#michael jon carter imagine

[arttuff]

going out for burgers after a mission

[lylethewaterguy]

At least they’re canon where it counts

[twiststreet]

Maybe it’s just that I’m looking forward to the new Ben Affleck movie-- I just got a good feeling about that one--  and maybe I’m just a dumb guy who’s too tired to imagine a better world, anymore, but I find this response by tweet-slingers to this micro-trend kind of irritating because I just like that they’re making grown up movies.  “Oh no there’s a trend where they make movies for grown ups where”-- I’m going!  I’m fully going.  I don’t care what the trend is about.  Fuck!  

We just had 20 years of the worst nerds being swaddled in diapers-- I’m just not going to be angry that Ben Affleck is pivoting from being visibly suicidal in underoos to trying again.  Movies for grown ups that aren’t horror movies.  Movies for grown ups that aren’t Ti West’s X and being like “hey remember Texas Chainsaw” retread shit.  I’m all in!  I’m desperate for exactly that!  I don’t understand the lack of desperation out there, I guess.

Plus-- if you want to tell stories about America, that justify movie theaters, American business is a pretty valid topic?  People spend most of their lives at work.  American business and the products they create are, you know, parts of our lives.   These movies all have pretty easy to understand high concepts-- people like true-ish stories-- it’s not hard to explain what Air is about.  And this fits what a segment of Hollywood movies kind of are supposed to be which is ... if the last decade in special effect nonsense crowding everything out has taught me anything at least, it’s how “feel good, weightless bullshit for people to see on a Saturday night and not walk out of a theater bummed about” has a ton of merit-- all the mid-90′s Julia Roberts bangers et al. that got thrown away in the rush to celebrate nonsense-for-twerps.   

It’s not like it’s some entirely inexplicable thing, like-- not like the way it was in the 90′s, when suddenly the trend was “the 1970′s, huh?”  (But even that trend got us Boogie Nights and Dazed and Confused and... every trend has winners, is the other thing).  Five of these movies comin out at the same time is weird, but there were, like, 3 movies that came out about comets hitting the Earth one year-- that’s just a thing that happens. 

I don’t think it’s the same thing as when people were like “if you’re sick of superhero movies, go watch original movies like Jon Carter of Mars.”  I just don’t think it’s the same because it’s not trying to service the same audience.  I like also on that some level people are out there saying “why don’t we make a run at adult dramedies.”  If they’re going through the door that’s open for them, and this is the door... 

I know some people like to complain about everything (me), but... You know: I just got a good feeling about that Air, more than anything.  All the math on that one just seems correct to me, plus Affleck’s been killing it lately on smaller movies like the Way Way Back or he’s the only good thing in that lousy Tender Bar movie but he’s pretty darn good in that.  Air seems kind of neat especially after that dueling movie Affleck-Damon tried to talk people into, whatever that was.  Fuckin’ dueling?  I have debts, financial debts, I can’t be caring about dueling, Matt Damon, come on.  

The weirdest and most dishonest response to Air to me are people going “isn’t Michael Jordan a more important story than the shoe, why didn’t they tell his story” but I would 1000% not go to a Michael Jordan biopic.  I have seen a biopic before-- they’re the most boring movies on Earth-- everyone knows Jordan’s story already because he was a global icon so there’s no drama there whatsoever-- plus, there’s not an actor who’s right to play Michael Jordan, given that’s a pretty peculiar person on top of the athleticism. Jordan, I wouldn’t even watch the trailer...??  

(There’s also one’s about that weirdo who tried to steal all the credit for Flamin Hot Cheetos-- that one’s doing that creep’s version of the story, though, where he’s some Hero-- the fact they made that a movie makes me uncomfortable.  I don’t want to know anything about that one...)

[thwackk]

would you rather have the power to talk to animals, turn into an animal, or enter/exit the world of comics at will (while in the comic you have your normal knowledge but you're a regular human)?

Name a DC character you like that isn't Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, Michael Jon Carter, or Ted Kord 😊

Rank the following from best to not-best: unicorn, horse, giraffe!

Mangoes, bananas, or butterflies?

What inspires you to draw (fics you've read, TV/videos/movies you just watched, other creators, your daydreams/imagination, etc.)?

What advice would you give your younger self?

1. turn into an animal because i would become a cat and never do anything for the rest of my life, my family would assume me dead

2. I am in love with scott free (mister miracle)

3. horse, giraffe, unicorn (they are not real)

4. i wanna know what the correlation between those three things is

5. my brain and comics. also fics on the rare occasion that i find a good one

6. don’t be a bitch 👍

[howlingday]

And I’m just imagining the JLA consists of:

Yang (Superwoman)

Weiss (Blue Beatle)

Blake (Batwoman)

Ruby (The Flash)

Kyle Raynor (Green Lantern)

Atom (Ryan Choi)

Changling (Arella Logan, daughter of Garfield Logan aka Beast Boy and Rachel Roth aka Raven)

Brion Markov (Geoforce)

Victor Stone (Cyborg)

Michael Jon Carter (Booster Gold)

Christopher Smith (Peacemaker)

Khalid Nassour (Dr Fate)

Swamp Thing

Zatanna Zatara

That definitely looks like an impressive line-up.

