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itzaras · 3 years

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Magneto

" The thing none of you will ever understand is that there are no sides. There are no heroes or villains. There's just what I want and how I'll get it. —Magneto

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

Name: Max Eisenhardt

Current Alias: Magneto

Aliases: Auschwitz I.D #24005 (retcon from #214782), "The Creator", Eric Lensher, Erik Magnus Lensher, Erik the Red, Grey King, King Erik Magnus, the Leader, Magnus, Master (by toad), Master of Magnetism, Merciless Magneto, Michael Xavier, Miraculous Magneto, Mr. Sullivan, Phantom Saboteur, "Red", White King, White Pilgrim

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

Affiliation: Quiet Council of Krakoa

Relatives: Parents: Jacob Eisenhardt (father, dead)

Edie Eisenhardt (mother, dead)

Siblings: Ruth Eisenhardt (sister, dead)

Spouses: Anya Eisenhardt (wife, MIA)

Children: Lorna Dane (daughter) &

Zala Daner (alleged daughter, presumably dead)

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

Other Relatives: Erich Eisenhardt (paternal uncle, dead) ;

Anya (mother-in-law, deceased),

Joseph (clone, deceased)

Alpha (creation)

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

Eyes: Blue & Grey

Hair: Silver (formerly), Black

Unusual Features: Magneto has been devolved into an infant by Alpha "the ultimate mutant" and regrown by Erik the Red into a younger adult; so that, despite his much greater chronological age, he appears still to be a relatively young man. Auschwitz I.D #24005 branded on his arm.

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

Origin: Mutant

Status: Alive; formerly dead

Birth: Nuremberg, Germany

Place of Death: Utopia, San Francisco Bay, Space (presumably), Terra Verde.

Cause of Death: Psychic blade to the skull (first death). Aneurysm (second death); energy blast to the head (third death).

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

Identity: public

Citizenship: German, Krakoan

Education: Some public schooling unspecified advanced training in genetic engineering and robotics.

First Appearance: X-Men #1 (July 1963)

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

───── ❝ 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐞 ❞ ─────

Maven of Mutants

Max Eisenhardt began his life in a world amid mass turmoil and intolerance—Germany, World War II. He witnessed the worst the human race had to offer and while he may have survived, his family and his people were persecuted and torn apart. After the death of his parents and sister, he landed in Auschwitz where he reunited with his childhood crush, Magda. Growing to adulthood in the camp, Max continued to urge his fellow captives to fight for their freedom.

Eventually, Max and Magda escaped and fled to a small city where they married and had a daughter, Anya. Caught in a house fire, the future Magneto’s mutant powers finally emerged as he tried to rescue his family, but due to the interference of angry authorities, Anya did not survive. Enraged, he laid waste to the onlookers causing Magda to flee, fearing the evil within him.

Max obtained forged documents to change his name to Erik Magnus Lehnsherr and settled in Israel where he befriended Charles Xavier. The two enjoyed debating at length the prospects of a superhuman race before revealing their true identities to one another to thwart a Nazi criminal. The ordeal brought to light Charles and Erik’s vastly different stances on the matter of mutant rights and the two went their separate ways, each championing their ideals.

Magnetic Mastery

Earth’s most powerful mutants, Magneto’s abilities are essentially limitless. He can manipulate all forms of magnetism, summon force fields and shoot electromagnetic pulses that can disable electronic devices. He can assemble complex machinery in seconds and manipulate the iron to blood to take control of people's actions. Even shown power over forms of energy on the electromagnetic spectrum like visible light and gamma rays, though he rarely uses these abilities.

Repelling Rivals

Professor Charles Xavier and the X-Men both claim the role of Magneto’s principal and longest-standing foes; however, they do often find themselves on the same team. This holds true for other heroic groups like the Avengers, Fantastic Four, Defenders, and Inhumans as well. Magneto has also had run-ins with Hydra and given his upbringing always remained their opposition. The entire United States Government also lands on the foe list—which makes sense considering the number of times Magneto has threatened, destroyed, or held something hostage in an attempt to take control of the world at large.

Attracted Allies

Magneto’s allies tend to fluctuate, but the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and Acolytes have established their places as support groups. Charles Xavier and the X-Men occasionally fall into this category as well, though they always remain wary. And finally, the New Mutants, Hellfire Club, Savage Land Mutates, and High Evolutionary have all found themselves backing this magnetic madman at some point in his long and complicated run.

Push and Pull

After parting ways with Charles Xavier in Israel, Magneto began a career tracking down Nazi war criminals for a covert agency. But this affiliation ended poorly, and Magnus finally stepped over the line he’d been skirting, beginning down a path of aggression to gain mutants their rightful status as Earth’s dominant race.

Early on in his career, Magneto acquired Asteroid M as his orbital base and established a team known as the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, which notably included Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, with whom he would share a complex future relationship.

Magneto traveled to the U.S. to seize the military missile base at Cape Citadel, Florida but former friend Xavier and his newly assembled team of crime fighters, the X-Men, disarmed the escalating situation. He then laid a trap for his new foes by occupying the small South American nation of Santo Marco and setting a bomb to detonate upon their arrival. The team managed to foil these plans as, uneasy with Magneto’s obsessive war against humanity, Quicksilver helped them defuse the bomb. He and his twin sister Scarlet Witch soon left the Brotherhood to join the Avengers.

Magneto had several run-ins with the X-Men after this, usually ending in explosions that led them to believe him dead, only for him to resurface with a new group of mutants and fresh plans for world domination. Some notable attempts were his discovery of the Savage Land and his manipulation of Namor the Sub-Mariner.

After each failed scheme Magneto established different versions of the Brotherhood until he eventually used his knowledge of genetic engineering to create Alpha the Ultimate Mutant who, instead of joining his progenitor, reverted him into a powerless infant. Professor Xavier entrusted baby Magneto to his colleague Dr. Moira MacTaggert who performed experiments on the child to alter its mind. Later restored to his adult form, Magneto resumed his war with the X-Men.

After almost killing the young mutant Kitty Pryde, Magneto began to realize the error of his ways and aligned with the X-Men. Learning of a supposed relation to Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver as their father, he attempted to reach out, but understandably the two remained wary of their so-called reformed former master. Magneto aided in the fight against the Be yonder and finally turned himself over for his crimes against humanity. However, an attack on the trial left Professor Xavier badly wounded and Magneto reluctantly took up the mantle of headmaster in his absence, joining the X-Men on missions and mentoring the New Mutants.

This transformation did not last as Magneto’s old supremacist personality began to reemerge after he and X-Men leader Storm sought an alliance with the Hellfire Club. Magneto dethroned the Black King, Sebastian Shaw, becoming the Grey King and in so doing alienated himself from the New Mutants. He then regained control over a grief-stricken Scarlet Witch who had just lost her husband and children. Quicksilver also rejoined his purported parent, conspiring to save his sister and turn Magneto over to the Avengers. The plan worked but ended with the heroes believing the Master of Magnetism had once again died in an explosion.

From there, Magneto went on a side adventure with Rogue of the X-Men and Ka-Zar in the Savage Land that ended with Magnus killing his alleged daughter Zaladane. He then retired to solitude on Asteroid M until the mutant group known as the Acolytes pleaded for his help reclaiming the island nation of Genosha. The X-Men once again intervened and destroyed Asteroid M. Undeterred, Magneto converted the space station Graymalkin into a new base named Avalon as haven for mutants, recruiting all he could to his cause. The government and the X-Men tried to intervene and after a series of events, Magneto removed Wolverine’s Adamantium skeleton—so Professor Xavier wiped his mind in retaliation.

In a form of revenge, a mutant named Astra restored Magneto’s mind while creating a clone named Joseph to destroy him. The duplicate failed to kill the original and gave its life saving the planet: Magneto attempted to free mutants from mankind by threatening total world destruction, demanding that the UN cede Genosha to him. They did so with reluctance, with the caveat that he does not attack any other nations.

Magneto was revealed to be one of the Twelve, a roster of mutants prophesied to bring in a new era for their people; Apocalypse captured the group, hoping to use them to his own gain. However, Magneto tapped into another mutant’s powers to compensate for his waning ones and defeated the genetic tyrant. He then returned to Genosha with Polaris, yet another of his offspring—this one legitimate—and began to teach her to expand her own abilities while seeking to restore his to full capacity.

After the Legacy Virus was cured, Magneto used the mutants at his disposal to declare war on mankind, but the X-Men wounded him during their opposition, rendering his nation defenseless. Genosha was destroyed by Cassandra Nova’s Sentinels and its 16 million mutant residents executed. Again, humanity and the X-Men believed Magneto among the dead, but he remained on the island in secret to rebuild it, eventually joined by none other than Professor Xavier.

Magneto then began caring for the Scarlet Witch after she’d gone insane and attacked the Avengers. Quicksilver convinced his sister to alter reality into the world Magneto fought for with mutants as the dominant species and their father the ruler of them all. Unaware of the previous state of the world, Magneto soon regained his memories and killed Quicksilver as recompense for his actions. This led the Scarlet Witch to resurrect her brother and revert reality to its original state simultaneously stripping many mutants, including Magneto, of their powers. To restore the lost mutant gene, Magneto teamed up with the High Evolutionary; however, they only succeeded in reinstating his own powers.

Viewing their work to be noble, Magneto joined Cyclops’s X-Men on their island home, Utopia, where he worked with the team to protect the remaining mutants and fight in missions around the world. During this time, he helped Rogue battle the Children of the Vault and learned that two members of the Young Avengers may be reincarnations of Scarlet Witch’s lost sons. Though warned not to interfere, Magneto sought out his possible grandchildren and joined them on their mission to find the missing Scarlet Witch and restore her memories and sanity.

Magneto struck up a relationship with Rogue, who thus far had rebuked his romantic advances. However, when the X-Men split into two groups with conflicting feelings over the return of the Phoenix Force, Magneto stayed with Cyclops on the West Coast where he slowly worked to gain the trust of his allies, while Rogue returned to the newly opened Jean Grey School for Higher Education in New York.

With the eventual dissipation of the Phoenix Force by Hope Summers and the Scarlet Witch, the mutant gene was reestablished. Magneto joined S.H.I.E.L.D., supposedly as a double agent to protect his group of rogue X-Men; he recruited new mutants to the New Charles Xavier school, helped the world’s heroes defeat the Red Skull who had taken over Charles Xavier’s brain, and fought to stop the reality-ending Incursion of the Beyonders. During this time, Scarlet Witch revealed her and Quicksilver’s purported parentage to be a falsehood.

Most recently, Magneto once again found himself leading the X-Men, or at least a group of them, as they searched for a cure to the mutant-poisoning Terrigen Mist. During Civil War II he fought to stop Ulysses and predictive justice, and most recently battled against the altered Captain America and his Secret Empire. There may be hope for his reformation after all…

#marvel #marvel community #magneto #max eisenhardt #marvel comics #comics

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gavillain · 2 years

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Any villain (from any media) that you genuinely despise? And not in the good ol’ “love to hate em” kinda way, a villain that you truly can’t stand. An explanation would be appreciated for whatever villain or villains you choose.

Yeah, I have a few notable ones. Let's do my Top Five LEAST Favorite Villains of all time:

5. Alexander Pierce (Captain America: Winter Soldier)

Gonna be honest, I had to look up his name because I forgot it. That should tell you all you need to know. Literally the only thing about Pierce that I could tell you off the top of my head is that he filled the role that belonged to Dell Rusk (the Red Skull's alter ego). That's literally it. This guy was the most bland and forgettable villain I have ever encountered. The MCU might stumble a lot in their villains, but even still, when you have to stack up in a universe with Loki, Red Skull, Kingpin, John Garrett, Grant Ward, Thanos, Ultron, Hela, Obadiah Stane, Kilgrave, and even villains I dislike like Adridge Killian, you've got to go big or go home.

The movie sets us up for a intelligent and thought-provoking discussion of the faults of America, but then everything bad in American history just gets pinned to Hydra. It's the same type of thing people do in real life with things like the Illuminati: oh, a shadowy, faceless organization is the cause of all evil in the world. It encourages looking for boogeymen than actually work towards societal betterment, so that type of conspiracy narrative just leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. Not to mention, of course, that everything about Hydra is just a bunch of bland and boring politically correct versions of Nazis, and they've rarely ever been used effectively. This was no exception either.

4. King Stefan (Maleficent)

Pretty much the mortal wound that made Maleficent a bad movie rather than just a kind of boring one. His badness is a poison that just drags everything around him down. First of all, his acting is terrible. He looks like the part well enough, but whenever he opens his mouth with that nasal voice that showed no complex expression, it was just cringe worthy. He's also an in-universe example of the Ron the Death Eater trope, where a hero gets portrayed as a villain to make the woobie villain look better.

In the original film Stefan was a good king and loving father who seeks only to protect his daughter from a maliciously invoked curse. Here he's reduced to a one-dimensional evil king so that the woman who curses a baby to death can look heroic, and I'm just not here for that. But upon rewatching it, the biggest problem with him kind of slapped me in the face: we barely get any sense of his existence or relationship to anything. For the main antagonist driving our conflict, he's barely in the movie and most everything from his motivations to his entire history with Maleficent is exposited to us via the narration rather than shown through any scenes or interactions where he's on screen. It feels like any opportunity to get a feeling for who he is just gets glossed over.

Hell, he and Maleficent don't get to have any dialogue in the big climax. For a relationship that formed the backbone of why Maleficent turned bad and why any of this was happening, it's just... nothing. There's nothing there. Everything with him needed to go deeper if this movie was going to work, but it's cut down to the point where the movie feels like it just rushes through its entire story and he's so flimsy that it feels like things just happen rather than connecting to things.

3. Dawn Bellwether (Zootopia)

Sometimes I have deep and thoughtful gripes with character writing and commentary. Sometimes I just hate characters because they're stupid. This is the latter category. She's SO fucking annoying. She felt like one surprise twist villain too many, and it really made me groan when I saw that they were basically just doing Hans over again with her (like almost EXACTLY note for note). The other major irk I have is that she's a Disney villain, that brand I've obsessively collected for all of my life. If you're a Disney villain without grandiose evil plans, vibrant colors, or a charismatic personality, then really I have very little use for you.

Also I feel like her social commentary was VERY muddled and not at all the comprehensive look at bigotry that movie tries to portray. With all her talk of being the little guy and her heavy workplace discrimination she gets from Mayor Lionheart, it's really not a stretch to read her ultimate reveal as the villain who instigated the entire conflict as implying "Super scary SJW is the one creating real prejudice." And, yeah, I'm sick to death of that bullshit in every form. But even if we completely decouple the movie from any real life parallels, she's still way too easy of a solution to an issue built up to be highly complex by the narrative. She's a scapegoat (scapesheep?) that gets treated like the source of all of the systematic prejudices, and... just no.

2. Sauron (The Lord of the Rings)

Here's the big thing that I have to admit: there's a lot that I actually DO like about Sauron. I like the whole evil overlord trope, I like how powerful and mysterious he is, I like the stuff that's implied about him, I like the backstory scene in the prologue, and I like a lot of the aesthetic choices surrounding him.

But, as I've said many times before, he's not a character. He has no personality. He never does anything. There's absolutely no pay off to three whole movies of him being the invisible hand. And intellectually, I understand that a lot of the point of him is to be more of an idea than a character. More like a metaphor for evil or as a stand in for the devil than the actual main antagonist. And I feel like, even if they weren't going to have him show up and get involved personally, it still COULD have worked if they played it more like he was the god/patron of the actual main villain. Maybe even if they kind of toyed with the question of his existence sort of like True Blood did with Dionysus in the Maryann storyline. They don't do that, of course.

But the thing that ends up being a stake in the coffin is that there's not even really another villain who fills the physical antagonist role that Sauron is absent from. At least not in its entirety. Part of why I think Fellowship IS the strongest LotR movie is because Saruman and the Nazgul very directly full that role. They are the main villains and Sauron is their cause that they're fighting for the background. The Two Towers is all Saruman, which is fine except he doesn't do much in that movie himself either so blah, and then Return of the King gives us the Witch King to fill that role. And the Witch King is kinda blah and generic, but he has a cool design and motif... but then he gets killed by a side character and no one seems to even notice that he's gone even though there's still like an HOUR of movie left to go after he dies. Sauron's front man is gone, and there's still a lot of movie to go where Sauron should FINALLY be doing something himself but isn't. Sauron IS the final villain and the spanning villain of the franchise, but he does nothing so the entire conflict with him just kinda feels like dudes clanging swords with no oomph behind it.

Also I got cyberbullied pretty badly by LotR fans back when I was thirteen because I didn't put Sauron higher on a Top Ten Villains Video. And I'm a petty bitch who holds onto things. They ruined me for ever liking Lord of the Rings and Sauron in particular is the cornerstone of my over a decade spanning vendetta.

The High Sparrow (Game of Thrones)

Never have I ever encountered a villain who has made me more physically ill than this fucker. I can stomach a lot of horrible bad guys who do horrible things, but the High Sparrow literally made me nauseous when he was on screen. One of my personal "triggers" (for lack of a better term) is that scenario of fanatics using religion to justify murdering and torturing those who they perceive to be "sinners," which is particularly visceral for me as a gay man. Real life things like the Pulse Nightclub shooting and the former Vice President of the United States advocating for electro-shock therapy for gay people are persistent reminders that the LGBT community still isn't really safe or accepted.

I live with the burden of those worries, and this guy's treatment of Loras in particular (but also Cersei and Margaery too) caused all of that to boil up. Everything this guy did was just so unpleasant and gross and honestly it's not something that I actually want to devote my time to watching. I came very close to quitting Game of Thrones altogether over him. Yes, I know in the books, he never goes after Loras, but he still goes after Margaery and Cersei for "adultery" and the Penance Walk for Cersei still happens and that's still gross.

On top of the triggering elements, I've never really been fond of characters with no build up coming in and shattering the status quo (see my whole aversion to the "Xemnas Complex"). It's just always been a plot that frustrated me because I'm constantly sitting there knowing that in an earlier installment, X character could have ended this very quickly and the fact that the likes of Cersei or Olenna or Baelish couldn't just squish the Sparrows easily just doesn't feel right to me. These are a handful of religious fanatics against the most powerful and intelligent people in the kingdom. Common people support or no, it just doesn't make sense to me that the High Sparrow could get away with everything he did for so long.

When season six rolled around, I thought they'd kill him off in the first episode of the season at the hands of Frakenmountain, but NOPE he was there ALL SEASON LONG. His plot was such a drag throughout. King's Landing was my favorite plotline in the show and he made it unpleasant and completely devoid of plot momentum. And his ultimate motivation for all of this? He had a bad hangover once. Really? REALLY? That's fucking stupid. While Cersei may have been behind the explosion of the Sept, a development I really did like, I completely blame the High Sparrow for the deaths of Margaery, Loras, Kevan, and Mace, who all deserved so much better. They were casualties of the High Sparrow underestimating Cersei, mistakes none of them would have made if the Sparrow hadn't paraded their humiliating penance out and then stopped them from leaving. Because he was so self-assured by his gods that he was on top of the world, he cost the show four of its best characters.

GOD I HATE HIM. His death was incredibly satisfying, and he shall not be missed. Worst Game of Thrones character by far, and I'm nauseous just thinking about him.

#Anti Lord of the Rings #Anti Zootopia #anti game of thrones #Anti Captain America Winter Soldier #Anti Maleficent #least favorite character

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onebadwinter · 3 years

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Baron Helmut Zemo Tropes

Taken from Here and Here

Anti-Villain: Sometimes verges on this, though it's a case of Depending on the Writer.

Arch-Enemy: After his father's death, he takes this role to Captain America and leads the Masters of Evil after inheriting the title.

Aristocrats Are Evil: He's a baron after all, and believes his aristocratic heritage entitles him to rule.

Avenging the Villain: Helmut's original motive was to kill Captain America because he killed his father. Eventually, Helmut came to the realization that actually, Heinrich was an awful father and an even worse person.

Badass Normal: Has no powers, but regularly fights the likes of Captain America and the Avengers. He usually has a contingency that will allow him to deal with his opponent's plans anyway; it's only when these contingencies fail (as happened during his battle with Moonstone at the end of the initial run on Thunderbolts) that he's in trouble.

The Big Bad: Of his fare share of arcs, particularly those involving the Masters of Evil.

Brain Uploading: He only survived being decapitated because Techno uploaded his consciousness to a computer.

Butter Face: A Rare Male Example. He has the body you'd expect of somebody who can keep up with Captain America in terms of physique... but that handsome form is contrasted by a hideously malformed visage. For a while, he had a young, dashing look again after hijacking the body of the Helmut from another Earth, but only two years later his face got disfigured again. When he got Carla Sofen's Moonstone, he used it to fix that, but when Melissa broke it again...

Calling the Old Man Out: During his trip back in time, he ran into his father while the latter was gleefully doing mad science for the Nazis. Helmut had long since discarded any Nazi prejudices he had once had, and was fuming watching his father put down other races, the handicapped, etc. Finally he had enough and started beating the hell out of him while giving a "Reason You Suck" Speech. Quite the sign of Character Development for the guy who started out worshiping and avenging his father's memory.

Captain Patriotic: At the beginning of the Thunderbolts, he disguised himself as Citizen V, supposedly the son of a previous hero who'd gone by that name, whom Zemo had killed. Zemo went the whole hog, even decking himself in a cape designed after the American flag.

The Chessmaster: Zemo has a plan for everything, and lays them out months in advance.

Cool Mask: Wears a tighter fitting version of his father's mask.

The Cynic: Has a generally negative view of humanity.

Daddy Issues: He loved his father, and his father loved him... until the Adhesive X incident, where he became outright abusive in every way. Originally, Helmut blamed Captain America. Now, he acknowledges that his father was just a horrible human being.

Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: He once shot the Grandmaster, one of the Elders of the Universe and a being way outside his normal weight class, through the head. Admittedly, there were mitigating circustances that allowed him to do this, and the Grandmaster did get better (because, hey, comics).

Disney Villain Death: Many, many times (see Never Found the Body below).

Even Evil Has Standards: Arranged the death of one of his ancestors during a time-travel jaunt, after he found out the man was a rapist and a mass-murderer who did it all For the Evulz. He later clashed with another ancestor when he thought he was harassing a girl (the two were actually in love, and he quickly apologised).

Evil Genius

Evil Is Petty:

The Faceless: He rarely ever removes his mask, due to his face being horribly scarred in a accident.

