#in other news i also saw Captain Marvel and it was really good | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

adrienneleclerc · 10 months

Text

We’re Just Friends

Pairing: Walter Marshall x Hispanic/Latina! Reader

Summary: In this, we will see the friendship between Walter and Y/N and Walter’s first act of protectiveness; let’s face it, it wasn’t his first time punching a man because of Y/N

A/N: If y’all have seen Gilmore Girls, Walter and Y/N will be like Luke and Lorelai in the way that they hang out outside of work. If y’all haven’t, Luke/Walter is known for being grumpy in his place of work and in general. BUT he lets Lorelai/YN who is basically a ray of sunshine on caffeine get away with EVERYTHING. Lorelai/YN call Luke/Walter if they need to rant or need something fixed, they have a good friendship, very “you came, you called”

Ever since Walter gave Y/N apology cookies, they were closer, they got to know each other. They even started hanging out at friends outside of work which was rare for Walter.

Walter and Y/N could be seen at the mall, shopping for Faye because Walter is clueless about what to get her. They were walking down the aisles at Barnes and Noble.

“How do you not know what to get your daughter, Don Refri?” Y/N asked him.

“I thought that name was for the district.” Walter said.

“That name is for everywhere, Don Refri. Seriously, how do you not know?” Y/N stopped walking and stood in front of him.

“I know what my daughter likes, the only problem is that I don’t know if Angie and her new husband have already bought it for her.” Walter said, looking down at Y/N (I'm 5'3 and a half, yes, my doctor counts the half inch, but Henry is 6'1 so he's pretty tall, whatever height you are, he will still be looking down at you)

“Yeah, divorce makes it harder. I’m Just guessing, my parents are still together.” Y/N said with a smile. (If they are divorced, ignore that last sentence) “How about a funko pop, does she like Marvel?" Y/N said, holding up a Captain America funko pop that was on the shelf.

"I think she is more of a DC fan." Walter said, poking the Superman funko pop on the shelf.

They could even be seen at Y/N's apartment drinking coffee.

"Thanks again for fixing my lock, it was driving me crazy.” Y/N said, giving Walter a pan dulce to drink with his coffee.

“Yeah of course, wouldn’t want you to feel unsafe in the neighborhood.” Walter said.

“Still, you could have come tomorrow but you came tonight, so I appreciate it.” Y/N said.

“It’s a 5 minute drive, you’re close by. What is this, by the way?” Walter asked

“It’s pan dulce, there’s a little Mexican bakery that i like to go to, really good, I gave you a concha.” Y/N said, also taking a bite out of her concha. Walter have it a taste.

“You’re right, it’s really good.” Walter said. They kept talking until Walter finished his coffee and they said goodbye.

The next day, Walter came into the police department with a thermos in hand and an paper bag in the other. He walked over to Y/N’s cubicle and knocked on her desk.

“Good morning, Don Refri, how are you today?” Y/N asked.

“Good morning to you too, Y/N, I’m good, and you?” Walter replied.

“Im good, what’s in the bag?” Y/N asked, she was curious to know what’s inside.

“I went to the coffee shop this morning and got you something. It might not be as good as the pan Dulce from your Mexican bakery, but this coffee shop is Latina owned.” Walter said and Y/N opened the paper bag and saw manteconchas and polvorones.

“Oh my gosh, they look so good, they smell good too, gracias Don Refri, ya te estás calentando.” Y/N said, giving him a hug. Walter hugged back and went to his office while Rachel turned to Y/N with a smirk on her face.

“Walter brought you Mexican pastries? How nice of him, looks like you might be his favorite.” Rachel said.

“Maybe it’s because I’m new, I’m sure the novelty will wear off.” Y/N said.

“Maybe, maybe not. Who knows.” Rachel said, going downstairs.

A week later, Y/N entered the department and it was all chaos, she walked over to Glasgow to see if he could tell her what’s going on.

“Why is everyone acting like my mom when Luis Miguel announced his tour?” Y/N asked.

“Detective Marshall finally found a lead to the guy who’s been trafficking teenaged girls. We got his license plate and planted a tracking device on his van so Walter asked me to see where the van stops and that’ll be this guy’s hide out,” Glasgow explained. A few minutes later, “I found him! He’s in an All Inc Warehouse!”

“Let’s get a move on, we’re finally gonna get this son of a bitch.” Walter said as he grabbed his gun and out on his vest to leave with the other officers.

“What does he mean by ‘finally’? Has this been a tough case?” Y/N said, finally being able to sit at her desk.

“Detective grumpy has been working on this case for a month. It’s been driving him crazy knowing that the guy was still out there.” Rachel said, walking in, sipping her coffee.

“Then I’m glad he’s finally catching him.” Y/N said.

An hour later, Walter walked into the district with the guy in handcuffs. Walter takes him downstairs to put him in a holding cell. He walked back upstairs.

“Y/N, i need to fill out a report, come with me please.” Walter said and Y/N followed him.

“Congratulations on the arrest, Don Refri. How does it feel?” Y/N asked.

“It feels good. How was the Mexican bread?” Walter asked.

“The polvorones we’re really good and the manteconcha was delicious. I saved you a polvorón because you have to try it. Where did you get them?” Y/N asked.

“I got it at Abogados Café.” Walter said. “What does that mean, by the way?”

“Lawyers coffee. Do they have Cuban coffee?” Y/N asked.

“I Don’t know, we can check it some other day.” Walter said.

Hours later, Walter and Y/N were finishing their paper work.

“Hey Don Refri, how do you feel about going to a bar tonight? You don’t have to drink, but I think it’ll be fun. We could celebrate that you finally solved that case! Rachel told me you’ve been working on that shit for a month.” Y/N said as she put on her jacket.

“I Don’t know about that, Y/N.” Walter said.

“Oh come on, it’s not like I’m asking you to get drunk. Let’s just go to a bar, you can play pool with the guys, I can eat some fries. We could go to Brunson’s Pub! Or Skinner’s or Iron Ranger, I don’t care, I just want a night out and I really don’t feel like cooking.” Y/N practically begged Walter as she was holding onto his biceps.

“Fine, fine, we’ll go to Brunson’s, they have more food there, I’ll tell the guys, you can tell Rachel. Group celebration.” Walter said and Y/N was happy. She texted Rachel about going to the pub and Rachel was down.

“Rachel said she’ll be there, what about Matthew and Glasgow?” Y/N said.

“Yeah, they’re coming too. You want me to drive you?” Walter said.

“And leave my car here?” Y/N asked.

“I’ll drive you to work tomorrow, it’ll be fine. This way you can drink as much as you want.” Walter said.

“Jaja, mira que funny eres.” Y/N said. They walked out of the department and got into Walter’s car. Walter put on a random playlist on Spotify. Y/N was looking out the window when she heard a familiar song, “Oh my gosh, I haven’t heard this song in forever. I love ‘colgando en tus manos’, my mom would play it in the house all the time.”

“Yeah, I found a playlist with Spanish songs, thought it would be good, maybe help with my Spanish with us being friends and all.” Walter said.

“You Don’t even know what Carlos Baute is singing right now.” Y/N commented.

“It doesn’t matter, you like this kind of music, right?” Walter asked.

“It reminds me of my life in Miami, before Latin music went mainstream.” Y/N said. They kept talking and listening to music until Walter parked in the parking lot at Brunson’s. They walked in together.

“Hey, look who made it! Detective Grumpy and his sunshine partner.” Matthew said.

“Hey, we’re not at work right now but I’m still your boss, watch it. How much have you had to drink?” Walter asked.

“He had 3 tequila shots.” Glasgow said.

“How did he get here?” Walter asked.

“I took an Uber.” Matthew said.

“Same.” Rachel and Glasgow said.

“Great, well I gotta stay sober because I have to take Y/N home. What do you want to drink?” Walter asked, turning to Y/N.

“I want a ‘bad hombre’ and you should get yourself a beer, we’re celebrating you, you should be able to let loose.” Y/N said.

“All right, I’ll go to the bar.” Walter said and Y/N slid into the booth. Walter came back with a beer, a “bad hombre” which has reposado and mezcal, and an Italian sandwich for Y/N. “Here you go.”

“Thank you, Don refri.” Y/N said. They were all talking and laughing, having a good time but Walter stepped away. “Damn, I’m running low, I’m gonna see of i Can get a beer, be right back.” Y/N said and walked to the bar when bumped into a tall man. “Oh I’m so sorry.”

“Nah, you’re good. Wait a minute, Y/N?” The man said and Y/N looked up to see a familiar face.

“No way, Mitch, how are you? What are you doing here in Minnesota?” Y/N asked as she hugged Mitch (Dylan O’Brien) a friend she made back in Virginia.

“My brother Steven wanted to go skiing. You want me to order you a beer?” Mitch asked.

“Yeah, get me a modelo.” Y/N said and Mitch told the bartender to get him two modelo beers. “Well, how’s the CIA treating you?”

“The CIA is fine. Listen, I’m sorry to hear that the FBI didn’t work out for you but maybe you can come back to Virginia and become part of the CIA.” Mitch said.

“I’d love to, but I’m not sure I can cut out as a CIA agent.” Y/N said. They kept talking and Walter got out of the bathroom to see Y/N talking to Mitch. He went back to his booth.

“Who’s that guy?” Walter asked.

“I Don’t know but he’s cute.” Rachel said. Walter went closer to hear their conversation.

“You’d do great. I swear, I would love to work with you.” Mitch said.

“Mitch, honestly, stop insisting, I’m not doing it.” Y/N said. All Walter heard was Y/N telling Mitch “no” so Walter got closer and..

“Didn’t you hear her? She said no.” And Walter decked Mitch, Mitch landing in the floor. Y/N got out of her stool.

“Walter! What did you do?” Y/N asked, facing Walter.

“Wasn’t he bothering you?” Walter asked.

“No! Walter this is Mitch, my friend who’s in the CIA. Mitch, this is Walter.” Y/N said as she helped Mitch off the floor.

“He’s your boyfriend or something?” Mitch asked.

“No, we’re just friends.” Y/N said and Walter walked outside the bar, he needed fresh air. “And he’s technically my boss at the police department. He’s a detective.”

“Well He’s quite protective of you. I should give you my number so we could hang out next time I’m in Minnesota.” Mitch said,

“That would be great.” Y/N said and they exchanged numbers. “It was great seeing you, I gotta talk to Walter.” Y/N walked outside and saw Walter leaning against his car. “What the hell was that in there?”

“Sorry, Y/N, I thought he was just a random drunk harassing you. I didn’t know he was a friend of yours.” Walter admitted.

“You could have asked. Just don’t do it again, okay.” Y/N said,

“I won’t. Are you sure you’re all right? He didn’t try anything?” Walter asked,

“Nah, Mitch is a good guy, he wanted me to ‘try out’ for the CIA but I told him no. Thanks for being protective though, I appreciate it.” Y/N said and she hugged him. “Can we go back inside? I’m kinda cold and this skirt isn’t helping.” Y/N said and Walter chuckled.

“Yeah, we can go back inside.” Walter said, leading her into the pub with his hand on the small of her back.

The End

Hope y’all liked it! i just guessed about the Latina owned coffee shop but then I was looking up coffee shops in Saint Paul and that’s when I found Abogados Café! I looked up the bars and the warehouses because I like my fanfics to be accurate when I’m writing about a state I don’t know anything about. Also, super sorry about the late “update”, I’m finishing up the fall semester and i have so much work to do but I’m procrastinating so…that’s gonna bite me in the ass when the time comes. Comment if you want to be added to the tag list

Taglist: @shellyshellshell @warriormirkwood @secretdream2

#hispanic reader #latina #hispanic #henry cavill x reader #walter marshall fanfiction #walter marshall x reader #walter marshall x you #henry cavill #night hunter #walter marshall

92 notes · View notes

aurorawest · 10 months

Text

The Scottish Boy by Alex de Campi - 5/5 stars

This book managed to rip my heart out at least 3 times. I loved it. Medieval enemies-to-lovers slow burn; very romantic. Kinda read like fanfiction at times but in a good way. 10/10 would read a follow-up love story about Arundel and Captain Wekena. If you like Captive Prince, give this one a try.

