)

In a few more years, we have now entered the part of Marvel Comics history where Brian Michael Bendis writes all the Avengers books at the same time for, like, seven years running. It was sure A Time. There were a lot of word bubbles.

And the thing about Bendis is, Bendis looooooves Doomquest. If you're familiar with the very end of his tenure at Marvel where he made Doom be Iron Man after Tony got knocked into a coma in Civil War II, you have probably figured out already that he likes Doom. But he also likes Doomquest, specifically.

I mean, if nothing else, the giant splash page in The Confession where Maleev redrew the climactic Doomquest fight while Bendis had Tony talk about how deeply meaningful to his understanding of the world this all was -- and how it allowed him to predict Civil War -- was probably a big clue, right?

As far as I am aware, Morgan le Fay makes exactly one more appearance in Tony's life. And that's in Mighty Avengers vol 1 #9-11. Only one of those issues is named, so I'm going to assume the arc is named after it: Time Is On No One's Side.

You remember Mighty Avengers, right? The deal with the Avengers books at the time was that after Bendis exploded the mansion and made the team disband in Avengers Disassembled, the main Avengers book was no longer called just Avengers. Instead, the main Avengers book was New Avengers, and that was the only Avengers book. Then Civil War happened, Steve got killed, and New Avengers became the book about what was left of the SHRA resistance (i.e., Steve's side) after the war. So about halfway through New Avengers, Mighty Avengers starts up, and Mighty Avengers is about an extremely fucked-up and grief-stricken Tony Stark trying to run the official government-sanctioned Avengers team, with Carol's help. This is the comic with the arc where Tony turned into naked girl Ultron. You remember.

So, anyway, there's this Mighty Avengers arc where Doom is Up To Something (there are symbiotes and a satellite involved) and somehow Tony and the Avengers end up in Latveria, punching Doom. Also, by the way, Doom is visiting Morgan in the past because he likes her. The Avengers attacking his castle made him have to come back to the present, so he's kind of cranky. And he fights Tony, and in the course of the fight, his time platform explodes and sends Doom and Tony and also the Sentry to... the past.

This is one of those times where you should definitely look up the comics if possible because the way the past is visually indicated here is that it's colored with halftone dots the way you would expect old comics to be colored, although they have modern shading and color palettes. It's very charmingly retro.

So the three of them are stuck in New York in the past, and naturally they would like to leave. There's one person in this time who has a time machine and it is, of course, Reed Richards. Doom and Tony have a lot of banter in this arc; I think it's entertaining.

Sentry has to be the one to break them all into the Baxter Building because of that power he has where no one will remember him. So they do that, travel forward in time, and end up in Latveria in the present again except Doom is gone and also things are currently exploding where they are.

Doom, of course, has made a side trip to visit Morgan again and he asks her to help him build an army, because I guess this is what their relationship is like. So the rest of the Avengers are captured by what look to me like Mindless Ones and are in a cave in magic bondage, because comics. Jess comments that at least they aren't naked, because she too is remembering that memorable New Avengers trip to the Savage Land. Doom threatens Carol in some creepy sexist ways and eventually it turns out that Tony and the Sentry are fine and everyone kicks Doom's ass. Business as usual.

And the last page of the arc is Morgan alone, wondering where Doom is. So technically Morgan and Tony don't come face to face here, but I think she counts as being at least partially responsible for ruining Tony's day here. And then Secret Invasion happens and Tony has a very, very bad day.

There are a few more Morgan appearances after this, but, as I said, I don't think any of them involve Tony. She shows up in Dark Avengers, apparently, which was one of the post-Civil War Avengers titles I didn't read, and I know that recently, on the X-Men side of things, she's been in Tini Howard's Excalibur one, which I have only read a little of. No Tony there. Just a lot of Morgan and Betsy Braddock and Brian Braddock and the Otherworld.

