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thevindicativevordan · 3 years

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On Kong Kenan/Super-Man

It should've been him. He should've been the Superman of 5G/Future State/right now not Jon, and he should be the one getting an HBO Max series not Val. Hell he should be getting a movie!

God this dude is literally the best legacy character Superman has ever gotten, wholly his own person with his own lore and status quo while still building on the idea of "Superman". I am so pissed at DC for essentially just dropping him after his ongoing ended, what the hell Lee? You keep trying to make the Wildstorm characters happen, I need you to get my man Yang another Kenan book.

Have to admit I was a bit nervous at first about whether or not Kenan would be a worthwhile character. Yang's New 52 Superman run had been a disappointment to me overall, with only the the arc where Superman has underground wrestling matches against forgotten gods really sticking with me. Now he was introducing a brand new Superman? Didn't feel like he had "earned" that yet. But from the first issue I was hooked on this new character.

Kenan was unlike any other member of the Superfamily. He wasn't kind or sweet, he was an asshole! He was a bully! He was fantastic! Right from the start Kenan was set up to undergo a very different kind of character journey than the other members of the Superfamily. Empathy, humility, respect for people weaker than himself, these are all traits most heroes wearing the S-shield already posses by the time they first don the crest, but not Kenan.

Like all bullies he was even a bit of a coward himself at first, trying to bail on the experiment meant to give him Superman's powers right as it begins. After "saving" Lixin (the kid he bullies and steals lunch from every day) from Blue Condor he demands all the money Lixin has on him as payment. He's not courageous or selfless either at the start, Kenan is as much of an opposite of Superman as you can get short of being Bizarro. Learning the appeal of these traits formed the basis for his growth over the course of his series.

Seeing Yang bring in a lot of recognizable "Superman" elements in the series, but with a twist, was also great. Kenan is the one who bullies "Luo Lixin" rather than the traditional Clark/Lex friendship of Pre-Crisis and Birthright. Initially Kenan develops a crush on intrepid reporter for Primetime Shanghai, Laney Lan, but she dismisses him as too young and Kenan eventually ends up pursuing Avery Ho (Flash) instead. Baxi the Bat-Man of China has a similar relationship with Kenan as the traditional Superman/Batman in terms of being vitriolic best buds, however Baxi is the one who has the most respect for authority while Kenan is the rebel. Kenan is a part of the "Justice League of China" which does not meet with the approval of the already established Chinese superheroes, the Great Ten. That contrasts nicely with the good relationship the Justice Society and Justice League have, as well as seeing Yang lampshade the "Chinese copy" trope and incorporate that into his storytelling.

One of the funniest differences is how Kenan chooses to immediately reveal his identity as Super-Man to the world by taking off the compliance visor he was forced to wear, contrasting with Clark's choice to hide his identity. He was so eager to impress people that he never gave any thought to the danger he could put himself or his family in by revealing his identity until it was too late, something Clark is well aware of and has taken great pains to keep his identity secret. Was a missed opportunity for DC to have Kenan comment on Clark copying him for once when he outed himself under Bendis.

But one of the most poignant differences between Clark and Kenan is the gulf in separation between their relationship with their parents. Clark has a loving relationship with Ma and Pa Kent, trying to live up to their lessons as best he can. In contrast Kenan's mom was believed to have died in an airplane crash when he was just a child, and he never really knew her. His father was distant from him after that and the two weren't really close despite Kenan's attempts to impress him. So Kenan lacks that strong connection while still clearly loving both of them.

Pa Kent's death is one of the most tragic examples of Clark's love for his parents, and I've always been a fan of takes where Clark promises his father to fight for the powerless on Pa's deathbed. Kenan gets a similar scene at the start of his career, his dad "dies" (after being exposed as Flying General Dragon, a pro-democracy "supervillain" from the Chinese authorities perspective) and wants Kenan to promise he'll fight for Truth, Justice, and Democracy. But because Kenan's dad never really bonded with him, Kenan doesn't know what those mean, and can only promise that he never wants to see people die, something his father takes comfort in at least. In classic comic book fashion it's revealed that Dr. Omen, Kenan's "boss" and the one who gave him his powers, saved Kenan's father, because she is Kenan's mother! Kenan's relationship with his parents forms a lot of the crux of his character arc, and seeing how Yang utilizes the classic Superman concept of family kept the storytelling exciting.

Yang's brilliant exploration of the concept of "Superman" through the prism of Chinese culture was a great way to differentiate Kenan as well.

I absolutely freaking love how he tied to the concept of Qi to the S-shield in particular. Connecting the shape of the shield with the way Kenan has acquired his powers along the path of the Bagua (eight trigrams used in Taoism that represent the fundamental principles of reality), with his octagon S-shield outline representing all eight principles together, was mindblowing! So was the idea of restricting Kenan's access to his powers unless he was actually acting in a Superman manner, that tied his character growth to his power growth in an entertaining manner. There were so many characters and concepts that meshed Chinese and DC lore together, like how Emperor Super-Man was Kenan's "Doomsday", they even recreated that iconic dual kill shot! The Chinese Wonder Woman Peng Deilan, being based on the Chinese Legend of the White Snake! There was even some Korean mythology referenced with the Aqua-Man member of the JLC "Dragonson".

Yang also managed to do a Superman Blue/Superman Red story with Super-Man Yin/Super-Man Yang!

Shameful that it took me a while to realize what Gene Yang was doing but once I caught on I was touched. You can tell how much Yang loved Superman and his mythology, and how he was excited to incorporate as much from Clark as he could, while still using it in a way that was solidly Kenan's. And not just Superman's mythology, but the history and lore of the entire DC Universe. I-Ching got to be brought in, fleshed out, and used as Kenan's mentor! The "Yellow Peril" villain from Detective Comics #1, the comic DC gets its name from was brought in and revamped as I-Ching's twin brother All-Yang! Hats off to Yang for taking a racist caricature and attempting to make him into something more.

This series was a beautiful attempt by Gene Yang to build a space for Asian heroes and villains where they could be more than stereotypes, Kenan himself being a defiant mold-breaker in every regard as the complete opposite of most Asian characters in Western media (a jock, a bully, loves his dad but not on great terms with him, a powerhouse as a hero, etc). So much thought and hard work was poured into this by Yang and his team of artist collaborators.

Especially the costumes, man Kenan had so many great looks. From his starting outfit (which is my favorite Superman variant not worn by Clark himself), to the one with the Yin/Yang shield he acquired later on, to his Super-Man Yin & Super-Man Yang outfits, Kenan looked damn cool. Part of me is bummed they didn't go with the Chinese character shield they toyed around with, but I loved how Yang used the "s-shield" as a plot point, so I'm not too broken up over it.

All that great work Yang did to build that space up has been more or less forgotten sadly. It was nice to see Kenan in the DC Asian Month Celebration issue. Avery is going to be in Justice Incarnate at least (unsurprising considering she was created by Williamson). So fucking bummed that Superman Family Adventures cartoon didn't happen, they were going to have Kenan and John Henry Irons in it! Would've been a dream come true for me to see Irons in animation again, and Kenan making the jump to outside media! Maybe that would've encouraged DC to let Yang keep writing New Super-Man, or at least encouraged them to use him elsewhere instead of allowing him fall into Limbo.

Unfortunately I'm not sure what the future holds for Kenan. Jon is being pushed as Clark's replacement in the comics, with DC keeping all the other contenders such as Kon benched. Calvin is leading the Justice Incarnate team likely due to the upcoming Coates reboot that will make Clark black. Val will probably get something once Taylor leaves Jon's book or once they officially announce the HBO Max show is happening. So where does that leave Kenan, my new favorite PoC legacy hero? Currently my only hope is that Yang is working on something for DC involving him. Yang left Batman/Superman, where I was hoping to see a Baxi/Kenan team up, to go work on "exciting other opportunities" per his Twitter. So fingers crossed that there's something in the works for Kenan!

One day I hope he gets his day in the sun again.

#kenan kong #new super man #gene yang #justice league of china #superman #dc comics

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teentitanimals · 4 years

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AU Where All the Batkids are in School but are Still Superheroes

I see a lot of No Powers Highschool AUs out there, but superheroing is half the fun to me. And yeah, technically, I’m pretty sure most of the Batfam have been to school, but I mean, at the same time? You’d have to squish their ages down, but I think it’d be wild! And also, it’s all the Batkids (and some Superkids because why not, they go to the same school in this AU, okay?), including Helena, Terry, Matt, etc. And yes, they all keep their backstories (as in, Terry and Matt are still McGinnis’s too, and all that.) Also, I suck at knowing the education level system and ages, so, just a warning there.

Not in School (duh): Bruce, Alfred, Selina, Jim, Lucius, Clark, Lois, other adults

In (Fourth Year) College: Kate (23-24)

In (Second Year) College: Dick, Barbara (19-20)

In (First Year) College: Tam (18-19)

In Senior Year: Jason, Luke, Kara (17-18)

In Junior Year: Cass, Harper, Terry (16-17)

In Sophomore Year: Tim, Steph, Carrie, Duke, Conner (15-16)

In Freshman Year: Damian, Helena, Colin (14-15)

In 8th Grade: Matt, Jon, Cullen (13-14)

In 4th Grade: Timothy Fox (9-10)

In Kindergarten: Tiffany (5-6)

Who Stays Where?

For reference, I’d say they all go to a school somewhere between Gotham and Metropolis, rather than Gotham Academy or Metropolis High. Let’s call it... Mediocre High. A mediocre school for completely normal, mediocre kids.

Stays in Metropolis w/ Clark and Lois, but are at Wayne Manor 90% of the time anyway: Kara, Conner, Jon

Has their own apartments/safehouses but are at Wayne Manor 90% of the time time anyway: Kate, Dick, Jason, Tim, Steph, Harper

Stays at Wayne Manor: Terry, Cass, Carrie, Duke, Damian, Helena, Colin, Matt, Cullen (unless Cullen stays with his sister... or if any of them run away, because they do that often too)

Stays with their parents, or at their own apartments, and are at Wayne Manor a little less than 90% of the time anyway: Barbara, Tam, Luke, Timothy, Tiffany

What’s the Sitch with Relationships?

Biologically Bruce’s, and known to the public as biologically Bruce’s: Damian, Helena

Biologically Bruce’s, but not known to the public as biologically Bruce’s: Terry, Matt (these two often visit their mother!)

Legally adopted by Bruce: Dick, Jason, Tim, Cass, Duke

Not legally adopted by Bruce but, come on, they’re his kids anyway: Harper, Cullen, Carrie, Colin

Family Friends that are like siblings/cousins (or siblings-in-law ;3): Kara, Conner, Jon, Barbara, Steph, Tam, Luke, Timothy, Tiffany

Wine Aunt/Older Sister: Kate

Shenanigans

It was a hilarious bit started by Steph and encouraged by Dick, Jason, and Carrie that they should all stuff themselves into the smallest limo or helicopter possible and crawl out like clowns. It was funny, to be fair, but the bloodshed spilled because of it banned them from doing it again. The kids got split into two separate cars after that, but eventually went back to one big limo, except for those who’d prefer to keep their sanity and drive there on their own (assuming they have a licence).

This batch of kids, excluding Kara, Conner and Jon, are often referred to as the “Wayne kids”, or the “Gotham kids”. Sometimes Kara, Conner and Jon get called Gotham Kids as well, despite being from Metropolis and proud. They’re vocality from protesting against being called Gotham Kids earned them the nickname “Not-Gotham Kids”.

Damian, Helena, Colin, Matt, Jon and Cullen are one of Those groups. Often together, closely knit, all characters on their own, but together, they lose all braincells. Teachers love all of them individually (with the exception of Damian), but are absolutely terrified of them as a group.

The second group most like that would be the girls- Tam, Kara, Steph, Cass, Harper, Carrie and sometimes Barbara, Kate and Helena. Alone, they’re pretty good kids, but together their chaotic-ness knows no bounds.

Who are we kidding? All of these kids are like that. Put any two together, and you’re either going to see someone get stabbed, a glitter bomb explode, an impromptu dance session, or debate the pronunciation of “bologna” for an hour.

