#comic: iron man v4

[wingheadshellhead]

Tony Stark + his love of grilled cheese sandwiches

[doctorofmagic]

No one asked but here's some thoughts about Stephen's current and future life.

First of all (and to be completely honest), before Blood Hunt, I do think Stephen was starting to find joy in being the Sorcerer Supreme now that things were seemingly going well in his life.

Just to name a few, he befriended his general self, his marriage was rekindled, Mordo was finally locked down, Clea and Umar were starting to find a common ground (at least, they were not enemies anymore) and Donna II happened, blessing their lives. Stephen was finally thriving. He was executing his duties just fine despite the challenges of being Earth's magical defender. Conflict was obviously expected but it was far from the struggles he faced in v4, for instance. There was optimism.

The fact that he seems sad in that Pasqual's post could be about anything but if I was to predict why, I'd say it's because 1) he didn't want to pass the mantle down at this point in his life and 2) he didn't want to pass the mantle down to Victor specifically because well, it's Doom. And let's be real, Jed's interpretation of their relationship is not similar to T&T or Infamous Iron Man or even Secret Wars. Even if Victor is rarely portrayed as a villain these days (more like an antagonist), there's still a certain dread whenever he shows up in stories. So it's only natural for Stephen to be worried about what's coming next.

Personally, I think Victor will not be a bad Sorcerer Supreme. He's competent and incredibly complex. There's altruism in him, especially when it comes to protect Latverians and people in general (Doom 2099 my beloved). And let's not forget about his dramatic ego and petty personality. If anything, I'd go for a gray representation. He will not be the king of altruism (aka Stephen), but he will not be a shallow villain by desecrating the mantle (something I'm pretty sure Mordo would do. Hate that guy). That said... Oh, he's also in for a big surprise, not expecting the burden that comes with such a huge responsibility. But that's just my two cents. Could always be wrong. However, I still remember when he tried to go after Jericho and gave up as soon as the light of the Eye of Agamotto hit him, so... This idea does have canon support.

(panel merely illustrative; from an alt future/reality)

As for Stephen and Clea, what comes next for them? I know the fandom is desperate for domestic vibes and a peaceful era for them. But let's be real, it's Marvel. Also it's Stephen and Clea. For starters, Clea is still the Warlord of Manhattan, which means that area will remain under her protection, tying her to our dimension. As for Stephen... We know him, right? We know he will never stop doing what he does, Sorcerer Supreme or not. We have tons of magic characters doing their jobs. Even when magic was practically dead, he found a way to keep doing good because it's intrinsic of his personality. And let's not forget Wong and W.A.N.D. They still need someone reliable, and I hardly think they'll go for Victor when consulting all things mystical. Oh, and Strange Academy, of course.

Last but not least, every change in status quo hardly lasts more than a year or two in comic books. It happened so many times before: Salomé, Jericho, Loki, even Clea. It was only natural for Victor's turn, given how T&T is such an important book to their mythos.

As for me? I think it's not really fair for me to share my feelings assuming how much I love both Victor and Stephen. I've seen some unhappy fans (and I can't relate, sorry 🥲) and some excited ones.

The reason I'm still kinda blue is merely due to the lack of new announcements, whether it's a new Doctor Strange book or a mini featuring Victor. Also it's almost certain that Jed is done with his work, which hit me like a train. I really don't want to say goodbye to Jed just yet, and seeing his work continue with Moon Knight while going for the X-books makes me a bit bitter. There's still the possibility that he's staying, but it's all conjecture at this point. I mean, I dread that some bad writer comes next, and boi do I have a no-no list. Hopefully, SDCC will shed some light on these dark times of uncertainty.

Well, that's it. Do I ramble a lot? Was not expecting to write such a long post, sorry about that (old testament me comeback?). Just wanted to write down my thoughts since they were making a mess in my head. If anything, I'll still be around for whatever comes next. After all, my love for Stephen knows no shame 🔥

[brw]

do you have any wanda recs?

Sure! I'll try to keep it to the main stories in her history, but if you want some of the lesser known issues let me know and I'll include those!

X-Men V1 #4–#11 (you can also read Avengers Origins: Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver)

Avengers V1 #16

The Celestial Madonna arc (Avengers V1 #124–#135, Giant Size Avengers #2–#4. Most imporant issues are Avengers #128 and Giant Size Avengers #4)

Marvel Fanfare #6

Marvel Fanfare #58 B Story

Avengers V1 #185–#187

Marvel Team-Up #125

Marvel Comics Presents #60-#164

Vision and the Scarlet Witch Vols 1 & 2

Power Man and Iron Fist #102

You can read West Coast Avengers V2 basically onwards from #34, but the Vision Quest (#42-#46) and Darker Than Scarlet (#53–#64, Avengers West Coast annual 5) arcs are the important ones.

Scarlet Witch V1

Marvel Comics Presents V1 #143–#144

Avengers Vol 3 by Kurt Busiek, you can stop reading by the time Geoff Johns takes over.

I don't like most of the 2000s and early 2010s Wanda stuff to be honest, and I'm assuming you're familiar with House of M so I'd just skip to Avengers: Children's Crusade.

Scarlet Witch V2

Avengers: No Road Home (technically a sequel to Avengers: No Surrender, which you can read if you want but that arc has a LOT of characters so Wanda's involvment isn't consistent)

Darkhold (just the main series, you don't need to read any of the tie-ins)

Scarlet Witch V3, Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch V4

Exiles Vol 2 is an entirely AU series, but Wanda's in it and it has a special place in my heart.

Hope this is good anon!

[gorogues]

Oh Great and Knowledgeable GoRogues, I have a question. A query. A wondering. I have a goal for the New Year - to read the /entirety/ of The Flash. Like, right from the beginning, right up 'til the new releases of now. In order. Do you think it is possible? :O

It's definitely possible, though it'd take a lot of time and you'd have to acquire/view the issues somehow, legally or otherwise. Another thing to consider is whether you just want to read the Flash series (plural), or include various tie-in issues and crossovers as well. Which is also doable, but complicates things a bit.

You'd want to start with Flash Comics #1-104 and All-Flash v1 #1-32 (Golden Age Jay Garrick). Flash Comics turned into The Flash v1 #105-350 (Silver Age Barry Allen). Then there's Flash v2 #0-230, as well as #1/2 (important for your interests, as it has Axel and James; it's set between #219 and #220) and #1,000,000 (less important, but has future Rogues), which is Wally West's series. Then there's Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1-13 (Bart Allen's series). Then All-Flash v2 #1 (a one-shot about the aftermath of Bart's death). Then Flash v2 continues and goes from #231-247.** Next is Flash: Rebirth #1-6. Then there's Flash v3 #1-12 (Barry Allen, and the road to Flashpoint). Then Flash v4 #1-52 (the New 52). Then Flash v5 #1-88, which continues as Flash #750-800. And the current series is presumably Flash v6, which has had two issues thus far. Many of the series had annuals mixed in too.

Impulse went from #1-89, and takes place alongside Flash v2. There are currently series going on called Speed Force and Jay Garrick: The Flash, as you probably know.

And arguably you'd want to get at least some tie-ins, which might include Crisis on Infinite Earths (death of Barry Allen, Wally steps up), Flashpoint, Final Crisis (return of Barry Allen), Flash: Iron Heights, various Flash: Secret Files and Origins issues and Flash 80-Page Giants. And probably Blackest Night: Flash #1-3 and Rogues' Revenge #1-3.

An argument could be made for various JSA, Justice League, Teen Titans, and Young Justice series as well, but that'd turn into an impossible project at this stage, IMO. Same with Jenni Ognats' appearances in several Legion series. Best to save those for later, if you even want to go that far. As it is, I think you'd want to divide each series into chunks to make it less overwhelming, because I know this is a lot.

**if you want to make things easier, just read Flash v2 as a single block and don't bother breaking it up like DC did. I mentioned it because you're interested in reading stuff in order.

[sineala]

May we have a fandom history lesson on all the times Tony has either gone blonde or worn Steve’s outfit?

