#but hela was that and MORE and she was just kinda...... a threat

[mikebyler]

Hi what up I’m here to talk about uhhhhhh how criminally underused Hela was in Thor Ragnarok????

[moonlit-imagines]

Headcanon for being Hela’s child

Hela Odinsdottir x child!reader

Thor/Loki x reader

warnings: blood/death/ alcohol mentions

a/n: been thinking abt hela a lot lmao

prompt: y/n is hela’s child

you were born in hel

and raised on stories of your mother’s triumph

she always left out her downfall, though

growing up to hate the thought of your grandfather, odin

he was always regarded as “backstabbing coward”

“and what will you do when we finally go back to asgard, my child?”

“stand beside you while you rightfully rule the kingdom, mother”

“that’s correct”

after years and years of enduring hel, you’re only home, you were released at the sight where your grandfather had took his final breath

“you didn’t tell me i had any uncles...”

“they’re irrelevant, my dear”

thor and loki being extremely confused upon meeting the evil family members that they had just discovered

“and odin never said anything about hela having a child!”

“i was born in hel”

:)))

straight up attacking them, it was all you had been trained for

you were your mother’s weapon, that was for certain

craving destruction and blood, that was what you were taught—now that you’d escaped your prison, you could finally do that

and you wanted asgard, you were robbed of that much after your mother was banished

it felt so elegant there, nothing like the depths you were trapped in

striking fear into the hearts of asgardians, but something seemed very off

their fear didn’t make you happy like mother had promised?

it wasn’t very glorious when you killed anyone

“mother, you said this would be fun...”

“you’re not having fun?”

“not even a bit”

your only fun was watchcing skurge dance around for your mom

and it wasn’t even that good then

your uncles returning to asgard for a fight to remember

while your mother was distracted with thor, you ran across the bifrost, running into loki

“now just what do you think you’re doing, child?”

“my mother is a monster, i cant serve her any longer”

this god of mischief believed you

“then you better fight like hell to prove it”

your powers were similar to your mother’s, blades were never scarce to you

thor and the rest of the “revengers” regrouping on the bridge

“what the hell is this one doing here?”

“helping you defeat my mother”

“well, okay then. welcome to the team”

valkyrie didn’t trust you right away

you paid no mind to that, you were focused on one thing

“y/n?! what do you think you’re doing with them?”

“getting rid of you once and for all, you..?”

*thor, whispering* “bitch”

“bitch!”

“typically i dont condone the usage of that word, but your mother gets a free pass”

happily fighting alongside your uncles, it was almost as if you could tell each others next move, it was mesmerizing

you saved loki from being hurt

“well then...thank you, little one”

“im 1200 years old”

“i stand by my words”

hela begged you to join her once more, it was startling and pathetic (and maybe even a trap)

happily watching your mother perish, you hadn’t realized how cruel she was until then

“i’m sorry about your mother, young y/n” -thor

“im not”

the asgardians didn’t trust you very much, you would have to earn it

and you did when you encountered the mad titan known as thanos

you swore you did everything you could, but it wasn’t enough

you had to watch thor be tortured and loki be killed, it was scarring

being picked up by the guardians of the galaxy

“who are you?”

“i barely know who i am”

thor needing to go to nidavellir and taking you with him

“im sure you’ll need a mighty weapon to see the fall of thanos!”

“but...am i worthy of such a thing?”

you felt a sense of guilt for your past actions

and even your mother’s

thor put each of his hands on your shoulders and looked you in the eye (with the only one he had)

“y/n, you must understand that your mother...she poisoned your mind with nothing but hate, but i can tell that you’re much different than her. i’ll be here for you from now on, believe me”

dmitri was able to forge you a weapon of your own, you fell in love with it as soon as you laid eyes upon it

also thor almost died??? that would’ve sucked

and then he took you to midgard, the only thing you knew about it was that the people were weak and irrelevant

but when you met the midgardians, you only met warriors (mind you, you had just landed in the middle of a battle)

another significant fight with your uncle thor

“captain! this is y/n, my (neice, nephew, nibling)”

“hello, y/n. welcome to earth”

“thanks, i hate it!”

going out of your way to save as many as you can, it just felt right

“who is that?”

“well, apparently thor had a sister no one knew about, that’s her kid?”

i nearly forgot about rocket and groot, who you thought were the coolest

“rabbit! over here!”

“for the millionth time, y/n, it’s ‘rocket’”

seeing thanos once again, you and thor thought alike over what needed to be done

you attacked him from behind while thor struck him in the chest, but the disaster ensued and you were left blaming yourself once more

“it’s not your fault, y/n. we all failed”

“captain rogers, i could have killed him, i know that im the one to blame”

everyone could tell that you carried an abundance of guilt, your mother didn’t treat you well

you had to control your anger, you didn’t want to be perceived as a threat

eager to kill thanos

thor told you his stories of war, you idolized him after this

“so, y/n, tell me about your childhood”

“what’s there to tell? i was born in hel”

“good point”

happy to watch thanos die

thor and you rescued the rest of your people and founded new asgard

you and valkyrie ended up running it together, though

thor only became depressed, but he did teach you how to play fortnite

“y/n, y/n look! im doing the dance!”

“very impressing, korg!”

you and valkyrie actually became friends

she realized that the horrors inflicted by your mother were not a reflection of your character, you could be guided by valkyrie instead

“val, where’d all the beer go?”

“ask your uncle”

“why do i even bother”

a shot at redemption after meeting a smaller version of the hulk, giving your uncle a small sliver of hope

and him telling you who jane was

“you never told me you dated a midgardian?”

“yes, well, the reason for that was...”

he started crying

“right...”

tony called you “the little hel-raiser”

you did not laugh

maybe you didn’t have the greatest sense of humor

thor took you back to asgard where you met frigga

“thor, do you know if she’s my grandmother?”

“not a clue”

:)

but you met her anyways

“y/n, dear, it’s good to finally meet you”

“oh, yes, you...you too”

she was very kind, you wished that you were able to see her in the natural timeline

you sort of wished to meet odin, as well

yall kinda saved the universe tho, that was pretty cool

valkyrie brought pegasus to the fight, you rode behind her while shooting daggers below

“you’re very good at that!”

when the fight was finally over, thor made the decision to leave new asgard to you and valkyrie

“you’re ready, y/n. they trust you. and valkyrie will be sure to guide you, ill see you again someday”

[moonlightjeno]

swashbuckle and islands

a/n : this boy will be the death of me i love him so much. excuse my horrible grammar. my fav gif, and has nothing to do with the story lol but enjoyyy

genre : angst + fluff

pairing : readerxjeno & readerxmark

word count : 2.6k

okay,

okie, be ready for this mess

and excuse any non spaced words my space bar isn’t working properly

cool so your from an island

which imma call Skye bc i can

now your mum is originally from Skye, and had like second cousins of a cousin or whatever to throne but she married you father who was from the mainland 

which is a big no no but at the time she didn’t care bc she was so in love

skip forward a couple of years and the father is a complete ass

doesn’t work or really do much except order your mum around

anyone who has a wonderful father or really good parents im sorry don’t attack me this is for the story

:)

so, mum has had you and your older brother, whom your brother continues to admire your father bc he really just wants love and is hella lost in this mess of a world

Moving on

you used to have a really good relationship with your father until he changed.

cheated on your mother, and would blame it on you mum

in response you really just tried to help you mum get through this mess

big big mess

your brother, at the beginning helped and tried to calm your father  

boy kinda gave up, hela understandable

and left to the mainland to study medicine

wooot go him

but you were devastated because you were now alone 

now bc your brother has left your father has really worsened and blocks your freedom more and more

The point where you were literally only allowed to like go to school, work in the fields and be a servant

sksksk 

now remember how your mum was like the second cousin or smth to the royal crown?

Twas was importanttt

that managed to get you a study abroad year in london, 

queue your best friend mark entering

this boy showed you what freedom was and felt like for the first time since your father went off rails

iss been like a good 13 years and you're like 16 ??

I digress

mark literally made you feel more yourself because of his natural outgoing and easy behavior

It really was pretty amazing

And then the hiding and going out late at night was over

It was back to no friends, working at the field

sad life tbh

I must note, that because mark lived in canada bc why tf not 

y’all couldn’t really communicate

this is set when pirates where a thing, think of pirates of the caribbean 

I love those movies 

okie, progress two years 

of you thanks to you mum’s second cousin related human lol

you became friends with the cousins friends daughter 

y’all really had known each other since they were smol 

but hadn’t really been friends, bc the girl was pretty quite and a beaut

even her own father treated her better than she treated her own daughter

smh, ik this is a cliche live with it

but overall she was a really good person and kinda managed to sneak you around the island when you weren't on “duty” for your father

though its not that you didn’t like working in the fields bc you loved helping out with the animals and occasionally give food to those who were less fortunate than you and really couldn’t afford it

being a trooper, that you are you often told your friend idk wanna give her a name so y’all could come up with one if it were up to me it would be lilith about what you would see around the island and how the country was pretty not doing a okay

she would listen and talk about her own problems and how she wished she could travel and paint everything 

Bonding over traveling yep yeo

one day, you were supposed to work in the fields as you tend to have to do to the cows, and sheep and horses, while picking up the apples? from the trees ??

Idk i don’t farm

either wayyyy

you had finished your tasks early, and had struggled, and i mean stRuGgLed to get away from your father

he was in one of his moods today, shouting at everyone and refusing to admit he needed help

it was a constant reminder of every bad thing every failure that could happen in your life every thing you didn’t want for yourself or your mum who had slowly been getting sick and y’all had some money that could have helped her but your father thought that she deserved the illness

and i quote he said “everything happens for a reason child, if your mother had treated me and had been a good person this wouldn’t have happened to her, but alas some people deserve what they get”

skskskks 

he continued to say how “i on the other hand, have been a good man all my life, have always helped others so i don’t get sick”

this man i swear to god this has actually happened help

being very much done with your father who you really wished would just disappear and leave you and your mom who no longer lived with you but now lived with lilith to be

you had thought of running away for a very long time, though never knew how to get off the island it seemed impossible

sure you knew how to fight, somewhat by watching the guards and the little training mark you had taught your two years ago. 

missing mark hours but it wouldn’t compare to the guards of the royals who would never aid you

and even if they had, you had never learned how to sail which was ironic as the island you lived in wasn’t very large. Your only method of transportation has been your legs and your families faithful horse lethian ?? who really was your favorite out of all the animals 

running away from the trapped life had always felt like a dream, one that you had lived for for the small year in london with mark

you thought about running away again, the idea of sneaking into a trading boat slowly forming in your mind

you could take her your mum and lilith and travel the world go to london again and paris and canada and re-unite with the friend you missed the most

a smile had formed on your previous grim face, the dream something you held onto until your eyes opened and smoke covered the sky

a ringing began in your ears and you tried to stop it, your hands covering your ears in an attempt to stop the noise but the ringing only got stronger

the sky was black, shots were heard were the village people yelled in panic

you looked out towards the sea and could see the outline of a ship

a very large ship

oh shit 

a pirate ship

the flag blew proudly in the boat and from where you stood the bone white skull that contrasted against the black around it was made visible everytime the wind blew 

you gasped, everything anyone had told you about pirates were that they weren’t to be trusted

they were ruthless and would do nothing to stop from getting what they wanted

the stories you'd heard all came to the same conclusion you see the flag you run in the other direction

you pace quickened and in small time you were running towards the blazing village now up in smokes fire and fog covering the bakery, and fields

the school that had taught you the basics of reading and writing until girls weren’t allowed to attend was a blaze royal guards their black and purple uniforms waved their hands around and pointed their too heavy too unbalanced swords not being of much use

mom 

she should be safe

safe with lilith you thought, looking back towards were the small castle stood its bold flag still flying proudly in the grey and black sky

safe , shes safe you keep telling yourself a constant buzz that you repeated over and over to yourself in order to continue moving towards the castle walls

you only lasted a solid five minutes before the guards were holding the civilians back

you sighed angry these idiots being more preoccupied with holding back the citizens who were trying to get to safety behind the castle walls than actually dealing with the threat at hand

who hired them really??

being the stubborn human you are you decided to head towards the back entrance as yuo saw a flash of blonde hair headin towards the back gate of the castle 

oh no was your immediate thought their gonna get to lilith and mum

all the guards had been directed out of castle except a few that had stayed inside to keep the royal fam safe the infirmary had been left unguarded

you looked around trying to look for a familiar face, a familiar guard who youd seen at a practice lilith had dragged you too she had said it was too “admire suitors” you had shaken your head and laughed 

you had no interest in tying yourself to a man that would treat you like something to throw around but you let her revel in her fantasies 

no familiar face was found so you turned and ran towards the blonde head you had seen walk towards the back entrance grabbing a sword from one of the dead guards 

your cursed the clothes women were given making it impossible to run in impossible to fight in 

the blonde boy turned around at your approach, he was young you noticed

probably your age, his grin was deviant and his eyes were mocking as she approached 

“please” you tried “don’t hurt hurt anyone else” 

the boy looked at you with a puzzled look at laughed, slashing away at the thorns and vines that encircled the back door to the castle as he found the lock and tried to break it open

you got closer, looking at the broken glass bottles that littered the floor and torches that lit up the fogged street 

the boy was too busy with the look to realize the girl that had come behind him and hit him in the back of the head with the swords dull pommel the boy let put a yelp before collapsing at your feet

your small victory lasted a small time and before you noticed the boy you had tied with the thorns and vines from the door, which continued to be locked 

your mum and lilith as far as you knew safe

began to stir and as his eyes opened another boy appeared at the end of the alley

his hair seemed to be part of the night sky, falling over his dark eyes. 

“mark!” the black haired boy cried, his hand at his scimitar pointed directed towards you his other hand had managed to slip a dagger out of god knows where and sliced mark’s binds

mark the name sent a shock through you and you took a closer look at the young boy whose eyes were now wide open no anger shown

 but instead amusement and the joyous spark you had once known

he looked so different 

the black haired boy still had a sword at your throat and you swallowed briefly 

“mark?” you gasped feeling the tip of the sword against your neck a small movement and it would nick your skin, blood would swell

‘Mark’ looked at you again and laughed, 

the black haired boy looked confused “let her go jeno” 

jeno was like ‘excuse me ? she knocked you unconscious no i'm not doing that’ he didn't say it but mark understood and laughed again this time it was more mischievous a feral grin adorned his features

“let her go, she’s coming with us” jeno and you were both like huh? has this boy gone mad?

probably letss be realll

“umm no im not” you snapped at the boy you once knew, you glared at jeno who had regrettably removed his sword away from your neck but had placed the dagger threateningly close to your back ashe forced you to move along

you didn’t get an answer from mark who still seemed very entertained by the whole situation

he had changed so much since you’d last seen him *sigh*

you three walked back towards the village and you hadn’t realized how the screams of pain and fear were no longer heard

more than a few guards littered the floors and you tried not to gasp as jeno forcefully continued to move you towards the sea its waters black 

the walk to the pirate boat seemed to last ages, the sun had begun to set in the sky casting dark purple and red shadows above the black water that didn’t reflect any light. It broke your heart to see the usually clear water be black, the animals that lived in the waters probably struggling to survive.

when you finally arrived, the panic began to settle in again. you didn’t know if your mum and lilith were safe, you didn’t know what would happen and the boy you knew two years ago had changed so much that you could no longer read what he was thinking 

the ship loomed in front of you, you hear the small buzz of chatter from the ship and laughter

why was there laughter in such a horrible place ??