Due to Damian often claiming he’s the rightful heir as the blood son, Helena, Matt and Terry will often pipe up to remind him that he isn’t the only blood son (or daughter, in Helena’s case). This often causes problems, not because Damian attacks them (verbally or physically), but because Terry and Matt aren’t, in the public’s eye, biologically Bruce’s, so the kids often have to scramble to make up some excuse to outsiders, often settling with it being an inside joke.

In this AU, Terry and Matt go by “Futurebat and Futurebird” because Why Not? As for Conner and Jon both being Superboy... how about, we just keep it that way? Because, really, Why Not? The public dubs them both the “Superboys”, and there’s no need to change it for now. Sometimes Conner gets called the Superclone, but mostly they just differentiate by some variation of “Superboy One/Uno and Superboy Two/Dos”. Sometimes “Superteen and SuperPre-Teen” when Jon was a bit younger. Also, think of all the shenanigans that can arise from that. Amazing.

Damian, at first, had as much hate towards Helena (and eventually Terry and Matt when they learned of them as well) as he did towards Tim. But, Helena always found his anger a bit funny (so long as it wasn’t life-threatening, which it often was). She never wanted to “be the heir” to Batman or Catwoman. She just happened to be their kid, and she wanted her own hero persona anyway, aka The Huntress.

To explain the situation with Helena, Terry and Matt, I’d say Helena (who’s a few months younger than Damian) was raised by Bruce and Selina, but the two’s relationship was on-and-off, and there were long periods where Selina would solo-parent Helena and Bruce (or Alfred and/or Dick, really) would solo-parent Helena. Eventually, the two got their shit together and are currently in a loving relationship, but not married yet. Terry and Matt were, of course, kept hidden from Bruce, being raised by Warren and Mary in a loving family. Eventually, after the death of Warren, and Terry trying to strike out as a solo hero, and the discovery that his DNA matched Bruce’s rather than Warren’s, their story was revealed that Terry was planned to be “future Batman” by Amanda Waller (needless to say Damian did Not Like That). Terry confronted Bruce and told him about it, and eventually Matt would learn the truth as well.

The only people Damian actively calls by their first names are Jon, Colin and Helena. Helena is only because Damian didn’t want to admit she was a Wayne at first (even though her legal last name in this AU is Kyle-Wayne).

They have a lot of animals, some are permanent, some come and go, some are just strays they feed, but nothing will compare to the amount of cats they have. The majority are strays that stay outside of the manor, yes, but they have too many. Sometimes they’ll be walking down a street opposite side of Gotham, and see one of their cats. This isn’t even because Selina now lives with them, and she brought her cats with her. No, it’s because Dick, Barbara, Jason and Steph, among others, loved the idea of Catwoman being a crazy cat lady, so they kept getting her more cats, which, in turn, gave everyone a new cat. And Damian was not helping in the least bit. Selina at least tried to stop them from bringing more cats home, but Damian would smuggle them back in anyway. Bruce honestly wishes someone had a cat allergy so they would have an excuse not to have that many cats.

Helena is a dog person. She likes cats, but... Dogs.

The Batkids all fight over the right of getting to babysit Tiffany.

Cass is often called the Good Kid by teachers and staff. That is not true, the true Good Kid is Duke. This is because he’s the only one that can maintain his braincells even in a group... 90% of the time, anyway.

Half of these kids will vanish during school hours to go stop some crime even though Bruce has repeatedly told them not to do that. The other kids who are not superhero vigilantes or manage to respect said rule (which is not often) scramble to make excuses for them. No excuse has ever been something normal, but it works because “When have Wayne kids ever been normal?”

School events like dances and football games are awful. Some of the kids are aware going will be awful, and desperately try to get out of it, but someway, somehow, they always wind up there. It would have been chaotic enough just having the Gotham Kids go, but when they bring their friends too (Teen Titans, Young Justice, Outlaws, whomever), there’s no hope. Their classmates at school both fear and look forward to these events, depending on how they go down. On one hand, it’s the Waynes! You’re basically watching “Keeping up with the Waynes” in real life! On the other hand, oh god, don’t get caught in the crossfire, whatever you do, run for dear life if you must.

Amazingly, Dick is the only one who got permanently banned from these events. And he didn’t even do anything. Well... anything as bad as his siblings, anyway.

They have all gotten suspended at least once, whether they are a Good Kid or not. Jason is actually one of the Good Kids so long as his siblings aren’t around to annoy him, but he got caught with a gun once, and barely escaped getting expelled... well, actually, he didn’t barely escape it, he was a Good Kid after all. But it was still on the table. That was, miraculously, the only time he got suspended.

Damian, surprisingly, does not have the highest suspension rate, but he does have the highest “called into the office” rate. You can guess all the reasons- sneaking pets into school, sneaking wild animals into school, having knifes and/or other weapons on him, belittling other students (he’s not intentionally trying to bully them, but, he can’t help but point out what they’re doing wrong), arguing and insulting teachers, ditching class (for vigilantism of course), etc.

The highest suspension rate goes to Dick, before he went to college. Mostly it was just due to how often he would skip classes and not turn in homework, but occasionally he would get into fights (to defend another kid, usually). The schools hadn’t yet gotten tolerable to the chaos that is the Waynes yet.

I suppose I should list the Good Kids. They are as follows: Cass, Duke, Jason, Luke, Helena, Cullen, Jon and Tiffany (she is Small and Innocent).

The Bad Kids: DAMIAN, Conner, Steph (she likes causing trouble for fun), Carrie (same as Steph, but more class clown-y) and Terry (mostly when he was younger).

The Bad Kids Sometimes: Harper, Timothy Fox, Kara

The Neutral Kids: Tam, Tim (depends on whether he’s crashed from lack of sleep or caffeine overdose), Dick, Matt, Barbara

The “Troubled” Kids (don’t label them that schools, rude): Colin, Cullen too technically but he’s more “Good”, Kate, literally all of them depending on the time of day (or night, specifically)

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our-happygirl500-fan · 5 years

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I think about the Young Justice comic that DC had plans for a lot because even just looking at the team and the cover I can already tell what the dynamics and maybe a few storylines would have been and it would have been so good!

There would have been three 'squads' within the team: First there would be Kara and Steph (Steph and Kara had become quite close before the reboot Kara helping out Steph multiple times in her Batgirl run and they even hung out in their civilian identities Steph showing Kara around her college campus, taking her to the movies and the two of them having pillow fights telling each other that they were each others BFF Kara for a brief time was Steph's super the same way that Clark is Bruce's or Kon is Tim's or Jon is Damian's).

Kara was stated that she would be the team leader most likely because she is the most respected of the heroes there having the 'S' and the immediate respect being a Super inspires. However in Kara and Steph's team ups Steph was often shown more tactical minded than Kara often coming up with the plans or what they needed to defeat whoever they were fighting while Kara had the abilities to actually do what Steph asked.

Typical Bat Super dynamic really.

So with Kara as the leader of the team Steph most likely would have been the teams strategist often giving advice and helping direct the team.

However I believe the major arc for Steph would have been actually ending up as team leader herself, (similar to how in the YJ cartoon Aqualad was leader before Robin took over), Steph is just as skilled as any Bat having trained with Babs, Bruce, Black Canary, Cass, Catwoman ect but the main obstacle for most of her hero career is that no one gave her respect, Steph has been a hero since she was 14 but she was a teen hero without a mentor or powers which was the reason for other heroes brushing her off. As Batgirl she was only just starting to get recognition for her skills and on this team I think Steph would have really established herself in the hero world especially since she rarely worked outside of Gotham.

Then there would be Miss Martian, Static, and Blue Beetle.

Miss Martian and Blue Beetle were both on the Teen Titans together so they have a pre existing dynamic and friendship (before MM left the Teen Titans after the fallout of the Titans of Tomorrow arc)

Static rarely left his own city yet teamed up with the Teen Titans a few times during which Miss Martian and him showed romantic interest with each other so if this comic had been made they would have probably ended up in a relationship together.

Blue Beetle and Static as the only 'guys' on the team the same age would have probably ended up in a close friendship.

Then there would be Damian and Irey as the two 'kids' of the team who would probably be forced together quite a bit.

I have a feeling that Kara got Steph to join her team and when Dick heard that Steph was joining a team he made her take Damian along to teach him teamwork something he tried before by having Damian work with the Teen Titans but that generation of Teen Titans had a lot of a 'club' mentality and wouldn't accept any Robin who wasn't Tim Drake.

Irey might have ended up on the team similarly with Dick convincing Wally because he wants Damian to have friends closer to his age.

Irey and Damian's dynamic would have been mostly bickering (I am convinced that Damian would pull Irey’s pigtails at least once) but it would be really interesting to see them eventually move past that and become close friends. Especially considering Dick and Wally’s own friendship.

Especially when you consider that Damian didn't have much of a childhood due to the way he was raised and though Irey and Jai had parents who tried to give them as much of a childhood as possible they aged through most of their life until Irey stabilised the speedforce by breaking Jai's connection to it but Irey didn't 'grow up' in a normal sense that differentiates her from other kids which would have been really interesting to explore with Damian's own loss of childhood.

You could have also explored a bit on how Irey took the speed powers for herself leaving her brother powerless and while she did it to save his life maybe we could explore Jai missing his speed or Irey feeling guilty about it sometimes or maybe even Irey feeling jealous of Jai wishing she had the chance to be normal instead.

Lots of fun things to explore here.

There's also the fact that Steph would be closer with Damian and Irey than the rest of the team because 1. she's protective of Damian (and kids in general) and is trying to show Damian what a normal childhood is but 2. As mentioned before she's only started getting respect as a hero so while most heroes from her generation have been respected for years Steph has been fighting for just a chance to stand on that stage and only just got on around the same time Damian and Irey's generation have so she's sort of making a name for herself the same time they are making her more likely to respect them and treat them nicely than the rest of the team.

Steph as a super hero baby sitter is my biggest headcanon due to this as she's the one that respects the kids most. Steph and Static would also be the sort of level headed ones on the team since they rarely acted outside their own cities so they'd notice how bonkers things can get more than Kara or Jaime or Meg'an do.

Steph has also teamed up with Miss Martian before along with several other female heroes thanks to Kara's help and she also helped train Tracy 13 (Jaime's girlfriend) in hand to hand when Tim and Jaime brought them both to Titans Tower.

There's a lot of good story arcs and personal dynamics just waiting to happen by looking at this team and it's a huge shame that we never got to see them in action.

In conclusion:

#DC comics #stephanie brown #damian wayne #irey west #jaime reyes #virgil hawkins #megan morse #kara kent #kara zor el #kara danvers #dc #young justice #we could have had it all

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that-shamrock-vibe · 5 years

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TV Review: Crisis on Infinite Earths (Spoilers)

Part Two: Batwoman

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the day after the episode airs in the U.S. so if you haven’t yet seen the episode or are waiting to watch the crossover all in on, don’t read on until you have.

Overview:

I was right, and I’m so annoyed they couldn’t keep the high momentum of the first episode here. Where Part One felt like an epic and grand high-stakes crossover opener, Part Two feels more like the typical and somewhat formulaic Arrowverse episode. The problem with that is, it’s supposed to be both! I don’t quite get how the episode that had the most elements I was looking forward to fizzled this much.

But now with the true enemy finally revealing himself, and the promise of more Paragons to find, can Crisis save itself while it destroys the Multiverse?

Avenging the Fallen:

So the episode opens with the three main women of the Arrowverse, Kara, Sara and Kate, drinking in memory of Oliver. I have to say, I know this is a Batwoman episode and these three women in particular do often preach girl power and all that, but the fact Ray isn’t there at least does just make it seem like they wanted this girl power moment, and as Kate said, the Multiverse is still in danger.

As I mentioned when talking about Batwoman in my Elseworlds review, there were problems that fortunately have been fixed by Batwoman the TV series mostly, I still don’t like the fact she’s not a red head, I still don’t like how similar Ruby Rose and Erin Richards look because it’s distracting to me. Even a choppy bob style as Kate has in the comics would differentiate the two more for me.

That being said, Ruby Rose sold the dry cynical humour here as she does in her own series. I loved how she left the drink here but later wished she hadn’t, in that same scene when the Monitor reveals Batman’s secret identity how she demands discretion from the team was funny, Kara finding Earth-99 Luke Fox attractive and Kate finding it weird I thought was hilarious and Ruby Rose sold that very well for me.