Reforged by Seth Haddon - 4/5 stars

Pretty good bodyguard romantasy. Ironically CS Pacat blurbed this one (another am-I-in-the-matrix moment). The world was interesting and I enjoyed the politics, though they're definitely not as complicated as other SFF politics I've gone feral over (see: Captive Prince, Winter's Orbit, A Memory Called Empire). I ordered the sequel after I finished this.

The Doctor's Date by Heidi Cullinan - 4/5 stars

A Power Unbound by Freya Marske - 5/5 stars

Where do I start? I love, love, LOVE A Marvellous Light. It's one of my favorite books ever. None of the rest of the books in the trilogy could live up to it, really, because it's so good. You'll notice I rated this one 5 stars though, because quite honestly I fell prey to a bit of The Academy Paying The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Its Due syndrome. I did love this book and thought it was better than A Restless Truth (which I still loved!) but part of that is, quite frankly, just due to the fact that I prefer m/m romance to f/f romance.

Anyway. This was such a good finale to the trilogy. I loved that the romance was a giant middle finger to purity cultists. I loved that one of the mains was Italian. I loved finally getting the story of what happened to the Alston twins. One thing I thought was really cool was how, viewed from the outside, you totally get why Edwin is such a loner. I really admire from a writing perspective how Marske pulled that off.

I feel like there's a lot to be said about what Marske was trying to SAY with this book, but I definitely need to reread it first before I can articulate any of it. The purity culture stuff is obvious, but the magic system too. I feel like Jack when he's almost able to connect everything in his mind into a bigger idea, but he can't quite get there.

I've got a special edition from Illumicrate coming, so I'll be rereading it when I have that.

Oh also, this book was the embodiment of all that one tumblr post -

The Guncle by Steven Rowley - 5/5 stars

I saw this in bookstores for years before I finally gave in and bought it. The blurb makes it sound insufferable and twee. Ignore the blurb. This was such a good book about grief and learning how to live again after terrible loss.

I Like Me Better by Robby Weber - 4/5 stars

At last I can stop getting the Lauv song stuck in my head whenever I set eyes on this book (it's stuck in my head as I type this). Pretty standard-issue YA, but it was cute and had a good message.

The Stagsblood King by Gideon E Wood - 4/5 stars

Another book about moving on from grief! This is the second book in a trilogy. When I was trying to determine if I wanted to read on beyond book 1, I scoured the internet for information about what happens in books 2 and 3. Eventually I decided, hell, I enjoyed book 1 well enough, even if what I want to happen in the rest of the trilogy doesn't happen, they're worth reading. SO, to that end, I will tell anyone looking for info that Tel gets romantically involved with a new man in this one, which, eh. I still want him to somehow end up with Vared. It was still quite good though.

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune - DNF at pg 82

So funnily, we were at the bookstore the day I was about to start reading this, and my wife pointed out Ravensong (also by Klune) to me and said, "Do you have this one?" I made a face and said, "That's an older one of his books and I'm wary of his early work after that horrible Verania series. I don't think I've ever read an author as hit or miss as TJ Klune."

I wrote the above when I was 60 pages in and now I have officially DNFed this. Listen. You know how in Thor: Love and Thunder, Taika Waititi was clearly given free rein to do whatever he wanted, so all of his worst impulses made it to the final cut unchecked? Yeah. That's what this book is like.

Here's my Storygraph review: I see Klune is officially Too Big To Edit now. This book has exactly the same problem that his awful Verania series had—a joke that's funny at first but quickly grows tiresome when it's repeated five times per page. The emphasis on Victor's asexuality was also weird and read like Klune was just super proud of himself for writing an ace character.

Lion's Legacy by LC Rosen - 4.25/5 stars

Queer, YA Indiana Jones, but less #problematic. This book had some eerie similarities to my own archaeology adventure novel(s), which made me wonder half-seriously if I somehow know Lev Rosen? Anyway, I feared this would be very heavy-handed and not nuanced on archaeology's ethical dilemmas, since it's YA and also the current culture is to view said dilemmas as completely black and white with no nuance, but I was pleasantly surprised. It manages to examine that, queerness, and daddy issues, plus has time to be a genuinely fun and exciting adventure story. Highly recommend.

Too White to be Coloured, Too Coloured to be Black by Ismail Lagardien - 4/5 stars

I picked up this memoir in a bookstore at OR Tambo airport in Johannesburg as research for Six Places to Fall in Love, since Percy is coloured. A pretty brutal read, but good, and definitely good research. The author was a photographer and journalist through the most violent years of apartheid.

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson - 5/5 stars

Two nonfiction books in a row?? This is the second book by Erik Larson I've read, the first being the excellent The Devil in the White City. I'm not, in general, all that interested in WWII when it comes to military history, but this book is about the day to day lives of Churchill and the people surrounding him (with brief stops to visit FDR and high-ranking Nazis sprinkled throughout). This is a very, very good book, and I recommend reading it if only as a reminder of the resilience and bravery of ordinary people under terrifying circumstances.

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh - 5/5 stars

Holy shit. Holy shit is this book good. Imagine the love child of Lost, Person of Interest, and Battlestar Galactica, but queer and with multiverse shenanigans thrown in.

I need everyone to read this book. Now. Yesterday. Get to it.

66 notes · View notes

cerealboxlore · 9 months

Text

WIP #4: Captain Marvel The Animated Series (written)

Episode One: Welcome To Fawcett I

Freddy sat down in the booth across from Billy Batson, surprised by the softness of the seats as he practically sank into them. He took in the decoration of the diner with awe, recognizing the old interior design from pages of history books and old television shows. Looking around, a lot of the photos on the walls were in color, but most of them were in the classic black-and-white style that hadn't aged a day, along with the people in them. The radio on the counter of the kitchen window was playing an old tune, one that Freddy recognized as his grandfather's favorite! He was so enchanted by the vintage nature of the place that he hadn't noticed Billy ordering milkshakes for the both of them. If Freddy hadn't snapped back to reality when their drinks were brought to the table, he was sure he would have been there for hours.

"Wow! You know, I heard that Fawcett was frozen in time for like, decades, but it doesn't really hit you until you get here. The architecture, the people, the whole vibes of everything you all have around here just scream old-timey. No wonder my grandpa wanted to move here, haha-oh, wait! I didn't mean that as an insult, trust me! Fawcett has a good thing going for them. I just need some getting used to it, that's all." Freddy's nervous laughter eased down, as he wiped away the sweat rolling down his face. He was naturally popular in school and around the other kids, as Billy saw firsthand, but actually making friendships and connections with people took more effort than just being a pretty face. Freddy knew that. He just hoped he wouldn't bite his tongue or say the wrong thing as the new kid in town. A kid from the modern day around kids from the past? Yeah, that was for sure going to go great. "I just need to get used to being in this town...it's all new to me." His voice waivered above a whisper at the end, an unsure look in his eyes telling Billy that there was more going on than on the surface.

Billy took in the nervous expression and behavior Freddy was showing, trying to think of a way to calm him down. During school, he could tell that Freddy needed some fresh air and time to think about his move to Fawcett without being bombarded by all the other kids who kept asking him questions. Billy also knew that Freddy moved to Fawcett because of rather...unfortunate reasons, after hearing the rumors that spread around the school, like wildfire, during lunch. He didn't want Freddy to associate Fawcett with negative emotions, thus, the reason for inviting him to Philip's Diner.

"No, it's alright, you don't have to worry about anything, Freddy. Fawcett folk here understand the odd looks we get from the rest of the world." Billy chuckled, taking another sip of his milkshake with a smile. He didn't get the chance to drink these very often, so the moment he saw the chance to have one again with his new friend, Freddy Freeman, Billy seized the opportunity. Honestly, he never treated himself to anything nice unless someone else was tagging along or if the main reason was in consideration of another. Always the money saver, that kid. "You know, being the new kid in town, being the new town in the world, it's not so different once you think about it. The Fawcett Freeze may have set us back, but we're more than eager to catch up with the rest of the world and stand tall! I promise you, you'll do just fine around here, you just need some time to adjust and breathe the air, and you're free to take all the time you need, we've got plenty of that here. So, even if you stumble or fumble some steps, I've got your back!" Billy shined a bright smile on Freddy, who seemed at a loss for a brief moment.

Before Billy could be concerned about the silence, however, Freddy reached a hand out to the boy. Freddy had his doubts and worries about Fawcett, and his place in this town, but after hearing Billy speak so easily to him without any problem, he felt a little stronger.

Freddy felt...calmer.

"Well, if you say so, Billy," Freddy sighed out, grinning. "I'll take your word that Fawcett rocks and I'll take a chance on being here. I can tell already that you're gonna be a great friend!" The two kids shook hands, feeling a strong bond forming between them. Maybe they'd be good friends for a long time. "But, I doubt I'm ever going to stumble or fumble like you said. I've got the best pair of running legs a baseball field has ever seen!"

"Let's put that to the test then, Freeman! Finish your shake in a quick second and I'll take you over to the local baseball field here. The one over by Sherman Street is great for games!"

"Don't gotta tell me twice, Batson!" Freddy shouted excitedly in response. The change in mood seemed to do him some good.

The two boys then chugged their milkshakes like a couple of starving raccoons, sprinting out the door as soon as Billy paid their bill.

Had the boys left a few seconds later, they would have heard the breaking news alert on the radio, alerting the public to Dr. Sivana's recent escape.

@wolfsbanesparks (Merry Christmas! Hope you like this WIP!)

#WIP 4 #Billy Batson #dc captain marvel #shazam #freddy freeman #fanfic wip #writing #This is one of my top 3 favorite WIPs at the moment #I'm so sorry it took so long for me to post #merry christmas to those that celebrate!#happy holidays #Captain Marvel never got an animated show and I'm still upset about that #Technically there was one but I want the one I'm imagining in my head

32 notes · View notes

geekgirl101 · 3 months

Note

I hope sending in an ask is okay

I haven't been keeping up with everything post Young Avengers that involves them, all I remember was the Empyre run with Teddy and Billy, but I didn't read it yet either

So far I've read YA vol 1, 2, all the "mini-stories" {I guess u could call them??} like siege, crossover with runaways, dark reign, and of course Children's Crusade

I wanted to know what else to read that involves them/what you'd recommend bc it's been a while and I really wanna get back into it

I say while I'm literally struggling to read the recent she-hulk comic bc of my short attention span and adhd, but we won't talk abt that

Anyway, hope you're doing well, and thank u if u end up answering this

Hey. Thanks so much for your ask. When I saw this, I had to dust off the cobwebs of my empty ask box. Asks are always welcome as long as they are kind and respectful. This is a great example of a good ask.

To answer your question. I do recommend New Avengers v4, Empyre and Empyre Afrermath Avengers (the latter is a one-shot. But it's the wedding issue). There is the Last Annihilation Tie-in Wiccan and Hulkling that's good.

Marvel's 75 Anthology brought back Heinberg and Cheung for this:

There is also technically Death's Head and Strikeforce, and King in Black tie-in. But frankly, if it involves Billy and Teddy, and it's written by Tini Howard, my personal suggestion, is to just skip it. There are also the Infinity comics, but they're also just...not good.

There is, of course, also Marvel's Voices Pride Anthology which has one story each for Billy and Teddy. Marvel's first pride anthology also had this: also by Heinberg and Cheung.

Tommy appeared in a couple of issues of X-factor's last volume. So if you're into the Tommy/David ship, it's good to check out, and if you're not, then you can skip it, or look up the panel of Tommy bantering with Norstar.

Oh, Billy and Tommy did also technically appear in Trial of Magento, but that was also really bad, and very poor characterization. Billy and Tommy have more recently made appearances in Scarlet Witch, and Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver comic, and Billy and Teddy also appeared in a few issues of Captain Marvel. These have been decent appearances.

As for the other Young Avengers, Kate had her own solo mini, which wasn't too bad. She was in West Coast Avengers, but I wasn't a fan. Cassie's done some stuff with her dad in Ant-Man comics, I think. But I don't remember.

#bily kaplan #teddy altman #young avengers #tommy shepherd

9 notes · View notes

s10127470 · 5 months

Text

The MCU Synergy Problem

It’s been a month since X-Men ‘97 came out, and just about everyone’s has already pointed what makes it so good.

