#before they meet other Kryptonian etc at least

[frownyalfred]

Bruce learns Kryptonian secretly just so one day during a JL meeting he can turn to Clark and go “hal really thought that haircut made him look good huh” with the most deadpan expression ever

[paladin-of-nerd-fandom65]

It’s ok for the lateness, the questions and I aren’t going anywhere lol

1: what type of weapons does Chris uses? I know for Jake he uses the typical “Batman” stuff and I saw a older post of yours saying he uses special “Nightwing sticks” to shoot beams of starbolts; it would be cool to see he can concentrate the starbolts in the sticks to become a lightsaber or maybe a battle axe.

2: is the Superman last son comic canon in your “universe?” Like Chris arrived to earth in that spaceship and then a few days/weeks later he sacrificed himself to close the portal getting aged up etc…

3: I read a post yesterday that Chris has blue heat version, does he had that before or after the Nightwing dragon entity?

4: what’s the most traumatic moment the duo experience?

5: how strong is Chris compared to the rest of his family before and after receiving the Nightwing dragon power? I can see him being the weakest since being born in the phantom zone and maybe third or second strongest after receiving Nightwing.

6: How old was Jake and what was he doing when he received his powers?

1. Primarily his main weapons of choice are dual wield Ecrima Sticks that contain special pores within their handles that allow his starbolts to travel into and supercharge some taser tips at the end of them at a voltage enough to stun both men and monsters. As complete maximum charge, the sticks can work in a manner akin to lightsabers as they can now deflect major energy attacks.

He can also combine his sticks at their other tips into a collapsible bo staff. Should Skybird finds himself without his sticks, he’s knowledgeable in multiple martial arts both Earth and Tamaran based in combination with his power set so he’s still not completely defenseless.

2. Primarily about the first half of it is more or less canon to these series of events; the events of him crash landing in an experimental pod in the heart of Metropolis west he first meets Clark (for a small artistic change from the original panel, Chris is clad in a black bodysuit like the one he had in his last appearance before the events of Flashpoint but that’s just a small detail), gets taken in by the DEO where they make the discovery of his Kryptonian heritage and just as they were taking him to another facility, Clark secretly interfered to stop them. He then takes in the 6 year old into his household after the intent to the public clear that he can stay with a human family as foster parents (I.e. him and Lois’ household alongside there then 4 year old son Jon) right before Bizarro, under orders from Luthor, attacked but during it, Chris saved Lois from getting crushed by the Daily Planet Globe. From there, things deviate with some parts and pieces adapted from the Kurt Busiek Superman run along with some tiny parts of the 2015 Lois and Clark series, detailing of a growing bond between Chris and Jon as they grow up together as brothers.

It’s not until Chris reaches 11 1/2 to 12 years of age when Zod and his army finally arrive from the Phantom Zone. By then, the bulk of Chris’ memories as Lor Zod have came back to him, in particular of the harsh way Zod raised him which reinforces both his inner insecurities as a Kent yet also his desire to stay with Clark and Lois. Plus advanced tests and scans from the Fortress of Solitude and the DCU’s top scientists help determine his place of origin.

3. At least in my fanon verse, it’s a trait he had basically since birth due to his birth in the Phantom Zone and all the wired effects it can do to even a Kryptonian’s physiology. Once he’s exposed to moonlight (and maybe partial yellow sunlight), that heat vision is accessible to him

4. Chris; easy his earlier childhood when raised by Zod. In this case, think of it along with how both Dabi and Shoto were raised underneath the reign of Enji Todoroki from My Hero Academia combine with a bit of how Zuko’s childhood went when Fire Lord Ozai was raising him from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

As for Jake; there’s three primary bad memories his mind circles back to during his emotional lowest moments. They are the time a Gordanian raid at Bludhaven came about when he was 4, him and Big Sis Mar’i bring outright ripped away from Kory’s arms by the sinister flying lizards which would’ve resulted in them being taken into slavery hadn’t it not been for their Mom and Dad acting fast to get them out of those arms

Then, for a second place of bad memories, when he was 9, getting abducted during a routine by a Talon and sent into a Labyrinth by the Court of Owls . For three days and two nights, he was lost and unable to escape the menacing white walls and never ending zigzagging maze, talons stalking him at every corner and only one fountain of fresh water to drink only said water was contaminated with substances that could make him start losing his mind no matter how thirsty he is. It was only by him taking advantage of an old school camera meant to capture his moments of torment and weak points in the marble foundation during another Talon encounter did he manage to escape the Labyrinth, reuniting with his family and taking the fight to the Owls themselves along with the rest of the Titans

Though of course in first place above all else, even more so than that fateful duel with Zsasz himself, that moment his father and him were investigating what Z list ex criminal Humpty Dumpty was doing going though some trouble for taking some broken toys to fix at an abandoned orphanage. Jake however then discovered it wasn’t just the toys that were broken….it was an entire orphanage of street urchins and orphans, no younger than 8 but no older than 12, that were broken. Humpty was trying to ‘fix’ them too in the best way he though he knew to no avail, and all during the weeks leading up to Christmas as well.

That image of the lifeless kids being carted into vans on stretchers with white blankets draped over them one by one is an image that haunts Jake’s memories to the present day. Ironic considering his own sleeping arrangements often have him covered up in his bed with the blankets draped over him similarly like that. Maybe the difference comes to that at least his family can hear him snoring peacefully under those sheets…not so much the case for those poor orphans that night.

5. His strength prior to the Nightwing entity being fully tapped into could be considerably between Jon and Conner, making about only the second weakest of the bunch. Once the entity was tapped into in full though, his power level increased dramatically being about the same as Kara, second only behind Clark’s himself…as he gets older though, it’s still growing, at a rate only matched by Jon’s growth

6. Jake’s powers first kicked in at the age of 8 when he was trying to fend himself from a school bully (he’s a late bloomer since Mar’i first got her powers basically since birth). At first, he kept them a tight secret even from his family, afraid of them getting out of control since they were mainly linked to his emotions. Naturally the Graysons find out about them during a time he was helping them in patrol, and felt ashamed. Dick and Kory though we’re understanding and after a talk between all of them that night, Kory and Mar’i helped Jake get a good learning with his newfound powers relatively quickly.

(Phew) it’s a lot @gothicghost2000 but I t’s worth it XD

[fancoloredglasses]

Lois & Clark: the New Adventures of Superman (a super-powered rom-com)

(Thanks to Omar David)

[All images are owned by DC Comics and Warner Bros Discovery. Please don’t sue me]

I would like to start by saying it must be extremely difficult to write for any media where Superman is involves, whether comics, TV, movies, books, radio, etc. I mean, the guy is stupid-strong, stupid-invulnerable, stupid-fast, and has a metric shit-ton of powers that put him leagues ahead of anyone he might square off against.

Therefore, you have a few options:

Create adversaries on his power level (like DC did with Doomsday in The Death of Superman), but then you have an opponent that’s on Superman’s level that the rest of the lineup will have to deal with.

Give him an opponent who works behind the scenes who undermines his image and confidence (and might be able to tweak his nose a few times as well), which is why Lex Luthor exists. However, without giving Superman  someone to punch, the readers will get bored after a while.

Give him some very specific weaknesses (such as a certain green rock), but you can’t have Kryptonite constantly showing up to Save The Day for the bad guys.

Make it more about the human side than the super side. However, much like my second option, people are eventually want to see the hero just punch things.

Make it campy (see Superman III and IV), and you can watch those films to see how horribly wrong that can go.

...which bring us to Lois & Clark. The show (thankfully) didn’t make a powerful adversary (or at least they gave themselves a way to remove the threat from the series the few times they did), but ticked the other four boxes (though to be fair, there’s no way they could NOT use Kryptonite in some way)

This was the first time we saw a post-Crisis on Infinite Earths version of Superman (as originally depicted by legendary writer/artist John Byrne in 1986) on screen, and there were a ton of changes...

His core powers were somewhat diminished from the Silver Age

A lot of his more absurd powers (such as destroying planets with a sneeze, rebuilding the Great Wall of Chine with his vision, and his “amnesia kiss”) were gone

He knew nothing about Krypton save that he was originally born there (the Silver Age Superman was constantly referencing Krypton)

He was the sole survivor (no Supergirl, General Zod, or Krypto the Super Dog)

His costume wasn’t made of Kryptonian fabric (meaning it was also invulnerable, but just normal fabric (which, thanks to an “aura” around Superman, meant it stayed intact through most of his battles, though Byrne loved to draw the cape getting torn in every fight!)

In the comics, the S-symbol was made after the Daily Planet coined the phrase “Superman” following his first public appearance, as opposed to being a Kryptonian relic.

And, most importantly, Martha and Jonathan Kent were alive and well in Smallville (in the Golden and Silver Ages, Pa Kent died when Clark was a teenager)

Most of these elements remained for Lois & Clark, though the writers reverted the S-Symbol to being from Kal-El’s rocket.

But enough of the exposition, on to the meat of the series!

The show follows Clark Kent (played by Dean Cain, who would return into Kryptonian orbit a number of years later as Supergirl’s adopted father), intrepid reporter for the Daily Planet (in a time where newspapers were a hell of a lot more relevant than they are now) and his alter ego...

...Superman. I should note that when we first see Clark (before he even has the iconic costume of his alter ego designed for him by his mother) he’s already wearing glasses. Exactly why is he doing that if he has no alter identity to conceal?

And what is Clark Kent/Superman without Lois Lane (played by Teri Hatcher)? Cain and Hatcher had awesome chemistry as friends/rivals as well as able to play the “will they/won’t they” tension very well (at least until they actually did)

The pair’s first meeting with Clark “in costume” was...kind of explosive.

(Thanks to DJDoena)

But the Daily Planet is more than just Lane and Kent (as much as they seem to hog the front page), so rounding out the Planet’s staff (at least the ones in the opening credits) are...

...Daily Planet Editor in Chief Perry White, who is Metropolis’s biggest Elvis fan...

...and Perry’s gopher (and later staff photographer) Jimmy Olson. However, the producers thought the actor looked a bit too much like Cain...

...so he was replaced in season 2.

Also a casualty in season 2 was Society Pages columnist Cat Grant. The producers felt the character was a bit too “risque” for their target audience (often rumored to be sleeping with fellow staff members) and she didn’t return after season 1.

As I mentioned earlier in this review, Martha and Jonathan Kent are alive and well (and apparently Smallville is close enough to Metropolis that they occasionally make trips there) Jonathan is a down-to-earth kinda guy while Martha is constantly trying to expand her horizons (usually with a new hobby every week...

(Thanks to Guardian Images)

...including sewing)

But what is Superman without a great villain...

...and he got a hell of one with Lex Luthor (played by John Shea). One other HUGE change in the Superman mythos was to Luthor. After Crisis he drastically changed from a “FOOLS! I WILL DESTROY YOU ALL MUHAHAHAHAHA!”-type mad scientist to a brilliant (and thoroughly corrupt) industrialist who would bend the legal system to keep his hands clean despite some blatantly obvious criminal activities (and managed to thumb his nose at Superman every time), and he was written to perfection in season 1. However, due to scheduling conflicts, he was written out with panache...

(thanks to ScreenBlaster13)

However, this being super-heroes, he came back from the dead for a couple of guest appearances.

The tone of the show was kept light, bordering on silly at times (such as casting Sonny Bono as mayor (and having him constantly dropping Sonny & Cher lyrics in his speeches) or having an episode where prohibition-era gangsters are cloned and allowed to run rampant in Metropolis) While Superman was a big part of the series, the fact that he was almost an afterthought in the show’s title should show where the real focus of the show was.

For two seasons, the show centered on the rivalry and budding relationship between Lois and Clark, then in season 3 the romance really kicked into gear, culminating in their marriage. Unfortunately, by then the series was starting to unravel, completely coming apart by the time the series was cancelled at the end of season 4.

As always, if you would like to say a particular episode reviewed, please let me know!

[lady-griffin]

Characters That Might Be Introduced in Young Justice Season 4: Phantoms

This is just my own personal speculation, based on what I think might happen in Season 4 and what YJ has given us so far. I’m sure that I’ve missed plenty of characters that others 100% believe or know will be making an appearance...but, I can’t do anything about that. 

While the majority of the characters on this list are ones we haven’t met before, there are a few we have met in the show - I included these characters, because I think they might be added to the ever-growing roster of heroes or have a more prominent role to play. 

This is really long, but I had fun doing it and I hope you enjoy it. 

Characters We've Met Already

Part I: Prominent Future Role

     M’comm M’orzz/Ma'alefa'ak

M’gann’s younger brother who wants to start a white revolution on Mars. We met him in season 3 during the episode of “Away Mission,” where he was a major focal point.

There are a couple of factors for why I think he’ll play a prominent role.

He’s M’gann’s younger brother and as several people have speculated upon, this season’s tagline of “Phantoms” might be in reference to our main characters’ own personal phantoms from their pasts, rather than literal ghosts. Also given how M’gann has a new little brother in Gar, who was given more prominence last season – there could be something there.

M’Comm wants to start a White Revolution and we know M’gann, Conner, J’onn, and Gar (I believe) will be heading to Mars, either before or at the beginning of Season 4. Since J’onn/Martian Manhunter is usually the last Green Martian – some dark stuff may be awaiting our heroes on Mars or occur while they’re there.

I think he’ll play a significant role in the upcoming season. 

     Jason Todd/Red Hood

Jason is a prominent member of the Batfamily and we’ve already learned that he was the Robin after Dick, but died before Season 2 began. 

In Season 3 – he was also an easter egg in “Nightmare Monkeys,” where he died in Beast Boy’s mind, along with other fallen comrades.

More importantly, in “Rescue Op,” we actually met him as the Red Hooded Ninja on Infinity Island. Towards the end of that episode there was attention given to the fact that he recognized Dick and therefore his memory was returning.

I can definitely see him having a more significant part in the future. He would most likely be Dick’s main phantom, if that’s the case for Season 4. 

     Big Barda

One of Granny’s most loyal generals and the leader of the furies before she defects against Darkseid. We were introduced to her in Season 3, in “Influence" - she fought against the Justice League, but more importantly she was saved by Superman. While it’s clear that Granny hurting her or being willing to sacrifice her is par for the course, it seemed pretty clear (to me) that Superman reshaped her outlook on life. 

We never saw her again, so more than likely she defected after Superman saved her.

Given her usual importance to the plot of Darkseid as well as the fact that her main love interest is Scot Free – I think there is more than a good chance we’ll see her again in Season 4.

--

In the third season, each of these characters were introduced in a single episode. Given their significant relationships to either a character or a plot element that is important to Young Justice - it seems more than likely we’ll see them play a larger role in the upcoming season.

Part II: Minor Future Role

     Harper Rowe/Bluebird

She was a minor character in Season 3, but she was also pretty prominent. Given that she’s a hero in the comics, I can see Harper being a new hero added to the roster. I can’t say how prominent she’ll actually be, but I can definitely see her playing a minor role.    

     Courtney Whitmore/Stargirl

Courtney is a pretty prominent young hero in DC and she made several appearances in Season 3 – with her show (Stargirl) where she reported and interviewed young heroes. So, maybe she’ll have decided instead of just interviewing heroes, she’ll become one herself. 

     Cisco Ramon/Vibe

For a character who was just being bullied they paid a decent amount of attention to him. Now maybe he was just a prominent Easter Egg for fans (CW’s The Flash), but it could also be YJ laying some slight ground work for him in the future.

     Cassandra Cain/Orphan

Orphan is a member of the Batfamily and her mother is Lady Shiva - The Light’s new enforcer, who we got to know decently well in Season 3. Because of that, I think there could be something there to explore in Season 4.