Also, for all Kara’s mourning about her lost planet, there was no confirmation on where Alex, Brainy, J’onn, Nia, Kelly or Lena were after the climax of Part One. I know Brainy and I think J’onn are in future parts of this crossover but it would have been good for a side comment saying where they are.

Speaking of mourning, my god Mia goes hard here. It’s funny because in last week’s episode of Arrow, Oliver was all for Diggle finding a way to get Mia and William back to 2040, yet Mia is still around and making understandably emotion-driven but drastic decisions and both Barry and Sara, who are supposed to be older, wiser and more level-headed particularly in this area, are going along with it.

Barry especially, I believe, feels that if he can help Oliver cheat his fate then maybe he can as well considering that Iris has now got the idea that with The Monitor being wrong about how Oliver died maybe Barry won’t die either, that’s just stupid to give someone who has already accepted his fate and has been known to make the stupidest decisions going (Flashpoint) when he feels he can change it.

Mia decides to use a Lazarus Pit to resurrect Oliver and, like I said, both Barry and Sara agree. Sara does need some convincing I grant you and Caity Lotz does sell that she is never fully on-board with the idea, and why would she be because she knows first hand what the pits do.

I did appreciate the Nyssa mention, I just wish she had been their guide to the pit on Earth-18, instead we get a mini-fight between Mia, Sara and an unaltered Jonah Hex.

I did kind of guess Hex would appear as soon as the location was revealed as North Dakota, and to be fair I didn’t really see where Jonah Hex would fit into this crossover, so I am glad they found a space for him.

I also like that Constantine has something to do finally, because I am tired of just seeing Sara and Ray, as much as I love Sara and tolerate Ray, it’s called Legends of Tomorrow and currently I think has the biggest main cast out of these shows...so why am I being drip-fed Legends with now the addition of Constantine and Mick...again I do enjoy both of them but give me the god damn team.

Barry and Constantine bring Oliver to the Lazarus Pit and, as expected, Oliver emerges as an out of control rage monster that Stephen Amell does not sell quite as well as Caity Lotz or Willa Holland previously have.

I guessed Oliver would somehow be brought back, because while the Arrowverse execs try to say “We killed him off in part one to show no one is safe”, it was an eye-roll for me because you’re not going to kill the original main star of the Arrowverse in the first part.

My only issue with it is it happened so quickly, there was no time really to miss him because he was dead at the end of part one and suddenly they’re talking about bringing him back.

Sara had an entire season between death and resurrection and Thea’s resurrection came with great sacrifice on Oliver’s part joining the League of Assassins. Here, we had Constantine saying that the antimatter was making him lose his magic so he couldn’t bring back Oliver’s soul like he did for Sara, which only makes me wonder why they’re wasting time trying to bring someone back rather than stopping existence from dying.

Paragon Pursuit - Bat of the Future:

Okay so, apparently The Monitor has recently discovered seven Paragons across the Multiverse that can come together to defeat the Anti-Monitor. He knows this from retrieving the Book of Destiny from the timeline which was the McGuffin in Elseworlds last year.

Fortunately four of these paragons are known to The Monitor, the Paragon of Hope is Kara Zor-El and the Paragon of Destiny is Sara Lance. I got why this worked because Supergirl’s main brand is all about hope and she’s from a parallel world while Sara is of Earth-1 tying into the fact these seven Paragons are spread across the multiverse.

The Monitor tells the team that two more Paragons are to be found on different Earths, the first is the Bat of the Future on Earth-99 which Mar-Novu name drops as Bruce Wayne, much to Ray’s surprise and Kate’s annoyance.

Again I am actually enjoying Brandon Routh in this crossover, and cannot understand why he isn’t at this level on his own show.

Kate and Kara go to Earth-99 where they come across a dilapidated Wayne Manor, which looks more dishevelled than the one from the DCEU, and meet Earth-99 Luke Fox...who I had to double-take to ensure it was in fact Camrus Johnson partly because of how different he looks not geeked up and also because he is the only other main character of Batwoman to appear in this Batwoman episode.

Now I get that none of the other supporting players are vigilantes at this point, but not even Earth-1 Luke Fox making an appearance is slightly unfair, and you could argue that during Invasion! None of Supergirl’s supporting players were involved, but Supergirl still had an episode in that week which featured its main cast.

Again also Kate’s reaction to Kara finding this Luke attractive was probably my favourite moment in the episode.

Once forcing their way inside, Kate and Kara meet Earth-99 Batman, Mr. Kevin Conroy. I was so looking forward to seeing this veteran Batman voice actor in live-action and when you don’t see him talking, he sounds a lot like Batman of the DCAU, the only problem is I was promised Kingdom Come Batman and didn’t really get that.

I don’t know Kingdom Come that well but I thought Batman was supposed to be the main force of good left in the world, yet not only is he killing his rogues as displayed in his trophy case, including a Riddler cane which I also own, but he also killed Superman.

It’s at this point that Kate and Kara realise that this Batman is not the Paragon of Courage they were sent to retrieve and at that point Batman turns on Supergirl apparently hating Kryptonians.

Now this is where it gets interesting because before this, there is actually some good character moments for Bruce and Kate where Bruce tries to make Kate see that where he is in his mindset is where she should be, not trusting anyone, not believing in anything, just becoming the night basically.

It echoes similarly to what Lex Luthor tried to install in Lena last season which eventually worked as we know and it apparently maybe worked here because, even though Kate saved Kara from her doppleganger cousin, she still kept that Kryptonite wrist strap of his...what does she plan on doing?

Anyway before the Kryptonite reveal, we see Kate and Kara return to base where they tell The Monitor they failed retrieving the Paragon, but The Monitor reveals that the Bat of the Future and the Paragon of Courage is in fact Kate herself.

I don’t know how to feel about this, I love the fact Batwoman is being spotlighted even though she is the new girl, however, it does seem like the only reason she is the Paragon is because this is her show.

Also to have two Paragons from the same Earth? Not exactly far spread out.

Paragon Pursuit - Reign of the Supermen:

While Kate and Kara are on Earth-99, Earth 38′s Clark and Lois, and Iris for some reason, scourer the Multiverse for the Paragon of Truth, which is revealed to be a Superman...but which Superman.

Well just before they head off a spanner is thrown into the works in the form of Earth-38s Lex Luthor. We knew Jon Cryer would be back, I thought he would have returned in the Supergirl episode but we also see at least three other versions of Superman here so why not.

Anyway Lex steals the Book of Destiny because the Monitor apparently brought him back to be duped by the supervillain, shocker, and Lex travels the Multiverse killing off Supermen.

Clark, Lois and Iris first arrive on Earth-75 where they are too late because Earth-38 Lex has already killed this version of Superman who lies dead on the big screen with his Lois mourning the loss.

Their second attempt sees them arrive on Earth-167, which is the vaguest Easter-Egg reference going as it refers to Smallville co-producer Al Gough’s year of birth 1967...

When Tom Welling said he and Erica Durance were only in one scene they weren’t kidding, however I loved it. I am a massive Smallville fan, it was my proper Superman introduction, these versions of Clark and Lois are my Clark and Lois and that’s not going to change.

The decision for Clark not to have powers here is a weird one because they highlighted the fact that the Smallville Comics which followed the TV series would count as canon, yet aside from returning to the Kent Farm nothing we learn about Clark and Lois here was mentioned in the comics.

Also Clark and Lois have daughters, I’m not sure who they’re supposed to be but I’ve only ever known them to have a son...Jonathan...and since when did all the Supermen need to be Superdaddies anyway?

Anyway Earth-38 Lex shows up and Clark has the great confusion of wondering why Jon Cryer doesn’t look like Michael Rosenbaum, it is again sad that Rosenbaum didn’t reprise the role, but to have a Lex Luthor going up against multiple Supermen was still quite cool.

When Clark reveals he gave up his powers, most likely to be a father and family man, it did just seem like a cheat way for the writers to say “Yeah we have Smallville’s Clark Kent, but he won’t be part of the action”. Which as a Smallville fan is painful because I wanted to see Tom Welling in the tights, flights and action!

Also once Lex and the heroes disappear, Smallville’s Lois arrives and I have to say, she looks exactly the same as she did back in 2011 but different to how she looks as Alura Zor-El. Maybe it’s the choice of farm clothes as opposed to regal dresses but this is Lois Lane I had through my teen years, everything from the fashion to the hair, to the voice. I wasn’t crazy about the laugh because it seemed a bit forced, but she called him Smallville straight after and spoke in her high-energised way so I was happy.

The final stop was on Earth-96 which is a reference to the year the Kingdom Come storyline came out, it was confirmed that Brandon Routh would be Kingdom Come Superman but also the version of Superman from 2006 Superman Returns which Routh starred in.

We meet, or are reacquainted with,Routh’s version of Clark Kent. I have to admit I never much cared for Superman Returns, possibly because Smallville was on at the time and that version had already won me over. But I do know that Brandon Routh drew a lot of inspiration from Christopher Reeves and his portrayal of the character and you can clearly see that in both his fashion and acting.

I want to say it’s sad to see that pretty much all of Superman’s supporting staff at the Daily Planet are dead, Sam Huntington in my opinion was a decent Jimmy Olsen, but if this was Smallville’s Daily Planet staff all killed I’d be distraught.

Again I am comparing a lot but they are literally scenes apart from each other here.

Anyway, just as it’s confirmed that Brandon Routh’s Superman is the Paragon of Truth, Lex Luthor appears and decides he’s fed up with killing Supermen...we’ve only seen him kill one but there you go, and decides to turn Kingdom Come Superman against Earth-38 Superman in order for his now puppet to kill the other one.

I have to say, this was another weak battle sequence, I know it’s really CGI with two Supermen flying around, but neither Brandon Routh or Tyler Hoechlin have really sold flying as Superman to me that well anyway.

Lois finally does something and knocks Lex unconscious while she and Iris, who I cannot understand why she even came along at all, try to use the Book of Destiny to fix Kingdom Come Superman.

Eventually Lois gets through to KCS by appealing to his love for humanity and for his lost Lois. This breaks him free of the book’s control just in time before he snaps Earth-38 Superman’s neck.

With Lex detained, the heroes all return to base where they set up a machine to search for the rest of the Paragons.

Harbinger’s Headache:

This sounds stupid but genuinely is what happens, since the start of the episode when Mar-Novu reveals the Book of Destiny, Harbinger starts to get headaches, this does alert her to the fact Lex Luthor is stealing the book but also puts her in the pathway of the Anti-Monitor.

Yes we finally see the big bad of the crossover in all his...glory? He looks ridiculous! His concept artwork does make him look like Oscar Isaac’s Apocalypse but the actual thing we get just looks ugly.

I will give a minor positive and say it is better to see him in the show than he looks on the promotional images because I get the feeling lighting is not this guy’s friend and we meet him in what looks like the hallway of S.T.A.R. Labs.

Mick Rory, Baby Whisperer:

Again, this sounds stupid, but I wanted to highlight this for a couple of reasons and to spotlight Legends of Tomorrow because it doesn’t look like this crossover is doing that.

Firstly, this Mick Rory isn’t our Mick Rory, this is in fact the Mick Rory of Earth-74...why is it called Earth-74? I don’t know because originally there were only supposed to be 52 Earths, then Earth-X came about and now we have Earth-167 so I’m making my peace with them making it up as they go along.

Anyway, Dominic Purcell has grown on me since he was first introduced on The Flash. I think once you accept the fact that DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is essentially a piss-take because that is what it’s become then you accept why the characters do what they do, and not only turning a Flash rogue into a hero/legend is understood but also having him be a writer, have a rat as a pet and be good with babies is also understood.

We see that Earth-74 has a Waverider and did have its own version of the Legends before they all disbanded, Mick has taken command of the Waverider as seemingly his home where he is a struggling writer and his only companion is the Waverider’s A.I. Leonard...Wentworth Miller is back! As a disembodied voice, I would have liked to have at least seen his floating blue head but no we get the voice which is fine by me to be honest.