[phantom-le6]

Ramble of the month December 2023: Phase 4 of the Batman Begins-Led DCEU

We now come to the last ramble of 2023, and to keep me from feeling more stress than I need to around the occasion I often call Stress-Mas, I’m sticking with my comfort zone of superhero film universes that could have been.  In this case, it’s back to imagining the DCEU that could have been if Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins had launched DC’s live-action film continuity instead of Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel.  So, let’s get right into it by quickly re-capping phases 1-3.

Phase 1:

2005: Batman Begins

2006: Man of Steel

2007: Wonder Woman

2008: The Dark Knight, Green Lantern

2009: The Flash, Man of Steel 2

2010: Aquaman, Justice League

Phase 2:

2011: Wonder Woman 2, Green Lantern 2, Green Arrow

2012: Hawkman, Batman/Superman, Aquaman 2

2013: John Constantine, The Flash 2, Suicide Squad

2014: Justice League 2, Green Arrow 2, Batman: The Long Crusade

Phase 3:

2015: Shazam, Man of Steel 3, The Atom

2016: Wonder Woman 3, Batgirl, Teen Titans

2017: Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Shazam vs Black Adam, Suicide Squad 2

2018: Justice League: Darkseid Rising, Aquaman 3, Doom Patrol

So, phase 1 is basically there to establish the DC universe in a film format and get the Justice League together.  Phase 2 builds on that foundation, but it also takes a big whack at it by having Batman’s caution over his colleagues going rogue cause issues within the league.  With Green Arrow 2, the caution proves apt and brings about a lot of change, which is followed up in phase 3.  Now with the third Justice League film focusing on a prelude to an attack by Darkseid, one may assume phase 4 will take a similar tack to phase 3 of the real-life MCU and play into similar plot threads to Infinity War and Endgame.  However, when we look into phase 4, things aren’t totally what you’d expect.

Phase 4:

2019: Superman: Doomsday, New Gods, Teen Titans: The Judas Contract

2020: Suicide Squad: Arkham, Knightfall, Green Arrow 3

2021: Reign of the Supermen, Green Lantern: Twilight, Knightsend

2022: Justice League: Armageddon, Teen Titans 3, Justice Society

Looking at this, the more knowledgeable DC fans out there can probably see what I mean when I talk about phase 4 maybe not going where you’d think.  We’re channelling some major shake-up story arcs from the 1990’s in this phase, so expect the unexpected is definitely a must.  However, for those who may be less knowledgeable and for those who want to get into the blow-by-blow details, let’s check these hypothetical DCEU phase 4 films.

Superman: Doomsday (2019) Directed by JJ Abrams

Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent = Brandon Routh

Lois Lane = Kate Bosworth

Kara Zor-El/Supergirl = Dakota Fanning

Doomsday = Terry Notary

Lex Luthor = Kelsey Grammer

Mercy Graves = Scarlett Johannsen

John Henry Irons = Aldis Hodge

Hank Henshaw = John Kraskinski

Terri Henshaw = Kate Mara

Martha Kent = Diane Lane

Jonathan Kent = Kevin Costner

Jor-El = Russell Crowe

Dr Emil Hamilton = Richard Schiff

Perry White = Sam Neill

Jimmy Olsen = Rider Strong

Cat Grant = January Jones

Steve Lombard = Josh Brolin

Capt. Maggie Sawyer = Jeri Ryan

Insp. Turpin = Colin Farrell

Bibbo Bibbowski = Luke Hemsworth

Mongul = Ioan Gruffudd

Guy Gardner = Damian Lewis

Dinah Lance/Black Canary = Malin Akerman

J'onn J'onzz/Martian Manhunter = Chiwetel Ejiofor

Barry Allen/The Flash = Matt Damon

Booster Gold/Michael Jon Carter = Alexander Ludwig

Fire/Beatriz Bonilla da Costa = Selena Gomez

Ice/Tora Olafsdotter = Kristine Froseth

Mari McCabe/Vixen = Lupita Nyong'o

To date, the Death of Superman story arc of the 1990’s has had three adaptations in film.  The first was an animated home-release film called Superman: Doomsday, which heavily shortened the death arc and went a long way off the original source material story regarding Superman’s absence and eventual return.  Next came Zack Snyder’s Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, which essentially shoe-horned a version of the story into its ending, then mangled the resurrection arc between Snyder and Joss Whedon in the 2017 Justice League film.  Third were the DCAMU film adaptations from 2018 and 2019, with the first being a fairly accurate adaptation of the Death arc, while the second film was similarly good quality on part 2.