Facial Horror: His head has been slashed up so badly that it's practically a skull, with ribbons of flesh draping over his eyes and sliced-off cheeks and lips. The sight of his face visibly disgusts everyone in the original Thunderbolts.

Freudian Excuse: Raised by his father to believe in his inherent superiority. There wasn't a lot of dad hugs down in that South American jungle, mostly just rants and lectures.

Good Scars, Evil Scars: Hideously disfigured beneath his mask.

Grand Theft Me: After becoming a "ghost", his mind was transferred to the actual son of Citizen V (Techno noted it was basically him playing a joke). That is, until an energy conflict - the V-Batallion tried to teleport Citizen V as the body was being sucked into a portal - made his mind be expelled into Techno's machinery. But given he arrived at Counter-Earth, this meant Zemo could do a literal case of the trope, and took the body of his self from this world.

Heel–Face Revolving Door: Cannot make up his mind which side he is supposed to be on. He even once took a bullet for Cap despite being his sworn enemy.

In the Blood: The arrogance and the drive for control certainly are.

Joker Immunity: Unlike his father, he can never seem to be put down for long.

The Leader: Of the Masters of Evil and the Thunderbolts.

Legacy Character: To his father, Baron Heinrich Zemo XII.

Manipulative Bastard: Zemo's very good at getting other people to do what he wants, playing on their emotions and desires.

Master Swordsman: One of the best in the Marvel Universe. Zemo's dueled the likes of Captain America and survived several decades worth of warfare on a time travel jaunt.

Nazi Nobleman: Started out as one, though he's moved away from fascism in recent years. Nowadays his goals align more with Dirty Communists.

Never Found the Body: During the run of Thunderbolts alone he was declared dead on four separate occasions, all of which turned out to be false. In each instance, his body was never found. By the fourth time, most of the team just assume he'll turn up eventually (not that they want him to).

Noble Demon: He's much more noble than his father,for sure.

Purple Is Powerful: Signifies his aristocratic leanings.

Secondary Color Nemesis: Purple, to oppose Cap's blue and red.

Take Over the World: He insists it's to save it. Some people (like Songbird) aren't convinced.

Taking the Bullet: Once leapt in the way of an energy blast an insane Moonstone aimed at Captain America. Messed his face up bad.

There Are No Therapists: This guy is seriously messed up and would probably have turned out differently if he got professional help.

Token Evil Teammate: Alongside Techno, he serves as this for the first iteration of Thunderbolts. While most members of the team fall somewhere between The Hero and the Anti-Hero, Zemo shows no signs of having softened whilst playing-hero, and alongside Techno manages to almost conquer the world and turn it into a Darwinist nightmare. He also constantly mocks his teammates for wanting to be heroes, calling them "weak" and "traitors to the cause" when they show the smallest signs of heroism outside of their pubic duties.

Unlucky Thirteen: He's the thirteenth Baron Zemo.

Well-Intentioned Extremist: In his mind, at any rate, after some Character Development, he becomes determined to take over the world for its own good. That doesn't mean that he's not an Axe-Crazy terrorist who's willing to perform some truly heinous actions for the sake of the "greater good." Zemo: I would never have hurt a world I worked so hard to save.

Western Terrorists: More like this than a Nazi.

Wicked Cultured: When being held at swordpoint by his worst ancestor, an evil aristocrat who believed only in the absolute of power, said ancestor's son (who'd struck up a friendship with Zemo) asked what was more absolute than power. Zemo's answer? "To be, or not to be."

Worthy Opponent: Sometimes sees Captain America this way, and definitely sees Sharon Carter this way.

Xanatos Speed Chess: He's good at incorporating the gambits of others into his plans, as evidenced by his deft manipulation of Moonstone when they were both members of the Thunderbolts.

One of his nastiest acts of spite was destroying a box of Cap's treasured belongings, including some of his last links to the past, right in front of his eyes.

What was his initial plan in founding the Thunderbolts? Pretend to be heroes, earn America and the world's trust, become famous and respected, and then gather knowledge on the other heroes to... sell to the criminal underworld? Eventually, Moonstone points out this is a freaking stupid plan.

Taken to the highest extreme possible. When he actually did have the power to implement whatever change he might have wanted, Songbird shut him down with the intention of killing him out of not trusting him. What were what he believed could have been his last words?

MCU Zemo Tropes

Adaptational Attractiveness: He's quite handsome here, while his comic counterpart usually has to wear a mask to hide his hideously charred, disfigured face. This is true to his first appearance in the comics as a one-shot villain, before he was scarred upon becoming a recurring character.

Adaptational Heroism: In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, when he does don his iconic comic book alter ego, unlike in the comics where he was a straight-up one-note supervillain, Zemo here is depicted so far as an Ambiguously Evil Anti-Hero ally of Avengers Sam and Bucky without mostly ever betraying them until his escape from the hotel in the fourth episode with most of his redeeming and justifiable qualities shown upfront more than his villainous qualities that Civil War mostly showcased, but still likely an on-and-off antagonist simultaneously during his Enemy Mine with the two superheroes.

Adaptational Nationality: In the comics Helmut Zemo is German, but here he is a Sokovian. Ironically, his actor actually is German, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier sees a bit of his German accent creep in. He also has a vast array of vehicles and a private plane in Germany, and seems very familiar with both Berlin and the German language. Whether this is a Retcon into making him part German or just a Mythology Gag is yet to be seen, though he does identify Sokovia as "his country".

Adaptational Nice Guy: His comic counterpart and that of his father were literal Nazis who wanted mass genocide and world domination, and while the Helmut of the comics did grow out of the former, he still tends to try the latter. This version of Zemo, despite being on a black ops killing team, has a much simpler and more sympathetic motivation, while his father was merely a civilian. Neither have any ties to HYDRA (aside from Helmut's exploitation of HYDRA's Winter Soldier project), while the versions from the comics are both prominent members of that organisation.

Adaptational Wimp: In the comics Zemo is a major adversary of Captain America and the Avengers, with a particular emphasis on his skills at fencing and manipulation. While this version retains his cunning, he is also presented as much less of a direct threat to anyone despite being a former black operative; when Black Panther decides to bring him in alive, he goes down with barely a struggle. Most of his success ties into this, with him exploiting his lack of obvious supervillainous affect to stay under the heroes' radar until his plan requires him to show his hand, then relying on Steve and Tony's flaws and personal issues to do most of the work for him. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier shows that he hasn't forgotten how to do his own dirty work, however, putting his soldier skills to use alongside his usual guile and strategizing once he gets back into the fray.

Adaptation Personality Change: In the comics, Zemo is generally depicted as an unapologetic villain who is primarily driven by a selfish desire to rule over others. His film version, on the other hand, has a much more sympathetic motive for his villainous actions, as he's just a victim of the Avengers' collateral damage in Sokovia seeking revenge for the death of his entire family.

Affably Evil:

Alas, Poor Villain: His defeat in Civil War is treated as an utterly somber affair, with him having nothing left after completing his plan and hoping to commit Suicide by Cop at T'Challa's hands before trying to kill himself when T'Challa refuses to be consumed by vengeance as Zemo has. Even though he got what he wanted (up to a point), it doesn't change the fact that his family is gone forever.

The Alcoholic: Following his escape from prison in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Zemo reveals himself to be a little bit of a tippler, partaking in shots, champagne, helping himself to Sharon's expensive liquor collection, then taking more shots at a club. He apparently approves of the way they party in Madripoor.

All for Nothing: He wanted to destroy the Avengers and was content with them dividing. Thanos's arrival and the events of Endgame undo all of that. In fact, the Avengers are no doubt more beloved than ever as a result.

Anti-Villain: Despite the grim and often hypocritical in hindsight actions he resorts to, he does have some good traits and was hoping for a cleaner way to get what he wanted first. Also, his motive — revenge for the collateral damage-induced loss of his family — is at least a little sympathetic.

Apple of Discord: His Evil Plan is to find evidence that Bucky Barnes murdered Tony Stark's parents while under HYDRA control and show it to Stark, so Bucky's friend Steve Rogers and Tony will turn on each other over whether to spare or kill Bucky, and the Avengers will be ripped apart as they side with one leader or the other.

Arch-Enemy: Since the death of Ulysses Klaue, it seems Zemo has taken his seat as Wakanda's most wanted for the death of King T'Chaka. Not a day after he breaks out of prison, Ayo is already hot on his trail to capture him.

Aristocrats Are Evil: It's revealed in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier that he is a nobleman like his comic counterpart. Though unlike said counterpart, his upbringing had nothing to do with him becoming a villain since his father was by all accounts a decent man in this universe.

Badass Longcoat: The events of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier have Zemo wearing a stylish winter coat, complete with Conspicuous Gloves.

Badass Normal: Unlike most of the Avengers, he's just a plain old human. But, through sheer patience and ingenuity, he still managed to tear them apart. During the trip to Madripoor he proves to be no slouch in combat either, reminding everyone he was former special forces. He also comes much closer to permanently stopping Morgenthau than Falcon or Bucky have ever managed so far, largely because he's fully willing to kill.

The Bad Guy Wins: Downplayed. Zemo has achieved his goals but with never with the fully desired outcome.

Batman Gambit: He's good at finding ways to make other people do things for him by exploiting their predictable behavior.

Beard of Evil: He has grown a beard during his eight years in prison as seen in Episode 2 of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Beware the Superman: His return in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier reveals his own take on the idea. While he is against the idea of a Super Soldier on principle, he is not specifically against them as people, but more how they are precisely put on a pedestal, their flaws washed away/ignored and subsequently inspire Blind Obedience. He specifically notes how the personal loyalty inspired by Steve Rogers to Sam and Bucky (then, even now) precisely drives them to such extremes—even breaking the law much like they did to free him. Sam and Bucky do not protest the point. He admits that Steve was not corrupted by the power he was given but points out there was only one of him compared to the many who would abuse it. He is proven right on this point by John Walker taking the super soldier serum and going off the deep end.

Big Bad: Of Captain America: Civil War. He exploits and exacerbates the ideological differences between Captain America and Iron Man, resulting in the eponymous Good vs Good conflict that threatens to destroy the Avengers.

Big Damn Villains: As Sam, Bucky, and Sharon are pinned down by bounty hunters in the Madripoor shipyard, Zemo suddenly makes a grandiose entrance in full villain garb on a ledge, killing several assassins by shooting a nearby gas tank with his pistol before going to ground and taking down the rest in close combat, opening up the heroes' window of escape.

Blue Blood: The Falcon and The Winter Soldier reveals that he was always a baron. While the fall of Sokovia took away most of the power of the title he still has a lot of money and connections as a result of his position.

Breaking the Fellowship: Thanks to his efforts, the Avengers are severely compromised, with several of the foundational friendships that held them together torn apart and anyone who sided with Cap imprisoned or branded a fugitive. Even Tony and his supporters still bear physical and mental scars caused by fighting their friends.

The Bus Came Back: After being imprisoned at the end of Civil War, Zemo returns in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, with the title characters seeking his assistance in tracking down the source of the Flag Smashers's Super Soldier powers.

Cape Busters: Has a personal grudge against the Avengers and plots to destroy them by pitting them against one another. By the time of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he has apparently narrowed his vendetta to all super soldiers, stating that they "cannot be allowed to exist." At the same time, as stated above in Beware the Superman, his is more nuanced compared to other versions of this trope.

Character Tic: He has a habit of tilting his head whenever he's attempting to manipulate someone. It seems to be a subconscious thing he does, as he immediately stops doing it when Sam notices and lampshades it in Episode 4 of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.

The Chessmaster: He plays all the Avengers like pawns. He frames Bucky for a crime, to have the world hunt him and lure him out of hiding. This partially causes the Avengers to turn on each other, divided over Bucky's innocence. He takes the UN interrogator's place, extorting information out of Bucky and using the trigger words to activate Bucky's soldier conditioning. Before finally showing Tony the tape of what really happened to his parents, sending him into a murderous rage to kill Bucky.

Colonel Badass: He used to be a Colonel in the Sokovian Special Forces, and he is one of the most effective foes the Avengers have faced — though not because of his combat abilities, but because of how effective he is about executing his plans.

Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: In Civil War, he's never called "Baron Zemo", the title he goes by in the comics, and is instead referred to by his military rank Colonel. This is subverted in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which reveals that he was Sokovian royalty and has several characters address him as "Baron".

The Comically Serious: His stoic demeanour tends to stick out when he's in the same room as Sam and Bucky, like when he awkwardly jumps to the defense of Marvin Gaye's "Trouble Man" soundtrack, or his crappy dancing in Sharon's nightclub.

Composite Character: He takes Klaue's role as the man who murders King T'Chaka.

Cool Car: He actually has a lot of these. His family owned an impressive collection of classics, with plenty of Rolls' and Bentleys in his garage. It's a taste he himself had acquired, as he, Sam, Bucky and Sharon make their getaway out of Madripoor in a super-charged muscle car he had stashed in the docks.

Crusading Widower: His wife was among the civilian casualties in Sokovia. He keeps a recording of her last voice message on his phone.

Cunning Linguist: Zemo's multilingualism allows him to assume different identities. Aside from his native Sokovian, he speaks English, German, Russian, and presumably French, given that he was able to convincingly impersonate a French-speaking psychologist.

Death Seeker: Once he has put Iron Man against Bucky and Cap, he first attempts to persuade Black Panther into killing him, then decides to shoot himself. Black Panther catches the bullet before snagging him a headlock so he can face justice.

Determinator: He manages to find new resolve after Civil War, and Iron Man's sacrifice has done little to change his views. With Iron Man dead and Captain America retired, he decides he will stop the creation of any and all super soldiers in the world no matter what happens.

Divide and Conquer: His plan against the Avengers, seeing that there's absolutely no chance he can fight them on his own. He even compares the Avengers to some sort of a mighty empire, which can only be felled by using this tactic.

Driven to Suicide: Tries to goad T'Challa into killing him, and then to shoot himself when he refuses. Neither works out for him; making enemies of a guy with Super Strength and a bulletproof suit was a bad idea, evidently.

Elites Are More Glamorous: His family is Sokovian nobility and he was colonel in EKO Scorpion, Sokovia's black ops kill squad. Even if Sokovia was a developing Balkans country, that still makes him pretty dangerous.

Enemy Mine: Downplayed Trope. Despite not personally hating Sam and Bucky, the latter two consider their alliance with Zemo this due to Civil War and the damage he caused; the only reason they tolerate him is that he can accomodate them with the resources they need to take down the Flag-Smashers. To his credit, Zemo doesn't hesitate in helping their cause because of his Beware the Superman beliefs, even expressing interest in facing Karli Morgenthau herself.

Even Evil Has Standards:

Evil Genius: While he has combat training, his greatest strength is his intellect. Aside from his abilities as The Chessmaster, Zemo was able to crack the encrypted HYDRA files on the Winter Soldier program that Black Widow released to the Internet and build a very effective EMP bomb in his hotel room.

Face Death with Dignity: When T'Challa finally catches up with him at the end of Civil War, he's completely calm and fully prepared for T'Challa to kill him to avenge his father, even seeming to acknowledge that in his mind T'Challa's revenge against him is just as justified as his own revenge against the Avengers. Later, in episode 5 of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he's completely calm and accepting when it looks like Bucky is going to execute him, and later he calmly walks away with the Dora Milaje when they show up to take him into custody, knowing there's a decent chance he's going to be executed in a spectacular fashion in Wakanda for killing the king (for some reason the Dora Milaje went to all that trouble just to turn him over to the U.N. where he'll be held in the same prison that used to hold Captain America's half of the Avengers, but he's got no way of knowing that).

Facial Scruff: His brief appearance in the second episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has Zemo with this due to his time spent in prison. Downplayed in that it looks relatively thin despite having been locked up for eight years at this point, and he shaves it off shortly after.

Fantastic Racism: He has a distaste for enhanced individuals in general, and super soldiers in specific. Specially if such super soldiers are put on pedestals he deems completely unearned.

Flaw Exploitation: He turns the Avengers, particularly Steve and Tony, against each other through a series of Batman Gambits with the ultimate goal of making them fight each other to the death — or if not that, at least to the point of no longer being a cohesive unit. In particular, he reveals to Tony the truth of what happened to his parents knowing that he'll go into an Unstoppable Rage against Bucky and that Cap will prioritise keeping Bucky alive even at Tony's expense.

Friend to All Children: Invoked in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. In the fourth episode, Zemo earns the trust of a few children in Latvia by offering them sweets in exchange for information. But he also uses to opportunity to manipulate them into thinking Bucky and Sam aren't to be trusted.

Four Eyes, Zero Soul: When he infiltrates the UN compound to activate the Winter Soldier, he wears a pair of glasses as part of his disguise.

From Nobody to Nightmare:

Gambit Roulette: The final part his master plan relies on little other than his assumptions on the personalities and capabilities of various characters after studying thousands of pieces of intel from HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D. that Black Widow dumped online back in Winter Soldier. The whole thing would have fallen apart if...

Godzilla Threshold: Sam and Bucky see recruiting him to stop the Flag-Smashers at this...and ultimately cross it when they run out of options.

Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: Even if any of the above had happened, Zemo still would’ve won because his entire goal was for the Avengers to disband - whether through an amicable parting-of-ways or a bloodbath - it was always a matter of how big his win would be. The only real flaw in his plan was the interference of Black Panther, and the creation of the Sokovia Accords, both of which he’d have no way to account for.

He Who Fights Monsters: He wants to take revenge for the death of his family, which he blames on the Avengers for causing collateral damage in the Battle of Sokovia. In doing so, he is responsible for the deaths of dozens of innocent people himself. He even earns someone coming after him for revenge in T'Challa.

Hidden Agenda Villain: His motives remain unclear for much of Civil War and are only revealed as the final battle is taking place.

Hidden Depths: Like Sam, he's a fan of Marvin Gaye and considers "Trouble Man" a masterpiece.

High Collar of Doom: He does the Marquee Alter Ego and Not Wearing Tights through the whole of Civil War, but his winter gear in the third act features a large collar turned up, giving off this vibe. His supervillain gear in Falcon and the Winter Soldier also features one of these, albeit with his comic self's fur trim included.

Human Shield: Thanks to his EKO Scorpion training, is fully capable of taking hostages to hide and shoot behind, as a group of assassins in Madripoor discovered.

Hypocrite:

Interrupted Suicide: After explaining his motivations to T'Challa and apologizing for the death of his father, Zemo tries to shoot himself in the head. T'Challa, however, has none of that, and stops him to make sure he pays for his crimes and turns him over to the authorities.T'Challa: The living are not done with you yet.

It's Personal: Zemo has a personal vendetta against the Avengers. His family was killed during the Battle of Sokovia and he simply wants revenge on those he holds responsible. As pointed out in Beware the Superman, he extends this to any Super Soldier held in such high regard, which is why he has no problem teaming up with Sam (who's more or less Badass Normal like himself) and Bucky (who is a Super Soldier, but isn't exactly held in high regard). ��When he, Sam, Bucky, and Sharon come across the HYDRA scientist responsible for creating more Super Soldiers after the failed Siberian Winter Soldiers, Zemo quietly and stoically shoots the man before the team is attacked.

Jerkass Has a Point: In episode 4 of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Zemo explains why he doesn’t believe that super soldiers should be allowed to exist. By his own previous statements, Sam would probably agree with much of what he says, and John Walker spends the rest of the episode illustrating his arguments.

Kick the Son of a Bitch:

Kill and Replace: Murders the psychologist who was supposed to be evaluating Bucky and takes his place, taking the opportunity to activate Bucky's brainwashing during the evaluation.

Knight of Cerebus: He's a Villainous Underdog, but he manages to tear the Avengers apart through tactics. Unlike previous villains, his methods includes manipulating Tony into trying to execute Bucky to avenge the deaths of his parents and turning on Steve in the process. Averted in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier when his Laughably Evil side lightens the mood.

Know When to Fold 'Em:

Laser-Guided Karma:

Laughably Evil: Downplayed the next time he makes an appearance as he becomes The Comically Serious in an Endearingly Dorky kind of way when he joins in Sam's conversation with Bucky to praise Marvin Gaye's "Trouble Man" soundtrack, or his lame dancing in Sharon's nightclub.

Manipulative Bastard: He is very skilled at manipulation, having studied the Avengers' psychological profiles in order to exploit their individual weaknesses and play them against each other.

Man of Wealth and Taste: Zemo is a baron and more than loaded, owning a private jet, a fleet of classic cars, a personal retainer, and plenty of money and stashed resources.

Marquee Alter Ego: In Civil War, Zemo does not wear a mask — or any kind of costume at all, unlike his comic book counterpart. This changes in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Master of Disguise: Zemo uses prosthetics and heavy makeup in order to convincingly make himself look like Bucky Barnes in the security cameras, fooling just about everyone into thinking the latter was responsible for the UN explosion. He later pulls a Kill and Replace on the psychiatrist who was intended to interview a contained Bucky with no one none the wiser until things start going wrong. Although the latter example is downplayed as when Tony finally discovers the real psychiatrist's body, he looks decidedly nothing like Zemo's impersonation of him.

Misplaced Retribution: Zemo holds the Avengers responsible for all the damage Ultron caused; while Tony and Bruce did create Ultron (after the former was influenced by Wanda), the "end all human life" thing was still his idea. The rest of the Avengers, however didn't know about Tony's plan, and did their best to stop Ultron once he went rogue.

Moral Myopia: He seeks to avenge his family, but he ends up killing multiple innocents who surely had family of their own. He acknowledges this, seeing as how he apologizes to Black Panther for killing his father but by that time he’s hoping to be killed so he can join his family, either by T’Challa or his own hand, so it’s more about easing his conscience rather than remorse for what his actions indirectly caused.

Movie Superheroes Wear Black: Instead of the purple and gold costume he had in the comics, he sticks to dark civilian clothes. Near the end of Civil War, he has a pitch-black coat with a large collar. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier trailers and promo images however reveal he’ll be getting a new costume featuring his signature purple mask and even incorporating the classic ermine trim on his collar.

Nazi Hunter: As part of his Adaptational Nice Guy he's no longer a member of the Nazi-affiliated and fascistic HYDRA group, but is shown to despite and openly oppose them, telling Karpov that "HYDRA deserves its place on the ash heap". The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has him openly despise Nazis and reveals that he'd been hunting down and killing HYDRA members for years as part of his quest to destroy the Super Serum, long before the destruction of Sokovia.

Necessary Evil: How Bucky, and especially Sam, view him in their fight against the Flag-Smashers. No one knows more about the super-soldier serum and Hydra than Zemo, and fortunately for them, they have a common enemy in the Flag-Smashers.

Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!: While his plan does succeed in its goal, it does allow Steve to find Bucky, after fruitlessly spending two years scouring the Earth for him, and gives them an ally who can get the brainwashing out of Bucky's head.

Nice to the Waiter: He is quite friendly and courteous to both a staff member of the hotel he stayed at for Civil War, and his old family butler.

No-Nonsense Nemesis: Zemo is an extremely pragmatic man who knows full well that he's just an ordinary person in an extraordinary world, and realizes that it will give him no quarter if he were to dally about with regards to his vengeance. He has no choice but to be utterly cutthroat if he wants to complete his goal. This is especially shown in his first full-blown action sequence in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, taking down assassins after himself and the heroes in a surprise attack that wouldn't be out of place in a first-person shooter game.

Non-Action Big Bad: Although he has military training, he never directly fights any of the Avengers in Civil War, acknowledging that he could never physically stand up to the likes of them. Instead, he relies more on subterfuge and deception. Becomes a Subverted Trope by the time of Falcon and the Winter Soldier, showing he's fully capable of taking down several assassins after the heroes, though all of them are still normal humans.

Not So Above It All: After being freed from prison in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Zemo shows that he isn't a stoic and unpleasant individual 24/7. Notably, he jumps in on Sam and Bucky's conversation about Marvin Gaye's Troubleman soundtrack to give his own thoughts on the record, and he can be seen thoroughly enjoying himself Madripoor, drinking quite a bit of hard liquor and awkwardly dancing at the Little Princess nightclub.

Nothing Left to Do but Die: After getting Tony to fight Steve and Bucky, Zemo decides to listen to his wife's voicemail one last time, before deleting it and attempting to commit suicide.

Nothing Personal: He tells T'Challa that he is sorry for killing his father and that he seemed like a good man in Civil War. While conversing with Bucky for the first time since the events of that film in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he says this verbatim about using him to tear apart the Avengers.

Not Wearing Tights: He doesn't wear anything remotely resembling a costume in Civil War. However, he dons the purple mask in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Outliving One's Offspring: His son was a casualty from the Avengers' fight with Ultron.

Old Money: He is generationally wealthy due to his family being Sokovian royalty.

Only Sane Man: In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it says a lot about Sam's present circle of associates that (other than Sharon Carter) Zemo is by far the most mentally well-balanced individual Sam has around him at his job.

Papa Wolf: The reason he's out to destroy the Avengers? His family was killed in their fight with Ultron.

Patriotic Fervor: Averted. As Zemo himself remarks ruefully, while he served in Sokovia's armed forces, his drive for vengeance isn't out of any love for the country, as he never actually had much patriotic feeling. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier shows that he does have some serious grievances over how it ended up, though, even chastising Sam and Bucky for not visiting the memorial.

Politically Correct Villain: As part of his Adaptational Nice Guy he's no longer a member of the Nazi-affiliated and fascistic HYDRA group, but is a fan of Marvin Gaye and understands Trouble Man (Sam's favorite album) to be a condensation of the African-American experience. Also berates Sam for stereotyping himself as a "pimp" just because he's flamboyantly dressed.

Purple Is Powerful: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier sees Zemo don a purple mask, coat, and gloves as he resurfaces to the criminal world.

Put on a Prison Bus: Zemo is taken to prison by Black Panther before he can commit suicide, ultimately sitting out the next few years until his return in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. And it happens again in Episode 5 of the aforementioned series, where he's taken by the Dora Milaje to the Raft.

Pyrrhic Victory: Zemo succeeds in fracturing the Avengers and getting the majority of them branded as fugitives, but he is also captured by Black Panther and still has to face prosecution for the murders he committed. It also works vice versa on his capture being a Pyrrhic Victory for the heroes. Best summarized by the following exchange:Everett K. Ross: So how does it feel? To spend all that time, all that effort, and to see it fail so spectacularly? Helmut Zemo: ...Did it?

Revenge Myopia: Getting his revenge was worth anything — including inflicting upon others the same pain he complained about suffering. Lampshaded at the end of the movie, when T'Challa observes that the revenge he seeks has consumed him. Worse still, because he tore the Avengers apart, they had no gameplan and were unable to present a united front against Thanos, leading to even more families the universe over being devastated by the Snap.

Rogues Gallery Transplant: Downplayed. While Zemo is still an enemy of Captain America and The Falcon as he was in the comics, he also ends up becoming an enemy of Black Panther's, due to his involvement in King T'Chaka's death. It extends to the entire nation of Wakanda as well, as they immediately dispatch Ayo to apprehend him when he escapes from prison in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Royals Who Actually Do Something: His noble lineage while serving in the Sokovian special forces makes him this.

Secretly Wealthy: He may have been living the gritty villain life in Civil War (probably to fly under the radar), but The Falcon and the Winter Soldier reveals that he is a wealthy Baron like his comics counterpart. Sam even reacts with "So all this time, you've been rich?"

A Sinister Clue: Zemo is left-handed and is the Big Bad of Civil War. Shooting a gun with his left hand starts off his Big Damn Villains moment in Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Sucks at Dancing: While the gang rests and spends the night at Sharon's club in Madripoor, Zemo's dancing moves leave him wanting. Let's just say he was channeling his inner Commander Shepard.

Suicide by Cop: After apologizing to T'Challa for killing his father, he says that he seemed like a good man "with a dutiful son", saying this last part with a meaningful glance, obviously hinting that he's fine with T'Challa taking vengeance upon him now. When T'Challa refuses to do so, Zemo attempts to just shoot himself, but T'Challa thwarts this effort as well.

Superhero Movie Villains Die: Subverted. After completing his plan to turn Iron Man and Captain America against each other, he first attempts Suicide by Black Panther. Attempts being the operative word, as T'Challa refuses when he realises how close he came to turning out like Zemo. As a result, Zemo attempts to shoot himself in the head, but Black Panther stops him and turns him into the authorities, leaving him incarcerated but very much alive.

Supporting Protagonist: Of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, as most of Bucky's and Sam's story and dynamic are sometimes told from his viewpoint during his team-up with them.

They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: There's nothing from his looks that would suggest that he's more than just an everyday guy.

Took a Level in Cheerfulness: He's much more upbeat in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier than he was in Captain America: Civil War. Which makes sense: in the latter he had just lost his family and was on a revenge quest whereas in the former the stakes aren't as personal and he's had time to grieve for his family in prison, meaning he has the time and temperament to joke around, make fun of "allies" and dance badly.

Took a Level in Kindness: Downplayed, but in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he's much friendlier with Sam and Bucky than he was with Tony and Steve in Civil War. Justified, as this time around he's working together with them to take down the Flag-Smashers and even then he still takes the time to engage them in relatively civil conversations.

Tragic Villain: He pursues his vengeance purely because he feels he has nothing else to live for without his family. This is highlighted by his decision to goad Black Panther into killing him and, when that doesn't work, shoot himself.

Tritagonist: Of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, when he teams up with Sam and Bucky in their crusade to defeat the Flag Smashers, while being more developed as a character in contrast to his debut in Civil War along the way of the narrative.

Tranquil Fury: Despite spending the whole movie on a murderous crusade, Zemo avoids all the theatrics of Loki or Ultron and seldom even raises his voice. This includes when he finally spells out his motives to the heroes.

Troll: Even when he's not manipulating or killing everyone around him, he's kind of a dick, as seen in his reappearance in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, reciting Bucky's trigger phrase, knowing it doesn't work, just to upset him, needling Sam about his experience in the Raft, and later telling his retainer to serve Sam and Bucky them any food that's gone off.

Truer to the Text: Zemo in Civil War was a borderline In Name Only depiction of him. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier retroactively adds a lot more aspects of the original comic character, such as his noble status, his costume, and his physical prowess.

Unknown Rival: To the Flag-Smashers, particularly Karli Morgenthau. Do to being enhanced with the super-soldier serum, Zemo considers the Flag-Smashers to be dangerous individuals, and is more than willing to form an Enemy Mine with Sam and Bucky to take them down. Karli on the other hand, isn't even aware that Zemo exists until he shoots her and destroys the serum right in front of her. Even then, she seems more content to get up and run than to try to confront him for his actions.

Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He successfully managed to break up the Avengers, hoping to bring down the most powerful team of beings in the universe to avenge the deaths of his family. Unfortunately for him, it worked a little too well, as they don't stand on a united front when Thanos arrives and, despite putting up a good fight, get flattened by the Mad Titan. Said Mad Titan then uses the Infinity Stones to wipe out half of all life in the universe, turning the world into a total mess that it spends five years trying to recover from until the Avengers find a way to set things right. Even when they do undo the Snap, the world falls into utter chaos once again trying to handle those that were restored to life, leading to the Flag-Smashers taking rise and causing just enough trouble to force Bucky and Sam to bust Zemo out of jail to help them.

Villain Protagonist: So far of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, when he teams up with Sam and Bucky to take down the Flag Smashers, getting more screen time and more of his development unlike in Civil War.

Villain Respect: As of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Zemo develops this towards Sam Wilson due to his refusal to be ehnanced into being super soldier while maintaining his idealistic outlook. He also concedes that Steve Rogers was not corrupted by the power he held but holds him as an exception.

Villainous Underdog: He's not a Physical God, not an alien, nor a Super Soldier. He's just a former military colonel with patience, a simple yet effective plan, and The Power of Hate. This is exactly why Sam and Bucky decide to bring him into their crusade against the Flag-Smashers.

Weak, but Skilled: Invoked. Zemo is a professionally trained special ops colonel who has the combat skills to take down regular men with ease. However, he knows that no amount of skill can destroy a group of enhanced individuals like the Avengers, and so relies on his manipulation and espionage skills to turn them against each other instead.

Weapon of Choice: A Smith and Wesson 6906 pistol, which he uses to execute the other Winter Soldiers and attempt suicide.

Well-Intentioned Extremist: Zemo's objective in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is to stop the creation of any and all super soldiers, believing that they create symbols of facism like the Red Skull once did. He accomplishes this in the fourth episode by shooting Karli Morgenthau multiple times and then smashing the remaining vials as Nico is helping her escape him.

What You Are in the Dark: When Zemo corners Karli and discovers the last of the Super Soldier Serum in her possession, rather than take it for himself, which would have made his mission a lot easier, he smashes the vials and would have successfully destroyed them all had Walker not intervened.

Wicked Cultured: He's a connoiseur of music and art, as revealed in Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: He has quite a sympathetic motive for his mission of revenge against the Avengers, namely that he blames them for the death of his family.

Xanatos Speed Chess: He's not in control of everything that happens in Civil War (for one thing, he has nothing to do with the Sokovia Accords), but he's good at taking advantage of unexpected situations to further his plans. Even more so in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. In Civil War, at least he still instigates most of the events, but in the show, he's broken out of prison without having expected to and is more or less thrust into an ongoing conflict he has nothing to do with. He still manages to play the heroes and the villains—that he utterly disagrees with—and so far has gotten away completely unscathed, once again having succeeded at what he set out to do.

He's the Big Bad of Civil War and is more than willing to commit mass murder to achieve his ends, but the times he acts polite or remorseful are genuine. He states he'd rather avoid unnecessary deaths if he can, has a few standards, apologizes to T'Challa for killing his father, has regular courteous interactions with a staff member of the hotel he's staying at, and even eventually apologizes to Bucky for using him. Considering he's just a grieving man who's dedicated to avenging the deaths of his family, it makes sense he wouldn't act like a cackling maniac.

By The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, he is shown to be fairly courteous to those around him (who, apart from his family butler were his enemies before) and he is capable of holding civil conversations with Bucky, even offering him a genuine apology for his actions in Civil War. He also agrees to join Sam and Bucky's crusade against the Flag-Smashers, without the driving of a hard bargain one might expect from him. He is also fully willing to lend his resources from the criminal underground to Sam and Bucky to take the Flag-Smashers down, no questions asked.

While none of the Avengers die as a consequence of his plan in Captain America: Civil War, he accomplishes his main goal in dividing them and is content with this. While the looming threat of Thanos forces them back together in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the reunion turns out to be temporary — by the time of Spider-Man: Far From Home, WandaVision, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the Avengers are still very much defunct.

In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he successfully killed the man who recreated the super soldier formula and destroyed all but one of the remaining samples while inadvertently leading to John Walker gaining the Super Serum for himself. This turns in Zemo's favor after Walker brutally executes a defenseless Flag Smasher in broad daylight in front of civilians, corrupting the image of super soldiers in the public eye. He willing gives up a chance at pulling a Villain: Exit, Stage Left to visit a memorial and allows him self to be captured, his work done.

He framed Bucky Barnes for bombing the United Nations, then relied on everyone else including Captain America hunting him down for it, and further that no one but the Avengers would even be capable of killing Bucky, to get access to Barnes and his knowledge of HYDRA bases.

He arranges for his ruse to be discovered by the media, relying on Tony to find out and make amends with Captain America, so they'll both find the Siberian compound where Zemo reveals to them that Bucky killed Tony's parents.

His entire plan is based on assumptions from the S.H.I.E.L.D. intel on the Avengers he's studied that Captain America's over-protectiveness of his friends and Iron Man's complex over the death of his parents would mean not only that the two would turn on each other if Bucky's involvement in the Starks' death was revealed, but that Steve wouldn't have talked to Tony about Bucky's potential involvement beforehand.

His setup gambled on the fact that it is a conflict that only works if there are no voices of reason to hold either of them back. The fact that the airport fight left only two active members of the Avengers, Bucky and a third party present in the Hydra compound in a place where no one would interfere was a happy accident for him since most of the Avengers present could have prevented things from reaching the breaking point. Of course, this is covered under Heads I Win, Tails You Lose.

Notably, this is also why he finds Bucky a bit tolerable, since he is being bewared of.

In a stark contrast to his comics depiction, he lacks any affiliation with HYDRA and outright states that they deserved to be brought down. A conversation in Falcon and the Winter Soldier reveals he despises the Red Skull and those who idolize him, and he kills Doctor Nagel while the man is gloating about being a god.

Despite his profound hatred of the Avengers, he declined to unleash the other five Winter Soldiers and shot them dead rather than risk someone else doing so, as they were worse than Bucky and would do untold damage to the world given the order. He also seems uncomfortable with the concept of experimenting on humans in general.Zemo: If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep. Did you really think I wanted more of you?

Zemo was "just" a special forces operative, but when his family was killed, he used his intel on HYDRA to take on the Avengers and came closer to destroying the team than any previous villain.

Falcon and the Winter Soldier reveals that at some point, he became involved with the criminal underground, under the simple but accurate alias of "Baron".

A) Captain America and Bucky had captured Zemo before Iron Man arrived (then again, he was in a fortified bunker that would take serious fire-power to break through).

B) Iron Man had not figured out where Cap and Bucky were headed in the first place.

C) Iron Man had not come alone, meaning there might have been someone to restrain him or talk him down after he learned the truth.

D) Black Panther had succeeded in killing Bucky during one of their three fights during the course of the film (of course it’s highly unlikely that he even knew the Black Panther existed).

E) Captain America told Iron Man that the deaths of his parents were orchestrated by HYDRA.

Zemo hates the Avengers after the collateral damage they caused killed his family. So he decides to split the team up and in the process causes collateral damage that kills other people's family members.

Zemo believes that "gods" like the Avengers should not be allowed to exist. Sam points out that be decreeing who deserves to exist, he's speaking like a god.

Tortures and kills Vasily Karpov for information. Karpov is not only a still loyal HYDRA operative but one of the main leaders of the Winter Soldier project and ordered the death of the Starks and his slow death is just desserts. He does the same to the HYDRA scientist responsible for making more Super Soldiers in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, finishing his work from Siberia.

He also happily participates in the interrogation of Doctor Nagel, the Mad Scientist who recreated the Super Soldier Serum via human experimentation, and personally guns the man down.

Zig-zagged; he knows very well that he can never kill the Avengers himself, since more powerful men than him have tried and all have failed, which is why he makes a plan to get them to kill each other for him.

In the secret HYDRA lab in Madripoor, he and his comrades come under attack. Not knowing where the assailants are, Zemo makes a quick getaway, causing Sam and the others to think he bailed... only to show up moments later when the assassins are in plain view, making it much easier for him to take them down.

When the Dora Milaje apprehend him a second time in episode 5 of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he surrenders himself without a fight, presumably both because he knew he had no chance of victory and because he had already achieved his goal of destroying the current iteration of the super-soldier serum.

He uses Bucky's Trigger Phrase while the latter's locked in an apparatus, making him go on a rampage. By the end of Civil War, he himself is locked in the same apparatus.

He kills T'Challa's father in the course of his Evil Plan. After T'Challa learns the truth about this, he foils Zemo's attempted suicide to ensure he faces justice for his crimes.

#HelmutInformation

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crashdevlin · 4 years

Text

Civil Warriors 6- Africa

Civil Warriors Masterlist

Author’s Note: Originally posted to ao3 (This is an edited and improved version) Part Three of the Red Queen Chronicles!

Summary: The three super soldiers start their trek toward Wakanda.

Word Count: 4665

Pairing(s): Clint Barton x OFC, Bucky Barnes x OFC

Chapter Warnings: mentions of torture, mentions of brainwashing, mentions of murder, Bucky Barnes being suave

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you sure that you’re okay to walk this whole way?” Bucky asked as the sun started to go down on the second day of their trek across Africa. None of them had slept and it was evident in their attitudes.

“Barnes, don’t ask again,” Cassie snapped. “I’m just as genetically gifted as you and Steve are. Just because I’m a woman-”

“Hey, it’s not about that!” Bucky interrupted, blue eyes going wide. “I’m just...guess I just don’t know much about your abilities, so…”

“How about we make camp?” Steve suggested, hefting his bag off of his shoulder and dropping it to the ground. “We could use the rest.”

“I’ll get a fire going,” Bucky volunteered.

“And I can regale you with my back story while I set up the tent. Ya know, the stuff after Hydra lost me.” Cassie dropped her bag to the ground at her feet and grabbed the tent. “See, Fury stormed Der Spielplatz with fifty men and grabbed everyone on base. I think it was called Operation Playtime Distortion. It was a rescue operation for Agent Mackenzie. They found my files before they found me. I remember the look on Fury’s face when he walked into my cell on the sublevel and found me, sitting on my bed...confused. Confused, brainless, without a single memory to work from.”

She sighed and licked her lips, avoiding the gaze of the blue-eyed men with her. “He took me and cuffed me and put me on a plane to the Fridge.” She looked at Bucky for a sign of recognition of the name, but she didn’t find any so she continued. “Fridge was a place where SHIELD put dangerous people, dangerous items. I was there for ten years, basically grew up in that cell...all that I remembered of my life was in the Fridge for a long time. Fury didn’t want to release me into the world. For good reason...he read the file. He knew what was buried in my head.”

She bit the inside of her lip and cleared her throat. “Ten years in captivity, though, and I never showed it. When I was eighteen, I started a relationship with an agent...one of Fury’s right hand men...he convinced Fury to...got him to consider letting me out, but it took two more years of Fury considering before he eventually let me out.”

Cassie rolled the tent out and grabbed the poles. “I mean, I really thought I was normal. I mean, I obviously knew I was Red Skull’s daughter, but I thought of it more as…” She shrugged. “Johann Schmidt was just the sperm donor, you know? I wasn’t a Nazi. I was just a girl. I couldn’t remember the Hydra labs at all by the time I was eighteen and I hadn’t ever shown any abnormal physiology. Except the lack of a belly button, I was just like everyone else. I thought maybe I was really lucky and Red Skull’s enhancements couldn’t be passed down. Maybe it just wasn’t in me and I was okay with that. It meant I could focus on the goals I had for after I got out of the Fridge.”

Cassie pushed the first set of poles through the tent and grabbed the second set. “I wanted to get out, get a degree, get a job, get married, have a baby. I was halfway to a degree by the time I got out of the Fridge. My boyfriend got me started on the baby. He didn’t know that. I didn’t tell him. Would’ve just been...complicated. Things with Phil were over by then and it was easier for me to just...drop out of college and move to New York, just in time for Loki to rain down a storm of aliens on our heads. I was lucky, didn’t have to deal with the Chitauris, though. No, I got to contend with the Asgardian prince himself,” she said bitterly. “When he pulled me out from under the lab table where I was hiding and used his scepter to put me in a trance. Somehow, he used that thing to unlock what was in me. He unlocked my genetics. I was...suddenly strong, agile, an Olympic-level athlete.”

“So, Loki made you a super soldier?” Bucky asked as the fire started.

“Not really. I wasn’t a soldier. I was a super lab tech. Super...rape victim. Super broken.” She smiled sadly. “Super alcoholic. I spent almost all of my money on booze that year. Takes a lot to get me drunk. I assume you guys have a similar issue.”

“Haven’t tried. I was afraid of what might...happen,” Bucky answered, quietly.

“I tried...in ‘44 when Bucky fell off the train. Only drank one bottle, though. Might’ve worked if I drank more,” Steve said.

Cassie nodded. “Gotta drink fast. I’ve found that two bottles of strong, cheap whiskey are enough to get me drunk...for about an hour and a half. Which was usually enough to get me to sleep for a while.” She licked her lips as she pushed the second set of poles through the tent. “I fell into a deep spiral for a year. Loki, he killed my daughter, raped me, carved his name into my chest...it didn’t seem like there was very much good in life.”

“Been there,” Bucky muttered, pulling food out of his bag.

“Anyway, uh, Clint showed up after about a year of me...bottling everything up in whiskey. He was nice. He saw the potential in me, knew my damage...or at least the damage Loki caused...but he tried to help me find myself anyway.” She scoffed derisively. “Unfortunately, Loki noticed. He didn’t like that I was spending time with another man. He doesn’t ever like when I spend time with other men. He’s not exactly thrilled that I’m out here with you.”

“You think he’s watching us?” Steve asked, standing straight and looking around.

“He’s watching me. He’s always watching me. The psycho thinks I’m his queen, he’s gonna have an eye on me...as often as possible, anyway,” she said as she started pushing stakes into the ground one by one. “Loki showed up with the scepter again and put me in a trance. Steve was there for this part. Loki made me ‘Joanna’. Now, when I came back to myself after a couple weeks of following Loki around as Joanna, I thought I was evil. I thought Joanna was evil because of how I followed that jerk around, but she wasn’t. She just didn’t have all of my hang-ups. I talked to a shrink and he clarified some stuff. I realized that Joanna was just me without my inhibitions. But at first, I was convinced I was evil. I ran away...to Austria. I spe-”

“She left the base in a hospital gown. No shoes, nothing,” Steve said, his tone proud. “We were in the Alps, Buck, but she survived, made it down the mountain without even a hint of frostbite.”