Once Harbinger commandeers the Waverider ad brings it to Earth-1 with Mick on board, he seemingly becomes the only person on board who Jonathan won’t cry for...not his mum, not his dad, not his aunt...a gun wielding alcoholic hot-head...great choice kid.

It is the lowest form of comedy side-story going but it is still nice to see them at least attempt to include the Legends and particularly Wentworth Miller in some form.

Easter-Eggs:

Superman III:

Alright so this is a clever throwback as this version of Superman Brandon Routh is portraying may be repackaged as Kingdom Come Superman, but he is also the same Superman Routh portrayed in 2006′s Superman Returns, who in turn is the same Superman Christopher Reeve played during the 80s, one movie Reeves was in was Superman III where Superman’s human and Kryptonian sides physically fought each other.

This plot point has also been done in Smallville briefly during the opening episode of Season 4 but not to the same degree as here or Superman III.

Smallville:

So many Smallville Easter-Eggs in one small scene, the first was the mention of Smallville’s Lex Luthor being the President of the United States of America. In a vision of the future Lex Luthor was indeed president and during the flashforward epilogue of the Smallville finalé he was running for president.

I also appreciated the time joke that Lois made when she said that it’s taken about a decade for Clark to “make a funny”. In real-time it has been almost a decade since Smallville finished as it was 2011, whereas now it is 2019.

Captain Cold:

Some things never change and whether he’s a doppleganger of the original or an A.I. version of the man, Wentworth Miller’s charm oozes out.

When Harbinger arrives on the Earth-47 Waverider, she notes that she is aware of who the A.I. is and he responds with his classic line “Always pleased to meet a fan”, this he has said a couple of times firstly in Season 1 of The Flash and then again with the Legends.

This was a great episode on reflection but in terms of ramping up the drama and grandeur of the crossover it did need work. Hopefully it’s only a minor bump before tonight’s third part, which promises a sizeable cliffhanger before the Christmas break.

So that’s my review of Crisis on Infinite Earths: Batwoman, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more DC TV Reviews as well as other TV Reviews and posts.

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ellana-ravenwood · 6 years

Text

“Go away, you’re confusing my baby” - Bruce Wayne x Reader (x Clark Kent)

First, here are the fic where Thomas appears or is mentioned (just so you know who we are talking about : The Great Mall adventure, Master of Diaper, Shaky steps and bad teaching and Polichinelle, you can find all those pics on my master list blog : ella-ravenwood-archives, I can unfortunately not link them anymore because of Tumblr who now makes posts with links not appear whenever you search the tags in the search bar. Second, this fic was inspired by an ask I received that said : “Because of their blue eyes and black hair Bruce and Clark could be mistaken for brothers maybe even twins if no one knew. Has Thomas ever been not sure which one was his dad and cries in frustration.”. I loved the idea so much I ended up writing this so..hope you’ll like it, and as usual, feedbacks are MORE than welcome :

You can find my masterlist here : @ella-ravenwood-archives

__________________________________________________

There was a time, years and years ago, when you first started to date Bruce, where you occasionally used to be a tiny bit confused about something.

Nowadays of course, it seemed ridiculous to you, but in the past...It was a genuine mistake.

After all, they look so much like each others ! And the worst thing is ? They don’t seem to realize it at all...

And yet your now husband Bruce Wayne, and his best friend Clark Kent, shared crazy physical similarities. You weren’t the only one who got confused.

Lois admitted to you that she did too, the first time she met Bruce (she thought it was Clark without his glasses)...And oh the number of times there were pictures of Clark in the paper under the title “Billionaire Bruce Wayne dresses like a commoner and visits Metropolis” (how rude, by the way) was countless !

Of course, if you’d pay just a little bit attention, you’d realize very quickly that they are different men. Bruce’s hair were better kept, less disheveled. He didn’t wear glasses, and he was...half an inch smaller. Other than that, dark hair, blue eyes, well build, they really looked like twins at times.

But if you don’t know them and they’re next to each others, it’s genuinely difficult to know who’s who. Or at least, if you thought they were brothers, no one would think you were being stupid.

Yup, back in the days those similarities plunged you in a few awkward situations. Oh man. So awkward.

At the top of your head, you can think of that time, at the Kent farm (you and Bruce would often be invited over there...It was a nice change of pace from Gotham and though you had to drag your then boyfriend often, it always ended up being utterly relaxing and nice), you went to who you thought was Bruce, but in fact was Clark, and wrapped your arms around his torso lovingly...just for him to turn around, as red as a tomato, and being all like “I think you got the wrong person (Y/N)”.

Of course, you withdrew very quickly, and both of you swore to never talk about this to Bruce, or he would never let it go...He was already so jealous of Clark and the fact that you and him used to be a thing.

Nowadays, you knew how to differentiate them even if their back was in front of you...They looked the same like that, except for a tiny difference...Clark was half an inch taller. Oh and his hair were less tended to in the back.

Another awkward moment that came to your head was that time, when Bruce introduced you to Clark and Lois (or rather, to Lois as you already knew Clark from before), and you and Lois got incredibly drunk and kinda went to kiss the wrong man...

You both went to the bathroom and came back to your very sober boyfriends and...You went to Clark, and Lois went to Bruce, and kissed them passionately.

Bruce pushed Lois away in a matter of seconds, while Clark, too stunned to react, took a little bit longer...In fact, your lover had to take you away from his wide eyed stupid face for you to stop kissing him.

And oh, you were so near from a diplomatic incident when both you and Lois said Bruce kissed better, even though Bruce didn’t even reciprocate his kiss to Lois (though, just like you and Clark, Bruce and Lois used to have a small fling, long ago, so maybe she was talking about those occurrences...).

To this day, Clark is still a little vexed about the all ordeal. No matter how much Lois tells hims she was drunk and didn’t know any better...

Yes.

The fact that your husband and his best friend look like brothers confused you a few times.

Whenever you didn’t have a good look at them for example, not noticing the difference in clothes etc etc...If the place was a bit dark, if you weren’t in your normal state (aka drunk...or sad, or overly happy), if they had their back to you, if they looked away and you couldn’t see their faces etc etc...At the beginning of your relationship with Bruce, when you couldn’t quite yet do a difference immediately just by looking a fraction of a second at them, and if they weren’t directly facing you etc etc...you used to mix the two quite a lot.

So when your son, Thomas, started to get a bit confused about who exactly his dada was...You really couldn’t blame him.

************

It all started when he was about six months old, and was starting to recognize people for how they looked, and not just with their voice (when he was a tiny infant and couldn’t properly see yet, he used to smile by just hearing yours or Bruce’s voice, it was so cute).

For some reason, the baby always smiled to Clark, even though his smiles would usually be reserved for his family members.

Like, Damian thought instantly that it was suspicious, and bothered Superman so much to know what he was doing to his little brother, what was his trick to make him smile !?

Of course, Clark just said that Thomas probably just liked his face, recognized him as a friendly figure, that is all...Damian wasn’t buying it at all, and whenever the superhero was around his precious baby brother, he wouldn’t leave him out of his sight. Just in case.

And you understood because even you thought it was a little odd.

So far, whenever Thomas saw someone he didn’t know, he just kind of looked at them curiously, as if he was studying them, and his lips never twitched up a tiny bit. Not even when Jon tried to make silly faces at him, or when Lois sung him a lullaby. Not when Diana rocked him in her arms, or when Oliver tried to tickle him (Green Arrow took it very personally that the baby didn’t even flinch from his merciless tickling...but then he remembered he was the Batman’s son and everything was good again).

Nope.

He was only giving smiles to his dad, his mom, the one he would called “grandpa” (Alfred of course), and his brothers and sister.

They didn’t even need to do anything, as soon as he recognized them, Thomas would just smile widely.

Dick was peering his face above his crib ? He would smile and more often than not burst into cute laughter. And if his oldest brother would pick him up and do acrobatics with him (loving how his father would freak out), he wouldn’t be able to stop laughing !

Tim would come into his bedroom, late at night or very early in the morning, after patrol, when he couldn’t sleep and clearly his baby brother couldn’t either as he cried, and even though he was hungry or had a dirty diaper, Thomas would smile at his sibling while Tim would take care of him.

Jason would put some music on (often classic rock...Thomas was VERY fond of Led Zeppelin and Queen apparently) and would slowly rock with him in his arms, and the baby would just keep smiling and cooing at his older brother happily.

Damian would come to talk to him about anything (he read somewhere that treating a child “like an adult” or something, would help him develop better), and Thomas, though of course he wouldn’t understand much of what was going on, would just smile whenever his brother looked at him while talking, and would hold onto his pinky (his all hand wrapping around it because he was really tiny) thoughtfully (making Damian think his brother was a genius and could understand him ! Though most likely, there was something on his face that fascinated the baby).

Thomas would just hear his father’s voice, and would instantly be happier, laughing and smiling...one of his favorite place was in dada’s arms, because he always felt safe and warm, and dada’s voice was so soothing, and his smiles were the best.

And mama ? Oh, you just had to look in his general direction for him to excitedly move his arms and feet around and smile at you in a very charming way (surely his father’s son), begging for you to pick him up and cuddle.

One of his favorite thing to do was to go around the mansion with Alfred, while the butler would clean the place, sometimes turning to his young master, who was calmly laying in a portable crib, telling him that he hoped later he would “clean after himself more than the rest of the family”, and wishing very hard that the smile that the baby was giving him meant that yes, he will.

And oh Cass ? His only sister was crazy about him, and it was reciprocal. If Thomas was crying for seemingly no reasons, out of frustration or anything like that, only Cassandra could cheer him up in a matter of seconds, by making silly faces at him. His laughter would always be so loud...

So it genuinely came as a surprise to all of you that Thomas would smile like that to Clark, even though he wasn’t that often around and such.

That day, when your baby son started to smile widely at one of your best friend, your suspicions about why started to arise. Of course, you didn’t have enough proof yet, except maybe the fact that before he could see properly Thomas never smiled to Clark, but...You were pretty sure of your gut’s feeling.

You didn’t tell Bruce though, because there was no need to “hurt” his feelings, or to make him jealous (in that way at least)...But you knew there would be a day where he’ll realize too that, the reason why his son smiles so much at his “Uncle Clark”, is because he thinks it’s his dad (which is also why whenever Clark starts to speak, the boy look a bit confused and scared, not recognizing his dada’s voice).

************

The day Bruce understood what was going on was when Thomas was about nine/ten months old.

Clark came to pick Jon up after the boy slept over the Manor, having a “pyjama party” with Damian and a few other friends.

And the man just couldn’t resist to go see his little “nephew”. That baby was just so damn cute, and so happy all the time, it was hard to think it was really Bruce’s kid...Well, come to think of it, he took after your smile so ya know.

Thomas was happily crawling around on the floor, a pacifier in his mouth, sometimes stopping to look at something that intrigued him (like that part of the ground that was soft and not the same color of the rest of the ground...later on, he learned that it was called a “carpet”, and man he loved carpets ! So comfy and funny !), when suddenly, he felt someone picking him up.

The baby thought about protesting for a few seconds, as he was having so much fun exploring the living room ! But then his eyes met his father’s and Thomas instantly forgot about his fun being cut short to smile widely at his dada ! So wide in fact, that his beloved pacifier fell on the floor.

But he didn’t care, because dada was there ! No need for a soothing pacifier when you can get the real deal of your father’s safe and warm arms, and great voice !

-I think he really likes you Clark, you’re the only one aside from Bruce and I, his siblings and Alfred, that he smiles like that to.

Thomas giggles as he looks towards where his mom’s voice come from, and coo at her happily. She smiles back at him, and as usual, the baby boy just feel a swarm of calmness and happiness.

That was cut short by an awful discovery. Something that shook his entire world ! What was that sorcery ?!

From the living room’s door, his father came in.

He knew it was dada because of the kiss he laid on his mommy’s forehead.

But how could he be in his arms, if he was over there ! There was only one explanation possible...Thomas turned to face the man that was holding him, and confusion swarmed him. It was the same guy, right ? It was...dada ?

But dada was over there !

There’s a few seconds of silence where Thomas is looking between Clark and his dad, beyond confused, getting more and more frustrated because he couldn’t understand what was going on...And then.