Has Steve ever seen Tony blonde?

What would he think? I know he likes Tony’s looks just fine but maybe Steve has a thing for blondes it turns out lol

I currently know of two times Tony has gone blond (three if you count What Ifs) and one time he's worn Steve's outfit (at least once more if you're willing to count Tony wearing a Cap t-shirt).

Panels are below!

Tony wears Steve's outfit once, in IM v3 #33; he and Rumiko are going to a costume party and he dresses up as Captain America:

If you're willing to count Captain America shirts, we see Tony as a child wearing a Cap t-shirt in the style of Steve's uniform shirt in Avengers v8 #31:

That's all I know of off the top of my head.

Chronologically, the first time we see Tony go blond isn't 616; it's in a What If, specifically What If…? v1 #8; this is the 1989 series, because the previous series is named "What If?" with no ellipsis, so that is also "What If? v1" but that's not the same as "What If...? v1." I love comics numbering.

Anyway, this is "What If Iron Man Lost the Armor Wars?" and one of the things that happens in it is that Tony goes blond:

This issue is more famous in fandom for being the one where Justin Hammer makes Tony put on a mind-control collar, remove his armor, and walk around in his underwear for about half the issue.

You know, just your normal wholesome non-kinky villain requests. Right? Right.

As for 616...

Tony goes blond in the arc Manhunt (IM v3 #68); he is on the run from the law because, among other things, he has been framed for bombing an embassy, which he did not do.

Even though Steve is mentioned on this page, Steve does not appear at all in this arc.

The other time Tony goes blond is during Execute Program. He is on the run from the law for murdering a bunch of people (you may notice a theme here) and this time he did do it, although he was being mind-controlled, so he didn't do it of his own volition. Anyway, we see him dye his hair blond in IM v4 #10.

Tony's not really into this look, as you can see.

Steve does appear in Execute Program and he presumably does see Tony's dye job when Tony removes his helmet while Steve is fighting the Argonaut at the end of IM v4 #12, because they're both right there. However, Steve's being crushed by the Argonaut at the time so Steve doesn't really have anything to say about Tony's hair. But technically the answer to "has Steve ever seen Tony blond" is yes.

Tony then stops his own heart to stop the Argonaut and save Steve's life.

A couple pages later, canon establishes that after this point Tony has no pulse for 37 minutes. We don't see Steve on-page after this page where Tony stops his heart, but I feel like we can assume he's probably noticed Tony lying there dying and also probably has a lot of thoughts about Tony but at this point they are probably not about whether Tony is attractive.

As for whether Steve has a thing for blond(e)s -- I mean, his longest and most famous canonical relationship is with Sharon Carter, who is blonde. Sharon was canonically established as looking a whole lot like Peggy Carter, which is why Steve noticed Sharon in the first place -- so, yes, Peggy, his retconned wartime girlfriend who as far as I know he's never dated on-page, is also blonde. (In her recent appearances her hair is darker, presumably to be more like the MCU.)

Having said that, Steve hasn't exclusively dated blondes or anything -- he was engaged to Bernie Rosenthal, who is not blonde. It's not like Tony and the string of apparently-interchangeable redheads (Pepper, Bethany, Patsy) that Marvel likes to set him up with.

But, hey, if you want to say that Steve likes Tony when he's blond, I think that'd be reasonable; Steve is clearly willing to go for blondes generally, and he'd probably like the novelty of seeing Tony blond. Honestly I think seeing Tony clean-shaven is weirder than seeing Tony blond.

[laufire]

I was tagged by @blairwaldcrf a little while ago (ty!) to list reading novels. but since I'm also reading a lot of comics these days I'll cheat lol.

last:

Angels in America by Tony Kusher.

Young Justice comics based on the tv show.

currently:

La Divina Commedia by Dante Alighieri.

Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum.

The Annotated Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Plus a bunch of comic runs from DC (Batman v1, Batman: Wayne Family Adventures, Harley Quinn: Black + White + Redder, Justice Society of America v4, the Knight Terrors event, Red Hood: Outlaws, Spirit World, Tales of the Titans, The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing, Waller vs. Wildstorm), Image (Monstress, Saga, The Cull), and Marvel (The Invincible Iron Man v5).

next: well. More comics, for one 😔. For example, when I finish season 4 of Young Justice I'll read "Young Justice: Targets", a 6 issues run that takes place after the finale. I'll of course read MORE Jason comics. There are some upcoming DC runs I'm eyeing too, but we'll see how their first issues go; as for finished stuff that I want to read... the Zatanna and the Vixen webtoons, Legend of Wonder Woman, or DC vs. Vampires are on my immediate list asdfñalskdjf.

For something that ISN'T a 30 pages comic book... I want to read James Goldman's "The Lion in Winter" and Catherine M. Valente's "The Refrigerator Stories" next, after I'm done beta-reading a friend's novel.

I'm not tagging anyone, but feel free to jump in with your own list.

[futurise]

[ironlawyer]

Haunted is the most amazing Tony Angst Iron Man arc and I implore everyone who enjoys Tony pain to read it.

It includes such gems as:

Tony hallucinates Steve:

Tony talking to the suit and having a meltdown:

Tony in therapy:

Tony wearing classic suits:

And Tony cutting off his own foot:

In conclusion this arc is amazing, go and read it.

Iron Man v4 #21-28

[fadedneonzzz]

Of the many characters who I have a higher opinion of than I did before, Qrow would be one of them. Honestly, despite his massive popularity I didn’t really like him that much, thankfully that has changed with V7 and V8. 

So why did people like Qrow so much? Well he had a lot of lore built around him before he was introduced in V3, he was Ruby’s mentor, he was Ruby and Yang’s cool and edgy uncle who was never around, he’s 1/4th of the legendary team STRQ, the twin brother of everyone’s favorite birb mom Raven, He had one of the best and impactful debuts for a new character so far and he left a pretty good first impression. He was the cool dude with a dark past, a big sword, everything about him screamed cool. 

Now let me get into why I didn’t like Qrow at first and why I wasn’t super interested in him at first. The first reason is a little petty on my part because I wasn’t fond of the “Qrow is Ruby’s real father” theory that was popular for a time. The theory is basically dead now, but for a time it seemed plausible, however I feel that it wouldn’t make sense for him to be Ruby’s father. Outside of a shocking revelation, I’m not sure how it would help either of their character. Was it not enough that Ruby and Qrow were mentor and student? Why do they have to be related by blood? Why would he lie to her for so long? Especially when it was established in canon and in the comics that Qrow himself hates dishonesty and lying. In short, it was the people who supported this theory that made me have a low opinion of Qrow. Was it fair? In hindsight, no, but thankfully that theory is dead.

The next issue I had with Qrow was how he was in V4 and V5.

While I enjoyed his fight against Tyrian, he seemed to take the agency away from RNJR. I understand that they’re young, inexperienced, they needed guidance, and there was no way they could’ve defeated Tyrian without his help, it felt like they couldn’t do anything without his permission. The same could be said about Ozpin too, but it’s almost like they weren’t allowed to question him or Ozpin at all. Then again this is more of a V5 issue than a V4 one, as RNJR managed to defeat the Nucklavee without his help.

Another thing, and this might be a nitpick, but his relationship with Raven is so under-explored it’s almost frustrating. I understand CRWBY doesn’t have an unlimited budget and time is of the essence but they never dive any deeper than what we see on screen. I find it very interesting that they were both in the Branwen Tribe, left to learn how to fight/kill huntsman, then they both ended up being in Ozpin’s inner circle to help in the fight against Salem. I even wonder if Qrow is/was consumed by guilt because of his past actions. Yes, he’s done a lot to make up for it, but that in addition to STRQ’s past could be the reason he drank so much.

So when V6 rolled around I didn’t know what to expect from him as a character, but I think this volume started a turnaround for the better. I used to wonder why he was so devoted to Ozpin’s cause that he went on dangerous mission after dangerous mission for him. He stood up to Ironwood to defend Ozpin, even going as far as to belittle his showing of strength. Turns out it was because Qrow wanted a place in the world despite his “curse”, he wanted his life to have meaning aside from being a bad luck charm. It’s very understandable why he punches Oscar when Ozpin says he doesn’t have a plan to beat Salem.