“Come on” mark said, already walking getting onto the ship, not looking back at the mess they had left behind

You no longer felt the sharp prick of a dagger or sword at your back, but instead it had been replaced by a strong hand guiding you towards the ship

the contact startled you, and you straightened and continued to walk forward the ship only a few feet away, you still held onto the rock that you had hit mark with, your sword taken away by jeno

you forced your feet to stop moving, because one more step and you’d be on the pirate’s boat, and ducked, and made a weak attempt at attacking the black haired boy behind you hitting him with the small rock you had on the leg

you begin to move away from the boat. The victory lasted a solid second before jeno had his arms around you, pinning your hands behind your back. No longer smiling, or understanding in his dark eyes. you glared at him and then at mark who had finally turned around, a sort of sadness passed over his features before he spoke

“you can’t run away y/n” he said calmly. “remember in london? when you dream about running away, leaving this island and  exploring the world? away from your father?”

his words shocked you, but you didn’t want to leave your mum she had no one else 

“i can’t just leave mark !! my mum, she’s still there and i can’t just leave her with father” a look of recognition and understanding flitted through jeno’s face and reflected in mark

“i know, i know but if you stay here and go back” the boy shook his head, the dark of the night making his blonde hair a dull light in the fog, 

you knew, that in many ways he was right. if you did go back the villagers had seen you with the pirates, being taken by them as the village had burned down and you weren't scared. the worst scenario would be that if you did go back they would imprison you, ask you for information 

hurt mum, hurt lilith even is she was part of the royals

you felt the tears well up in your eyes, and refused to let them fall

“we aren’t all that bad” peeped jeno’s voice who had softened again, until you looked at him and his gaze hardened

you forced yourself a small smile, and placed your foot on the board of the boat 

“Let’s go swashbucklers” you said, 

after all, the stories you’d heard had come from your father, and all his stories were a lie.

a/n : i hope y’all enjoyed that. ik there wasn't much jeno lol but i’m planning on king this a series if you want? send me an ask, if you do! either way, 

peace out luvs,

stay safe

[lis-likes-fics]

Ragnarok Rant - Part Two

Are your crocs still on because this ride is only getting wetter.

Picking up from last time. Starting with the points we end with. Starting points: -335 points.

Hela Arrives on Asgard I like the addition of the Warriors Three. Question. Where’s Sif? Lady Sif and the Warriors Three are kinda, y’know, a team. So...where is she? Dead? On an adventure? What? I’ll go ahead and leave that there. I would add points but the Warriors Three weren’t bad so them dying isn’t really my favorite thing in the world. Next.

Thor Arrives on Sakaar The aliens asking if Thor was a fighter or food was amazing. I love how they don’t care that he looks like he could lift a building, they’re just like, ‘Well, he didn’t say fighter. Let’s eat him.’ That was great. +10 points.

As a person who really really really really really really really really really does not like Thor...the whole ‘fight’ scene, if that’s what you could even call that, wasn’t quite enjoyable for me. Thanks for that. +15 points.

Valkyrie (I know her name is Brunhilde, but since she never told anyone her actual name, I will go with what she clearly wanted and call her this instead.) showing up drunk was great. If you wanted comedic relief, Taika, this is a few ways to do it. Not changing he characters to how you would act if you were them. Because you are not them and writing based off of this is not how you do things with a franchise with a built foundation. +10 points for well-made comedy relief.

Someone paid attention to The Avengers. The addition of the Bilgesnipe corpse that Valkyrie falls in is great. It was nice actually getting to see this species for once, instead of just hearing it as a reference from Thor or Loki. +10 points.

Question. How did the blasts only get the scavengers and not touch Thor at all? That’s not really how that works. He would have had to be hit a couple of times to make it accurate. But I did like seeing some of her skills so I will give points. +5 points.

Thor really thought she was helping him because it was him? Ha, yeah right. Valkyrie saving Thor just to take him in herself was great. I’ll give points for that. +10 points.

She really just does not care that he is a Prince of Asgard. On this planet, Thor, and probably on any other planet, too, your royalty doesn’t matter much. +15 points

Hela Back on Asgard There you go, Taika. That’s how you put in some comedy, not abusing Loki. Abusing Loki is not how you get people to laugh. Things like Hela explaining who she was, what she meant to do, and how she meant to do it and then Hogan completely ignoring her and saying he would kill her without a second thought if she threatened the kingdom is gold. This is comedy. Not cruelty. +15 points.

The entire army of the Asgardians being no match for Hela is great. It really shows how powerful she is to be able to defeat all of the guards on Asgard by herself. Points for that. +20 points.

And there’s go Hogan. The Warriors Three are officially all dead. Hm, shame. Well, I guess this is just a very long process to getting what you deserve after all of that shit you pulled on Loki back in Thor and Thor: The Dark World. You know he didn’t fully deserve the death threats and immediate accusations.

Heimdall retrieving the Bifrost Sword was a nice touch. I enjoyed that, no matter how small it was. +5 points.

You doing good so far. Good job because we got from -355 points to -240 keep it up and you may be in the positives by the end.

Meeting the Grandmaster Thor’s reaction to being stuck to a chair is to immediately get out of it and kill whoever put him in the chair. If he was rocketing toward someplace, not knowing where he was going, he wouldn’t scream like he did. No, instead, he would brace himself and get ready to fight. Wrong. Losing points. -10 points.

I actually really like Grandmaster. He’s humourous and is superior and is just an overall good character. His comedic relief is nice, is a change of pace from what we’ve been given and I appreciate that. +10 points.

“He’s wonderful. It is a ‘he’?” Love it. Questioning whether Thor was a male or not was great. +5 points because I don’t like Thor. :P

The obvious dislike Topaz has for Valkyrie reminds me of me and my brother. It’s like her presence annoys the hell out of her and she’ll insult her whenever she can. She’s a relatable character and one you’re able to actually laugh at. She’s also a character that doesn’t hit Loki at any point, although she does try and get him melted when he interrupted Grandmaster... Anyway, good character. +5 points.

Inaccurate. “Just wait a damn minute. I’m not for sale!” Not how Thor would have reacted. He would have been pissed, but he wouldn’t say this. He’d threaten them with great violence, not just yell about not being an item to sell. -10 points.

That is also not how he would have introduced himself. He would eye Grandmaster and tell him, “I am Thor, the son of Odin. If you don’t unhand me I will unleash my wrath upon you.” Or some ‘threatening’ thing like that. He’s honestly not that threatening. But he would introduce himself as he always does. He’d put as much superiority in his voice as he could and announce his titles. -10 points. Thor’s really loving the negatives, isn’t he?

“Wow. I don’t hear any thunder. But on your fingers, was that like sparkles?” Great. Grandmaster is working for the positive points. +10 points for insulting Thor’s power.

Thor’s reaction to seeing someone getting melted would not be to yell ‘Oh my god’. That is not how he would have reacted. At all. He would probably mutter something similar under his breath if he was going to speak at all. No, instead of all of that, he would have struggled to get out once again, and when he couldn’t, he would have given threatening another go. The only character growth we ever really get from Thor was in the first movie when he was wayyyy more arrogant than he is now (though he is still quite so). -10 points. We are at -250 points. Thor’s really messing it up.

Loki’s Entrance Loki being in the background while the Grandmaster introduces himself was a nice touch. But I have to say that if Thor randomly showed up after a few weeks of being presumably dead, Loki would not walk up to him surprised and tell him to shut up about knowing each other. He would actually still be mourning Thor because, despite the fact that Thor would not have cared much about Loki presumably dying again, Loki would have cared deeply because he’s Loki. Making it seem like Loki doesn’t care about Thor’s death and Thor caring a lot about Loki’s is not accurate and it is actually opposite. -15 points for making it seem like Loki doesn’t care about his brother.

Thor would not be happy that Loki was still alive if he saw him. In fact, he would be pissed off that Loki was there because, unlike what people want to believe, Thor doesn’t really care for Loki. He would have been pissed off that Loki had been presumed dead again and suddenly made the whole “I’m alive” thing happen again. -10 points.

That wouldn’t be their interaction. It’s the whole Thor and Loki relationship that’s getting on my nerves. Loki would walk up to Thor and try to cover up the fact that he is happy that Thor is alive the best he could because he doesn’t want to seem like he really cares. He would address the fact that Thor is alive and then explain what happened. Thor would cut him off, deciding not to listen to him, as per usual, and talk himself about how he thought Loki was dead again and how Loki messed some shit up somehow and tell him that he needed to help him escape without any acknowledgment to the fact that Loki isn’t just some servant Thor could boss around. -20 points.

Guys, stop. In that one part where Grandmaster smiles and then looks over to Loki and bats his eyelashes, it is not because of the ‘favor’ Loki gained with the Grandmaster. It is obvious and made clear that the Grandmaster is pansexual and have you seen Loki? Of course Grandmaster would flirt with him. Loki, on the other hand, is uncomfortable with the Grandmaster’s looks. When Loki gained favor with the Grandmaster, it was not by having sex with him. We should know this by now. Loki knows how to gain favor and he has self-respect. He would not go to such lows for something like that. -10 points because the internet is not helping Loki’s reputation.

It is like Thor to emphasize just how ‘important’ he thinks he is. He’s just like this. He flaunts, he brags. Loki might say that he didn’t know Thor, but it would be because he sees Thor in a stuck to a chair by Grandmaster because the ruler decided Thor wasn’t important. He needed to protect himself from being thrown in the same chair so they had hope to escape. Getting himself thrown in the chair as well would not help and he had to act like he didn’t know Thor so he could find a way. +10 points for the whole Thor bit. But stop making Loki seem careless.

The threat was in character, but it would be less humourous for Thor. He wouldn’t laugh about it while saying it, he would have a straight face and tell Grandmaster to unhand him. Grandmaster, being the wonderful character he is, would not care about Thor’s threats and would carry on with his day as he does here.

Here is some of Thor being in character. Thank you for being accurate, at least a little bit. +10 points.

I have so many mixed feelings about Korg. I like his character, but I don’t like the fact that it is Taika playing him. I will, however, give points for Korg being a character that doesn’t insult or injury Loki and does not join in the whole ‘Let’s Abuse Loki’ Club. But I won’t add as many because Taika is the one playing and he hasn’t earned my respect. +10 points.

The rest of the scene was in character for Thor. It’s a good thing Thor didn’t try to crack any jokes or try and seem better than the asshole he actually is. +10 points for character accuracy.

It’s not looking so good. Points have risen to -275. Let’s see how this goes.

The Kingdom of Asgard The true history of the Asgardian kingdom was a nice touch. It was good in my opinion to finally have the whole ‘Odin conquering the Nine Realms’ to be brought to light after he tried to slide as a ‘benevolent king’ and tell Loki that you’re supposed to rule peacefully after all of the violence he unleashed onto all of the realms. +20 points.

The treasure vault was great. The ‘Infinity Gauntlet’ is a little strange because him having it with fake stones and a fake gauntlet all together is...something. The way she eyes the Tesseract, though, was nice to see. Another gesture to her similarity to Loki. +10 points.

As a person who absolutely adores wolves, Fenris was amazing and I love him and you get so many points for it. Also, it’s another gesture to Loki and mythology, so points for that as well. I’ll go ahead and do this. +50 points.

Look who’s being generous. Hela! Because we are now at -195 points. Keep it up.

The Waiting Room The prayer Thor says for Odin was an amazing touch that will be rewarded with lots of points. +30 points.

And so it begins. The Loki abuse. Of course, Loki wasn’t actually there, he sent an illusion of himself, but Thor threw the rock at him anyway, thinking, at first, that it was. This is not comedy, Taika, and it never will be.

Loki would try to reach out to Thor, even though he would know that his attempt would be useless, he would still try because he still cares. Loki would try to reach out to Thor so they could try to escape Sakaar. Thor, being the very bad brother he is, would completely ignore him and stick to the little things Loki has done, in comparison to Thor, and throw it in his face (pun intended).

+20 points for character accuracy. It would have gained you more if Thor hadn’t tried to find some small way to hurt Loki.

And Loki is right, he’s had to go it alone way more than once because Thor has never had Loki’s back, while Loki has helped Thor more times than he’d like to confess.

Can I just say, when Thor starts speaking about the things Loki had done, it did aggravate me. Loki did not strand Odin on Earth to kill him. If Loki wanted to kill Odin, he would have done it the day he impersonated him. Loki has the power to kill Odin because he is not weak. He wouldn’t have put him on Earth so he could live out his mortal days and eventually die. His intent wasn’t to kill Odin, it was to take his place as king since Thor had refused the throne after Loki offered it to him at the end of Thor: The Dark World. Bottom line, if Loki wanted Odin dead, he would have just killed him then. -10 points because of Thor.

That wasn’t exactly the right time to add Korg in for comedy. Even if I don’t dislike Korg as a character, his little bit was not appropriate at that moment. It did not need to be there. There was a serious scene where Loki and Thor are having a conversation about what they need to do and what has been happening. Korg’s bit didn’t need to be there, whether it was funny or not. -10 points for incorrect timing for comedy relief.

That concludes today’s rant about Thor: Ragnarok.

It ended better than it started and better than yesterday! Let’s see what we’ve got!

Starting Point: -335

Total Number of Points Given: +320

Total Number of Points Taken: -95

Total Number of Points: -165

To Be Continued...

[supermoviemaniac]

DEFENDING...

THOR: RAGNAROK!

Okay, so yesterday I asked you guys which is your least favourite MCU movie and why. I said I'd take the most commonly disliked film and try and defend it, using my personal reasonings as well as attempting to counter what issues you had with it yourselves.

Firstly, I'm quite surprised that Ragnarok was the most hated! I was expecting Age of Ultron or Iron-Man 3 (though they weren't too far behind). To make it clear, it's okay to dislike this movie, my attempt at defending the movie is just a bit of fun, but if it lets you see and appreciate the movie in a different light then that's cool! If it doesn't then that's cool too! Here goes...

I'll start with why I personally love Ragnarok, and how it was actually my favourite MCU movie, until Infinity War inevitably took that spot.

Thor was the first character in the franchise to introduce outerspace, and the cosmic side of the cinematic universe. With Iron-Man, Hulk and Cap being restricted to Earth, Thor was key to broadening what types of stories they could tell, what sort of threats and stakes could arise etc. The first Thor movie was certainly a bold move at the time, hoping that audiences would embrace the fantastical themes that he and Asgard brought to the table. Bar Thanos, Thor and Loki are the reason sh*t's going down in the first Avengers movie, so you have them to thank for that.

Flash forward to Dark World however, at this point we've seen Asgard already, so the novelty has worn off slightly. As much as the movie expands our view of Thor's home, we still feel very restricted, as though we're only seeing through a keyhole, when we actually wanna bust the door down and see what an outerspace adventure could really offer, hence why people gravitate towards Guardians of the Galaxy so heavily, because it let loose and didn't feel like it was shying away from the sci-fi elements that made the property what it was.

So with Dark World leaving a bad taste in our mouths (even though I think it's underratedly funny, but perhaps another time), and Thor not quite standing out in Age of Ultron, we're left thinking, do we really even want another Thor movie at this point? Something had to change. The studios' take on Thor was good in ways, but wasn't gripping people as much as say Iron-Man and Cap. If Captain America could have an amazing sequel, why couldn't Thor? With the damage already done via Dark World however, Ragnarok had to be Marvel's shot at redemption and reinvigoration, and I personally think it was.