Then he realizes he’s not in daddy’s arms.

Daddy is the one kissing mommy.

And so his mouth slowly, oh so slowly, turns into a frown...And he starts crying like crazy. Scared.

Bruce rushes towards his son and takes him from his friend’s arms, glaring at him as if he was the cause of his precious baby’s distress (and in a way, he was).

Thomas instantly stops crying as he hears his dada’s voice. The real voice, the soothing and warm one. He grabs Bruce’s cheeks and...yes, that’s definitely dada. He smiles widely again, even laughing, out of relief.

You just witnessed all that and an idea you had walking in your head for a while now comes out of your mouth before you can think :

-I think he got confused and thought Clark was you, my heart. I mean, this would explain a lot.

Superman, who felt so bad because he doesn’t even know what he did to make the baby cry, says :

-Oh you think ? Haha, that’s so cute.

That would indeed explain a lot. Why the kid was always comfortable around him, but seemed to flinch a bit whenever he spoke, and such things.

Bruce, holding his son tightly against his heart, stared daggers at Clark and said, trying to brush those allegations off as if nothing, but talking too fast so that you and Clark know he’s jealous :

-Nonsense ! He knows who his father is !

You give your husband a mischievous smile he doesn’t like and say :

-Let’s do a test. Tommy, is this dada ?

Thomas turns to the direction you show and...He sees Clark.

Just like before, there’s a few floating seconds where he just stares at both men and...

In an instant, the little frown is back on his face, and he’s about to cry again, thinking he got somehow tricked once more and still isn’t in his dada’s arms, but Bruce’s voice resonates in the room.

-Hey hey hey, everything is alright little one, Dada is here.

Thomas turns to his father’s face, it still looks eerily similar to the other one over there but...maybe if he stops looking he’ll disappear ? Besides, this one has dada’s voice.

It is dada. He’s sure of it, as Bruce speaks soothings words into his ear and softly stroke his back, kissing his forehead softly.

Only dada did that.

Thomas knows now he’s in the “right” dad’s arms and calms down, to the point that he falls asleep, his head resting on his father’s shoulder.

Bruce gives a look to Clark that clearly means “MY son”, but doesn’t dare to speak in fear of waking up his boy.

Both you and Superman are utterly amused at his reaction, as it’s clear he freaked out that his own child was not recognizing him...It was quite cute really. You exchange a look with Clark that shows all the friendship shared between the two of you, and shake your head slowly.

Ah what a silly man you fell in love with.

**********

By the time Thomas knows how to walk, you are sure that whenever Clark is around, he’s very confused as to who his father actually is. Every time, Bruce just starts to speak hurriedly and the boy realizes he’s the real dada, but still...it’s odd for him.

It always makes you chuckle, same for your sons. But if there’s one that is not amused at all, it’s Bruce.

He hates it, in fact. Thanks God Clark doesn’t come every day to the mansion.

Today however, Bruce doesn’t think about that at all, as he’s spending some quality times with you and his youngest son. Lately, he has been very busy with some cases and barely saw you two...so he took a day off to enjoy your company. And oh it was well deserved.

You were all chilling in one of the living room, when you decided to play hide and seek. You were helping Thomas find his father back.

-Where’s dada Tommy ? Where'd he go ?

Thomas, now almost two years old, looks at you with sparkles of intelligence in his eyes. Proudly he exclaims :

-Dada ? ‘E sky ! Sky !

You can feel the smile crouching on your face as you realize what is about to happen, and even more when you hear, from behind the couch, your husband saying : “In...in the sky ?”.

Bruce, crouching in a very un-Batman way behind the piece of furniture, also knows what’s going to happen, and he doesn’t like it one bit. You ask :

-What is dada doing in the sky ?

Thomas, sure of himself, answers :

-Is ‘Uper’man !

You instantly start laughing way too loudly, as Bruce jumps out from behind the couch in one swift motion, and says, outraged :

-Dada is NOT Superman !!

This startles Thomas a bit because, where the Hell did Dada came from ?!

But then he quickly smiles, as always when he sees his dad, and reaches his arms to him to get picked up. Bruce does so and then says :

-Dada can’t go in the sky.

Thomas is confused. He thinks for a few seconds and then thoughtfully asks :

-Dada ‘owers b’oken ?

Bruce vehemently talks back :

-No ! Dada doesn’t have powers !

Thomas is more confused than ever, while you’re still laughing and Bruce is vexed.

Since when did Dada not have powers ? The boy is pretty sure he saw him on TV, flying ! And he also saw him with a different costume in Gotham, jumping from building to building, flying too with wings this time !

But the little one quickly forgets his troubles as he realizes his father is pouting, and seems unhappy. Thomas hates when his dada isn’t feeling well, and so he reaches for his cheeks, stroking it and smiling widely (it usually works to cheer dada up !).

Bruce can’t resist and smiles back, of course. But it quickly turns back to a frown as you say to your son :

-I understand your confusion baby, mama too had troubles differentiating them at first ! But let me tell you something, they don’t kiss the same.

Bruce narrows his eyes at you, knowing exactly what you’re trying to do and yet still falling right into your trap, and says :

-What was that ?!

You smile innocently at him and say, falsely surprised :

-What ? I didn’t say anything.

Bruce gives you a look full of fiery passion that sends heat low in your body as he says :

-Ooooh my love, when Thomas will go to bed, I’ll show you how better of a kisser I am. And I won’t kiss just your mouth.

You blush slightly, even if you’re used to him telling you things like that. You’re almost waiting for your boy to say “eww”, but he’s too young yet to know what it means, and none of your other children are currently around.

You laugh to hide your want, and kisses him fondly...

-Bah baaah, ewww !

A little voice exclaims, in between your bodies.

Thomas. He’s not old enough to know about everything, to understands the words, but his siblings’ reaction to his parents kissing taught him that it wasn’t something nice and so he protests.

You laugh some more and Bruce looks down to his son fondly. Damn he loved you and him so much.

************

Thomas is four years old and it’s his birthday party.

The entire league is invited of course, and they all bring great presents (you take away the bow and arrow Oliver gave him though...at four years old, Thomas was already showing great abilities with those things and you didn’t want him to hurt himself or his brothers and sister).

Your youngest son, as all of your other children really, is well beloved by your friends. Because he smiles so much, because he knows what he wants and doesn’t let people walk on his feet even though he’s still young (Barry still remembers when he teased him and took his action figure away, and how tiny Thomas tackled him, or tried to, and then proceeded to climb on him to get it back...).

He was a good mix of you and Bruce. Physically, he really looked like his father at his age, except for the eyes, that were yours. Mentally ? He was a bit of both of you. A perfect mix. The best of both sides. Though he unfortunately inherited your stubbornness...It meant that he was double stubborn. Oh boy.

But for now, he was just happily prancing around, playing with his siblings and his siblings’ friends (he was home schooled for now as his first day in kindergarten was awful...papparazis wouldn’t leave him alone, and one of the teacher even planned a “candid” photoshoot, letting them in the classroom...Thomas was quite a shy boy in environment he didn’t know, just like you, and he panicked and cried...When you saw the articles in the journal the next day, talking about how much of a brat he was with pictures of him terrified and crying because they were too many people around him, both you and Bruce decided to wait for him to be older to go back to school...therefor, his only friends were his siblings and his siblings’ friends, which was enough for him really, he loved them !).

At some point during the day though, the boy ran to Clark.

You saw him in the corner of your eyes. Bruce was in the kitchen, helping Alfred setting candles up and such, and you knew what was going to happen...

Once again, and for the hundredth time, your son was mixing up his father and “uncle”.

A little ritual of his and your husband, was for Thomas to run and jump on his dad’s back. Bruce would then proceed to run around the house, being the perfect “horse”, and your son would laugh his ass off. So much that sometimes, he’d choke on his laugh (which usually meant the end of the game)

And you saw, as your son was gathering some speed to be able to jump on his “father”. Only, it wasn’t his daddy. And when he jumped on him, Clark just jump in the air a bit and was surprised.

Until he realized it was Thomas and just picked him up properly, not understanding why the boy was pouting.

-Daddy, you’re suppose to be a horse.

Lois was next to Clark and turned to you, nodding, telling you that yes...Yes you were right, once again, your son got confused. She was holding her laugh.

Bruce chose that moment to come back, and when he saw his son in his best friend’s arms, he understood too. He trotted towards them and called for his boy :

-Thomas, come, it’s almost time for your cake.

Thomas jumped a little bit, startled. Why was his father’s voice coming from behind ?! But he wasn’t a small baby anymore, and he understood instantly what was happening.

This wasn’t daddy, he realized that now, as he spotted the classes and the messy hair. It was uncle Clark ! And so the boy made a face that made you burst into laughter (like a mix of “oops” and “gotta go”, sprinkled with a bit of “this is embarrassing”), and wiggled his way out of his uncle’s arms (his dad taught him how to escape someone holding him against his will, and Clark was super surprised when one second the kid was in his arms, the other he was running towards his father...he didn’t even feel him slip away !).

Thomas jumped in his daddy’s arms and gave him an apologetic look, knowing now how it kinda hurt him that he mixed him up with Clark...but they looked so much alike ! When he got excited, he couldn’t do a difference !

-Daddy isn’t Superman. You’re better than Superman. And you kiss better. Mommy said that.

Bruce narrows his eyes at you as you choke because of how much you laugh, but you can’t help it. It’s just so cute. And so funny. And oh that kid was such a parrot ! He continued, because he wanted to make sure his daddy knew that he loved him more than he loved uncle Clark :

-You’re also better at making lo...

-CAKE ! IT’S TIME FOR CAKE !

You yell, as you guessed what he was about to say. You swore to yourself to be more careful about what you say when your little one is around. He is truly a parrot ! Like a lot of four years old really...

Bruce gives you an amused smile, utterly satisfied with your tinted cheeks. Karma. You hit his shoulder lightly as your son’s attention is drawn to the cake that Alfred and Damian are bringing in, and your husband smiles fondly at you, giving you a quick peck.

Everyone comes closer to celebrate your boy’s fourth birthday.

************

By the time Thomas reaches the age of eight, he finally almost never does a mistake anymore. Sometimes it happens.

Either by genuine mistake, or just to piss his father off.

Like that time, when he was almost twenty, and for some reasons his dad exchanged his costume with Clark...Thomas could clearly recognize his father nowadays, and yet, insisted on calling Superman “dad” all day, no matter how much both men corrected him.

It made everyone laugh. Everyone, but Bruce.

But it was a rare occasion nowadays.

It took him a few years to not be confused anymore, but it finally happened.

And oh the memories of baby him crying because he was frustrated because he just couldn’t recognize who his dada was, or of toddler him being so sure that Superman was his daddy, or even of young child him, always jumping on Clark thinking it was his dad, or calling out for him from afar only to realize it’s not Bruce...It always made you all laugh.

Even Bruce, too be honest.

He had to admit, he does look like Clark.

And oh the souvenir of his baby’s face whenever he was utterly confused, the look of question in his eyes, and that cute little slowly building frown...it just made him feel warm and fuzzy.

Damn he loved that boy. And he loved you too much for really taking to heart your teasing...besides, you never teased him to the point of actually hurting his feelings.

In fact, it was you, who reassured him when he was freaking out about his son not even recognizing him. It was you rationalizing things and telling him that to his toddler’s eyes, you just looked the same. But hey, whenever he started to speak, didn’t Thomas instantly recognize who his father was, and always jumped to him ?

Oh you. What would Bruce do, without you in his life ?

The End.

________________________________________

This was supposed to be a mini-fic, but I got carried away, as usual. I feel like it’s boring...did you find it boring ? Or like messy ? I don’t know. I wrote this very fast in a spur of inspiration so...Eh. Anyway.

As usual, feedbacks are more than welcomed. See you soon with another story. Blah blah blah. Blah. The End.

Just in case some of you don’t feel like they look a lot like each others (though I agree they have differences...Like their hair is different, and Clark is like, half of an inch taller..AHEM) : as kids, they looked like they could be brothers, for real. Same facial structures and such, again, the only difference is their clothes and their hair :

Even people in their World confuse them. Here’s Clark, who “impersonates” Bruce (plus a sweet facepalm from Clarkie) :

And here’s just a good ol’ Clark Kent ya know...Oh wait no, it’s Bruce, wearing glasses because why not :

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tessatechaitea · 5 years

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Superman: Year One: Book One

I can't wait to find out why Superman shoved Jim Gordon's head up his ass!