If you are interested in Morgan's other appearances, you might like this Marvel listicle that is Morgan le Fay's six most malicious acts. I pulled some of the Darkhold backstory from their discussion, but it's not really focused on Morgan and Tony.

So there you have it! That's everything I know about Tony's love for King Arthur and every run-in I know about that he's had with Morgan le Fay! One of two terrible people in Tony's life named Morgan! Actually, I don't think we've seen Morgan Stark in a while. I wonder if he's alive. There should be a Morgan & Morgan team-up. I should probably stop typing and post this.

The tl;dr point is that you should all read Doomquest and its sequels, especially Legacy of Doom. They're great!

[yjwhatif]

So I made a discovery last night on the AskGreg site that 1) made me lose my sh*t and 2) kinda ticked me off…

Basically, there was one character in the show that Greg and Brandon believed was gay in their depiction but were not allowed to actually show as gay onscreen because the higher-ups told them they couldn’t. He made reference to this in two of his responses that I’ve seen so far. In the first, he made no implication of who this character was - only that that was their only restriction in terms of showing LGBTQ+ content at the time of S3.

In the second response, he mentioned the fact some fans interpret a romantic connection between Dick & Wally and Jaime & Bart - though that was never their intention when writing those characters and their relationships - which is fair enough. Then in brackets, he reiterates the previous statement but adds the sweet little detail that it is one of those four characters that has essentially been blocked from coming out by TPTB. And considering three of them are/have been in established relationships with female characters - I’m gonna take that as him saying it’s Bart without using the words “it’s Bart”.

(This is obviously my reading of the information - I acknowledge I could always be wrong.)

Anyway. Bart officially being an LGBTQ+ character in YJ would make me really happy. Not really for any particular reason but I think it works for this interpretation of him and I like it. That’s all I’m gonna say about that.

Now for why all of this really ticked me off…

They were NOT ALLOWED to represent a character as gay. REALLY?! I get that Bart in the wider world of DC has never (to my knowledge) been gay or anything other than heterosexual - but this isn’t the Bart Allen show that is focused on retelling the official history of the character as everyone has previously known it. He is one character amongst an ensemble of A LOT of other characters who exist in their own contained universe of Earth-16. None of the stuff that happens in YJ is gonna affect the narratives of other DC content - not like it does in the live-action stuff or the MCU. It’s self-contained. It’s its own thing. So what does it matter if they change his sexuality? Who he is attracted to/in a relationship with doesn’t impact anything that would take away from his character or his role in the plot.

I have previously seen comments on Bart/Ed content that justify them not being together because “Bart is straight”. While it’s never been officially said in the show that Bart is gay - it’s also never been officially said that he is heterosexual either. Much is the same for a lot of other characters because sometimes it’s a detail that just doesn’t come up. It doesn’t always matter to them or the narrative being told. We are constantly interpreting what we see in the characters we’re presented - whether that’s with the information we’re shown or what the creators tell us or what we know of previous incarnations of the characters or even our own knowledge of life and interaction. We take what we can. We are constantly filling in the gaps with what we have until we are officially told something different. So yes Bart has been heterosexual in the past - but that does not mean he must always be heterosexual for the rest of time. (Or at least it shouldn’t.)

The beauty of these characters is that they are fictional. They’re not bound to truth/factual reality like historical figures are - meaning they are free to be reinterpreted and moulded to fit into different narratives.

Reinterpretation isn’t just about fixing something because it’s problematic and saying this is how it should always be from now on. There are so many ways reinterpretation can be used effectively in a piece of media - and I think YJ executes them all pretty well.