Everything he had worked for was nothing more than him helping Ozpin play an eternal game of Keep-Away. It’s very understandable why he’s very dejected throughout the rest of the volume. Add on his alcoholism, he was more of a hinderance than a help. Though ironically if it weren’t for him dropping his bottle, they may not have woken up.

Later on in the volume, he keeps drinking because again he just realized everything he did was for nothing and the man he trusted with his life was a liar. He doesn’t know what to do, but he obviously doesn’t want anyone to get hurt under his watch. Then Ruby tells him that he needs to trust her, and it’s one of the best scenes in V6 in my opinion.

The next biggest change for him would be the end of V6 when he decides to stop drinking. I think he made the right choice as because of his alcoholism he only got in the way, it also shows how Ruby has such a positive effect on people. It’s also huge growth for his character as drinking was, while funny to some degree, was becoming a bigger and bigger issue. I’ve seen people complain that the writers didn’t play up his alcoholic withdrawal enough outside of a few scenes, however I think it was handled pretty well. And CRWBY really doesn’t have the time to make his withdrawal more realistic.

Moving on to V7 and V8, this is where I really began to enjoy his character a lot more. Firstly, he has his own subplot going on, he acknowledges that Ruby and Yang aren’t kids anymore and they can take care of themselves. He’s there to help them, but not to the same degree as V4 and V5.

Secondly, I liked his relationship with Clover in V7 and Robyn in V8

Now regardless of how you feel about Clover, the ship Fair Game, or how their fight against Tyrian was handled, I think it was very interesting to give Qrow a friend who is a similar age and position as him.

Now I can understand why people don’t like Clover, especially since he’s basically Mr. Perfect, however I enjoyed their Batman/Superman dynamic and it would’ve been interesting if it lasted more than one volume. However as we all know, Clover didn’t make it.

Next was his relationship with Robyn. I think it was an interesting choice, because Qrow has befriended two people from the opposing sides of Atlas society.

She was one of the few people he was willing to open up to about his past, they both agreed that if/when they got out they’d take down Ironwood. What I liked is that she stopped him from going on a killing rampage to get to Ironwood. Robyn reminded him how selfish revenge is, and at that point his revenge was trivial in comparison to Ironwood’s threat to nuke Mantle.

What I liked about his arc is that it was completely detached from Ruby’s storyline. It let Ruby keep her agency, while giving Qrow something to do that was relevant. Now I’m interested in seeing what he’ll do next, maybe not as much as other characters, but I like Qrow a lot more now than I did years ago much like Nora, Jaune, and Weiss. It’s like they found a perfect balance of keeping Qrow a cool character, while not taking away the agency of the other main characters. I love it when my opinions of characters change in a positive way

[comicreadingorder]

Ben Reilly Post-Clone Saga Reading Order

Ben hasn’t been up to much since Revelations, the arc that brought an end to The Clone Saga, probably because he died. But he did show up in a few flashbacks and nods before being brought back proper.

Bold=Important Italics=optional [Brackets=one-shot]

Brand New Day

ASM Annual 36, ASM 608-610 — Also features the first appearance of Kaine since the Clone Saga ended. I considered adding all of Kaine’s appearances because of the overlap but that’s a big list by itself. I wasn’t planning on doing one but does anyone want it?

Spider-Verse

An alternate universe version of him is part of the clone trio in this tie-in, totally skippable but the lineup is great (Ben, Kaine, Ultimate Jessica Drew) and the brotherly bickering is fun. The plot is somewhat self-contained enough to enjoy it even without the rest of the event.

Scarlet Spiders 1-3

The Clone Conspiracy

This is his big return. If you don’t care about the tangential stuff you can just start here. There are 2 chunks, the first is basically a prelude arc, second is the real thing.

ASM (V4) 16-18, [Captain America FCBD (2016) B story], ASM 19

Clone Conspiracy 1, ASM 20, CC 2, ASM 21, CC 3, ASM 22, CC 4, ASM 23, CC 5, ASM 24, [CC Omega]

Scarlet Spider: Ben Reilly

After the events of Clone Conspiracy he peaces out to Vegas. This title starts slow but around issue 7 it really kicks into gear. Stick with it.

SS 1-6

Secret Empire -- This isn’t about Ben but it has an effect on Vegas that is followed up in Ben’s story. For an idea of how crucial it is, I still haven’t read it and got along fine.

SS 7-14

Damnation 1, 2

SS 15

Damnation 3

SS 16, 17

Damnation 4

SS 18-25

Spider-Geddon

After SS: BR is cancelled he next appears in this crossover. I made a post just for it that you can find by clicking on the name above.

Team-Ups

Random appearances that don’t progress his story in any way.

Conan: Battle for the Serpent Crown 2 — He shows up, gets smacked around, and is never seen again. Literally in 5 pages.

Iron Man (V6) 5-? — This story and his being part of it is still ongoing, but presumably when finished it’ll count as having happened before his Beyond stuff. As far as relevant he’s barely there or has any lines, but he does have some good ones in the latest issue (13.)

Beyond

ASM/Venom FCBD 2021 — As Marvel has done with the title since BND, this new era (dubbed Beyond) begins with a free comic book day issue before continuing in the main 3-issues-a-month title.

ASM (V5) 74 — V5 (Spencer’s run) never includes Ben until the last 8 pages of 74, a teaser for Ben’s run, which officially starts with 75.

And that’s where we are at the moment. If you have questions, corrections or suggestions feel free to message me or ask.

[littlemisssquiggles]

Ruby Alone

As you all have seen, since prior to the last episode, I’ve been sharing my thoughts and ideas on the theory of V8 concluding with the “death” of RWBY after they fall “off Remnant and into a mysterious Other World”, as alluded to by Oscar.

While I’m still inclined to believe that theory may become possible given what transpired in this recent episode, in reviewing the RWBY V8 Opening, I noticed something interesting about the visuals again which caught my attention.

During the opening, RWBY falling was hinted much earlier in the theme during these shots right here. It’s these two shots of RWBY’s signature weapons falling through negative space which is later followed up by the opening ending with the weapons landing together on the ground.

However, here’s the bit that I think is noteworthy that I didn’t take into account before. Although the weapons of all four main girls were shown falling together through space and landing on the ground, not only is Crescent Rose the last one to hit the ground but it is also the ONLY one shown in the final shot of the opening.

It is also worth noting that the weapons fall in this particular order---first Ember Celica, then Gambal Shroud, then Myrtenaster and final Crescent Rose which ironically spells RWBY backwards.

And going back to my theory about RWBY falling in order....with Yang falling first then this is all starting to make more sense.

Going back to my point---Crescent Rose---Ruby’s weapon is the only weapon that landed on the ground but didn’t fade to darkness like the others. Instead, Crescent Rose is the only one remaining in the snow on what appears to be Remannt. Keeping that in mind, it’s making me start to ponder an alternative to my V8 finale theory. 

What if…I’m actually mistaken about the whole RWBY team falling prey to the Other World ? 

What if…as an alternative prediction, V8 will end with Ruby as the last man standing and the sole surviving member of her team after the rest “die” to the void?

Thus; V9 becomes Ruby’s story as she deals with the depression of losing her whole team; all obviously culminating with her eventually reuniting with them in the Other World. But before that, it’s mostly just about Ruby. Not RWBY. But just Ruby since RWBY started with just Ruby on her own in Remnant, trying to become a huntress. She only ends up going to Beacon and meeting and forming her own team due to Ozpin’s influence.

So imagine if...after everything she’s been through these last eight seasons, things just go back to how they were before. Ruby is on her own again. No team to lead. No big sister to guide and protect her (although ALPNE is there of course). No “BFFs” or “future-sister-in-law” on the same team to fuel her spark of hope. She no longer has her main friends by her side.