“Didn’t know you were so impressed by that,” she mumbled.

“Of course I was. We thought you were dead after we went a few days without finding you...but then Clint found you.”

“Only after Loki found me first.” Cassie sighed as she looked at the tent. It was undoubtedly going to be a very tight fit for three supersoldiers. “Anyway, I lived the simple life in Austria for a few months. I worked at this little diner and relearned German, ‘cause when Fury steamrolled my Hydra indoctrination, he felt the need to rid me of my Mother Tongue.” She cleared her throat to deal with the bitterness. “Anyway, horrible nightmares, spiral of depression and sadness, found God but that wasn’t hard since I was sleeping in the closet of the local mission. Loki found me again, had his way with me again, disguised as the priest who kept me from trying to kill myself for two months. He didn’t have his scepter that time thought so I fought back and I fought back hard and then I ran...straight into Clint, who brought me back.”

She laughed quietly. “Blah blah blah, identity issues. Blah blah, my ex sent me to a shrink, I realized I wasn’t evil and that I could make up for my family legacy through being a superhero. Became an Avenger, Clint started teaching me Ops stuff and...I started remembering.” She turned to look at the soldiers. Bucky’s eyes were focused on her, but Steve was looking at the ground. “Muscle memory kicked in first. The way I field-stripped my pistol, how well I moved during sparring sessions. I held off the actual memories as long as possible, tried to focus on the ‘now’, but...when I told Pietro Maximoff that I’d never killed anyone, I got the first flash of…” She took a deep breath and swallowed. “Agent Mackenzie. It wasn’t much but it made me see that, if I kept letting myself remember then there was no way I was going to be the woman I thought I was when I was in the Fridge. If I remembered, I’d become more of this...other person. The ‘worse than Joanna’ person that Fury knew I was. So, I left the Avengers, went back to school.”

“Until I called you into this,” Steve said, guiltily.

“I was still remembering anyway, Steve. Remember Christmas? I wasn’t sleeping, freaked out when I was cutting the ham. It wasn’t being an Avenger that was doing it...it was everything. It was living my life.”

Steve nodded, standing straight, but maintaining an air of guilt. “Hey, Bucky, you wanna come with me, do a perimeter check?” he asked. Bucky followed without a word.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, how’d you end up with the archer?” Bucky asked, eating his MRE spaghetti. “I know how you met, but how’d he get you to date him?”

“Hey, don’t say it like that. Archery’s sexy,” she defended, eating a large cracker. “Um...I don’t know, really. He’s nice and charismatic...attractive. Blue eyes get to me...and he’s a relentless flirt. He was workin’ me from the moment I met him.” She looked down and picked up a packet of peanut butter. “I think...in all seriousness, I think when I started to get confused about who I was, I needed someone who knew the real me. Clint used to surveil me for Fury...off and on for about two years, he watched me. So, he knew the woman I was with Phil. He knew all about me. He got to witness the happy optimist with the flair for science. I need that. I-I liked his bluntness and he wanted to fix me.”

“That’s the basis of your relationship?” Bucky asked, licking his spork. “Doesn’t seem very strong to me.”

“Well, sex is a factor,” Cassie responded flippantly, eliciting a deep blush to break out across Steve’s face.

Bucky reached out and hit his shoulder. “Come on, Steve. People are gonna think you’re a virgin if you act like that,” he teased.

“He’s not one?” Cassie asked.

“Buck…” Steve warned, glaring across the fire at his friend.

“Nah, I got him laid during the war,” Bucky answered, ignoring the look. “See, he had his heart set on Agent Carter, but his loins were just fine with this pretty French girl.”

Cassie chuckled as she ripped open the peanut butter. “Well, Clint and Tony owe me ten bucks.”

“You bet on whether I was a virgin?” Steve asked, eyes wide. Cassie just shrugged and Steve looked down at his knees. “Sophie was a very nice girl. I would’ve written her but...ya know, frozen in a block of ice.”

“A nice girl? I thought nice girls waited ‘til marriage back in your day.”

“She was French,” Bucky said, like it was the only explanation needed.

“Much more liberal in France back then,” Steve explained.

“Okay, then,” Cassie said, laughing. “So, wait...just the one, Steve?”

“Why does it matter?” Steve asked, running his fingers through his hair. “I mean, one is more than you guys thought, right?”

“Actually, I assumed you’d had several just since you thawed out,” Cassie responded before gesturing at him. “I mean, look at you. In today’s society, you being amazingly handsome and heroic...I figured you might have been talked into a couple one night stands.” The blush on his cheeks seemed to take Steve’s whole face, spreading like wildfire.

“Even I’ve gotten laid since you’ve been thawed out,” Bucky added.

Cassie looked playfully offended. “Oh, so the thing about not having a woman in your arms since the forties, that was just a line?”

“I said a ‘beautiful woman’,” Bucky corrected. “Ludmilla was a troll.”

Cassie laughed. “Really? You needed to get some so bad that you had sex with a troll named ‘Ludmilla’?”

Bucky smiled. “You sleep with Clint,” he reminded before tucking his hair behind his ears. “In my defense, I was breaking a seventy year abstinence.”

She smirked as she turned to look at Steve. “What about you? Have you broken that ‘frozen in a block of ice’ abstinence yet?”

“I-I really don’t think this is an appropriate-”

“Romanoff?” Cassie interrupted. “CIA Agent Carter?”

Steve sighed and looked away. “There was a SHIELD agent. She asked me to coffee, then we went to dinner...afterwards, she got a little...needful.”

Cassie turned to Bucky. “‘Needful’ equals ‘horny’, right?” Bucky nodded.

“That was a few months before SHIELD fell. Haven’t seen her since,” Steve finished quickly.

“You okay, Steve?” Bucky asked.

“Um...I just realized that she might have been Hydra,” he responded, rubbing at his temple and looking like he was questioning every decision he had ever made.

“I’m sure she wasn’t-” Cassie started, but Bucky interrupted.

“Might’ve been.”

“Well, she didn’t kill you in your sleep so you can probably count on her not being Hydra,” Cassie rationalized.

“Well, I didn’t...sleep.”

“You dog, you,” Cassie teased.

“All right, all right. Finish up your food and we’ll bed down.” Steve turned away, looking completely embarrassed as the other laughed at him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cassie lay on her side with her back to Bucky and Steve. The tent was small. They’d only been expecting to need room for two and she wasn’t large, but her two companions were. She tried to make herself even smaller, but her feet kept touching Bucky’s legs, her ass kept brushing against him every time she wiggled a bit to chase comfort. Or maybe it was the other way. Maybe he was touching her.

A few minutes after Steve’s breathing deepened and slowed, Cassie felt Bucky shift. He turned over to lie on his left side, facing her. “You smell good,” he whispered, tentatively moving his hand over to rest on her hand. “Which is so crazy since we’ve been sweating for two days.”

“There are pheromones in the natural scent of a person,” she whispered back, unsure of what to say. “But I...I have been wearing an antiperspirant. Just...saying.” She swallowed heavily as his hand began to drift up, his fingertips playing with the hem of her tank top.

“Steve told me to back off,” he whispered, his breath cascading over her ear and cheek. “I get why. How we were raised...back then, it was more than just a low move to make a pass at another man’s girl, ‘specially if he put a ring on her finger.” His hand slipped under her shirt and rested heavily above the thick circular scar she gave herself to represent a navel when she was eighteen. “But you’re not like any woman I’ve ever met. You’re nothing like the women from the forties but you...you’re not meant for 2016 either. I’ve lived through so many decades and...here you are. Here’s this beautiful woman who sees what little good is left in me.”

“I saw the good fifteen years ago, when you brought the CSF to the Playground. You were so cold and emotionless when you walked in. So strong and stoic, but when you saw me strapped down to that table in a fetal position so they could inject the CSF, you literally flinched.” She took a deep breath and sighed it out. “You refused to give them the vial. They had to call in your handler.”

“I just couldn’t believe they were experimenting on you. You were so young. I knew they were going to break you. I wish I could have stopped them.”

“It’s not your fault, Sergeant. I know you would have stopped them if you could have.” She turned over to face him, forcing his fingers to slide over her hip and settle in the small of her back. “You are absolutely a good man, Bucky.”

He shook his head a little, his tair tickling her forehead as it moved. “A good man wouldn’t have spent the last two days wanting another man’s fiancée.”

She scoffed a little. “And a good woman wouldn’t be so damn excited to hear that. I guess neither of us are perfect.”

Bucky smiled softly. “To me, you are. As close to perfect as a man can touch.” He brought his hand up to pull a lock of sweaty hair from her forehead and tuck it back with the rest of her hair. So much care in a single action.

“Bucky...I meant what I said in Germany, ya know. If there was a man who might take me from Clint, it’d be you,” she whispered, part of her wondering exactly why she was telling the man.

His eyes went just a little wide. “I...we better turn back over.” His hand returned to the small of her back, though. “If Steve sees this, he’ll start a fight and I’m a bit disadvantaged at the moment.”

Cassie smiled. “I’d protect you, soldier.”

“No doubt about that,” Bucky whispered, smiling as he rubbed a circle into the small of her back with his thumb. “But we’ve got two weeks ‘til Wakanda. Plenty of time to piss off Captain America.” He licked his lips before pulling his hand back and rolling over to his back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As they were walking the next day, Cassie’s bag began to ring. “You brought a phone?” Steve asked as she dropped the pack to the ground and started to dig through it.

“Cool your jets, Rogers. I’m not an idiot,” she snapped, pulling out an old Nokia cell phone with a thick antenna.

“Whoa. Even I know that’s ancient tech,” Bucky said as he looked at it.

“Ancient, yes, but functional. Not working on the same systems as the new stuff. No GPS. If I keep the call short, they won’t even be able to ping the mobile towers,” she said, proudly. “Had to steal it from a museum, but it’s tactically sound.” She hit the button and held the cell to her ear. “Moshi moshi?”

“Cassie?” a familiar voice asked.

“Phil? Wh-what’s going on? How’d you know I have this-”

“I was wondering if I could use you on something...kinda world-ending important. Mack says he can’t get a location on your cell. Where are you?”

“Phil, it’s a...it’s a long story, but, uh...I’ll get back to you,” she said, moving to hang up.

“No! Don’t hang up! I wouldn’t be calling if I didn’t need-” Phil started.

“Is that Coulson?” Steve asked as Bucky looked between the other two.

“Is that Captain America?” Phil asked.

“Yeah, it is,” she answered both of them at the same time. “Look, I can’t stay on the phone. I know you’re running traces and you’re gonna have a location for me any minute now. I can’t let you find me. I’m actually pretty damn busy.”

“I have an Inhuman parasite in the body of a man I killed working to destroy the world. He’s infected Daisy and taken control of her, I think this is a little more important than whatever you’re doing in North Africa, Cassie.”

“Thanks for letting me know the trace is working,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I will call you back later. This is important, too.”

“Ya know, I thought you signed the Accords as a ruse to get out of the Raft, but if you’re not willing to help me with this just because it’s off the books-”

“Mein Gott, Philip! This has nothing to do with that! I am helping Cap and Bucky make it somewhere safe so that we can mount an offensive on the Raft and help the other Avengers escape captivity! If you really need help with Inhuman, we can help you after the jailbreak. I will call you back then! Goodbye, Phil!” Cassie snapped, turning off the phone and shoving it back into her bag. She looked up at the soldiers who were both looking down at her questioningly. “He was talking too much. I had to cut him off before they got a location,” she explained calmly.

“Who’s Coulson?” Bucky asked, offering his hand as she went to stand. She took it and slung her backpack over her shoulder.

“I told you I had an ex who’s a big fan of Cap and the Commandos?” she reminded him. “Phil Coulson, Director of SHIELD.”

“You dated the director of SHIELD?” Bucky asked.

“Well, he wasn’t Director when I dated him,” she said, smiling.

“He’s a good man,” Steve said, thinking of Coulson dead at Loki’s hand.

“That’s a recurrent theme with your boyfriends, isn’t it?” Bucky asked as Cassie adjusted the straps of her bag. “A good man, just couldn’t keep you.”

Cassie looked at her feet as she started to walk away from them. “Phil didn’t want to keep me. He found a pretty little cellist in Portland. He decided on her.”

“What an idiot,” Bucky commented, following her.

“And Clint hasn’t lost me yet,” she finished.

Bucky nodded once and moved past her to take point. “Where’s your ring?” he whispered as he passed her. Cassie looked down at her left hand, shocked to see that her engagement ring was gone. “Pocket.”

“How’d it get there, Barnes?” she asked, patting her pants.

“Don’t want people seeing it,” he said, turning his head to look at her. “Might think you’re worth stealing or something.”

“I’m definitely worth stealing. My wit alone is enough to make me worth the effort.”

“And that body of yours is just icing,” Bucky shot back with a smirk.

“On a very intelligent cake. Don’t objectify me, Sergeant,” she said with a smile.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, sweetheart. You and I have both been objects.”

“Do you have to do that?” Steve snapped from behind her.

“You’re right, Steve. Let’s just pretend we don’t have a gorgeous woman traveling with us,” Bucky said.

Steve rolled his eyes. “You don’t need to pretend anything, but you shouldn’t be so shameless with-”

“A grown-ass woman who’s giving as good as she’s getting?” Cassie interrupted. “I’m not married, Steve.”

“Your fiance is sitting in a cell right now because of me. The least I can do is make sure that my best friend doesn’t break up his engagement while he’s stuck in there.”

“Glad you think so highly of me, Steve,” Bucky mumbled.

“I think the world of you, both of you,” Steve said, seriously. “That’s why I don’t want you to do something damaging to-”

“Steve, stop. If I chose to break off my engagement to Barton, it would be because I chose to. Not because of Bucky or you. Maybe I’m…” She shook her head. “...not really sure I want to be married. Maybe I don’t know who I am so how could I possibly make a good addition to someone else? Maybe I can’t marry him because I’ve been hiding the unsavory parts of myself from him. The worst thing he knows about me is Joanna.”

“Clint would love you anyway,” Steve said, matter-of-factly.

Cassie scoffed. “If he wanted an assassin for a bride, he’d have asked Natasha a long time ago.”

“You aren’t an assassin, Cassie,” Steve said, grabbing her hand to stop her.

She smirked sardonically as she turned and looked up at him. “We don’t know that, do we? What we do know is that at least one of the names on SHIELD’s Walls of Valor was on there because of me. I’ve killed. A good man, a good agent, one that Fury liked enough to go on a search for.” She shook her head and forced out a sharp breath of air. “Were there more? Was it a whole group of agents that I murdered? I don’t know. You don’t know. But just one is enough to make me question myself forever. And it’ll be enough for Clint to stop seeing me as his pristine Red Queen.”

Steve’s eyebrows came together. “He doesn’t love you because you’re… ‘pristine’.”

“He wouldn’t love me if he knew I was a monster, Steve,” she argued.

“I don’t agree,” Steve said as Bucky stopped and turned to them. “And you aren’t a monster.”

“You don’t have to agree. I know him. I know Clint. He sees me as this beautiful, broken thing, a little bit scarred but otherwise beautiful. The biggest scar on me is supposed to be the one Loki carved into my chest. He thinks that I’m...getting better, but I’m just getting better at hiding it. I shouldn’t have to hide anything from him though and I do. I have to hide. You think it won’t change how he sees me when he finds out I murdered someone? You can’t say that, Cap, because it’s changed how you look at me.” Steve opened his mouth to argue, but Cassie continued before he could. “You look at me and Bucky like Clint looks at fuckin’ rescue dogs. ‘Oh sure, this one has scars from being forced into dog fights but we can rehabilitate him!” she said in a mock of Clint’s voice before her face fell.

“Except we didn’t get the Pit Bull with the clipped ears and the scars, Steve. We got the Golden Retriever with the waggly tail who eats pizza.” She stepped toward Bucky and adjusted her bag on her back. “I don’t mind being the Pit Bull so much but Clint thinks I’m the Retriever...and it’s gonna hurt our relationship when he realizes I’m not.”

Steve shook his head sadly. “When did you decide your relationship was over?” he asked, quietly.

She looked between Steve and Bucky, then shrugged. “Probably when I saw how he looked at Bucky.”

“Was that before or after you told him that Bucky could take you from him?” Steve asked, pointedly.

“Back when we were still stateside, Steve. When we were watching the news about the bombing in Vienna,” Cassie answered before she started walking again. “He looked at Bucky like he was a rabid dog.”

“I’m not excited about all these dog metaphors,” Bucky spoke up as he followed her.

“I just don’t think you should write off your whole engagement until you know how Clint feels about...your past.”

“My past. Like it’s that simple.” She rolled her eyes. “This isn’t like you finding out I was pregnant with Phil’s kid or that I wanted so badly to be a mother that I was willing to let Loki’s child destroy me from the inside. This is worse. This is murder.”

“But ‘murder’ implies you did it on purpose, Cassie. You were forced-” Steve started.

“No, I wasn’t forced. I was given an order and I didn’t even try to resist. I murdered that agent and...memories are vague, but I think I liked it. I am a murderer, Steve. Clint is not.”

“We’ve all done regrettable things,” Steve said.

“Not like this. Only Bucky can understand this.” She swallowed thickly. “Look, drop it. I’m not who he thinks I am and I never will be,” she said before walking away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Kitchen Sink - @emoryhemsworth @flamencodiva @wasabiwitteks @rainbowkisses31 @rissbennett @mariekoukie6661 @officiallyunofficialperson @dolphincliffs @mrs-meghan-winchester @gayspacenerd @foxyjwls007 @ilovefanfic86 @marvelfansworld @f-yeahfandoms @wonderlandfandomkingdom @hhiggs @sev3nruby @hobby27 @paintballkid711 @divadinag @thewhiterabbit42 @fantasymyth-1 @queenoftheunderdark @cosicas-cuquis @superfanficnatural @letsby @supernatural-bellawinchester @onethirstyunicorn @swinchester27 @chalicia @sunnyroadtrips @screechingartisancashbailiff @death-unbecomes-you @dayasvalkyrie

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#cassie writes stuff #marvel fanfic #marvel fanfiction #steve rogers #bucky barnes #OFC #red queen chronicles

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ordinaryschmuck · 4 years

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What I thought about the MCU (Phase One)

I love Marvel. More specifically, I love Marvel movies. And more specific than that, I love Marvel movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (with the occasional Deadpool from the X-Men universe). Within eleven years, we have gotten twenty-three movies. Most of them successful, with a few cracks in the armor here and there. And I want to show my love for this success by reviewing each movie in their respective phase. But I'm going to be doing things a little differently than others before me. I'm going to rank each film from worst to best in each phase of the MCU. After I get through all three phases, I'll rank them all from worst to best, with only a sentence explaining my ranking. With that said, let's get started, shall we?

6th: The Incredible Hulk (5/10)

I wish that I could be that guy who says The Incredible Hulk is an underrated masterpiece that doesn't deserve any of its hate...but I'm not, and it isn't. Don't get me wrong, I do love the first few minutes, I love how the Hulk is presented as a danger rather than a hero, and there is some decent visual storytelling on display. Seriously, there are scenes with little to no dialogue, and it is easy to tell what's going on in the characters' heads from their movements and expressions. Which is a treat, because the lines aren't great, and the delivery is not any better. It's worse with Liv Tyler as Betty Ross, who has two different speech patterns: Shouting and sounding like a robot pretending to be human. Plus, the CGI is butt ugly in this movie, and it's easily the worst in the MCU. Say what you want about Black Panther and it’s CGI, but at least the hero and villain don't look like ugly green blobs punching each other. If you think it's Incredible, more power to you. For me, it's just...meh.

5th-Iron Man 2 (5/10)

I actually like this movie. Or, at least, I like parts of this movie. I like the performances, the action, and a couple of well-handled scenes. For example, the party scene is actually pretty decent as it shows how irresponsible a hero can be when drunk, even if the latter half of it becomes a rock'em sock'em robots fight. Separately, scenes like this work. It's when they're put together does the movie fall flat. There are too many plot points and story threads to follow that the movie becomes a jumbled mess as a result. Also, Sam Rockwell's Justin Hammer is just a dweeb of a villain. Which is a shame because I can see how he can be the perfect foil for Tony Stark. It's just that he lacks a lot of the charisma that RDJ gives his own character. But an even bigger shame is the underutilization of Mickey Rourke as Whiplash, who seems like a unique villain that I would have loved to see more of. But instead, we just get some jerkoff in a suit. That being said, I still don't think Iron Man 2 is as bad as people claim it to be. Yeah, it's bottom five, for sure, but that doesn't mean it isn’t irredeemable.

4th-Thor��(6/10)

WHAT IS UP WITH THE EXCESSIVE DUTCH ANGLE SHOTS?! Seriously, was the majority of the movie shot on a hill? Did the crew lost a wheel on one of the cameras and decided to roll with it? Why does it keep happening?!

A dutch angle shot only works if you're showing something cool. NOT whenever you feel like it!

With that said...this movie is ok. There are some good things to like. Chris Hemsworth definitely has the physique of a Norse god, there are some well-handled comedic moments, and the action is pretty cool at times. It's just that the supporting cast is a little bland, and Thor is not Loki's best appearance. Tom Hiddleston certainly nails the trickster character, but the chaotic personality doesn't really let loose until future movies. Still, I think Thor is fine. And definitely better than Thor: The Dark World.

3rd-Iron Man (7/10)

What can I say about this movie that hasn't been said already? Robert Downey Jr. is still the definitive Iron Man, the acting is top-notch, the action is even better, the CGI still holds up to this day, and the story is pretty amazing...for the most part. The stuff with Jeff Bridges as Iron Monger, while not as bad as everyone else says, is still not as engaging as everything else. Personally, I don't hate him, and I think the final fight between this giant robot man with a tiny robot man is still pretty entertaining. I can maybe see why others wouldn't be as entertained, but that doesn't change how this film is a great start for something big.

2nd-Captain America: The First Avenger (7.5/10)

Now, THIS is an underrated movie...for the most part. I can see why some people can be less than thrilled about certain aspects of this movie, but I can still argue why those aspects don't bother me. Yes, it becomes a cliche action movie halfway through, but at least the action is cool. Yes, the scene where Captain America becomes a dancing monkey is embarrassing, but at least that song slaps. Yes, Red Skull is boringly evil for the sake of an evil villain, but he's a nazi. What were you expecting? The intricate reasons for why he's a nazi? And yes, Captain America's reasoning for crashing the plain is stupid, but...it at least give us two more awesome movies?