There's no arguing Ragnarok was a bold step to take Thor, though not everyone agrees it was for the better. Could the Thor we were used to still work given the correct writing and direction? Who knows, but with already 'failing' once with Dark World, it was surely less of a risk to go for something completely unexpected. We go from majestic golds and elegant architecture, to crazy, vibrant, jagged imperfections that you'd expect to see in a retro sci-fi movie. The Thor we knew and expected has lightened up a little, during his few years between Age of Ultron and now, scouring the universe for information on the Infinity Stones. No pun intended, but perhaps his absent couple of years provided some much needed soul searching. So to those that wonder why Thor is suddenly so funny and witty, he's been out and about off-screen for quite a while loosening up! That's how I like to see it at least.

In the first 10 minutes, we're given more cosmic calamity than any of the other Thor movie has provided in their joint runtimes. He's in the fiery realm of Muspelheim, kicking the crap out of hellish minions and their giant demonic flame lord, Surtur, whilst the Immigrant Song plays. Then moments later, there's a damn dragon beast that's on fire that chases him, as the coolest little synth melody twinkles in the background. That cool little action scene not only gave Mjölnir the ultimate send off, but I remember thinking just from that point, "This is what Thor movies are meant to be like! This is already my favourite MCU movie!"

I think the comedy is people's biggest issue with the film. Admittedly, the style of humour was a little jarring at first, but I soon let go of doubts and embraced what the movie was trying to do. Notice how I said 'style' of humour, and not just 'humour' as a whole, because a lot of people forget just how comedic the first two Thor movies actually are. I feel like humour allows a sort of alleviation to what could potentially be something rather odd on screen. That way, if the movie embraces it's outlandish source materials, the comedy allows us to laugh with it, rather than at it. I think people are okay with the inclusion of comedic elements - I think they just weren't expecting the amplification that it had. So as I said, you can either let that ruin the film, or you can embrace/accept it, because there is just as much heart in this film as there is humour.

I know there's people that think Hela was wasted. Having watched these movies countless times, I rarely see any issues with villains anymore. The fabled 'villain problem' springs to mind, where everyone says that they were just there as a device to make the hero save the day. But what's actually wrong with that technically speaking? And how is that any different to other movies outside of the superhero realm? I see most of these villains as stepping stones for the heroes. These movies belong to the heroes, so the way I see it, the villains are there to develop and shape the good guy into whatever the finished product may be by the time the credits roll, just like all the other characters do in the movie. To prove this point, everyone loves Thanos as a villain, but that's because Infinity War was his movie, given the amount of time spent with him. I think the only exception is Loki, but his character is so well-received because he sits within the grey area of good and bad. We've seen both sides of him now.

Yes, I understand that villains are a little lack luster in most of these movies, but I liked what Hela brought to the franchise. We get the shock of discovering Thor has an older sister, she manages to take over Asgard, she demolishes everything in sight, she was the reason Thor is reinvigorated via his new right eye and weapon, she forced Thor's hand, making him enact Ragnarok (even though there's no stopping Ragnarok but it was a cool twist) and destroy Asgard, she was the first main female villain at long last, and she had a giant wolf. Some films spend more time with the villain, and some sacrifice it to focus more on the hero. There's never a straight 50:50 between good and evil in their storytelling, and I imagine it's always a hard call to make when balancing and ensuring that not only do the audience care for the hero, but also everything and everyone around them. Regardless the solo hero is always the focal point. Unless you're watching Breaking Bad or American Psycho or... *Lists shows and movies told from the bad guy's perspective*

I think the underlining disapproval stems from the fresh direction that it took. His hammer goes bye-byes, his warrior friends die just like that, Thor no longer looks or acts like the Thor we're used to, and Jane moved on. People will either be okay with those things, or it'll be too much to accept. Was the film too bold? Perhaps, but Thor can conduct lightning through his body now and that fight scene on the Bifrost bridge was badass.

Jokes aside, I suppose it's up to the individual audience member to decide whether or not the change is too much. A part of me wishes that the Thor we currently have was the Thor from the get go - things would've been different, but I love the character no matter what weapon or haircut you give him. Ragnarok gave the God of Thunder the opportunity to prove why he's a badass and not just a guy that relies on a hammer. They turned the dial up on his power level, and then again in Infinity War, which is good because I feel like prior to Ragnarok, Thor was kinda just there, y'know?

Everyone has their own favourite and least favourite movie, and no one should force you to alter your personal interests and disinterests, but if I were to wrap up what I thought of the film, Thor: Ragnarok to me is a fun, crazy joyride from start to finish, that provided a lot of heart as well as light-heartedness. It introduced some new, diverse characters whilst also giving the Hulk a much-needed story arc. A bold game-changer for the character and the lore he contributes to the MCU. It's the type of change I can appreciate and most definitely get behind!

What do you guys think? Have I swayed your opinions, or do you hate the movie more now! Let me know. Thanks for reading! Shall I do more of these? Let me know that too. I'm off to buy snacks and watch Ragnarok now, no joke!

[decadentenemyturtle]

Follow the Flame

Summary:  After the event's of Ragnarock and a murderous and crasy sister-in-law-I-did-not-know-about Lyra and Loki have things to talk about. And after a break from their relationship and after everything Loki did, is there possibility for a "us"?

Pairing: Loki x Lyra (OC)

Words:3,352

Warning: Fluff... Kinda... Also, ma dude’s are drinking alcohol. Language! (Cap asked me to note you guys for this... Sigh) and you know... Loki.

Autgor’s note: This is my part of arTrade for my friend Herainia. And more over!! Lyra is not my character, but Herainia’s bby!

"How did I end up in a spaceship full of Asgardian's, some aliens, god of thunder, his idiot brother and some hot chick, you may ask. Well, you see, I happened to meet Thor and Loki in NY while they were looking for Odin, their da. And because they asked me "so nicely", I ended up helping them. I also met Doctor Strange, who sends his dearest regards, by the way, and asked me to tell you to go fuck yourself. I think he may still be pissed with you about the incident with the beavers and with, well... you know... with the hot blondie. But deep down, I bet he knew, that she was.... Oh, Thor, hi... 'K, gotta go, see ya later, old fart" Lyra finishes and closes the device, the recording ending and the blueish hologram disappearing.

Thor, who was leaning to the doorway, smiling a little to himself, pushes himself back to his full height and walks casually to Lyra, handing her leather jacket back to her.

"You dropped this" he says with a small smirk. Lyra took it with a playful glare to the god. She hadn't dropped it, just taken it off after getting a bit warm in the spaceship and set it over to a chair, and at some point it had dropped over to a floor without her noticing it. And also, she had to look over the few scathes she had gotten in the fight against Hela. Nothing too serious to let someone else do it.

Thor walked over to the cabinet, taking out big bottle of whatever-was-inside in it and poured it in a glass. Then he threw a look to Lyra and poured the liquid to other glass. Then he turned to give the glass to Lyra, keeping the other glass to himself. Lyra stared at the brownish liquid for a moment, before she lifted her hand and pointed her forefinger to it and moved it up a little.

The liquid in the glass threw up and made few circles in the air like nothing, before it dropped back to the glass. Thor was staring at the liquid and then his eyes lifted back to Lyra, his brows slightly up.

"Really? It's whiskey" he said, before offering the glass to Lyra, who made a snorting like sound before taking the glass.

"I know it is, but you know..." she drank the glass empty at one go and grimaced afterwards. Thor grinned and emptied his glass. "... just had to be sure" Thor lovered the glass slowly from his lips and put it back to table, while his face sobered, and when he turned to look at Lyra, his eyes and his full face, and well, him, were serious, and maybe even a little sad.

He knew about Lyra and Loki, of course he knew. He could still remember the day she arrived to Asgard. The portal had been opened accidently, however that was possible was beyond Thor, and Lyra had come through it. The confused girl had set on living in Asgard well and soon enough after her arrival, and she even charmed the people around her. Even Odin had been fascinated by this girl even when she was a mortal, not only because of her father and his strange powers, but because this red haired girl had powers of her own. She was what they called in her world a Mutant. She could bend water and ice. And Odin had taken an liking of her. And had been even blotting a ways to get her and his son, Thor, together, married. But, that had not happened.

"Well, you know what they say, brother dead, water and thunder don't go well together and they'll cause only death and destruction. Not that I mind about that"  Loki had said, while holding smirking Lyra against him.

And so, it was Loki and Lyra, who fell in love, not Thor and Lyra. Thor had met another beauty few years later after Lyra had arrived to Asgard, and he was happy to be with her. Some people just weren't meant to be together, and Thor was sure that his thunder and Lyra's water bending would have just caused destruction not only to them but others around them.

And when Thor's and Lyra's eyes met, he knew that his brother was better choice to Lyra than he was, despite what Odin thought. And despite all that Loki had done and how he had hurt her.

"So, does the old farth and the other's know where you are?" Thor asked. Lyra sighed and threw the jacket over her, leaving the zipper open. Thor was looking at her and then he laughed a little. Lyra turned to glare at him, her lips turning thin.

"It's not like I had the time to tell them where I was going or whose with I was going, or had time to inform in between everything. They don't even know about the big guy" she grumbled, leaning against the wall. Thor had still a small smile on his lips as his gaze turned down to the floor. It had been a quite a shock for her to see Thor, and especially Loki. They had seperated their ways with quite a big fight. And as Lyra put it, they were on a break.

"Well, you should be informing your friends about your whereabouts, before they start a war against us - or some other poor souls - for kidnapping you" an familiar voice called from the door. Both Thor and Lyra turned to see Loki standing there, with a small, humorous smile on his lips. And before Thor could react, Lyra was already sending the ale to Loki's face, all of it. Thor grumbled and glared at Lyra, before he turned to his brother.

Loki was staring at Lyra with a hint of murderous desire, all the while the ale was dropping from his hair, face and his clothes. Lyra shrugged and leaned back to the wall.

"Had to be sure if you're really here" she just said, swaying her hands. The drops of ale hovered back to the bottle, leaving Loki with a somewhat wet hair and clothes and a hint of smell of ale on him. The murderous look had disappeared from his face, sobering look on it's place.

"Not gonna give me a hug?" Loki offered. Lyra shook her head and pointed at him.

"You smell bad"

"I smell like ale"

"Ya, you do. So you smell bad"

"And whose fault is that?"

"Sorry not sorry"

"You never are"

"Damn right I'm not"

Thor watched the scene before him, how smile grew slowly on both his brother's and on Lyra's face little by little, how they taunted eachother playfully like they used to do before. And Thor smiled. Maybe his brother could change, even a little, god of mischief or not. And maybe, just maybe, he would lessen the stabbing on Thor. And the fake death's? For Lyra's sake Thor wished he'd stopped them. If it was the second chance - or 100th one? Thor wasn't sure - that would change him, Thor was ready to give it - but only if Loki was ready to do it, for Lyra.

"Maybe your not so bad after all, brother" Thor said, looking at his brother with a small smile. Loki turned to look at Thor, a little surprised to hear this from him.

"Maybe not" Loki said after a moment, throwing a look and a small smile to Lyra. "Thor, I'd like to speak with Lyra" Lyra straightened, a little horrified and panic suddenly bubbling in her stomach. Oh they had talked over the past few weeks, but not about them, not like that. They had avoided the talk about them with every cost. And she had a hunch that now it was about them, about, well everything consedering around them. When Thor didn't move and he merely lifted his brow, Loki sighed.

"Alone, so if you would piss off, please" Loki added and Thor looked like he would burst out laughing. He took bottle of ale with him and after he had turned from the door, Loki turned back to Lyra. She wasn't looking at him, and was knaving at her lip. Loki took a deep breath, and walked carefully towards her, but didn't go too near. He knew that Lyra liked her space when she was unconfortable.

"You look good" Loki decided to say and then he nodded towards her clothes. "And those clothes are stylish, on their own way. Suits you better than the dresses of Asgard, to be honest" Lyra looked down at her clothes, the black, worn leather jacket and the red/black colored T-shirt with white skull and text 'rock 'n roll' on it, her jeans where other leg was black and other had red and black crisscross on it, and her black boots. She had always fancied rock themed clothes, and was pleased to hear that Loki liked them, more infact that the pretty dresses she had been wearing in Azgard.

"Thanks, I guess" she said, her cheeks turning in shade of pink, and finally after a few minutes turning to Loki. "You look like yourself, with your latex suit and horns, that now seem to be missing" And they both shared a similar grin. Loki grossed his hands behind his back and then eyed Lyra's clothes, again.

"Those do look like nice clothe's but do not expect me to wear something like that" he said with a small smile. Lyra offered an small smile to him and said nothing. Silence fell over them, threating to get awkward with every second.

"So, umm... What... Umm.. You wanted to talk to me?" Lyra finally decided to break the silence after a minute or so, and the ice. Better get it all done and said now.

Loki turned serious and nodded a little, turning a little away from Lyra. For a whole minute he didn't say anything, probably trying to gather his thoughts or trying to figure out what to say, or how to vocal his thoughts.

"Well, I... suppose I could start with an apology. I know that all I've done in the past was wrong, and how everything I did hurt you. And I know I let you down, how I failed you, more than once, more than.... more than should be counted. So, I'm sorry. So, so sorry" Loki said. He kept his eyes on Lyra, no matter how hard it was to say or vocal his thoughts or his apology. And Lyra appreciate it, she really did. She was thankfull of Loki's apology after everything, but then again... There was the "everything" that he had done, all the lies, his fake death's, killing and.... well, it was in the past now.

Lyra took a deep breath and closed her eyes. It was in the past. And Loki had just apologied.

A simple apology wouldn't, of course, take away everything he had done with a simple snap. But it was a start. And had he not broved his capability to change- or at leas the will to want to change - for better person these past few weeks? Lyra opened her eyes and stared the floor for a second or two, before meeting Loki's sad eyes. He looked like a kicked puppy.

"Can you not look so cute?" she grumbled, and Loki frowned a little before his lip twisted. "You make me feel like a grandma for wanting to pinch your cheek and then give you a candy bar" Now Loki's checks and ears started to take a shade of red and he turned to look anywhere else but Lyra.

As Lyra watched the love of her life, she wondered if this was yet again one of his tricks? Acting nice, apologing, trying to change? Loki was a God of Michieve, he knew how to trick people, their mind and how to make things work for his favor - well, most of the time. The universe and everything in it was just a big playground for Loki, but it wasn’t like there weren't things he enjoyed and loved, like his mother and Lyra for example.

And Lyra knew that people like her, people like mutant's and god's and superhero's, might have a bit difficulty with relationships. There was their powers that might not be accepted by other's or their partner just wanted to use them and their powers for their own benefit, how they had their duty to protect the universe and cancel multiply times their date, and just simply try to fit their life with someone who's superpower was part of their nature. So, if Lyra wanted to make things work out with Loki, she knew she had to take the risk and trust Loki. She might get hurt yet again, but now she knew she wouldn't let him go so easily. Not without her tearing him apart first.

"I hope you know it's a bit hard to trust you after everything, and how hard it is to accept your apology" she started. Loki lifted his eyes to her, swallowing, looking so hopeless and sad, being sure this was where their journey and love together would end. "But... It's a start. Something you've started well" Loki's face turned to a big smile and he looked so genuinely relieved that Lyra had to smile herself. Right now it was so easy to see from Loki how much he loved her, and how much he had just feared to lose her. And for a moment Lyra wondered, what would happen to him, if she had chosen not to accept even the tiniest part of his apology.

"I'm ready to give you a change, to give us a change. But, I do hope you don't expect things to turn back to normal right away" Lyra said as she walked right in front of Loki, who's eyes were locked on Lyra's. He let out a small sigh when Lyra was right in front of him. Of course he knew things wouldn't turn back to normal between them right away. He hadn't expect things to turn even slightes the same between them. In fact, he hadn't even expected Lyra to forgive him at all.