-Staying true to the spirit of the original while still striving for its own identity

-Staying true to the characterization and depiction of the characters, and in some cases, improving on their characterization such as in the case of Jean Grey and especially Morph.

-Introducing new concepts, elements and characters that haven’t been explored in other adaptations yet.

-Having so many callbacks to the original while not coming off as nostalgia pandering.

-The animation and action! MY GOD! The animation and action!

Really, the only problem people have with this show is the weird love triangle between Rogue, Gambit and Magneto.

We already had to deal with the infamous love triangle Cyclops, Jean and Wolverine in the original, we did not need this.

Not only is this just unnecessary, it’s also just weird since in the original, it was never even implied that Rogue or Magneto had any sort of history between each other at all.

But here, they met during Rogue’s days with the Brotherhood. And I think when they met, Rogue was still a teenager.

During that time, the two grew an attraction towards each other and although it’s not explicitly stated, it is implied that they did….ya know…

youtube

Man….

Although I do enjoy Magneto, unlike a lot of other people, I can acknowledge that he’s kind of an awful person.

He’s a supremacist, a terrorist, a mass murderer, a violent, abusive psychopath, and a deadbeat father (well, when he used to be a father but we’ll get to that soon).

But never though that “groomer” would be an addition to that list as well.

All I can say is that….if this show took place in the modern day, Magneto ain’t beating any allegations.

youtube

But besides all that, another major positive people have with this show is just how….comic booky it feels, which is something that’s been lacking with a lot of Marvel content for the better of a decade now.

But before we get into that, let’s take a little history lesson.

Marvel was founded all the way back in 1939 by Martin Goodman….but it wasn’t called Marvel at first, it was actually called Timely Comics. But by 1951, the name of the brand was changed to Atlas Comics.

During this era, the comics saw the introduction of several characters include The Human Torch (the android), The Whizzer, Miss America, The Destroyer, the original Vision and The Angel.

But the two most notable characters introduced during this time were none other than the patriotic fighter of justice Captain America and the anti-heroic aquatic incel Namor the Sub-Mariner.

But Marvel would become the comic book powerhouse we know them as today starting in April of 1961, when Altas Comics was changed to be part of the newly-named Marvel Comics brand, helmed by the legendary duo of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

And over the course of the 1960s, Marvel would not only quickly become the biggest name in the comic industry (only being rivaled by who else, but DC), but also introduce many of their most recognizable stars.

This would include the likes of The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man and The Wasp, Iron Man, The X-Men, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, The Inhumans, Black Panther, The Silver Surfer, Black Widow and Hawkeye, and of course, the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

And in addition to tons of, in the words of Yogurt…..

youtube

Marvel would also see plenty of entries into the wider world of television.

From the anthology series Marvel Super Heroes, to the acclaimed five-season run of The Incredible Hulk starring the legendary bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno, to the absolute meme-fest that was the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon.

But Marvel really found their footing amongst the public consensus in the 1990s, largely thanks to their animated shows.

We had X-Men ‘92, Spider-Man, Iron Man and Fantastic Four ‘94, and The Incredible Hulk ‘96.

What made these shows stand out from their predecessors was that they strived to actually be adaptations of their respective comics.

Yeah, prior to these shows, all of the cartoons were largely villain-of-the-week shows with little to no continuity and apart from the characters, didn’t really take a whole lot from their source material.

But these shows actually went out of their way to actually adapt storylines from the comics, had ongoing plots, and much stronger characterization than before.

And even besides that and of course, merchandising, Marvel was making quite the name for itself in the world of video games. Most notably the ones that were made by Capcom, which included the likes of The Punisher, X-Men: Children of the Atom, Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse, and most famously of all, Marvel vs. Capcom.

Their status among the public consensus became even stronger when the 21st century rolled around.

This was largely thanks to the multiple films based on Marvel Comics properties that came out during the 2000s.

This included the likes of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, Ang Lee’s Hulk film, Tim Story’s Fantastic Four duology, Mark Steven Johnson’s Daredevil, and (Sirs whose names will not be mentioned here at all)’s X-Men series.

And apart from the merchandising (which was stronger than ever before thanks, the 2000s would also see some of the best video games based off the Marvel Comics and its IPs.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2: A New Age of Heroes, Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, X-Men Legends and its sequel Rise of Apocalypse, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and Spidey himself had a multiple of great games from this era.

From ones based off his cinematic outings, to ones based off his alternate universe escapades (Ultimate Spider-Man), to ones that featured the characters’ worst voice actor to date and was responsible giving us that famous depressed Spidey walking meme (Web of Shadows).

But everything would change for Marvel in 2008 with the release of….

youtube

This film would not only serve as the invincible armored Avenger’s first outing on the big screen, but would also be the start of one of the most well-known and influential pieces of media in Marvel’s entire history…..

The Marvel….Cinematic….Universe….

Just about everyone knows about the MCU.

It only not made the characters of Marvel even bigger than before (along with introducing some of the more lesser-known characters to the general public), but also helped popularized the concept of the shared cinematic universe in general.

The franchise has gone on to become one of, if not, the biggest and most successful film franchise in history and has left a major impact on the world of cinema and even Marvel themselves.

And unfortunately, not really for the better…..

Everyone has already pointed how much of a negative influence the MCU has had on the media we consume.

From the multiple failed attempts from studios who desperately wanted to trend chase by making their own cinematic universe, only for these attempts to end up being massive failures, to a lot of writing in many films post-Avengers having this quippy and observational sort-of-write that while beloved at first, has gone on to become seen as annoying and tiresome…..

But I really want to focus on the effect it’s had on Marvel as a whole.

To start this off, let’s look the place where this MCU effect has been the biggest problem…..and it’s ironically enough, the comics.

Ever since MCU began, Marvel has been adapting elements from the MCU into the comics, which became especially more apparent after the first Avengers film.

And while Marvel is no stranger to adapting elements from Marvel media outside the comics, it’s never been to this extent.

This synergy has seen major changes in the appearances and characterization in many of its characters, including…..

-Iron Man being portrayed as far more snarky and quippy than he previously was. At first, people were on board with this change, not only because people liked Robert Downey Jr’s portrayal, but also because during the mid-2000s, Iron Man was not a popular character. Not in the frankly overused and tired “nobody knew who Iron Man was prior to the release of the first film” way. But more in the sense that everyone hated him during that time. This was largely thanks to the absolute clusterfuck known as Civil War, which turned Iron Man into a full-on villain. Plus he was indirectly responsible for One More Day, aka the worst Spider-Man story ever written.

-Loki became far more heroic and started looking and acting more like his MCU counterpart. Hell, the Loki we know today isn’t the same one introduced back in the 1960s. That Loki died all the way back in 2010, and the one we know today is essentially his reincarnation. And this reincarnation was not only introduced in the exact same year that the first Thor movie released, but in the exact same month as well!

-Thor started acting far more goofy and air-headed like his MCU counterpart following Thor: Raganrok.

-Hawkeye started giving off what could be best described as “uwu small bean tired dad” in the Matt Fraction run, which started just 4 months after the first Avengers film.

-Agatha Harkness having her appearance changed into that of a much younger woman following Wandavision.

-Introducing the Ten Rings following Shang-Chi, and having the titular hero being the user of them instead of just being Bruce Lee like he had been for last 50 years.

-Literally everything involving the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Its also led to tons of the characters getting somewhat phased out like….

-Iron Fist, due to the poor reception of his MCU show and complaints towards him being a “white savior”.

-Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, aka the original Ant-Man and the Wasp, who were also two of the five founding members of the Avengers. But despite that, neither of them appeared in the first Avengers film. And although it was a loose adaptation of The Ultimates, Hank and Janet were still present in that story as founding members of the titular team. Hell, Hank definitely has this the worst as he was killed off back in 2015, and was only recently brought back from the dead…..and he’s an old man now. I wonder why?

-Valkyrie, who was not only killed off permanently after Thor Ragnarök, but replaced with not one, but two characters very similar to the Valkyrie that appears in Ragnarök.

-The Inhumans, who had a major push in relevancy in order to promote their upcoming movie and TV show. But after the former got cancelled and the latter ended up being a massive flop, they ended up being banished to the shadow realm and barely acknowledged anymore. Also, the reason for their push plays into a later point.

-Quicksilver, which also plays into that later point I just mentioned.

-Black Panther, who Marvel seems to be somewhat edging out in the comics literally because of Chadwick Boseman’s passing.

And worse of all, retcons……such as…..

-Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch being revealed to have never been Magneto’s children nor mutants at all….shortly after the release of Age of Ultron.

-Shang Chi’s biracial heritage being rewritten to have him being fully Asian shortly after his film.

-Nebula, in addition to being made to look and act more like the movie version, also was revealed to be Thanos’ adopted daughter and Gamora’s sister….just like in the movies.

-Ms. Marvel being revealed to have been mutant all along instead of an Inhuman…..just months before the release of The Marvels.

-Thor and the other Asgardians are not mythical beings, but actually aliens who were mistaken for gods by humanity….who just so happen to use magic (yeah this is a weird one because it constantly keeps flip-flopping between one or the other).

-Nick Fury being revealed to have had an illegitimate son who looks exactly like the MCU Nick Fury, who himself was based on the Ultimate Universe version of Nick Fury, who was African-American and modeled after Samuel L. Jackson. This is really weird because if they wanted a Samuel L. Jackson inspired Nick Fury, they could’ve easily just waited for the 2015 Secret Wars event and just had the Ultimate Nick Fury be one of the surviving inhabitants of the Ultimate Universe to be brought over to the 616 Universe along with Miles Morales, The Maker, and that son of Wolverine everyone forgot the existence of (even Marvel themselves!).

So yeah, as you can see, this is quite a problem.

Marvel has essentially been trying to make the comics resemble the movies rather than the other way around.

Which has not only gotten annoying and tiresome, but it’s also pretty disingenuous.

I mean, you’re pulling from a source material that has literal decades of content and lore to use, and now you’re actively trying change and contradict that lore just because of a series of movies adapting said source material?

This is obviously because they’re trying to appeal to new Marvel readers who came right from the movies.

But for some reason, Marvel seems to believe that general audiences have never heard the word “adaptation” before.

But this isn’t just an issue for the comics, it’s also an issue for…..pretty much every medium Marvel can be represented in.

For over a decade, Marvel has been essentially trying to push the MCU as the default everything.

Anything Marvel related: it all has to be similar to the MCU and barely anything else. And if it can, just utilize any of the comics written post 2010.

It’s pretty much the same problem that a lot of recent Spider-Man media suffers from.

When they’re adapting stuff, it’s almost always from the cartoons, Brian Michael Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man and Dan Slott’s run on Amazing Spider-Man.

And this has often come to the detriment of many of the non-MCU projects released during the 2010s.

Three of the best examples of this I could think of were Avengers Assemble, Square Enix’s Avengers, and Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite.

Avengers Assemble is famous for being the Marvel cartoon that was only created just to ride on the success of the first Avengers film.

But in spite of this, it was apparent during the first two season that this show was striving to have its own identity. Specifically utilizing some of the lesser-known faces of Marvel.

But as the series went on, the MCU got bigger and bigger. And as a result, the show started to get bogged down by MCU synergy.

From having storylines that were obviously done to tie into whatever movie came out not that long ago, to even changing characters appearances in order to better reflect their MCU counterparts.

The best example of the latter was with Falcon, who was a member of the main cast.

During the first three seasons, he actually stood out from the rest of the team visually as his outfit wasn’t trying to emulate the MCU.

It wasn’t emulating the comics either because I think that outfit of his was wholly original to this show.

But during season 4, Falcon ends up going through a time warp. And when he comes out, he’s been aged up from a young college-aged man to a grown man around the Avengers’ ambiguous age range and is wearing an outfit similar to his MCU counterpart.

Now we come to Square Enix’s Avengers.

My God…..was there anything this game did remotely right?

Or at least competently?

And one of the many flaws of this game was its roster.

And this actually plays into another major point on how stifling MCU synergy is.

Ever since the first Avengers movie, whenever the titular Avengers appear in just about anything, they’re almost always shown having the same roster.

That being Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye.

Sometimes there will be other members like Falcon, Ant-Man, Wasp, Black Panther, Vision and Captain Marvel, but that’s because those guys are also major names in the MCU as well.