Alright, that one I'll give to you.

Regardless, I still consider this my favorite Captain America movie. Because it has moments that come to mind when I think of our star-spangled man. He's the guy who jumps on a grenade to save his fellow soldiers without an ounce of hesitation. He's the guy who will continue to do the right thing, no matter how hard it might be. And he's the guy who has a sense of humor, but not overly quippy like other characters. I'll admit that the other two movies are better, but as for which one has what I love about Captain America, it would have to be his very first adventure as the First Avenger.

1st-The Avengers (9.5/10)

At first, this movie has nothing more than cool action and corny jokes, some funnier than others. But by the time the film reaches The Battle of New York, that's when it goes from a good movie to a great one! Every film before The Avengers has been building up to this gigantic fight. With The Avengers hyping itself up as well. And trust me when I say: It's worth it. Add that with some fun characters with phenomenal chemistry fighting Loki at his best, then you've got yourself one hell of a movie.

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And that's all of the movies in phase one. I'll see you soon as I talk about phase two.

#marvel cinematic universe #mcu review #iron man #the incrediable hulk #thor #captain america #the avengers #what i thought about

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americasfineasscaptain · 4 years

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So was reading up on red skull and it’s actually horrifying how the people who gave him the chance to shine created one of the most dangerous supervillains in comics history. Originally there were different skulls.

George Maxon was the American Nazi ceo of an aeroplane company like Boeing and even vaguely resembled the man. He wore a red mask and appeared in Tales of Suspence. He was later retconned to be an agent of the real thing.

Johann Schmidt is the red skull everyone knows. His age is a sliding scale much like the captain’s but his backstory is just one big suck. His mother died in childbirth, his father tried to drown him and committed suicide after the doctor saved baby Johann. He grew up in an orphanage where he was relentlessly bullied and punished for trying to help a stray dog. Growing up, he was bullied by criminals and cops alike and was contemplating suicide when he had a chance meeting with a man who would change his life.

Adolph Hitler was a dangerous man. He was walking into a hotel berating an officer’s incompetence when he spotted Schmidt. Pointing at him, he declared that he could make even a bellhop into a better Nazi Officer than him. Given that one single chance, Schmidt’s rise to the top was absolutely meteoric. He was given training that ranges between weeks and months, depending on the comic, but at the end, the thing that impressed his leaders was his skill and mental acuity. He was told to shoot an innocent man who had failed the Fuhrer. Rather than kill the man or fail the test, he shot the buttons off his shirt and claimed that would be enough of a lesson.

His life of poverty prior to the Nazis arrival made him desperately afraid of reverting back. He took this chance with both hands and became as much of a made man as he could. He read on everything he could, watched opera, and did everything he could to make himself into the suave intelligent brilliant monster he became.

Due to Hitler himself choosing to oversee Schmidt’s rise to power, he had an almost slavishly devoted agent who would never betray him. In fact, during his darkest moments, Schmidt would ask himself “what would Hitler want him to do?” and devotes himself to realizing his grand leaders dream. He devotes his life to nazism to an obsessive degree. And insulting Hitler is enough to send him into a fit.

He’s a genius given a chance to shine, but with a rather archaic mentality. He nearly killed his daughter for being inferior when she was born and gave her a hellish childhood to make her strong. He allowed her to get away with things he would kill other agents for, but he never gave her any praise. Expecting nothing but her best. In the comics, his affection for her is cool at best and completely abusive at its worse and Synthia is given a sliding scale of affection or resentment for his treatment of her. He has turned away from missions for things that upset his ideology, even going so far as to kidnap a mixed-race couple to lecture them on the ruin that would occur with such a coupling.

His very devotion to the cause and Hitler is exactly what keeps him from being happy. HYDRA makes enough money that he could happily retire and never do another evil thing again, but it is his hero worship of Hitler that makes him so unhappy.

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sciencelings-ocs · 4 years

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Gold and Silver

This is an oc fic featuring my ocs Rosalia and Artemis who are sisters, Rose has powers. Artie does not. They both work for SHIELD.

Rose was just barely used to her job at SHIELD when Hydra destroyed everything. She was happy with what she was doing. She was helping people and with all of SHEILD’s reach, she could help the people who needed her most. She had the resources to do all the research she desired and was allowed to see classified information from scientists just like her. It was a dream until it wasn’t.

She was in her lab when it happened. She was studying an Asgardian blood sample and comparing it to a human one. She should’ve been using her time more wisely… Why look at alien blood when the silent clock was counting down.

She heard the gunfire before she knew what was going on. She grabbed her emergency pistol from under her main desk, she was still a trained SHIELD agent after all. She wasn’t a field agent but she knew the basics and could defend herself if she needed to. It was something her powers wouldn’t help her with. They were useless in this kind of situation. What good was glowy healing hands when she was being shot at.

Footsteps were getting closer. There was muffled yelling beyond her walls. She didn’t have much time. There was one door, it led to the main hallway where the attackers were coming through. Her best chance was to hide.

She ran as quietly as she could to the back of the room where some mostly empty cabinets were. She hoped that she was small enough to squeeze inside. Sure, it wasn’t a good vantage point but she was on the index and they would know that she was there and that she could be a target. She didn’t want to go out fighting, there was still so much she could do. She doubted that they would take their time searching every crevice for her, she was still just a healer. It didn’t feel like that was part of Hydra’s gig.

She had just gotten into position when the main door was kicked in rather violently. There was a main man in the front who ordered the others to search the room. Rose’s heart sank. She cocked her gun in the chaos and prepared to fire and get out of there as swiftly as possible. Her chances of escaping were low. She didn’t have enough ammo to take out the whole room and she wasn’t a perfect shot. Her chances of survival were dwindling.

The footsteps were getting closer, one by one cabinet doors were being haphazardly ripped open, each getting nearer to her hiding place. She did her best to control her breathing but there was a reason that she didn’t want to be a field agent, she was not good in absolutely terrifying situations. She hated how much her hands shook on her gun. She had to keep her finger off of the trigger to prevent an accidental misfire.

She took a few deep breaths as the banging of wooden doors got nearer. Time felt like it was going so slowly, though the nearest baddie was only a few cabinets away, it felt like an eternity before they got to hers. She gently rested her finger on the trigger and let herself take a second to see who was going to be on the other side. All she saw was a familiar red badge depicting a skull on top of several tentacles and she knew exactly what was going on.

After she pulled the trigger, things seemed to get a little crazy. She slid out from her hiding place and used the man she had shot in the shoulder as a kind of human shield. She threw the poor nazi into the closest of his colleagues and shot at the Hydra agents closest to her.

It didn’t take long for them to react. The room erupted in deafening bangs and yells. Rose rolled behind a metal column and vaguely recognized a painful burning in her thigh.

“You’re not a fighter Doctor Dawn, this isn’t a fight you can win.” The main guy bellowed from behind her.

“And what do you expect me to do,” Rose hissed, “Praise the name of hydra and surrender my rights to fascist ideals?”

“Oh of course not. I just thought I’d try to make it easier. You’re coming with us, whether you’re full of holes or not. You know you’re potential has been wasted here, imagine what you could do without SHIELD’s limitations.” The man purred creepily.

“You don’t know me, I’m not going to do things just because I can. Some people have a hint of moral obligations.” Rose looked around her half of the room, she only had a few bullets left and Hydra wanted her alive, otherwise, they would’ve taken her down easily. She was astoundingly outnumbered.

“This is your last chance to give yourself up, all in one piece. You know that you have no choice, don’t you have any sense of self-preservation?”

“Self-preservation isn’t my strong suit…” Rose muttered as she placed her hand on her wound, it had stopped bleeding and was already closing. Soon, standing should be only a little bit painful rather than impossible. She just needed to keep him talking for a tiny bit longer.

“Why,” She asked, “Why do you guys want me? There are people who can cause natural disasters and turn into any material they touch. I’m just a doctor. Wouldn’t you want to use your evil resources to get them rather than waste a good team getting a defenseless healer? That is if this is a good team and not just a bunch of cowards who were given guns.”

“You underestimate your value to us. Imagine an unkillable army, soldiers who cannot be damaged by bullets, no need for armor or shields… it’s beautiful isn’t it.”

Rose laughed. She laughed as she carefully got to her feet, leaning heavily on the metal pillar shielding her.

“I can’t do that? What do you think I am? A god?”

“You could be.”

“There aren’t meant to be gods in this world. Even if it was possible, I don’t want to make an unkillable army, and if you think me a god, you can’t bend a god to you’re twisted will. I think that’s part of the whole omnipotent being bit.” Rose tested a lean on her injured leg and readied her gun.

“You won’t get the luxury of a choice.” the man said grimly.

Rose stepped out of her hiding place and pointed her gun at the main military man. Before she could let out another word, she was hit with a tiny pinprick, to small to be a bullet. She only had enough time to look at the projectile before all her strength was seeping out of her. Seemed to be an enhanced tranquilizer. She collapsed to the ground and felt a massive collar be locked around her throat before her vision completely blacked out.

Just like that, it was over. Her freedom was gone in the blink of an eye. She didn’t know if anyone would be willing or even left to attempt to save her.

***

Artemis was undercover when Hydra made their move. She had just dyed her short hair brown and curled it, painted on more freckles on her cheeks, and hidden several types of weapons in her casual clothes. It was honestly one of her favorite parts of her job. Creating a character, pretending to be someone else, blending in, she liked it more than the whole fighting part. Even if she was pretty damn good at the fighting part.

When Hydra emerged from their wretched ashes, Artemis was alone. She started the day on a mission but it didn’t take her long to realize that she was being hunted.

It started with a strange flash from a window from the apartment building across the street. Call her paranoid but she immediately left eyeshot of the window. She took out her own sniper rifle and took off the specialized scope. She used it as a kind of telescope and turned on its x-ray feature and adjustable zoom to identify if someone was after her or if she was just imagining it.

She was not imagining it. There was a person in a high window with a gun, trying their best to conceal themselves. Artemis put the scope back on her rifle and took out an acid green colored tube of lipstick, of course, it wasn’t actually lipstick. She was a spy. She uncapped it and used it to trace around the concrete on a nearby brick. There was a minute of soft sizzling before she slid out the brick as if it had just been laid.

She pointed the barrel out of the new hole in the wall and wasted no time as she aimed and fired. The loud streets dampened the sound of the bang and she replaced the brick before getting out of there before anyone had a chance to figure out that something was up.

It was on the news all day, SHIELD had fallen, they’re secrets exposed, and Hydra was back. Of course, some of that information was passed to her by an old friend but most of it was very much public.

But Artemis didn’t care about her job, her livelihood, her kill count being on display for anyone to look up on google, no. Her sister was right at the heart of it, and due to her status as a glowy super-human, she was very much in trouble, if not dead. Sure it would be stupid to not keep her alive, but Hydra wasn’t known for their mercy.

Artemis could disappear, she could get away from Hydra easily, but she wasn’t going to. Not while her sister was in their clutches.

It took a few Hydra agents but eventually, Artemis found one that knew something that she cared about. Where they were keeping the important prisoners. Their enhanced prisoners. It turned out that they had a prison boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. One heavily equipped to deal with even the Avengers. Bingo.

Artemis was ready for a rescue mission.

***

Time was odd in her cell. The lights were always on, there was always a guard outside of the glass, Roses internal clock was the only thing hinting at the time and that had always been a little unreliable. They give her food once a day, if it could be called food, and it’s time always seemed to fluctuate. Every once in a while they would try to convince her to join them. They spoke of a perfect life, of power, of wealth but she would always say no. And she would pay for it. Usually, they would fill her body with voltage or try to brand her, but she would heal before the next day. Rarely even leaving a mark. At most a gunshot would become a scar no larger than the size of a freckle.

The bulky shock collar had started to become normal. Her hair, which was normally held in a tight bun or a professional ponytail, was wild and untamed falling down her shoulders, some in front of her face. She couldn’t move it, her wrists were cuffed together, only uncuffed for meals or occasional trips to shower.

Every moment alone, she spent inside her own head. Every moment wasted in a bright blank room when she could be helping people or not being in a cell. She thought about her sister, whose whole life was uprooted at the fall of SHIELD, but Rose was sure she could handle herself, she had never known anyone more capable. Still, she was worried. Their family had been complicated, and accidentally working for the same secret organization had been the most perfect coincidence. It took a few years but they got close again, rejecting childish resentment and competition.

But Artemis wouldn’t come for her, she had never made a decision based on feelings before and was very unlikely to do so. If she came, it would take weeks at least and a well thought out attack or something of that nature.

Although since she couldn’t use her powers, they were just building up inside her. Her own healing factor had sped up just by not healing people constantly. Her power had nowhere to go after she had gotten used to using it so much during the day.

She was filled with energy that had nowhere to go. She was trapped in several ways, none of them very fun. She had to get out, no one was going to save her, they would be stupid to try.

It turned out someone was stupid enough to try. Someone so wonderfully stupid to care about her.

Against the odds, her sister was there, silently taking out a guard with ease. Her cheek was bleeding and bruised and she had the most feral look in her eyes, it was kind of scary. Artemis, who was calculating and calm at all times, who put so much thought into every decision she made, had left everything she had left to find her. Rose couldn’t help but smile.

Artemis took the shock collar remote from the guard and unlocked the cell door with a stollen key card.

“Hey Rosie, You’ve looked better…” She quipped while taking a moment to figure out which button on the remote took off the collar.

“And you’ve never looked better. I’ve never been so happy to see you come in and knock someone out.” Rose grinned.

“Yeah, yeah…” Artemis rolled her eyes and pressed a button that made the collar release a bunch of air. She gently took it off of her sister to see the deep indents that it made around her neck including the two electricity input and output spikes on each side of her throat. “Jesus… that does not look very comfortable.”

“Imagine having to sleep in it.” Rose ripped her hands from the handcuffs behind her back and gently rubbed the sore parts on her neck. Once the pressure was removed, the bruises started to heal. She raised her hand to her sister’s bloodstained face and had a record-breaking healing session. Even small wounds would take a minute or two but this time it took seconds and it was kind of mesmerizing to see the process.

“Thanks.” Artemis’ face relaxed as the pain eased.

“It’s genuinely the least I can do. I’m guessing that if you haven’t been noticed, you just got noticed so uh, can we get out of here?” Rose left the cell and took a gun from the fallen guard.

“No, I was planning on staying here forever…” Artemis grumbled. “Follow me, we have to get to the top deck.”

They almost made it up two floors before the first group of baddies came running towards them. Rose heard the frantic heavy footsteps on the metal floor before anything else and she cocked her gun. Her sister put her arm in front of her signalling for her to stop and let her deal with the problem. Rose nodded but stayed close anyway, partially because if her sister got hurt she would need to fix it and partially because she didn’t want to feel useless.

Artemis caught the group by surprise and shot the front few guys before using one of them as a shield to defend herself from the other ones. She pushed them into the chaos and rammed her knee in the crotch of the closest guy. She wasn’t superhuman like her sister but she worked hard and was pretty damn strong. She kicked the gun out the hand of the guy whose nuts she just crushed and shot the hand of the guy who was moments away from shooting her. The fight kept going like that, her being too fast to shoot at and at some point pulling out a knife.

Rose stayed out of sight and felt her blood run cold when she heard more footsteps. A lot more footsteps. They were going to get overwhelmed very soon. Even Artemis couldn’t take out so many people.

The noise in the hallway stopped, Artemis finished the fight and looked a little winded. She walked back to her sister.

“Don’t get tired yet. I heard more coming. I don’t think we can fight our way out.” She said grimly as she waved her glowing hand over the injured parts of her sister. She had taken a few heavy hits.

“How do you feel about elevators?”

***

When Artemis mentioned elevators, Rose thought about riding the actual elevator. Not climbing up the shaft with an endless drop at any slight mistake. She guessed that this was why she wasn’t a spy, it would’ve been too nice to just ride the elevator. Everything just had to be hard.

They froze every time there was a noise and spoke in frustrated hushed tones whenever they had something to say. Like how not fun climbing up an elevator shaft in a massive prison ship was.

The grumbling stopped when the elevators started to move and the elevator shaft became less of a death pit and more of a death trap. Rose had managed to get on top of one of the moving elevators and kept trying to get Artemis to come with her before it was too late. She was perched on a slight ledge far enough away from the momentarily stopping elevator that it would take a miracle to jump the gap and make it. The window of opportunity was closing fast.

“Just jump! I’ll catch you!” Rose said frantically as she reached her hand out as far as it could go.

“The fuck do you think I am? Captain America? Just go without me! I’ll catch up!”

“I can literally catch you asshole, we don’t have time for you to whine about it!” Rose hissed. Artemis wasted precious moments to roll her eyes and carefully maneuver her body to the adequate leverage to maximize her jumping range.

Then was the moment of truth. Artemis used all of her strength and flung her body at her sister as best as she could.

It was so close. For a moment, their fingers just barely touched, enough to grab at the ends. Enough to delay the inevitable for a moment.

“Go… I’ll meet you upstairs… okay?”

“No… I can get you up… just hold on…” She said desperately. Artemis was already slipping one finger at a time. Rose had to keep her other hand on the elevator, any moment it would start moving again.

“It’s okay, let me go.” Rose wouldn’t get the chance. Artemis slipped through her fingers.

Then she fell. She didn’t even scream, but Rose did. In that moment, something flickered. For the briefest of moments, in the height of pure emotion, something within Rose changed. Her eyes glowed gold, her hair defied gravity and reflected light that wasn’t there, and then it stopped. And she was left alone. She didn’t even notice the moment of glowing potential.

She was going back for her sister. The long way.

***

It didn’t take long for Rose to get caught, but that was kind of part of the plan. Kind of. She didn’t have a fully fleshed out plan but she thought she had something at least. It was kind of hard to think after what happened. Artemis could be dead… no it would take more to kill her sister. She had never known anyone more resilient and with more pure will. She was like the John Wick of spies. Someone could break both of her legs and arms and she would still find a way to stand back up and wreck shit. A stupid elevator shaft wouldn’t take her out. Hopefully.

Rose wandered around the halls. It wasn’t like there was a map of the place. She felt like she was in a daze, time was slow and blurry. Every sound felt far away… in fact… everything felt far away. She couldn’t focus. It could be the lack of food and water catching up to her but she doubted it.

She was surprised that she managed not to bump into any hydra agents, she had noticed that a bunch of the cameras in the halls had been broken or even completely ripped off. There were still bullet holes and subtle bloodstains on the walls telling her this ship used to be SHIELDs and it was part of the hydra resurgence. Right at the front lines. They didn’t have enough time to fix everything and it was unlikely that some cameras on a prison ship would be a major priority for a reborn nazi organization. They were probably still getting rid of the bodies of the SHIELD agents they murdered.

Like Artemis, sure it was a little more distantly but if hydra hadn’t emerged from the dark damp hell they came from then none of this would have happened.

The last thought made her growl audibly, which is not something she just did normally. She doesn’t usually growl like a dog. She tightly balled her fists and decided that she couldn’t just stand there to absorb what just happened, she was still in the nest of the people hunting her. She was likely moments away from being found out and captured or worse. She had to get her shit together before there was a gun to her head.

“You seem a little lost Rosie.” A deep voice came from somewhere ahead of her, it sounded like it was coming from an old intercom, it echoed eerily in the empty halls. The lights flickered a bit before blotting out sequentially, adding to the horror movie atmosphere.

“Did you really think that we’d just let you go? No… no. You’re much too useful for us.” The voice continued. Rose didn’t say anything. She followed the voice to a touchscreen lock pad in front of a metal door and she didn’t hesitate to slam her already tight fist into it. It shattered on impact and pieces of plastic and glass littered the floor.

“Well, someone’s grumpy! At least let me finish my monologue! I worked too hard on it!” The voice continued further away. Rose didn’t like being taunted. She was having a bad enough day as it was. She went to the next touchscreen pad and punched it. She just wanted the voice to stop.

“We can keep doing this but property damage won’t fix your situation.” The voice grumbled from another further away speaker.

“What do you want from me!” Rose yelled into the empty halls.

“We want everything you can give. But we are willing to negotiate. We’ll let your sister go if you surrender yourself to us.”

“I thought negotiations required both parties to agree.” She said before she fully realized what had been offered. Her sister was alive, for now. That fact was both incredibly relieving and overwhelmingly anxiety-inducing.

“That is our offer. Either she dies and we take you the hard way, or she lives and we get what we want. Simple.”

“Where is she!” Rose demanded.

“Do you accept the deal or not?”

“Yes, just let me see her, please,” Rose said desperately.

“Good choice. There are people on their way to escort you to your sister. Thanks for doing business with us.”

***

Rose was not glad to be back in cuffs and a godforsaken shock collar, but her sister was alive and would stay that way. That had to be something.

She could feel the cold metal barrels of guns at her back and neck, she was surrounded by heavily armored Hydra agents who had no qualms about handling her roughly. She tried to appear strong and defiant but she was sure that they could see her tremble. One twitch if the trigger finger and she would be dead. Probably, she didn’t quite know the limits of her healing factor and she wasn’t keen on finding out.

They turned a corner and there she was. Artemis was covered in blood and her left foot was pointing completely the wrong direction, but she was breathing and still had the sharp rage in her eyes. Right next to her was a stereotypical military man with a scar through his eyebrow and piercing his salt and pepper hairline.

“Artie! You have to let me help her.” Rose ordered at the man who she assumed had been the voice she had heard earlier.

“That wasn’t part of the deal. We let her go. That’s it. You should be thankful that we brought you to see her at all.”

“If you don’t let me heal her, you’re going to regret it.” She snarled. The man laughed, it was harsh and mocking and going on for way too long. It made Rose even angrier.

“What are you going to do? Heal my arthritis? You’re no fighter doc. She’ll be dead before you even lift a finger.” The man spat in Rose’s face, she didn’t wince and most of her energy went to keeping herself from ripping off the handcuffs and throttling the man until he turned blue. Although no one would see, a glow started to grow from the bones inside of her hands, illuminating her veins in a strange golden light.

“Underestimating me isn’t good for your health, I should know. I’m a doctor.”

“You know what, I’m sick of your attitude,” The man turned to the agents holding Artemis up, “Kill the sister. Maybe that will make this easier.” There was a click of a gun cocking before Rose reacted.

“No!” She yelled, but it was too late, the gunshot rang out and echoed among the silence and Artemis collapsed in a rapidly growing pool of blood. Rose felt like her bones were on fire, there was a blistering heat that encompassed every cell in her body. She could only hold it in for a couple seconds more. Just long enough for the man to look back at her and react in horror.