-- 

I don’t really think any of these guys will be major characters, but I’m betting we’ll at least see them in the background as heroes. Similar to how Stephanie Brown and others were introduced as easter eggs and then in the following season we saw them working as heroes.

In addition, there are of course other minor hero/super-powered characters whom we’ve already met (Arrowette, Spoiler, Mist etc.) and any one of them could get more screen time, it’s honestly anyone’s guess; I just don’t have anything specific to speculate about for them.

Characters We Haven’t Met 

Part I: Legion of Super-Heroes/Time Travel

Based on the idea that the Legion of Super-Heroes and time travel could play a significant role in Season 4 – which is based on how season 3 ended with an unknown woman wearing a Legion Ring. 

Legion of Super-Heroes

The Legion of Super-Heroes are a superhero team from the 31st Century; they are similar to The Justice League, but they protect and defend the United Planets. 

     Tinya Wazzo/Phantom Girl

Phantom Girl is a member of the Legion, so based off that and her name, there’s a decent chance we’ll meet her. I can’t say how big of role she’ll actually have, but I feel confident in saying this season won’t be named after her; it’ll just be fun little tie-in, if she does make an appearance.

     Querl Dox/Brainiac 5

Brainiac is a very prominent member of the Legion and knowing that they will play some role, it’s not a stretch to say he’ll also play a role. 

Brainiac 5, or at least in the WB animated show, was the inventor of the Legion Ring, as well as the ability to time-travel. 

Given his relation to one of Superman’s greatest enemies, Brainiac, who could definitely be a threat to both the League and The Light (if Brainiac even appears), I can definitely see Brainiac 5 playing a role. 

But, just his promience within the Legion is enough reason to speculate he’ll make an apperance.

     Imra Ardeen/Saturn Girl

Given Saturn Girl’s usual importance and prominence to the Legion (founding member), plus the fact that it was a waitress wearing the ring – it could very well have been her at the end of Season 3.

And even if it wasn’t her, she will still likely make an apperance. 

Other Members of the Legion of Super-Heroes who we could meet: Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy, Bouncing Boy, Triplicate Girl, Timber Wolf, Chameleon Boy, etc.

     Michael Carter/Booster Gold

Booster Gold is a pretty popular character who has appeared in many other works and is intrinsically linked with time-travel. On top of that, he typically has (or had) a good friendship with the old Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), so maybe we’ll see some reverse-mentor relationship with him and Jaime, the new Beetle – Jaime teaching him what it actually means to be a hero.

In general, I think he would just be a fun and new kind of personality to be brought in. 

     Future Kids (Lian Nguyen-Harper, Damian Wayne, Jon Kent, Tornado Twins, etc).

Given how time-travel will possibly be an element in Season 4, I think there’s a chance we’ll have an episode set in the future, starring the next generation of heroes. Maybe not all the kids we saw in “Home Fires,” but probably some of them.

Part II: The Phantom Zone  

I have the theory that Granny’s X-Pit is a type of Phantom Zone or at least based off the real thing.

Granny herself even called the pit the Ghost Dimension (which just sounds like another name for the Phantom Zone). So, it seems very likely to me that given the title of Season Four, the prominence of The Phantom Zone in DC, and how the X-Pit worked in YJ -- that The Phantom Zone will make an appearance in season 4, if not play an important part.

There could be lots of ways they could incorporate it into the show.

Maybe it works as a prison. The prison cells are like the red boxes Granny used to protect herself and thus there’s no chance of prisoners escaping the Zone, because if they try leave their cells, they’ll experience excruciating pain

Depending on how the Phantom Zone would work in in YJ, I feel like those who escape the Phantom Zone or are from there, could be called Phantoms.

While I do personally think the tagline Phantoms will refer to our main heroes’ own personal phantoms, the tagline could also be in reference to other elements of the season (like the Phantom Zone).

      Kara Zor-El/Supergirl

Supergirl is an important and popular character in the DC and given the prominence of the Batfamily in YJ, it seems a bit odd that the Superfamily is rather lacking in comparison. 

Supergirl has been a part of the Legion of Super-Heroes and due to her popular CW Show - she is more recently associated with the Phantom Zone. In her show, she ended up being stuck in the Phantom Zone which is why she arrived on Earth so much later than Clark. YJ could do something like that or maybe she’ll have been stuck in the Phantom Zone until the 31st Century. 

The introduction of Supergirl could be an interesting storyline in association with Conner (and Clark). We know that Clark has been interested in finding other Kryptonians and Kara is certainly more than just another Kryptonian.

She’s also a likely candidate to be the waitress who was wearing the Legion Ring. 

     Mon-El

A Daxxamite who’s a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes and is also strongly associated with the Phantom Zone. Given how in Season 1, Superman thought that Shazam and Icon were potential Kryptonians, there could be something interesting there with Mon-El – especially since his species are so similar to Kryptonians.

In the comics, Mon-El had been inspired by Superboy into becoming a hero, but he was put in the Phantom Zone because he had an incurable disease; he was later saved by Brainiac 5 in the 31st Century. So that could be another potential storyline for Superboy in Season 4.

Mon-El has also gotten some more recognition in recent years, due to his role in CW’s Supergirl.

Also, when I was looking up a picture for him to use, I learned that there is another version of Mon-El, where he is a descendent of House El/Superman. 

So maybe that version will be introduced instead of the Daxxamite one, I don’t know. 

     Zod Trio -- Zod, Ursa, Non

I don’t actually think these guys will be important to Season 4, if even they are introduced. But they are important Superman Villains and they’re usually connected with the Phantom Zone – given how many continuities they are prisoners of said Zone. 

So, it seemed silly to not speculate about them at least making an appearance or small cameo, if not something more. 

Part III: Darkseid and Meta-Trafficking  

     Scott Free/Mister Miracle

Scott or Scot is Darkseid’s adopted son and the biological son of Highfather, so it feels safe to say that he’ll be a part of the show at some point. Especially, given the increase prominence of Darkseid as well as how much we’ve seen of the New Gods, Motherboxes/Fatherboxes, and the two worlds of New Genesis and Apokolips.

Scot is a defector of Apokolips or more accurately was never broken by the place. He is known for being able to escape any imprisonment - particularly Granny’s Orphanage/X-Pit, so if there’s a return of the X-Pit, Scot would be a great asset to our heroes.

Given how we’ve been introduced to the X-Pit quite thoroughly in Season 3, I think that Scot’s ability to free himself would be all the more impressive, and a quick way to establish this new character and his skills. 

In addition, while we didn’t meet the real Orion, we do know that he exists in this universe. Orion is the adopted son of Highfather and the biological one of Darkseid. In the comics, Scot and Orion were traded as part of a Peace Treaty between the worlds of New Genesis and Apokolips. 

Basically, he’s due to make an apperance. 

     Princess Koriand’r of Tamaran/Starfire

The plots of Season 2 and 3 were largely focused on the kidnapping, experimenting, and trafficking of meta-human children/teenagers, so given all of that - Starfire seems very likely to be included in YJ.

Or at the very least, YJ has laid down the groundwork for her to be introduced - whether or not they’ll use that, we’ll have to see.

Starfire’s origin is that she is a Tamerean Princess who was taken and experimented on, which resulted in her gaining powers (more powers). So, in the YJ universe she would essentially be a Meta-Tamerean. 

Starfire could be a great way to show that the Meta-Gene exploitation isn’t just an earth/human problem anymore, as many more beings across the universe are being experimented on and turned into living weapons.

Thus, expanding upon the trafficking story thread that was introduced in Season 3. 

In general, Starfire’s origin story fits very well with the trafficking/meta-experimenting storylines that we’ve gotten so far and I think her presence would add something new.

Given the popularity of Teen Titans and the prominence of Nightwing, Beast Boy, and Cyborg in YJ, it seems more than likely that Star will be a character in the show. 

Also, we know that Arsenal will be on the Covert Team and that Jason is alive, so maybe if Star is introduced, we’ll see a version of the Outlaws in YJ. Which could be fun. 

Finally, she is one of Nightwing’s main love interests, so there could be some personal drama to be had, if the show goes down that route, which they may not. 

Starfire obviously doesn’t have to be a love interest for Nightwing to be added into the story. 

While I love RobStar (+ Dickbabs), I feel like sometimes Star is just limited to being Nightwing’s other girlfriend. So, if she is introduced in YJ, I would not be opposed to other storylines involving her without Nightwing. 

In my personal opinion, not including Star would be such a wasted opportunity, given what YJ has already established so far.

Part IV: Zatanna’s Protégé(s) / Magic-Based Characters

I have a small theory, that magic might play a larger role in season 4. This is mostly based on the fact that magic has been pushed to the background in the past two seasons. Also, the title of ‘Phantoms’ makes me think of the supernatural (aka Magic). 

We also know that Zatanna will have protégés, as in plural. Now she already has Thirteen, so at the very least we can say that one new magical-based character will be introduced to the team or the hero side. 

     The Phantom Stranger

A mysterious mystic who battles supernatural forces. It’s unlikely he’ll be a protégé for Zatanna, but I mentioned him first, because of his name. Which is the main reason for why I think he, out of all the magical characters in DC, could make an appearance.

Similar to Phantom Girl, I don’t think the season’s tagline will come from his name, but it might just be a nice little tie-in regardless.

     Eddie Bloomberg/Kid Devil aka Red Devil

Blue Devil has made a few minor appearances in Seasons 1 & 2 and given how Kid Devil was once his sidekick in the comics, I think there’s a decent chance Red Devil we’ll make an appearance.

He’s a character who I think many people might not know about or at least not a lot about; and YJ does like to shine a light on those characters.

Eddie started out as human kid/teenager who became Kid Devil - sidekick to Blue Devil. He ended up making a deal with a demon and got demonic powers and looks to match - possibly related to that, he had a falling out with Blue Devil and stopped being his sidekick.

I’m pretty fuzzy on the details of his story, as I’m not super familiar with his character; but the broad strokes that I do know, I think could really work for YJ.

He starts  out as the sidekick of Blue Devil (maybe he knows the team), but he has a falling out with Blue or goes off on his own – and gets his demonic powers, becoming Red Devil. Or something like that.

As he becomes Zatanna’s protégé (trying to learn to control his magical powers), he also has to work on his strained relationship with Blue Devil.

It could be a similar story to Red Arrow’s from Season 1, a nice throwback with a new character. And a character who while being new, does already have some slight groundwork laid out for his introduction - with Blue Devil already existing in YJ.

Again, I’m just throwing ideas out here and speculating. 

     Zachary Zatara

Several people have pointed out that Zachary is a more likely candidate to be Zatanna’s new protégé than Raven is - who was the first person I thought of - given how Zachary is Zatanna’s cousin. 

And yeah, I think there’s a decent enough chance for him becoming a character in Season 4. 

He’s related to a former member of the OG Team and like Eddie, he’s not really a character many people are super familiar with, so that could work in his favor.

It could also be fun to have someone back on the team who has magic like Zatanna and if Zachary was part of the team, we would probably see more of Zatanna – which would be great.

One problem I do have though, is if he does exist in this universe - why didn’t Zatanna move in with his parent(s) (her aunt or uncle) when her father became the host for Doctor Fate.

Of course, that could just be because in season one they had never intended for him to exist in the show, but now things have changed. 

And in Season 2, we were given no indication that Beast Boy had been with the Doom Patrol or that they had died tragic deaths in between the time his mother died and when he joined the team. So yeah....

Zachary is a likely candidate to be added, especially in regard to Zatanna have multiple protégés (or at least 2). 

     Rachel Roth/Raven 

Unlike Starfire, Raven’s main story arc involving Trigon doesn’t really relate to what has been going on in Young Justice so far. Nonetheless, it seems very likely she’ll be included - given the popularity of TT, plus Nightwing, Beast Boy, and Cyborg being prominent characters. 

Raven  shouldn’t be limited by the existence of Trigon; as you easily have Raven in a story, without Trigon being front and center, in my opinion. And, it would be nice seeing other storylines involving Raven that don’t include Trigon, or at least not having him be a major factor.

There’s nothing specific that makes me think Raven will be introduced in Season 4, but –

She could definitely be Zatanna’s new protégé or at least one of them. And, while in the comics Zatanna and Raven haven’t always gotten along – there’s no reason that has to be the case in YJ. Plus, in Bombshells, Raven is Zatanna’s pseudo/adopted daughter.

Though, I think Raven being the protégé of Doctor Fate might work a bit better. 

Also, in regard to my personal theory that magic will become more prominent, Raven would be a great way to go about doing that, especially with her wide range of powers and abilities. 

While, I don’t think a story needs Trigon to have Raven – her being the daughter of one of the great evils of the universe, could certainly be a bonding element for her and the other heroes who also have supervillain relatives. 

Plus, Raven being the portal to Trigon (this seemingly unstoppable force) could be something interesting to explore in regards to Darkseid’s and the Light’s plans. Maybe Darkseid and the Light would perceive Raven as a major threat and want to get rid of her and perhaps even the good guys would also see her as a threat that needs to be stopped. 

There’s just so much that YJ could do with Raven. And while I would love for her a main or secondary character, I think she could be an interesting neutral party or a single-episode character. 

--

There are many other magical characters that could be introduced to YJ, but it feels silly to list a whole bunch of characters, just because they have magic. 

Part V: Random Characters

     Rose Wilson/Ravager and Joe Wilson/Jericho

Two of Deathstroke’s children who operate as heroes. I can see a lot being done with these two in YJ, especially with Deathstroke being a member of the Light. They could potentially bond with the other characters who also have supervillain parents and maybe even bond with Tara over the terrible parenting skills of Deathstroke. .

     Natasha Irons/Steel aka Starlight aka Vaporlock

Natasha is the niece of John Henry Irons/Steel who had a very minor role in Season 3, but nonetheless was introduced to the audience. In addition, Natasha has been associated with Infinity Inc, Lex Luthor’s group of “superheroes” who were also introduced in Season 3.

And while I could be mistaken, as I don’t know much about her, when she was part of Infinity Inc., she was injected with a serum that unlocked her meta-gene, giving her powers.

Natasha could possibly be introduced in Season 4, as a lot of the elements to her story, are already part of Young Justice. 

Green Lanterns

I think there’s a decent chance of us meeting a new Green Lantern, especially a younger one - as they would be a member of the Covert Team or the Outsiders. 

     Jessica Cruz/Green Lantern 

She's recently been popularized or at least introduced to many fans through the show DC Superhero Girls (2019) and I think if there was a combination of that version and her comic book counterpart – you could have a really compelling character for YJ. 

In the comics, Jess suffers from extreme anxiety, which is such an interesting and unique folly for a Green Lantern to have. And, I just think there’s a lot of story potential to be explored in that dilemma. 

     Keli Quintela/Teen Lantern

From what I’ve seen of Keli, I think she could be a fun addition. Just for the sheer fact that she uses the Green Lantern power completely different than every other Lantern we’ve seen – that alone is enough reason for her to be added.

     Kyle Raynor

One of the major Green Lanterns of DC. Like the two ladies above, there’s nothing specific with what we’ve been given so far in YJ to indicate he’ll be included, but I just think because of his status among fans, if the show was to introduce another GL – he has a decent shot.

     Vic Sage/Question

Since Season 1, I thought Question would be a great addition to the hero side – as the typical conspiracy stuff he obsesses over and discovers to be true, actually does align with what The Light has consistently been doing.

In general, he would be a fun character to add. Also, if we’re thinking of potential new protégés - Vic Sage could be the current Question and there could be a young (or at least somewhat young) Renee Montoya - under his care/tutelage. Or Renee could just be Question - either works for me.