Jonathan Kent isn't a kind and generous man who wanted to take care of a baby. I mean, maybe he was but what does it even matter if something else is manipulating his actions?

Do audiences enjoy stories where characters are manipulated by Gods or destiny to become the thing they're meant to become to do the thing they're meant to do or is this just writers being too lazy to let a story tell itself along the way? My view of audiences would be severely diminished if it could get any lower and also if I were to believe they preferred stories about Chosen Ones rather than regular people who rise to the occasion to do something heroic. What makes a story better if we learn that the hero was always meant to be the hero? Isn't it more rewarding to have heroes like Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee who struggled to do what was right with no guarantee that they were cosmically destined to succeed? The only thing this whole idea that there has to be some thing (or Thing) manipulating events from behind the curtain is remove free will from the hero's actions, thus making the hero nothing more than an automaton programmed to succeed. Jonathan brings the baby home and Martha is all, "Whelp! I guess we have a kid now! Praise Jesus!" And Jon is all, "Praise Jesus and his might rocket ship from Heaven!" And both of them feel slightly guilty because of all the times they cursed God for giving them faulty reproductive organs. Jon and Martha are still young so at least they can pretend that they kept faith that God would provide them a child. But I bet if they had been creeping up on the age of Abraham when he finally boinked the help, they would have fucked up God's plan too! Jon and Martha quickly begin calling each other Ma and Pa because why not? It's not like anybody is going to somehow come along and take their new space baby away from them! They found it and so it's as good as theirs. It's not like Kansas has any laws on the books that say you can't keep a baby you found in a field that fell out of the sky in an alien rocket ship. Are there? Probably not, right? And even if there are, nobody in town seems to question where the fuck Jon and Martha got a kid.

Oh yeah. I'm supposed to believe Clark can feel hot oatmeal. What flavor is it? Kryptonite? I mean, it is green.

Stupid penis! Every time I turn the page, it keeps thinking we're going to see thick chicks on space motorcycles with their tits flopping out and huge bushes streaming out from between their thighs! This isn't Heavy Metal, you stupid organ! I blame my brain for constantly thinking while reading this, "This comic book magazine sure would be better with more tits." Between being a toddler and the first day of high school, nothing important happens. I mean, some important things probably happen. Like Clark's first wet dream. But Frank Miller doesn't think that's important enough to make the story. I don't know why. I want to see Ma asking Kent why he hid his sheets out in the field and also why he was re=plastering the ceiling of his bedroom. In high school, all the kids start talking about how amazing Clark Kent is. But he hangs out with the fat kid and the goth kid and the other kids that are probably losers in ways that I can't tell by John Romita Jr's art. They all just kind of look like John Romita Jr people. I think they others are misfits because one wears glasses and the other one is black and the other one is Latino. That just means they don't fit in with the white rural farm kids, I guess? I don't know how high school works in rural America. I grew up in Silicon Valley. Our nerds were the white kids who played Dungeons and Dragons. Our popular kids were the Filipinos who were style conscious when most of us still weren't wearing deodorant or washing our hair regularly enough. I would see them hanging out at lunch and think, "How do they get their hair to stay so high and look so good?!" If only I had known that part of that answer was simply, "They wash it regularly," maybe I wouldn't have been a big misfit loser jerk! Clark sees the bullies picking on little Pete Ross (you have to say that in a high-pitched sneering voice. Unless you don't want to be a bully. Do you not want to be a bully?) and decides, "Enough is enough!" Even though he's not supposed to stand out or else the government will take him away to do experiments on him, he has to end the rash of bullying at Smallville High School! This looks like a job for Clark Kent! I don't think he's decided to call himself Superboy yet. Apparently nobody in town knows how to stop a bunch of asshole kids from bullying other kids. It's just one of those Earth problems that can't be solved by Earthlings! It must be Clark Kent's destiny to stop bullying once and for all! And that's what Clark does. He takes the novel approach that nobody thought of and asks the bullies, "Hey? Could you stop picking on my friends?" Sure, that doesn't work. They just see it as Clark starting a fight. So they oblige him and throw a few punches. Clark blocks one and the bully's wrist breaks. So now the bullies realize they can't win and stop bullying! Yay! Except they don't. They just bully even harder because why not? They're shitting on other people because their life is shit. Why would they not increase the shitting if something happened in their life to make their life even shittier?! Something like Clark "Break a Boy's Bones" Kent!

Why do they seem so happy about Carlos being called a spic and getting his tooth knocked out?! Fucking asshole weirdos!

Lana tells Clark she has a plan to stop the bullies. Her plan involves journalism! She has pictures of the bullies assaulting the weirdos and she thinks they can get the police to listen to them. But the goth weirdo overhears their plans and he's a big weirdo traitor! I guess if he snitches on the weirdos, he doesn't get beat up. I bet he's going to become a supervillain some day. When Lana leaves her house at night thinking she's going to meet Clark, she's set upon by the bullies! They steal her pictures and threaten to rape her. These aren't just bullies! They're criminal psychopaths and I'm sorry I tried to understand their bully behavior earlier! I was thinking, "Maybe this story will be about the ambiguities of youth and how hard it is to navigate the world between childhood and adulthood, especially when you have serious issues with your parents and home life and self-esteem!" Instead I should have been thinking, "Clark and the weirdos are Good with a capital "G" and the bullies are Evil with a capital "E"! Hopefully the story will make this explicit so that I can truly just hate the bullies and not mind when Clark drowns them in the reservoir! And the best way for a narrative to help me understand how evil they are is if they commit attempted rape!" Whew! I sure am glad to know that whatever Clark does to them now, they totally deserve it! I'd hate for Clark to have to come up with a real life solution that stops the bullying and teaches the bullies how to cope with their own problems without resorting to small violences against other kids! After saving Lana from being raped, Clark seems to insinuate that maybe Lana should fuck him as thanks. He's all, "Let me court you!" And she's all, "Whatever." And he's all, "Sleep tight!" And she's all, "Yeah. Sure. I'll sleep. Tight." I think that means she's going to masturbate? I'm not good at sexual innuendo but I figured it must be because the very next panel begins like this:

That's definitely sexual innuendo!

Kent forgets that he's supposed to be stopping the bullies because he starts dating Lana. They sneak off and Clark closes his eyes and pulls out his penis and is all, "Just touch it Lana!" And she's all, "Mmmph mmph mmmph!" And he's all, "Please! Just touch it!" And she's all, "Mmph mmmph mmph!" And he opens his eyes and realizes his penis is in Lana's mouth and he blows her brains all over the field with his load. Later, after my fantasy is concluded, I return to the actual story where they only kiss. Lame. After high school ends, Clark joins the navy. But not after banging Lana Lang all night! And that's not something I made up! It's right there in the comic book! Superman: Year One: Book One Rating: It was a bit treacly but not super bad. Ha ha!. But I still don't know if the bullies ever got their comeuppance! Was I supposed to be satisfied with Clark bloodying a few noses and then saying to Lana, "We'll use reporting to get them good!"? How disappointing!

#Superman #Year One #Frank Miller #DC Comics #DC #John Romita Jr

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one-of-us-blog · 7 years

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The Doctor’s Wife (Doctor Who S06E04)

Today Jon is forced to watch and recap “The Doctor’s Wife”, the fourth episode of Doctor Who’s sixth series. The Doctor’s traveled to an asteroid outside of the universe in the hopes of meeting up with some old Time Lord pals, but what’s waiting for him isn’t what he expects. Can he save Amy and Rory before they’re destroyed by a malevolent TARDIS?

Keep reading to find out…

Eli, you’ve knocked it out of the park once again with your latest recap! Reading what you had to say about your latest episode had me feeling like a ripe peach just ready to get plucked. Or something like that. Anyway, I’m thrilled you liked the episode so much and that you’ve had such a good time in season four! Seasons 3-5 are the show’s peak for me, so I’m glad you’re enjoying it, too. Here’s hoping you keep liking what’s to come!

For now, though, buttocks tight!

Episode directed by Richard Clark and written by Neil Gaiman

Starting off, a fancy woman with very large woman is escorted by an older woman, called Auntie, and an Ood. She’s told that her mind and soul are going to be drained from her body by a man called Uncle, leaving her body behind as a vessel for a soul yet to come. In the TARDIS, Amy is still worrying about the Doctor dying two hundred years from now when suddenly someone knocks on the TARDIS door. The Doctor opens the door, allowing a glowing cube inside. The Doc catches the cube and explains to his companions that this is like Time Lord email, meaning there’s still a Time Lord out there and the Doc thinks they’re one of the good ones. Amy and Rory are confused, since there aren’t supposed to be any Time Lords left, and the Doc says it’s true that there aren’t any left in the universe. But, he explains, they’re going outside the universe. The cube is stamped with an ouroboros, which the Doc explains is the logo of a Time Lord called the Corsair. The Doc takes the TARDIS outside the universe, which apparently he can just do, but then the TARDIS begins to shut down. The Doc says the soul of the TARDIS has vanished, and just then the woman from earlier wakes up with the TARDIS’ soul inside her body.

Amy, Rory and the Doc exit the dead TARDIS and look around the junkyard they find themselves in. Just then the woman, whose name is Idris, by the way, runs up and calls the Doctor a thief before smooching him. Auntie and Uncle follow behind and apologize for the woman’s erratic behavior. Idris gets her tenses mixed up and seems to have trouble staying on track. The Ood nearby is introduced as Nephew, but his vocal orb is broken so he can’t speak. The Doc repairs it, and suddenly the air is filled with distress calls from Time Lords. Auntie has Nephew take Idris to the House, and explains to the Doc that they’re standing on the House at the moment before offering to introduce them to him. Turns out the asteroid they’re on, the House, is sentient, and can possess Auntie and Uncle when he wants to.

The House and the Doc get to know each other, and the House explains that a lot of people have come through the rift over the years, like Auntie and Uncle and Nephew, and the House takes care of them. There have been Time Lords and TARDISes here before, but they’re gone now. Idris wakes up and has some more stream of consciousness rambling before calling out for her thief. Amy and Rory want to leave, but the Doc wants to stay and find the Time Lords he heard calling out from Nephew earlier. Amy deduces he wants to help them so he can be forgiven for what he did during the Time War. Amy and Rory return to the TARDIS to look for the Doc’s screwdriver, but turns out he tricked them and locks them in the dead, blue box.

Alone, he looks around for his fellow Time Lords. He eventually finds a cluster of hypercubes, which explains where the distress calls were coming from. Auntie and Uncle arrive and the Doc accuses them of luring Time Lords here with the distress calls like they lured him, and realizes that the House keeps them alive by replacing their failing parts with replacements from other organisms. Auntie has the arm of the Corsair, and Uncle has his spine and kidneys. He tells Auntie and Uncle to run away from him, but Uncle says he’s too late to do anything because the House is too clever for him. The Doc realizes Idris mentioned boxes making him mad earlier, so he goes to find her to figure out how she knew.

Inside the TARDIS, Amy and Rory realize that they’re being surrounded by some sort of green light. Idris is confused that that the Doctor can’t recognize her, and finally manages to explain to him that she’s the TARDIS. She explains that she calls the Doc a thief because he stole her from Gallifrey, but says she stole him, as well. Idris is still trying to get a grasp on her language skills while the Doc tries to figure out what all this is about. He and Idris, moving at different points in the conversation, figure out that the House feeds on TARDISes, but that’s a complicated process. You can’t eat a raw TARDIS because it would destroy you, and you can’t delete a TARDIS’ soul without blowing a hole in the universe. You can, apparently, take the soul out of the box and put it in another receptacle, leaving the box itself and the left-over time energy inside totally edible.