"I know, Lyra. I know. And I know thing's won't be exactly the same as they used to be. I hope they wont be the same. I want to start over, to give a new start for us" Loki said, his voice shaking a little with all the emotions swirling in his heart. And Lyra smiled to him, tears in her eyes, and she nodded. She wanted to start over, too, to give them a new start.

And then, Loki lifted his hand and ran his fingertips lightly over Lyra's cheek. Lyra shivered a little, and she closed her eyes. Then Loki grew a little bolder and pressed his hand to her check and oh! his hand was so warm! Lyra opened her eyes a little just to see Loki to lean a bit closer to her, his lips parted just a little. And Lyra opened her lips slightly, ready for the kiss she knew to get from Loki.

Their lips were getting closer and closer...

And just as they were inches from touching...

Loki stopped, a little, weird noise leaving from his lips, and his eyes widening as big as plates. Lyra stopped, too, and looked him puzzled.

"Loki?" she asked, still eyeing him. But he didn't answer, instead turning to look behind him. And Lyra peeked from behind him, only to see Bruce Banner, aka Hulk, standing in the doorway, his hand still up and a weary look on his face. When an angry and an confused look met his weary one, Bruce tried to smile.

"Sorry, I-" he mumbled, trying to find the right words. When Loki's eyes and whole person turned into a "I-Will-Murder-You" the green mutant seemed to find his words again "Just needed to be sure that he's really here, and not.... just... trying to hurt her" Loki seemed to relax, but only a little. The glare stayed, tho, for Bruce had just interrupted them in the most important time of their new beginning.

"Anyway, I'm happy to se that he's here... and that he left the stone... He... Or never mind. GoodDayAn'Bye" and he was gone, just light that. For a nerd he moved pretty fast. Lyra blinked and opened her mouth to say something. But, alas, she didn't know what to say.

"Green giant monster or no, I will murder him" Loki grumbled and was ready to go after Banner, but Lyra took his arm, stopping him. Loki turned a little to Lyra, trying to be patient, for her sake.

"Loki, please, just... let it go, let him go. You know, he's still weary of you. Hell, most of my buddies will be. So... Just... for my sake, let it go? Please?" Lyra bleaded. Loki turned away from her, closing his eyes. And suddenly he felt his heart being heavier. The realization hit him harder than he wished. Because, if Loki wanted to be with Lyra, he didn't have to just gain her trust, but her friends as well. And her family's as well, he supposed. Although, now when he thought about it... How much did he know about Lyra's family? He did know about her father, a mutant called Wolverine, but... what about the rest of her family.

But gaining the trust of everyone was going to be hard. And who's fault was that? Loki knew the answer, yet it hurt, yet he was hurt, yet he was scared.... But he loved Lyra.

"I'm ready to try, and Let it go, but.... are your friends ready to forgive me?" Loki asked, his voice sounding drained, hoarse. Lyra sifted her legs, knowing dam well how scared Loki must be. And when he turned to look at her, Loki's face confirmed it. He didn't try to cover the fear in his heart, the fear that he wouldn't be forgiven by other's. "And what about your father? Are you sure that Wolverine wouldn't rip me apart because of what I did?"

Lyra sighed and moved to hug Loki. She really didn't know, and how could she?

"We just... We just have to trust them. And, if things turn to bad, we can leave. We don't need to live with guys who don't accept us, and who can't give you another chance" Lyra replied and then lifted her head to look at Loki. And for a while they looked at each other before Loki pressed his forehead against Lyra's.

"Oh, and... What did Banner mean about you leaving the stone...?" Lyra suddenly asked, before Loki could kiss her properly this time. And he sighed, turning to glare the wall. Why, oh why, was the life against one single kiss?!

"When we were at the vault of Asgard, you, myself, and the green guy... There wast this stone I was about to take with me. Buuut...." Loki answered and then he turned his eyes back to Lyra, a little, mischievous smile growing on his lips "Then someone, who was not suppose to be down there, dripped over and I had to save her from falling to an eternity" Lyra's lips turned to a thin line and her head turned a little to her side.

Yeah, she wasn't originally meant to be there, but she had just decided to follow Loki and Hulk. For shit and giggles. And then she had dripped over her own shoes and was about to fall over to her own death. But Loki had been her knight in silver armor and had saved her, apparently abounding some nice stone. Oh well, it was just a stone, right? 

"Well, I was just... following the flame that attracted me towards it" she said, with a slight smirk. And Loki smiled a little to himself and then he leaned towards Lyra and finally their lips met, without interruption.

And for a moment, everything was alright.

[kittyprincessofcats]

MCU movies ranked by how well-written Loki was

Well, one person did tell me to post them, so here we go. This list ranks the 6 MCU movies Loki appeared in - solely based on how well-written he was. This list disregards how good/bad I thought the movie was otherwise, and also doesn’t factor in how well the story treats the character - it’s based just on how much I agree or disagree with Loki’s characterisation. (In other words if he gets brutally murdered or treated like shit by his family, that doesn’t necessarily mean he himself was ooc.) Also, this is of course just my opinion and very much up for debate :)

This ended up getting kinda long, sorry - I just really like talking about Loki :D

ALSO THIS LIST CONTAINS ENDGAME SPOILERS

6th Place - Thor: Ragnarok

Yeah... Sorry, I know people love this movie, but it really deserves last place on this list. Now, to be fair, I didn’t completely hate how Loki was written here, there definitely were some nice moments (”I’m here”), but overall I felt like the movie played Loki’s trauma for laughs to much, made him the butt of a joke too often and didn’t make him stand up for himself like he did in his previous movies - which is one of the things I liked most about him. I also didn’t like that the movie tried to retcon him into someone who’s been hurting Thor his whole life, or that they made his “redemption” involve forgiving Odin. And even though this movie is praised for its “anti-colonialism” message, it really fails to address that Loki was one of the biggest victims of Asgard’s colonialism and that Odin never really changed his ways after banishing Hela.

And beyond that, I just felt like there was something slightly “off” about how Loki was written here. It was his first time back on the big screen in 5 years, and somehow it just didn’t feel like the same character anymore. Ragnarok was the only movie Loki was in where I went out of the cinema and didn’t feel the need to read tons of fanfic about him. At first I thought it was just because I’d moved on in those 5 years and wasn’t as invested in his character anymore - but then Infinity War happened and (despite killing him off) absolutely nailed Loki’s characterisation and brought my love for him back full force. And that’s when I realized I hadn’t moved on - Ragnarok just hadn’t gotten Loki right.

5th Place - The Avengers

I initially wanted to place this higher, mainly because it’s such an iconic movie (that I really like) and because so many of Loki’s most iconic and well-known lines are from this one. Tom absolutely plays the sassy, charming but vulnerable trickster to perfection here. Then why is is to so low on my list? First of all, because I feel like there was a giant personality shift for Loki between this movie and the first Thor. Loki has previously stated that he never wanted the throne (of Asgard) and now he suddenly tries to conquer earth and we’re not really meant to question it.

Now before you all say it - Yes, I’m aware that Loki was tortured by Thanos between this movie and the last one. And while the movie doesn’t explicitly tell us that, I think between him looking like hell and limping in his first scene and his scene with The Other (”He will make you long for something as sweet as pain”), the implications were clear enough. Plus, there’s the whole revelation that the mind stone influenced his thinking. So yes, I think his personality shift is understandable - BUT I wish the movie itself had made that clearer instead of leaving it to fans to connect the dots and understand why Loki is acting so different now.

And lastly, I don’t like his “mewling q**m” line to Natasha. I think it’s incredibly misogynistic on the writers’ part (ahem... Joss Whedon again), and it’s also incredibly ooc for Loki, who subverts gender roles, is genderfluid himself if we go by the comics, and has always been shown to respect women, especially his mother. So I don’t feel like using gendered insults is something he would do.

4th place - Avengers: Infinity War     

Yes, the scene was horrible. Yes, it broke my heart and made me angry at the Russos. No, I don’t have the desire to rewatch it. BUT the one thing I do have to give this movie credit for is absolutely getting Loki’s character right. This was the movie that reawakened my love for Loki after Ragnarok failed to do so. Tom’s acting throughout this scene is brilliant and heart-wrenching and the dialogue features some of my favourite Loki lines. I mean: ”For one thing, I’m not Asgardian - and for another, we have a Hulk.” “The sun will shine on us again.” “You will never be a god.” Loki finally acknowledging himself as “not Asgardian” and “the rightful king of Jotunheim”? Loki repeating “We have a Hulk” - symbolizing that he’s on the same side as the Avengers now? Loki looking his biggest fear in the eye and choosing to sacrifice himself for his brother? GOOD SHIT. That’s some good shit right there!

Even Loki attacking Thanos with a butter knife isn’t necessarily ooc - He didn’t do it because he thought it would work, he was simply out of ideas and decided to distract Thanos and save Thor. He knew he would die. And if you tell me that wasn’t absolutely heroic then I don’t know what is. Though I do agree that the writers (not just of this movie, but of all of them) seem to have forgotten all the powers Loki is supposed to have and I’m also annyoed that they just make him stab people instead. And also, I don’t like that Loki calls himself “Odinson” in this scene. Forgiving Odin shouldn’t be a part of his redemption, bla bla, we’ve been over this. I like to headcanon that that part was more meant for Thor than Odin.

3rd Place - Avengers: Endgame

I know what you’re thinking - Does Loki even have enough screentime in Endgame for it to be on this list? And yeah, good point. It’s hard to be completely ooc when you basically have two minutes of screentime and I did consider leaving it off the list for precisely that reason. But, I mean COME ON. I just had to give a shout-out to how absolutely iconic those two minutes were. Imitating Cap? Sarcastically waving at the Hulk from the elevator? Dramatically rolling his eyes when Thor mentions Odin? Grabbing the tesseract at the first chance and just noping out of that horrible mess of a movie? ICONIC. Two minutes of screentime and he somehow stole the show. When could your fave ever?

2nd Place - Thor 1

This is the movie that made me fall in love with Loki in the first place, so obviously it had to be high on this list. The way he was written (and acted) here was absolutely beautiful, his story is heartwrenching in all the right ways, he makes all the wrong choices but as a viewer you understand why he makes them. He’s presented to us as this outcast who doesn’t quite fit in, who’s always in the shadow of his brother, kind of gets bullied by his brother’s friends, yearns for his father’s love - and who one day has to deal with the realisation that his life was a lie and that his father resents him for something beyond his control. The confrontation between him and Odin in the Vaults is still the best Marvel-scene ever, hands down.

Fun fact: I literally first watched this movie because I wanted to know “who that Loki-guy is and why people love him so much”. I finished watching the movie and was like “Ah. I get it now.”

My only complaint would be that they deleted all the scenes that explained Loki’s motives and made him more sympathetic. To be honest, I sometimes forget that they’re “deleted scenes” because I’ve watched them so often that I just consider them canon.

1st Place - Thor: The Dark World

Honestly, it was close between this one and Thor 1. I love them both, but while I think the first one is a better movie overall, Loki’s portrayal in the second one is probably my favourite. He starts the movie already disillusioned with his family and spends it unafraid of calling them out on their mistreatment of him. This is the movie where Loki won’t be silenced about the injustices he’s suffered, and I love that about him. I also love how he just replies to threats with sarcasm now (”You’ll kill me? Evidently, there will be a line.”).

I also like that his movie gave more depth to his relationship with Frigga, and also showed Loki being heroic: Helping Thor, never betraying him, protecting Jane, sacrificing himself for Thor. In fact, I stick by what I said before: Loki wasn’t a villain in this movie. There isn’t a single evil thing that he did in this film. NOT ONE.

I also love how this movie makes Odin’s hypocrisy more evident than ever (Telling Loki they’re not gods and that he shouldn’t think himself above Midgardians, but telling Thor he shouldn’t date Jane because Midgardians are “goats”... You get the idea). I also like the contrasts painted between Odin and Loki and how they think about Thor’s relationship with a mortal - Odin tells him he shouldn’t date Jane because she’s “beneath” him, Loki tells him he shouldn’t date Jane because she’ll die one day and that’ll break his heart. And that’s just one of the many contrasts between them in this movie.

And THAT ENDING! Thor getting his only bit of good parenting ever and it was actually Loki - Loki still being alive - Loki sitting on that throne. HELL YES.

(I seriously don’t get how people thought that ending meant Loki was evil? Hello?? He just freed Asgard from a totalitarian dictator? Last time I checked that was a good thing? Have some people not gotten the memo that Odin’s evil? This movie in particular was very clear about that.)

My other rankings: Thor | Steve Rogers | Natasha Romanoff

[fanfic-collection]

Valhalla: Loki x Reader - Pt 2

Spoilers!

Please comment.

I’m kinda frustrated at Endgame and how some things have been handled and this is my therapy for it. So I apologize in advance if you do not care for characterization of some people............... I’m trying to remain in character and objective, but I am also coping with my own frustrations of the movie and giving myself closure that I want (well before the series) was going to write more (you’ll see what I mean) but I guess I’ll do that part another day!

A circle of white rocks surrounded a pool of crystal clear water. Yet though the water was clear as day, the depths were not visible.

Frigga walked over to a small table and lifted a tray of cups. “I saw you coming.” She explained, glancing at the pool.

You and Loki each took a cup, Frigga removing her own, before setting the tray back on the table. She motioned for each of you to take a seat on the floor around the pool. Where you sat seemed to be made of soft pillows, yet the ground had been solid.

Frigga took her seat at the pool's edge, grabbing a handful of herbs and tossed them into the water. They sank for a moment, rippling the surface before vanishing.

For a moment, nothing happened, the pool merely absorbing the plants. You and Loki waited with hushed breaths.

Slowly the water began to form and make shapes, an image of a battlefield appeared.

Loki inhaled sharply. “The Dark Order...” He breathed softly. You reached out and touched his hand, stroking your fingers over the back of it gently. Loki glanced at you, a soft smile crossing his features, before stoically turning back to the battle. “I see the earth's mightiest heroes' numbers have grown since my time there.”

Frigga smiled, “Yes. Intentional or not, it was certainly made clear that greater threats existed in the universe.”

Loki shook his head, “They could have been safe, free of such threats. They played with power they did not understand.”

“There was a time where I thought you had done the same.” Frigga responded.

Loki looked up sharply, eyes hard.

“How ignorant I was.” Frigga finished, looking back down as Wakandan warriors fell in the onslaught.

The bifrost opened and Thor appeared, a raccoon on his shoulder and a Flora colossus by his side. Loki smiled wistfully.

“I don't recognize that weapon.” You glanced at Loki, “I was aware of Mjolnir's destruction...”

“Stormbreaker.” Loki explained, grinning. “I had it commissioned during my time as Odin, events were unfolding in the universe, it seemed best to stay ahead of them.” Loki glanced back at Frigga, “Where is the monster now?”

Frigga waved her hand and the scene changed. A barren land appeared, the end of a fight.

Loki tilted his head and squinted, “The metal man?” He leaned forward, watching a bargain unfold. “I see the sorcerer has decided to get involved in Midgard's lowly affairs.”

“He's giving one of the Infinity Stones to...”

“Thanos.” Loki breathed softly. “For the metal man's life.”

A portal opened by the space stone and Thanos vanished.

Loki looked at Frigga sharply, “Where did he go?”

Frigga tossed more plants into the water and the image changed.

Thor rushed at Thanos, Stormbreaker held aloft, the axe flew true, lightning crackling from its blade.

It landed in Thanos' chest.

Loki's mouth fell open. The three of you leaned forward. Thanos raised the gauntlet, six stones glistening and...

“No.” You whispered, shaking your head and looking up at Frigga.