I loved Question in JLU and would love to see him again.

Finally,

Wally West/ Kid Flash (former)

I think there’s a very good chance we’ll see the return of Wally in Season 4. Especially since Season 3 left us with many little hints that he’s not really dead.

Also, in regards to the idea that the tagline of “Phantoms” could be about the team’s personal ghosts haunting them, well Wally is a ghost for many of our characters - so that fits rather perfectly.

Or, maybe he ended up in the Phantom Zone. Or if ‘Phantoms’ is referring to more literal ghosts, even that still works in regards to Wally, as he’s presumed dead. Or maybe, he was jumped through time and somehow ended up in the 31st century (w/ the Legion of Super-Heroes). 

Maybe I’m wrong, but it just seems very likely Wally will be returning.

--

And now we’re finally done. 

As I’ve mentioned before, this is just my own speculation and I’m sure I’ve missed several characters. Also, I obviously don’t think all of these characters will be introduced in Season 4, but to me they all have somewhat of a chance. 

And yeah...that’s it. 

I hope you enjoyed this extremely long list of characters who I think could be introduced in Season 4 of Young Justice. 

[ultrahpfan5blog]

Reflecting on Superman and Lois season 1

Now that the season is over, its interesting to look back at a very stop start season. Its very difficult for a show to hold your interest with the type of scheduling problems this show had, and in its very first season. When the show was announced, I wasn't terribly surprised but I was also not overly excited. There has been a lot of Superman and Superman adjacent material that has come out before and after the announcement so I did wonder about what they could do new. In addition, while I certainly liked Tyler in his guest appearances in Supergirl, in Elseworlds, and in Crisis, he did feel like the inferior Superman in Crisis when he was opposite Brandon Routh's Superman who really looked and felt like Superman, even better than he did in Superman Returns. However, once the trailer dropped, I was sold. It was clear that the show was going for something a lot more cinematic and a lot more grounded than the previous Arrowverse shows. I did have some apprehensiveness over the teenage boys angle because teenagers can become very stereotypically irritating in shows and given that a good chunk of time was going to be dedicated to them, it was going to be vital for them not be so.

Having finished the season, I have to say that the execs and the writers have pulled off an excellent first season. I don't think I would call it the best season 1 in the Arrowverse. I still love The Flash season 1 over any other Arrowverse season and while I haven't seen it in a while, I love Arrow season 1 as well. This may come at 2nd or 3rd place based on further reflection. I do think its has some issues when it comes to the villain storyline and with the big action set pieces, but the film's heart is set at the right place and the characters are all very likable and you want to see conversations between the characters. That's when you know that the writers are doing a good job when you almost feel that the show should go back to the character moments.

Firstly, the idea of a matured Superman is what works wonderfully well. There is something wonderful about seeing Clark and Lois as a couple who have known and loved each other for over a decade. Closer to two decades I guess. Characters don't quite look their age tbh. Lois would have to be in her early 40's at least. But I can honestly overlook that. Bitsie and Tyler were already a very likable couple in Elseworlds and the show has just used that natural chemistry to brilliant effect. But the big relief was that Jordan Elsass and Alex Garfin are excellent as Jonathan and Jordan. I was initially a little worried that Jordan could be a little much, but both of them were excellent and one of the highlights of the season was the bond between the two brothers. Jordan and Jonathan have conflicts but they are brothers and they love and support each other unconditionally.

Jonathan could have so easily been the douchey, jealous brother but Elsass is honestly one of the mvp's of the season. You really care for Jonathan, even though he arguably has a slightly less meaty role in the story. I think Bitsie Tulloch is outstanding all season. She has shot up very high among all my favorite Lois Lanes. She's very different from the other versions and that makes her stand out. One of my favorite episodes was episode 8, which deals with Lois dealing with memories of her miscarriage along with almost losing Jonathan. She is excellent in that episode as is Elsass. Tyler is wonderful throughout. He's a strong Superman but his Clark is even more endearing. Little things like him being so psyched for the Harvest Festival, how he plays young Clark in flashbacks as someone distinctly different, him meeting Lois and working with her for the first time, the adorable "my mom made it" moment when Superman first saves a kid etc... He just embodies everything you know and love from the character. Wole Parks is another terrific addition. Initially you think he's an alternate version of Lex Luthor but it was genius idea to have him actually be John Henry Irons. There was something innately likable about him even when he was fighting Superman and we thought he was Lex. I loved how they handled the dynamic of being Lois' husband in another world and having a daughter. It makes for an interesting dynamic but it never gets into problematic territory because he is mature enough to know that this Lois isn't his Lois, but they also show his difficulty in dealing with that. I liked the bond he seemed to be forming with Jonathan. And I liked how he came along to be an ally with Superman.

The Cushings are ok. They play an important part in the season with Sarah Cushing being Jordan's love interest and Kyle being a big part of the how the villain story begins, with Lana also being a major character in the story. All three actors are excellent but Kyle does have the stereotypical doucheyness which was a little annoying for the first 10 episodes, however he does redeem himself in the final arc. I hope Lana gets to be a bit more active in the show because she does feel like a bit passive as a character. However, I did find that Sarah and Jordan romance actually pretty cute. Both actors did a nice job making them feel like awkward teenagers, dancing around their feelings for each other. Sam Lane is another character who starts out pretty unlikable but I warmed up to him by the end.

Where I think the show doesn't really work at full strength is the superheroic aspect of the show. The character drama in the show is great. I think it works gangbusters. The superhero plot of it all is a little meh. While Adam Rayner is perfectly fine as Edge/Tal-Rho, as a character he's just not that interesting. There is an interesting perspective there that he's sort of a mirror image to Clark where he got mistreated by people when he landed on Earth and that is how his worldview shaped that way, and he longed for family, but there isn't enough done on a character level with him. As a result, the last third of the season was a little iffy. The whole, build Krypton on Earth felt like a variation of Zod's plot in Man of Steel. The method is different but the eventual outcome is the same. I also don't know why all Kryptonians, apart from Lara, are homicidal maniacs, when they are said to be a peaceful race. The arc also becomes repetitive because there are like three climaxes. And I feel the finale was the weakest climax of the lot. Episode 10 or 12 would have served as better finales with a little tweaking. If I remember correctly, the original order was for 13 episodes and it got extended to 15, so this might be an explanation to why it feels this way. The action is fairly by the numbers. While it looks like there is clearly more money on display here than say for Supergirl or The Flash, the action scenes aren't particularly exciting or inventive.

While I am not super high on the finale, I am mostly happy with how things wrapped up. I think they should have had Tal-Rho die tragically because I really don't think he's interesting enough to be brought back again. The arrival of Natalie Irons will surely be a source of some emotionally charged scenes. i hope there is some character bonding between the her and the brothers. Jonathan seemed pretty interested in meeting her when he saw videos of her. I do wonder how the show will continue to incorporate Smallville as a setting. Season 1 obviously had a very specific plot based reason to be in Smallville, given Edge's plot was based in Smallville. But I can't imagine every big bad will have Smallville based plot. But the characters are all settled in Smallville, with the Cushings and Lois buy half the Gazette and running it with Christy. So that's going to be an interesting balancing act that they have to do. I hope they can bring in some traditional superheroics as well because Superman rogues gallery is rich enough. Out of the episodes, I think 6-8 were my favorites, and the flashbacks in episode 11 were incredibly charming. While the season is not flawless I don't think it completely nailed the superheroic heights that it was aiming for, it was a really entertaining season of tv. An 8/10 for me.

[dimensiontripperhibiki]

The End Is Where We Begin (6/?)

Couple of notes before this chapter starts: As always, thanks for all of the comments/reviews/messages etc. I really appreciate them. For what is quickly becoming a constant disclaimer: No love triangles in this. It may also seem like I take the focus away from Kara and toward Lena this chapter but as mentioned, I just feel like Lena deserves more focus at the minute. The OC storylines do also tie directly into Lena’s, of course. Anyway, hope you enjoy! :) Nia tapped her foot nervously against the floor as the seconds ticked endlessly by. She’d gotten to Obsidian North far too early and much to her surprise she’d found Lena already in the waiting area. They’d yet to say a word to each other and Lena had only briefly glanced up when Nia had made her way over to sit next to her. Finally, Nia cleared her throat. “Lena, about what I said…” “No.” Lena interrupted firmly. “We’re not doing that.” “Right.” Nia swallowed nervously. She fell silent for a moment, glancing toward the door in hopes that she’d see Kara coming through it. “It’s just that I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about what I was asking. I wasn’t accusing you of anything.” “It didn’t seem like that from where I was standing.” Lena replied coldly. “I believe you mentioned a kryptonite ring?” “I didn’t say a kryptonite ring,  I said it was a green ring...which looked like kryptonite.” Nia turned in her seat to face Lena. “I don’t know what it was I saw. That’s what I’m trying to find out. I was only asking you if you knew anything about i-”

You asked me if I was making a weapon to kill Supergirl!” Lena whisper yelled, trying not to draw attention to them. “That sounds a lot like an accusation t-”

“I’m here! I’m so sorry I’m late. I got here as fast as I could!” Lena looked up to see Kara standing there, looking windswept and out of breath. “I take it you flew here...on a bus?” Kara grimaced. “Not one of my finest moments. Here, I brought your coffee, just the way you like it.” Lena looked down at the coffee that was held out to her and stared at it for a moment before she gave a slight shake of her head. “I just had a cup. Let’s get this over with, shall we? Kelly said we could go up when we’re ready.” “Okay, I…” Kara trailed off as Lena turned on her heel and walked away. She sighed, her shoulders slumping. After Lena had stayed over at her apartment a couple of nights ago, Kara was hoping that Lena’s anger toward her was starting to ease. “I thought things were getting better between us.” Nia plucked the coffee from Kara’s hand as they started walking and took a long sip, “She’s angry with me. I may have...said some things to her and there were some misunderstandings and...well we can talk about it later. She waited for you, you know.” “What?” “I’ve been here half an hour. She’s been here longer.” Nia explained quietly as they walked. “She could have gone to the room with Kelly whenever she wanted but she didn’t. She waited until you got here. Maybe things are getting better between the two of you. It just takes some time.” “Thanks, Nia.” “Not that I’m saying that justifies the fact that you told Lena instead of telling Alex.” Nia said, earning herself a pointed look from Kara. “I know I’m not supposed to talk about it but you really really need to tell her, Kara.” “I think we may have found something we agree on.” Lena knocked on Kelly’s door and turned to face Kara. “You’ll need support.” “I have you and Nia.” Kara said meekly. “I-I’m building myself up to it, okay? I’m going to tell her just not right now. We should know for sure first, right? Lena still thinks there’s a chance we could find a way around it. Don’t you?” Lena didn’t have time to answer before Kelly opened the door and gestured for them to enter. “We don’t have much time before Andrea gets back.” Kelly said as she closed the door behind them. “An hour at most but you can have the room until then. I’ll show you what to do with everything.” Nia nodded and followed Kelly across the room, leaving Kara and Lena behind. “So...how have you been?” Kara asked awkwardly. “I haven’t seen you for the past few days. I was worried when you cancelled our meeting the other day.” “I didn’t see any need for us to meet before today. I can’t do anything with the information I have at the moment.” Lena replied. There was a beat of silence before she spoke again. “How have you been?” “Good. Fine.” Kara answered with a small smile. “You know how it is.” Lena nodded though she was sure that wasn’t true. “Has Nia spoken to you about the dream she had?” “What dream?” “We’re all set here.” Kelly interrupted them before Lena had a chance to respond. “If you both take a seat I’ll get things started and then I’ll wait outside in case you need me for anything.” “Thanks, Kelly.” Kara said grateful as she crossed the room to the seat Kelly had indicated to her. “I know this isn’t exactly a normal thing for me to ask of you but I really appreciate it.” “Anything for Alex’s little sister.” Kelly said with a small smile as she moved towards the door leading out the room. She glanced back around for a moment before leaving. She had no doubt that Nia could navigate Kar and Lena through the memories but she couldn’t help wonder what was so important that Kara couldn’t just tell Lena verbally. 

Nia waited for the door to close before turning her attention to the two other people in the room. “Ready when you are.”

Kara nodded slowly, taking a deep breath as she readied herself for what she was about to see. If she was right, she should see everything the monitor showed her and Nia last time. “I’m ready. Lena?”

“Let’s do it.’” Lena took a deep breath, unsure what she was about to see. From what Kara had said it sounded like hell. 

“Okay.” Nia  turned to the computer at her side, pressing the button Kelly had told her to press once they were ready. “Three, Two, One. Activate the lenses now.”

Lena leaned back against the chair before activating the Obsidian lenses, not surprised to see the world around her fade away into whiteness with only Kara staying. The world around her looked like nothing more than a void with emptiness in every direction she looked. “This is creepy.”

“Can you hear me?” 

“We can hear you, Nia!” Kara yelled. She experimentally jumped, landing on the nothingness at her feet again. She glanced around, frowning slightly as nothing appeared. She thought the memories would have started to appear right away. “So how do I start the memory?”

“You need to think about it as hard as you can. Once it appears you won’t need to concentrate as much but you’ll lose connection with me.” Nia’s voice exclaimed, echoing around them like she was in all directions. “I’ll keep monitoring your bodies in the real world to make sure you’re both okay.”

“Okay! Thanks Nia.” Kara replied. She turned to Lena and offered her hand, lowering her voice slightly as if that would keep Nia from hearing her. “Just to make sure we don’t get separated.” “I don’t think that’s possible when we’re in your memories.” Lena pointed out. She relented at the disappointed look on Kara’s face, placing her hand into the blonde’s. Warm fingers closed around her own. “Just to be safe.” Kara smiled softly at the response and closed her eyes, thinking back to everything she saw thanks to the monitor. All of the timelines where everyone she knew were vaporised by the anti-matter, flames burning the world she called her home. Again.

Lena flinched as she suddenly started to see Kara’s memories around her. She watched in horror as different timelines played out in front of her, hiding her fear behind a stoic facade so Kara wouldn’t realise. She had hoped Kara might have been mistaken about what she saw but that wasn’t the case. She watched more than ten timelines where the entire universe was swallowed by a thick crimson wave. She had even seen herself vanish into nothingness before her eyes, a sight she thought would have troubled her much more than it actually did.

Kara opened her eyes, not surprised to see the timelines she had already seen before playing out once more but something felt different this time. She wasn’t sure if it was because Lena was with her or if they were using a different method to see the coming crisis but something left strange. She turned to the only other person there, surprised to see a stoic expression on Lena’s face. She had thought that Lena might have been troubled by what she was seeing. “Lena?”

“One moment.” Lena squeezed Kara’s hand. As far as she could tell the wave always came from the same direction in the universe, destroying planets like Mars and Jupiter before it reached Earth. She saw her own death again, saw Kara desperately flying toward her, tears tracking their way down her cheeks as she tried to get to Lena before the crimson wave engulfed both of them. Lena in turn reached back, her hope of trying to find a way to stop the wave given up on. Their fingers barely brushed before the wave engulfed them again. 

Kara turned around sharply, a cold shiver creeping up her spine as she sensed something. She wasn’t sure what it was and she was sure she didn’t feel it the last time they viewed the timelines but something scared her. Feeling Lena’s hand leave her own she turned around, hoping for the reassurance of seeing Lena still standing with her in the memory. She flinched, barely having time to process that Lena wasn’t there anymore before a pale towering man in strange armour similar to the Monitor’s lunged at her, his hand covering her face before everything went black.