Like for God’s sake, switch it up a bit!

For the next major thing the Avengers appear in, how about we have a roster based on like…..

The Heroes Return roster, or the Hickman roster, or the Englehart roster, or the New Avengers roster, or the Stern roster, or the West Coast roster, or even the Classic roster!

But back to the Avengers game, they didn’t even commit to that never-changing roster I just mentioned!

When the game released, the Avengers video game had Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and Black Widow as the main Avengers roster until Ms. Marvel joined up.

Yeah, Hawkeye didn’t appear as a part of the roster until his own DLC with Kate Bishop!

As for the other additions to the roster, we had Spider-Man, Black Panther, The Winter Soldier and the Jane Foster Thor.

youtube

Yeah, when looking at this game as an adaptation of the comics (which it barely was), the roster is absolutely pathetic when you look at the INSANE amount of members the Avengers have had over the decades.

And when looking at this game as an adaptation of the MCU, it didn’t even commit to that!

This is even more of the case when you look at the list of characters they initially had planned, but they obviously had to drastically cut all that for the sake of time constraints.

Hell, if you want to see something really sad, just look at the villain roster.

Over the 3 years this game was around, it only gave us 4 (yes 4) villains.

M.O.D.O.K., Taskmaster, The Abomination and Klaw….

Yep! Just these four schmucks!

No Red Skull, no Mandarin, no Baron Zemo, no Leader, no Ultron, no Kang the Conqueror, no Absorbing Man, no Wrecking Crew, no Enchantress, no Whirlwind, no Crimson Dynamo, no Circus of Crime….

Hell, they don’t even have Loki, the most popular and well-known Avengers villain!

It’s even more sadder when you consider the DLCs, i.e Spider-Man, who despite having undoubtedly the most well-known rogues gallery in all of Marvel, not one of them appear at all in his DLC!

youtube

In the wise words of a young redheaded YouTuber who likes to talk about Spidey….

“How easily you got showed up by Fortnite!”

If you want more detail on the history of this game and what went wrong, I suggest watching Matt McMuscles’ What Happened video on the game, but basically the reason that the game was the way that it was due to the laziness and apathy of Square Enix, the inexperience and slight incompetence of Crystal Dynamics, having WAY too many cooks in the kitchen (i.e., they worked with five studios, all of which were located in different parts of the world), and most of all, the utter greed of Marvel.

And funnily enough, this game ties into my next talking point…

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite! The fourth and possibly final game in the series….and is regarded by just about everyone to be the weakest game as well.

Just like Avengers, one of (if not) the biggest criticisms of this game was the roster.

Infinite had a roster of about 36 characters, having the second smallest roster in the series’ history, only surpassing Clash of Heroes’ 15.

This was quite the surprise when compared to the previous game, 3’s 48 characters and especially 2: A New Age’s 56.

As for the roster itself, it was made up of both veteran characters and new characters.

Returning from the previous game, we had Spider-Man, Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Doctor Strange, Dormammu, Ghost Rider, Nova and Rocket Raccoon.

Also returning were two faces that hadn’t been seen since 2: Venom and Thanos.

As for the new characters, we had Captain Marvel, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Black Panther, Gamora and Ultron.

Yeah not exactly the most interesting roster.

And I’m sure many of you noticed by now, there’s something notable characters missing from the roster.

Namely the X-Men, their villains and Doctor Doom, all of whom have been staples of the franchise since the beginning.

And there’s a reason for that….

A very, scummy reason….

I already mentioned this in my X-Men: The Next Mutation post, but it does bare repeating her.

As the MCU became more popular, Marvel became focusing on pushing the Avengers as their premiere superhero team, with the Fantastic Four and X-Men essentially being dethroned.

Along with that, their relevance in the comics notably began to degraded, and barely began making appearances in media outside the comics.

The reason for this, apart from Marvel focusing on cashing in on the Avengers, was because despite still owning the overall rights for the FF and X-Men (which, why wouldn’t they?), their film rights were still owned by 20th Century Fox.

Since Fox was pretty much a rival company to Marvel until Disney bought them out, Marvel basically saw any form of FF and X-Men representation as free-marketing for Fox.

So they decided to essentially not to allow any FF or X-Men related characters to appear in any media outside the comics and even reduced their overall presence as well.

Which is why Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch and the other non X-Men mutants were retconned into not being mutants, why Quicksilver himself has been sort of been an afterthought in recent years, why the Inhumans were pushed so hard, and why the FF and X-Men characters weren’t in this game.

Plus the justifications and excuses for this from the developers are absolutely hilarious, because you can just tell that they’re lying through their teeth while being held up at gunpoint by a bunch of Marvel executives.

Oh yeah, let’s bring up the other biggest elephant in the room and want led to Square Enix developing Avengers.

After Infinite came out and got quickly abandoned by the player-base, many people at Capcom have come out to reveal just how awful it was working with Marvel and Disney.

They weren’t just pushy with who and who couldn’t be in the roster.

They were also pushy about how the characters that would be in the roster would be portrayed (specifically wanting them to heavily resemble their MCU iterations) and even changing their themes to be exactly like the MCU ones.

Hell, this pushiness was so bad that for the trailers, they did not want the Marvel characters to be depicted as losing!

This was also an issue back during 3 as well, but it was essentially amplified during this game.

This really shows just how petty Marvel really is….

They’re willing to ignore and downplay the existence of two major players of their brand that people have loved for decades and were created by the two men them helped make the company they are today.

They’re unwilling to compromise and it has to be their way or the highway.

And this pettiness eventually came to bite them in the ass as Capcom’s statements about working with them eventually reached many of the other big video game developers.

And soon enough, when Marvel was trying to find someone to develop Avengers, none of the big game developers wanted anything to do with it!

Eventually, they did find a developer with Square Enix, who already had experience working with Disney via Kingdom Hearts.

It’s actually ironically hilarious that the heads at Marvel believed all three of these projects would actually be successful because of the MCU synergy, but they all ended up being flops because of said MCU synergy!

But this desire for MCU synergy has not only negatively affected non-MCU project of this time, but even ones that either came out before this desire or….never came out at all.

I’m sure many of you remember The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

This show was essentially a love letter to the Silver Age comics of Marvel and strived to be an near-faithful adaptation of many classic and even recent Avengers storylines, while also having its own unique spin on it.

Hell, in some cases, the EMH versions of these storylines are actually better than the originals, especially in the case of Secret Invasion.

Sadly, the show got cancelled in 2012 after 2 seasons and 52 episodes…and to this day, EMH probably has one of the dumbest and scummiest reasons for cancellation in television animation history.

The reason this show was cancelled because Marvel wanted to replace with it a show that was more in-line with the MCU, aka Avengers Assemble.

Yep! Not low ratings. Not bad critical reception. Not budgetary reasons. Hell, not even bad toy sales, which was a major reason for a lot of action cartoons around this time getting the axe!

And it doesn’t get much better from here.

During the 2010s, there were a lot of promising Marvel projects that never saw the light of the day, with two of the most notable being the animated Deadpool series and Marvel Era.

youtube

Following the success of 2016 film, FX and Marvel Television decided to collaborate to created an animated series based on the merc with the mouth, with Donald Glover (yes, that Donald Glover) being one of the main showrunners, alongside his brother Stephen.

However, the series was cancelled almost a year within its development, with the main reason being that Marvel wasn't particularly big on the vision that the Glovers had for this series.

And apart Donald speculating racism on Marvel’s part (which given that Jeph Loeb was meant to be an executive producer on this series, that possibly could be the case), another possible factor for the show’s cancellation was because of Deadpool’s connection with the X-Men, and during this show’s production, Marvel was still in their “the X-Men don’t matter anymore” phase.

And it really sucks because the pitch animation for this was really good and made this seem like it was going to be a very fun show.

New we come to Marvel Era.

youtube

Out of all the cancelled projects, this was perhaps the most interesting.

Marking a first for their animated shows, this would’ve been an anthology series released in 2014 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Marvel Comics.

It was going to be produced by Powerhouse Animation (best known for Netflix’s Castlevania series) and it was gonna have 7 stories, with each one being themed around a different decade and focusing on a different character.

There would’ve been a 40s story focusing on Captain America, a 50s story focusing on either Wolverine or Namor the Sub-Mariner, a 60s story focusing on the X-Men, a 70s story focusing on The Heroes for Hire, a 80s story focusing on The Punisher, a 90s story focusing on the aforementioned Deadpool, and a 2000s story focusing on Captain Marvel.

This honestly seemed like it was going to be a really great show, which was enhanced by the absolutely gorgeous animation of the pitch trailer.

Unfortunately, Powerhouse announced that the project was cancelled because it wasn’t what Marvel Television were focusing on.

Which is code for: Marvel didn’t want it because it wasn’t MCU adjacent….

To wrap this up, I just wanted to bring up the reason I made this in the first place.

Over the last few weeks, there was a leak for a upcoming episode of X-Men ‘97, which showed a shot of Captain America’s shield.

And this led many people to somewhat groan, believing that this was yet another case of MCU synergy.

And although this was proven to be false, it really does speak volume with how much influence the MCU has had.

Although it has brought lot of Marvel’s star characters into the mainstream, the MCU has shaped and changed them so much, that it seems like they can no longer exist as characters who have existed for literal DECADES.

They always have to be associated with a film franchise that has existed for about 1/6 of their existence in fiction.

But I think the biggest takeaway to all this is that this constant MCU synergy kinda shows a lack of reverence for Marvel’s legacy.

Look at this merchandising from the 2010s and 2020s....

In most of this merchandise, the character roster featured is almost always the same.

The Avengers, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man and the Web Warriors, and the Guardians of the Galaxy.

The Inhumans were also apart of this roster until, as I mentioned earlier, got banished to the Shadow Realm....

Occasionally you'll get some of the other cosmic characters like Nova, She-Hulk and some of the street-level heroes like Daredevil, Elektra, Ghost Rider, and The Heroes for Hire.

But those are few and far between.

But other than that, it's largely the four I mentioned earlier.

Because they're the main faces of the MCU, and as we all know, everything has to be related to the MCU in some way....

But now let's compare that to some Marvel merchandising from the mid-to-late 2000s and early 2010s....

Upon seeing this, you can tell that there’s a far greater sense of appreciation for Marvel.

This merchandising pulls from nearly every corner of the Marvel Universe you can think off and features characters from the heavy hitters, to the borderline obscure.

Plus it still heavily features the Fantastic Four and X-Men characters, who, may I remind you, spent a good chunk of the 2010s having their presence greatly reduced and their existence constantly threatened or denied because of movie rights!

All in all, Marvel really needs to stop the MCU synergy.

In spite of what they think, it’s clearly done nothing but harm and stifle many potentially good (even great) projects.

Not only that, but it’s also gonna start harming the Marvel brand itself with how homogenized they’ve made everything and the rapidly increasing lack of interest in the MCU.

Plus its also brought out the worst in Marvel.

From cancelling projects for stupid reasons, to showing a lack of respect for the legacy they’ve build, to literally being difficult to work with because of how they want everything to be their way.

But things do seem to be looking up a bit….

There’s been the multiple of Spider-Man media of the last few years , which has been one of the few Marvel projects that aren’t bogged down by MCU synergy.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur also ended being shockingly really good, and although it does have some MCU synergy, it’s pretty minor.

And now we have X-Men ‘97.

It does appear that there’s some kind of movement in Marvel to actually start making projects again that aren’t being made to be a glorified MCU circle-jerks.

And hopefully, this could led to some really unique and interesting projects, specifically for this year.

Since remember, this year marks the 85th anniversary of Marvel Comics, so that’s pretty big!

But then again, their corporate overlord had an utter embarrassment of a year for their centennial….

And Marvel themselves also contributed to that as well….

#marvel #marvel comics #marvel cinematic universe #mcu #mcu synergy #disney #xmen 97 #avengers assemble #marvel vs capcom #deadpool #but seriously please the stop the MCU synergy it’s has been so. fucking. annoying.#avengers earth's mightiest heroes #Youtube

12 notes · View notes

justrandomfanfictionskh · 2 years

Text

Mary Todd pt5

ao3 beginning previous

Batman did not know enough about Ladybug, and that was never more apparent then at that moment. When he had expressed his concerns to his family and the other Leaguers, they had not been understanding. They all seemed to believe that he was being overly paranoid. That it was ok for him to not know every single hero's secret identity. That Ladybug was the literal champion of order and good fortune, so really how could she be evil? A lot of ways. There were a lot of ways for "order" and "fortune" to be used against them. However, he never said this to the others. Mainly because the last time he even hinted at the possibility of Ladybug deceiving them, Wonder Woman had nearly taken his head off. And yet he felt justified in his paranoia, the moment he saw the alert on the Batcomputer.