“They lost.” Loki finished for you, disbelief heavy in his voice. He looked up at Frigga, “How? That is the most powerful weapon...” Loki looked back down at the frozen image of Thor watching Thanos vanish through the portal. Loki looked back up. Then back down.

Clenching his fist, Loki turned away, teeth clenched.

“There's more.” Frigga said softly.

“Is this happening now, or has it already happened?” Loki turned back, interested once more.

“It's hard to say. Time does not match up here as it does there. It has taken me a great deal of time to find out how to see between the worlds.” Frigga explained.

“Please, continue.” Loki said, settling back into his seat.

The Avengers were gathered in a facility, mostly the ones Loki knew, plus a daughter of Thanos who seemed to have changed alliances, the raccoon, and a new woman. Your trio of watchers sat in silence as they schemed a new plan to track Thanos down, he had used the Infinity Stones again.

And then...

“Just like that, he's dead?” Loki asked, watching as Thanos' head fell to the ground.

“The stones are gone...” You whispered, “All those people, all those lives, half the universe, gone.”

“Our people.” Loki whispered.

“Do the lives of humans mean so little to you, Loki? I had hoped your indifference was madness.” Frigga admonished.

Loki raised his eyebrow, “Forgive me,” He sneered, “It's hard to forget that after a literal lifetime of father's teachings that suddenly we're to remember that these mortals are in fact valuable assets, more important than goats at banquet tables.”

Frigga pursed her lips. “You are able to think for yourself.”

“Their lives are fleeting.”

“And yet they live so fully nonetheless.”

“Where were these words to challenge Odin in life?” Loki responded, a touch of poison on his tongue.

Frigga looked down sadly, “It was easier to think and know in my heart than to stand against him.”

“I do not wish death on them, but I have better things to mourn.”

“Is that how you will wile away your time from now until darkness?” Frigga responded.

“Oh no, I intend to learn this land's secrets. For now though, I wish to know what becomes of my brother. We have been through much and he has never known suffering, I fear how he will handle it.”

“You think Thor has not suffered in his life?” Frigga countered.

“He has known the suffering of a golden child. And now he has lost that. No Odin to enable him, you cannot comfort him, even I cannot gawk in his shadow, desperate for a breath of air, a touch of sun.” Loki responded evenly, a coldness in his voice. “How will the golden son fair, I wonder? His friends who occasionally humored me are dead, courtesy of Hela, Sif is lost in the winds, even our faithful people cannot give him the love and adoration they once did: how could they? The deathtoll on Asgard, the lives halved by Thanos personally and how many more turned to dust? He was sworn to protect our people. I did that for three years, mocked cruelly for it when I turned our forces inward, keeping them from other realms and allowing Asgard to prosper in itself. I turned our wealth to the arts. Did I glorify myself? Perhaps, I daresay I was owed that much for my sacrifice, I would have gone alone, unknown, and forgotten as ever had I not. I am owed that much. Was removing Odin's powers wrong, it is by right a crime of the realm, but what of the punishment promised to me despite my efforts time and again? Or Thor, who in this situation was valiant and just? I do not regret sending Odin to Midgard. He was the one who chose to die. And where is the fool?” Loki looked around angrily as though Odin might walk out suddenly.

“He was not worthy of Valhalla.” Frigga whispered quietly. “A warrior's death befits Valhalla, dying with a blade, or weapon, in one's hand.”

Loki blinked several times, slowly reeling back. “Oh.” He finally finished with a soft mutter.

“Well, regardless if Thor has known suffering before, he knows it now.” Frigga pointed at the water.

Thor stumbled around his hut drunkenly, night after night. The days and nights whirled by, time passing in a blur. Slowly his hair grew out, his muscles sagged, the weight of the world settled on his shoulders, and yet he rarely left his hut.

“He's a mess.” Loki said, having stood up during his speech and never resumed sitting.

“My poor son.” Frigga whispered, reaching towards the water.

Loki looked at Thor in disgust, “What of our people?”

“Valkyrie cares for them mostly, Thor leaves his hut every month or so to address the Asgardians. They've set up a nice little fishing village on the water's edge.” Frigga explained, still staring longingly at Thor.

“Even now you seek to bolster him.”

“He needs it!” Frigga looked up at Loki.

Loki grit his teeth, “In the depths of my misery, he came to me in my cell. I blamed myself for your death, and he refused to share in our grief, resilient as always. My golden brother.” Loki hissed.

“Your jealousy will wear at you, Loki. Even in death it can destroy you.” Frigga murmured.

Loki looked down at Thor laying on his back, staring morosely at the ceiling. Korg, the rock creature, stood in the doorway with a case of beers. Setting down the case, he closed the door and left.

“I'm disgusted.” Loki whispered. “He's better than that. I admired him for so long.”

“He is only a man, Loki.” Frigga whispered back.

“We are gods. The god of thunder. Look at him.”

“Do you see yourself?” Frigga asked.

“I see what I could have been.” Loki muttered, “I was given nothing and forged in fire. He was given everything.” Loki shook his head.

“He lost his people.”

“I lost my people. And I fought on, I sacrificed my life for him, to live, not... not for this.” Loki trailed off.

“Living is much harder than dying.”

Loki's eyes flashed, “Do you forget what happened when the Bifrost broke? When Odin told me, dangling over an abyss, that I was not good enough? When I gave into despair? You think I haven't met death before? I have been wrenched away from her sweet kiss more times than most, you think I don't know that living is harder than dying?”

Frigga changed tactics, “He has not known the same pain you have, he has not had to cope as you have.”

“No. I had to alone, everything, always alone.”

You stood up. “You have me.”

“I lost you so quickly.” Loki said, turning to you and cupping your face.

You gripped his neck and pulled him towards your height, leaning your forehead against his. “I did not know you for as long as I wish I had, but I have thought every moment I have been here of you. I have been with you in spirit.”

Loki smiled weakly, thumb stroking along your cheek. He swallowed hard and nodded before slowly pulling away. Looking back at Frigga then down at Thor, he shook his head.

“Brother... what is wrong with you...” Loki slowly knelt down. You knelt down beside him and leaned against him.

“How long has it been?” You asked, noting the new lines on Thor's face, the length of his hair, the state of the hut.

“I believe five years.” Frigga answered.

“He doesn't speak with the Avengers, his old friends?” Loki tilted his head.

“He's broken, my son.” Frigga responded, “He seems to be trying to drink himself to death. You have always been a great source of comfort to him.”

“As he said so frequently.” Loki muttered.

“Do you have no sympathy for your brother, after all you've been through?” Frigga asked, a hint of pleading in her voice.

“It's been five years, he has not said my name once.” Loki replied, watching Dr. Banner and the raccoon leave, Thor stumbling after them.

-

“So time travel? How will that work with the scrying pool?” Loki asked.

“It is attuned to their energies in the cosmos, I believe it will follow them.” Frigga explained, searching for more herbs.

“They're going back to the Chitauri invasion.” Loki breathed, “Will they see me?”

“It is likely.”

“I wish to follow the metal man as well.”

“You can call him Tony, he seem nice. I think he respects you.” You smiled at him.

“And how would you know?” Loki raised an eyebrow at you.

“What do you think we practiced scrying on before you arrived?”

Loki looked from you to Frigga then slowly smiled, “So it would seem.” He finally responded, shaking his head slowly and chuckling, “Very well.”

Thor sneaked past Loki's cell, the raccoon in tandem. Without acknowledging them, the Loki in the cell continued to toss a metal cup, ignoring the world around him.

“He ignored me.” Loki whispered softly, “He didn't even acknowledge my existence... All this grief...” Loki looked up at Frigga. “You said he mourned for the loss of me, surely he would...” He looked down at the empty hall beside the cell. “Wouldn't he...” Loki watched as Thor worried at the raccoon, fretting over the impending death of Frigga. “Of course he worries for you.” Loki swallowed hard, blinking rapidly. “Is all this sorrow and grief...”

“He didn't bat an eye when the Warriors three died.” you whispered.

Loki looked at you, “I thought surely I just hadn't found them on the ship yet.”

“You're more observant than that.”

Loki looked at Frigga, then to you, back at the pool. “He speaks not my name, he stops not for me in prison, yet is willing to risk any consequences by seeking you out.” A crooked, open-mouthed smile crossed Loki's face as he continued to blink, tears pricking at his eyes. “Of course.” He licked his lips, nodding slowly. “Yes. My mistake.”

“Loki...” You said slowly, resting your hand on his knee.

Frigga interjected, “He has never been good at expressing his emotions, Loki.”

“He couldn't be damned to even mention me? Not even to you? To stop at my cell? I'm sure I would have just thought it was that madness setting in!” Loki snarled.

“Your brother doesn't think like that.”

“There you are, defending him again!” Loki snapped.

“I'm trying to make you see another side!” Frigga protested.

Loki pursed his lips.

“He fixes problems by punching them, he doesn't know how to tell someone that he is bleeding from his heart, that the closest person to him is gone forever and he is alone in the world and he thinks it's his fault.”

“It is his damned fault!” Loki roared.

“Loki please.” Frigga pleaded.

Loki trembled beside you, fury radiating from him.

“He wanted you to love him as you always had, for you to step out and be your own person scared him, he needed time to change and adapt to your growth.”

“Pity for him.” Loki snarled.

“People always need time to grow, Loki, even for you. He would have, in time, and perhaps it would have been healthier for you to be away for him during that time, to grow by yourself as he grew by himself. But fate was cruel and took away that chance.”

“But now he has the rock beast, back to hero worshiping him.” Loki shook his head, “Any growth he might have had from having his enablers taken away is gone, he's going to fall back into the old patterns.”

Frigga sighed and looked down at the pool, Thor triumphantly holding Mjolnir. “So it would seem.”

“Might as well see the Chitauri then.” Loki waved his hand.

[lazy-cat-corner]

Okay okay okay the thing that’s been bothering me since I walked out of Endgame is what Frigga told Thor. Sorry if I get ranty or sound like an angry fangirl. I’m not angry, I just need to get it out of my system.

[spoilers below, I can’t add a read more line, sorry]

....

....

“Eat a salad.”

It was intended to be a joke but I can’t wrap my mind around why Frigga would say such a thing to anyone like that as a joke.

Frigga is cheeky. She’s clever and not someone who wouldn’t be afraid to crack a joke so hilarious, it shocks everyone that The Allmother has a mouth so foul. It’s where Thor and Loki get their wit, after all. And maybe I’m the wrong person to talk about this subject because I myself have never struggled with weight gain so I apologize if I’m speaking out of line or maybe misinformed, but I imagine, from watching people I do know who have struggled with weight, that the thing they’ve dealt with that stuck with them for life is when people told them to eat a salad, particularly when it comes from their own parents.

I get it. It was one line and it’s not like Thor is a real person to deal with these types of issues people IRL deal with. But the overall message it implies to the viewers is what kinda irks me and really puts Frigga out of character. And it’s overall just not a nice thing to say to anybody. Period!

Thor making a nemesis online and using all his pent up energy on an asshole troll? Making threats he would make to Hela or Malekith or The Grandmaster or even Thanos and using it instead for some rando loser. That’s funny!

Thor wearing sunglasses 24/7 and passed out on the couch in the middle of an important scene? That’s funny!

Thor going off topic when he’s meant to give the team full bio about the reality stone and starts talking about how he misses Jane? That’s very sad and hurt ngl but the context made it kinda funny. Especially when he knew he was going off topic but the floodgates were open and he’s gotta finish. It’s entirely relatable.

Thor telling Steve he gets the smaller hammer? That’s funny!

Thor’s own friends telling him to eat a salad or he’s made of cheese wiz? That’s mean and are comments people make to real people with real health issues. Frigga would never!

Also, if Frigga had anything cheeky to tell Thor it would be to take a shower and do his laundry before the Biglesnipes mistake him for family! That’s all!

[occasionalfics]

In The Meantime (Thor X Reader)

drabble masterlist | series masterlist | taglist (let me know if it’s working pls!)

For Anonymous: “Can I request drabble/fic where say the reader got injured on their last mission and was told to refrain from any sexual activity by their doctor for a few weeks but their bf Thor is visiting and reader is super horny and begs him to at least get off next to them so they can watch and wish they could participate?”

A/N: I was kinda worried about this being weird but...I don’t think it is. Also...knee-highs? Really? Okay. Anyway. I tried to go for a gender neutral reader :D

Warnings: WOW THIS IS NSFW/18+, it’s basically all masturbation. Just being honest.

Words: 2,453

Your last mission went horribly wrong right at the tail end of it all. It wasn’t so bad that you wouldn’t ever be allowed back in action, but it was bad enough that you’d be out of commission for a few weeks. A few of your ribs were broken and you had a bad enough concussion that Dr. Cho wouldn’t allow you out of her medical wing for three days after you returned from the mission. You spent most of that time rolling your eyes and attemping to prove that your ribs wouldn’t magically cause any internal bleeding if you just leaned over the wrong way once.

But they would, and Dr. Cho knew your stubborn personality better than you thought. It wasn’t your first time being placed in her care.

She let you out of the infirmary on the fourth morning after the mission, but demanded you stay on bedrest for at least another three days. A full week in bed with nothing to do. You were restless, mostly because your boyfriend had disappeared after Ultron showed up and you hadn’t seen or heard from him since. You’d thrown yourself into work and missions in the interim to distract yourself, but being forced to stay in bed would only bring on panic as you worried more and more.

FRIDAY kept a close watch on you. She was at least open about sending daily reports to Dr. Cho, but her intense stare via infared camera only made you more nervous. It stunned you into submission, and you hated it.

Toward the end of your prescribed bedrest, there was a knock on the door. It was soft and quick, and when you called for the person to open the door, Thor stepped inside.

Only he was completely different. He had one eye, for starters, and a huge hole where the other used to be. He was covered in dark marks and scars, and his cape hung from only one shoulder. You would’ve flung yourself out of bed if it didn’t mean FRIDAY would immediately alert Dr. Cho about it.

“Baby?” you asked, slowly sitting up with a long, drawn-out groan from the self-induced pain in your ribs. “What the hell happened?” You waved him over, and Thor obliged, walking to you and sitting on the edge of the bed by your knees.

“I could ask the same of you,” he retorted. “Except both Tony and Dr. Cho informed me what happened to you, Wreckless One.” He smiled softly at you, reaching gently for your hand.

You pulled it from his automatically, going straight for his hair despite the surge of pain that ran through you. “You got a haircut,” you said. “And your eye… My ribs will fix themselves, but your eye…” You traced your fingers down his face and gently ran your pads along the darkened skin aournd his empty eye socket.

“You don’t want to know what happened to me,” he said. “It’s not a happy story.”

You pushed yourself closer to him, still groaning as your ribs most likely pushed themselves into places they weren’t meant to be. All of that, just so you could kiss him and remind him that you most certainly wanted to hear what he had to say, no matter what. You loved him, and not a missing eye or a crudely planned haircut would change that. “Tell me anyway,” you whispered as you sat back.

He shook his head, but only followed it with helping you relax against your pillows. You pressed your hand against the empty spot on the bed where he would fit, and so he kicked off his boots and laid down beside you. Then he recouted his whole story - of Surtur and Hela and Sakaar - until there was nothing left to say. The silence that followed was awful, and you couldn’t help but reach out and touch his scarred, beautiful face to try to comfort him. He sighed, but the silence pervaded.

After a bit, Thor leaned over you and crashed his lips against yours. You had just kissed him a few minutes ago, but it didn’t feel like it. There was urgency to this kiss, and to the way his fingers pressed against your sides - in response to which you winced, not moaned, and he noticed the difference. He immediately stopped, pushed himself away, and turned over so he was beside you again. You groaned at him in frustration rather than pain.