Ruby will be on her own for the first time in a long time and it becomes just her story for the most part of V9 as she does her best to figure out things all while the rest of the cast who survived the fall---Penny, ALPNE and their allies in Vauco and eventually Vale---try to provide her with the emotional support that she needs in place of the one she lost.

For the first time, the story is not about Ruby having to be the spark of hope to support others but…her friends, at least the ones she still have, coming together to support her for once in a time when she can truly need it.

Like I said. It would be the story of Ruby. Not RWBY. Just Ruby. If you get what I mean.

...And now for a squiggly rant...about Ruby:

One general complaint that I’ve heard from the FNDM about Ruby including Little Red Ruby fans like myself is that Ruby has more or less received the shortest end of the stick in terms of development over the past couple of seasons since V4…despite the fact that she is our central main character who is the leader of our core team with her name literally being in the title. Not to mention that Ruby is also the face of the RWBY franchise. When RT isn’t promoting the whole RWBY team together, it’s mainly Ruby to represent RWBY since of all the girls, she is the main one as the main protagonist of RWBY. At least…she’s supposed to be?

To be blunter, I’m just going to call out the fat Heffalump in the room---Ruby Rose, despite being the leader of RWBY---despite being our title character and face of the franchise---the one characters in the show always turn to since she’s THAT important---despite all of that, Ruby has NOT felt like the actual main protagonist of RWBY for several seasons. Since V4 as some fans like to point out. 

And after closely observing her story over the last few volumes, I can’t help but agree with these critiques and comments of Ruby’s treatment when it comes to her own writing. Even when the CRWBY showrunners DO attempt to do stuff with her---it all falls...flat especially when you compare Ruby to other characters like Jaune Arc, for example, whose stories and overall development were handled much better. At least in my opinion.

Don’t believe me? Take for example, Ruby’s whole so-called “arc” as a Silver Eyed Warrior. First it was introduced as a new idea for Ruby during the FINALE of V3, then it got abandoned for two whole seasons between V4-V5. Then it got reintroduced back in V6 but was then rushed and dropped yet again for V7 only to be brought up again briefly during V8…kind of?

It’s really telling when you realize that Ruby gained control of her silver eyes despite never truly receiving any actual training from Maria in how to control her powers. Not only that but the showrunners really did Maria Calavera dirty. She was supposed to be the wise old mentor who was a badass in her prime meant to pass down her wisdom to her young eager apprentice who knew nothing of her own unique abilities including its mysterious origins.

Instead Maria didn’t know at all about where her powers originated from until she conveniently met our heroes after the Argus Ltd crash and just happened to be present when they asked Jinn about Oz’s secrets. Instead of being a mentor to Ruby which she was initially propped up to be, Maria ended up being relegated to the Granny Uber Driver of the hero team---no longer the wise experienced ex-huntress whose supposed to be teaching our title character but just a form of transportation who provides the occasional comic relief and support for Pietro Polendina, who she was put to work with…instead of Ruby…her alleged apprentice?

 Shoot---despite being a Silver Eyed Warrior, Ruby was never even a person of interest for this volume. Despite the main big bad being in Atlas and despite targeting her in the past, Salem…never goes after Ruby again while she’s in Atlas??? Ruby never even meets Salem? Despite…Salem targeting Ruby back in V4? Despite Salem’s history with capturing Silver Eyes? Despite Salem’s connection to Ruby through her mother???

Ruby is never actively a part of the Salem subplot on Monstra…even though… certain developments left over from previous seasons indicated that she should’ve been?

Instead…we got to watch Yang accost Salem for Summer Rose’s death after SHE is the one to be on the rescue party to save Oscar from Monstro. Even though…Yang has neither been a person of interest to Salem before NOR has the Xiao Long girl been shown to be a close affiliate of Oscar in the past prior to V8 NOR has the Xiao Long girl actually addressed Summer Rose as her mother since V2???

Up until V8, Ruby has always been the character of focus with all things Summer Rose and Salem and yet…we NEVER saw her meet Salem in the flesh period for this season…at all…???

Instead; Ruby spends MOST of this season cooped up at Schnee Manor, completely absent from and even oblivious to some of the more dire PLOT stuff that was happening outside of Schnee Manor (such as YJR going into Monstra to save Oscar before the Aces Ops blew up the whale).

Despite her connection to Oscar who became Salem’s prisoner. Despite her connection to Salem through her mother. Despite being a Silver Eye and a former target of Salem. Despite the Hound and what it turned out to be. Despite the showrunners literally teasing Ruby meeting Salem face to face back in V7---WE NEVER GET TO SEE RUBY MEET SALEM IN THE FLESH AT ALL DURING V8 WHILE SALEM IS IN ATLAS???

Salem targets Oscar which makes perfect sense given his connection to Ozma as his current incarnate. But Salem doesn’t target Ruby? DESPITE HER BEING A TARGET OF HERS IN THE PAST? DESPITE HER BEING A SILVER EYED WARRIOR? DESPITE WHAT THE HOUND REVEALED?

Why didn’t Salem send the Hound after Ruby? That would’ve made more sense, again knowing what the Hound actually was? Instead the Hound was sent after Penny which, in my opinion, felt mighty redundant since Salem already had Watts and Cinder Fall dealing with Penny.  

THEY EVEN TEASED THE HOUND TARGETING RUBY BUT IT WAS ALL A FLUKE.  RUBY IS COMPLETELY OMITTED FROM THE SALEM SUBPLOT EVEN THOUGH SHE IS THE TITLE CHARACTER AND THE ONLY ONE ON TEAM RWBY WITH A LEGIT CONNECTION TO SALEM AND HAS BEEN A TARGET OF HERS SINCE V4???

I DON’T GET IT!

…BUT… with my mini rant aside, those are just a few of the inconsistencies that I’ve noticed in the writing of RWBY in respect to Ruby Rose.

Overall; the point I’m trying to make here is this: for the sake of sounding like a Negative Nancy, I ask this honest question to the CRWBY Writers. How? How can you fumble this much with your own title character? I’m not saying this to come off disrespectful. I’m saying this as someone who has followed the story of RWBY since the get-go and has closely observed the treatment of its characters; particularly the main ones and particularly the ones that I personally love and Ruby is one of them.

Despite being our main girl, Ruby’s writing hasn’t been the squeakiest, admittedly. As a matter of fact, it’s been quite messy since V4 due to the amount of times the showrunners have introduced ideas for her only to abandon them later on thus creating those problems with consistency I mentioned earlier.

Overall, it’s difficult for me to even say that Ruby is the lead character of RWBY since often times; she doesn’t FEEL like the main protagonist despite the show claiming how important she is meant to be. And this sentiment is due in part to how messy her story is handled compared to other characters of lesser importance.

And it’s a sad thing for me to say as both a viewer and fan of Ruby’s character since Ruby is THE lead main character of RWBY. She’s like the Tony Stark of the RWBY-verse. She’s the one who started it all yet her story is one of the messiest I’ve seen in terms of direction and treatment. At least by my observations since this is just my opinion on the subject matter.

It’s one thing to blunder a bit on your side or even your supporting characters. But to slip up on your lead characters, especially your MAIN one who is the FACE of the show, c’mon CRWBY Writers.

And the events of V8 didn’t help change my opinion. After taking away all the bloat this season had for all the stuff they tried to shove into this one season, I realized that V8 didn’t really do much for Ruby. At least, not as much as I anticipated.

I was hoping that Ruby would’ve been a more focal character for V8 since V7 teased some stuff for her in respect to Salem. Instead, I watched a season where Ruby felt more like a supporting character for Penny Polendina since, in my opinion, Penny received much more focus and better development for V8 while Ruby, our LEAD took backstage to her story.

Because while Ruby was stuck playing supporting character, she was actively left out of subplots that she should’ve been a major part of. Not just because she’s the “protagonist” but because of elements to her story that were developed seasons prior but seemed to have gotten dropped for V8?