Her bones glowed like they encapsulated all the light from the sun and her eyes glowed with the same light. Her skull and veins were visible through her skin and her messy hair started to defy gravity and reflect the light coming from her skin. The supernova of rage would explode any moment, there was nothing she could do to hold it back, but she didn’t really want to hold it back.

It was like an explosion was continually off and Rose was in the center of it. There was a blast of bright golden light that blasted the hydra bastards around her to the ground. There were screams, but Rose didn’t hear them.

There’s that saying of “too much of a good thing” that could apply. Too much healing meant bone where it shouldn’t be, skin where it shouldn’t grow, holes that shouldn’t be cut off. That’s what happened to anyone in the blast zone. The agents around her had shards of bone growing together, winding and twisting as if making an intricate Celtic knot. The bone grew from ribs, skulls, femurs, any large bone grew grotesquely beyond its limits and the small connective bones grew together making a terrifying group of intertwining statues. And that was just the agents around her.

It took no effort for her to rip the handcuffs off, the shock collar was just as easy. She turned her head towards the uniformed man on the ground, trying to stumble away as his own body attacked him just by being in Roses presence.

All she could feel was rage towards this man. She was so tired of being restrained. By chains or by her own need to keep her feelings from impacting her work. She was so so tired of it. Her power was connected to her emotions and she had always had to keep them in check, but not now.

She walked steadily to the man trying to scramble away. His little rectangular glasses were broken and tilted on his nose. There was so much fear in his eyes. It made a strange scary little part of her happy.

“Just a healer, no good for fighting…” She said, her voice was different, slightly non-human sounding. As if she was speaking as some ancient god, the kind whose voice could make an entire civilization fall to their knees.

“You are right, this isn’t much of a fight.” She knelt down to look the man in the eyes. “If it was a fight, you would stand a chance.”

“Stop this!” The man yelled shakily, “I’ll do anything!” He almost sobbed.

“You will not speak,” Rose said as the skin around the man’s mouth began to close in, “You will not see.” She whispered as she made his eyelids grow together. “You will not hear.” She hissed quietly. His ears slowly grew together as she said her last words to him. “You will be lucky to be saved, but you will not know. Actually, you would be lucky to die here. I’m sure you’d never want to run into me again. You should be glad that I didn’t just kill you for what you did to my sister. If anything, be fucking grateful.”

She stood up, leaving the man on the cold ground. The room was quiet. No more screams. Only heartbeats. She didn’t kill a single person. With enough skill and time, they could all be saved. She planned to send out a distress signal, they would be found. But that was all she could ensure.

The light faded. The flaming rage began to be replaced with empty sorrow and horror. She observed the room post-rage-explosion. She had never thought she was capable of anything like this. She had never thought that she could cause such… destruction. She breathed in a shaky breath and made herself look at her sister’s body. She gasped when she saw the rise and fall of her sister’s chest. She was breathing. She was still alive.

“Artie? Artie!” Rose ran to her sister and looked over her. There was no gunshot wound. Roses blast had healed her completely. Her eyes fluttered open when her sister reached her.

“Hey… what…” Artemis wheezed, but Rose was already holding her in her arms and sobbing uncontrollably. For a while, they just held each other. Eventually, they were ready to leave.

Rose was sure that hydra agents were still crawling in the ship but they stayed away from the sisters. There must’ve been some kind of surveillance of the event. They must know what happened somehow. Rose had no idea how but she was too tired, physically and emotionally, to care.

They left the ship with no problems. They boarded Artemis’ hidden ship, perfect stealth tech that could change from a boat to a fighter jet, only big enough for three people at most if they really squeezed in.

Rose sat in the co-pilot’s seat, though she wouldn’t be any help. Her sister would be doing all the work. It was silent as they shot off into the sky and hovered above the clouds for seemingly hours. She was using the holoscreen to look at her emails and had just switched to her super-secret SHIELD account. A certain email caught her eye. Its subject line was “Job Opportunity for Former SHIELD Agents” and it was from Stark Industries. Rose smiled a little. Maybe her life wasn’t over after all.

#Rosalia Scarlett Dawn #Artemis Dawn #my OCs #marvelsona #marvelsonas #marvel oc #marvel ocs #oc writing #marvelsona fic #my writing

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to-be-a-dreamer · 5 years

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How to Predict the Villan in an MCU Movie

So I’ve been watching every movie in the MCU for the first time and was discussing it on discord with some friends (because yay social distancing).

Anyway, we were discussing how the colors of the infinity stones don’t really make sense. Like, the reality stone should have been white, or a light color, space should have been dark purple or blue, etc. Then I suggested that maybe it was just to set the tone. Like, the reality stone was red, which feels like something menacing and dark, as well as foreshadowing all the bloodshed that occurs in Thor: The Dark World.

Which led to this thought in my brain:

You can predict the villain with almost 100% accuracy based on their color scheme. Heroes have primary colors and villains have secondary colors.

Hear me out. I know it sounds ridiculous, but there are rules/exceptions, which I will address as we go along.

Iron Man (2008) The Iron Man suits are red and yellow/gold, which are primary colors. Iron Monger was blue in the comics, but this is where the first rule comes in. Rule #1: If a character is introduced with storytelling elements that show that they are very obviously a bad guy, they may have primary colors. Obadiah Shane is introduced as the typical “Number Two to a very powerful person who dies and doesn’t become CEO because the powerful person has a playboy son who doesn’t deserve it in Number Two’s mind” guy. He’s got the fake-somber look at Howard’s Stark’s death and is quite literally in Tony’s shadow while giving him a not-so-subtle evil glare.

The Incredible Hulk (2008) This is a fun one because Hulk is Green, which is a secondary color, but it’s symbolic in a couple ways. (This is one of those exceptions) 1) Banner sees the Hulk as a disease, a monster. To him, Hulk IS the villain of his story. It’s also a hint towards the real villain. 2) The actual villain is Abomination, who is basically just a large Hulk and also green.

Iron Man 2 (2010) The main villain is Ivan Vanko/Whiplash, who’s big entrance is in an orange jumpsuit. You could argue that Justin Hammer is the bad guy, but we know him from Iron Man 1.

Thor (2011) Thor gets red and Loki gets green. Enough said. I know it could be argued that Loki is a good guy, but I’m talking about just this movie. You see Loki in an all-green outfit, you know he’s going to do a bad. (Also, Hawkeye is introduced in this movie. His color scheme in the comic books is purple, but he’s on the “other side” in Thor, so it checks out.)

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) Cap’s suit is red and blue. I know Red Skull is, well, red, but this goes back to rule number one. Very obviously a villain. He’s a Nazi. Even the Joker doesn’t like working with the Nazis.

Marvel’s The Avengers (2012) Loki’s the villain again, and Thanos, who is purple, is behind it. We also introduce Black Widow here and her colors are RED and black. ALSO ALSO, who is the only Avenger who gets mind-controlled? Hawkeye, who is purple in the comics, black the entire time he’s with Loki, and gets maroon (dark red) accents once he’s back with the Avengers.

Iron Man 3 (2013) Killian’s power makes orangey fire.

Thor: The Dark World (2013) Kurse has a mostly black and white thing going on, but he does get some red here and there. But... Rule 1. The red looks like blood smears...

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) We get introduced to Falcon! Who’s main color besides silver is red. Also, I think Pierce falls under Rule 1.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) Oh boy, this should be a fun one Okay: Star-Lord is red, he’s the main character, we’re supposed to like him, we’re supposed to root for him, cut and dry. Rocket is introduced with an orange outfit, Groot is greenish, and Gamora is Green. But they’re all introduced as Peter’s foes. They all become friends later on, but we’re supposed to be rooting for Peter right now. (Also Gamora’s hair is redish) Drax is grayish with red. Once they become a real team and wear matching outfits THEY. WEAR. RED. Yondu is blue, which may be a nod to the fact that he’s not really a bad guy. Ronan is blue, but this is where Rule Two comes into play! Rule #2: If a character truly believes they’re the good guys, they may have primary colors. (Based on self-awareness.) Ronan was finishing a 1,000 year war, upholding the traditions of his people, and avenging his family. Think’s he’s the good guy. Nebula being blue could be a nod to her loyalty shift later on in the story. I probably missed some, but let’s move on.

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) Scarlett Witch has red, Quicksilver has blue, Vision is red, blue, AND yellow. All of the primary colors. Ultron is red, but Rule #2: Ultron was fighting for his idea of peace.

Ant-Man (2015)

Ant-Man and Wasp suits are both red. Darren Cross mostly falls under Rule 1, but I think he was wearing a green tie.

Captain America: Civil War (2016) So, Zemo’s an interesting one. In the comics, he’s got a purple thing going on, but the MCU movie has him mostly wearing black. Maybe he had a Rule 1 kind of entrance, but I don’t really remember. Black Panther is also weird because his aesthetic is purple, but he’s kind of trying to kill Bucky in this movie so.... Maybe misdirect? Maybe? Spiderman is red and blue, nothing new there. Doctor Strange (2016) Doctor Strange is red and blue. (The Eye of Afamotto is green, but I think it represents how it could cause evil if in the wrong hands, as well as the choice Stephen has to make to consciously do something good with such a powerful item. Kaecillius is a combination of Rules one and two. We are directly told he’s a villain and there’s no doubt with the way he is introduced. He’s also doing what he’s doing in order to learn more about the mystic arts and all that good stuff. Aaaaand Dormammu is purple. Yeah, ‘nuff said.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) Ego’s outfit has greenish undertones, especially when he reveals he killed Peter’s mother. He also sees nothing wrong with his actions and is allowed to have touches of primary colors, but everything has touches of green here and there. (Again with the Yondu is blue thing.) Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) Vulture is green! I know that’s short, but there’s not much else to it.

Thor: Ragnarok (2017) Guess what? Hela has a green color scheme.

Black Panther (2018) Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Okay, yeah, Black Panther is one of the exceptions to this rule. You could say that since T’Chaka and Erik are both the Black Panther and make mistakes for the greater good, it’s a symbol of the mistakes past Black Panthers have made. And T’Challa has to overcome those mistakes with the same name? They also both believe they’re doing the right thing? I dunno, Black Panther is just an exception movie since everything in it is just SO colorful.

Avengers: Infinity War (2018) Yeah, Thanos is Purple. That’s about it. Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) Ghost is white with red eyes but mostly falls under rule one. (I think the energy blast that created her was orange, but don’t quote me on that.) Captain Marvel (2019) Despite the fact that I can never decide if I like this movie or not, this one is the most fun with this theory. The Kree uniforms are green while the Skrulls are blue, which gives you a hint that the Kree are actually the bad guys. And when Carol changes her uniform SHE CHANGES IT TO RED, BLUE, AND YELLOW/GOLD. Avengers: Endgame (2019) Oh, this one’s really hard no it isn’t, Thanos is still purple. Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) So, Mysterio’s costume is red and blue because he’s trying to look heroic. BUT his magic smoke stuff is green. This is the first movie I watched after figuring this out and I immediately did not trust Mysterio. (I’m a sheltered preacher’s kid and these movies are my only experience with Marvel.)

This mostly works with the MCU, but a few other series as well.

One my friend brought up was the Grinch. He’s green, obviously. But! He does start out as the villain and only becomes a good guy when his heart grows. What color is his heart? RED.

Only Harry Potter house with a reputation for being evil? SLYTHERIN. Only Hogwarts house who’s color ISN’T a primary color? SLYTHERIN.

So.... yeah, don’t trust characters who’s outfits are mostly secondary colors.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk: An Introduction to Color Theory in Modern Film

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mst3kproject · 5 years

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Iron Warrior

Why yes, there is a fourth Ator movie! Technically, this is the third Ator movie. Whereas Ator, the Fighting Eagle, The Blade Master (aka Cave Dwellers) and Quest for the Mighty Sword were all made by Aristide Massaccesi (aka Joe D’Amato), Iron Warrior was made by Alfonso Brescia (aka Al Bradley). Massaccessi supposedly hated it because it wasn’t true to his vision for Ator or something. Myself, I was kind of intrigued. What would a different take on Ator be like?

Well, I don’t know how he managed, but Alfonso Brescia pulled it off. He made an Ator movie that makes even less sense than the other Ator movies.

The evil sorceress Phaedra used to rule this land, but then some fellow witches (I’m gonna call them Bellerians) banished her into darkness and installed a puppet king. Eighteen years later, however, Phaedra’s sentence is up and she has returned, with a legion of skull-faced minions and an indestructible cyborg named Drogar. They kill the king and kidnap his heir, Princess Gianna. The Bellerians therefore call upon Ator to rescue her, which he does, and then the Bellerian Leader tells them they must go on a quest to retrieve the only thing that can defeat Phaedra and free Drogar, who is also Ator’s brother, from her clutches – the Golden Chest of the Ages! With that in hand, they head back to be crowned King and Queen of wherever this is, only to learn too late that Phaedra replaced the real Golden Chest with a fake!

According to the end credits, ‘script continuity’ was the job of somebody named Mirella Gamacchio. I can only assume she was drunk as shit the entire time, because this movie is nothing but a series of “wait… what just happened?” moments.

There’s a bit where Phaedra decides to kill Ator before he can rescue Gianna. She can’t just Thanos-snap him out of existence because the Bellerians have taken that power away from her, so she takes the form of a beautiful woman, lets him rescue her from random thugs, sleeps with him, locks him in a cabin, and burns the cabin down. That seems like an over-complicated plan, somehow. Also, Ator escapes by hiding under a wet bear rug.

To kill the king, Drogar telekinetically makes all the decorative weapons mounted on a wall fly into him and run him through. Then Phaedra replaces the dead king and the kidnapped princess with imposters who look nothing like them and nobody at court seems to notice. Later, Ator fights Drogar in the same weapons-adorned room and I kept waiting for the psychic stabbing thing to happen again, but it doesn’t. Instead, Ator and Drogar throw spears at each other and keep catching them. Finally Drogar throws two spears at once, and Ator catches one while Gianna pops up out of absolutely nowhere to catch the other, despite never having the slightest hint she was able to do something like that!

Later later, Gianna gets kidnapped by the skull-faced minions and thrown into a dungeon where her father is hanging in a doorway, with the spears still through him but apparently still alive. He begs her for help, and then she suddenly reappears in Ator’s arms wearing a green dress instead of the red one she’s had on so far. This is one of several occasions on which I was absolutely sure that the ‘Gianna’ we were seeing was going to turn out to be Phaedra in disguise, and in this instance I was especially certain about it because green is Phaedra’s colour. I was wrong. Even at the climax, when I was absolutely convinced the whole thing had to be a trick, the woman who looks like Gianna was always the real Gianna. I think.

After Phaedra gets the chest, Ator and Gianna are halfway through their coronation ceremony when suddenly Ator’s in the middle of nowhere surrounded by Sand Nazis, and Gianna’s dangling off a cliff with Phaedra sitting there mocking her. How did that happen? Phaedra tells her that life is an illusion, which for a moment left me wondering if anything in this movie really happened? Perhaps the whole bit when Gianna was in the green dress was just some kind of dream? I have no idea. Anyway, Ator beats up the Sand Nazis and then goes and shoves a torch down Phaedra’s throat, which turns out to be her weakness for some reason. Where did that come from? I dunno. Then he has just concluded that Gianna must have fallen and died when he hears her calling him, and goes to untie her from where she’s sitting on a rock. They embrace and Gianna smiles in an evil kind of way, but as far as I can tell it’s still the real Gianna because we next see Phaedra captured by the Bellerians again! They sentence her to something else and then giggle in delight because Ator and Gianna have fallen in love.

I don’t know why Ator was worried about Gianna falling to her death anyway, because there are several points in this movie in which one or both of the couple plummet into a bottomless abyss only to wake up completely unharmed. This is slightly plausible when they leap off a cliff into the water, but what about when they fall from a rope bridge into a deep canyon and wake up lying on rocks in a cave? Are they indestructible?

Drogar is supposedly indestructible, which means the moment when Ator is forced to run him through is one I expected to be another trick. After all, the same thing happened earlier and Drogar just collapsed into a pile of clothes like Obi-Wan Kenobi. No, this time he’s actually dead, and Ator takes his helmet off and finds another Miles O’Keefe underneath. I think we’re supposed to assume that Phaedra discarded Drogar because she no longer needed him? I’m sure it’s supposed to be a tragic moment when Ator has to kill his brother, but Ator didn’t seem particularly reluctant to do so. I also think the helmet removal is supposed to remind us of Luke Skywalker’s little vision quest moment in Empire Strikes Back when he found his own face under Darth Vader’s mask, but I cannot suggest a reason why other than ‘the writer thought that was neat’.

What is even with the Ator-has-a-brother thing? Wasn’t Ator raised by stick merchants in Solachek along with a sister he eventually married? Fuck it, I’m gonna assume Ator is like Maciste, and his backstory resets with every movie. The way the movie works out, the ‘brothers’ thing is never important anyway. It’s treated as if it’s going to be – we know the revelation is coming from the opening scene and we’re teased with it a few times along the way, but when it actually arrives it has no effect on the plot whatsoever!

So yes, Iron Warrior tries to make you feel many things, but the only one you actually feel at the end of the movie is intense confusion. The characters never have any personality so you can’t get invested in them or their relationships. Elisabeth Kaza as Phaedra is having a fabulous time hamming up the evil, but everybody else has their Very Serious Movie faces on and mostly just looks bored. The special effects are basic at best, and the music sounds like an early 2000’s PC game loading.

Costumes and hair are bizarre. Ator has traded his mile-high meringue hairdo for a tight braid that makes him look weirdly like Alicia Vikander on the Tomb Raider poster. Gianna has a hairdo that looks like a centurion’s helmet and wanders around the wilderness in a filmy red dress with her nipples visible right through it. The leader of the Bellerians dresses like a budget Queen Amidala. Like previous Ator films (or Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell), there is no sense of any attempt to build a consistent world. They just threw together a bunch of stuff that looked cool.

The movie was shot on the Maltese island of Gozo, and makes the place look like it’s made entirely of barren rocks. There are lots of neat formations and forbidding cliffs, and it’s all very spectacular. Unfortunately, it’s also very obvious that we’re seeing the same neat rock formations and forbidding cliffs over and over again.

As far as analyzing the movie… I don’t think I can do that. There’s not really enough substance there to analyze. The closest Iron Warrior comes to doing anything meaningful is when it tries to use a furry toy ball as a symbol of the bond between brothers. When we meet Ator and Drogar as children, they’re chucking this tribble at each other through some ruins, and it reappears a couple of times in attempts at foreshadowing. The problem is that there is no bond between Ator and Drogar, and the fact that they’re brothers is, as I said, ultimately unimportant.

The impression I get from this movie is that it was written by somebody who had no idea how to tell a story. The writers, Steven Luotto and Alfonso Brescia, have clearly seen movies (they’ve definitely seen the original Star Wars trilogy) and know that they have things like attractive stars, special effects, stunning revelations, and dream sequences, but they don’t know how to put those together into a plot, or what purposes they should serve within one. The result is completely incoherent. To my own astonishment I totally understand why Massaccesi hates this movie. Ator, the Fighting Eagle and The Blade Master might have been made up on the fly, but they still made more sense than this!

#mst3k #reviews #episodes that never were #iron warrior #80s

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yelena-bellova · 5 years

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Let Me Go - Steve/Natasha Fanfic

Summary: Steve and Natasha go to Vormir to collect the soul stone, not knowing what sacrifices will have to be made in order to claim it. Requested by anon: Can you write a romanogers fic where instead of nat & clint at vormir, it’s nat & steve instead :) thank you! Warnings: lots of angst, INTENSE HEARTBREAK, endgame spoilers and character death… Word Count: 2,974 Note: This one WRECKED ME. I actually almost cried writing it, and yet I simultaneously loved getting to write it. I took dialogue from both Infinity War and Endgame but tweaked some scenes to reflect Steve and Nat’s friendship…I wrote it platonically, but if you squint you can read it as a romantic thing…Good luck, and don’t hate me! “I’ll bet the raccoon didn’t have to climb a mountain.” Steve and Natasha begrudgingly trudged up the snowy mountain. Nobody on the team had ever seen the soul stone or where it laid, so the trek they had to make had come as an unwelcome surprise. They had almost reached the top and while the super soldier was perfectly fine, Natasha had broken a sweat and was trying to regain her breath.

“Technically he’s not a raccoon.” Steve quipped.

“Oh whatever, he eats garbage…” she remarked.

Before Steve could let out a laugh, a haunting voice spoke up from a dark corner under a rocky overpass.  “Welcome,”  Steve took a stance and held up his shield. Natasha cocked her gun and pointed it towards the unknown voice. A hooded figure began to float out of the darkness towards the pair.  “Natasha, daughter of Ivan.”  Closer and closer he moved, his face still hidden. But the more the figure spoke, Steve’s blood began to boil…He could never forget that voice.  “Steven, son of Sarah.”

“Who are you?” Natasha asked unflinchingly.

“Consider me a guide to you and to all who seek the soul stone.”  “Oh, good.” Natasha retorted, her voice filled with doubt that whoever or whatever was underneath the cloak was anything close to friendly. Steve still hadn’t moved, he stood frozen in place trying to keep almost 80 years of rage under control.  “You tell us where it is then we’ll be on our way.”  The figure moved closer towards them, finally revealing his face. To Natasha, he may have just been a demonic looking creature but to Steve, he was a pure evil taking form in a man who had plagued his nightmares for years.

“Oh, if only it were that easy.” Red Skull said.  “How the hell are you still alive?” Steve demanded through gritted teeth. Natasha looked to him,  “You know this guy?”  “Unfortunately, the Captain and I share a…painful history.” Red Skull explained, never breaking eye contact with his old nemesis.  “It’s about to get real painful real fast if you don’t start explaining.” Steve hissed.

Natasha broke her stare towards Red Skull and looked to Steve. Rarely ever had she seen her friend so angry, clearly this guy and Steve had crossed some very unfriendly paths before…

“A lifetime ago, I too sought the stones. You remember, Captain Rogers. I even held one in my hand, but it cast me out. Banished me here, guiding others to a treasure I cannot possess.” the dark figure explained solemnly. Steve remembered the experience Red Skull was explaining all too well...

He stood at ease, but kept his shield on his wrist, ready to strike the man. Natasha slowly lowered her gun, taking her cue from Steve. Red Skull proceeded to float down a path, they followed hesitantly. He led them to a stoney cliff, Red Skull stopped and let them go forward to peer over the edge.