“You can’t just leave me like that,” you whispered, trying to reach for him. “You can’t start something and then stop just because my ribs are healing.”

“Actually,” FRIDAY cut in, in a manner you’ve never heard of her before. She would normally wait for prompting, but you thought perhaps someone saw something on the infared camera across the room or something. “Dr. Cho has placed a note in your file stating that you should refrain from any sexual activity until further clearance is given.”

“Fuck Dr. Cho,” you mumbled as Thor chuckled and grabbed your hands in his.

“Dr. Cho is unavailable at this time,” FRIDAY said.

Thor laughed again, but you weren’t in a similar mood. You crossed your arms as gently as you could and made up for it with the most sour face you could conjure. “You can’t get me started like that and then not finish the damn job!” you said, regardless of having said something similiar before FRIDAY had so rudely cut in. “FRIDAY, can you shut the hell up and leave us alone for an hour? Please?” you called, never looking away from Thor.

“One hour timer set, Agent. I’ll check back then.”

“Thank Gods,” you sighed, and then Thor turned over so he rested on his elbows, though still not over you.

“Yes?” he asked, an entirely different person now that you were kind of turned on and slightly embarrassed. He smirked, knowing he’d riled you up.

“You’re really just gonna not touch me because some stupid robot said not to?” you asked him, lightly straching one of his huge muscles on his bicep so you didn’t have to move too much. You thought you might be able to save some stamina if you made little movements, litte touches to entice him, but Thor knew that wasn’t how human bodies worked.

He shrugged. “If Dr. Cho says you should refrain from sexual activity, who am I to question her?”

“A literal fucking God,” you said as you lowered your brows. “A literal God who’s been gone for two fucking years, leaving me with all this stupid pent up energy that my stupid broken ribs are keeping me from expending all over you.” You knew he loved dirty talk, so you tried your best, although it almost made you feel pathetic. He was way better at it, and his sarcastic smirk told you that he knew it, too. You whined and said, “C’mon, Thor! Please! Something - give me something!”

He wiggled his eyebrows at you, then pecked your cheek without touching much else beyond your shoulder. “You’re adorable,” he said, once again grabbing your hand. “And I apologize for being gone so long. I was keeping the leaders of the other realms from advancing on Asgard-”

“Yeah, okay, cool, but I’m still ready to go here and I don’t know when you’re leaving again,” you told him. You’d have time for more stories later, maybe. Or when he came back again. You cursed yourself for having made whatever mistake on the last mission that had left you with broken ribs and the threat of internal bleeding. All you wanted to do was jump his bones before he left again, preferably without dying in the process.

“I don’t, either,” he said quietly. When you saw the seriousness in his eye, you knew he was tellign the truth. He didn’t have many other places to go, you remembered. Maybe he was here for good, but that still didn’t help the ease the heat that flushd your body. “We have time, and I can be patient.”

“I can’t,” you mumbled, tracing small circles on the back of his hand. You bit your lip and pulled him to you so you could kiss him again, because if that was the most you were going to recieve until Dr. Cho said otherwise, then you had to take it. But Thor had a certain effect on you; even if he wasn’t trying to turn you on, he was doing it anyway. You were putting yourself in a corner you couldn’t really afford to be in, but you didn’t want to stop yourself.

There was another sharp pain in your side, and you gasped against him before he pulled back.

“I won’t hurt you,” he said softly, a hint of a warning on his tongue. “We’re waiting.”

You moved your hand down to try stroking him over his trousers, but he caught you in the middle of the act and shook his head. “We’re waiting,” he repeated, louder this time. More commanding.

You huffed and laid back against your pillows as you shook your head. You almost crossed your arms and put your sour face on again, but then an idea struck you. If you couldn’t get release, maybe you could convince him to give it to himself. That might help, maybe. It could make things more tense bewteen your legs, but you wanted to give it a chance anyway.

“Fine,” you said, “we’re waiting. But…”

He rolled his eye before you went on. “I hesitate to ask what it is you’re about to ask of me,” he told you.

“What if…” You bit your lip, then reached out and ran your fingers through his short hair. He was sticky, like he’d been sweating before he came to find you and hadn’t even managed to shower. It wouldn’t matter with what you were about to ask him anyway. “What if you...worked yourself...for me?”

He stared at you for too long. You knew you’d have to help him clean his eye and find a patch or something for it, but you doubted losing an apendage could kill him now if it hadn’t already. He could stand to get a good handjob, even if it was from his own hand.

“You won’t let me touch you until Dr. Cho says so,” you said, vitriol lining her name even though she was only looking out for your health, “so why don’t you do the job for me? And when I’m better, I’ll repay you for it.” You wiggled your brows at him, still running your fingers through his hair, hoping that would play some part in convincing him that you needed him to do this.

Either it did, or it had no part in his decision at all. Either way, he sighed, turned himself over so he was on his back, and looked at you again. “You’re sure this is what you want?” he asked.

“No, it’s not,” you said simply. “But it’s close enough.”

You both took a second, then shrugged at the same time. Thor went slowly as he pulled his armor off, handing it to you one piece at a time so you could place it in a nice pile beside the bed. You missed seeing his glorious naked body, and while he wouldn’t let you explore it the way you wanted to, having him so close in such a state was enough to satisfy your craving for him. For now, anyway.

You motioned for him to lean against you, and he compromised by placing his head on your shoulder. You wrapped your arm around him and drew little patterns against his chest, which was just as sticky as his hair and beautifully displayed for your viewing pleasure. You focused on his hands, though, and placed a kiss on his head as he trailed his fingers all over his body. You bit your lip to keep from gasping when he gripped his cock in one hand but dug your nails into his skin when he gently started pumping.

You could hear how desperate for moisture his skin was, and you weren’t sure how he’d react to you forcing his fingers into your mouth, so you went with a safer option. You could just reach a bottle of lotion you kept on your bedside table with the tips of your fingers, so you brought that over to him and pushed a dollop into his free palm.

“Thank you,” he said, always royally polite.

You chuckled and rolled your eyes, even if he couldn’t see it. After putting the lotion away, you focused on him again and enjoyed the show. He worked himself the way you wanted to, and in minutes he was already leaking precum. You continued to gently run your fingers over his chest, trying not to block his vision to what was going on below. You moaned when he did, kissed his head when you especially liked a move or a sound he made. He pumped faster, arched his back, and dug his head into your shoulder, and you gasped behind him, hoping he would turn his head so you could really kiss him. But he didn’t; he just shut his eye and grunted, picking up speed as you watched his toes curl. You knew he was close, so you pushed your nails into his chest and bit your lip.

“Fuck, baby,” you whimpered close to his ear. “This is so hot.”

That was all he needed to push himself over the edge. His his bucked repeatedly as white streams of his cum pumped out of him in bursts, covering the sheets and parts of his thighs. You wished all of that was inside you, but you didn’t say as much. You let him have this, knowing what he’d already been through.

You let him catch his breath before pulling his face towards yours. He obliged, and even let you lean over to kiss him. When you pulled back, you kept your forhead against his, even though your position put strain on your sides. Not much, but enough for you to feel uncomfortable. Still, you told him, “Thank you, baby.”

“I’m the one who came. I should be thanking you,” he whispered.

You smiled and softly touched his cheek, unwilling to argue anymore. He’d done what you’d asked of him. It wasnt enough, but it had to be, for the time being. “The second Dr. Cho gives us the all clear, I’m letting you do whatever it is you want to me. So get creative,” you told him.

His smile was all the assurance you needed to know that was exactly what he needed to hear.

Tags! (link above to add yourself if the doc ever wants to work again!)

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Drabbles: @athorable-and-deanlicous

[thorvaenn]

au: hela comes back and treats thor right. loki gets jelly of their relationship 🤯

Mhmmmm.. I’m imagining.. this would have to be real long con by Hela. Thor would likely be a little reserved, she would maybe try a little damsel in distress and he wouldn’t take the bait. But then they would bond over Odin’s expectations, about the position of the first born, the heir, the pressure. Cover it up or cast it out. A wise king must always be ready for war. So many little things that they’ve had impressed upon them, so much hypocrisy.

And yeah, it’s a relief to Thor. To have a sibling that seems to be actively listening to him and working on their relationship. It reminds him of the best times he used to have with Loki, except it’s also bittersweet because Loki is right there and he’s sneering and deflecting and just trying his best to ruin this thing that is giving Thor so much strength and relief. Loki and Hela are a combustive mixture - Loki doesn’t trust her a bit and obviously he’s a threat to Hela because she knows he can see right through her. 

And Loki is kinda losing it because even though he would never admit it, not even to himself, except maybe in the deepest of downs, he knows it’s the way he’s pushed Thor away and hurt him that has now made him so vulnerable and craving that sibling bond. And rationally he should sweeten up, go to Thor, remind him that he still has a brother in Loki too, get back on his good side so that he can watch more closely and protect Thor, but he’s so pissed off that he just can’t bring himself to do it.

But ironically it’s one time with Hela being a total sycophant, whispering her agreement into his hear while Loki screams at Thor about what a fucking moron he is about this or that decision that it all clicks for Thor. This, too, reminds him of what Loki used to do, the manipulation, playing on Thor’s ego and his temper and what he is emphatically not doing now. So he pulls back, withdraws, and of course not long after Hela’s claws start to come out once she feels she’s no longer in control.. and the rest is history I suppose.

[taaroko]

Post-IW MCU Rewatch: Avengers: Age of Ultron

Time for the Long Weekend of Ultron. If you’re looking for a negative review, this will not be that. Maybe I am easily satisfied, but I dislike zero of the MCU movies. As long as characters I love are onscreen and being awesome and especially when they’re interacting with other characters I love, I’m going to end up with overall positive experience. That being said, this movie is my least favorite in which Thor appears, and it’s probably close to the bottom of my ranking.

I saw a post yesterday pointing out that this is the only movie in which Thor uses lethal force against humans. In the opening sequence when they’re taking down the latest in a long series of Hydra bases, he’s wasting a bunch of dudes without hesitating. Like the person who made that post, I’m pretty sure Thor is not cool with your fascist BS, especially if he knows that they love using Norse symbolism.

Is this the only time Steve uses his motorcycle as a projectile? Because I kind of think it’s not, but I can’t remember for sure. 

“Can we hold them?” “They’re the Avengers!”

I love Thor and Cap’s combo moves so much.

“Good talk!” “No it wasn’t.”

“Please be a secret door please be a secret door please be a secret door—yay!”

The lullaby is always going to be hilarious now.

Well that was an extremely effective way of activating Tony’s guilt complex.

What’s Wanda’s deal? She saw what Tony saw, right? She knows Tony’s greatest fear is failing to stop an alien invasion and Earth’s destruction—of surviving all of that while his friends don’t (ooooouch). Is she already doubting the plan, or what?

“Tales of sprained deltoids and...gout.” Thor is so very wonderfully bad at backtracking from a foot-in-mouth moment.

Oh wow, Tony asked Thor for permission to keep the Scepter long enough to check it out before he’d take it back to Asgard.

“Will...Thor be there?” SAME, GIRL.

“We don’t have time for a City Hall debate.” This is the last time Tony will be so averse to oversight.

Okay so I’m confused. Did Tony recycle part of an interface Hydra was building? Because that would kind of explain how it ended up thinking humanity was too defective to be allowed to live?

Ultron killing JARVIS hurts so much worse than I ever would’ve expected it to hurt to watch an electronic butler get killed.

Thor is telling a bunch of old veterans war stories! That’s so great!

���This was aged for a thousand years in the barrels built from the wreck of Brunnhilde’s fleet. It is not meant for mortal men.” Wait a second. Brunnhilde? As in, Valkyrie from Ragnarok? Seriously? She gets a name in this movie but not the one she’s actually in? But it’s pretty cool they made kegs out of her ships. I’m assuming this wreck happened before the disastrous attack on Hela, which means Brunnhilde could probably decide how to repurpose all the wood. Barrels of mead definitely sounds like something she’d sign off on.

Also does this mead get Steve drunk? I feel like it should at least be able to do that. And it’s great that Thor hands some to him in the same breath that he says it’s not for mortals. He thinks very highly of Steve.

I wonder how often Steve hangs around with old veterans.

I’m completely fine with Bruce/Natasha. ...But my ship is Bucky/Nat.

Hehe, it’s Steve’s turn to be Natasha’s wingman.

The hammer scene is fantastic.

I saw a review thing where someone talked about how there’s a stupid gag where Bruce’s face lands on Nat’s boobs, and I couldn’t for the life of me remember what that was. Well I just found it, and...that is not how you play something like that for cheap laughs. They don’t linger on it, they don’t make risqué comments. Nat is so not bothered by it that she doesn’t even acknowledge his apology, and Bruce doesn’t even seem that embarrassed. Nat is entirely focused on making sure what’s happening around them isn’t enough to make him hulk out.

Okay yeah, Ultron went straight back to the Hydra facility after they killed all his Iron Legion bodies, which definitely makes me think they used some of Hydra’s interface to make him. And I think Tony was so willing to do it because of how Wanda messed with his brain, cranking up the paranoia about alien threats.

Thor is not happy that Tony spent the time he graciously allowed him before taking the scepter back to Asgard messing around with it like this.

Is it weird for Andy Serkis to play human characters after doing so many mo-cap roles?

“Keep your friends rich and your enemies rich and wait to find out which is which.”

Ultron has so far talked about evolution, quoted scripture, and quoted famous poetry. He’s gotten remarkably cultured already, and he’s let it make him super pretentious.

I’m pretty sure they realized going in that they were never going to top Days of Future Past’s version of Quicksilver, so they didn’t really try and then also killed him off so they wouldn’t have to. But where that Quicksilver is ridiculously fun, this one has more emotional weight. And an arc.

Okay. So I think Wanda tapped into Tony’s fears (born from his glimpse through the portal) and Thor’s slight aptitude for foresight (as indicated in his dreams of Asgard burning in Ragnarok). Steve has neither of those things, and she made him see a messed up version of the past he wishes he could go back to. She made Nat see the past she regrets, and she just made Bruce hulk out. I don’t think Wanda herself has any ability to see the future.

Oh hey, Wolfram & Hart are in Thor’s dream.

Also foreshadowing to his level up in lightning powers. Hmmm. I wonder if Heimdall’s warning is that Ragnarok will pave the way for Thanos.

The entire Veronica sequence is awesome. But the best part is Tony’s jackhammer punches/Chinese finger trap. Also Tony’s face after Hulk spits out a tooth.

The wind down of the fight is the origin of “Earth hate Hulk.” Aww.

I do not understand the hate Clint’s family gets. I could not have been happier to discover that the reason he doesn’t have a girlfriend is that he has a wife and kids. Statistically, it’s nice that at least one Avenger has a family. It’s okay for there to be a stay-at-home mom somewhere in the MCU. And it’s wonderful that Natasha has kind of been adopted by the Barton family.

Thor and Steve’s faces during the whole bit where Thor steps on a toy house are hilarious. Awwwwwwwww Thor left because he’s worried he’s a danger to them, because of his vision! That’s so sad!

Ooh, was that the first time Clint’s been called Hawkeye in the movies?