For this alternate DCEU, I’d want to borrow the title of the first attempt, ignore anything Snyder-based and try for a longer and slightly different variation on what the DCAMU gave us.  As a result, we still get a good quality adaptation without being a carbon copy.  The plot is roughly the same, in that Superman would have to go up against an alien monster called Doomsday, and has to lay down his life to end the threat.  However, changes include the Justice League line-up aiding him, Lex Luthor isn’t trying to pass himself off as his illegitimate Australian son (don’t know what the comics were thinking on that one), and of course it’s the more modern Supergirl on hand instead of the 90’s version.

The cast is mostly retained from prior films, though a few are new in this film, specifically Doomsday, the Henshaws, Bibbowski, Mongul and JL members Fire, Ice and Booster Gold.  In addition, there’s a change of direction; up to now, each Superman film has had different directors, going from Roland Emmerich to Ron Howard to Guillermo del Toro, with Rob Marshall directing the Batman/Superman film in phase 2.  This time, it’s JJ Abrams taking up the reigns, having previously been my selection for the two Flash solo films of this alternate DCEU.

New Gods (2019) Directed by Ridley Scott

Scott Free/Mister Miracle = Charlie Cox

Barda Free/Big Barda = Lindsay Kay Hayward

Darkseid = Bernard Hill

Izaya the Inheritor/Highfather = Brian Cox

Orion = Tom Hardy

Solis/Lightray = Charlie Hunnam

Bekka = Danielle Fishel

Metron = Jonny Lee Miller

Forager = Steven Yeun

DeSaad = David Wenham

Mantis = Winston Duke

Virman Vundabar = August Diehl

Granny Goodness = Stockard Channing

Bernadeth = Rachel Weisz

Bloody Mary = Jennifer Stone

Lashina = Kristin Kreuk

Mad Harriett = Hannah John-Kamen

Stompa = Ronda Rousey

Steppenwolf = Ciarán Hinds

Kalibak = Liev Schreiber

For this film, we’re following up on events from the previous Justice League film as well as our Death of Superman adaptation.  With Superman down, the heroes Mister Miracle and Big Barda return to their home-world of New Genesis in an attempt to bring their kin to Earth’s defence against an almost-certain assault by Darkseid.  However, their leader Highfather is unwilling to violate a non-aggression pact between their world and Darkseid’s planet Apokolips.  However, Darkseid is less scrupulous and facing potential usurpation by Virman Vundabar, so it’s actually New Genesis that comes under attack.

This film is very much about getting a better look at Darkseid and his supporting cast, while at the same time getting to explore the New Gods and paying cinematic homage to one of the more notable Jack Kirby creations from his DC Comics work.  Mister Miracle, Big Barda, Darkseid, DeSaad, Steppenwolf and Kalibak are brought back from the last Justice League film, while everyone else is introduced for the first time.  The castings of Danielle Fishel and Jennifer Stone attest to the attention I’ve paid at times to Disney Channel sit-coms (in this case, Boy Meets World/Girl Meets World and Wizards of Waverley Place, respectively), while most others are from a smattering of various mainstream films and shows.

As we’re dealing with alien worlds, I picked Aliens director Ridley Scott to helm this one.  This is a first-time pick for this alternate DCEU.

Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (2019) Directed by Matthew Vaughan

Richard Grayson/Robin/Nightwing = Patrick Schwarzenegger

Koriand'r/Starfire = Elle Fanning

Donna Troy/Wonder Girl = Ciara Bravo

Wallace "Wally" West/Kid Flash = Calum Worthy

Raven = Maisie Williams

Victor Stone/Cyborg = Ashton Sanders

Garfield "Gar" Logan/Beast Boy = Dylan Sprayberry

Tara Markov/Terra = Emma Bading

Joseph Wilson/Jericho = Brenock O'Connor

Slade Wilson/Deathstroke = Daniel Day-Lewis

Sebastian Blood/Brother Blood = Tyler Hoechlin

Mother Mayhem = Jennifer Connelly

Adeline Kane = Kristin Davis

Wintergreen = Martin Shaw

The Judas Contract is a 1980’s story arc for the young heroes that’s seen a couple of adaptations, first in the team’s animated series of the early 2000’s and then as a film within the DCAMU.  It’s a good tragic story, as well as a coming-of-age story about being careful who you trust.  This film version would try to adapt it a bit closer to the comics, including the incorporation of Deathstroke’s mute son Jericho, his estranged wife Adeline and his best friend Wintergreen.  The film would also showcase Dick Grayson’s shift from Robin to Nightwing, and since Terra is of Eastern/Mid-European descent like her brother in the Outsiders, the casting takes this into account.