Perhaps he would be more amenable towards the young hero, if he had a clearer grasp of her strengths and weaknesses. Or any grasp of them, he barely understood how her powers worked, and no one with even a scrap of knowledge on the subject was willing to share it with him. Batman hated magic. He probably could be more accommodating, if Ladybug at least attempted to control the chaos she was making in the League. Afterall she was not only the youngest member to be indoctrinated into their ranks (Captain Marvel didn't count because he turned into an adult with the wisdom of Solomon), but she was also immediately made a senior member of the League. Not to mention the fact that she had no official mentor among their ranks. She had never worked any League missions. She had never been even remotely partnered with one of their affiliated teams. And yet she already had a seat at the high table, much to everyone's confusion and admiration. But perhaps, if he was being honest with himself, all of this could have been over looked, if she was just even slightly intimidated by him. It was a new feeling for the Dark Knight, to not have someone shrink at his glare or flinch at his anger. Even if his colleges didn't fear him, or were so powerful they didn't need to fear him, they stopped talking when he stared, and they listened when he spoke.

But not Ladybug. She never flinched or backed down from him. When he glared, she rolled her eyes as if he was a child and continued to argue her point. During their first meeting, she had interrupted him...twice. And now! Now that he had caught her researching files she had no business even knowing about. Files he had sealed, personally. Even as other heroes immediately began to back track the moment they saw him coming, she didn't even stiffen. She just sat relaxed and smirking at him, like the cat that ate the canary and was about to have bat for dessert. Even as Wonder Girl, stiffened and cast panicked looks between them, Ladybug just sat and calmly said without a hint of guilt or fear,

"Hello Batman, and how are you this evening?"

"Ladybug," he huffed, attempting to control the headache that always seemed to creep in whenever she fixed him with her bright blue eyes. "May I ask what you are doing here?"

"Well," she sighed leaning into one of her hands, "I was just doing some research for a friend. And everything was going swimmingly, when all of a sudden, this happened." She turned so that he could get a full view of the monitor, flashing the words "Information Not Found." Batman stayed silent and Ladybug continued, "You know, I was at a complete loss. About to give up actually, when all of a sudden...you show up, glowering as if I'd died your cape pink! Care to explain that?"

Ladybug smiled too sweetly at him, as her fingers drummed her cheek. Batman's scowl deepened. If this was Superman, he could give a vague non-answer, and nothing would happen. If this was Wonder Woman he could give a pointed non-answer, and she would let it go. If this was literally anyone except for Ladybug, the one hero who was not afraid of him, it would be enough to know that he, Batman, had sealed the files and would move on. But that look in her eye sent a very clear, very pointed message. It said, "Don't even try it. You have something I want. So you will satisfy me, or I will satisfy myself."

Batman sighed. If I knew her identity, I could find some way to control her, he thought. But what he said was, "We will discuss this in private." And with a billowing of his cape, he turned and marched out the door. He was barely half a step away when he heard the young heroine scoff, "Drama Queen." Before following him. He ground his teeth, and heroes lesser and greater averted their eyes when they passed.

Batman ushered Ladybug into the conference room. He immediately regretted that decision. Usually, if a lesser member was being unruly, a quick conversation with the Bat in this room would quiet them for a while. Because this room, was a stark reminder of their place. The grand table, the ornate chairs spoke far louder than he ever could. So, it didn't matter how powerful the hero thought they were when the fact remained, that he was the one with the authority that a chair in this room provided. Except...Ladybug did have a chair. A chair which she slunk into immediately, and leaning back put her feet on the table. She smiled at him, and it was clear that she new exactly what his intentions were, and that she new who to play this game. Batman took a deep breath he went to stand behind his chair at the head of the table and spoke,

"What is you're interest in Marinette Dupain-Cheng?"

Ladybug waved dismissively and said, "I owe her a favor. Which shouldn't surprise anyone who did even a basic internet search on her. I mean the number of times that girl was targeted by an akuma, yeesh! Hawkmoth really had it out for her. What I do find surprising, is that you have an interest in her Batsy! I mean a young, relatively normal, Parisian girl with no criminal record, who--as far as I can tell, has never set foot in Gotham once in her life, has the infamous Dark Knight sealing and monitoring her files? That's...interesting, at the very least." She let the unspoken question hang between them as the two stared each other down. The tension was thick as they each waited for the other to speak and make the next move.

Batman just observed the hero, attempting to understand her. She was relaxed. Her feet on the table, chair slightly reclined, head resting on her right hand, left hand drumming the arm rest. But there was something in her eyes. A silent challenge and a deadly fire, as if she was demanding him to refuse her. As if she was daring him to deny her anything, that she felt she had a right to. Except, she did not have a right to this information. This was Jason's secret, his son's sister, and Batman had made him a promise. Batman could not do much for his second child. But the little he could do, he would do with a passion that could burn hell. Ladybug wanted to know about Jason's sister, well that was just to bad. Because, he was a stubborn bastard, and he would die three times over before he failed his son again.

"What you find interesting is of little importance," Batman said letting the steel he was feeling enter into his voice. "The fact is that under the current circumstances, Marinette Dupain-Cheng is of no consequence to anyone within our community, and it is to remain that way for the forseeable future."

Ladybug threw back her head and laughed. It was a short derisive laugh that had Batman on edge, but he stayed silent as Ladybug made the next move, "Under the current circumstances? And tell me Batman what do you know of her circumstances? Because whatever information you have, I'm afraid it's a tad outdated."

"Explain."

"She was one of my temporary heroes."

Batman froze. He had not known that. How had he had not known that? Ever since he had identified Marinette Dupain-Cheng as the long lost Mary Todd, he had monitored her religiously. It was how they had discovered the Hawkmoth situation to begin with. There was nothing on the CCTV footage, social media, or her records to ever suggest that she had connections to the hero community. Yes, the majority of her collège and lycée class had been akumatized. But Marinette's name was never on that list. And since the akuma records only mentioned the victim's motivation and not their target, there was no sign of them singling her out specifically. And even the widely inaccurate tabloids about her and Chat Noire were fake to the point of ridiculousness. How could he have missed this? Batman looked up and saw Ladybug's sly smile observing him with vindictive eyes. He scowled.

"That may be, but she is not currently one of your heroes."

"No, but--"

"Then she is of no consequence to the hero community, and I have no need to explain myself to you."

"Actually--"

"Furthermore, it is Justice League policy to protect the privacy of all retired heroes with every means necessary, so divulging any sensitive records that could potentially lead to her exposure to our enemies, is immediately out of the question. I thought you had a better understanding and respect for such individuals, given your extreme defense of your former partner. Or do you only concern your self with the protection of certain members of your organization."

Batman betrayed no emotion, but he felt all of the smugness of his earned point. Ladybug no longer had her feet on the table. She sat straight and rigged, clutching her chair with what had to be a white knuckled grip under her red gloves. Her blue eyes had become icy daggers as they stared him down with a glare that could match his own in ferocity, and intensity. Batman glared back. She would not flinch from him. He would not flinch from her. For a moment, no one moved, as the cold, dark fire of Batman's stare met the sharp, icy fire of Ladybug's. Then something changed. Batman blinked, as he watched Ladybug's spine unstiffen back into her chair. The fire bled out of her gaze, until she was just casually observing him with a warm calculation.

He had seen this before. It had happened almost every time they met with the spotted hero while they were still on bad terms. Someone, usually Hal or himself, would say something that had Ladybug on the brink of exploding. And then after a tense moment of still silence, she would melt into a controlled casualness that somehow undermined every impassioned speech, brittle comment, or passive aggressive threat they could throw at her. It was as if after that single moment of furry, nothing they could do or say would effect her. There was a power in that, that Batman could not help but respect, even if it annoyed him to no end. So as Ladybug relaxed, he tensed. Eventually she broke the silence saying,

"Marinette is looking for her brother."

Batman blinked. There was no teasing jabs, or subtle aggressions in her voice. It was a simple statement of fact, and it had Batman reeling, although you would never know it to look at him. Still, something in him must have shown his shock, because Ladybug stood and continued in the same controlled casual manner as she walked to stare out the window.

"I won't go into too many details about Marinette's tenure as a hero. But these are the highlights. She was targeted by akumas multiple times. I assume that part of the reason for that was because she was never akumatized. I think Hawkmoth took it as a challenge. She was, for a while, the hero Multimouse, and she served well. In the end she was exposed to Hawkmoth, but not to the public. She didn't want to stop being a hero, but she had no choice. However, she never stopped helping. It would not be inaccurate to say that Marinette Dupain-Cheng is the reason we were able to defeat Hawkmoth. Many members of my team owe her their lives. But I," here Ladybug turned and Batman saw the sincerity and determination in her gaze. "I owe her everything. So when she tells me that the only thing she wants, after everything she's given...after everything she's sacrificed, the only thing she wants is to be reunited with her brother. Batman," Ladybug came to stand directly in front of him. "She has bled, died, and been resurrected more times than I care to admit. She gave everything to defeat that bastard! So go ahead. Threaten me. Glare at me. Give me vague, passive aggressive, non-answers. I will not stop until I have found Marinette Dupain-Cheng's brother. I will tear Gotham apart if I have to. And you can't stop me...but...you can help me."

Batman was silent, stunned. The bare faced truth of Marinette's situation hit him like a freight train. This was not how he was expecting this conversation to go. But then again, the only thing he had intended for this conversation was to put Ladybug in her place, and protect Jason and his sister. But this...if this was true, then they had failed. Worse, they hadn't even tried. Batman sighed, Jason would never forgive him. He had come to terms with that fact long ago. But this fresh wave of failure on his part might just lead Jason to cut him out of his life forever. Batman closed his eyes. He could still Alfred's words as he had sealed the files all those years ago.

"This is a short term solution at best, Master Bruce. If it were my decision, then I would at the very least visit the girl. After all, there is only so much you can learn and do an ocean away."

Batman cursed his past self and took in Ladybug's silent, steady stare. "I cannot tell you what you need to know."

"Then who can?"

"Red Hood."

Jason was going to kill Bruce, and he meant it this time. He hated coming to the Watchtower. Between the hostile stares and the not exactly quiet whispers, the attention he drew only put his spine on edge and stirred the pit inside of him. He scowled under red mask and pushed through anyone who didn't jump out of his way. He was furious. Because not only did he have to enter the Watchtower, but it was because of this! Someone was looking into his sister! No! It was not happening! He had already failed her too many times, he would not let anyone drag her into this word under any circumstances! He couldn't protect her when they were kids. He couldn't protect her from Hawkmoth. He would protect her from these "heroes." And the fact that Batman had caved to them, and told them of their connection! Jason seethed. He had seen it all on Bruce's body cam, and Zetaed there the moment he saw Bruce cave. He knew the bastard didn't care, but Mari was innocent! Couldn't he at least have summoned enough of a heart to put this person in their place!

He slammed through the doors of the conference room, to see Ladybug and Batman staring each other down with arms crossed. Or well, Batman was staring down, Ladybug was staring up. The contrast in their everything would have been hilarious under any other circumstance, but right now Jason didn't care as he stormed around the table to loom over the spotted hero and growled, "What the fuck do you think your doing?"

Ladybug studied him incredulously, but it was Batman who spoke, "I was just telling Ladybug, that I could not help her locate Marinette Dupain-Cheng's brother."

Red Hood whipped around to look at Batman. His voice was stoic and unchanging. It did not silence the pit. He turned back to Ladybug and snarled, "And why do you want to know that?"

"She's my friend. She has questions. I want to help her. It's what I do."

"Oh, so you're the reasons she's died!"

"Excuse me!"