Ruby’s treatment for V8, to me,  is an example of a “build-up with no payoff”. All that stuff between her and Salem and her mother felt like it ultimately didn’t matter in the end because Ruby didn’t even meet Salem. 

Yang, to me, had the development with Salem that Ruby should’ve received.

Shoot---Ruby wasn’t even a thought on Salem’s mind…despite the events V4 and V7???

I just don’t understand. 

But like always, this is just how I feel about it. I’m disappointed with how Ruby was done for this season. While I liked the moment she shared with Blake in V8CH8 and Yang in V8CH11...that’s pretty much the ONLY thing I liked about Ruby’s story for this season. 

Outside of that, it felt to me like the showrunners didn’t do much with her for V8. In a season of so much happening, the stuff that happened with Ruby on her side of the story didn’t honestly stand out to me compared to what I saw the showrunners do for other characters who aren’t the lead this season.

It’s not like I’m trying to say she didn’t receive any development at all for V8. It’s more like most of what was done with Ruby didn’t quite stand out to me so it ends up feeling like not much was done for her. 

To me, Ruby falls into the same category as Nora Valkyrie for this season. Despite the PLOT preaching about them getting big developments, if you rock back and actually analyse the narrative, you’d actually see that not much was done for them despite the PLOT “talking the talk but not walking the walk” y’know what I mean?

And going back to Ruby, that’s disappointing since I wanted more for Ruby. I EXPECTED MORE for Ruby as our title lead but it didn’t happened. Instead it felt like some of the major developments that she should’ve received for this season went to other characters while she in turn took a backseat.

Things didn’t really start kicking up for Rubes until halfway through the season when the 100th episode aired and the Hound appeared. And even then the excitement of that reveal was short-lived since...Ruby was NOT the real target of the Hound. PENNY WAS. The Hound wasn’t sent to antagonize RUBY. It was sent for Penny which to me sort of undermines the reveal.

Some Ruby fans have been wishing for the show to feel more about just Ruby again for quite some time now and it is for this reason why I’m starting to dig this alternative theory of mine with Ruby surviving “The Fall of the Central Zone” alone with the rest of her team lost to the Other World.

While the concept of RWBY being trapped together in another world is still on the table of possibilities, I still wish to toss out this other one too.

I like the idea of a more Ruby-centric season where for the second time in the narrative, she’s separated from her core teammates only this time…it’s in “death” or rather “nonexistence” or “nothingness” since from Ruby’s perspective with her limited knowledge of magic (despite what she does know from Oz and Jinn) and the workings of the world that Ambrosius created, she doesn’t know what truly happened to her team.

The only thing she knows is that she watched her whole team dissipate into nothing before her very eyes and that is the last memory she has of them that haunts her for some time.

Imagine if…V9 will be about Ruby dealing with such a huge loss which could potentially touch more upon how she internalizes death in general tying back into probably flashbacks of her time with her mother before she learnt of her death at a young age.

While I understand we’ve had a storyline with Ruby being separated from her main team before back during V4-V5, however a plot line like this would be different this rounds since unlike before, Ruby at least knew that her team mates were alive. Far away. Separated by distance. But still alive and still a part of Remnant with the hope that she would be reunited with them again.

However this won’t be the case this second time. It would truly be Ruby alone since her team would be gone and no one could provide her with the solace of seeing them again---not even the friends she does still have (although that doesn’t stop some of them from trying to be there for the little red rose who has now lost more than her heart could handle)

I know the off-chance of this theory actually coming to fruition might be scarce. But like many ideas I’ve shared, it’s still worth tossing out since you guys know how this squiggle meister likes to roll.

~ LittleMissSquiggles (2021)

[wingheadshellhead]

Hi, I love your blog! So I've been reading a lot of 616 stevetony lately, and I've noticed that in both canon and in a lot of fiction, Steve seems to really dislike Extremis (even before superior iron man). Why do you think that is? Even without looking at this with shipper goggles (which I always am), I think it's really strange that Steve has so much disdain for something that essentially saved one of his best friend's lives.

(THIS HAS TAKEN ME 5 BILLION YEARS BUT HERE IT IS FINALLY)

i used to be in the same boat and automatically assumed steve’s dislike of extremis was one of those fandom headcanon things that was so commonly accepted it’d basically become fact, but it’s really, actually, all 100% canon. but the comics that deal with it happen right before civil war so i think many ppl have simply forgotten or skipped over that part of tony’s timeline.

execute program is the 6-issue arc that comes right after extremis and it’s the main thing i tell everyone they have to read if they’re putting themselves thru the ringer that is 616′s civil war. it is so so important to understanding tony’s headspace and where he’s at before the events of civil war occur. 

READ EXECUTE PROGRAM. a) bc it’s absolutely crucial to tony’s side of civil war, b) the follow-through from the extremis arc is just… amazing, virtuosic. i really genuinely think it is a fascinating, excellently-written arc, c) when it gets gay it gets very gay. truST ME you do not need your shipper goggles for this at all bc guess which of the following things are canon: the sound of steve saying his voice being the only thing that snaps tony out of (likely a dissociative episode) trying to murder a villain that nearly kills peter, dyeing his hair blond when he’s going on the run, tony stopping his heart to save steve’s life. all of them !!! all canon !!!!!! 

extremis is, basically, terrifying. to the average human being, hell even the average superhuman. it’s p much unfathomable the sheer level/magnitude/scope of extremis. extremis allows tony to access and control any piece of technology on earth and even in earth’s atmosphere, he can hear satellites. it’s like having the singularity as a superpower. 

so part 1, iron man vol. 4 #7 (2006), opening issue and we have tony stopping a villain with lethal force, all while counting down the milliseconds and bidding on priceless artefacts.

now, avengers don’t kill. and tony doesn’t, he stops the man’s heart, then restarts it, basically performing defibrillation. 

and then we get this conversation: 

and after tony jets off leaving the new avengers to sort out the aftermath, we get this disturbing reminder:

a proper reread might prove me wrong but i don’t think the writers ever clarify whether this transformation in tony’s personality is due to extremis or outside manipulation (which is the culmination of execute program’s arc as i’ll go into in a bit). but when your brain is literally a machine and you Have Become more machine than human, this is the natural progression of tony’s humanity – the aspects of compassion, empathy, etc. – fading into the background to accomodate for extremis. 

extremis brings out everything about tony that steve (and possibly the world) fears most. it makes him cold and calculating, and with a brain like tony stark’s elevated by the superhuman capacity to think and react at the speed of a machine, he’s unstopppable.

part 2, iron man vol. 4 #8, we have tony nearly straight up burning a man alive for almost killing peter and laughing about it. 

he’s so deep in Destroy Mode that he doesn’t even register steve’s warning, and here i think he acts entirely out of instinct –– like extremis is thinking for him rather than his brain prompting him to do this. 

extremis is also the cause of tension between tony and the newly-formed new avengers (one of my favorite line-ups!!), he almost gets into a fight with logan and jessica has to break them up. it turns out tony is missing time in his memory, which is extremely worrying for someone w/ his level of power…

what’s so fascinating about extremis, and why we have so much to thank warren ellis for (the writer of the extremis arc), is that it is the perfect and the most logical climax of the modern iron man story. tony’s worst villain, as we’ve known since the very beginning really, has never been anyone else but himself. and in the case of extremis, it’s a highly technologically advanced version of himself that can do and be everything he’s ever dreamed of being able to achieve vs. him. 

the question extremis asks is at what cost? at what cost does technological advancement, bleeding-edge breakthroughs, and the spirit of human innovation come at? how far would tony go to become the Ideal version of himself that he sees as superior in every way? what would he sacrifice for that?

extremis represents basically the pinnacle of sci-fi tech in iron man comics, it’s why even god awful superior iron man used a 3.0 version of it as the foundation for tony’s sins. it’s the farthest point he’s ever reached, and it’s also the lowest in terms of the damage and fallout that comes from it. because ofc, tony stark can’t have nice things like this, but also bc the hubris + nature of extremis allowing its host to play god can’t exist without there being negative consequences. really b ad consequences. 

huge respect to danial & charles knauf, the authors of execute program, too, because they find a way to perfectly bring the arc full circle as ellis did with his extremis. the central villain plot revolves around ho yinsen’s son. the kid hacks extremis and uses it to control tony, sending him to subconsciously assassinate a bunch of people on his kill list, i.e. a list of all the men involved in yinsen’s death. i mean like, HOLY SHIT, an iron man plot where a literal ghost from tony’s past – a direct victim of events tony was involved in, the son of the man that sacrificed his life so iron man could be born and so tony stark could live – shows up, weaponises tony’s own body + technology and uses him to murder people who are scheduled to participate in a peace summit despite the blood on their hands and the human cost of their involvement in the weapons industry.