While the main Titans and Deathstroke return from past films, Terra and the other characters are new.  Emma Bading is a German actress with a decent filmography who would be of comparable age to the other Titans, hence her selection.  Direction-wise, I’m looking to Matthew Vaughan, having previously picked him in this alternate DCEU for the solo Green Lantern films, based primarily on the work he did on X-Men: First Class.

Suicide Squad: Arkham (2020) Directed by Guillermo del Toro

Amanda Waller = Viola Davis

Rick Flag Jr. = Joel Kinnaman

Floyd Lawton/Deadshot = Christian Slater

Captain Boomerang/Digger Harkness = Hugh Jackman

Dr Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn = Margot Robbie

Ben Turner/Bronze Tiger = Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Cheshire/Jade Nguyen = Rila Fukushima

Nanaue/King Shark = Sylvester Stalone

Claire Selton/Volcana = Kirsten Stewart

Killer Croc/Waylon Jones = Tyler Mane

Cluemaster/Arthur Brown = Martin McDonagh

Cavalier/Mortimer Drake = Kit Harington

Sonar/Bito Wladon = Silvio Simac

Baffler/Titus Czonka = Michael Chicklis

Bane = Rodrigo Santoro

Angel Vallelunga/Bird = Diego Luna

Zombie = Stephen Merchant

Trogg = Luis Guzmán

Dr Jeremiah Arkham = Dan Stevens

Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin = Sean Astin

Det. Crispus Allen = Djimon Honsou

Det. Peter Foley = Matt Le Blanc

Barbara Gordon/Batgirl = Bella Thorne

Having used Guillermo del Toro of Blade 2 fame to helm a third solo Superman film and the second Suicide Squad film of this alternate DC film universe, I’ve brought him back for a film that leads directly into the Knightfall/Knightsend duology.  In this case, Amanda Waller has heard rumours of a new player in Gotham City planning to make some kind of move on Arkham Asylum.  To that end, she recruits two Suicide Squads; one made up mostly of lesser Gotham villains who are to find out who the new player is and stop them, the other as back-up in case the first team fails or turns traitor.  As to why team 1 lacks the usual explosive fail-safes, this is so Waller can avoid being found out, as Batman is wise to such things.  However, as the film progresses, it’s more Batgirl and Detectives Allen and Foley of the GCPD who periodically disrupt the operation.

As the plot develops, the threat of Bane is ultimately revealed, at great cost to the Squad.  In fact, this is where the first real shock probably comes in, because this film will see Harley Quinn killed by Bane.  This is done largely to show that no one is safe from Bane and increase the stakes for the upcoming Batman films, but it also sets up for a Joker-related film plot in the next phase of this alternate DCEU.  I won’t go into unpicking all the new versus old casting on this one; if you look through my Ramble articles past on this alternate DCEU, you’ll be able to see for yourselves.

Knightfall (2020) Directed by Matt Reeves

Bruce Wayne/Batman = Christian Bale

Alfred Pennyworth = Michael Caine

Tim Drake/Robin II = David Mazouz

Lucius Fox = Morgan Freeman

James "Jim" Gordon = Gary Oldman

Bane = Rodrigo Santoro

Angel Vallelunga/Bird = Diego Luna

Zombie = Stephen Merchant

Trogg = Luis Guzmán

Jean-Paul Valley/Azrael/Batman II = Connor Jessup

Nomoz = Michael Klebba

Det. Harvey Bullock = Donal Logue

Det. Renee Montoya = Penelope Cruz

The Joker = Willem Dafoe

Dr Pamela Isley/Poison Ivy = April Bowlby

Edward Nygma/Riddler = John Barrowman

Arnold Wesker/Ventriloquist = Giovanni Ribisi

Burt Weston/Film Freak = Luke Mitchell

Jervis Tetch/Mad Hatter = Matthew Jaeger

Aaron Helzinger/Amygdala = David Denman

Victor Zsasz = Elijah Wood

Maxie Zeus = Goran Višnjić

Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow = Cillian Murphy

Carleton LeHah = Lambert Wilson

Jack Drake = Tobey Maguire

Mrs. McIlvaine = Sinéad Cusack

Dr Shondra Kinsolving = Aisha Tyler

Mayor Armand Krol = Eli Roth

Dr Jeremiah Arkham = Dan Stevens

Dr Simpson Flanders = Aaron Taylor-Johnson

Knightfall is an epic-length film that covers much of the comic story arc of the same name from Batman comics on the 1990’s.  In the original arc, Bane breaks out all the villains of Arkham Asylum, forcing an already weary Batman to exhaust himself chasing down the escapees prior to a showdown with Bane.  In that showdown, Bane broke Batman’s back, forcing Bruce Wayne to hand the cape-and-cowl over to apprentice superhero Jean-Paul Valley, who was trying to overcome brainwashing he’d undergone to be an assassin of sorts called Azrael.  After an opening act to introduce Azrael a few months prior, the film then jumps in at the moment the preceding Suicide Squad film ends; with Bane firing a rocket at Arkham to bust the villains out.