"You're her friend?!" Red Hood spat, "You put her in danger! You want to help her! Forget you ever met her! Forget she exists! Just take your stupid, fucking yoyo and leave Paris and never even think about her again! It took you five years to stop that mad bastard! Five Years! Of her suffering! I will not let you put her in danger anymore. So stay the fuck away from her!"

"Fuck you," Ladybug said casually. Red Hood saw Batman blink. The only sign of surprise he ever gave. Apparently, the spotted hero was not prone to cursing. Not that Jason minded.

"Excuse me?" Red Hood snarled.

"Fuck. You." she said slowly, and that's when Red Hood noticed something. Ladybug wasn't angry. She wasn't frightened by his outburst. She wasn't even disturbed. Most people, any kind of people, would be at least a little effected by someone of Red Hood's stature and reputation coming at them in a screaming furry. But Ladybug just seemed mildly annoyed. It had Jason subtly reassessing the hero, even as the rest of him fumed with rage. Ladybug continued speaking,

"Listen, Red Hood right? Let's get this straight. You don't get to talk about Paris, or Hawkmoth, or Marinette. You don't know my city. You don't know my enemy. And you most certainly do not know the woman who helped me save it. Did Marinette die? Yes, she did. But so did everyone in Paris. Hell! I've died! More times than I can count. So you don't get to tell me I've failed. Not when I have faced horrors and nightmares the likes of which, you're fragile egotistical mind could barely dream of. I have stood on a roof top and watched millions drown. I have looked to sky and seen it fall in flaming rain. I have stood over my own corpse and watched the world turn to ash around me. So sit down and calm down, because unless you can tell me how to find Marinette's brother, I don't care. I don't care about your petty reasons or you're petty problems. And I especially don't care about your petty rage. What I do care about is the truth. That's all I want, the truth. And if I can't get it from you, I will get it from someone else. That you can depend on."

Red Hood didn't know which was worse, the unfeeling stoicism of Batman, or the collected casualness of Ladybug. Either way it stirred the pit madness until Hood didn't know if he wanted to fight it off. A large part of him wanted to give into it and tear the woman apart limb from limb. How dare she treat Mari's suffering with such coldness?! How dare she just dismiss her like a number on a page?! He barely even registered what else she said, because it was all he could do not to give in to the rage. But before he could, he hissed cold and quiet in a way that made the worst of humanity cringe in the shadows, "If you think for one second, that I'm going to let my sister anywhere near you, you've got another thing coming, bitch!"

Ladybug froze. Her eyes widened. Her mouth opened. There was silence for one single heart beat. Then in a small breath, almost as if the voice couldn't bare to be heard, Ladybug whispered, "Jay-Jay?"

Taglist:

@laurcad123 @craftgremlin @toodaloo-kangaroo @blackroserelina @maanae @kitsun369 @idkamt @aksartisticlife

#maribat #mlb x dc #dc x mlb #miraculous ladybug #batfam #batman #fanfiction #marinette dupen chang #jason todd #big brother jason #ladybug

76 notes · View notes

cardcaptorsakura96 · 3 months

Text

Unwitting Rescue-Chapter 9-Epilogue

Fandom: Supergirl

Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor

Characters: Kara Danvers, Lena Luthor, Rose Zen (Original Character), Marigold Zen (Original Character), Violet Zen (Original Character), J'onn J'onzz, Winn Schott, John Stewart, Rosemary Zen (Original Character)

Summary: Kara Danvers finds a box of kittens on her way to work. Things don't go according to plan.

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8

As Lena walked into the penthouse, she felt a sense of peace that she hadn’t felt in a while. It had been nonstop bad news for the longest time, but now she saw a little bit of a light at the end of the tunnel. She heard noises coming from the living room. She walked over to see Kara and the girls watching TV. Well more accurately, Kara was sitting on the couch reading while the girls were sitting in front of the TV with their faces captivated by what was on screen.

Lena chuckled softly while she went over and kissed Kara on the cheek.

Lena purred, “Hello darling. How are my favorite people doing?”

Kara smiled as she gently pulled Lena down to the couch, embraced her and said, “The girls and I had a good time this morning even though it just got better now since my cuddle buddy is back home.”

Lena snuggled into Kara’s embraced and said softly, “I missed you too.”

As Kara and Lena snuggled up against each other for a couple of moments, Lena looked up curiously at the girls and asked, “What has the girls so captivated? I haven’t seem them this enthralled at the TV since we let them watch Frozen 2.”

Kara chuckled and said, “They are watching on Netflix Zatanna performing at Carnegie Hall. They are impressed that magic is something that is embraced in pop culture.”

Lena raised an eyebrow and asked, “Were they concern that practicing magic would be an issue?”

Kara looked up thoughtfully and said, “Well, they heard about the Salem Witch trials and the Christian Crusades.”

Lena nodded and said, “Ah, I get it.”

Kara nodded and said, “They have been amazed the last two hours with how advanced Zatanna’s magic is.”

Lena mused, “That reminds me. The girls do need a teacher that practices the magical arts. Did the League know of anyone?”

Kara chuckled and said, “Funny you should mention it, but they recommended Zatanna.”

Lena looked up at Kara surprised and asked, “Really?”

Kara nodded and said, “Batman convinced her to join last week.”

Lena looked at Kara startled and said, “I didn’t know that the League had magic users.”

Kara sighed and said, “We have been working on getting more magic users into the League since we have come across villains in recent years that practice the dark arts. Right now we have Zatanna, but we have also been trying to recruit Doctor Fate, John Constantine, and Captain Marvel although some of the members are divided on those three.”

Lena raised an eyebrow and asked, “Why?”

Kara rubbed the back of her neck and said, “There are personalities concerns with all three. There is a general consensus that thinks that Doctor Fate and Constantine are self-serving jerks and Captain Marvell is too nice.”

Lena looked at her startled and said, “I get why you may not want to have people on the team that act like asses, but why is being too nice a crime?”

Kara scratched her head and said, “I have always thought that Captain Marvel had an easy going personality. However, some think he acts too childish to be considered a member of the League.”

Lena raised an eyebrow, “So out of the four, they only found one person that their personalities gelled together well.”

Kara chuckled and said, “I wouldn’t say that. Batman was the one that really pushed Zatanna through.”

Lena looked at her startled and asked, “Say what now?”

Kara nodded and said, “Batman has known her for a long time and they recently began…” Kara rose up her hand to make air quotes and continued, “dating.”

Lena gave Kara a deadpan stare.

Kara sighed and said, “I know, but Clark and Diana were okay with it so everyone else just kind of fell in line after that.”

“Hmmm….” muttered Lena while rubbing the back of her neck. She sighed before looking back at Kara and asked, “Do you think she would be a good choice to teach the girls?”

Kara rubbed the back of her neck and said, “Batman heavily advocates for her. He offered to make introductions. He surprisingly offered to train the girls as well.”

Lena eyed Kara warily and asked, “In what?”

Kara chuckled and said, “Combat training. Clark won’t admit this willingly, but if there was ever a fight between Clark and him, Batman would win. I have enough hubris to admit that I would probably be knocked out in the first couple of minutes.”

Lena looked at Kara surprised.

Kara shrugged and said, “Batman is extremely intelligent and knows numerous fighting styles. He has a contingency plan if any of us were to go rogue.”

Lena raised an eyebrow and asked, “Don’t you find that a little unsettling?”

Kara sighed and said, “If you had asked me a year ago, I would have said yes, but after Clark and I were exposed to red kryptonite….. let’s just say I am glad that Batman had a plan.”

Lena stared at Kara intently for several minutes for sighing to look up at the girls. They were still engrossed in Zatanna’s performance. Lena looked up hesitantly at Kara and said, “I really don’t want them to learn to fight but considering the battle that is headed this way, it would be in the girls best interest.”

Kara nodded and said, “I agree. It could be something we can do together. Considering how often I have solar flared, it would probably be a good idea to know how to protect myself when I don’t have my powers.”

Lena nodded and said, “Okay, so we have a plan.”

Kara smiled and said, “I will talk to Batman tonight. I will also ask if may be the girls can train with his protege. He is around the same age as Rose. It will be good training for them to know how to work with others in a team-like environment.”

Lena smiled and said, “I like that idea.” Lena turned to Kara, smiled coyly, and said, “Considering how we are working closely with Batman now, I think it is about time I learn who he really is especially if the girls will be spending a lot of time with him and his protege.”

Kara chuckled and said, “I agree. I will ask him if it is okay if you know who he is.”

Lena smirked and asked, “Will I be surprised by who it is?”

Kara chuckled and said, “Definitely!”

Before Lena could inquire further, she heard the pitter-patter of feet running toward her. Violet leaped on her lap and Marigold leaped on Kara’s lap. Rose ran to them bouncing up and down.

Lena chuckled and said, “I take it you guys like the Netflix special.”

Violet looked at her wide-eyed and said excitedly, “It was amazing.”

Marigold nodded excitedly and exclaimed, “She performed so many magic tricks.”

Rose nodded excitedly and exclaimed, “She is the best magic user I have ever seen!”

Violet looked at Kara and Lena excitedly and asked, “Could we get her to be our teacher?”

Marigold and Rose looked up at Lena and Kara eager for an answer.

Kara chuckled softly and said, “We can see what she says, but no guarantees.”

“Yay!” all the girls squealed as they started running around excitedly around the living room.

Lena chuckled and said, “It will take a couple of days to get a response on that, but in the meantime, there is something that we wanted to show you guys.”

All three girls stopped and stared at Lena hesitantly.

Lena gave a soft smile and said, “It is not something bad. We just wanted your thoughts on something is all.”

Rose looked at Lena curiously and asked, “What is it?”

Kara smirked and said, “It’s a surprise.”

Read the rest on AO3

4 notes · View notes

signalwatch · 11 months

Text

The Marvels (2023)

Watched: 11/09/2023

Format: Alamo Drafthouse

Viewing: First

Director: Nia DaCosta

Marvel has been having some issues, of late, with quality and maintaining a fanbase. I'm not sure why having a fanbase for sci-fi/ fantasy stuff means eventually that the absolute worst people on Earth feel like their opinions should dictate what the rest of the planet sees and what constitutes a "good" Marvel, Star Wars or whatever movie. But I suppose it's the same reason that people think they get to tell other people they're the only *real* Americans.

I don't want to define the film Captain Marvel or TV show Ms. Marvel by the audience that manages to mix misogyny and racism into rocket fuel for social media, but I will say - in the event of this year's strike by SAG-AFTRA, it's been tough to get much in the way of promotion out there for The Marvels other than dropping trailers, and that's left a gap in the conversation those folks have filled. It's more likely we'll see the occasional hit-piece by a major industry publication looking for clicks than Disney doing anything worthwhile to actually promote the film on their own. We coulda really used the lead cast hitting Hot Ones and Good Morning America.

Look, I agree: Marvel has put out too much content since Endgame, and that's had a deleterious effect on the overall quality of the material. Even I have been asking "will this be necessary?" as I hear about each new Marvel thing still in the pipeline. And sometimes you're watching, say, Loki Season 2, and you're thinking "I literally do not care what happens here" because something like "oh noes, the timelines will all collapse" is both meaningless, up it's own ass of the story being about itself, and insanely old hat to us aging comic nerds who've seen timelines and multiverses collapse and expand over and over for our *entire lives*. And, yes, Superman will still get printed every month.

Movie superheroes still have to have an antagonist, and they still have to wind up in a big crescendo of a finale, but we've seen this dozens of times in the past fifteen years. You can polish it, put a new coat of paint on it, but eventually it's someone in a slugfest with their evil opposite who has the advantage on paper (but not the heart of a hero).

So what you have left is what you can do with characters.

And that brings us to The Marvels (2023), Marvel Studios' latest offering.

The movie has mediocre reviews and is tracking to open badly. I haven't read the reviews, because (a) I already had tickets and was going, and (b) I kinda wanted to write this before I saw what Chris Spectacles of the Akron Observer thought of the film.* And I didn't want this review to be me addressing the concerns of reviewers.

I saw it in a 2/3rds full theater on opening night, and with not a child in sight. I will say the following up top:

First - there's no post-post-credits sequence to wait for. Go home after the first couple of them. This is not a trick.

Second - Before watching this, yes, you will have to have seen Captain Marvel. You should see Ms. Marvel. You will want to just skip Secret Invasion, which this movie pretends didn't happen, and that's fine, because that show was quite bad and more confused the MCU than helped it along.