“What you seek lies in front of you, as does what you fear.”

Natasha stared down into the dark abyss longer than Steve did, his priority at the moment was watching every move Red Skull made.

“The stone’s down there.” Natasha observed, unable to see the stone, but in her heart knowing it was there. Steve walked away from Red Skull to join her again, looking down as if expectant the stone would float out of the darkness up to them.  “For one of you. For the other,” Red Skull began,

“In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love.”   Steve and Natasha both froze, her lips parting and his brows furrowing. Red Skull’s words may have spoken almost like a riddle, but they were smart enough to figure out what would be required of them. They were also desperate enough to hope they were both horribly wrong in their assumptions.

“An everlasting exchange.”   They both said a silent prayer that they were wrong.

“A soul”  No.  “For a soul.”

Steve broke from his position and turned to Red Skull, a look of unbelief and rage on his face. No. He had already lost his life once because of this monster, he wasn’t about to lose it again. Nor was he about to lose Natasha. Either he was lying or there was some loophole that they hadn’t figured out yet.  “You’re lying. Why would I trust a word that comes out of your mouth? ” Steve accused.

“Your words are ones I have heard for many years, Captain. But unfortunately, what I say is true.” Red Skull said.

Steve’s jaw clenched, part of him believed the former Nazi but the majority of him was hell-bent on denying what actions might need to be taken. He stalked back over to Natasha, who was now sitting on a rock, hunched forward and deep in thought.

“I still think he’s lying.” Steve fumed. She shook her head ever so slightly, still staring at whatever plan she’d made in her head that only she could see.

“No. I don’t think so.” she replied.

“Why, cause he knows your father’s name?” Steve asked, walking back towards the edge of the cliff to look over again.

“I didn’t.” Natasha muttered softly. Steve turned back and slowly walked towards her.

“Thanos left here with the stone, without his daughter. That’s not a coincidence.” she continued.  Natasha had always been the more pragmatic between the two of them, and she was always the one to make sense when Steve was too deep down his own rabbit hole. If she believed Red Skull, then there was probably no chance that he was lying. The realization of what needed to be done sank into Steve’s stomach and he began to feel sick. He managed to mumble a “Yeah…” before turning his eyes to the ground.  Natasha had already run a million scenarios through her head…She had only briefly gone through the denial that her Steve had. She had looked for any possible loophole, failing to come up with any scenarios where both of them walked away from this with the stone. While he was peering over the edge of the cliff, she had turned to look at him. Steve’s entire life was based upon sacrifice, she’d be damned if she was going to watch him make another.

But it wasn’t just him that was playing into her decision…She’d spent the past five years looking for ways to undo what Thanos had done. Preparing for any possible plan, just like the one they were part of now, that could result in bringing back everyone they’d lost. If she could play any part in reclaiming half the population, she wouldn’t give it a second thought.

She wouldn’t hesitate to throw herself off of that cliff so that Steve could walk away with the stone.  “Whatever it takes.” she stated, matter of factly.

Little did she realize that Steve had come to the same conclusion she had, only their roles were reversed.

“Whatever it takes.” he repeated.   Natasha stood up quickly from her seat to walk over to him, still standing in his place on the edge.

“If we don’t get that stone, billions of people stay dead.” she spoke.

Steve nodded solemnly, unable to look her in the eyes. He knew that what he was about to do would hurt her, but he couldn’t bear to let her make this sacrifice after everything she’d been through.  “Then I guess we both know who it’s gotta be.” he remarked.  “I guess we do.” she replied.

They shared a look of mutual understanding, only for Steve’s expression to change to confusion.  “I’m starting to think we mean different people here, Natasha.”  “For the last five years I’ve been trying to do one thing; get to right here. That’s all it’s been about, bringing everybody back.” she explained.  “No, don’t even think about it…” he ordered, his captain voice seeping through.

“What, you think I want to do it? I’m trying to save your life, you idiot.” she quipped.  Steve grabbed her wrist as if to prevent her from suddenly disappearing and also to steady himself.  “Well I don’t want you to.” he stated. “Do you honestly think I’m going to let you do this when we both know it should be me?”   “Do you think I’m going to let you throw away your chance at the life you lost?” she remarked. She could see that Steve wasn’t following, so she explained further.  “We have the ability to time travel now. You can go back after this is all over. Take back the life you were robbed of, you can be with Peggy. Are you saying that you don’t want that?”   Steve could honestly say he hadn’t even considered the possibility about going back to the ’40s and restarting his life till Natasha had brought it up. Yes, after over a decade in the present, he still wished to return to his own time. Yes, not a day went by where he didn’t long to hold Peggy in his arms again. But he wasn’t about to let Natasha sacrifice herself just so he could be selfish.

“I couldn’t live that life knowing I sent an innocent person to her death just so I could have it.” he said, tears beginning to form in his steely eyes.

“I’m hardly innocent, Rogers. You know the things I’ve done.” she muttered, trying not to let her own tears spill out.

Steve opened his mouth to say that her past didn’t define her future, to tell her that she was a better person than she gave herself credit for, but Natasha put her hand on his arm and held tight, silencing him. Every emotion she was feeling she conveyed to him in her eyes. Her fear of death, her anger towards Thanos, her love for her family, but most importantly, her determination.

“Let me do this.” she whispered.

Steve had argued with her enough over to years to know that once she set her mind to something, there wasn’t a single person dead or alive who could talk her out of it. And that was what broke his heart the most…

It wouldn’t matter what he said, she was the one going over the edge.

He looked down at her hand on his arm, dropped his shield and placed his hand over hers. His finger tracing the back of her hand as if to memorize the warmth of it.  “You’re a pain in my ass. You know that?” he said, something that would have made both of them laugh in a different circumstance. She nodded, a flood of memories with Steve washing over her. She didn’t want to leave him, she didn’t want him to be alone…But if her laying down her life could give him Bucky, Sam and the chance to be with Peggy back, there was no question about it.

Steve wrapped his arms around her, she did the same, both of them trying to memorize the feeling of one another. They’d never admit it to one another, but they both shed silent tears into each other's shoulders. A decade of friendship and partnership about to end all to have a shot at a plan that wasn’t even guaranteed to succeed. They finally pulled apart from each other and Steve wiped a tear from her cheek,   “Okay, you win.”

Natasha nodded, as if to convince herself to begin moving towards the edge of the cliff. Steve gave her a small smile, but their touching moment turned sour quickly. Before she could take her first step, he whipped into action and pinned her to the ground.

Natasha may have been determined, but Steve was stubborn. And sometimes that was more dangerous than determination…  “Go get yourself that life.” he said, referring to the conversation they’d had back at the compound over a peanut butter sandwich. Before he could move, Natasha swiped his leg and flipped him on his back. Standing over a shellshocked Steve and pointing her widow’s bite cuff at his chest,

“You first.” she remarked. Firing the electric charge from her wrist, it hit Steve and caused him to let out a pained groan. Natasha turned away from him, took half a second to work up her courage, and started sprinting towards the edge of the cliff. No turning back now…But the incapacitating effects of her electric charge hadn’t lasted as long as she’d hoped and Steve was up on his feet as she took off. He grabbed his shield from the ground and launched it at her, hitting in the legs and knocking her to the ground. Natasha grunted and looked up from her spot, Steve began running but didn’t break eye contact with her. He wanted her to be the last thing he saw before his death, he wanted to die with his last thought being of Natasha living a happy life. He had almost made it to the edge of the cliff when he leaped into the air, making peace with the fact that he was about to die.

Until Natasha tackled him midair and they both began to free fall towards the bottom of the chasm.

Natasha fired her grappling hook to the side of the cliff, Steve gathering her in his arms to prevent her from letting herself go, and they both swung towards the side of the cliff. As they hit it, it knocked them both and Steve lost his full grip on Natasha. She rolled out of his arms and he frantically reached for her, managing to grasp her wrist. He examined the rope and looked down to his hip, the other end of the grappling hook attached to him so he couldn’t fall. For once when he looked down at her, Natasha looked genuinely scared. Scared that he was still going to find a way to make his own play, but also scared to let go of his hand.   “Damn you.” he grunted.

He reached down to her, trying to grab her other hand and pull her up, but he couldn’t reach out that far. He strained relentlessly, stretching his fingers as far as they could go. He groaned and grunted, but he still couldn’t reach her. The sad part was that Natasha wasn’t holding on to him, nor was she reaching out to grasp his other hand. Sadly, she had won their argument…There was no way for Steve to save her from this terrible fate. Her tear-filled eyes met his,  “Let me go…” she instructed, taking the softest tone she could with Steve. She knew that what she was about to do was going to plague him for the rest of his life. She would become the face he saw in his nightmares, she would become the ghost that would follow him around and he would forever blame himself for not doing more to try and save her.

But it was the only way…

Steve blinked away the tears, as he leaned towards her again in one last failed attempt to save her. He knew he couldn’t save her, but he couldn’t let her go either…  “No…No, please, no.”

Natasha stared up at him, giving him a small smile and nod through her own tears. As if granting him permission to let go, silently pleading with him to let her die…

“It’s okay.” her voice cracking as she reassured him that she had accepted her fate, but also that she would not hold it against him that he let go.

Steve let out a small sob, still refusing to let go of her wrist…  “Please…” he whimpered out.

At that moment, everything surrounding them disappeared. The winds silenced themselves, the snow stopped falling, it was just them. Two friends trying to convey ten years worth of feelings, memories, and things they had both decided were better left unsaid. This was the end of their journey together.

With a final grunt, Natasha pulled her arm out of Steve’s grasp and began free falling through the air.

“NO!” Steve cried out, forcing himself not to unclip the hook and dive after her. He watched his best friend’s body tumble through the air, turning away only for a second, then looking back. He was going to be with her till the very end, even if he could only do it from a distance.   As Natasha fell, she had a feeling of complete and total peace wash over her. She didn’t doubt for a second that the team would complete their plan and that everybody would be brought back to life. She wouldn’t be there to see it happen in real life, but she could see it perfectly in her mind. Her last thoughts were of Clint and his family, laughing and eating dinner in their kitchen. Tony and Pepper playing with their daughter. Vision holding Wanda in his arms. Sam and Bucky teasing and taunting each other relentlessly over a round of beers. And Steve. Steve dancing in a picturesque 1940’s living room, swaying to a soft song with the love of his life in his arms.

She smiled and closed her eyes, letting go for the second time.

The next thing Steve knew, he was awakening in a shallow pool of water. He scurried to his knees, looking around him for any sign of Red Skull, the stone, or Natasha...

Nothing. Nobody. No stone.

Had Natasha’s sacrifice been in vain? Had Red Skull truly been lying?

This was what Steve was beginning to believe until he looked down to his hand, the soul stone resting in it.

Steve had never experienced a more hollow victory.

Holding the stone in his hand, he pounded his fists against the water, and let himself fall apart.

They were one step closer to winning, but he had just suffered his greatest loss.

#marvel #avengers #endgame #avengers endgame #marvel fan fic #marvel fanfiction #mcu fanfic #mcu fanfiction #Natasha romanoff #black widow #steve rogers #captain america #steve rogers imagine #natasha romanoff imagine #romanogers #romanogers fanfic #romanogers fanfiction #endgame fanfic

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dukereviewsmovies · 5 years

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Duke Reviews: Captain America: The First Avenger

Hello, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Duke Reviews Where We Are Continuing Our Look At The Marvel Cinematic Universe...

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Where Today We Are Looking At The First Movie With The First Avenger, Captain America...

When I Saw The Trailer For This Movie, I Had No Idea Who Captain America Was, I Had Seen The Original Movie With Matt Sallenger When I Was Younger But I Had Absolutely No Memory About It Whatsoever And After Watching The Nostalgia Critic's Review Of It, I'm Glad I Don't...

So I Went To The Comics And Bought An Omnibus Of Captain America Comics With The First Few Issues, And I Liked It To The Point I Couldn't Wait To See The Film In Theatres, However, When I Saw The Captain America Costume I Started To Not Hold Out Much Hope For The Movie As It Didn't Look Like Captain America From The Comics

And The Idea Of The Human Torch Playing Cap Instead Of Someone Who Hasn't Been A Superhero Just Added To That But Luckily, When I Saw The Film I Absolutely Loved It But Is It As Good As I Remember It?...

Let's Find Out As We Watch Captain America: The First Avenger...

The Film Starts In The Arctic, As 2 Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Are Taken To A Ship That Has Been Uncovered By A Russian Oil Team, Lasering Their Way Into The Vessel, The 2 Agents Find The Vessel Iced Over. Discovering What Looks To Be A Red, White And Blue Shield Covered In Ice, One Of The Agents Tries To Contact Nick Fury, Saying That He Has To Know About What They Found...

But Before We Can Find Out, We Go To A Flashback In Norway In The Year 1942, As A Hydra Tank Barges Into A Church, So The Leader Of Hydra, Johann Schmidt (Played By Hugo Weaving) May Enter With Soliders To Find The Tesseract...

(Imitating Agent Smith From The Matrix) Mr. Anderson...

Searching A Tomb, Schmidt Finds Something That Looks Like The Tesseract But As Schmidt Points Out, The Tesseract Was The Jewel Of Odin's Treasure Room And It's Not Something Someone Buries...

Asking The Caretaker Where The Tesseract Is To The Point Of Threatening To Destroy The Entire City, The Man Points To A Big Wooden Wall Carving Of Yggdrasil, The Tree Of The World, Which Is Where Schmidt Finds It...

With The Caretaker Telling Schmidt That He Contol The Power Of The Tesseract And He Will Burn For It, Schmidt Kills The Caretaker Before Walking Out...

Meanwhile In New York, We Go To An Army Enlistment Center Where Steve Rogers (Played By What's Left Of Chris Evans After Playing This Character For Many Movies) Attempts To Join The Army Only To Not Get In Due To His Bad Health..

Going To A Movie Afterwards, Steve Gets Mad At A Guy Who Doesn't Care About The Newsreels And Wants The Cartoons To Roll Which Leads To A Fight Outside Between The 2 Of Them...

Saved By His Best Friend, Bucky Barnes (Played By Sebastian Stan) Who Got Himself Enlisted And Is Shipping Out Tomorrow So, That Night Him And Steve Take 2 Girls (One Being Possibly An Ancestor Of Clara Oswald) To The World Of Tomorrow Expo Where They See A Science Demonstration Done By Howard Stark (Played Here By Dominic Cooper)...

Going To An Army Recruitment Center At The Expo, Bucky Tries To Stop Steve From Enlisting Again (As He's Been Lying On His Enlistment Forms And That's Technically Illegal) But Not Willing To Sit On The Sidelines Anymore, Steve Tells Bucky That He's At Least Got To Try No Matter What The Cost...

Telling His Friend To Be Careful And To Not Do Anything Stupid, Bucky Leaves, Overhearing His Conversation With Bucky, Steve Is Confronted By Dr. Abraham Erskine, A Scientist Who Works For The SSR Who Offers Steve A Chance To Get What He Wants...

Meanwhile At Hydra HQ, Johann Schmidt Has Arnim Zola (Played By Toby Jones) Work On A Machine That Will Transfer The Power Of The Tesseract Into Weaponry For Hydra....

Activating The Machine, Arnim Zola Is Cautious When Raising The Energy For The Transference But Schmidt Is A Patient Man And Places The Machine At Full Power Which Causes A Interesting Effect But It Works...

With The Energy They Have, Zola Tells Schmidt That It Could Not Power All Of His Designs But Change The War As Well As The World...

A Few Days Later At The SSR Base Camp, Steve And A Bunch Of Other Guys Are Briefed By Agent Peggy Carter (Played By Hayley Atwell) And Colonel Phillips (Played By Agent K Himself, Tommy Lee Jones) Who Tell Them About The SSR And How They Will Be Choosing A Man To Be The First In A New Breed Of Super Solider...

Cue The Training Montage!

Well, I'll Admit Steve Isn't Mulan But He Got The Flag!

With Erskine Deciding That Steve Is The Right Man For The Job, Phillips Fights Erskine On It As He Believes That Steve Is A Loser And That A Man Named Hodge Is Better Decision As He Passed All Their Tests, But Looking For Qualities Beyond Physical For This, Phillips Decides To Throw In A Dummy Grenade Which Steve Gladly Takes For His Fellow Soldiers, Saying That He's Still Skinny, Phillips Walks Away...

With The Experiment Happening The Next Day, Erskine Pays Steve A Visit In His Bunk Where He Asks Erskine Why Him? This Leads Erskine To Tell Steve How He Was Recruited By Adolf Hitler Himself To Join The Nazis But Telling Hitler That He's Not Interested, Hitler Instead Sent Schmidt Who Shares A Passion With Hitler For The Occult And Myths...

However Unlike Hitler Who Believes It To Be Fantasy, Schmidt Believes It To Be Real And That There Is Some Great Power Left By The Gods Waiting To Be Seized By Man. Hearing About Erskine's Formula, Schmidt Could Not Resist Taking That Power For Himself, But When Schmidt Took It There Were Unfortunate Side Effects...

Saying That The Formula Amplifies Everything That Is Inside Of The Person, With Good Becoming Great And Evil Becoming Worse, He Says That That Is Why Steve Was Chosen Because A Strong Man Who Has Known Power All Of His Life Will Lose Respect For That Power Where A Weak Man Knows The Value Of Strength And Compassion...

Before Tomorrow, Erskine Has Steve Promise Him One Thing, That He Will Stay Who He Is, Not A Perfect Solider But A Good Man...

Back At Hydra HQ, Schmidt Tells Zola That His Men Have Located Erskine And Tells Zola To Give The Order To Kill Him...

Taking Steve To The SSR's Hideout, Peggy Takes Steve Into A Lab Where The Experiment Will Happen...

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Meanwhile At Hydra HQ, Schmidt Is Visited By Some Of Hitler's Generals Which Leads To Him Showing Them The Results Of His Work By Saying That Hydra Is Developing An Arsenal To Destroy Schmidt's Enemies In One Stroke Including Germany, Which Leads To Him Wiping The Generals Out With One His New Weapons...

I Guess We Can Change The Name Of The Musical To Springtime For Red Skull...

With The President Retasking The SSR To Go After Hydra, Steve Wants In But With Erskine's Death, Phillips Considers The Project A Failure As Erskine Promised Them An Army Of Super Soliders And That Just Having Steve Is Not Enough To Win The War.

However, A Senator Believes Different After Both Him And The Country See Steve In Action And Offers Steve Another Opportunity To Serve His Country...By Selling War Bonds....

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And What Can I Say About This? I Absolutely Love It! There's Only One Other Thing That Could Top It And That's If They Played This...

Doing A Performance At An Army Camp That Goes Horribly, Steve Runs Into Peggy Who Reminds Steve That Erskine Wanted Better For Him Than To Just Be A Performing Monkey, Seeing Wounded Soliders Come In From The 107th, Steve Remembers That That Is Bucky's Troop Which Leads Him To Talk With Phillips About If Bucky Survived And Phillips Makes It Look Like He Didn't...

Asking If Phillips Is Planning A Rescue Mission For The Ca, Phillips Tells Steve No As They're 30 Miles Behind Enemy Lines That Are Heavily Fortified And They'd Lose More Men Then They'd Save, But Unable To Accept That Steve Plans A Rescue Mission With The Help Of Peggy And Howard Stark, Who Takes Steve Into Enemy Lines On Board Stark's Airplane...

Parachuting Into Enemy Lines, Steve Boards A Truck That Takes Him Into Hydra Base, Once Inside, Steve Rescues The Missing Soliders Including The Howling Commandos (With Two Of Them Played By Damien Dahrk And Spider-Man's Principal?)...

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With The Soldiers Fighting Hydra And The Base Exploding Around Them, Steve And Bucky Go Up Flights Of Stairs Only To Be Confronted By Schmidt...

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Back At The SSR Camp, It's Believed That Rogers Is Dead But...Yeah, Steve Survived As Well As The Soliders From The 107th Including Bucky...

Meanwhile In Washington, Steve Is About To Get A Medal For Valor By The Senator But Of Course He's Not There...

Stan Lee Cameo!

Returning To The SSR's Headquarters In London, Steve Shows Peggy The Locations Of The Hydra Bases That He Saw On Schmidt's Map While Bucky Tells Them About The Weapons Factories However, Hydra Has Shipped The Parts To His Main HQ Which Is Not On The Map...

Phillips Tells Carter To Coordinate With MI6 (Which Makes Me Wonder If Captain America And James Bond Have Ever Teamed Up) To Look For Schmidt's Main Base, While They Send Rogers To Deal With The Other Bases...

With Phillips Putting Together A Team To Help Steve, Steve Already Has People In Mind Which Leads Him To Recruit The Howling Commandos And Bucky To Help Him...

The Next Day, Steve Goes To Meet With Howard Stark, But While He Waits, He Talks With Margaery Tyrell Which Leads To Her Kissing Steve (And Who Wouldn't Want To Kiss Her) Only For Them To Be Spotted By Peggy Despite Steve Thinking That Her And Stark Had Something Going On...

When Stark Talks With Steve, He Tells Him That There's Nothing Going On Between Him And Peggy Before He Shows Steve Some New Shields Until Steve Finds A Prototype Made Out Of Vibranium...

(Imitating Black Panther) Wakanda Forever!

Which Will Work...

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Not Happy With What Is Going On With His Bases, Red Skull Tells Zola To Finish His Mission Before Captain America Does Or Else...

Attempting To Get Zola Back To His Headquarters As Quick As Possible, Zola Ends Up Boarding A Speed Train That Unfortunately Passes By Where Cap And His Crew Happen To Be...

Using A Zip Line, Cap, Bucky And The Other Howling Commandos Board The Train Only To Be Confronted By Hydra Soliders With Major Weaponry...

Major Weaponry That's Powerful Enough To Burst Open A Wall...

After Dealing With The Soldiers, Another One Enters And Blasts Bucky Out Of The Train Only To Leave Him Hanging By A Handle, Attempting To Save His Best Friend Steve Tries To Reach For Him But Unfortunately The Rail Breaks And Bucky Just Falls To His Death...

But In Good News, They Capture Arnim Zola...

Phillips Interrogates Zola Who Doesn't Say A Damn Word Until Phillips Gives Him A Letter That Shows Him That The Red Skull Has Turned On Him And Believes Zola To Be A Liability Which Leads Zola To Spill His Guts On Red Skull's Plan...

Finding Steve In A Cafe That Him And His Friends Went To Before It Was Destroyed, Peggy Finds Steve Having A Few Drinks To Try To Dull The Pain Of Losing Bucky But Like The Flash, Due To His Powers He Can't Get Drunk...