The Doc realizes Amy and Rory are in a bad way since he locked them in the now digestible TARDIS, but even though he unlocks the door they can’t get out. The TARDIS begins to disappear and the Doctor can no longer reach Amy on the phone. Amy and Rory realize that the House has implanted its consciousness inside the TARDIS and he’s contemplating just killing them. Back on the asteroid, Auntie and Uncle are preparing to die. They explain that when the Doc told the House that his was the last TARDIS, the House realized his food supply had run out so he dipped. The House is headed back to the Doc’s universe to find more TARDISes. Auntie and Uncle promptly die, and Idris says they need to get moving. She soon realizes that her body is dying, though, because organic bodies weren’t meant to hold TARDIS souls. She tells the Doctor not to get emotional and to focus. He realizes the junkyard they’re in is full of TARDIS parts and gets to work.

Amy and Rory try to think of reasons to give the House not to kill them, and Rory says killing them quickly would get rid of his source of entertainment, and House agrees. He sends them running off through his newly acquired corridors. Idris has trouble taking in the corpses of a hundred different half-eaten TARDIS corpses, but the Doc says they’re going to use all these parts to make a working TARDIS. The House torments Amy and Rory while Idris and the Doctor bond. The Doc wishes they could talk like this all the time, even when she’s back in her TARDIS body, but she says that’s impossible. She also says she only has about 18 minutes left to live, so they have to get to work. Amy and Rory are separated within the House only to reunite with a big time differential between them. Amy realizes the House is using all the TARDIS’ abilities to mess with them and then the two are separated again.

Idris and the Doc finish their TARDIS console and Idris explains that she believes she was the one who stole the Doc all those years ago. She purposefully left her doors unlocked because she wanted to see the universe, and the Doc took her bait. Back in the House, Amy finds an aged and psychologically damaged Rory. Old Rory tries to attack Amy for leaving him alone, but the two are separated again. The improvised console can’t hold the charge it needs, but Idris uses a bit of her own TARDIS juice to get the heap running. Amy finds the remains of old Rory surrounded by scrawled messages about hating her and wanting to kill her. Amy breaks down, but just then regular Rory walks by. The two run off together while Idris and the Doctor zoom through the spacetime continuum. Idris is able to open up a telepathic channel to Rory and explain to him what he needs to do to lower the House’s shield and let them phase inside.

Amy and Rory make their way through the House when suddenly everything goes dark for Amy. Rory goes on ahead and cries out, but then calls out to Amy that he’s okay and to follow his voice. She follows the voice but soon finds a House-controlled Nephew. Rory gets up and the two of them run off but Nephew is in hot pursuit. Amy and Rory reach the control room and Idris sends them the password they need, which Amy thinks real hard until the door opens they end up in the control room of the Tenth Doctor’s control room, and, oh boy, it’s good to be home. Rory lowers the House’s shields just in time for Idris and the Doc to arrive. They materialize just as Nephew was about to reach Amy and Rory and the Ood is atomized.

The House runs through all the different ways he could kill the Doc and his pals. The Doc convinces the House not to kill them in exchange for helping the House get back to the main universe. He explains the House will have to delete rooms from within the TARDIS to get enough power to make it through the rift, so the House tries to delete the old control room they’re in. This was the Doc’s plan, however, as a failsafe was in place to transport living things inside rooms that are deleted to the main control room, which is where the Doctor et al currently are. The Doc stalls long enough for Idris’ body to die, releasing the TARDIS’ soul and allowing it to take back control from the House. The House is defeated and an apparition of Idris appears to tell the Doc that she’ll always be with him, but she won’t be able to talk to him anymore. Before she goes she manages to finally say hello to him properly and tell him it’s good to meet him. With that the apparition vanishes, but not before she can tell the Doctor she loves him.

Later on the Doc puts a firewall around the TARDIS’ matrix to make sure nothing like this can happen again. Rory tells the Doc that as she was dying Idris kept telling him, “The only water in the forest is the river.” Rory says she told him they’d need to know that someday, but it doesn’t make sense at the moment. The Doc chats away with the TARDIS despite it not being able to talk back and he works on making Amy and Rory a new bedroom since the House deleted their old one. When he’s alone he asks if the TARDIS can hear him and doesn’t get an answer, but some of the TARDIS’ controls do begin to move on their own.