With a montage here and there to expedite matters, Batman wears himself down as before, only to be broken by Bane as in the comics, and as before, Jean-Paul is handed the mantle of the Batman.  However, it soon becomes clear this may have been a mistake, and when Jean-Paul confronts Bane, it’s uncertain whether the new Batman will triumph over his mental trauma or not.  The film contains a huge ensemble cast and covers a wide range of Batman characters both good and evil.  To direct, I’ve picked Matt Reeves, who did the Planet of the Apes reboots and in this alternate DCEU has already helmed the third solo Batman film.

Green Arrow 3 (2020) Directed by Rian Johnson

Oliver Queen/Green Arrow = Ethan Hawke

Dinah Lance/Black Canary = Malin Akerman

Connor Hawke/Green Arrow II = Levon Hawke

Eddie Fyers = Seth Green

Roy Harper/Speedy/Arsenal = Cameron Monaghan

Veronica Dale/Hyrax = Anna Kendrick

Leopard/Leonard/Ed Pinkwater = Ian Somerhalder

Camorouge = Émilie Dequenne

Callendar = Jon Cryer

Dreyfus = Method Man

Nathan = Sam Worthington

Paine = Michael B Jordan

Monroe = Jon Bernthal

Belle = Sara Paxton

Green Lantern/Hal Jordan = Ben Affleck

As 90’s DC fans might guess, this film is all about adapting Oliver Queen’s death from 90’s comics into film, though I swap Superman out for Green Lantern on three counts.  First, slating this film for in-between Superman’s death and return prohibits his involvement.  Two, Hal and Ollie have long had a major bromance to add greater importance to the climax.  Three, it makes the built-up to our solo GL film a bit better, as we will see.  Aside from Hal Jordan, only Oliver Queen, Dinah and Roy are returning rolls, while the rest of the characters are all new and largely exclusive to this film and its storyline.

What is the story line, beyond killing the original Green Arrow?  Well, like the comics, Ollie goes undercover with a group of eco-terrorists to uncover their plans, but he starts to fall for a member of the group, and at the same time, Ollie’s illegitimate son shows up looking to connect with his dad.  For film direction, I’ve gone with Rian Johnson, a new selection for our alternate DCEU based on his work with the Star Wars film The Last Jedi.

Reign of the Supermen (2021) Directed by JJ Abrams

Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent = Brandon Routh

Lois Lane = Kate Bosworth

Kara Zor-El/Supergirl = Dakota Fanning

Hank Henshaw/Cyborg Superman = Brandon Routh

The Eradicator = Brandon Routh

Conner Kent/Con-El/Superboy = Asher Angel

Mongul = Ioan Gruffudd

Lex Luthor = Kelsey Grammer

Mercy Graves = Scarlett Johannsen

John Henry Irons/Steel = Aldis Hodge

Jaina Hudson/White Rabbit = Hayley Kiyoko

Green Lantern/Hal Jordan = Ben Affleck

Martha Kent = Diane Lane

Jonathan Kent = Kevin Costner

Jor-El = Russell Crowe

Dr Emil Hamilton = Richard Schiff

Perry White = Sam Neill

Jimmy Olsen = Rider Strong

Cat Grant = January Jones

Steve Lombard = Josh Brolin

Capt. Maggie Sawyer = Jeri Ryan

Insp. Turpin = Colin Farrell

Bibbo Bibbowski = Luke Hemsworth

Obviously, this film covers the return of Superman arc in much the same way as the comics do in the broadest sense; four Supermen turn up, Lois tries to work out who the real one is, one turns out to be a villain in league with the alien tyrant Mongul, whose role is expanded in this film.  Their plans destroy Hal Jordan’s home town of Coast City, but Metropolis is saved by the returning real Superman.  The film borrows a bit from its DCAMU counterpart by simplifying the Eradicator’s history, and indeed over this film and the previous Superman one we’ve done the same with Hank Henshaw.  This is because the characters had prior history with Superman in the comics, but our film continuity wouldn’t cover that, so a bit of a tweak is in order.

Now because both the Eradicator and Henshaw were meant to resemble Superman outwardly to some extent, the casting of them is now a matter of putting Brandon Routh into those roles as well as playing his original Superman role in the third act.  We also get another step on Hal Jordan’s descent into darkness, something that hasn’t had a proper adaptation in any media.  The closest we’ve come is the last Green Lantern solo film in DC’s Tomorrow-verse continuity, which frankly isn’t that good, but more on this under the next film.  JJ Abrams remains the director here to keep things consistent within this duology.