I don’t understand the vitriol against Natasha’s attitude about being sterilized as a young teenager. That moment was the rite of passage that sealed her role as a KGB assassin. To her, it is symbolic of everything she did for them and gave up for them. And it’s their philosophy that motherhood could compromise an agent, not the movie’s. This doesn’t mean she wishes she could be Laura Barton. She plays all these different roles and weaves all these different lies because it makes it easier to hide from her past, and Wanda just brought that all back to the surface. She’s allowed to be upset that she let a hostile government agency mutilate her and limit her options for the future. It’s tragic, not problematic, that she, as the sum of her entire past, considers herself monstrous. This is just more “I’ve got red in my ledger.” And she’s a little bit playing this up because she wants Bruce to stop fighting what they could have together. She doesn’t want him thinking something like that she deserves more than someone like him.

You don’t have a dark side, Steve. Don’t be silly. But here are sown the seeds of Civil War. Winter Soldier has made Steve very opposed to using force as a preventative measure, and it has also made him very mistrustful of putting someone else in charge, but now Tony’s giving him reasons not to trust him either. For Steve, there will never be a time to retire. This is why I’m convinced he’ll die in Avengers 4, and why I desperately hope Tony will be allowed to retire.

“I need your help. It’s dangerous.” In the deleted scenes, yeah.

“Guy’s multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit.” *snort*

Clint’s darts game is great.

“Hoo, I’m decrypting nuclear codes and you don’t want me to.”

What is this power Ultron has to make big chunks of stuff move? Is it magnetic? Because that wouldn’t explain him moving chunks of road.

Bruce and Tony interacting is so great.

AHAHA! There’s a reason Ultron didn’t do something obvious like launch all the nukes! JARVIS was stopping him! JARVIS’s surviving protocols were making sure he didn’t do everything you’d expect an AI with internet access to be able to do. Okay. Biggest plot hole isn’t actually a plot hole. Boom. However I do think that Ultron’s plan to destroy the Earth meteor style was part of his melodramatic god complex personality.

Ultron 3.0 looks awful. Should’ve streamlined a bit. He looks like he’s on steroids.

I very much do not like that Vision can fly without visible means of propulsion. It looks doofy. And Vision is a doofy name. However, points for taking Thor as inspiration when it comes to style.

Not a fan of Clint’s weird tunic/coat thing. Would’ve worked better if there was a belt.

Wow I never realized how often “monster” gets tossed around in this movie. Nat, Bruce, Vision, the Avengers collectively. Even Cap makes a joke, “What kind of monster would let a German scientist experiment on him?” This movie is pretty much asking if they have any right to do what they do. If they’re a menace or a benefit. In the end, the answer is pretty unclear. They did kinda make Ultron. They save the world from him and come out with Vision and Wanda on the team, so it’s probably a net gain, but the Sokovia Accords are an extremely understandable consequence. Wanda has that dilemma herself. She thought she had to destroy the Avengers to save the world, and she nearly destroyed the world by helping Ultron, but then she helped save it by defeating him. At great personal cost.

Yay another Thor+Cap combo move!

Pietro is so petty and obnoxious to Hawkeye, and it’s great.

Aww it’s the nerdy guy from Winter Soldier! And thankfully he survives this movie.

“I am Thor, son of Odin, and as long as there is life in my breast...I am running out of things to say. Are you ready?” His grin is my favorite.

The Maximoffs are the most functional, affectionate siblings in the MCU. :/

The number of Ultron robots somewhat strains credulity. Also, why didn’t he just send one to go chill across the world as a failsafe? Ultron is kind of stupid.

Rhodey’s reaction to Vision is priceless.

Aaand there Hulk goes. Apparently through a portal to trash planet, eventually.

If the meta-narrative of the first Avengers was “Can this exist?”, then the meta-narrative of Ultron was “...But should it?” The answer to the first question is “Absolutely it can.” The answer to the second is “Only if it doesn’t get arrogant or reckless.” I think Infinity War’s question is “Can it keep getting bigger like this and still survive?” and Avengers 4 will determine the answer. My guess is that it’ll be “Not without sacrifice.”

Anyway, that “are we monsters” thing is pretty much the individual arc of most of the main characters—except Steve. He makes a reference to it, but he is constantly the voice of caution and reason and he’s the one who pushes for zero civilian casualties in the city. This is the beginning of “We don’t trade lives.” It’s okay to sacrifice yourself, but not to play a numbers game with other people’s lives. Steve is and always has been rock solid. He’s a good man. He trusts his instincts, and they are pretty much always right. But that means he can never stop. He never gets to rest.

Clint is the other character who doesn’t have an “am I a monster” arc. His arc is just the kinda adoptive dad thing he has with the Maximoffs, and us finding out so much more about his life. He’s trying to retire, like Tony, but he’s willing to die for this if he has to. (I hope he doesn’t. But if most or all of his family got Snaptured, then it’d kinda be okay, though devastating, for him to sacrifice himself so they could come back.)

Natasha, Bruce, Tony, and Thor all have the monster arc, and I think Vision is supposed to be the answer at least for Tony and Thor. They created something good. Natasha didn’t get the guy, though, because she betrayed him to get Hulk back for the battle. And Bruce lost big time.

Maybe the reason Ultron is so low on my ranking of MCU movies is that it’s kinda muddled. There are great character moments and the main theme is an important one for the MCU, but in the end we have a snarky, grandiose villain with an army of disposable soldiers (again, only the villain is waaaay less interesting than Loki), coupled with the same plot as “I Robot, You Jane,” one of the worst Buffy episodes of the entire series. (Demon ends up in the internet because of the negligent actions of the good guys, tries to get impressionable young people to work for it, has a robot body built for itself, then gets locked inside that body and out of the internet, then destroyed.) I think it got spread a bit thin trying to set things up for Phase 3, too. Setting up Wakanda, Ragnarok, Civil War, and even Infinity War. Maybe if it didn’t need to do all that, it could’ve been more focused.

[dajoezenone]

TEXT REVIEW OF INFINITY WAR

UNFOLLOW ME IF YOU DONT WANT TO READ THESE SPOILERS I DONT USE THIS ACCOUNT SEE IF I CARE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Seriously this is gonna have spoilers go away if you dont wanna see. 

I liked it. Kinda want to see it again and may change my mind on stuff at a later date but I want to get these thoughts out while they’re in my mind. 

1. STORY STRUCTURE:  The structure of this film is weird? But not really. It makes sense once you realize Thanos is the main character. Act One we’re being introduced to all the different heroes, which is done masterfully and paced really well so we never feel overwhelmed despite the sheer size of the cast. Act Two starts once Gamora tells Star Lord he may have to kill her, and then Thanos is re-introduced. I’ll come back to this later but I dislike that there’s a good couple scenes where its just GotG characters interacting with each other with no Avengers around. Like this is an Avengers movie. Couldn’t SOME Avengers character have been around for this Like this is a crossover why are these characters still with just their regular crew? Anyways from then on Thanos’s POV takes center stage. Once Gamora is dead Thanos, like Thor, has nothing he really cares about left to lose. He’s at his lowest, despite also being 2 stones away from infinite power. Act Three begins with him this way, recalling to Doctor Strange his origin, and reasserting his resolve to go through with this. He beats both of the split forces of the Avengers, one on Titan, and the other in Wakanda, and despite nearly being beaten three different times, he manages to snap his fingers. We see the results of the world he’s created, while he sits back and watches the sunset. 

I like that they decided to let Thanos win and kill half the universe. I know it’ll traumatize a lot of kids watching the movie, but like, these things are rated PG 13. There have been sex references and character deaths and such in these for a long long time. Its the big bad final battle for the Avengers and they needed a cliff to hang on and so they hung people. I dont believe the people turned to ash will stay dead, but I didn’t expect a happy ending either. PLUS this gives us time to really focus on the characters that need more room to finish their arcs in the real finale. 

I like the way the movie is structured. It doesn’t feel overcrowded and it makes a lot of sense when you realize its Thanos’s movie not any of the heroes’. And it helps make Thanos the most developed bad guy in any MCU film. SPEAKING OF WHICH. 

2. CHARACTERS: (the long one)

-THANOS: The best bad guy in any MCU film. Not my FAVORITE bad guy in an MCU film though. Loki still holds that title, and if we’re counting the Netflix shows, Fisk and Kilgrave are still PRETTY dope. Thanos is WONDERFUL. But I neither love him or love to hate him. I appreciate what was done with him though. He earns his place as the biggest threat in this universe, despite a lack of real competition. You feel his struggle, even though you really want him to fail. Its really well done. Cant help but wonder why no mention of his love for Lady Death though? I at least expected Hela to show up and be like “SURPRISE IM LADY DEATH” or something idk. We never saw her die in Ragnarok. Is that really not something they’re gonna at least do something off of? 

-THOR: despite spending MOST of the movie on what is basically a side quest, he’s the hero who gets the most development. I figured that the way Ragnarok was handled was done specifically to set this up and I got what I expected to fall out from that and then some. I love his arc in this. I love his conversations with Rocket and I love how powerful he is now. He’s just really well handled and I love how he’s developed as a character. Also, side note, I like that each Avengers movie changes which of its members gets the most development. Cap was the one who was still finding his place and going through an arc in the first one, Tony is dealing with paranoia and being the one to create Ultron in AoU, and Thor is still dealing with the death of his people here. 

-TONY: I have less to say here. I hate nanite tech being used in pretty much anything. idk why it just bothers me. It always feels dumb. but it was fine here actually. I love his conflict with Strange and Peter and the other Peter. I love that he has to deal with watching everyone else die. The whole movie plays on your expectation that Tony is going to die in the end and then COMPLETELY subverts that and I love it. 

-DOCTOR STRANGE: Great. Comes off a little more of a jerk than he does in his own film but we also mainly see him through the eyes of Tony, so I think thats why. I love his magic and how smart and calculated he is in combat compared to the other characters. The Russos are VERY aware and very good at showing the characters’ character traits via how they fight which is good considering how much action there is in this movie. 

-SPIDER-MAN: I swear he’s more competent here than in his own movie. Also we see SPIDEY SENSE GO OFF which we NEVER SEE HAPPEN IN HIS OWN MOVIE. He still doesn’t REALLY feel like Peter Parker though which is weird bc he almost did by the end of Homecoming and now here he just kinda reverted back out of that.

-GAMORA: Really great. Somewhere in between Guardians 1 and now she stopped being every single one of Zoe Saldana’s characters in anything ever to being a pretty fleshed out character. Though its kinda weird that Thanos’s other children in this movie are so much more loyal to him than her and Nebula are? Like whats up with them? Why is Gamora the favorite when she openly hates him? 

-STAR-LORD: Great. Not much else to say. 

-ROCKET AND GROOT: ALSO great. They’re especially great as sidekicks to Thor. They have some great exchanges, even if their screentime was primarily spent on a side quest. I nearly squealed when Groot used his arm to create the Stormbreaker Axe. I’m annoyed Groot died again at the end. WE’VE SEEN ROCKET MOURN GROOT’S DEATH BEFORE THIS ISN’T INTERESTING OR NEW.

-DRAX AND MANTIS: pretty good. I like them both. If anything there’s probably too much of them. I love them so I cant complain too much but like idk I feel like we saw more of these Guardians side characters than some of the Avengers main characters in an Avengers movie. 

-WANDA AND VISION: Wanda has always been one of my fav characters in the MCU and that doesn’t change here. Her romance with Vis is great. Honestly I love her whole arc and I love how its foreshadowed by Gamora telling Quill to kill her earlier in the film. Wanda having to lose the closest person to her AGAIN is emotional and sad and everything and idk Elizabeth and Paul give great performances and both do a great job playing some good characters. Vis is basically a damsel in distress the whole film, which seems disingenuous because he’s like the most powerful avenger prior to Thor’s buff over these last couple movies. But I guess it makes sense in context. They’re not GREAT but like I said I like them so I’m biased. 

-CAP, FALCON, AND NAT: Kinda useless tbh. They dont do much. They dont even have many lines. Like they fight in the Wakanda battle. Thats it. They’re tired and grumpy because they’ve been on the run for TWO YEARS. Something we dont see at all. Not that thats what I want to see, but... they’re basically just there to shuttle Wanda and Vision to Wakanda and then fight a bit. 

-T’CHALLA, OKOYE, SHURI, AND M’BAKU: Even quieter and less notable than the Cap crew. Which really cheapens how much of the film takes place in Wakanda. Like, why does the Cosmic stuff feel authentic to what James Gunn built in the Guardians movies, while this stuff feels so underwritten and underrepresented? We have four Wakandan characters here and they do so hecking little. AND THEN T’CHALLA IS ONE OF THE PEOPLE WE SEE TURN TO ASH. WHAT? WE ALREADY GOT A FAKE OUT DEATH WITH HIM IN HIS OWN MOVIE. I HATED IT THERE. WE GOTTA SEE HIS FAMILY DEAL WITH HIM BEING DEAD AGAIN??? Shuri better become black panther in avengers 4 man. thats the only way I’ll be ok with him dying a SeCONd TiME. 

-BUCKY, RHODEY, NICK FURY, MARIA HILL, LOKI, RED SKULL AND HEIMDALL: all play really small parts but manage to do their jobs and be really notable anyways. Shoutouts to them. 

-BRUCE BANNER: meh. Bruce has finally kind of accepted the Hulk but Hulk is scared of Thanos so he wont come out. So Bruce spends the whole movie in his head having conflict with himself and not really engaging with whats going on? Kind of a dumb choice imo like if CAP is a minor character whos mainly there to banter with other people so should Banner. We dont even really see him interact with Ross or Rhodes once he gets back to Avengers HQ. dumb but not a big deal. 

3. SMALL DETAILS:

-Music was weirdly lacking from a lot of the movie. Like it feels like Silvestri only orchestrated like half of the film. So much of it is just left.. quiet. Empty. This is INFINITY WAR. IT SHOULD BE ALL ABOUT THE SPECTACLE. 

-Are Valkyrie, Korg and Miek still alive? We dont see them at all on the Asgardian ship? 

-What happened to Sean Gunn’s character? Also wasn’t Nebula still with the Guardians at the end of Vol 2? Did I miss something or...?

-How did Thor know to go to Wakanda? He should have been going to Titan to meet up with Quill, right? 

-How does the Bifrost work if the Bifrost is broken? That was a big thing in Thor 1 wasn’t he? 

-They didn’t get Hugo Weaving back to play Red Skull but thats fine I still geeked out when he showed up. 

-Peter Dinklage was good but he was in the movie too long. Thor’s stuff really felt side questy even though its the best stuff in the film. 