The End

~~~~~

You’ll notice a conspicuous lack of a That Ain’t So Bad moment in my recap, and this one was on purpose because this was a genuinely enjoyable episode for me! The only painful moment was seeing the old control room, because that forced me to remember all the good times we had during the David Tennant glory years. I thought Suranne Jones did a great job as Idris, and it was really fun to be able to experience the TARDIS as an actual character. I could definitely feel Gaiman’s influence here, and this is by far my favorite episode of Steven Moffat’s reign as showrunner so far. I thought the House was a genuinely intimidating villain, but the episode didn’t feel bogged down in forced spookiness like it did during the Silence episodes.

I give “The Doctor’s Wife” QQQQ½ on the Five Q Scale.

We’ll see you again on Friday when Eli will get a glimpse into Rose’s world with the next episode of The Golden Girls, “Yokel Hero”, and then on Saturday we’ll keep this train a chuggin’ with the next episode of Doctor Who, “The Rebel Flesh”.

Until then, thanks for reading, thanks for being alive and thanks for being One of Us!

#doctor who #one of us

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davidmann95 · 8 years

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It's probably not smthn super interesting to you but, all the new Superman costumes when I looked at them just... reminded me of Connor, mostly? (I ended up playing with them to make a Superman Connor which was fun.) But my main question is, do you think that "Superman" is a name that could ever really be passed down, kind of like how Dick was given Batman (briefly)? Not in the way of lots of people rushing in, but DC seriously trying to introduce a new Superman? Who would you give that role?

Yeah, I can see that. Same basic design, just with a yellow negative space in the S and the yellow buckle on the belt.

As for the successor business, the idea of certain superhero identities as ‘off-limits’ has never quite sat right with me. Not everyone exactly demands that another hero take up their mantle - if Peter Parker was the one and only Spider-Man I don’t think many New Yorkers would notice for long, in-universe he’s a B-list superhero at best - but they’re bigger-than-life characters, often standing for things to their city or world larger than their own physical selves; it means something for that symbol to continue past whoever started it. I never liked old-school Earth-Two Dick Grayson staying Robin forever because he ‘wasn’t worthy’ to be Batman; the guy himself would have wanted that, he’d been doing it longer than Bruce by the time he died, and he had the same training and resources and motivation. And at least there’s the question with Batman of whether you legitimately could logistically equal the decades of unrelenting globe-spanning training he went through; with most heroes, if you have the power and the goodness of heart, you’re off to the races. Batman isn’t a mythical totem bound to the heart and soul of a single individual only to fade into the wind when Bruce Wayne passes on, it’s a suit he puts on that Dick Grayson or Tim Drake or Damian Wayne could put on too, and would have good reason to. And if Superman isn’t going to be Superman forever, whether that means he dies in battle or gets old or he goes off into space, there’s absolutely a reason for someone to fill that gap. Even if his immediate family didn’t, someone would.

Not to mention a lineage of Supermen and Superwomen stretching from the present to the 853rd century and beyond is just really cool. It gives you all kind of weird variants and possibilities even before you factor in the Multiverse, lets you do wild cross-time teamups, and plays with the ever-changing future of DC at any given time. And that they manage to exist is maybe the most tangible impact of Superman’s ideals across the breadth of space and time: the Starman legacy may eventually go rotten, the Green Lanterns may die out, the Allen/West line of Flashes has died about by Legion times, but eighty three thousand years down the line the moral imprint Kal-El leaves behind is still so strong that his great to the power of a hundred grandchildren, each and every one of whom could conquer galaxies, are to a woman and man the greatest heroes of their era. That such an impossible standard continues to be met in the face of infinite temptation in a time far farther away from us than the beginning of recorded history is the most monumental testament imaginable to how good Superman actually is at bringing out the best in people.

So who starts it?

Well, Kara as Superwoman’s an obvious choice - she’s got the power, she’s got the heart, and she’s the only other survivor of Krypton up to the task. But she’s always felt off as a successor to him for me - they spring from the same incident, so her motivations and origins are parallel to his rather than springing from him and his deal. She doesn’t wear the S-shield because of him, even if he’s the reason she calls herself ‘Supergirl’. It seems odd to discuss her as a successor in the same way as Batwoman for Batman - they’re associated characters, yes, but they’ve got their own things going on. More importantly they’d keep doing pretty much the same things they were already doing, in which case why bother getting rid of another character in the first place? Taking Superman’s place doesn’t do anything to Supergirl that her just growing up wouldn’t do with time anyway. It has to be someone where them entering that role represents a change.

The idea of Conner having to become Superman is loaded with potential, but that’s kind of the problem: I think the idea that he could be Superman one day is way more interesting than him actually being Superman would be. Maybe this is in part because I generally think of him as being a character of unfulfilled narrative potential, but the idea of this kinda goofy, rough-’n-tumble kid playing around with weird Kirby concepts and hanging out with the Teen Titans and resenting having to go to high school wondering if he might actually have to be Superman one day has a lot more going for it than whatever he’d actually be as Superman. I like the idea of the hybrid of Superman and Luthor being able to save the world in the way neither of them ever could, but only Luthor’s more unsavory aspects seem to be hinted at as a potential part of the package for Conner rather than his mighty intellect or ambition, so it mostly comes down to a stock Good Genes vs. Bad Genes argument that’s settled once and for all once he puts on the cape. Similarly, that he might fear the idea of being Superman the way a teenager fears having to get a 9-to-5 job when he grows up is fun - he knows that’s ultimately a thing he has to do to take care of those around him, and something he’ll probably be okay with when the time comes, but right now he’s not so sure he’s wild about it - but that means either he gets over it, or we get another Superman who often seems to hate being Superman. Plus he doesn’t have much of a background to draw on given he literally woke up on the day of his birth as a superhero, so again, aside from having to be a role model it’s not much of a logistical change for him. All-in-all while it’s interesting to see him in that role in potential futures, I think any destiny for Kon-El would probably be best served by him finding a different job title.

While I’d hope to see him in something a little more stylish than the above -maybe he could change costumes a lot, every time we see “Superman Secundus” he seems to wear a different uniform, so that could be a character detail - I think Jon Kent, the Boy of Tomorrow, would be the best option for a new Superman. For one big thing right upfront, while it’s probably about to be retconned out of him in March (probably for the best), he’s the one of the bunch who himself is the last son of a doomed world. Hell, more than that he’s the last son of a doomed DC Universe, the one way to feasibly one-up the significance of Krypton; even when he’ll have just been born on Earth, the idea of him as the final product of a classic DC has some potency.

That sense of legacy plays into something else with him: he’s the only one of the gaggle who actually thinks of Superman as Superman. Kara knew from day one that was just her cousin, Conner was born to be Superman, but Jon’s the one who grew up with Superman as his hero, not knowing just how true that was. He looks at Superman the way you look at Superman, and then he finds out his dad is Superman, coming at the idea from an even more direct place than Wally West. And being raised by Superman means he becomes a different character from him: he doesn’t grow up lonely and lost in the same ways Clark did, but he doesn’t have to go through the same trials or endure quite the same harsh lessons either. He’s could be the Nightwing to his Batman, not quite having the same kind of focus and drive but overall a better-adjusted person, which lets him go through the same basic motions you expect of Superman while still being a meaningfully different character.

Plus, he brings back a lot of Silver Age elements that don’t quite work for Superman anymore. I’m not a fan of Clark in-costume defending Smallville as Superboy, but Jon has Hamilton, meaning he can live out the whole Superboy status quo of defending a small town while also living as a normal schoolkid concealing his powers and super-brain. And while Clark becoming Superman is an all-but-meaningless name-change for Clark if he’s already been Superboy for years, for Jon that’s the biggest thing ever, making a career as Superboy much easier to pull off for him without invalidating anything. Plus, while the doofy Chris Reeve-style disguise doesn’t quite feel right anymore for Clark, it’d fit perfectly for someone as energetic and occasionally clumsy as Jon (especially if he parlays his obvious genius into the world of mad science as his day job when he grows up). You get the original Superman succeeded by the Silver Age Superman just as he was in the real world, and Jon brings enough to the table personality-wise while still being able to do the classic stuff (he can learn more about Krypton, but it’s fundamentally altered by being the home of his unknowable ancestors rather than the place he was born, for instance), and that differentiates him from the other two candidates. Obviously a lot of this is just potential no one has seized on yet, but if Superman set down the rules of the DCU, Jon grows up as a pure embodiment of that world, Super from childhood on and living without the burdens his dad had to. That to me makes him the most interesting possibility of the lot to see as a second Superman.

#Superman #Batman #Supergirl #Superboy #Conner Kent #Jon Kent #Opinion

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phooll123 · 7 years

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Here's outgoing Windows chief Terry Myerson's email to the troops

Microsoft is splitting up its Windows and Devices Group as part of a company-wide reorganization. As a result, 21-year Microsoft veteran and executive vice president Terry Myerson is leaving the company. Must read: Here's how (and why) Microsoft is splitting up Windows in its latest reorg | Windows chief Myerson out in Microsoft reorganization Myerson became head of the Windows and Devices Group in 2013. Since then, he has been overseeing 17,000 engineers. Microsoft is approaching 700 million active Windows 10 users now. In his email to the company's employees, Myerson said he had been discussing his departure with CEO Satya Nadella "for some time." He said his next priorities are to train for a half Ironman, learn to play piano or guitar, and learn more about genomics and robotics, plus spend more time with his family. Here's Myerson's March 29 mail to Microsoft employees (which Microsoft also posted to LinkedIn):

Thank you for 21 years, and onto the next chapter... It is an emotional day for me as I look toward starting my next chapter outside of Microsoft in a few months. Satya and I have been discussing this for some time, but today it becomes real. Actually sharing the news with the team, customers, and partners has been an incredibly intense experience. Microsoft has been my work, my team, and my purpose for 21 years.

The decision comes with a lot of reflection and special memories of the past two decades. With a blog like this, hopefully I can share a few lessons learned, and my ongoing enthusiasm for Microsoft. It's surreal to look back on how it all started. I recall meeting Bill Gates in 1996 as Microsoft was evaluating buying Intersé, one of the earliest Internet companies, which I founded with Midori Chan and Ed Hott way back in 1994. During our meeting, I remember being at the whiteboard explaining how we could infer a user's path through a web site based upon referring URL's in the website traffic logs (ok, this probably sounds very basic now, but it was advanced in those days!). I remember discussing with Bill how caching impacted the logs. I remember us both drinking "free" Diet Coke. I loved the discussion. I couldn't believe the CEO would dig into details at this level. Our discussion left me really wanting to join the team, and it was the beginning of my love for designing great software with the people at Microsoft. It's incredible to think that of the ~20 people who joined Microsoft in March 1997 from Intersé, five are still here (including both Midori and Ed, and Harvinder Bhela who helps lead Windows today, and Rajesh Potti, a developer on Office 365). 1997-2000 It's hard to believe that on my first day at Microsoft I met Satya, as we worked together on Site Server. I vividly recall attending a Seattle Mariners game with him in the late 90's when he first shared with me about his son and his medical challenges. I grew up a little that day. It's amazing what he has done as CEO. I believe in the strategy and vision the company is pursuing, and the leadership team here to make it happen. Joining a large company after being CEO of a startup is certainly an adjustment. I moved from Silicon Valley to Seattle. My title changed from "CEO" to "Product Unit Manager". I had a boss. But wow, Microsoft opened the world to me. I left the country for the first time in my life, talking to customers in Europe, Australia, Africa, and Asia about our work. My development team grew to over 100 people. I didn't have to worry about real estate or health care. A team of people was there to help with recruiting. Microsoft provided an environment and the resources to dream big, like I had never experienced before. I was hooked. A short time after joining, while at a volunteer event for Seattle Works, I met Katie. She was teaching 1st grade to English as a 2nd language students. She was so honest, smart, beautiful, and fun. Luckily for me, she eventually agreed to be my wife. 2001-2008 After Site Server, Perry Clarke convinced me to join him on the Exchange team. For the following 8 years, Exchange became my purpose. I learned so much about being a leader and running a large-scale software business during this time. It's crazy to look back at the Exchange team I joined, with a tightly coupled on-premise server design, low share vs Lotus Notes, and under $500M in revenue. Over the following 8 years we built the beginnings of today's cloud scale Office 365, became the leader in enterprise communications, and grew the business to over $2B. Katie and I had all 3 of our kids while I worked on Exchange. I will always love the Exchange team, customers, and partners. Some of the many great people I got to work with in these years were Dave Thompson, Jason Mayans, Vivek Sharma, Karim Batthish, Vanessa Feliberti, Mike Swafford, Naresh Sundaram, Jim Kleewein, David Lemson, Russ Simpson, Jim Van Eaton, Jon Avner, and Ian Jose. Exchange 2003 was codenamed Titanium (aka Ti), and in my office today, my wall has a picture of the Exchange team on the fields in front of our building. Looking back at my biggest learnings from Exchange, the biggest lessons centered around how to get a big engineering team to work well together- leveraging customer feedback loops to create intensity and energy, getting the team aligned around a shared schedule to create well integrated work, and the importance of consistently communicating to a large group of people to keep everyone in sync. 2008-2013

Then came October 2008. Over a year earlier, just prior to the iPhone launch, I was personally involved in negotiating the Exchange ActiveSync license with Apple. I was carrying a 2007 v1 iPhone (which I still have in my office today). I was an outspoken lover of smartphones and knew how important they would be. Enabling mobile connectivity was a key focus of Exchange. Android launched that September. But what I remember most vividly, was the Friday when Andy Lees and Robbie Bach asked me to lead Windows Mobile. I knew we had so much work to do on our non-touch no-app-store Windows Mobile effort. I was honored, and more than a little terrified. 10 days later my office moved across campus. The Windows Phone experience was incredibly challenging, and much has been written about it - but looking back, I am so proud to have been part of the team. It was during this time that I started working closely with current Windows leaders Henry Sanders, Joe Belfiore, Darren Laybourn, Bill Duff, Carlos Picoto, Chuck Friedman, Linda Norman, Chadd Knowlton, Richard Ward, KC Lemson, Erin Kolb, and Albert Shum. We innovated in phone user experience. We had innovative plans for the business model that never came to light. We worked hard. Really hard. But the industry moved forward faster than we could catch up. When the #1 seeded UVA basketball team got knocked out of the tournament a few weeks ago in the first round, my Intersé colleague and UVA alum Ed Hott posted a famous Teddy Roosevelt quote to his Facebook feed. Today, reflecting on the experience of everyone in the Windows Phone team, this quote resonates.

Looking back at this phase of my career, my biggest learnings were that success requires a special composition of business model, user experience, and technology. We had a differentiated experience, but it's so clear in hindsight that the disruption in business model which Android represented was enormous, and that building our early versions of Windows Phone on an incomplete Windows CE platform, designed for small embedded systems, left us too hobbled to ever catch up.

see all of ed bott's Windows 10 Tips

2013-now Then came spring 2013. At this time, despite the competitive challenges in the phone market, Windows Phone was doing relatively ok (which lead us to Nokia...) Ironically at that time, our biggest challenges were on the storied franchises of Windows (Windows 8) and Xbox. While meeting with Steve Ballmer on a Saturday in his office, he asked me to lead Xbox, Windows, and Windows Phone - and an incredible incubation now known as HoloLens. I was honored, and humbled to now be leading over 17,000 engineers and accountable for over $40B in revenue and $5B in operating income--but we had some real challenges. Over the coming months, we made some hard prioritization calls and made a multiyear commitment to get after it. Watching a team of Microsoft engineers reorient, get focused, and drive on a multiyear journey of deep technical innovation is a sight to behold. It is one of the purest expressions of Microsoft's capability to create. Today, I have a deep sense of pride in the great brands that are Windows 10, Xbox One, and the Surface family of devices we created together. Panos Panay, Phil Spencer, Alex Kipman, Roanne Sones, Dave Treadwell, Mike Fortin, Eric Lockard, Kudo Tsunoda, Nick Parker, Brad Anderson, Don Box, Gabe Aul, Kevin Dallas, Stevie Bathiche, Brett Ostrum, Yusuf Mehdi, Ilan Spillinger, Linda Averett, Mike Zintel, Mike Ybarra, David Hufford, Kareem Choudhry, Chuck Chan, Bonnie Ross, Matt Booty, Lydia Winters, and so many other leaders stand out for me during this phase of my journey. On my wall next to the Exchange team, will always be a picture of our Windows and Devices team. Again, out on the field (a much bigger field than we used for Exchange!) in configuration of the 12th man, to support the Seattle Seahawks as they headed to the Superbowl in 2014. A few weeks after we took this photo, Satya became CEO.

One of my favorite things about leading Windows has been the Windows fans. Throughgh good times and bad, I've loved your feedback. I've loved your passion for our work. I've loved your applause when we've done great work and I've loved the push to do better. One of my deeply held lessons from my Exchange days was the importance of that feedback loop with customers and fans, and that's why we created the Windows Insider Program so we could build Windows 10 led by your feedback. Now with 15 million members, you continue to make our product and our team better each and every day. Thank you. Today, we are now approaching 700 million active Windows 10 users, commercial usage is growing 84% year over year, Xbox One is running a Windows 10 core, Surface is leading PC innovation, HoloLens is bringing breakthroughs to computer vision, our universal Microsoft store enables Xbox GamePass, Azure reserved instances, and Office distribution, and the OEM ecosystem is revitalized with profitable growth. Last year, we finished the year with over $8B in operating income from our segment. My lessons from having the honor to lead Windows are many, but three really shine through to me today: Technology really can empower people to do great things. While that may just sound like a soundbite, the last few years I have felt it in new and meaningful ways, making me a real optimist about our future. Amongst so many other things, Windows has been a platform to consider basic human creativity, how students will learn in the future, how surgeons can will operate in the future, and how people who are blind can use their device without a display. Broadly define who is on your team. The passion, commitment, and sheer brilliance of the people across Microsoft has kept me inspired for 21 years. I am so proud of the teams I have had the honor to lead. Windows has taught me to appreciate that some of my best teammates are at other companies like Intel, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Asus, Acer, AMD, Qualcomm, Samsung, Best Buy, Adobe, Autodesk, Activision, Electronic Arts, and so many others. We have worked together to move the industry forward, creating opportunity for so many along the way. Have fun with it. My Microsoft journey has included some challenging days, but I barely remember them. Looking at a photo collection today, I see so many self-deprecating moments where our leaders have had some real fun. I have dressed up as Big Bird, a clown (a few times), Captain Kirk (twice), and Santa. I've been thrown in a lake (a few times). I have dressed as Braveheart's William Wallace and ridden a live horse into a team meeting (once). I have laughed so hard I've cried (many times). I will cherish these memories of sheer fun with the team as much as anything else I take away from my 21 years at Microsoft. So after working fulltime pretty much nonstop since I was 18, missing many a kids birthday while traveling for work, I'm ready for a break. I will now take some time to train for a half Ironman, learn to play the piano or guitar (my daughter is voting guitar, but having listened to Joe Belfiore and Chuck Friedman play piano on so many late nights, I'm leaning that way), learning more about genomics and robotics which fascinate me, and spending some overdue quality time with Katie and our kids. I couldn't be more appreciative of the support which Katie has shown me while I've been giving my all to Microsoft, and now I am excited to spend some unrushed time together. As I look back, I remember one particular afternoon a few years ago when I went for a walk around campus with the young founders of Beam who we had recently acquired (to help create Xbox Mixer!). That afternoon, I felt like I was going for a walk with my younger self, joining Microsoft with limitless enthusiasm, and eager to do great things. It was inspiring to welcome these incredible people, a new generation at Microsoft. I see this same energy and enthusiasm across Microsoft right now - a sure sign of even greater and more amazing things to come for this company. Leaving fills me with many emotions. But I'm mostly filled with gratitude and optimism - gratitude for the experiences I have had and optimism for the future ahead - both for Microsoft and myself.

-Terry @tmyerson ps. I'm editing this post today, the day before I will publish. I am sitting next to Bill Gates, we're both drinking a Microsoft provided "free" Diet Coke. This is my last scheduled meeting as leader of Windows and Devices at Microsoft. My team is debating with him the future of Project Rome and Windows Timeline. A great bookend to 21 amazing years with Microsoft.

Previous and related coverage

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