Green Lantern: Twilight (2021) Directed by Sam Raimi

Green Lantern/Hal Jordan/Parallax = Ben Affleck

Carol Ferris = Liv Tyler

Tom Kalmaku = Taika Waititi

Thaal Sinestro = Mark Strong

Kilowog = Tyrese Gibson

Kyle Rayner/Green Lantern II = Taylor Lautner

Alex DeWitt = Hunter King

Clifford Zmeck/Major Force = Luke Evans

Mongul = Ioan Gruffudd

Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent = Brandon Routh

Boodikka = Gina Carano

Ke'Haan = Kevin Durand

Laira = Emma Stone

Kreon = Ryan Philippe

Ganthet = Patrick Stewart

Sayd = Glenn Close

Appa Ali Apsa = Hugo Weaving

Tomar Tu = Tom Hiddleston

Jack T. Chance = Colton Haynes

Hannu = Lee Pace

Graf Toren = Hiroyuki Sanada

As you might imagine, this film would be filmed in close proximity to the two before it to facilitate the various cross-over aspects of it.  This time, we’re doing the Emerald Twilight/New Dawn story arc, in which Hal Jordan suffers a mental breakdown after his home town is destroyed during the events of Superman’s return.  In a fit of anger, he rampages across the stars to Oa, home planet of the Green Lantern Corps, defeating fellow lanterns and swiping their power rings.  After a final showdown with his friend Kilowog and enemy Sinestro, Hal takes all the power of the central Lantern battery, becoming a villain known as Parallax who plans to remake the universe to prevent the destruction of Coast City.  However, a last member of the Guardians travels to Earth and bestows a last Lantern ring on freelance artist Kyle Rayner, and thus a new Green Lantern is found, but one who must master the ring with no GL corps or Guardians to guide him.

Again, not going to unpick who is new and who is long-standing for this film as it would be a bit long-winded to explain.  However, as we don’t really include Golden Age superheroes like original GL Alan Scott, exposition regarding Hal’s actions to Kyle ends up coming from Superman’s appearances in the film, as well as human GLs Guy Gardner and John Stewart.  Due to the way Hal acts in this story arc, not to mention this film adapting the infamous murder of Kyle Rayner’s girlfriend, I picked Sam Raimi to direct this film based on his horror film background.  Raimi was also my pick to direct a John Constantine one-off film in phase 2 of this alternate DCEU.

Knightsend (2021) Directed by Matt Reeves

Bruce Wayne/Batman = Christian Bale

Alfred Pennyworth = Michael Caine

Tim Drake/Robin II = David Mazouz

Jean-Paul Valley/Azrael/Batman II = Connor Jessup

Lucius Fox = Morgan Freeman

James "Jim" Gordon = Gary Oldman

Bane = Rodrigo Santoro

Richard Grayson/Nightwing = Patrick Schwarzenegger

Jack Drake = Tobey Maguire

Mrs. McIlvaine = Sinéad Cusack

Dr Shondra Kinsolving = Aisha Tyler

Mayor Armand Krol = Eli Roth

Det. Harvey Bullock = Donal Logue

Det. Renee Montoya = Penelope Cruz

The Joker = Willem Dafoe

Tallyman = Bill Skarsgard

Lady Shiva = Ming-Na Wen

Tony Bressi = Milo Ventimiglia

Arnold Etchison/Abattoir = Robert Kazinsky

Benedict Asp = Jason Isaacs

Colonel Vega = David Nykl

Yuri = John Morrison

Graham Etchison = Bill Hader

Penn Selkirk = Jason Sudeikis

Carter = Liam Cunningham

Barbara Gordon/Batgirl = Bella Thorne

When Bruce’s doctor Shondra Kinsolving is abducted, the crippled Bruce Wayne begins a search that leads to the healing of his back at great cost, while Jean-Paul Valley grows increasingly unstable.  Now heavily armoured and armed, this Batman is more brutal, and when a man dies from Jean-Paul’s behaviour, the recovered Bruce Wayne must begin a crash-course in the fighting arts in order to confront his errant replacement and reclaim the mantle of the bat.  Again keeping Matt Reeves in the directorial position for duology consistency, this film focuses on the follow-up to Knightfall as the defeated Bane is moved aside and the battle comes out as original Batman versus would-be replacement.