“You saw all this all last time, right?” Lena inquired as she turned around. Her heart plummeted when she found no trace of the Kryptonian. She’d realized that Kara had let go of her hands a few seconds ago but she hadn’t thought anything of it. “Kara? KARA?!”

---

Nia jumped, bouncing up off her seat as Kara’s body suddenly started to thrash around in the chair. There’d been no movement from her for at least 10 minutes. She’d seemed perfectly calm a second ago. Nia surged forward, noticing blood trailing from Kara’s nose. “KELLY, HELP!! I need help here!”

Kelly rushed back into the room she was guarding, gasping in shock as she spotted Nia barely able to hold Kara down. “What happened?!”

“I don’t know! She was fine just a moment ago then she just started seizing!” Nia exclaimed in panic, trying as best she could to hold Kara down. She shuddered as she glanced up, unnerved by the sight of blood on her face. Kryptonians weren’t meant to bleed. Kara was invincible. “What do we do?!”

“We need to wake the-” Kelly froze, trailing off as Nia suddenly pulled her back, a beam of heat flying out of Kara’s eyes as she continued to thrash. She gasped, ducking low to avoid the heat vision. “Kara is Supergirl?!”

“SHH!” Nia turned quickly towards Kelly in panic, trying her best to hold Kara in place. It felt like she was trying to hold down a group of ten men all by herself. “You need to wake them up, we’ll talk about this later.”

Kelly nodded quickly and moved to the computer. She pushed aside the many questions she had, shoving the chair out of the way of the computer before she quickly shut down the system. She jumped as Lena suddenly sat up, gasping for air before deactivating the lenses. The moment the system was powered down Kara stopped thrashing, her arm slumping down by her side.

“What are you doing? It wasn’t finished!” Lena exclaimed in annoyance. Seeing Kelly’s wide eyed stare, she looked toward Kara and gasped at the sight of blood on her face. “What happened to her?!” “I-I don’t know.” Nia slowly lifted herself up off of Kara. “She started seizing in the middle of the session.” “Move.” Lena lightly pushed Nia back as she got up from her seat. “She shouldn’t be bleeding. This isn’t right. Kara?” she gently placed her hand on Kara’s cheek. “Kara, can you hear me?” There was a beat of silence as the three conscious women held their breath before Kara groaned, her brow furrowing. “What happened…?” She mumbled, lifting her hand to her head. Lena let out a sigh of relief and moved a couple of steps away to let Nia take her place at Kara’s side. Her knees trembled beneath her. “She’s okay.” “How do you feel?” Nia gently helped Kara into a sitting position. “I’m okay. I think.” Kara replied, her eyes shifting briefly toward Lena. “What happened?” “We were hoping you could tell us.” Nia answered, taking the box of tissues Kelly offered her. “You started seizing and then you were bleeding.” “I was?” Kara’s brow furrowed as Nia gently dabbed at her face with the tissue. When it came away red with blood, she blinked in surprise. “Weird. I don’t remember. Lena?” Lena stiffened as three pairs of eyes turned to her. “You were there one second and then you disappeared. After that I was pulled out. I think I saw most of what I needed to see though.” “Good.” Kara wiped at her nose with the tissue Nia gave her. “Um, Kara…” Nia nodded toward the hole in the wall opposite. “You used your powers when you were under.” Kara stared at Nia for a moment before her eyes widened in realization. “Oh. Oh. Kelly, I’m so sorry about your office. I’ll fix it, I swear. I’m sorry we didn’t tell you, it’s just...it’s a dangerous secret. Please don’t be mad at Alex.” “It’s okay. I do think we need to tell Alex about what happened though.” “Agreed.” Nia piped up, shooting Kara a meaningful look. “Kelly.” Lena spoke before the three could start bickering. “Um...bathroom?” “Down the hall on the left.” Kelly pointed toward the door and Lena nodded, heading in that direction. Kara watched Lena grasp the doorframe briefly on her way out of the room. “I’ll be right back.” She said, getting up. “Kara.” Nia warned. “I’ll be right back.” Kara repeated herself before she hurried after Lena. She was relieved that she wasn’t feeling any aftereffects at least. She found Lena standing a few feet down the hall near the wall, stooped over with her hands on her knees. “Lena?” Lena looked up, surprised to see Kara walking toward her. “I’m fine.” “Alright.” Kara stopped next to Lena and reached out to gently rest a hand against her back. She listened as Lena let out a hitched breath. “Did you see it?” Lena nodded. “I saw you die in every scenario. The only difference was the timeline where you died first.” “Everybody else lived.” “I’m not giving up.” Lena’s voice was firm when she spoke this time, her voice a far cry from the stuttery mumble it had been a moment ago. She straightened up, locking eyes with Kara. “I won’t give up until I’m forced to.” Kara offered a small smile. “I know. Thank you, Lena. For everything you’re doing for me. Everything you’ve done. I wish there was some way I could…” “Come on, Kara.” Nia interrupted as she walked down the hallway. “We’re going to the DEO to have Alex check you over. You’re outvoted, two to one.” “I suppose that’s your cue.” Lena murmured as Kara sighed in defeat. “I’ll see you later.” “Yeah? I mean yeah! Of course you’ll see me later. I’ll be there. As soon as you want me to be.” Kara offered a wave as Nia nudged her toward the stairs.

---

Lena rubbed her neck, grimacing in pain as she made her way down the hallway to her apartment. She’d been working since early that afternoon, having spent most of the morning with Kara. Her experience that morning, coupled with the overwhelming workload of that afternoon had her more tense than she thought possible. She assumed that was the reason she let out a startled scream when she turned the corner to find someone sitting outside of her apartment door. “It’s just me!” Hisa quickly scrambled to her feet, her eyes wide in alarm. She held up her hands to show Lena she meant no harm. “I kind of broke into the building but I figured it would be rude to just go into your apartment uninvited.” Lena let out a breath, slowly relaxing. “So you figured you would sit out here in the dark hallway and give me a heart attack when I arrived?” “Well...no. Okay, maybe it wasn’t the best idea.” Hisa paused as Lena walked to the door, unlocking it. “I wanted to apologise for what I did.” “Okay.” Lena entered her apartment, expecting Hisa to follow her. “Which part? The part where you threw me over the balcony or the part where you left me alone in the middle of the street in my pyjamas?” "All of the above?” Hisa gripped the doorframe of Lena’s apartment. “Can I come in?” Seeing Lena beckon her inside, Hisa quickly entered, closing the door behind her. “In my defense, I threw myself over the balcony too. And I wouldn’t have left you if you hadn’t been safe. I knew that Supergirl was there to deal with those aliens.” “So you know what they are.” Lena moved away from the door, having slipped off her shoes and coat. “Why did you run away?” “Supergirl isn’t my favourite person.” Hisa answered honestly as she followed Lena. “And honestly, I don’t think I would be hers.” Lena stopped and turned back to Hisa, her brow furrowing when she noticed her bruised eye. “What happened to your eye?” “Oh, just from that night.” Hisa answered, unconsciously touching her eye. “No, it’s not.” Lena frowned, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “You didn’t have that when we got away from those aliens. What happened?” “I didn’t say it was the aliens. My boss...the woman you thought was my girlfriend, wasn’t happy with me when I got back home. She’s staying with me at the minute. Kind of. I was meant to be doing something for her and I guess I just got sidetracked. It was my own fault.” “It was your own fault that she hit you? Of course it isn’t. Are you okay?” Hisa shrugged her shoulders. “I can take a beating.” Lena stared at Hisa for a moment, noticing her slumped shoulders and downcast eyes. “Do you want a drink?” Hisa managed a small smile as she looked back up. “I would love one.” Lena nodded and headed for the kitchen to pour them both a glass of wine. “In exchange I want you to tell me what you know about those aliens who attacked me. You obviously know what they are.” Hisa lifted herself up onto a stool with a slight wince. “I don’t know what they are. Only that they’re aliens and I only know that because they look all alien-like, you know? So I guess really what I’m doing is assuming they’re aliens.” “What did Supergirl do to you to make you dislike her?” “Nothing.” Hisa took the wine Lena offered her with a mumbled thanks. “I don’t really want to talk about it. The two of you seemed pretty cozy though.” “I’m sorry?” “I stuck around for a few minutes to make sure you were okay.” Hisa smiled apologetically. “You seem to know Supergirl pretty well. You know with the...hugging?” “I don’t know her that well.” Lena said softly, her gaze flicking away from Hisa’s. She took a sip of her wine. “Where are you from? You didn’t tell me.” “I’m from Earth. I was born here.” Hisa smirked at the confused look on Lena’s face. “My mother lived on a planet near Krypton before war broke out there and she had to flee. My dad was a human, who she met on earth. Technically I’m only half alien.” “Was?” Lena echoed. She noticed a flicker of pain cross Hisa’s face and instantly wished she hadn’t asked. “Sorry, that’s far too personal. I suppose I’m just naturally inquisitive.” “It’s okay.” Hisa answered softly, forcing a small smile to her lips. “He’s dead. He died when I was young. An accident.” She cleared her throat. “And your mother?” Lena asked softly. “In a care facility. After my dad, my mom met someone else. He wasn’t a good guy and now she’s...well…” Hisa paused for a moment, struggling to speak. “She got sick and he didn’t want to deal with her.” “We don’t have to talk about it.” Lena reached out, placing her hand lightly atop Hisa’s. “Listen, why don’t you stay here tonight?” Hisa blinked at Lena. “Seriously? Even after I ditched you?” Lena scoffed. “I’m not a monster. I made you talk about something you obviously don’t like reliving and now you’re upset so I don’t want to send you back to your actual monster of a boss. Assuming that’s where you’d be going.” “Guilty.” Hisa replied with a small smile. “Are you sure you don’t mind?” “I’m sure.” Lena drained her glass and set it down on the counter. “Come on, I’ll show you to the guest room.” ----- “I got shots!” Alex looked up, raising an eyebrow as Kara walked over to the table with a tray in her hands. “What happened to a ‘couple’ of drinks?” “Come on, Alex. Lighten up. You need to have fun. Right, Kelly?” “Right.” Kelly smiled and lightly nudged Alex’s side. “You deserve to let loose a little.” “You know I’m right.” Kara sat down next to Nia, opposite Alex and Kelly. “We can’t spend all our time working. Who knows how much more time we have to spend like this...before we’re too busy.” Nia cleared her throat and when Kara looked at her she raised her eyebrows. “What’s going on with the two of you?” Alex asked curiously as Kara shook her head. “You’re acting secretive. Is there something we should know?” “You worry too much.” Kara handed Alex her drink. “Drink up.” “You’re not drinking?” Kelly asked as she took the shot Kara offered her. “Oh, uh...I don’t drink much.” Kara answered with a sheepish smile. “I’m a bit of a lightweight. Just ask Alex.” “It’d be less than an hour before she was dancing on the tables.” Alex said in agreement with Kara. “And this place is nice. We don’t want to be barred on our first visit.” Kara picked up her orange juice and held it up. “To friends. May we always keep each other going, no matter what.” “To friends.” Alex, Nia and Kelly echoed, clinking their shot glasses against Kara’s pint glass. Nia quickly took her shot, grimacing slightly at the taste before she leaned into Kara. “Kara, you’re gonna have to say something.” “Not yet I don’t.” “She already suspects something is wrong.” Nia whispered. “How long can you keep this up?” “As long as I have to.” “But I…” “Seriously, what is going on with you two?” Alex’s question drew the attention of Kara and Lena. There was a hard edge of irritation to her voice and Kelly placed a soothing hand on her girlfriend’s arm. “You’ve been acting weird for weeks. Is there something you need to share?” Kara straightened up suddenly, looking around the bar. “I hear Lena.” Alex let out a heavy sigh. “You always hear Lena. Can we focus?” “No seriously, I hear her.” Kara said with a frown, holding her hand up. She would recognize that laugh anywhere. She leaned out of the booth they were sitting in, her eyes darting around the room in search of Lena. “Oh…” “Oh?” Alex turned around too, her brow furrowed in confusion until she saw where Kara was looking. “What the hell?” “Maybe it’s just a misunderstanding.” Kara said hastily as she watched Lena laugh at something the redhead with her was saying. “We don’t have the full story.” “Well let’s go and get it.” Alex stood up only for Kara to grab her wrist and tug her back. “Kara, you can’t be serious. Open your eyes, we can’t just ignore that she’s sitting there with someone who tried to kill you!” “She’s not trying to kill me.” Kara insisted quietly. “I know she’s not.” “Then it’s not going to be a problem if I ask her how she knows our friend over there. At the very least we need to deal with her.” Alex tugged her wrist free from Kara’s grip and headed toward the table Lena was sitting at. “Crap, crap, crap…” Kara muttered under her breath as she scrambled to follow her sister. This was just going to make things between herself and Lena so much more strained but she knew that Alex was right. They couldn’t ignore the woman who’d tried to kill her. “So what did your other Aunt do? She must have been just as pissed about you inviting your new girlfriend to live with you.” “Aunt Amelia was pissed. My other aunt just went out to buy more milk.” Lena almost choked on her sip of the cocktail she was drinking. “You’re kidding! MORE?” “It’s kind of her thing in un…” Hisa trailed off as Alex stopped at the table. “Uncomfortable situations. Shit.” As Hisa made to stand up, Alex grabbed her wrist to keep her where she was. “I wouldn’t if I were you.” Lena looked up in surprise. “Alex? What are you doing?” “I could ask you the same thing.” Alex replied, her gaze still fixed on Hisa. “Do you know who this is?” “Of course I do.” Lena replied, bristling at the accusation. Her gaze flicked toward Kara before settling back on Alex. “Would you mind unhanding her?” “It’s fine, Lena.” “It’s not fine.” Lena glared daggers at the side of Alex’s head but it went unnoticed. “What do you think you’re doing?” “I’m arresting a criminal.” Alex answered calmly. “She tried to kill Supergirl last week.” “What?” Lena looked taken aback by that and she looked to Hisa for an explanation. “Did you?” “Kind of.” Hisa grimaced slightly at the tightness of the grip of Alex’s fingers around her wrist. “Why?” “My boss is holding a grudge against Supergirl. Lena, if I don’t do what she says she’s gonna kill Itsuki.” Kara cleared her throat. “Who’s Itsuki?” “Her sister.” Lena answered softly. “That’s why you’re still working for her after she did this?” She gestured to Hisa’s black eye. “Because she has your sister somewhere. You could have told me, I could have helped you.” “I didn’t want you in danger because of me. Looks like that backfired.” Hisa closed her fingers into a fist, staring at Alex’s hand. “I can’t be arrested.” “You can and you are.” Alex disagreed irritably. “You tried to kill someone, what did you think would happen?” “You should know that I could snap your wrist before you even think about getting your cuffs out.” Hisa growled, rising slightly from her chair. “Hisa, stop it.” Lena stood up too, her gaze fixed on Hisa. “That’s not the way.” Hisa briefly looked toward Lena, her expression troubled before she nodded her head in agreement. “If you’re being blackmailed we can help you.” Kara said, trying to calm the situation before it got out of hand. “You just need to tell us who you’re working for. We’ll do everything we can to get your sister back for you.” Hisa stared at Kara for a moment before she looked at Lena. “Do you trust them, Lena?” Lena felt her heart sink at the question. She used to trust them. She had trusted Kara more than anyone else. She struggled with herself for a moment, weighing up Kara’s lies with how much Kara and Supergirl had done for her. Supergirl - Kara - had defended her and protected her on so many occasions and yet she still hadn’t been able to give Lena the truth. “I trust her.” Lena said softly. She cleared her throat and looked toward Kara, repeating herself. Firmer this time. “I trust her.” “Thank you.” Kara whispered, her chest tight. “I’ll come with you willingly.” Hisa sat back down to show that she wasn’t going to attack. “And I’ll tell you whatever it is you need to know. But I need a guarantee that you’ll help my sister. She’s innocent in all of this.” “You have my word.” Alex hesitated for a moment before she slowly released Hisa’s wrist. She glanced to her right, making eye contact with Nia. She nodded toward the doorway, silently asking Nia to follow her. “I’ll let you deal with this while I take...Hisa, was it? Back to the DEO.” “Got it.” Kara answered with a nod. She moved out of the way to let the redhead and Alex pass. “Lena.” Hisa lightly touched Lena’s arm on the way past. When Lena’s eyes met her own, she continued sincerely. “Nothing I’ve told you is a lie, I swear.” Lena was silent as Hisa was led away. With a sigh, she finally sank back down into her seat. “She’s not a bad person. She saved my life when I was attacked. She doesn’t deserve to be arrested.” “Lena, she had kryptonite. She almost killed me.” “So did I!” Lena exclaimed. She gritted her teeth at Kara’s confused expression. It was like Kara was ignoring the obvious. “The kryptonite canons? If I hadn’t stopped them they would have killed you.” “But you did stop them. And you weren’t the one who aimed them at me in the first place.” Kara sat down next to Lena, taking her hand. “You’re not evil. I know you’re not.” “What’s going to happen to Hisa? Will she be released tonight? I don’t want her to have to go back to her boss.” “She’ll be questioned by Alex and she’ll probably spend at least the night in a cell at the DEO.” Kara replied, gently squeezing the hand in her own, “After that I guess Alex will turn her over to the police.” “What?!” Lena recoiled as though Kara had slapped her. “You said you’d help her.” “We said we would help her save her sister.” Kara said slowly, confused by Lena’s sudden anger. “She still committed a crime. She damaged property, she hurt people. It’s not up to us to decide whether she’s guilty or not.” “Like hell.” Lena growled, getting to her feet. “That’s exactly what you’re doing by handing her over to the police. She’s not a criminal, Kara.” Kara quickly glanced around to make sure that nobody was listening in. “How do you know that? We have no idea who she is. How do you know she even has a sister?” “Because I know.” Lena insisted firmly. “She’s my friend and I…” She hesitated, briefly clenching her jaw. “I trust her. She’s been nothing but honest with me since I met her. She’s no more evil than I am.” “That isn’t for either of us to decide. Let’s talk about this outside, okay?” Kara stood up and brushed her fingers against Lena’s arm only to be irritably shrugged off. Sighing, she followed Lena quickly from the bar into the cool night air. “Listen, Lena. She needs to be held accountable for her actions.” “Why is that your decision?!” Lena stepped forward, irritation etched across her face. “Why do you get to choose who’s guilty and who’s not? Who can be trusted and who can’t?” “That’s not what this is about. This is my job. I don’t have a choice.” “There’s always a choice. You can choose not to see things in black and white for a change. You can choose to listen to what she has to say.” Lena pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead, struggling with herself before she made up her mind. She moved closer to Kara, her hand moving to lightly grip Kara’s at her side. “You can choose to trust me, if nothing else. Even if you don’t want to trust her, trust me.” “Lena, I…” Kara paused, her voice giving out on her. Her palm tingled with the light pressure of Lena’s hand. “I do trust you. But I can’t just let her go. You know I can’t do that.” “Then I suppose that makes both of us liars.” Lena wrenched her hand from Kara’s. “Wait, Lena. You have to understand, I…” Kara trailed off as Lena turned and walked away from her without another word. With an annoyed growl, she lashed out, the side of her fist colliding with the wall next to her. She cursed as the stone crumbled. “Crap, crap, crap…” Making a mental note to pay for the repair, she quickly turned and hurried away. Caught up in her worried thoughts she didn’t notice the woman watching her in concern from the corner of the street.