SPOILERS

The Marvels (2023) is not going to change the world. This is also not going to "save" Marvel Studios, if, indeed, Marvel Studios needs saving, or the *idea* of saving the studio that means anything at all.

What I'll argue the movie does is provide a fun time at the movies with characters that are a good hang for the movie's speedy, non-stop runtime. If Guardians of the Galaxy taught Marvel that what you need is a mix of action, comedy, space and family issues, this movie is absolutely a product of that line of thinking. The Marvels isn't trying to copy Guardians (despite the fact the villain is a version of Ronan who is a mean lady instead of a mean man), but clearly those items were on a whiteboard somewhere while this movie was getting sorted out.

The movie knows that the villain's plot is going to fail, and knows we, the audience, are just following the beats on that score. And so it does the unthinkable of late for Marvel: it uses the plot as an excuse to tell a three-sided story with three solid characters thrust together an inextricably linked, thereby creating a movie that's character driven. The problems it addresses are personal in nature as much, or more!, than the need to stop Kree Hammer Lady.**

We catch up with the MCU as Kamala Kahn has settled a bit into her role as teen-hero, Ms. Marvel. She's still very much a kid living with her family (Marvel understands when they've struck character gold). Meanwhile Carol is in deep space, living with Goose and part of a network of folks helping keep peace across the galaxy, one supposes. And, working aboard SABRE's orbital base, Monica Rambeau (I think last seen in WandaVision) is putting her powers to some use and being a scientist/ astronaut type.

But it seems since we checked in during the 1990's, the Kree had a civil war that somehow: (a) messed up their sun? (b) evaporated their oceans and (c) ruined their atmosphere, creating a permanent state of planet-wide nightfall. Not-Ronan has taken up the mantle and is trying to restore Hala, the Kree homeworld in a very Kree way - by murdering people. She's obtained the second Quantum Band (Kamala having the first one we'd seen - there are two) and she's using it to open worm holes to...

Look, the plot is the villainous plot from Spaceballs, and our villain is MegaMaid. There's really no way around it. It's not what *I* would have done as a writer, but Spaceballs was also 40 years ago, so... we may have to let this one go. What's important is that MegaMaid is targeting planets in which Carol Danvers has an emotional investment and stealing their water, air and sun, and that's personal and mean. But why? Well, thereby hangs a tale.

But, like I say, it kind of doesn't matter. She could be unleashing cooties on those planets. She exists so our heroes get together and figure out their personal stuff. And that's what the movie is about.

Monica has to figure out what it means that Carol didn't come back for Monica when Maria fell ill, both the why's and the impact. Kamala has a parasocial relationship with Carol that Carol feels she has to live up to, even as it inspires Kamala and Carol doesn't feel at all like that hero. But Kamala's hero-worship is kind of the unspoken opposite of how Monica has reacted to learning she has powers of her own. And Kamala and Monica are complete strangers, navigating knowing each other while also seeing each other's relationship with Carol. It's complicated stuff! You could have made a similar indie movie about a movie star, her old friend and a fan, and gotten much of the same effect.

But this one is in space, action-packed (I mean VERY action packed) and manages to balance the sincere moments with the incredibly silly moments with the pathos of inadvertently causing the self-immolation of Space Nazis. And, in my opinion, it all worked.

I liked the singing planet (but they did need to hold to the concept through the battle), I liked the kitten Flerkens and the absolute chaos of the evacuation scene. I liked Kamala's family dealing with the nonsense of superhero/ SABRE life. I liked the kooky three-way fights and the "we gotta synch up" montage. The fight sequences are very well choreographed and work well despite what absolutely should have been a lot of confusion for the audience - ironically, only the audience is in a position to get what's happening. And I very much liked that our heroes *tried* to reason with the mad despot once it was clear they had the upper-hand and offer a way out of this.

In general, I was already in the bag for Brie Larson's take on Carol, and it's interesting to see a version 30 years older and with a lot of new, self-inflicted baggage. Iman Vellani's Kamala Kahn is an absolute delight and can't wait to see her again. And Teyonah Parris is very pretty great as my first Captain Marvel, and with decades of baggage to sort through with Carol, the blip, super-powers and how to be a superhero, which, frankly, she doesn't want to be.

Complaints:

So - did the singing planet die? I have no idea what happened there. It would be nice to know. It seemed like everyone was going to die, and no one seems to care.

They basically borrowed the ending of All Star Superman, but didn't do it as well or with much emotional resonance, which is a real bummer. Now DC can't use it, and this didn't land as well as it could have for Carol. Felt like it needed a few more beats.

We gotta find more interesting ways to dress aliens. Bright robes are very 1990's ST:TNG and it keeps happening at Marvel

Space is boring in this movie. Marvel space was defined by James Gunn, and it is beautiful. Show that candy colored majesty, not ST:TNG white stars (the new Trek knows this). There's definitely some more creative design they could have done, but maybe less is more if Quantumania was any indicator

Carol sure is good at astro-navigation and everything is apparently cosmically nextdoor in the MCU

I don't understand how the heroes became disentangled

Kamala uses her powers without her bangle, and I didn't know that was a thing

Spoilery Spoilers

It was fun seeing Valkyrie again, and good use of the character in her current role. Also, sure felt like she and Carol knew each other pretty intimately... Close to making that happen as Marvel will get, I guess

I don't know who Park Seo-joon is, but he was swoony. I guess he's a big star? Probably make the kids very happy

The first post credits scene was met with audible joy from the audience, so here's hoping that works.

The second post credits scene received an involuntary verbal response from me and a few others in the theater. I like where they're going with this. X-Men will not work in the MCU, but as close-universe neighbors, seems like a fine idea. Also, thank goodness that isn't the last we'll see of Lashana Lynch

I was led to believe Richard Ryder/ Nova would appear, he does not.

(late edit: this movie has the single greatest needle drop in Marvel history)

I don't think this one landed for me exactly as hard as the origins of either Ms. or Captain Marvel, but if the requirement was "I would like to spend time with these people, and see them together in a fun way" this managed that. It feels unnecessary only in that it only barely strives to move a universe of stories forward and is, instead, self-contained and about these three people and their family/ friends. It is very necessary as a "we should have solo stories that advance the characters but not carry the universe forward in obvious and awkward ways" sort of way.

Would I watch four more of these? Yes.

And thank god they got Nick Fury into a place where it's not a drag to have him around.

Look, I don't know what you people want out of Marvel, but I want something fun I can rewatch without feeling like I'm doing homework. I like a good adventure and fight scenes and jokes and characters to enjoy. I suppose I'll check out some reviews, and I think from my laundry list of nits to pick, it's clear I'm not giving this a 5/5, but when all you hear is "underperforming" and "mediocre reviews" in a world with ten movies about Vin Diesel driving cars fast and the general shit people get enthusiastic for, I won't even pretend to know what people consider a win.

*I swear to god, if I see one more person thinking they've got the edgy take on Marvel by saying "I don't consider Marvel movies to be *cinema*... Dude, we get it. You're very special and very smart and you can get your "I'm a very smart person on the internet" cookie on your way out the @#$%ing door

**no one is beholden to remember made-up alien names for longer than the name pass by in the credits

#marvel cinematic universe #marvel #marvels #captain marvel #ms. marvel #movies #movie review

7 notes · View notes

stereogeekspodcast · 11 months

Text

[Transcript] Season 3, Episode 2. The Marvels Review

The Stereo Geeks review The Marvels, and they really enjoyed it!

Listen to the episode on Spotify.

We are The Stereo Geeks Podcast, and we're back.

Well, hopefully for a longer time than last time.

It was a sort of impromptu goodbye last time, because life got in the way.

You know, we are doing this podcast for fun.

I'm Mon, I'm a pop culture writer.

I write for Women Write About Comics.

You can also find me on HuffPost and tor.com.

Hello, I'm Ron.

I'm a marketer by day, pop culture writer by night.

I am an editor and writer for Women Write About Comics.

We got to see The Marvels at a press screening, and I have to say, we enjoyed it.

We were looking forward to it, and we had a good time.

Exactly, exactly.

For all the people worrying about the Marvel phase five properties, well, this was a good one.

It hasn't really been a very good year for Marvel.

For Marvel, let's just say that.

Yeah.

But this last bit with Loki season two and with The Marvels, it's given me some hope.

So let's just get into it.

So The Marvels, it takes off from the end of Miss Marvel, the TV show that came out last year.

The main character is Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers.

We last saw her properly in action in Avengers Endgame.

She's been name dropped ever since as well, and we did see her in What If, but that's a different version.

We find out what she's been up to when we're back in this film.

We also have Kamala Khan, Miss Marvel, whose escapades were seen during her TV show.

Her story takes place in New Jersey.

And then rounding it up is Captain Monica Rambeau, who we saw as a little girl in the first Captain Marvel movie.

And then we saw her as an adult in WandaVision.

So she has lived a life, an interesting life, especially post blip.

She's been really coming to terms with what happened to her, what happened to her life and her family.

So we do get all those touch points as well.

If you haven't seen all of these movies and properties and TV shows, everything is explained in this movie.

It's like they kinda assumed that a lot of people wouldn't have watched these TV shows and films, which is really sad, but in a way at least you have the context so you don't have to go through, I don't know, 15 years of Marvel stuff and even more reading up and research.

So I really like that about this film.

So the story kind of has three different settings.

We've got Jersey City with Ms. Marvel in it.

We've got Intergalactic Space with Captain Marvel, and we've got the SABER space station where Nick Fury is basically running the show and Captain Monica Rambeau is the person who takes care of everything.

And then we meet our antagonist, Durban, who is basically the leader of the Kree now.

Lots of things have happened since Captain Marvel took their evil AI down.

Darben has a score to settle.

Darben is played by Zawe Ashton.

This is her debut in the MCU.

And while she's on her mission, she doesn't realize that Captain Marvel, Captain Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan all get sucked into her mission because of quantum entanglement.

I don't know what the actual term is.

I'm sure they mentioned it a few times, but quantum is the favorite word in the MCU.

So we're just going to use that anyway.

So suddenly these three find themselves in each other's lives.

Well, it's great for Ms.

Marvel, but for Monica and Carol, well, there's some history there.

So it's very interesting.

There's an emotional angle in there as well.

Not only do they have to deal with each other, they now have to deal with a new antagonist, the end of the world, the end of the galaxy, typical Marvel stuff.

Right, so what did we really like about this film?

It is really funny.

Exactly.

I did not expect to laugh that hard.

And like every scene, there is something really hilarious happening.

I love how whenever there is a comedic moment to take, this film just goes for it.

And they're like, you know what?

The actors have great chemistry.

They're really funny.

They're just riffing off each other.

Let's just let them do it.

I really quite enjoyed that.

I think Marvel has this habit of bringing in humor just to undercut really tense moments.

This film doesn't do that.

Yeah, I really like that because it just is funny.

For being funny's sake, it leans into that.

It leans into the weirder parts of it as well.

It's very sci-fi.

It's funny because like with Loki and The Marvels, I feel like they've really leaned into the sci-fi aspect of the storytelling and that's really worked for it.

We were just chatting one of the other day that almost all the properties this year for Marvel have really had very sci-fi heavy elements.

Marvel in general does have that aspect, but it's been more about action and adventure rather than sci-fi, but now it's really leaned into that, which is good.

But then with Ant-Man and The Wasp, Quantumania, as well as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3, I feel like they leaned into the wrong aspects of sci-fi.

I agree.

Quantumania was not good and Guardians of the Galaxy, I think tonally, it was so off for Marvel, it did not work.

I also think it didn't do the characters justice.

Obviously, there's a lot of concern going into the Marvels.

We have a new director and writing team, and I thought, oh no, maybe they won't understand these characters either.

Thankfully, they didn't do that.

And one of the things is that, yes, these characters can be funny, but they're not jokes.

And I really liked that they went with that.

What I really appreciated about this film, and I think you get a feeling of that from the very first scene, is that it leans into the vibe of what these characters have already been.

When Ms. Marvel is on screen, we get the essence of her show, which was very comic book-y and light and fun.

When Captain Marvel is on screen, then you have the very sci-fi elements.