DRAWING PARALLELS BETWEEN YINSEN’S LIFE’S WORK AND TONY’S LIKE DEATH AND DYING WOULD BE KINDER. again bc of my memory or even regardless due to constant retcons + reruns of the iron man origin story, i don’t know if it’s ever been explicitly stated before that yinsen also got into the weapons industry in order to get the funding necessary to support his other revolutionary work. but his son literally conflates yinsen with tony here, blending them into one + the same with that final panel and it becomes very obvious that at least a small part of him blames father for entering into weapons design. if he hadn’t, he might never have been captured by the the terrorist group that wanted him and tony to build them missiles. 

also, yinsen + villains involving yinsen are a recurring theme in iron man history but can we talk abt the fact that tony has never ever let himself forget the man bc jesus christ

yinsen’s kid is killed by a SHIELD sniper, activating the dead man’s switch and unleashing all the peackeeping units tony built that are now compromised. now, tony’s no jean grey or wanda maximoff but if this arc shows anything it’s not to underestimate him bc intentional or not (lmao) if he put his mind to it there’s literally no limit to the damage he could do. 

we see various heroes fighting off the peacekeeping units, and the new avengers are at the peace summit fighting a hulkbuster. 

and here it is people !!! the 23989485th time tony kills himself so steve can live. 

JUST. THE LOOK ON HIS FACE. AND THEN THIS ABSOLUTE LACK OF HESITATION:

so, yes. extremis was traumatising for pretty much every single person involved. steve has extremely good reasons for HATING extremis, even in the early stages or even if a fic is taking place before the events of execute program.

if you read the full arc, you’ll see tony running himself into the ground with his new abilities (world’s greatest multitasker can now multitask 192483958 things at once? ofc he’s going to use and abuse and exploit that), you see him spiralling and losing his grip on reality (mainly because he’s actually having dissociative episodes and losing time due to being remotely controlled to assassinate ppl but also bc of the Effect extremis is having on him). i brought up wanda and jean earlier as a casual reference but like, to put it in that kind of perspective, people just weren’t made to have this much power.

on a smaller scale, apart from eating up all of tony’s time and attention and mental health in a really bad way, it just Distances him from everyone. especially from the team. it’s Isolating, having this much going on in his brain and no one else in the world to fully understand it. 

and on steve’s side, you also have the fact that tony’s genius is both one of the things he loves and lowkey resents most about him. he has this deep-set anxiety about tony with all his brilliance and intelligence leaving him behind in the dust, or worse, laughing at him and how outdated and dim-witted he is in comparison. this is steve’s version of tony’s “i’m never going to be good enough for him”, a sentiment summed up in a quote from him as early as tales of suspense vol. 2 (1995): “yes, tony stark, a man of today and tomorrow is the man i’ll never be.” he’s so afraid of being abandoned + alienated by tony’s mind and the future that tony’s worked so tirelessly to build that might render him irrelevant. he’s scared of a future where he has no purpose, but more or just as importantly, he’s scared of becoming obsolete in tony’s life, of not being needed by tony anymore. one of the things that endeared him so much to tony, and which laid the foundations of their lifelong friendship, was the fact that from Day One (1), tony made him feel At Home. he never let him feel ashamed or isolated as The Man Out Of Time, he actively worked to make steve feel comfortable and to give him the things he needed to acclimatise and to fit himself into this brave new world. 

extremis undoes all of that. it propels tony so far and so fast into the future that it makes tony untouchable to steve. all of the ‘i can hear satellites’ stuff renders steve helpless and even more out of his depth than usual. it presses all of steve’s secret buttons and then some.

to sum this all up, and to finish my extra rambling abt tony bc u asked me about extremis and i couldn’t not finish with this:

here we have, ladies and gentlemen, everything u need to understand abt tony going into civil war. and it’s not on any of the official civil war fucking reading lists which really pisses me off because whether or not they did it on purpose the knaufs basically wrote all of execute program as the perfect precursor and characterisation groundwork for an antebellum tony stark. 

a tony stark who was just very recently manipulated against his will into assassinating people and causing a world-threatening incident that could have resulted in the deaths of thousands, including his own friends and teammates (and the love of his life), is a very different tony stark to the one ppl see in civil war #1.

what happens in stamford was an accident, too. no one meant for that to happen. tony knows first fucking hand what that means and what it feels like to carry that responsibility and guilt. his position in civil war supporting the SHRA is not only to protect the potential lives that could be lost in another stamford incident but also to protect superhumans and superheroes from ever being exploited against their will by villains to kill and hurt and destroy. 

superheroes are inherently susceptible to being used, it’s just part of the narrative convention –– a superhero is brainwashed or mind controlled or otherwise forced against their will to do something awful. and even if it’s not their fault there needs to be  accountability  for the victims. both the victims that suffer directly because of superhuman incidents but also the superheroes that become victims of ppl who abuse their powers. it’s abt protecting superheroes not just from civilians but from themselves. and if u’ve read a single comic u kno that this kinda shit happens way too often and way too easily.

sO YE S T hIS iS W HY. AND IT Ex PL AINS SO MUC H AND i j UST WISH P PL WOULD GODDAMN REA D THIS. LIKE EVERYONE WHO EVER WANTS TO SAY ANOTHER A GODDAMN THING ABOUT TONY STARK IN CIVIL WAR NEEDS TO FIRST READ EXECUTE PROGRAM FIRST OR PAY ME $10

anyway…………… one last time, i’m so so so sorry this took forever to get to. hope the wait was worth it!

[comic-bucky]

Golden Age

Captain America Comics (1941) #1-78

All-Winners Comics (1941) #1-21

Young Allies Comics (1941) #1-20

USA Comics (1941) #6-17

Kid Komics (1943) #2-10

All-Select (1943) #1-10

Complete Comics (1944) #2

Mystic Comics (1944) #4

Young Men (1950) #24

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Silver Age

The Avengers (1963) #4, #56, #106-107, #277, #387, Annual #16

Sgt. Fury (1963) #13

Tales of Suspense (1964) #63-71, #75, #82, #95

Captain America v1 (1968) #105, #107, #109, #112, #121, #128, #131-132, #139, #162, #176, #215, #219-220, #227, #253, #255-157, #261, #264, #281, #294, #297-299, #326, #349-350, #372, #383-384, #423, #437, #441, #445, #447-448

Captain America Annual (1970) #1, #6, #9, #13

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Bronze Age

The Invaders (1975) #1-31, #38-39, Annual #1

Captain America's Bicentennial Battles (1976)

Marvel Premiere (1972) #29-30

What If..? (1977) #1, #4, #5

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Modern Age

What If..? v2 (1989) #28, #105, #200

Adventures of Captain America (1991) #1-4

Captain America: Medusa Effect (1994)

War Machine (1994) #15-17

Batman/Captain America (1996)

Deadpool v1 (1997) #0, #61

Captain America/Citizen V (1998)

Captain America: Sentinel Of Liberty (1998) #7, #12

Fantastic Four (1998) #569, #584, #588

Domination Factor: Avengers (1999) #2.4, #3.6

Earth X (1999) #0-1, #4, #10

Universe X (2000) #9, #X

Universe X Special: Cap (2001) #1

Paradise X (2002) #0-1

Captain America v3 (1998) #1, #12, #25, #32, #39, #48, #50, Annual 2001

Captain America/Nick Fury: The Otherworld War (2001)