----- “I brought you breakfast...Hisa, right?” Hisa glanced up at the entrance to her cell and raised an eyebrow when she saw Dreamer standing in front of her. “Am I getting specialist treatment for being an informant? I thought I’d be referred to as Prisoner and have to eat mystery meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.” “We only serve the mystery meat on Thursdays,” Nia joked. She was met with a blank stare. “You saved my life, didn’t you?” Hisa shrugged her shoulders. “I plead the fifth. Why are you here anyway? Where’s the guy who was walking up and down the hallway earlier?” “Oh, I dismissed him. I wanted to speak to you. And give you breakfast, obviously.” “I’ll pass on both. I’m not in a very talkative mood. Unless you want to tell me that the director’s planning to let me go soon. In that case, I’ll listen to you all you want.” “I can’t promise that.” Nia glanced anxiously up and down the hallway. Technically she wasn’t meant to be speaking to the prisoner but she wanted to be sure before she approached Kara with her suspicions. The last thing Kara needed was more stress. “You used kryptonite on Supergirl when you fought her.” “My asshole boss used kryptonite on Supergirl when she fought her.” Hisa corrected with a sigh. “I can’t even touch the stuff. Bad reactions.” “What kind of reactions?” Nia asked curiously. She was aware that Alex had managed to find out that the woman in front of her was an alien and that she was being blackmailed. “Bad rashes. Really itchy.” Nia frowned at the dry response. “Why did you save me?” “You’re real insistent, huh?” Hisa asked with a roll of her eyes. “I’m not in the business of letting innocent people die.”  “Dreamer! Uh...Miss Dreamer?” “Dreamer is fine.” Nia looked up to see the dark haired DEO agent she’d spoken to earlier walking down the hallway toward her. “Is everything okay?” “Is this yours?” “Wha…?!” Nia trailed off as something was shoved under her nose. She instinctively inhaled as she went to take a step back only for her head to spin. Black seeped into her vision and she reached out, trying to grab onto anything nearby. “What did you...do to…?” The agent quickly caught Nia before she could fall and he lifted her easily into her arms. “I’m gonna be in so much trouble for this.” He swiped the card for Hisa’s cell and waited for her to leave the cell before carefully putting Nia down. “I’m sorry. So, so sorry.” “Raven!” Hisa hissed, glancing up and down the hallway. “Stop apologising and get out here. We need to go.” Raven reluctantly left the cell, locking it again. “She should be okay. I just knocked her out. Come on, let’s go.” “How did you disable the security?” Hisa whispered as she followed close behind him. She stopped as he held up his hand. “I ‘accidentally’ spilled coffee on the console. Nobody suspected it was intentional.” Raven answered. “Hold your hair up.” He waited until Hisa did as she was asked before he took off his DEO issue cap and put it on her head. He shrugged off his jacket too and handed it to her. “Let’s move fast.” Hisa nodded and took a deep breath. She kept her head down as she quickly followed him through the main room of the DEO. She didn’t dare look up, too worried that she would find Alex staring right at her. Finally they emerged outside through the fire escape and Hisa took a relieved breath. “You have to go. It won’t be long until they notice.” “What? You’re coming with me.” “I’m not, I have to stay here.” “Why?! You’ve been made, there’s no point in you not coming with me. I can’t help Itsuki by myself. Don’t be an idiot!” “You can and you will.” Raven insisted, lightly pushing her away. “Hurry. I can at least keep them off your track if I stay here.” Hisa gritted her teeth. “I’m coming back for you.” “I know that.” Raven grinned as she turned and began to walk down the steps. “Hisa? Give the bastards who kidnapped our sister hell, alright?” Hisa didn’t have time to answer before Raven ducked back into the building. “Looks like I have a Green Lantern to find…” TBC

[ffwriteradvisor]

Character skill sets

Obviously, you don’t really want a character that brings nothing to the table. On the other hand, a character who can do anything and everything so good that they can compete with deities dedicated to the subject of the day is often too much for the average reader to believe. There’s also a matter of how well the skills mesh together in practice, the amount of variety brought to the table, the difference between a developed skill and a mere talent, the nature of the skills - are they the sort of thing that anyone can develop or are they based on some inherent trait? - and how age and life experience plays into building a character’s ‘resume’.

It’s, as you can tell by the small laundry list I just rattled off, a tricky business.

Good news - there aren’t any hard and fast rules to giving characters skills. There are some guidelines and you’ll often find yourself playing by ear to see if your latest take strikes a sour note or not, but there are only a few ways to really do it wrong and, even then, there’s ways to salvage it.

But let’s focus on the points I listed already.

Let’s Play ‘Pick The Protagonist’ - (The Problem Of The Unique Protagonist Asset)

How many stories have you watched or read where the main character has a special, one-of-a-kind ability that makes them stand out above all the other characters in the story?

The answer is probably ‘a lot’. It can take the form of a one-in-a-million power, a sacred sword that only allows one hand to wield it, a legacy passed down over the ages... there’s a lot to work with here.

There’s nothing wrong with doing that with your protagonist. It’s probably one of the better reasons for dragging a random person into the plot - if you’re the only person who can stop the end of the world because the anti-Doomsday weapon decided that it lives in your hand now, there’s not a lot you can do about it. But there’s also something to be said for a protagonist that doesn’t have a grand destiny giving him a fair shot at victory just by merit of existing.

Plus, like. There’s also logistical issues to deal with. So let’s address those.

Depending on the story or fandom that you’re working on, a unique protagonist asset isn’t feasible. Sometimes because such things don’t exist in-universe (One Piece would be a good example of a series where literally the only thing you need to be a contender is a will to succeed and a boat, though I guess you could consider Conqueror’s Haki or a Devil Fruit ability ‘unique assets’...), but sometimes it’s just because the canon main character of the story you’re writing for already has that asset on lock.

There are ways around the second - you can kill off the original guy and take their place through reincarnation as said-guy, plot erasure of the guy (just flat-out make it so he doesn’t exist, it’ll be fine), or just being a convenient runner-up who happens to meet the bare minimum requirements to be the guy.

You can also shoehorn your OC into position to turn the Chosen Uno into the Chosen Duo, though this path of action doesn’t have the best reputation historically thanks to the influence of the Dread Mary-Sue on fandom culture (I’ll be posting an article about that eventually), or change the story to make room for a large range of potential Chosen - this one specifically can allow for an added plot aspect, because suddenly there’s competition to achieve the final goal and complete the quest for whatever.

And on that subject, let’s jump to our next point!

The Problem With Superman (and how to challenge the man who has everything) 

Now, there’s no shortage of characters who, quite simply, are written to be good at everything - sometimes not even just good, but the very best ever. No, I’m not talking specifically about the Dread Mary-Sue, though the archetype associated with that term does often come with such a description. This is a pitfall just about anyone can fall into, irrespective of age, gender, background, or the originality of the work in question, even if the most blatant forms of it seem pretty easy to avoid.

Most writers know better than to make one character good at everything, but you get exceptions fairly regularly. Batman writers, for one, have a tendency to assume that Batman knows everything there is to know and can defeat anyone on his own ‘given enough prep-time’. There’s also the fact that a fair few Superman stories often have to call on Kryptonians or Kryptonite to make the plot complicated enough that the solution of ‘just move really fast and take advantage of invulnerability to punch/move/freeze/melt the problem before bad thing happen’ doesn’t work.

Then you have the more subtle examples. Where a character isn’t good at ‘everything’... just everything relevant to the plot and what we see of the setting. A good way to pick out this is to look at a story and start removing characters. Remove the science guy, the spy, the sidekick... If you can shave the cast down to your Super-suspect without having to change any major or middling-size plot points, twists, and story beats or having to shift the difficulty level of the setting, you probably have a problem.

Obviously, this doesn’t work for every story, especially if they have a very small cast to begin with. There’s also the fact that most stories are built around emotional journey’s instead of ‘use x skill to get to y place at z time’. But a lack of difficulty or danger played completely straight is something of a warning sign if you’re working with a genre that requires that there be some manner of challenge in the story.

So, let’s take a look at some of the more specific issues with power distribution.

Equal Opportunity Asskicking vs. There Can Only One Chosen One In This Town (how common is power in the setting and how does that affect the plot)

Have you ever thought about how many series - video games in particular - have the protagonist solve all the problems they come across, even the ones that seem like the sort of thing any rando could handle? Especially when you have a big organization that could theoretically handle a few of these things without the protagonist being present for everything?

It’s often hand-waved as ‘they’re not strong enough to deal with it’, but why would that make sense? If the setting is so dangerous, why isn’t there more people operating at or above the protagonist’s power level without being a member of the primary cast herd? If there’s such a dangerous colony of animals on this island, why are these fragile citizens still living there? Why is this martial art that’s so powerful and useful so goddamn rare and special despite its utility? How did such a weak person climb so far up in an organization that seems to value the punchinating power of its employees above all else?

It doesn’t make sense.

This is a problem that plagues a lot of series with an emphasis on fighting. The average person becomes an alien creature as the protagonists and antagonists gain more and more power and take down bigger and bigger opponents. The ante keeps going up and the rest of the world stays down where it started, which... well. Doesn’t make sense.

Think about Dragon Ball for a moment. On the Earth of that series, how many people would you say represent any kind of physical threat to the protagonists or the antagonists at any point in the story? I’m not asking over the course of the story if Dragon Ball-era Goku could stand even half a chance against Cooler, but if you took a specific episode from like... oh, I don’t know, the Cell Saga, how many people on the planet at that time would stand a chance of surviving the events of said-episode if they were brought into the blast radius of the plot?

The number is probably in the low tens. And the fact that, even with a lifetime of training in setting, the best chance for a person in that setting to survive that specific scenario would be coming from ‘superior’ alien stock such as the Saiyans.

And Cell isn’t even the top of the danger totem pole in setting.

Going back to our previous example, One Piece is a fairly good example of how to handle this. There are many routes of power in the series - Devil Fruits, Haki, training, inherent species traits, and more are possible in terms of physical strength, but there is also value given to intelligence and the ability to strategize and create unconventional solutions. Even the ‘weakest’ member of the Straw Hat Pirates, Usopp, who has no Devil Fruit, species ability, mutations, or, alterations, and only one form of Haki (fairly recently awakened and not even one of the offensive utility variants), is able to keep up with the rest of the crew by having a variety of weapons and skills he has developed himself. There’s also the fact that people in the setting tend to be fairly well developed to the danger levels of their relative environments, either in terms of physical strength or having strategies to deal with the dangers around them.

It still suffers from the emphasis on combat before most else, which is common in Shonen, but it at least feels fairly balanced compared to some other series that have a similar approach to strength in setting.

Besides power distribution in a setting, there are other things to consider beyond combat applicable skills.

Combo Platters/The Five Basic Food Groups (the importance of variety and moderation)

There are different types of skills that you need to balance when making a character, both in terms of variety and rationing them out in a reasonable manner.

There are career skills (good for making money, but not overly relevant to day-to-day life), utility skills (cooking, cleaning, basic home repair, etc.), recreational skills (art, music, other specific skills that aren’t necessary for day-to-day activities but lack the immediate financial reliability of career skills), interpersonal skills, and combat skills (self-explanatory).

Obviously, different skills have different ‘weights’ in terms of plot impact. A fighting series probably won’t make much of a character’s house painting skills unless it has an impact on their combat skills (which is entirely possible depending on how the writer goes about it), but someone knowing how to use a sword at a high level means that they’ve got a lot of physical capability to quite literally cut through the competition.

If you need a combat skill for a character... well, I already dedicated a post to talking about that specific range of skills. You can also apply their non-combat related skills to their fights in a tertiary sense - a lack of primary offense can lead to unorthodox tactics to bridge the gap.