I think thats about everything it was good but not GREAT k bye

[rickrakontoys]

Thor: Ragnarok

A really entertaining, unceasingly weird, beautiful-looking, grand ol’ time. Marred by some disjointed plotting and a bit of wasted opportunities, but the whole thing leaves a smile on the face despite it all. 8.75/10 ☇

***Rambling SPOILER TALK***

- Right off the bat, Thor’s imprisoned by Surtur, but the vibe is immediately light-hearted due to his dialogue. Thor must have spent too much time on Midgard and some of Stark’s smart-ass repartee has rubbed off on him. Despite the increased quipping, he is still undoubtedly Thor at heart. Only he seems to have had enough of the regal posturing BS after all he’s been through and lightened up. - The loose end of Odin being replaced by Loki from The Dark World is resolved rather quickly and without much fuss. Thor seems mostly just annoyed that Loki is not in fact dead, and their father was banished to an old folks home on Earth. Again, Thor has had enough of Loki’s BS and just sorta sighs along with the antics. - Doctor Strange is in here for a glorified cameo for…. some reason. Was he necessary? No. He does have a funny bit involving teleporting, beer, and making Loki fall. - Odin gets a heartfelt scene with his sons, but mostly just sets up the threat of Hela before disappearing. He later acts kinda like Thor’s Mufasa-figure at a pivotal moment. Good enough i guess? Sets up Thor finally becoming the king. - Hela kinda just…. appears. But damn, Cate Blanchett is rockin it here. She plays Hela like a pompous devil queen, all posturing and strutting and menace. She doesn’t have a whole lotta depth, but does great with what she was given. Hela is vexed by the fact Odin basically erased her from Asgard’s history, despite her being his firstborn, the rightful heir, and the key to his domination of the Nine Realms. She peels back the gilded facade of Asgard to show us it was never that shining beacon of hope or perfection as it was previously portrayed. Her fight scenes are pretty awesome. - Loki gets a lot to do here and is as conniving as ever, but has grown a bit. Thor does call him out for relying on his old tricks and traitorous ways too much to the point of predictability. - The Warriors Three get SHAFTED HARD. WHY THE HELL WERE THEY EVEN IN THIS MOVIE?! The only time you see them, they pretty much instantly die…. Sif not being in the movie was a blessing! - No Jane Foster, Eric Selvig, Darcy… we saw enough of them… for now at least. Jane gets only a passing mention. - At least Heimdall gets a big role here with plenty to do (for a minor side character at least). - Skurge was a neat character. You could just tell that he is conflicted between his need for self-preservation and his duty to Asgard. His collection of junk he attained from exploiting his new position as gatekeeper of the Bifrost, albiet briefly shown, was fun. - The Grandmaster…. pure Jeff Goldblum. What more can I say? Wish he was in the movie even more…. maybe even make him the main villain? (If the whole movie was about Thor on Sakaar). Oh, I love his silly DJ music (its called “Grandmaster Jam Session” on the soundtrack). And the song Pure Imagination from Willy Wonka plays when Thor arrives in the Grandmaster’s palace. What the fuck?! - Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie is wonderful. She played her like a drunken warrior, avoiding the tragedy of the past by drowning it in alcohol. She has great chemistry with the group, especially Thor. Wish her flashback scenes lasted longer. Hope we see more of her in Infinity War or something. - Hulk gets much more development here than any previous MCU movie. He talks like a pouty toddler and tantrums like one too. His battle with Thor didn’t disappoint! - Thor’s banter with Hulk and later Banner are definite highlights. Wish the whole movie coulda just been them on wacky adventures. - In fact, despite being alluded to constantly, the threat of Ragnarok never really hits you… you never get a sense that Thor getting back to Asgard will resolve anything since Hela basically trashed him and Mjolnir with ease the first time they met. - Surtur is basically a plot device mlre than a character. But he looks cool. - Korg is just… lovely. Cute. Endearing. You wish for nothing bad to ever happen to him. - The story steams along at a quick pace, perhaps too quick. Some scenes needed more time to breathe, or to let you bask in the imagery. The basic plot pretty much boils down to Bad Person Wants to Destroy/Conquer Stuff… Heroes must hurry to stop them… I guess it is subverted a bit since Thor lets Asgard be destroyed in the end just to take out Hela. - Was surprised bu the amount of stuff they hid from the trailers… Thor goes about missing an eye for most of the climax, but the promotions edited his face to not give it away. Good job Marvel marketing division. - The comedy wasn’t as…. Overbearing as what the ads made it seem like it was going to be. I feel the humor is more even here than in GotG vol. 2. There are still some emotional moments ruined by an unnecessary joke though… - The score by Mark Mothersbaugh is pure 80’s synth soundtrack goodness. One of the better MCU musical scores. And I was surprised when the old Asgard theme from way back in Thor 1 made its way back in. - Immigrant Song. Used twice. Fantastic both times! Seeing Thor fuck shit up to this song will be one of the scenes to remember in the MCU. The action scenes in general were elevated by the music. When Thor goes full god of thunder mode at the climax…. 👍👍 The decision to avoid the gritty realism of The Dark World was for the best. - I hope Hela returns and acts as the MCU Death equivalent for Thanos… Cate was too good to waste in one movie. Why was Loki the only main villain to survive into multiple films?! - Is this film better than the other Thor movies? Yes. But then, it is so tonally different it’s hard to compare them… But this was the tonal shift that Thor as a series needed. Taika Waititi was the right persob for this job. I hope he gets to really shine in other projects. The weirder, the better! Just…. make the main plot as weird or unconventional too next time.

[mzminola]

WE COME FROM THE LAND OF THE ICE AND SNOW

So bright and colorful and musically energetic!

Only had to duck once and I saw it coming (melting stick, ew), thank you movie for telegraphing so well that the villain is about to kill someone. I covered my eyes and Bro told me when it was safe to look.

The lava jerk had the kind of Disney’s Fantasia Night on Bald Mountain design that usually makes me nervous exactly because they tend to be overpowered and unpleasant and doomy, but they turned him into a joke instead of a threat five seconds in and it just...made that all better. Because I knew even if he showed up again and was scary, they wouldn’t un-jokify him and there’d be humor. So it was okay.

I appreciate that the only use of the word “bitch” was in the full phrase “son of a bitch” directed at a male character. None of the women get called bitches! The only gendered slur they get called is hag! Since Topaz and Valkyrie interacted through the Grandmaster I don’t think it counts as a Bechdel Test pass, which is unfortunate. Did Valkyrie and Hela talk to each other directly?

Odin and Loki have the parallels of never learning from their past choices. Loki gets blatantly called out on this by Thor, while Odin doesn’t, but it’s there: Odin learned absolutely nothing from Hela and continued to raise his children as weapons, and banish them when they didn’t do as he said. Interestingly, while actively covering his own shit up (faking his death, stashing Odin elsewhere) by pretending to be Odin, Loki drags on of Odin’s secrets out into the light. Odin kidnapadopting Loki was a state secret. Loki didn’t know until the first movie. “Brave heroic Loki is dead- oh and look where he came from! He’s a frost giant! We’ve painted this child actor blue so you really really really can’t pretend you don’t know.”

I liked Scourge’s character arc.

I LOVED Valkyrie. Everything about her was phenomenal. What an entrance. And Bro pointed out that that’s the kind of entrance usually only male characters get! But Valkyrie gets to show up drunk, take a pratfall, and immediately wipe the floor with everyone else. And then have backstory and legit beef and changes of heart! And kick more ass! And be friends with both Hulk and becoming-friends with Bruce without knowing they’re the same person! I kinda woulda liked her neat gauntlets to get used more, but hey, maybe she’ll rebuild them.

(Hey, what do you wanna bet Odin either encouraged her leaving or actively banished her for ‘failing’ to contain Hela as part of the cover-up?)

Thor fucking pickpocketing the zapper is when my brain went “yep, that’s Loki’s brother alright.”

Asgard falling and Odin finally dying makes me feel a little better about Frigga dying, but I’m still not happy with it, especially since they made Aunt May younger than the comics so we have EVEN LESS older ladies!!! Fuck you MCU!

We didn’t see the Lady Sif and therefore she is out somewhere in the 9 Realms trying to help people (with swords) and will show up in a later movie and can be sad about the other three Warriors Four with Thor.

Bruce wears Tony’s clothes and make the suicide play. Mmmmm.

I didn’t see Doctor Strange’s movie and don’t intend to but his attitude toward Loki was perfect, and I liked that Thor and Loki, from their Asgard upbringing and centuries of adventure, were both just immediately “oh a sorcerer”.

Thor’s Midgard disguise was a green shirt over a purple one, I liked that little nod to the fact that the Hulk shows up later?

Loki fucking lost their dad that was great.

“Shit.” “You had one job!” “I have to get off this planet.”

(Loki definitely blew the Grandmaster. Like. That was subtext not subtletext)

I loved the other coliseum victims? Rock dude was fantastic?

I have no idea what their origin story is, but I can easily see the Ravagers from Guardians of the Galaxy as having come from the trash planet?

Hela lights her hand on fire and just fucking falls into the hole in the floor and my immediate thought is “The Asgard royal family is as big of fucking drama queens as the Skywalkers.”

We sat in these middling seats that split the upper and lower sets of seats so I had open space in front of me instead of other seats, so nobody could sit in front of me, and this wound up being a good call because this was VERY MUCH an Excited Kicky Feets movie. Also I drummed my fists on my legs very hard during Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song.

The first Asgardian citizens we see fighting back on the bridge are women and I appreciate that.

HEIMDALL.

More Valkyrie in the next movies? Please? And Sif and Gamora?

[aion-rsa]

Shazam: Who is Black Adam?

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Black Adam doesn't appear in the Shazam movie, but he's headed to the DCEU soon. We have a history of one of DC's best villains for you.

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As we all know, Shazam is really Bally Batson, the young orphan boy who is pure of heart and worthy of the power of six mythological champions. But Billy isn’t the only mortal who was able to tap into the power of Shazam. There were a number of other Shazam family members, but today we are going to focus our attention on the most badass recipient of the ol' Shazam magic, Black Adam. Black Adam is truly the most complex (and violent) character to spring from the Shazam mythos and has been the center of some of DC’s best tales of the past 20 years. Black Adam has become one of DC’s greatest anti-heroes, a godlike being of profound honor and with an immense capacity for violence.

The strange thing about Black Adam is that until recently, he had only a handful of appearances to his name. He was an afterthought until the 1990s, but he has developed into one of DC’s greatest. Dwayne Johnson has been attached to play Black Adam in an upcoming DCEU movie for several years now, and with Shazam! now in theaters, it's only a matter of time before we finally see him on the big screen. December 16, 2021 to be exact.

The Early Days

Black Adam first appeared in 1945 and was created by Otto Binder and the creator of all things Shazam C. C. Beck. In his first story, Adam was established as an ancient pharaoh and the first mortal to be granted the powers of Shazam. Although, with Adam, the acronym stands for something a little different, with a more Egyptian theme: Shu (stamina), Hershef (strength), Amon (power), Zehuti (wisdom), Anpu (speed), and Menthu (courage). Teth-Adam (which means Mighty Human) is corrupted by the Shazam powers, and after cutting a swath of destruction across Ancient Egypt, Adam is exiled into space by the Wizard.

read more: Why Black Adam isn't in Shazam!

Adam returns in the modern age to find that the Shazam powers had been gifted to Billy, Freddy, and Mary, and a true epic of the Golden Age follows as Black Adam is finally tricked into saying the Shazam magic word and reverts back to Teth-Adam. Sadly for ol' Teth, he is now five thousand years old and instantly turns to dust. Yikes.

Oddly, for such an important villain, this was Black Adam’s only Golden Age appearance. I guess none of the Fawcett writers could think of a way to un-dust Adam so he was a true one hit wonder. When DC Comics revived Shazam in the 1970s, Black Adam returned thanks to Dr. Sivana’s Reincarnation Machine (why not) and became part of the DC Universe proper. He'd return again in the late 1980s as part of the short lived Shazam: A New Beginning era of the characters, but it wasn't until 1994 that Black Adam would realize his true poential.

Power

The modern Black Adam made his debut in Jerry Ordway's The Power of Shazam which establishes that Teth-Adam was one of the greatest warriors serving Pharaoh Rameses II, catching the eye of the Wizard who grants him powers. Adam serves as Egypt’s guardian for centuries until he is corrupted by a demonic entity known as Blaze. Blaze is kinda like Marvel’s Hela and Marvel’s Mephisto combined. The Wizard strips Adam of his power after the whole "seduced by a demonic succubus" thing and places the Black Adam power in a scarab (as one does). 

Complete Guide to DC Easter Eggs in the Shazam! Movie

The big takeaway here, other than the fact Ordway’s Shazam was beyond awesome, is that the writer/artist established Black Adam as a once noble soul. Black Adam was Egypt’s greatest champion (sorry, Hawkman), and until he was corrupted by Blaze, Adam was the model of heroism in the early days of the DCU. The tale of Black Adam is almost biblical in scope as he rises a champion and falls a corrupted soul that murders the family of a boy destined to be a hero.

A True Anti-Hero

The time of Black Adam as dark protector, homicidal king, and complex anti-hero would truly begin under writers Geoff Johns and David S. Goyer and artist Marcos Martin in the pages of JSA. Adam joins with the JSA villain Johnny Sorrow (if Sorrow looks at you, you die, it’s intense) and almost defeats the JSA until Black Adam's original, Teth-Adam nature reasserts itself. He helps the JSA defeat Sorrow and a repentant Adam asks to join the world’s first super team.

read more: Shazam Ending Explained

With Black Adam aboard in the JSA, this is where things get truly awesome. As leader of his own nation, Black Adam shows that he is all about the harsh biblical justice of old. This story retcons a few elements from The Power of Shazam, moving the place of Adam's origin from Egypt to the fictional North African nation of Kahndaq. In addition, the writers tie the character to Hawkman as Adam served side by side with Prince Khufu, the first incarnation of Hawkman.

They also tweak Adam’s origin, losing the "corrupted by Blaze" elements and replacing it with conquering of Kahndaq by Ahk-ton and the immortal Vandal Savage. During the sacking of Kahndaq, Adam’s family is murdered. Driven by vengeance and the good of his people, Black Adam returns to Kahndaq and gets all sorts of Old Testament on the invaders. This level of violence shocks the Wizard, who strips Black Adam of his powers and murders him. That’s some dark stuff. This change of origin stripped Black Adam of his true villainous roots and made him more akin to Magneto or Namor: a leader who will go to any lengths to protect his people.

Billy tries to befriend Black Adam during this period, sympathizing with his longtime enemy. It doesn't go well. Things get tense between Adam and the JSA due to Adam’s great weakness: his ego. When Kahndaq is under attack, the JSA comes to the nation’s aid, but Black Adam tells his people that it is the JSA who is the threat because he cannot admit he needs the help of other heroes to protect his homeland. Adam and the Justice Society also come into conflict because Adam believes the heroes should simply kill the villains they face and be done with it to prevent future threats. Yes kids, Black Adam is basically Frank Castle with the powers of six gods. Adam does forge enduring friendships within the JSA particularly with JSA member Atom Smasher. Atom Smasher lost his mother to supervillain violence and agrees with Adam’s views on killing. 

War

While Billy Batson has long had his own family, in the classic series 52 (2006) by Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid, and Keith Giffen, Black Adam gains a family of his own. But like many parts of the Black Adam story, boy, does it end tragically.

read more: Shazam Post Credits Scenes Explained

52 introduces Adrianna Tomaz, a beautiful slave who is offered to Black Adam, the ruler of Kahndaq, by a group of criminals known as Intergang. Black Adam doesn't take kindly to slavery and violently murders the gang. He falls in love with Tomaz and even shares his powers, transforming her into the hero known as Isis (a nod to Saturday mornings of yore as the character Isis used to share a live action programming block with Shazam back in the 1970s). Eventually, the lovers find Tomaz’s brother Amon dying from injuries suffered from a horrific beating. Black Adam shares his powers with the young boy who becomes Kid Osiris. This all sounds great until Kid Osiris is eaten by a talking, bipedal crocodile. Later, Isis is also killed, telling Adam in her dying breath that she was wrong for trying to soften him and that he should avenge her. And, God help us all, he does just that, going on a rampage around the world, killing a number of international heroes, until the mystic heroes of the DCU drain Adam of his powers as Billy changes the magic word that grants Black Adam his mystic might. No more Shazam for Teth-Adam.

Of course, that has all changed since then, with Adam back in charge in Kahndaq in the pages of Doomsday Clock. But when Black Adam does hit the big screen, fans will witness the arrival of a one of a kind villain, a hard hitting take no prisoners hero, and a champion to those he deems his subjects. 

Read and download the Den of Geek NYCC 2019 Special Edition Magazine right here!

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Feature

Movies

Marc Buxton

Nov 15, 2019

Shazam

DC Entertainment

Dwayne Johnson

Black Adam

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