The Ultimates v1 (2002) #1, #3, #7

The Ultimates v2 (2005) #1, #8

Ultimate Avengers (2009) #2, #6

The New Invaders (2004) #2

Captain America v4 (2002) #10, #17, #19-20, #26

Captain America: 65th Anniversary Special (2006) #1

Captain America Comics 70th Anniversary Special (2009) #1

Captain America Comics 70th Anniversary Special (2011) #1

Cable & Deadpool (2004) #45

Captain America v5 (2005) #1-50

Winter Soldier: Winter Kills (2007)

Young Avengers Presents (2008) #1

Punisher War Journal (2007) #11

Fallen Son: Wolverine (2007)

Wolverine: Origins (2006) #15-20, #23, #25, #30

Civil War: Battle Damage Report (2007) #1

Iron Man/Captain America: Casualties of War (2007) #1

Secret Invasion (2008) #4, #6-8

What If? Secret Invasion (2010) #1

Avengers/Invaders (2008) #1-12

House of M: Civil War (2008) #3-4

What If? House Of M (2009) #1

Mythos: Captain America (2008) #1

Invincible Iron Man v1 (2008) #17, #20-22, #501

Incredible Hulk v2 (2009) #601, #607, #609

Nomad: Girl Without a World (2009) #1, #4

Ms. Marvel v2 (2006) #41-42

Ms. Marvel: War of the Marvels (2009) #1

Agents of Atlas (2009) #3-5

New Avengers (2009) #48-64, Finale

The Amazing Spider-Man v1 (2009) #600-601, #637, #648, #661

Wolverine (2003) #38-40, #72-74

Young Allies: 70th Anniversary Special (2009)

The Marvels Project (2009) #7-8

Avengers: The Initiative (2007) #19, #34-35

Dark Reign: The List - Avengers (2009) #1

Captain America v1 (2009) #600-619

Captain America: Reborn (2009) #1-6

Captain America: Who Will Wield The Shield? (2010)

Siege (2010) #2-4

Siege: Captain America (2010) #1

Steve Rogers: Super Soldier (2010) #1

Dark Wolverine (2009) #84

Avengers v4 (2010) #1-7, #10, #12.1, #16

Avengers vs. Pet Avengers (2010) #1-4

I am An Avenger (2010) #2, #4-5

Free Comic Book Day: Avengers (2009) #1

AAFES 7th Edition (2009) #7

AAFES 9th Edition (2010) #9

Wolverine: Weapon X (2010) #12-15

Avengers vs. Atlas (2010) #1, #4

Dark Avengers Annual (2010) #1

Hawkeye & Mockingbird (2010) #1

Age of Heroes (2010) #1

Invaders Now! (2010) #1-5

World War Hulks (2010) #1

World War Hulks: Captain America vs Wolverine (2010) #1-2

Captain America The 1940s Newspaper Strip (2010) #1-3

Captain America: Forever Allies (2010) #1-4

Black Panther/Captain America: Flags of Our Fathers (2010) #4

Black Widow: Deadly Origin (2010) #1-4

Black Widow v4 (2010) #1-6

Chaos War (2010) #1, #5

Chaos War: Dead Avengers (2011) #1, #3

Heroes for Hire v3 (2011) #9-10

Fear Itself (2011) #3-4

Fear Itself: Captain America (2011) #7.1

Fear Itself: The Worthy (2011) #1

All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes (2011) #1-5

Captain America and Falcon (2011) #1

Captain America: A Little Help (2011) #1

Captain America Corps (2011) #1-5

Captain America and Bucky (2011) #620-624

Captain America: Hail Hydra (2011) #1-2, #5

Captain America v6 (2011) #1-2, #19

The Winter Soldier (2012) #1-19

Marvel Zombies Destroy (2012) #1-5

Secret Avengers v1 (2010) #15

Secret Avengers v2 (2013) #9, #16

Captain America v7 (2013) #6, #13, #20

Winter Soldier: The Bitter March (2014) #1-5

Marvel 75th Anniversary Celebration (2014) #1

All-New Marvel Now! Point One (2014) #1

All-New Invaders (2014) #1-15

Original Sin (2014) #1-8

Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier (2014) #1-11

Black Widow v5 (2014) #8, #12, #15, #17-18

Planet Hulk (2015) #1-5

Runaways v4 (2015) #1-4

1602 Witch Hunter Angela (2015) #1

1872 (2015) #1-2

Red Skull (2015) #1-2

Civil War (2015) #1-4

Captain America: White (2008) #0-5

Captain America: Sam Wilson (2015) #7-8

Loki: Agent of Asgard (2014) #12

A-Force v1 (2015) #5

POP Secret Avengers: A Tussle in Time (2016)

Thunderbolts (2016) #1-12

Captain America: Steve Rogers (2016) #1-2, #4, #11-13, #16, #18

All-New, All-Different Avengers (2015) #8-9

Avengers Standoff: Welcome to Pleasant Hill (2016) #1

Avengers Standoff: Assault On Pleasant Hill Alpha (2016) #1

Avengers Standoff: Assault On Pleasant Hill Omega (2016) #1

Black Widow v6 (2016) #9-10

Captain Marvel v6 (2016) #8

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2016) #8

A Year of Marvels: July Infinite Comic (2016) #1

Generations: Sam Wilson: Captain America & Steve Rogers: Captain America (2017) #1

Secret Empire (2017) #0, #2, #4-5, #8-10

Secret Empire: Brave New World (2017) #1-2, #4-5

Secret Empire Omega (2017) #1

Tales of Suspense v2 (2017) #100-104

Captain America v8 (2017) #25, #695, #701

Captain America v9 (2018) #1, #5-7, #12, #19-21

The Punisher v8 (2016) #227-228

The Punisher v9 (2018) #5

Old Man Hawkeye (2018) #6, #8

The Unstoppable Wasp (2018) #7-10

Rise of the Black Panther (2018) #3

Captain America Annual (2018) #1

Winter Soldier (2018) #1-5

Invaders (2019) #1-12

War of the Realms (2019) #3-5

War of the Realms - Strikeforce: The War Avengers (2019) #1

Strikeforce (2019) #1-9

Web of Black Widow (2019) #2, #5

Deadpool v5 (2018) #13

Gwenpool Strikes Back (2019) #3

Captain Marvel v8 (2019) #6

Uncanny X-Men (2019) #11

Marvel Comics (2019) #1000-1001

Marvel Comics Presents (2019) #7

History of the Marvel Universe (2019) #2, #5

Avengers: Save Like A Hero (2019) #1

Captain America & The Invaders: Bahamas Triangle (2019) #1

Spider-Woman v6 (2020) #1

Amazing Spider-Man (2020) #38

Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula (2020) #1

Hawkeye: Freefall (2020) #1, #4

Falcon & Winter Soldier (2020) #1-5

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Other Bucky reading guides *work in progress*

BuckyCap | Kid!Bucky | Steve/Bucky | Bucky/Nat | Falcon/Bucky | Bucky/Daredevil | Bucky/Hawkeye

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updated 12/08/20

[schnees-and-schnugs]

is it okay to ask to know who else do you not like in rwby and why?

you can ignore this if not haha

that's fine ~

Disclaimer: this is all just my opinion and I'm in no way trying to claim moral or intellectual superiority over any of this lol. You do you babes.

Nora Valkyrie: *gestures at my posts*

Harriet Bree: *gestures again at my past posts*

All the other ace ops too with a tentative exception for marrow but he was annoying af in v8 also so he's on thin ice

Cinder Fall: she is such a crappy villain to me lmao. Like I can get if you like her, I really do. She's definitely the character archetype that I would also like (and she even reminds me of a character from a comic that I love). But her character journey is just so repetitive and meandering + the fact that her backstory was kind of... Disappointing? It just felt like a retelling of Cinderella and honestly the fandom came up with better theories for Cinder that better connected to what we already knew about the world of remnant than the writers did. Regardless, it probably should have been spread out in little flashbacks over the course of 8 volumes culminating to her last battle with Rhodes in v8, but that's just my opinion. Villain backstories are definitely not the writers forte given that supposedly important antags like ironwood and adam barely even have coherent ones, and it's definitely due to a lack of trying but that's a post for another day.