Justice League: Armageddon (2022) Directed by The Russo Brothers

Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent = Brandon Routh

Diana/Wonder Woman = Kate Beckinsale

J'onn J'onzz/Martian Manhunter = Chiwetel Ejiofor

Barry Allen/The Flash = Matt Damon

Kyle Rayner/Green Lantern II = Taylor Lautner

Fire/Beatriz Bonilla da Costa = Selena Gomez

Ice/Tora Olafsdotter = Kristine Froseth

Arthur Curry/Aquaman = Chris Pine

Dinah Lance/Black Canary = Malin Akerman

Amanda Waller = Viola Davis

Floyd Lawton/Deadshot = Christian Slater

Ben Turner/Bronze Tiger = Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Killer Croc/Waylon Jones = Tyler Mane

Jaina Hudson/White Rabbit = Hayley Kiyoko

Weather Wizard/Mark Mardon = Michael Fassbender

Shimmer = Anna Faris

Eve Eden/Nightshade = Debby Ryan

Dr Pamela Isley/Poison Ivy = April Bowlby

Scott Free/Mister Miracle = Charlie Cox

Barda Free/Big Barda = Lindsay Kay Hayward

Darkseid = Bernard Hill

Orion = Tom Hardy

Metron = Jonny Lee Miller

Granny Goodness = Stockard Channing

Bernadeth = Rachel Weisz

Bloody Mary = Jennifer Stone

Lashina = Kristin Kreuk

Mad Harriett = Hannah John-Kamen

Stompa = Ronda Rousey

Steppenwolf = Ciarán Hinds

Kalibak = Liev Schreiber

Dr Niles Caulder/The Chief = Pierce Brosnan

Clifford Steele/Robot Man = Johnny Whitworth

Larry Trainor/Negative Man = Alessandro Nivola

Rita Farr/Elasti-Girl = Alyssa Milano

Mento/Steve Dayton = Nathan Fillion

Bumblebee/Karen Beecher = Kyla Pratt

Vox/Malcom Duncan = Donald Glover

Hal Jordan/Parallax = Ben Affleck

John Stewart = Derek Luke

Guy Gardner = Damian Lewis

Wallace "Wally" West/Kid Flash = Calum Worthy

Our latest Justice League film brings a few different plot threads in from past films.  Following the events of Justice League: Darkseid Rising, the death and return of Superman and the New Gods film, Darkseid finally dares to try and assault Earth.  Forewarned by survivors sent from New Genesis, the Justice League gathers what heroes it can, and also reaches out to the Suicide Squad.  The Doom Patrol also appears, but at the climax of the film, as Darkseid takes to the field of battle, there are two major shocks; the death of the Flash, and the arrival of Parallax, who decides to wipe out the forces of Apokalips.  Suddenly it's not an alien tyrant who threatens the armageddon of the film’s title, but one of their very own turned to darkness by grief and fear.

The film has a huge ensemble cast, largely reprising roles from past films.  Debby Ryan as Suicide Squad member Nightshade is the sole piece of new casting in this film, and as for direction, I decided that the work done by the Russo Brothers in the MCU, especially Infinity War and Endgame, earns them the chance to direct this film and one or two subsequent instalments in this film universe.

Teen Titans 3 (2022) Directed by Matthew Vaughan

Richard Grayson/Nightwing = Patrick Schwarzenegger

Koriand'r/Starfire = Elle Fanning

Donna Troy/Wonder Girl/Troia = Ciara Bravo

Raven = Maisie Williams

Victor Stone/Cyborg = Ashton Sanders

Garfield "Gar" Logan/Beast Boy = Dylan Sprayberry

Trigon = Viggo Mortensen

Dr Arthur Light = James McAvoy

Cassie Sandsmark/Wonder Girl II = Amiah Miller

M'Gann M'orzz/Miss Martian = Marsai Martin

Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle = Iñaki Godoy

Tim Drake/Robin II = David Mazouz

Conner Kent/Con-El/Superboy = Asher Angel

Roy Harper/Speedy/Arsenal = Cameron Monaghan

Tempest/Garth = Luke Benward

For this film, we retain Matthew Vaughan from our last Teen Titans film for directing and explain the absence of the Teen Titans from Justice League: Apocalypse a little.  Following an arc over all three Teen Titans films, Raven is struggling to contain her father’s presence, but after a major fight with the villainous Doctor Light, Trigon manages to possess Raven and attacks the Titans through her.  With the main team decimated, a group of new, younger teen heroes rise to aid their predecessors.  By the end, what Titans remain would not be in much shape to fight, win or lose.  Much of the cast is retained from past films, with the characters of Doctor Light, Wonder Girl II, Miss Martian and Blue Beetle being the newcomers for this instalment.