First is the FIX IT - reworking to correct problematic elements that do not work anymore and need to be changed/reconsidered. The Runaways are great examples of this since they are sourced from characters created in a time when DC was trying to be more diverse with its heroes - but really they were just cliched with little thought put into them. These characters needed to be completely reimagined in order to make them feel like characters who actually enhance the plot - rather than just being added to tick off the diversity box. I love these characters. I am fascinated by these characters. I still want more from these characters. They all had depth because they had been thought about as actual human beings with perceptions and emotions - instead of just tagging a face to a diverse sounding name. Eduardo has become my favourite character in the show and he’s not even in it that much. While Tye has the best visual representation of power I have ever seen - I literally get chills every time I see the scene where he manifests his astral form at the bus depot. Truly brilliant. Time and effort have been put into ensuring these characters are real and fit organically into the world without offending those cultures which are being represented.

Next is ADAPTING TO FIT the specific narrative - this includes things like Halo being a MotherBox or the Harper clones. These changes allow for stronger connections between characters and the wider world being built. Originally Halo was created by an alien inhabiting the dead girl's body, but Greg and Brandon thought, why spend time introducing a new race of aliens when we can create the same product with the already established MotherBox technology. Not only does that strengthen Halo’s ties to the current plot but also connects her to Vic, to Forager, to Sphere, to the New Gods, New Genesis, Apokolypse, Darkseid and the coming war we are still yet to see. This type of reinterpretation isn’t completely necessary but it makes for a better and tighter story. It trims away unnecessary branches to keep a neat and flowing plotline.

Then there’s what they did with Roy - a well known and popular character of DC. To my knowledge Roy has never been cloned - it’s always been one guy who goes through a bunch of different hero identities over his timeline. By choosing to split the character they changed him from his original comic counterpart but crafted something which fits the specific world with much more potential. With Roy being a clone in S1, you get your angsty teen hero who wants nothing to do with the team but can still show up whenever he wants and also supply them with info they wouldn’t have gotten themselves. You get your hidden in plain sight mole content which was genuinely unexpected and masterfully done. You get multiple plot twists through Roy alone with his being both the mole and a clone. You establish how naive the heroes were of what the villains were doing - since Roy had been taken 3 years prior to our first meeting of him - which further implement how much of a threat the villains actually are. You get a hell of a lot from the one decision to make Roy a clone. It was a highly impactful change. Not to mention it allows for all of his identities to have been/still be in play, you get his descent into addition (even though it technically wasn’t shown), you get HeroRoy, PapaRoy and AngstyRoy all at the same time… and you get the genius that is PRIVATE SECURITY. All by reinterpreting Roy and making him a clone.

That then leads us to the final type of reinterpretation which is the WHAT IF. This one has no necessity whatsoever to the narrative and is completely personally driven. It’s taking a character and thinking - what if we did this, how would that impact that. It’s changing things that technically don’t need to be changed but changing them for the curiosity of seeing how things might change. You see this in fanfictions and AU stuff. Thought experiments that make you consider all the different possibilities and layers of a character and situation they’re in. I love thinking up what if stuff (as you can probably guess from my Tumblr name) because it’s so interesting to see where one simple/totally random thought can take you. The impact caused by the change can be major or it can be minor - it just depends on what’s been done/how much thoughts actually gone into it. My belief is, so long as the creator(s) 100% commit to the change they’re making I’ll follow them for the ride (you can tell when they don't.)

This brings us back around to Bart. Changing his sexuality is a completely personal choice - it doesn’t do anything to the narrative and it’s not something that was in need of being ‘fixed’. Greg and Brandon simply perceived Bart to be gay in their personal depiction of the character in their specific world that they have spent years building. That’s it. With Young Justice not being a romance focused show, Bart’s sexuality wouldn’t have much of an impact on the plot. The only way it would have is if they wanted to make him more of a focus for a future season, then you might see more of how his relationships impact his judgment (like we see with SuperMartian, or Spitfire, or whatever Dick and Barbara’s ship name is.) The characters are not defined by their relationships - they are motivated by them. The show uses relationships as a means of developing the characters - not just because it would be cute or because fans demand it (I have definitely seen shows do that and I really don’t like it.) Who a character thinks about in a situation says a lot about who they are as a person/hero. In S2 Arsenal makes decisions solely based on himself - he blows up Lex’s….