But other skills have their uses too. It can allow you to make use of your characters outside of a combat context, reveal things about their character that might not be immediately obvious from their appearance - not just their interests, but background as well, though I’ll cover that a little later in more detail -, and bring them into the orbit of other characters naturalistically. You can only have so many Crash Into Hellos before the charm wears off for the audience.

In giving your character skills, you need to balance those skills. Making a character a ‘master of combat’ who can use any weapon under the sun like a master doesn’t work without some kind of supernatural explanation - martial artists tend to specialize. I’m not saying that you can’t have a character with multiple weapons skills - there’s a lot of historical real-world precedence for that, actually, usually in the combination of ‘ranged/close range/mid-range’. But a lot of those multiple weapon sets tend to be in sets that cover the weaknesses of the other weapons - sword, bow, and spear cover different combat ranges and needs, and there are various martial arts that teach their students weapons handling in conjunction with unarmed skills.

A generic ‘swords skill’ is non-functional - there are many types of sword in the world, varied by their size, weight, shape, and intended use in combat. Some swords are intended more for stabbing, others for slashing, and while you have more than a few that can do both, there are some are simple not built to stand up to the stresses of the other style.

They Didn’t Cover This In Kindergarten! (why you need to tailor skill-sets to your character’s life experience and background)

Another thing that can affect the size, nature, and diversity of a character’s skill set is their age, life experience, and background.

You wouldn’t expect a character that comes from nobility to have any concept of how to street fight without some kind of explanation attached. The same rule applies in reverse - you wouldn’t expect a character living in the gutter to know the nuances of fine manners and etiquette of nobility without a good reason. Depending on the period, a person from the second background couldn’t even be expected to know how to read.

That’s not to say you can’t use those things, but you have to have some kind of structure to support those additions. Maybe your noble doesn’t have the spotless background most would expect from one of their station or, in another scenario, someone pulled a Prince and Pauper switch back in the day and then neglected to switch them back. Same with your gutter rat - maybe they’re a fallen noble, maybe someone made a go at pulling a Pygmalion with them before losing interest, or maybe they’re an autodidact (that is to say, self-taught).

The age of a character can also affect the width and breadth of their skill set pool. People don’t expect five year olds to know much about anything - their reading skills are just getting started, their language skills a bit rough around the edges, and their ability to prepare food is generally limited to toast and toast-adjacent goods like sandwiches.

On the other hand, an elderly character, while having plenty of time to collect lots of skills, may not be able to utilize all of them anymore or might have even forgotten enough of them to be counter productive.

My grandmother, over the course of her life, has worked at several jobs that had fuck all to do with each other. She was a carhop at a drive-in, worked at a grocery store, worked at a local medical factory, worked at a guitar factory assembling instruments long enough to have a hand in every part of the process along with possessing the know-how to design a thing to make winding strings (I might be miss-remembering her exact description of the thing) faster and safer (and then not getting paid or credited for it after the company started using it), and drove bus for several years. She also had all the skills of an at-home housewife, a professional upholsterer, unprofessional seamstress, knows how to treat and care for wood furniture, knows how to work with and maintain leather (not how to make it though), was a very good cook until her physical condition no longer allowed her to handle such tasks, was physically capable enough at one point in her life to help with construction on her own home, and was a good enough artist that she was given two separate opportunities to go to college for the subject back in the 50′s.

That’s a lot of stuff. Each career - including housewife, as there’s a lot of work involved in homemaking - might provide for three to five distinct skills, a few of which would be extremely specific to that particular career path.

On the other hand, a lot of these skills haven’t been used for decades, meaning that not only would she be extremely out of practice, her understanding in a certain field might be anywhere from thirty to sixty years out of date. There’s also the fact that her physical condition is very different from what it was back then, meaning that even the skills she remembers how to preform correctly might not be feasible thanks to her own body failing to cooperate.

The Humble Bundle (varied skill-sets that come from specific careers/backgrounds).

As I touched on in the previous section about how to select certain skills for a character based on life experience and backgrounds (admittedly based on variety + how time factors into it, but that’s the point of specific focus sections), we‘re going to take a closer look at ‘skill clusters’.

You don’t have to cluster all of the character’s skills - in fact, I suggest making sure that you don’t do that, unless the character is specifically a bit character who is there to perform a specific function rather than being a long-term fixture in your cast - but there are some that simply are more expedient to cluster and can sometimes boggle the mind if the character sometimes lack some of those vital skills.

Say you have a character who’s a trucker (or, if you’re working with fantasy/sci-fi, the local equivalent of). They’d probably know how to handle a few different kinds of vehicles (in a mundane context, they’d probably be qualified for both commercial driving licenses and the unregistered kind most people have, but possibly also know how to handle loading vehicles), know how to repair their vehicle if it is damaged (this can vary in skill - knowing how to jury-rig a solution to a small inconvenience is very different from resurrecting a dead engine), have a good understanding of navigation, access to a trade-specific tongue (radio jargon, for one, if we’re still sticking with the mundane modern AU), know how to handle long hours of relatively boring work... and that wouldn’t even be the sum total of their skills tied in some way to this particular profession.

Still, it doesn’t read as an unrealistic amount of things for a single person to know how to do, does it?

On the other hand, if I gave you a character who’s... I don’t know, a generic protagonist of no particular employment and said that their list of skills includes navigation, medical knowledge, being an expert chef, trained fighter, classical ballerina, multiple languages, and limited telepathic ability, it reads as a bit much, doesn’t it? Especially when it just comes up out of nowhere without warning or even an allowance for being less than good at those things.

Part of it is that it takes time to learn how to do things, as we covered in the previous section. Having a talent or instinctive understanding for a particular subject can help cut down on that, but that can only excuse a few things - someone who’s a natural born fighter usually can’t turn that natural instinct towards language acquisition or legal understanding. The other part is that everyone knows that most people aren’t good at everything they turn their hand to, so even with a lot of effort, we wouldn’t expect a single person to be good at everything.

That’s why a diversified cast is important, so the needs of the group can be met in a more believable way, though there are also work arounds that can be used to keep the cast smaller or the inability of the group to meet those needs can be used to raise tension in the story. Injuries become a lot more notable when there’s no healer in the group, after all.

Gifts, Loans, and Hard-Earned Pay (the difference between talent, training, and temporary trades)

Now, there are a couple things you could use to ‘explain’ why a character is good at things. Like most of the points I’ve made so far, this is expanding on a few things I mentioned off hand in earlier parts of this article, such as the importance of age and life experience.

Now we’re going to be explaining the mechanics of why a person might be good at certain things. There are a few different approaches to this.

In terms of purely mundane ways, you have talent and training to explain why a person would have a certain level of ability with specific skills. These can’t universally be applied across the board, of course - you’d prefer someone with medical knowledge over someone who says that they have a ‘talent’ for it and there are other fields that require a person have a certain amount of instinctive ability to flourish. Most would agree that it’s important to have both in any given field - for example, art requires both talent (the ability to visualize what you want) and training (to transfer that vision to reality).

When dealing with supernatural settings, there are other routes. Boons from supernatural beings, familial inheritance, memories from a past life, temporary grants of power from special artifacts, and so on.

This can allow for a skill to be acquired quickly while also pushing along the plot in various ways, but there are a number of drawbacks to this one as well - a character who has been granted a supernatural power might lack the practical experience in how to use that power well, the memories of a past life don’t confer the physical conditioning required to actually pull off some of those skills or the world has moved on since those days, rendering those skills out of date and possibly useless, the artifact has a mind of its own and opinions on how it can/will be used, etc.

There are drawbacks to the more mundane routes as well. Training takes time and effort, along with coming with the risk that the character has been trained wrong or in a way that isn’t helpful to their current situation - ex. a medic who’s extremely competent in a hospital setting but is now stuck in a place where they have none of the resources they’re used to, a self-trained martial artist who doesn’t know how to modulate their force well and has a lot of holes in their technique because they never had a trainer to point that sort of thing out.

Talent can lead to a person becoming complacent with the idea that they’re automatically going to be good at a thing forever despite evidence around them to the contrary and make them frustrated whenever they do run into something they don’t quickly understand or make progress with.

On the upside, you can also use these to build off of each other. Training can help refine both talent and control over new gifts, a well-chosen gift can make a well-trained character something breathtaking, and discovering a previously untapped talent can throw a character who’s previously had to struggle for everything in their life a well-deserved bone.

Now, hopefully this covers enough points thoroughly enough to be helpful to everyone. If not, please shoot me a comment and I’ll try to expand on any areas I might have missed.

[ruffiorocks]

Lillian and Lena in the alternate Timeline

Something that seems off to me about last nights episode was when evil Lena said her mother experimented on her. I mean.......That kind of goes against the personality we've seen of Lillian Luthor up to this point.

Lillian didn't force Corbin to be Metallo, she did give him a choice.

But the most important thing is that Lillian has in her own way always tried to lookout for Lena.

The very first time Supergirl meets Lillian (or rather speaks to her) is when she and Mon El are kidnapped in 2.07. Lillian says she doesn't like the idea of Supergirl being around her daughter.

"And what are you to my daughter?!"

Lillian says this with distain towards Kara. She then goes on a rant after Kara says she's Lena's friend. She goes on about how Superman promised Lex the world and it all went to s**t.

This scene has always said to me that Lillian doesn't want another Kryptonian around her child. Lillian may not be winning mother of the year but it's clear she's doesn't want what she perceives happened to Lex to happen to Lena.

We have Lillian telling her goons to deal with Lena but nothing PERMANENT! Lillian doesn't want Lena to die.

We have Lena double crossing Lillian when she wants to poison all the aliens of National City and Lillian seems surprised but not all that p**sed about it.

We have Lillian literally working with Kara to get Lena off of the Daxamite ship.

Lillian tied to kill Morgan Edge with her Lexo suit because he tried to kill Lena. At the end of that episode Lillian is taken away in the ambulance but before that she and Lena have a moment and Lena just shaking her head like "typical mom".

We have Lillian and Lena actively working together to take down Lex when he's in the presidents office!

It's made clear in the beginning that Lillian adores Lex, but when Lex turns up and is at the Luthor mansion with Lena and they are looking at the Lillian painting that the feeling isn't so mutual. Lex even tries to kill Lillian when she's in prison and Lena has to save her ass. Lillian realises Lex is crazy and even tries to poison him.

We have Lena using the baby truth seeker on Lillian and finding out that Lillian actually does love her. In her own odd way Lilian does in fact love Lena.

Lillian and Lena's relationship has never been Lillian trying to hurt or kill Lena. Lillian's objective has always been to take down aliens because she genuinely believe that they are a threat to the Earth. She wants to protect Earth and in doing so protect Lena, she doesn't want another Kryptonian ruining the life of her other child.

Lillian isn't the best mother and she gives harsh lessons to Lena but she's never actively wanted to kill Lena. Yes she's allowed her to be man handled (cyborg superman) but she's never wanted her to be seriously hurt.

When Lena has a go at Lillian for teaching her to doubt herself and having to look for validation elsewhere Lillian is genuinely sorry for what she's done. She tell Lena that whenever she's had the choice to choose Lena she has always chosen something else. Lillian believes that she was right though, the aliens invaded. She then validates Lena and tells her she's brilliant. She brings the device from Lex's vault to defeat the Daxamites telling Lena she can do this.

So why does Lillian in this alternate timeline decide to turn her daughter into Metallo against her will? When has Lillian showed any signs of wanting to go that far with Lena? Like I mentioned, she gave Metallo the choice.

This time line just makes Lillian look like an insane mad scientist that doesn't care who she hurts, family or not. But that has never been who Lillian is. Yeah Lillian is a villian, but she's not the take over the world, let's kill everyone because I'm insane or want to dominate the world kind of villian. She sees aliens as a threat and wants to protect the world from what she sees as alien invaders. Weirdly the DEO and her share some similarities. Aliens arrive, doesn't matter who they are, Kara kicks some ass, they get locked up, end of story.

Lillian is the villian that you love to hate. She isn't crazy like Lex is, she isn't trying to take over the world or blow up planets. Heck she didnt even try to kill the aliens she kidnapped, she simply popped them on a ship and wanted to send them away. Lex's plans are way to crazy for Lillian to be dealing with. She doesn't want Aliens harnessed for power or an alien genocide, she just wanted them gone. She's the hilarous villian, but the one who will work with the good guys when she has to. She worked with Kara to save Lena and to get rid of the Daxamites. She wanted to push the button to kill the Daxamites and save the Earth, something that Kara actually did do. So Lillian is a villain yes, but she's not crazy. She genuinely sees aliens as a threat, and all 5 seasons has done a great job of proving her point to an extent. We've had Fort Rozz aliens causing havoc, Kryptonians trying to take over the world, World Killers, Daxamite invasions etc . But villian or not Lillian has a love for Lena and she's shown it. She even told Lena that she didn't get close to her because of Lionel not liking it. From what we've heard of Lionel he wasnt the best man, even Lex was afraid of him. When Lena first appears at the Luthor mansion Lillian isnt thrilled, but that scene ends with Lillian smiling at Lena and telling her she might be a Luthor after all.

Even when Lena's non nocre failed the first time and she went to visit Lillian, Lillian was harsh because that's Lillian and that's their dynamic. But Lillian told her not to trust Kara because she would get hurt again and it's not something that Lillian wants, she tells her to partner with Lex because at least Lena knows she can't trust him, making him the better option in her opinion.

So what kind of crap has happened in this alternate timeline that caused Lillian to change her stance on Lena and turn her into a weapon?? It's sounds like fanfiction, but a poor fan fic because at least when people write bad Lillian Luthor she's always a bad character from the start.

[redhairedwolfwitch]

Supergirl’s Sister - Bobbi Morse x Fem!Kryptonian!Reader

Request: ( I thought I was the only one who remembered Bobbi tbh, she is on my top 3 characters of AOS ) And since you want some request, maybe you could do a oneshot where reader is Kara Danvers sister (a kryptonian) and she goes to their earth because Coulson needs her help (they have known each other from some years ago) and they meet and they are super cute together and flirting and blushing

A/n: I miss Lucy Lane... and Bobbi Morse... ahhhh my heart

“You’re better at cooking than Kara y’know.”

“I know, Kara is still afraid of the washing machine...” You replied, smiling at your best friend, Lucy Lane as she just smirked, waving around her fork in amusement.

“Weren’t you afraid of smoke alarms?” She questioned causing you to grimace.

“The beeping would hurt my ears if they went off close to me.” 

Lucy laughed in response causing you to playfully glare.

The beeping caught your attention as you ran over to the source.

“I have to go. A friend from another Earth needs my help... its only for extreme emergencies... can you tell my sisters I’m out of town?” You explained, getting a nod in response before Lucy hugged you.

“Just be careful okay, your sisters would kill me if you got hurt or worse.” Lucy replied causing you to nod. “I’ll do my best.”

You quickly went to get changed into your suit which was different to your sisters as you elected to not have a skirt and your House of El crest was smaller and over your heart like a school logo. 

“Good luck Y/n... any idea when you’ll be back?” Lucy questioned, raising an eyebrow as you shrugged.

“The device is old so it doesn’t do much besides beep when the other device is triggered to summon me and open a breach to get there so... I’ll see you whenever.”

///

“Who did you call, Coulson?” May questioned as the agents of SHIELD looked at him confused.

“A friend.”

///

You smiled as you flew through the breech, touching down on what looked like a launch pad for an aeroplane before you spotted the Quinjet.

“Rao that’s cool.”

“Hello Y/n... or do you have a cool superhero name now?” A voice said causing you to spin around with a grin.

“Hey Coulson, uh yeah long story but my sister is Supergirl and I don’t have a code-name yet since I’m more covert...” You replied, playing with your thumbs as you watched more agents flock in.