And for Monica Rambeau, you get the more grounded, this is a person from Earth who is now in space kind of thing.

So it gets a lot of those aspects right, because it knows that the characters are the most important part of this film.

Yes, the story is interesting and it's fun.

And there are a couple of very fascinating sci-fi things that they do, which I was like, oh, okay, that was unexpected and also hilarious.

But the characters are why we came here.

We've seen these three women across the franchise.

Now we get to see them together.

It's the ultimate Marvel team up that fans have been waiting for, especially, let's just put it out there, female fans.

We haven't had very many female characters who get to lead the franchise, especially in Marvel, which has, what, 20 plus properties now.

It's taken a really long time.

The whole brouhaha around Captain Marvel's movie coming out was like they were doing something so out there.

I'm like, really?

A lady is leading a superhero film and that is a huge thing.

Exactly.

Now we have The Marvels, which has basically built on everything that Captain Marvel and WandaVision and Ms. Marvel has done before.

And Wakanda Forever.

Would have been fun if there was a Wakanda connection, but sadly, no.

But this film doesn't have all the burdens that comes with being the first woman led superhero movie in the Marvel franchise.

Just not like that.

It's just a movie with superheroes having fun.

Exactly.

I really like that it's not trying to break the mold because in a way, having so many female characters at the center is breaking the mold, which is ridiculous to say, but unfortunately we still live in that world.

It's just trying to have fun.

And I think I really like that.

This is escapist cinema.

And I think oftentimes superhero cinema forgets that.

So I like that about this film.

It doesn't have to be perfect.

And I think that it's really quite close to being perfect as a very simple Marvel story.

I don't know what people will be expecting from it.

I think it's just have fun.

That's it.

That is a good goal to have for a film.

Even the emotional beats, they work within the setting of the film itself and they don't like drag them on.

It has to be there because otherwise, why would we be invested in these characters?

It also doesn't tank the vibes.

Exactly.

When it's funny, it's funny. When it's emotional, it's emotional.

Got that balance right, which made it a lot more fun to watch.

And I think the other thing that I have mentioned in my review for WWAC is the editing was really crisp.

The pandemic has impacted the way people edit films.

There have been so many movies I've seen over the last couple of years that just feel like the scene dragged on too long or the cut was just too abrupt.

And I was just like, oh, we had this moment and you moved away.

I don't feel like the Marvels made those mistakes at all.

Yeah, I mean, there were probably three points which I think could have been re-edited a little bit tighter or a little bit more emphasis on the right places.

But again, those are tiny nitpicks for a film that is really tight, really crisp, really a brisk 105 minutes.

I feel like it's exactly the amount of time you need for the story, especially in a time when every movie has to be two hours long.

I honestly feel they could have added a few more minutes.

There is a significant incident in the past, which I really feel like they needed to flesh out a little bit more.

It doesn't mean that you don't actually understand what's happening in the film.

It just gets it across really quick.

I feel like this movie knows what's come before and that there's an audience who knows this universe quite well and understands the formula.

So when they do give us something that we may know what the outcome will be, maybe slightly predictable, they're like, there's no point belaboring that point.

We know what's gonna happen, but we want you to live with the characters in this moment.

Let's just let it play out.

And if it takes a long time, fine.

If it takes a shorter time, fine.

I honestly could have done with certain scenes being dragged out a little bit more.

The three actors have so much chemistry, like they could have ripped off each other for maybe five, 10 minutes more.

But the director, Nia DeCosta, was very clear about wanting this film to be under two hours. And that's what she made.

So fine.

Even if I wanted the moments to drag on, she did it.

That's the way we've got it.

That's fine with me.

Yeah, I'll also mention that we have read that Nia DeCosta may not have got her final vision in the end product.

I don't know what her vision would have been.

That being said, despite studio interference, this is a good film.

It does what it says on the tin, which is that it brings these amazing superhero characters to the fore.

It gives us a lot of story, gives us a lot of plot, action scenes.

The effects are much better than in quantumania, if you're worrying about that.

That's a low bar.

I thought the space scenes were really captivating.

I love space anyway, and on a big screen, it's gorgeous to look at, but there were a couple of shots where I was like, hmm, that looks very different from what we've seen before.

And that's saying something, considering the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy and Infinity War and Endgame have a lot of scenes in space.

I feel like the Marvels really enjoyed the setting of space and putting these characters in space.

Of course, Captain Marvel is used to it.

Monica is an astronaut, but Ms.

Marvel's journeys in space are particularly fun to watch in this film.

Yeah, and let's not forget the supporting characters.

There's Nick Fury.

He's carrying the franchise at this moment.

Exactly, exactly.

That being said, I think he would be one of the aberrations with the characters.

Not to say Samuel L.

Jackson isn't brilliant.

He's so good.

I think this is one of his most fun, exciting performances in the MCU, simply because he seems to be enjoying himself.

He seems to be enjoying riffing off these different actors.

But where does this version of Nick Fury fit within the story of Nick Fury?

I have no idea.

We've just seen Secret Invasion.

The man we see in The Marvels is nothing like the man we see in Secret Invasion.

When did the story happen?

I have no idea.

It just doesn't make sense.

That was a very confusing part of the film for me.

So I felt when I was watching The Marvels that the Nick Fury we see in this film is supposed to be for audiences who haven't watched Secret Invasion.

I don't know if Marvel realized that Secret Invasion wasn't going to do as well as they hoped because people did not take to it at all.

There were a lot of things I really enjoyed about Secret Invasion.

I mean, Samuel L.

Jackson's acting is great, but Nick Fury, the character was all over the place.

There were so many dropped story beats.

There were things that were happening that just didn't make any sense.

It didn't flow from anything.

And what we kept hearing was, this is gonna lead directly into the Marvels, so you need to watch Secret Invasion.

But there is no connection at all.

This Nick Fury is super chill.

He has not gone through the events of Secret Invasion.

That's what I'm thinking.

Yeah, that's exactly how you feel.

And it's come to a point where maybe they've realized you don't have to watch and consume all of Marvel to enjoy any of the Marvels.

That being said, what's the point of having an expansive universe if they don't sort of tie into each other?

Well, that's the thing, because the Marvels does have a few cameos that directly link to other franchises within the MCU.

And that's great.

But at the same time, it does feel like it's aimed at audiences that don't want to watch the previous Marvel movies.

And I'm very confused about that particular aspect of it, because with Loki, with Ant-Man, with the Guardians of the Galaxy, there's a heavy emphasis on, you have to have seen everything that came before.

Is there a reason why the Marvels is not getting the same treatment?

It's an interesting point, and I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

In one way, that means a lot of people can go into the Marvels gold.

That means new audiences, audiences who've been kind of afraid of the vastness of the MCU, they can actually be introduced to these characters, enjoy these characters, which is especially important for a film that has, you know, a white female lead, a black female lead, a South Asian female lead.

You're getting those audiences, those communities in there.

That's great.

But very interestingly, The Marvels, which has these female leads, is the one film where Marvel goes in thinking, yeah, nobody's ever watched any of this other stuff before, so we might as well put in the context or just keep it completely separate, standalone from all the other properties.

I don't know the thinking behind that.

Is it good?

Is it bad?

We can only tell if this movie is a success, box office success, and also has a legacy.

That's the important part.

But we're already seeing people complain about some aspects of it, which again, you can enjoy this film, you can nitpick, you can have critiques about the story, the directing, the editing, et cetera.

So far, I haven't seen that much of the misogyny that came across with Captain Marvel, which is good.

Maybe they've learnt their lesson, but I do feel like there is still a kind of thinking for a lot of folks where it's like, if it's not perfect, it's bad, we should never do it again.

I agree.

I'm hoping that things get better.

Mostly I've seen very positive reviews.

I feel like Marvel and Disney are relying heavily on word of mouth from press screenings and things because there hasn't been as much marketing for The Marvels.

It's been the usual, oh, we've got trailer, we've got a new trailer, we've got a new trailer.

Okay, what about other stuff?

It doesn't help that the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes had to be on all this while.

They fortunately have finally been resolved, yay.

That's happened just as we were recording, but here's hoping it stays that way and the strikes are resolved.

Right, the Saga After deal is tentative still, so I'm hoping that everything will be finalized soon.

But yes, maybe it would have made a huge difference if the actors were there to promote the film, but I don't see why that should be a problem.

I don't think so either.

I'm really excited that this film came out.

I'm really excited that it came out good and fun and enjoyable.

I do think it's a family film that everyone can enjoy.

Yes, you can enjoy it if you've never seen a Marvel film before, which is great, which is really important.

One of the most fun parts of this film, and I think which will appeal to a wider audience, an audience that has been left out a lot in superhero and genre fare, are the Khan family.

So Kamala Khan, she has her mom, her dad and her brother.

And surprisingly, they have a much larger role in this film than I expected.

I really thought they'd be like in one scene in the beginning and we'd never see them again.

But no, they are recurring throughout the story.

I really appreciated this film, just wanting the Khan family to experience all this absolute insanity.

And you know what?

At the end of the day, yes, Kamala has powers and Ms. Marvel is Jersey City's new hero, but her family are just like regular people who are just trying to live their lives.

And I like the comedy that comes from being the family of a superhero who is very young, very impressionable and a huge fan of somebody that she's actually meeting.

And the film just riffs on that.

It just has so much fun with their scenes.

And I was just very delighted to see them appear again and again in the movie.

And there was some really fun, relatable South Asian moments that happened in this film and I was just like, yes, this is exactly how South Asian family would act.

It was very, very amusing.

There was a South Asian person at the screening with us and she was really feeling it.

There were a few moments that, honestly, that's like pointing at the screen, hooting with laughter, slapping your knee kind of funny, because we've seen it happen before.

It's relatable.

It resonates.

It's good.

But also it doesn't demonize the family, even when they're being like overbearing and overconcerned.

It's okay.

That's understandable.

Kamala's a teen, you know?

Obviously her family is gonna worry about her.

It doesn't demonize them.

It doesn't make them a joke.

They're not just comic relief.

The thing is everybody is comic relief in this film.

So that's the good thing.

Everyone's funny.

Everybody has these moments.

So I really appreciated that, that they're a normal family.

They just do things which, when you're not Kamala Khan having to deal with it, is very funny.

Exactly, and what I really liked about the Khan family's involvement in the Marvels was that it harkens back to the comics.

After a while, Kamala's family does get involved in her adventures and not always because they want to, but some of their adventures, even the ones out in space, they do get involved in those and they're always very supportive and they understand why she has to do what she has to do.

That doesn't change the fact that they're very worried about their daughter or sister and this one really enjoyed that aspect of it.

There was a comic book that I had read, which was not written by a South Asian person and in that comic, not gonna name who it was.

This doesn't sound good.

It wasn't because I was reading it and this person had just completely misunderstood the relationship that Kamala has with her parents.

And yes, there's teenage angst and everything. Everybody goes through that, that's fine.

But there was such a very obviously racist element to, oh, her Muslim parents are being like this because they are Muslim.

And this film does not do that.

It doesn't do that.

It's just like, this is a family who loves their child and they're worried about her, but they also know why she has to go fight the universe.

So yeah, I mean, it's a small thing, but it's actually kind of big considering what's happening in the world right now.

And we need that kind of positivity.

If it's not obvious yet, we highly recommend this film.

You have to go watch it, enjoy it.

I'm not gonna say, go watch it on the biggest screen.

Honestly, it's up to you, but I would highly recommend watching it.

We want more films like this.

We want more films with inclusive, diverse representative cast.

We want the Marvel Cinematic Universe to be fun and good quality.

Exactly, like it used to be.

Phase five has been not great.

And there is hope now.

I'm really excited for what The Marvels is saying about what's gonna happen in the future of the MCU, what's gonna happen with these characters.

And you know what?

If you just want an hour and 45 minutes of laughter and joy, this is it.

This is your movie for the fall.

Go ahead and see it.

Thanks, and that's all from us for this episode.

And hopefully you will hear from us again very soon, unless life gets in the way.

Don't quote me on it.

The Stereo Geeks logo was created using Canva.

The music for our podcast comes courtesy Audio-Nautix.

#the marvels #stereo geeks #podcast #marvel #monica rambeau #carol danvers #ms marvel #captain marvel #kamala khan #nia dacosta #disney

2 notes · View notes