(Y’know what, I’m gonna go off point if I continue this line of thought and this is already SO long - I apologise - so I’ll talk about the relationship stuff in another post.)

The idea that a decision was made that said a certain character could not be portrayed as LGBTQ+ is ridiculous because the character is just that - a character. It doesn’t matter who they are or how well known they are. They are essentially a piece of code that forms an image and personality when fed certain bits of information. Changes may alter how they perceive certain things but ultimately they’re still going to be recognisable as that character. The only time they don’t is if the people doing the changes don’t have enough of an understanding of what makes the character that character. But Greg and Brandon do! They put a hell of a lot of time and effort into making sure the story they want to tell is as tight as they can possibly make it. They’re not just throwing ideas into a blender and seeing what comes out. They are conscious creates who know exactly what they are doing and why they’re doing it. I have enough faith in the creative team of YJ to believe that they are not going to butcher the whole entire concept of one beloved character with the changing of one minor detail that has nothing to do with his abilities as a superhero.

All that comes from restricting the change is highlighting the insecurities of those who made the decision. Its like, saying Bart is gay here is going to mean he has always been gay since his creations in 1994. Sexuality doesn’t change who you are - it just says that there is a certain type of person you feel a stronger connection to than others. Bart being gay doesn’t stop him from being a speedster. It doesn’t stop him from wanting to help others. It merely aligns him in a certain community that he previously hasn’t been. A community that is still underrepresented in media.

I’m gonna be honest right now - a couple years ago I never connected LGBTQ+ content or understood why people made such a big deal out of its lack of presence. I was naive and ignorant and have grown a lot since then. My mind was closed. I didn't think beyond my own perceptions. But you wanna know the line that flipped the switch…?

“Seventh wheel”

Yep. I remember finishing the episode after 16 and thinking - wait a minute, who was Bart coupled with? Follow very quickly by - wait are Bart and Ed a couple?! Yes even me, the person who never connected with any kind of relationship stuff, totally and almost immediately picked up on the Ed and Bart thing. Why… because every choice made in that episode was crafted to make you see without being told. Of course, it was never confirmed and still hasn't been - but I’m seeing the information Greg’s putting out and I seriously believe he is trying to say yes without saying yes - because he’s not allowed.

ILLUSION OF CONTROL opened my mind. It’s what got me onto exploring Tumblr, got me checking out fan creations and hearing other perspectives I hadn’t before. Made me question my own perceptions and actually learn the importance of representation. Now I’m so aware of all the decades of heteronormative content in the world. I get so annoyed when I see companies like Disney promote their films as having LGBTQ+ content which turns out to be a single shot that can easily be cut out for the places that don’t support it. I hate how creators think just saying a character is LGBTQ+ without actually showing it onscreen is acceptable representation. It’s all so infuriating and it needs to change!

Greg and Brandon are actually trying to do that (it hasn’t always been perfect) but they are trying - which is more than I can say for a lot of others. They understand that they have fans that still aren't being represented efficiently enough but are actually working to fix that. The fact that they aren’t being allowed to commit 100% to their desired story, characters and fans is utterly ridiculous and need to change.

People want to feel seen in the characters they love.

People need to feel seen in the characters they see audiences love.

Representation does matter because everyone deserves to be seen.

I mean just look at that face - he just wants to be free to be who he is.

#letbartoutofthecloset

——————————————

And with that I’m definitely gonna call it quits — I’m so sorry for how long this got — kudos if you actually read it. Of course there’s always the chance I’m mistaken about it actually being Bart — but my point still stands — the restrictions need to stop because it isn’t fair and is absolutely ridiculous.

I’m just hoping they found a way around it/got the ban lifted for S4 - it’s honestly my only want now.