“This is Y/n Danvers, or Zor-El...she’s a Kryptonian from another Earth who I called to help us.” Coulson explained, you waving at the agents who gave you a range of looks.

“Kryptonian?”

“From another Earth, how is that possible?”

“The multiverse is real and the home planet of my sister, my cousin and I was destroyed and we barely escaped in pods, long story short due to the yellow sun, we get superpowers and stuff... now you called me for an emergency?” You explained, glancing at each agent with your eyes lingering over a particular blonde.

“We’ll explain on the journey.” Coulson replied, leading you to the Quinjet you were looking at earlier. You smiled at the agents passing you before the blonde appeared on your left.

“You’ve not been here for a while have you?” The blonde questioned as you glanced around everywhere.

“Last time I was here was when my sister had just revealed Supergirl to the whole, I went flying and went so fast I flew into a breech, landing on this Earth and I met Coulson. That was 3 years ago maybe?” You explained.

“I’m Bobbi by the way...Agent Morse officially...” 

“That’s a pretty name...” You smiled, cape flowing behind you 

“Better than Barbara anyway...” Bobbi mumbled under her breath causing you to laugh slightly. “Yeah well, a beautiful name for a beautiful agent, clearly.” You replied, smiling as Bobbi went pink. You were less naive than Kara with flirting to say the least.

“So Y/n... what do they call you if your sister is Supergirl?” Bobbi questioned causing you to grimace. “Last Daughters of Krypton, Girls of Steel etc etc. I usually go by Zor-El over comms and stuff though. Being covert means Cat-Co don’t write articles about me thank Rao.” You replied, blushing at Bobbi’s smirk.

“Girl of Steel?” Bobbi questioned causing you to laugh.

“Uh yeah, kinda invulnerable so bullets bounce of me but I usually catch them so nobody else gets hurt.” You replied, Bobbi nodded in response as the two of you sat down on the Quinjet together, still chatting as everyone else observed.

“Is Bobbi blushing or is it the lighting?” Jemma questioned causing Daisy to glance at the two of you.

“Looks like it... Hunter you okay?” Daisy questioned, Mack elbowing Hunter in the ribs to stop him from staring at you and Bobbi talking.

“What?” He questioned, looking confused.

“You okay? You’re staring rather intensely at Bobbi and Y/n.” Daisy stated, everyone glancing over as they heard Bobbi and you laughing, cheeks bright red.

“We’ve reached our destination.” May announced interrupting everyone as they glanced at Coulson.

[pass-the-bechdel]

Supergirl s02e16 ‘Star Crossed (1)’

Does it pass the Bechdel Test?

Yes, twice. Barely.

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Five (41.66% of cast).

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Seven.

Positive Content Rating:

Three? I guess.

General Episode Quality:

Nevermind, they’re back to stupid. So, so stupid.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) UNDER THE CUT:

Passing the Bechdel:

Kara passes with Rhea when they meet. They speak again later. There’s a lot of Mon-El involved both times, but they get there eventually.

Female characters:

Kara Danvers.

Alex Danvers.

Lyra.

Rhea.

Maggie Sawyer.

Male characters:

Mon-El.

J’onn J’onzz.

Winn Schott.

Lar.

James Olsen.

Boris.

Mandrax.

OTHER NOTES:

“To make Daxom great again.” Oh, no.

Ok. That flashback. I have mentioned before, how disturbed I am to find that the original confrontation of Kara’s prejudices towards Daxom have since been shown as actual deserved disdain, and how Daxom being actually exactly as bad as she said (to a caricaturish level) undermines Kara’s supposed lesson as well as treating Krypton as holier-than-thou despite all the huge flaws in its culture that have been made so evident, creating this huge us-vs-them divide with a really clear ‘good side’ and ‘bad side’ and absolutely zero nuance, etc. The flashback to Mon-El’s departure from Daxom as it actually happened does no favours to any aspect of the narrative: Mon-El is shown as hesitant and concerned for the safety of others in defiance of the prevailing Daxomite attitude, because the show is too afraid of the audience backlash if they show him being truly callous instead of just passively allowing it, while at the same time the narrative gives no quarter for Daxom and its people as a whole despite their undeserved fates. We are supposed to see Mon-El’s guard and think him awful, but what do we expect any ‘good’ guard to do? Maybe not kill that one guy, but the rest, with the ignoring everyone else in order to focus on rescuing the person he’s pledged to protect? Even killing the Kryptonian makes sense (is not morally ok, but makes sense) in the context of being exactly the kind of targeted violence that happens in the real world when people are ‘othered’. The coding of the behaviour is so transparent it’s disgusting, and coupled with that not-even-veiled MAGA line just before? Daxom’s Republicans to Krypton’s Democrats is a pretty fucking gross parallel to draw. I am very disappointed in the show for all of this garbage.

Remember when I fucking flagged Lyra as using Winn for her own ends the second she stepped on screen? Fucking flagged it. 

This is a much better Hamilton joke right here than the one a few episodes ago, but that one a few episodes ago was still too much, and that steps on this, because, really? Two sizeable Hamilton gags with only a couple of episodes between them? You’re trying WAY too hard to be current, show. It’s embarrassing.

Uurrrgghhh, and now we’re doing the ‘oh actually Lyra had a good reason for being terrible!’ thing? This shit is so predictable and empty and I am so over it. Remember one episode ago when this show was momentarily good again?

Is Guardian fighting in a fucking glass factory or what? So many glass panes to be thrown through.

So, we pretending that Lyra’s lie and Mon-El’s lie are the same? Just ‘they lied’ is not a parallel, show. These are not comparable situations.

See, Mon-El says in his apology that ‘I was a spoiled, useless person, but I didn’t know’, and that’s a big part of what is making this whole storyline, all season long, so poor. The total lack of nuance in Daxom. The clear-cut morality of Kryptonians which, also, lacks the nuance of reality. If Mon-El was raised in that life, how much opportunity did he have for seeing the flaws in it and recognising them as such? We have no concept of his level of self-awareness, and refusing to allow people room to grow is not how you achieve progress. At the same time, Mon-El’s process of self-improvement on Earth has been so paint-by-numbers simple, it’s hard to take it seriously. If he’s found changing so easy, how entrenched were those ‘spoiled, useless’ teachings that made up his entire formative existence? Real people take years to overcome such things, not least because when it’s a commonplace feature of how you were raised, it’s hard to recognise that there’s even a problem, let alone dismantle the rationale in your own mind that has allowed you to be unthinkingly complicit. Expecting Mon-El to change like flipping a coin is unfair; blaming him for the circumstances of his birth is unfair; telling this story in the way that they have, with his self-awareness and capacity for immediate total overhaul not just of personality but of ideals apparently uninhibited and detailed with only the slightest of backslides? Utterly unrealistic. What should have been a long, hard journey of self-reflection, questioning, and honestly ugly behaviour has instead been casual comic relief and romantic faux pas, and that’s so insulting. I can’t support Mon-El as a character because I can’t support the ill-constructed narrative that made him; in basic terms, he doesn’t make enough sense. He’s too unrealistic to function.

URGH. This is such a fucking mess I am annoyed at myself for even trying to untangle it. That kinda happens when you’re trying to over-simplify your storytelling to this extent: the break from reality is too intense, and you end up with a heap of confusion that your audience can’t figure out how to engage with on a meaningful level. In university, the single most important word I learned was ‘ethnocentricity’ - the belief that your own culture/background is inherently superior to all others. On the surface level, this is plain ol’ racism - and can be many other ‘isms as well, as cultural background shapes our perceptions of gender, sexuality, religion, etc. Looking deeper, we see ethnocentricity manifest when we assume that our social or moral codes are automatically the correct ones, without pausing to question where we got those codes from, and whether or not, actually, there might be better ways to do things. I actually debated this directly, back in 2016 when two Australian men were executed in Indonesia for drug smuggling, and the debate over the morality of the death penalty was rife throughout the country. I’m not going to get into that debate again here, but as an example of ethnocentricism, it was a case in which a lot of Australians flat refused to acknowledge the possibility that just because another country has different laws which conflict with our way of doing things, doesn’t necessarily mean that the people of that country are corrupt, lesser beings with an under-developed sense of morality which we need to step in and correct. Different ways of doing things can be shocking to our sensibilities at first blush, but we have to think about why they are that way and how the backdrop of that logic informs the constructs we see, before we pass high-and-mighty judgment over others. 

Supergirl’s Daxom narrative is a perfect example of ethnocentricism at work, with zero reflection: Kara is right, Mon-El is wrong, this cultural division is all-encompassing and without exception, the end. To be clear: I’m not suggesting that there’s a way to argue for, say, slavery being ok, but what there is is nuance to how people reach such a conclusion, and if we refuse to engage with the nuance we can’t engage with cultural learning, sharing, or understanding, and that’s how you end up with blank hostility instead of working towards more positive futures. Something being ‘obviously morally correct’ is (as evidenced through the entirety of human history) not enough to change systemic issues outright; if it were, the systemic issues wouldn’t have developed in the first place. Supergirl has run into trouble here because it’s trying to be topical, addressing the divisions in current US politics, but it also doesn’t want to actually have a nuanced conversation about the subject, and so instead we get heavy-handed black-and-white morality that only alienates the two sides instead of identifying common ground and building upon it to bridge the gap. Moreover, the show cripples its ability to explore these concepts in a better, more thorough way in the future, because it refuses to commit to the shades of grey in its situation and instead builds a two-camps concept in which any dithering or olive-branching between the two looks like ideological compromise and moral degradation instead of the complicated and painful process of learning that it represents in the real world. 

The truth is that as nice as it is to sit on your moral high horse feeling pure and special while everyone else scrabbles on the muddy ground, you can’t understand the people down below and you certainly can’t help them unless you’re willing to hop down and work through the mud as well, and what use is ideological purity if you’re the only one who benefits from it? That doesn’t mean that we should all start behaving in ways that conflict with our moral compass because, hey, some people are bigots, but it does mean recognising that we are all in a process of self-improvement and if you’re not at least open to the possibility that your way of doing things isn’t the best way, you can’t progress yourself, nor does treating others with condescension help bring them to your way of thinking or at least to a middle ground from which you can proceed together. That’s all a much messier and trickier prospect than what this show wants to deal with, and yet it’s exactly the story they’ve blundered into the middle of with the ridiculous notion that they’re gonna be able to clear-cut their way out. Mon-El’s process should involve a lot of questions: not ‘this thing is correct because obviously it is’ or ‘this thing is correct because Kara says so’, but rather ‘I’m being told that my way is wrong: why? Why is it wrong? Why was I taught that it was right? In what ways has my belief in the correctness of this thing influenced my perceptions of other things? Is it possible that this thing I believe actually is right, and Kara is wrong? Why should her perspective be infallible? What are the consequences of either possibility? Does that jive with the rest of my understanding of the world? What else is altered by this change? Are these alterations also correct?’ and so on, and so on, ad nauseum. Exhausting, repetitive, and complicated, yes, but that’s the reality (not least because he’s supposed to be a literal alien from another planet, but, whatever). At first, I thought it was stupid of them to introduce Mon-El without bothering to spend time on his integration into Earth culture outside of a handful of gimmicks; now I see that it’s much worse than that. I don’t expect this whole arc to end well; I only hope that it ends quickly.

[delkios]

About a week ago I was talking to @robininthelabyrinth about doing some Rogue-centric comics recaps, starting with the brief time Heatwave worked at Cadmus with Superboy.

For those of you wondering “Why is what is generally a criminal working with a hero?” here’s a brief rundown of things that happened that lead up to this point:

Back in the mid-90s there was an event called Underworld Unleashed in which Nero, DC’s version of Satan, tricked most of the Rogues into attacking key points around… some continent that is literally unrecognizable on a map.  Those points exploded, killing them.  The event went on, Trickster I figured out Neron’s angle and helped the heroes defeat him and the Rogues remained dead at the end of it.  A couple years (real time) later, Flash issues 125-129, Neron is back to his old, manipulating people into giving him unlimited power schtick and brings the Rogues’ souls to Earth, this time as unkillable, power-amplified specters bent on causing as much death and destruction as possible.  Through Linda and Wally’s teamwork and love for each other, Neron is forced to retreat while restoring the Rogues their souls/life.  In the New Year’s Evil special issue, Trickster I tricks the Rogues into going after a sacred treasure in a Zhutan temple when, surprise, Neron pops back up and Heatwave, who emphatically does not want his soul back in Neron’s clutches, convinces the other Rogues to help Tricks and Piper defeat him.  It was a convoluted issue.  After Neron is, yet again, defeated, Heatwave decides to stay with the Zhutan monks, hoping to save his soul by being good.

That is, to my knowledge, the last we see of Mick until his appearance in Superboy 65.  Recaps are taken from issues 65, 76-81, 87-90

For those unfamiliar with this particular run, here are some characters to know:

Superboy/Kon-El: a psuedo-clone of Superman who debuted following The Death of Superman storyline.  Very 90’s teen-with-attitude, he’s one of the founders of Young Justice. His powers weren’t originally copying Superman’s (he was originally a modified human clone rather than half-Kryptonian) but mimics the basic flight/super strength/super durability through the use of tactile telekinesis.  Lives at a Cadmus facility.  At the time, his relationship with Clark was very… hands off.

Guardian/Jim Harper: another Cadmus clone who acts as chief of security and mentor to Kon.  As a clone, his body was modified to be stronger, faster, etc, with accelerated healing.  He also has an indestructible shield.

Dr. Serling Roquette: former head of the genetics division with a sense of style that is both terrible and amazing.  Has a thing for Kon.

Mickey Cannon: Cadmus admin director. Called ‘the Mechanic’, he’s said to be able to fix anything.  Uh… that’s about all I can say about him, really.

Dubbilex: one of Cadmus’s experiments known as a DNAlien, part chaperone and part mentor to Kon.  He is a powerful telepath and can use telekinesis.

Dr. Dabney Donovan: co-founder of Cadmus and creator of various genetic experiments.  You remember that line from Jurassic Park about scientists being so concerned if they could they never considered if they should?  This guy never bothered to hear the second part of that sentence.

Dr. Helen Angelico: head of genetics, called Doc Angel.  Not nearly enough of her.

So we start with Kon crashing a ship into the aptly named Planet Krypton- a superhero-themed restaurant that, thankfully had just been shut down for renovations -with some Challengers of the Unknown.  Who will continue to be unknown because I don’t know a thing about them.  He’d been gone for so long, Cadmus was trying to find someone to replace him as a field agent.

Always fun to play 'Who Can You Name?’

Some heroes decide it isn’t their scene and bounce, others attempt and fail to make themselves look good, and others still- notably Young Justice to the side there -just want some news on Kon.  Steel and Kyle, meanwhile, are there as JLA reps, passing along info about Superboy as it comes (which, at the moment, isn’t really anything).

Guardian, please.  Cadmus hires much worse than a crook with a flamethrower.

After being exposed, Punch and Jewelee take Serling hostage.  Luckily that’s when Superboy finally manages to make it back.

Figuring with Kon back in the picture, a new field agent is no longer needed so the heroes begin to disperse.  Until Cannon decides to hire Mick as a back up agent.

And potential patsy.  Nothing comes of this mental aside.

Jumping forward to issue 76, a little backstory is needed to understand the current situation.  Originally Kon’s genes were modified to stop aging at 16 because of a clone disease, but, immediately proceeding this issue, the events of Sins of Youth caused Cadmus scientists to restart his aging, unfortunately at the expense of his powers leading to Cadmus to call in their back-up agent.