All in all, I wish they would just redeem her or kill her off already bc I'm really sick of her doing the same 3 things every time she shows up on screen. I just have a lot to say bc I want to like her so bad but the way she's written just confuses me.

Jaune Arc: I hate loser male self inserts and the loser male writers who write them.

Post v4 Jacques Schnee: self explanatory but also I still resent the fact that there was no meaningful interaction between him and Whitley before they had Ironwood blast him and that fuels 99% of the dislike I have for him. Also they made him so fucking stupid, I have a hard time believing this dude graduated college much less run a multi billion lien corporation.

Robyn Hill: I get why she's here but she's just annoying. Also her comparing qrows semblance to her own in a totally natural sounding monologue and calling marrow "wags" were uh .Moments. May Marigold is better and I would have 100% preferred her to be the one running in the election if she wasn't atlesian.

Clover Ebi: why does he even exist. I feel like this man is directly tied to everything I hated about v8.

Post v3 Adam Taurus: I don't rlly need to explain myself here.

Post v7 ironwood: I couldn't feel anything for him even if I tried. Also I resent the fact that mettle even exists, like I've never felt so disrespected as an audience member than when Kerry or whichever dummy brought that up as a legitimate semblance that isn't even given the time of day in the actual show.

V8 Weiss: they actually phoned in her character so hard last volume. I hope they let you emote like a normal human being again soon 🥺 baby I miss you.

Neo: Ice cream waifu with ironically as much personality as an ice cream waffle cone. No, I did not read her book and I dont really want to cuz I like to get important character background from the actual show <3

[sineala]

What’s your favorite comics era/universe to write in??

I feel like this is a really obvious answer from me but I really love writing 616 Avengers v3. This is pretty much the first time Steve and Tony were both on the main team after Steve learned Tony was Iron Man -- technically there were also a few months in there in the early 80s right after Molecule Man but that's a little fraught because then Tony starts drinking and then they're not on the same team for 15 years. So if you want a setup with no identity porn, where they've been friends for a while, where they haven't really done anything all that bad to each other, and they live in the mansion, the only time that happens in v3, because that's the last time they all lived in the mansion other than for like five minutes before No Surrender happened.

Obviously later settings have their virtues if you want to write about them after all the Bad Things have happened, but when I just want to write something fluffy where the time frame doesn't really matter and I don't want to explain how they feel about, say, Civil War, v3 is my go to. Either that or the end of v4, but then you occasionally have to explain their Civil War feelings.

Something like Marvel Adventures: Avengers can get you a similar fluffy dynamic but then you don't have all their 616 history to draw on so I usually don't do MA:A unless I want something that's really about a lot of lighthearted team interaction.

Having said that, I'm (still) working on a post-AXE Judgment Day story (so, set now, basically) and it's kind of refreshing to not have to remember what things have or haven't happened yet because everything is on the table! It can be a story where their romantic history includes things like how Superior Tony was sleeping with men and Steve found out Tony was queer from his dating profile! It in fact actually is that kind of story.

[bobbimorses]

Hi ! I was sent your way by @clintbartoncomics ,regarding a comics question. I’ve read everything Hawkeye that I know of,and anything I could find with Clint & Bobbi, and now am trying to find comics where Clint and Natasha are together/dating. I know how they started out,but can’t seem to find much else,other than them being together in the beginning of Old Man Hawkeye. Would you be able to recommend anything? Thanks !😁

ok, let’s try to break this down-

clint and natasha meet in his first ever appearance, tales of suspense #57. nat pulls up in her car as clint flees a robbery he tried to stop. clint thinks “sweet! free getaway-wait i’m in love,” and nat thinks, “sweet! free lackey!”

they spend tales of suspense #60 & 64 fighting iron man; natasha bc her soviet handlers ordered her too, and clint bc natasha told him to. sure, he started out trying to be a hero, but it’s been a whole 5 minutes with nat since then, so he loves her. and when clint falls in love, he falls hard. he feels morally conflicted, but what’s a little treason for your poor gf when you are but a simultaneously overconfident and insecure carny?

unfortunately for nat, clint sucks at being a villain’s lackey, and joins the avengers. natasha pops back into clint’s life in avengers #29. it’s here that i should make it abundantly clear that clint is one of comics’ most hopeless romantics:

she shows up periodically through the range of avengers #29-76, during which time they’re dating. natasha’s a hero now, too! but she’s working with SHIELD, so things get complicated, as spywork does--at one point she rejects the avengers’ offer of membership, an idea championed only by clint, bc SHIELD says it’ll ruin her cover. hurdles like that meant sometimes they’d discuss a drive to the beach and sometimes they’d be held hostage in test tubes. clint spent many an issue moping about as the other avengers went “is...is hawkeye ok?”

it was all very tragic.

due to increasing complications, natasha breaks up with clint in avengers #76 by telling him she never loved him:

you know, like a liar

while thinking over her tragic love life and all the guilt therein, she sneaks a check-up on him in amazing adventures v2 #7:

some time later, clint very suddenly confesses his love to wanda maximoff, a pining that only ever occurred in his thought bubbles, but gets rejected as she’s engaged to a robot. again, hopeless romantic. he laments both tragic outcomes in avengers #109:

now doubly rejected, clint goes across the country in daredevil #99 to tell nat he still loves her and fight matt murdock, her new flame. nat isn’t impressed by his show of jealousy, and more importantly, the destruction of her beautiful bay window:

clint, obviously, sulks about her relationship with matt in typical hawkeye fashion in avengers #111:

after that, however, there was no tension whatsoever once clint returned to the avengers after his long absence. natasha and clint were now good friends. things went smoothly when clint introduced natasha to bobbi (who you know he married after knowing for 9 days, what with his propensity to fall deeply in love so very, very quickly) in avengers #239:

they basically remained broken up since that fateful issue in 1970. some series revisited the dynamics of that relationship, though-- whether it be in their reminiscing, like in thunderbolts #43, or hawkeye v3 #7-8, or in flashback form, like here in black widow: deadly origin #2:

nat, bobbi, and clint even work together, with clint now broken up with both of them, in widowmaker (2010)

at this point you’re probably thinking “geez, they’ve been broken up for 40+ years. where did this talk of dating again come from?” well, a movie happened.

as with most sudden marvel comics changes and additions around 2012 (clint’s costume turning bland, phil coulson suddenly existing in 616, hulk being a full avenger for the first time since 1963), natasha and clint’s place in 616 was shuffled around a little in an attempt to draw in new readers from those who had only seen the movie. cue avengers assemble (2012) #5:

them making out was the cover of the issue, i’m sure to draw in some movie folks, but they stop immediately because clint has a girlfriend: jessica drew. i feel like at this point clint’s relationship with jess, which was never really fleshed out/developed to the extent of his previous relationships, became another casualty with the new 616 status quo. remember, clint has always been fiercely loyal to whoever he’s dating at the time--but then there’s this kiss, and penny in hawkeye v4 (2012). by then, no one was really sure about the status of clint and jess’ relationship in any series.

anyways! clint and jess break up at some point. clint and natasha proceed to pop up in each other’s respective series, like clint did in a few issues of black widow v6, and frequently work alongside each other in other avengers titles. then, secret empire (2017) finally ends their newfound will-they-won’t-they tension:

and because of their own storied histories after all those decades, it’s an evolved dynamic, so it’s all very interesting--but oops, natasha gets immediately killed. comics!

(she was half right)

clint breaks down sobbing at her funeral. and then, once again because comics, natasha comes back and clint teams up with bucky to find/stop her in tales of suspense (where it all started!) #100-104

most recently, natasha had an appearance in hawkeye: freefall for one issue, and clint is currently showing up in black widow v8. no, they aren’t currently dating--it’s, as always, complicated.