But Peggy Tells Steve That It's Not His Fault And If He Believed And Respected Bucky Then He Should Honor His Decision. Understanding That, Steve Swears To Go To Go After Schmidt And Destroy Hydra...

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Steve, Peggy And The Howling Commandos Fight Hydra's Soliders Off, But Eventually Steve Catches Up With Red Skull Only To See Him Take Off In His Massive Plane, But When Phillips And Peggy Commandeer Red Skull's Car, They Attempt To Catch Up With It...

(Captain America) You Remember The Little Red Button?

(Phillips) You Don't Have To Tell Me Twice!

(Pushes Little Red Button)

Catching Up With Red Skull's Ship, Steve Kisses Peggy Goodbye, Before Hopping On Board...

As Steve Sees Missiles Targeted For Every City On The Planet, More Soliders Appear To Fight Steve, With Him Defeating Every Single One Of Them, Before Facing Off Against Red Skull...

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With Peggy Contacting Steve On-Board The Plane, She Tries To Direct Him To A Site To Land But There's Not Enough Time And He Has No Choice But To Force The Ship Down...

Peggy Talks With Steve For As Long As Possible Till His Ship Crashes....

We Get A Montage Of What Happened After The War Including A Scene Where Howard Stark Finds The Tesseract In The Ocean And Peggy Keeping A Picture Of Steve Before Cutting To The Future! As Steve Wakes Up Years Later In A Hospital (That Looks Like It's In The Past) By A Woman (Who Is Supposedly Sharon Carter Except Instead Of Emily Van Camp It's Amanda Righetti From The O.C.) Who Is There To Tell Steve What's Going On...

However, The Game Playing On The Radio, Is A Game Steve Went To Years Ago...

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After The Credits We Get A Sneak Peak Of The Avengers Before The Movie Ends...

And That's Captain America: The First Avenger And I Absolutely Love This Movie...

The 1940s Setting Is Fantastic, I Love The Story, I Love The Characters, I Love The Villain Despite Everyone Saying That He's Lame And Honestly I Have No Idea Why Hugo Weaving Did Not Want To Come Back For A Sequel As Red Skull Is Such A Good Character And A Great Villain In This Movie, I Love The Effects In The Movie With The Hydra Weaponry, The Costumes Are Great And It Is One Of My Favorite MCU Films And I Say See It...

Till Next Time, This Is Duke Saying That Next Week We're Tackling The Avengers!

#captain america #captain america the first avenger #chris evans #hayley atwell #tommy lee jones #stanley tucci #sebastian stan #neal mcdonough #dominic cooper #natalie dormer #jenna coleman #Marvel #marvel cinematic universe #MCU #hugo weaving #red skull

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epic-summaries · 5 years

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GOT Rant

Okay, so I rewatched Endgame last night and my mind has been fuming about Games of Thrones since Sunday. Endgame reminded me that I seriously just want Dany to burn all of King's Landing and maybe all of Westeros when she’s at it. While in Avengers I want them to bring back everyone. Why do I feel like this?

Maybe I just want to vent my feelings out because it’s Wednesday and I’m still mad about last week’s episode of GOT. It’s bothering me that I’m still mad about it. Hopefully this helps give me piece.

I think I found the answer to my own question and it’s all about the ‘smallfolk/non-superhero public/peasant?/little people/background characters’. (And partly characters are being used to forward the plot, like D&D wants to get this over with as soon as possible. Which they do want this to be over.)

I remember in Spider-Man Homecoming when Peter was walking/swinging around his neighbourhood and you got lines from the neighbourhood community. They were kind or normal. Some of them had bad days while others like Flash was a dick but he was not malicious. In the first Avengers in Germany, you have that one man who stood up to Loki. In Ant-Man, his ex and her family are extremely nice. In Ant-Man and the Wasp, Jimmy and his government agents are antagonistic but still just normal people doing their jobs (not like literal Nazis Hydra.) There are evil people, like Thanos or Red Skull or Ego, however they are not the norm. Also, people who are dicks do do heroic things and grow (and entertaining), Hank Pym and most of the Guardians.

Let’s compare that to GOT (I want to stress that this a show only complaint and not a complaint about the books). I am having trouble thinking about good people who are also smallfolk from Westeros (we are not talking about Essos). Any smallfolk I think about are from seasons which kept with the books (when D&D cared about the show). There’s Arya’s gang in the second season. Hot pie becomes a baker. Good for him. They start out as dicks but they get better. Then most of them die (but that’s from the books). Ummm. You have group of Ed Sheeran soldiers. There was that father and little girl that Arya and the Hound meet. Then they die. The Wildlings are more calmed down then the books, less rape and violence. Then most of them die. They aren’t even Westerosi citizens.

What did we learn in the first episode and first scene of the season 8 of GOT? The smallfolk hates foreigners. They look at them with disgust.

I know in the books there is a sense of xenophobia from the Northern but Northerners are also seen as lesser by Southerners. It’s more like a family group trying to stay together to protect each other because no one else will (that’s my general interpretation at least, there are actual racist people too). D&D wants to you feel for the North, they want to show them as the victims, they have been through Robb’s war and the Boltons and now they have an army of the undead coming for them. They are the underdogs, and we love the Starks. But everyone is an asshole to Dany’s army because they are not from here. Who cares that she doesn’t have to be here fighting for you racist assholes. D&D if you wanted to make me feel for the Northern don’t make them racist because in this political climate it will push me away. Dany lost her best friend and biggest supporter who was a Northerner btw (though them not liking Jorah would have made sense to me), she lost most of her army but are you grateful? No. She’s not one of us. (I’m going to have one of us from Lion King 2 stuck in my head now.) They forgave Theon for burning Winterfell and murdering most of the population in Winterfell (Theon’s redemption arc isn’t the point of this rant, just how other people react to it). He betrayed them after they let him in. What happened to betraying guest right as one of the worse crimes one can commit? Jaime is fine? He was one of the reasons your beloved Ned was murdered. But Brienne and Sansa are cool with him, so they are cool with Jaime.

(Sure the North Remembers. If only the Manderlys were in the show.)

I get you want your independence but Dany fought for you and sacrificed for you. But naw the only one who gives her any kindness is Missandei in the crypts. Opinions didn’t change after the battle where her dragon killed more people and they stayed dead because fire is the only way the undead stays dead. But who gives a fuck because she or her army are not from around here.

Now, Kings Landing. Maybe the whores are good, they haven’t done anything other then spy for Littlefinger. But other then that? Davos and Gendry are the only Kings Landing smallfolk that have shown any kindness which I can remember. (I’m coming to the remember point a little later.) The problem with Gendry is that I get Thomas Mallory’s Sir Tors feelings from him. When Guinevere and Arthur are married Tors come to the wedding and asks if could be a knight, but he was raised by peasants. But wait Merlin says that Sir Tors is the son of King Pellinore when Sir Pellinore raped Tors’ mother. So, that means Tors is a royal bastard meaning he is automatically better than everyone else, like Gendry bastard of Robert. Davos is a nice exception but he’s a book character and not an invention by the show, so is Gendry. Point being, the two named good Kings Landing characters are from the books. Then, I’m reminded for Sodom and Gomorrah. This is the run down of the story. Sodom and Gomorrah are terrible sinful cities and God/Yahweh/Allah wants to destroy it because the people are just that terrible. Abraham finds out then makes a deal with God. If Abraham can find a hundred good people in the city, God will save the city. Then, the number falls fifty and ends at 10. But only Lot and his family is worthy of saving. Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed. Point being, Kings Landing is Sodom or Gomorrah. They riot, they rape, and are just terrible. We are told they hate Cersei but do they still hate her? I don’t know. We haven’t been shown that they hate her since she took the crown.

In the end, I can’t remember any good smallfolks (who survive and are show only) in GOT and that’s the biggest problem. I have no sympathy for them because the examples I think about are of terrible people or exceptions and almost all nameless. The only time this season you show the smallfolk is to tell me that they are racist which makes them unsympathetic to me. D&D keeps telling me Dany is crazy. Yet she has been rejected or betrayed by everyone in Westeros and the only person alive who hasn’t betrayed her is Greyworm. (A Targaryen alone in the world is a sad thing indeed.) (Sure she did burn the Tarlys but doing something one time does not make someone crazy.) I don’t care about the smallfolks and that’s the problem.

Dany, Dracarys.

#got #game of thrones #dany targaryen #daenerys targaryen #rant #i actually feel better now that i have my thoughts sorted out #marvel #endgame #no endgame spoilers

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schizo-spoon-blog · 5 years

Text

Spoonbender Society: Selected Schizoepistles

FW: FW: FW: FW: FW: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE:

We Live In A Society

People say we live in a democracy/democratic republic, a form of government intended to amplify what people think and address problems they find to be important. But it doesn’t ever seem to function that way.

The issue is in voter suppression, but as always not in the way people generally think voter suppression works. The issue is psychic, spiritual, and social suppression of citizens. Systemic over-development of senses of rationalization, neuroticism and anxiety, industrially incentivized narcissism.

People develop a deathly fear of what others think, or may think, or what they may have thought about them or what they think, what they may think, or what they may have thought.

A democracy where we’d rather not hear what other people have to say, because we find their thoughts offensive and retarded. That’s one thing people are happy to share. But because we suspect that there are so many offensive retards in the world, we fear... "Perhaps I’m a retard too?" You wonder that even for just a second in your life, if you have a soul. It’s OK to be a retard really, but you’ll never believe that it’s OK, and that's probably What Your Fucking Problem Is.

The opinions of us purported non-retards, to avoid sounding like complete retards, end up soft, ambivalent and stale, phrased like True Neutral Orgasm in Ego-Death Nirvana, but less Chad, less gratifying, and nobody cums. To not be reminded of the possibility of our own retardation, we like to pretend that if the retards just shut up and nobody can hear them, they go away. If they are Physically Removed from our presence, their evil thoughts and their malicious intentions will go away with them. We win. But they don’t. They never do.

We always fail to Psychically Remove them. We lose.

We can hypothesize a law of conservation of hatred, correlate one too of love, but the truth is banal. How can it be in light of our timeline? Why are these Hate Groups all over the place? Hitler’s corpse is rotting or burned to a crisp, or embalmed in a tomb or made a toilet for Some Rich Dude ((parenthetical removed)). (Or was he cloned?)

Great Fatherland Germany - defeated by the "untermensch" and partitioned like a cheese between rats. That Great "Faustian" and "Supreme" "Aryan" Race is subjugated by the hated "Juden" and all the "vermin" of the world, humiliated, castrated to be reunited a shadow of its former self. Yet the Nazi threat is omnipresent nearly a century later, in an era which may be an alien planet to those who lived in Hitler’s time.

How is it that the Great Allies, our fathers and grandfathers, achieved such total victory over so loathsome a foe, so unsympathetic and vile, only to see his Evil infect their own countrymen and posterity? How can something so thoroughly defeated still persist in what could be our neighbors or our co-workers our bosses or our employees? Each one could be a secret Nazi now. In parenting blogs moms worry that their children are becoming Nazis from goofy men they see in videos on line. Marriages are ending in divorce because the husband or wife is allegedly or apparently a Nazi. How could this happen?

Have you ever seen “The Matrix? Who hasn’t? You know all about the red and blue pills, and all the rainbow-flag DLC that it comes with, black and pink and green and brown and in configurations invisible to the human eye, I’m sure. If you don't know, the pills are portals to different realities. Take the black pill and you only see death, take the white pill and everything’s alright, take the blue pill you vote for Hillary, take the pink you become genderqueer. But this is not about taking any pills. This is about going off your meds. Going straight edge - except for whiskey, cigarettes, cocaine and pussy. It’s about the spoon - no, not for shooting up. It's for bending - with your mind. Remember? That spoon - The Spoon That Isn’t There.

That spoon is a Nazi.

If you are aware that there is no spoon you can tie it into knots. You can make it into a balloon animal. That Nazi Spoon could be a Jewish Socialist from Vermont, or a kosher Brooklyn Zionist, or a Dominican Taxi Driver. It could be an evil copy of your own son from Bizzaro World. It's probably your uncle. It could be Rottweilers, and Chihuahuas. Whether Pitbulls are Nazis or Jews/Blacks is an ongoing debate in the contemporary discourse.

But imaginary shit can be whatever the hell you want. You don’t have to be "The One" to Bend the Spoon. You don’t have to be anyone at all. What was the name of the kid who said the line about the spoon again? Nobody knows, nobody cares, and that's the beauty of Spoonbending.

"The Nazi" is the guy who keeps talking when he should shut up. He might be autistic, but he could just be an asshole. There is a strong possibility he could be both. Why does he keep saying all of this ridiculous stuff? He’s more offensive and more retarded than the usual, but it feels like He Has To Be This Way. Like it’s his curse, He Knows Too Much. He fell down some rabbit hole and ended up gorged on Fascist Propaganda. He mentions some girl named Celine. He rambles on about some guy you’re pretty sure is a Tekken character... the guy who turns into the Devil maybe. He mentions a vacation in Turkey with his family but insists on saying Constantinople and there’s a wild-man tear in his eye. He insists he knows about Atlantis and calls you gay for saying you liked Aquaman. Instead of saying goodbye he says “Subscribe to Pewdiepie.” The Nazi belongs in an institution. You wonder if he has guns and if maybe he should have them taken for a while. He probably doesn’t, but you can’t be sure. He’s 12.

When is it too early to become a school shooter? Is 12 too early to be an incel?

12 is probably the age at which incels hatch from their human hosts.

“Who is Pewdiepie, and how has he groomed my nephew into the Hitler Youth?” many families today are asking. They think they’re looking at a spoon. Conditoning fills your heart with a desperate desire to see the spoon. A fact, pure fact, logical, reasonable, peer reviewed, widely accepted, So True, a Textbook Fact. The spoon. Everyone else sees it too. That goddamn Nazi Spoon.

You ever try to ask this at a party as an ice-breaker and see how the guests react?

“So, anyway, was The Holocaust Real?”

“Excuse me, what?”

“What do you think, was it real, how many people do you think died, don’t the gas chambers sound goofy to you?”

”Um… no… they don’t sound goofy. What are you talking about?”

“You ever hear about the Nazi Roller-coaster they had at one of the camps? They’d put Jews into a roller-coaster except they’d fly off the edge and get splattered. That’s how the Nazis killed ‘em. I swear. I read it in a book by a Holocaust Survivor. Impossible to believe if it weren’t so True. No shit. You hear about that?”

”I’m… gonna get another beer.”

Of course there’s a Correct answer to that initial question. It’s also the Right answer. Who would ever get this wrong? It's the 2+2=X of History. Well…

Pop-Quiz, Random Nazi Check, Anybody here Hate Jews? You a Groyper, Son? What’s so funny? You think the Cookie Monster committing genocide is a laughing matter boy? We don’t take kindly to your kind around here.

Maybe you should give the Nazi-check thing a try, it’ll separate sheep and goat real easy for you.

If you do this everyone will think you are The Nazi.

The Nazis hated Jews, but did they hate real Jews as Jews exist, or did they hate the Fascist Propaganda Jew who was a work of fiction? On that note, were you in love with your last failed relationship, or just pretending you were? Have you ever had one impression of a person, but then learned they were another kind of person entirely? That first impression you had, the one that wasn’t True, was that a Real Person, or Imaginary? But you still spent all that money and sweat on an imaginary girl, huh?

Hope her hole was real.

I think that fake bitch of an ex you dated was a nazi. Your ex was a fascist. Oh, was she Jewish? It doesn’t matter, changes nothing. I’ve never met her - wouldn't matter if I did. When I imagine her, she's in Hugo Boss black and got skull-and-bones on her officer's cap, and she's saying racial slurs as she ruins your life, cheats on you, drains your bank account and kills your dog after getting custody over it in court. I imagine all bad people this way. All women who rejected me were exactly like this.

But I must breach working-class anti-fascist solidarity, and admit, on That Question ("Would you?").... Yeah, I would. Sorry bro. Take me away Comrades, I admit it, I'd give it to that Nazi Jew raw. Would I do that to her as she exists, or the Fascist Propaganda her who is a work of fiction?

That depends. You still got her number?

haha it's ok you can call me an incel, it's a step up from what i actually am

(User was banned for this post.)

The Nazi and the Fascist aren’t my hallucinations. That’s not my mental illness. But it’s adjacent to me, it’s thrown at me without my Consent, and it's a Trigger. I'm paranoid about commies myself.

In the multicultural cyberpunk year of 2019, with its trans-human gender-sex-orientations, anti-racist ethno-narcissism, fanatic anti-normalism, cultish critical theory intersections, grand byzantine minimalism, placidity, in such splendid predatory banality… In the absolute state of the world! – Aah! An undead ideology conceived by a salty Frenchman in the badlands of South Dakota in the 1890s shambles forth the devour all that is Good and Holy in the Great United States of AmeriKKKa, God Help Us All! And A Child Will Lead Those Dreadful Legions of Corruption Upon All The Meek Of Our Fallen World!

Or it’s just a spoon that isn’t real.

Nobody wants to be straight-forward, and I gotta navigate the labyrinths of euphemism. Maybe there's something weird going on - how people talk, how people act, how people think, none of those correlate to each other. It makes you feel schizo when you do all your mental rain-man calculus and realize there's a fucking Elephant in the living room and he's not wearing any goddamn pants. Once that little ray-of-sunshine blesses your tiny bug-man brain to enlighten you that the elephant is real, and the spoon isn't, it's only a matter of time before you're crowned in tinfoil a Potato King on your off-grid Bug-out estate in the Idaho Panhandle, or start drinking yourself to death and bullying mailmen (or both).

If you'd like to avoid that sort of Elephant-Mania Spoon-denialism, maybe you should try answering Uncomfortable Question instead of being so Weird about it, oh wise Mr. Kirk, Mr. Shapiro, Mr. Talking-Head, Mr. Important-Guy, Mr. Movement, Mr. Politics, Mr. Voice of Reason, Mr. Metatron. Take it from a schizo-maniac with a manifesto, you’re freaking out the hoes.

Try Praeger U talking points out on a Tinder date and watch her shrivel up from instathot to instahag -- she will go through menopause before your very eyes, that's how dry her pussy will get. Trying not to sound racist while talking about the Antarctic Nazi base and the importance of craniometry in ethnocultural anthropology will get you more action than anything that sounds like a paraphrase of Charlie Kirk -- because even if you're still being cringe at least you aren't being fake. Point and laugh at that fucking elephant - the moron isn't even wearing pants! That'll get her thinking about taking your pants off. Or not - it's not foolproof. If she doesn't laugh, red-flag, she's a Nazi so Begone Thot!

Please, for the love of God, go off-script! See the damn elephant and forget the spoon, and forget the wise Mr. Kirk, Mr. Shapiro, Mr. Talking-Head, Mr. Important-Guy, Mr. Movement, Mr. Politics, Mr. Voice of Reason, Mr. Metatron. Take it from a schizo-maniac with a manifesto, you'll go insane if you don't.

[. . . ] [T]hen there's that neuroticism, that narcissism, that fear. The whole point of these politics groups and gatherings and Q&As is what, anyway? Is it really just basic marketing tactics, like a live-action advertisement you expect for people to passively consume as though it is persuasive? To shove free-markets and free-speeches down my throat and have me swallow it without having anything that’s been bothering me answered? What do I look like to you, an Ideology Whore? You don't even reciprocate a good time, huh? I'm not that kind of girl. You didn't even buy me dinner. You made me pay to bore me. I'd cuck you if we dated just to make a very important point -- fully aware it'll go over your head. Fuck you.

We gotta hear The Script. We gotta recite The Script.

Real Conservatives Think Like This. Real Progressives Think Like This. White People Walk Like This. Black People Walk Like This.

Gotta hear that joke ten thousand times so you can recite it like a mantra in your sleep.

Free markets mean free people. Facts don’t care about your feelings. Private Companies can do what they wish. What you do in your bedroom is your own business. We want legal immigration, not illegal.

Abolish ICE. Your childhood hero says Trans-Rights. Do you not want me in the movement? Abolish whiteness.

The Racism of Lowered Expectations.

Reparations.

A white nation.

Workers of the world unite!

Abortion is a human right.

Have you got it memorized?

Let’s go over it a few more times.

Say it with me! Hillary was found innocent in a hundred hearings and it is sexist to besmirch her reputation.

Repeat after me! Trump’s economy is the best in history, and if he's racist why is black unemployment is at historical lows.

You benefit from unearned privilege. You suffer from toxic masculinity.

The world is about to end and everything you know and love will die, and it is your fault, for not believing in the correct things at the correct time.

Are you laughing yet?

I’m dying. I feel like an e-girl, and my orbiters are sides.

But do you wanna know what I really think? The whole bit about psychic and social suppression? You ever hear about the Procrustean bed? Well, what if we put your political, social, moral consciousness and your psychic abilitys into a bed like that. We could talk about it. You ever play Xenogears?

Or you could just put me in a box. I really wouldn't mind. I'm Houdini. Hey, was Houdini a Nazi, like Henry Ford? Can we get a fact-check? I didn't mean to be problematic.

Break the Conditoning - Step outside the box, and use it as a step ladder. Ascend, Beyond the Box - use The Spoon.

Bush did 9/11, the Israeli’s danced, the Aliens killed JFK - sure - but I only say this because of my MK Ultra Schizo-brain. It’s true, it’s false, it’s fact, it’s myth, I don’t have to believe any of it -- I also don't have to believe any of you if I don’t want to. My feelings do not care about your facts, and did you know that some of the world's most uncomfortable facts are manifested into being by uncomfortable feelings? Is it the fact of the bullet that kills the political dissident, or the feelings of his executioner? Is it the deranged lust of the rapist that violates his victim, or the fact of his power to do so? I guess it depends on whether the perpetrator said "nothing personnel kid" before he committed the act. I don't know about that Nazi Rapist's feelings, but MY feelings are valid and I can believe or disbelieve whatever I want on the basis of my feelings, and my feelings alone. My feelings bend the spoon of your facts.

Are you going to say I don’t have the right, Adolf? Sucks for you, bud, I may be a commie by blood, but the heart that pumps it was assembled in the ole USA -- and we got the Right to be a Retard here in America. It's a Free Country.

[Note: please insert image of Jonathan Frakes from Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction]

Now that the dust has settled: Was the Nazi Roller-Coaster Real? Or did we put the Truth in a Mass-Grave? We will let you know at the conclusion of our program.

Sincerely and Full of Suffering Your Friend Always, Orcbrand

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