Anyway… thanks for reading. I’d love to hear anyone else’s thoughts on the subject — also do correct me on any details I may be mistaken on (I’m sure there’s plenty). The gifs/images are not mine - I just thought they’d break the text up a bit - credit goes to the makers.

(If you haven’t, go check out AskGreg. The stuff on there is fascinating!)

— LB ⚡️

[antiloreolympus]

6 Anti LO Asks

1. I believe a lot of LO’s fans forget that you can still enjoy a character without liking them as a person. That’s how I feel particularly with Minthe: she’s sleek, she’s pretty, she’s complex, she’s in a caste system struggle in which she’s within the bottom-rung of society. We start to see her own personal reasons for treating Hades the way that she did (which doesn’t make it right), but I still find her to be a very interesting character! It's a shame that her fate became that of all HxP opponents: wrongfully wiped out and promptly forgotten about until they (hopefully) show up again for plot convenience.

2. I know that many of Lore Olympus’ critics have already brought this up and established the true definition, but LO is not a “modern retelling” of the Abduction of Persephone. A narrative that is retold is one where the story and the characters are still recognizable no matter the changes made from the original texts.  Thor from the MCU, The Lunar Chronicles (a series of books that retell fairy tales in a futuristic society), Punderworld… Those are renditions of original myths/stories that can still be recognized by even oblivious viewers. Lore Olympus, if anything, is a rewrite. It consists of a bunch of multicolored characters that the author slapped the names of mythological beings onto, in which the comic is now being hailed as some super progressive and faithful adaptation of the original myth(s), when it isn’t. Honestly, the stories are so botched within the webcomic itself that it almost gives me whiplash with how far left a lot of the characters and plot lines stray away from their original sources. I’m not even a partaker in reading Greek myths, but the way in which others have rightfully complained about the comic’s complete unfaithfulness to it’s stories, it’s almost baffling how it’s most devoted fans can even continue to uphold the work as some new form of the Iliad.

3. Idk if you’ve seen it or not, but on YouTube someone did a whole character redesign for LO with her own take on the characters (with some really good art of the characters and explanations to why she made the changes she made) and the comment section is full of a lot of people complaining about how “You don’t get Rachel’s art style!” and “Ew I can’t even recognize the characters! This is disrespectful to RS!”

And it’s like??? Dude it’s her own take on the characters??? Chill out y’all she was just giving her take on them

4. YOOO PEOPLE ALREADY GOT ADVANCES TO THE PRINT LO BOOK AND IT STILL HAS THE TYPOS IN IT ✋🏾😭 HOW MANY TIMES DID YALL REWORK IT AND STILL NOT FIX THOSE???

5. I’ve been thinking about this for a while now (and I guess it’s technically not a “critique” in a way), but I always thought that Persephone’s name should’ve just stayed “Kore” until her eventual marriage to Hades. In the original myths, it wasn’t until her status as Queen of the Underworld was cemented that she began to go by multiple titles. Wouldn’t it be interesting when reaching the presumed end of the comic that Persephone has this fresh name that everyone now regards her as, almost like a movie hero/villain shifting into their own respective title(s)? But I guess that means the author would’ve had to scrap the mortal realm massacre/trial plot line altogether to accomplish that idea. Though I still don’t find those current stories to be that interesting anyway and are basically just utilized to show that Persephone is, in fact, a “cinnamon roll who can actually kill you” archetype.

*Also, please correct me if I’m wrong! I want to say her name was Kore until meeting and marrying Hades, but she might’ve been regarded as such before then! ^^;

6. part of the reason LO trying to be "glamorous" fails is that it just isnt. the minimalism fashion isnt well designed or pretty (and no, adding sparkles doesnt make it look anything more than a a basic white dress) and the world design especially is lacking. it looks like any generic american city over something distinct and unique. sure LO can mimic the glass being shiny, but theyre all still the same black rectangles. Olympus nor the Underworld in LO have any true gravitas or   beauty to them.