He’s not without his own gadgets, of course- a Legion ring grants him flight and a Cadmus scientist by the name of Gadget Guru gave him a shield that can fold and expand in an instant.  Kon tries asking Harper to train him but Harper declines despite preferring to have Kon watching his back over Mick.

Donovan tries to get Serling to cash in on a favor she owes him but, before she can meet him, gets into a reconstructed space ship with Kon, Cannon and the Guru which takes off into space.  As Cadmus tries to locate them, Rex Leech, Kon’s former very shady manager, comes in carrying his unconscious daughter, Roxy.  Meanwhile, a pair of Cadmus guards are transporting an important blood sample that Donovan, mad that Serling didn’t follow his instructions, decides to take for himself.

Oh comics.

Doc Angel has Roxy stabilized in a containment tank while Rex tries to schmooze up to Mick.

Harper gets an urgent call to get to a storage vault.

For some reason they call Mick “Rory Calhoun”- and it’s not just here.  There’s at least one issue in the Flash- written by the then current writers -where he’s called that.  I don’t know why this is a thing.

Anyway, a bunch of guards dead on the floor, their armor torn open but whatever killed them instantly cauterized their wounds.  On the wall are the words 'Rip’ and 'Jak’.  An alarm goes off, announcing a fire in Lab Three- Doc Angel’s lab.

Quick shout out to Paul Gambi, the Rogues’ tailor, for making some fantastically durable costumes.  Mick’s in particular has been noted on more than one occasion to not only survive some of the hottest temperatures around, but also protects him well enough he barely breaks a sweat withstanding those temps.

Doc Angel is missing but Roxy’s tank was damaged in the fire meaning it’s time for the Guru’s apprentice Tekka to step up.  Harper, meanwhile, explains to Mick that they had a possible sample of Jack the Ripper’s blood and Donovan is the most likely person to make a clone from it.

Tekka finds a hole in the floor that’s venting heat like a volcano.  In true, heroic fashion, Harper and Mick head down.

Ripjak attack!  Turns out that Ripjak’s blood and even touching his skin burns on contact.  Harper says Donovan must have infused Ripjak’s blood with pyro-granulite, something Donovan’s done before. Unfortunately the build-up means he’ll explode, destroying anything or one near him.  They chase him to where Doc Angel is being held. Harper plays bait while Mick frees the doc.

Ripjak does a number on the two before they toss him into the geothermal reactor, including partially melting Harper’s shield and managing to burn through Mick’s suit.

They’re both treated and expected to make a full recovery, and Tekka stabilizes Roxy.

Meanwhile, in Kon’s half of the plot, the bad guy he’d been fighting, Kossak the Slaver, gets beaten out of his own ship and escapes, following a beacon that leads him to Cadmus.  He heads to Lab Three and claims that Roxy is an escaped slave he’s here to collect.  Kon gets back in time to stop Kossak from attacking Doc Angel and, in the ensuing fight, Roxy’s tank explodes.

Roxy is actually possessed by… something, which makes her skin turn bright red and her eyes glow.  She agrees to return to Kossak so long as he leaves all the people in the lab alone and, when she goes to say goodbye to Kon, imparts her power on him.  Which somehow kickstarts Kon’s powers again and Kossack leaves after another butt-kicking.

Superboy, back in costume, visits Harper, passing over the gauntlet with collapsible shield since Harper’s was destroyed.

Roxy is back in the containment tank after giving Kon her power and Doc Angel called in a doctor from STAR Labs, Sarah Charles.  The two promptly get snippy at each other and Kon has them leave to cool off.  Which is, of course, when Roxy busts her way out again as the red sun critter thing, saying she won’t be kept imprisoned.  She flies off, Kon gives chase and when Harper does the same.

She starts destroying property in a town called Kurtzberg and a local cop, with all the logic and protocol of a generic comic cop, calls for the two of them to freeze while simultaneously firing directly at Roxy.  The bullets, however, melt in the heat she’s generating but Roxy doesn’t enjoy the unintentional pun.

I’m not quite sure how Mick managed to get there before Harper who is in a flying car.

Anyway, it turns out the people Sarah called are the Titans who immediately peg Roxy as unstable (as in, unwilling to calm down) and decide they need to use force to contain her.  Kon isn’t having it and puts himself between them.  Tempest uses a hydrant to freeze Kon and Mick shoots off a blast of fire to free him.  

How can you be a jerk to that face, Harper?

Eventually Doc Angel and Sarah make it over and explain how Roxy’s sharing a body with an alien entity and they need the entity to expend its energy to get Roxy out.  The problem is eventually solved through what essentially amounts to the power of friendship.

If you’re wondering how Arsenal got the heat gun, it’s because Nigthwing took out Mick in pretty short order.  Which, really- Nightwing vs Heatwave is no contest.

Mick doesn’t show up again until issue 87 where Harper dies in the line of duty, protecting someone from Shrapnel.  Mick doesn’t have over much to do this issue as Kon feels responsible for Harper’s death (Harper went out on that mission instead of Kon) and gets taken on an astral jaunt with Deadman.  There are a couple choice moments, though.

I should note that Kon’s tactile telekinesis doesn’t work when he’s unconscious, making him as vulnerable as a normal person.

I find it hilarious they gave Mick a flamethrower bigger than his torso.

But, at the end of the issue, there’s a cryptic conversation between Amanda Waller and Lex Luthor (he might’ve been president at this time, I don’t remember) and someone trying to steal Harper’s remains.  Kon manages to take it back and, upon opening the casket, finds there’s a baby inside.

Next issue, the Wall is very unhappy to see that her super-clone cargo has disappeared (aka with Kon) and threatens Cadmus as, being the Secretary of Metahuman Affairs (so yes, Luthor is president), they fall under her jurisdiction.  Cannon, not a fan of the kind of pressure Waller and the new administration is putting on them, decides to get rid of Cadmus.  Literally.  Asides from a hole in the ground, the building is gone.

In the span of a few days, baby Harper grows a couple years, old enough to talk and, with the memory of his previous life returning, worries that he’ll have to fight.  Oracle finds tech and data traced from Cadmus at a LexCorp building and Kon follows her directions to a sewer where he promptly fights tofu critters and finds Mick and Serling.

I gotta say, artists generally make Mick the beefier of the Rogues (when they bother to give them different body types) but this artists really put that heroic build on him.  His shoulders are literally twice the width of his waist!

A random encounter with some sewer ferryman later, the quartet makes it to a weird underground compound where they jump a robot-looking thing and pull the equivalent of three-kids-in-a-trenchcoat with it.  They come across Talia al Ghul experimenting on a gender-flip Superman Blue by the name of Strange Visitor who I know nothing about.  After Talia and Waller’s assistant leaves, the gang bust out of their disguise and take out the guards.  Mostly.

And then this ability was never seen again.

Kon and Mick go to rescue Stranger who very much does not appreciate it.  Talia re-enters and calms down Stranger and the group is captured.  When they come to again, they’re on a space station.  Some guy in a flying chair named General Good makes an army of clones from Harper against Harper’s explicit wishes.  Kon destroys the incubating clones and the quartet is rescued by Sgt Rock who drafts them into the upcoming war.

This issues then follows into the Our Worlds at War event which I never read so if Mick shows up anywhere there, I don’t know about it. Superboy was also canceled shortly after.  In the following year Mick shows back up Flash comics in issues following up to Rogue War where his attempts at reformation are retconned as the Top’s influence in order to tie into the ongoing Identity Crisis event. And these issues are promptly forgotten by everyone and we are all deprived of Kon confronting Mick about going back to the Rogues. Especially egregious when Mick helped kill one of Kon’s best friends.  I mean, yes, Kon was also dead at the time but you’d think that’s one of the things you’d follow up on when you come back to life!

[ruffiorocks]

Lena deserves better than being the only one to suffer for her faults

You know, I hope they don't make Lena go bad, even if she temporarily loses her way.

It would be such a waste of 3 seasons of character development and soooo cliche.

Plus I know Kara is the main character and the main hero, but this show has actually done a pretty good job of showing us that Kara is in no way perfect, she makes rash decisions, f**ks up, lies, has a lot of emotional issues, has been xenophobic (Mon El) makes poor choices sometimes, can be manipulative (using James against Lena), uses Lena quite a lot, has serious Jekell and Hyde issues, scoffs at authority even if those in authority are arseholes etc. She's even killed people/aliens, she killed Rudy/Parasite and she killed Reign, even if she did go back in time and reverse that.

Lena is in no way perfect either, but then she was never supposed to be a squeaky clean hero like we're supposed to see Kara as, although as I've mentioned she isn't squeaky clean at all! Lena has done dodgy stuff but because of her last name and the fact the show likes to 'tease' her going bad, she is the ONLY one that anyone is concerned about when it comes to being questionable, because that's how the show presents it. Even in the teasers or promos about her, they leave whatever she's doing as a question mark.

But Kara on the show, and even in promos is presented as the hero in the right no matter what. The only way we really get to see Kara as having done something wrong is if Lena or Kara herself points it out. People say this is the show Constantly making Kara apologize to Lena but I think it's great! Having Kara apologize for some of the nonsense she pulls, especially to Lena humanizes her and acknowledges that she isn't as perfect as she's usually presented to be.

The show does a horrible job of ignoring how dodgy the other Superfriends can be, because they are the 'heroes' and Lena is forever the question mark, even though without her they can't always save the day. They get round this by sometimes making Lena indirectly responsible for what goes on. But Lena isn't always the ONLY one involved in the issues that happen.

E.g. Rhea and the Daxamite invasion:

When Rhea first arrived with Mon Els dad and the Daxamite fleet, she had no interest whatsoever in Earth. ALL she wanted was for Mon El to go back with them. She threatened Earth because she thought they were holding Mon El hostage.

Mon El who had talked a big game about not being OK with slavery or anything else Daxam did and wanted to be a hero, took less than an hour to decide he had no interest in taking the colossal opportunity handed to him where he could make a difference. He thought his culture was dead, no way to make up for his past faults. But lo and behold he got a second chance to write Daxams wrongs. Yes his mum threatened to lock him in a cell until the reached Daxam but is 3 years in a cell really that big of a price to pay for the ability to make changes? He would have been king, he probably couldn't change things Immediately, but he could have built a support base, staged a coup, led a rebellion or at least tried!! But nope, he decided to leave the remaining Daxam Slaves and any future ones to their fates so he could have his girl. Don't forget as well that Mon El left it until he was beamed aboard his parents ship to let Kara know who he was. He let Kara think he was possibly going to his death when he knew it was just mum and dad and he was way past currew! Kara in tears because that jack ass was crying to thought he might die and risked her own neck to join him on the Daxamite ship.

Kara in this situation wasn't any better. She talked a big game about how sh*t Daxam was and how wrong slavery was. She even went to Slavers Bay with Mon El and rescued people. But when the time came for Mon El to possibly fix or at least begin to fix Daxams slave issues she had zero interest in it, she had a go at Rhea for it but made no attempt to convince Mon El that maybe going back and helping his people was a good idea, no Kara's concern for Daxamite slaves only goes as far as her not getting her man. The stupid thing was if it had been the other way round it would have been in character for Kara to take that 3 years in a cell and do the noble thing.

So yeah, Rhea only invaded because Mon El told her to get lost and she blamed Kara for it. Lena had absolutely nothing to do with that, Rhea had already made the decision to make Earth New Daxam because of Kara and Mon El, way before she ever set eyes on Lena.

But non of that is ever acknowledged, but Lena's part in helping an alien try to get home and in the process perhaps help third world countries get the aid they needed in mere minutes was heavily highlighted. We got to see Lena hating herself for that, while Kara/Supergirl mopped about like an emo ignoring Lena and not really acknowledging the part she played in the invasion. Because we're left to see it as purely Lena's fault.

We are shown Jonn as the fatherly papa bear who struggles with violence. We saw him try the path of peace and fail at it, his father shows up and tells him that's OK and we're all like "ahhh papa bear".

BUT

Whats glossed over is Jonn's serious anger issues and homicidal tendencies. He wanted to kill the White Martian that was impersonating the Senator, he had already knocked it out and subdued it. But that wasn't enough for Jonn, he wanted it dead because it was a white Martian, he was going to kill the unarmed, unconscious alien and even brought along Kryptonite cuffs so Kara wouldn't be able to stop him from slaughtering it. Thankfully Kara gave a hope speech and he snapped out of it.

Secondly Jonn actually DOES kill Manchester Black after he disarms him. Manchester who can no longer do any harm to him is brutally stabbed it the chest, all because he made Jonn see something traumatic. If Jonn can't handle the possibly of psychic attacks he shouldn't be out there fighting. He killed a human that couldn't harm him after he was disarmed. But is this highlighted or discussed in any way whatsover? No! Manchester is just gone and Jonn gets to be all 'well that's done and dusted, off to game night".

Kara's roll in this? Kara is shocked for all or 5 seconds before she is telling Jonn every one makes mistakes amd he can still be on his path of peace.....I mean....... What?! Who wrote that dialogue? But Kara's own super hero code shouldn't she have reported Jonn or had him arrested? No of course not because Jonn is one of the designated heroes and not deemed questionable by writer's or the audience even though his actions say something different.

People that call Lena a murderer for shooting an unarmed Lex don't seem to recall Kara killing Parasite rather than locking him up and getting the DEO to try and find a cure. They don't recall Jonn INTENDING to kill the White Martian. They don't remember Jonn MURDERING an unarmed Manchester Black in same F**king season as Lena shooting Lex! Why is this not acknowledged? Because the show chooses not to highlight it! They don't even have Kara bothered by Murder or Killing enemies if it's her or the super friends doing it.

But Lena? Ooh she shot an unarmed Lex, must be dodgy as f**k and deserves to be locked up, what an evil murderer!! Oh no, Lena shot the Arrowverses version of Hitler who was about to destroy an entire planet of Kryptonians who are only still here because of Lena!! How awful she must be.

Let's not forget as well that a lot of what Lena has done has been supported by the Superfriends at one point or another. I seem to recall a certain Alex Danvers and Brainy working on that Harun El serum!

Yes Adam was a terrible tragedy that shouldn't have happened. But is that worse than Jonn actually premeditating murder? Or out right Killing someone he had already disarmed? You talk about clinical trials etc but the show isnt going to waste precious air time going through that. Lena made a gigantic mistake, at least she owns the mistake and refused Haley when she wanted to use the Serum on DEO Agents.

Kara has zero issues telling Nia a girl she has known for 5 minutes her secret because she felt some solidarity and was missing Alex. She didn't know Nia at all, Nia could have been playing her or anything, but this isn't acknowledged because Nia is the new Hero (fyi love Nia). But Lenw, her best friend of 3 years and the girl who has been in the DEO kicking add and saving lives and the world apparently isn't Worthy of this secret. Why? Kara's bulls**t excuse is to keep Lena safe, yet she apparently gives zero f**ks about Winns of Nia's safety. The real reason is because Lena is q Luthor and the show just needed her to not know and although the keeping Lena safe reason isn't a bad one, it becomes null and void when they have Kara telling people she barely knowns who she is. That goes for the "Kara doesn't owe her identity to anyone" argument as well , that only works when she isn't telling everyone she meets after 5 minutes of knowing them.

Basically after that tangent I went in, if Lena becomes bad after saving the world and Kara's ass more times than many of the super friends have done purely so we can have Kara defeat her and come out as the shining heroine that defeats the bad Luthor (not cliche at all) whilst not acknowledging some of her own faults and the homicidal tendencies of Jonn and the actual murder he committed it would be beyond hypocritical.

Fyi, had Kara told Lena who she was, a lot of issues could have been avoided, especially the Rhea one and Reign/Kryptonite one.