Justice Society (2022) Directed by James Gunn

Jay Garrick/Flash = Miles Teller

Alan Scott/Green Lantern = Lucas Till

Ted Grant/Wildcat = Robbie Amell

Rex Tyler/Hourman = Adam DeVine

Carter Hall/Hawkman = Sullivan Stapleton

Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl = Jessica Alba

Billy Batson/Shazam = Zachary Gordon/Zachary Levi

Isaac Brown/Fiddler = Stephen Dorff

Cameron Mahkent/Icicle = Sendhil Ramamurthy

Richard Swift/Shade = Anthony Carrigan

Paula Brooks/Huntress = Gemma Chan

Neal Emerson/Doctor Polaris = Nicholas Hoult

Henry King Jr./Brain Wave = Ray Stevenson

Hal Jordan/Parallax = Ben Affleck

Black Adam/Teth-Adam = Dwayne Johnson

Metron = Jonny Lee Miller

Closing out phase 4 of my alternate DCEU is a take on the Justice Society that borrows from a Justice League animated series story line and Marvel’s Wandavision series.  In this film, Hawkman, Hawkgirl and Shazam wake up in a world where they’re part of the Justice Society, a superhero team operating in a 1950’s-style American mid-west town.  Though they initially suspect nothing wrong, Hawkman’s past life memories and Shazam’s wisdom of Soloman begin to disrupt a strange mental hold, and as they do, the infamous Injustice Guild becomes much deadlier.  In reality, Parallax is doing a test-run of his proposed plans to the time stream, but as the test is disrupted from within, the New God Metron convinces anti-hero Black Adam to interfere from without.

For direction, I went with James Gunn out of curiosity to see what he could do with this, given that in real life he’s become the DC film-verse’s equivalent to Marvel’s Kevin Feige.  In terms of casting, the individual characters mentioned in the paragraph above are all returning actors, while everyone else is new and exclusive to this film.  As for why I think this would be a good approach on the Justice Society, that’s down to a desire to pay homage to the early comics in a way that’s nostalgic while also advancing the Parallax story arc.

So, that’s it for phase 4 of this alternate DCEU.  More to come on this and my alternate MCU in the new year, but not right away as I’m hoping to get more variation on the go in the new year.  So, until next month, Merry Christmas to everyone celebrating that occasion, Happy Holidays for those celebrating something else, have a prosperous new year when we get to the end of this year, and otherwise ta-ta for now.

[ragingbookdragon]

He Said, "Times Like These I Don't Want To Be A Superstar"

Booster Gold x Batbro One-Shot

Word Count: 1.3K Warnings: Slight Angst

Author's Note: BOOSTER GOLD. BOOSTER GOLD. BOOSTER GOLD IS A HERO AND YOU WILL RESPECT HIM, EVEN IF HE'S A MORON. -Thorne

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

He’d noticed that the eldest Wayne son liked to watch the people he was around—much like his father did—listening, learning, piecing together what made people tick, what made them do the things they did. Booster was sure the man could pull a Sherlock and tell someone every piece of their life history just by a single glance. They’d gone on two dates—if you could count one Justice League mission where they worked together and then a training session afterwards, dates. And yet, he’d still not asked Booster about his past. He had no doubt that Batman had given his son free reign of the Batcomputer files; he’d read up on Booster…why hadn’t he asked?

***

They slid into the diner booth, both rather beat after the long training session. Booster was beginning to feel pain in places he wasn’t sure he was supposed to, but (Y/N)’d assured him it was all normal during the process of learning Muay Thai. Booster had watched Batman and (Y/N) go out it for about ten minutes with the martial arts form, and even Clark was wincing with each kick, knee, and elbow the two exchanged. And then (Y/N) got Booster in the ring and started training him; he was grateful—his hand-to-hand was basic at best.

Still though, he wasn’t sure how to act around (Y/N). He’d heard stories of the black op squad leaders exploits, the great SPECTRES running around the world, saving it and the places where the Justice League overlooked; Batman wasn’t too fond of the killing, but he beamed with pride when he talked about (Y/N)’s squad taking down terrorist groups and human trafficking rings. Booster wasn’t jealous, but he wanted to learn from the man. Wanted to know how he was so well liked within the superhero community, and just by normal people.

“You’re doing it again,” (Y/N) suddenly said and Booster shook himself out of his stupor, blinking as he gazed at the man, watching as he merely took a glance around the room.

“Doing what?” Booster asked.

He chuckled. “That thing where you think so hard everyone can smell the smoke billowing out of your ears.”

Booster flushed. “Sorry. Just thinking…about stuff.”

(Y/N) met his eyes. “Anything you feel like sharing with the class?”

Booster grinned, though the smile dropped into a frown as he took a moment to find the correct way to communicate his worries. “How much do you know…about me? Like really know about me?”

“How much do you want me to tell you I really know?” he retorted with a sly smile, eyes twinkling with mirth and something deeper—intrigue, or maybe it was expectation.

“Have you read my file?”

“What makes you think you have a file to read up on?”

Booster shot (Y/N) a rather unimpressed look as he deadpanned, “Your dad is Ba—ruce Wayne,” he corrected with a cough. “There’s a file on everyone.”

“Fair,” he agreed, opening up the menu; (Y/N) scanned it, refusing to look at Booster, which only made the man shift nervously in his seat. “Got curious when you entered the scene. Asked dad to send me the file on you. Skimmed it, put it back, let it be your business.” He gazed at Booster. “Why?”

“I’m…not a good man to be around, (Y/N). I—”

“Because of the gambling in college? Or the stealing?”

“…Both…” he murmured, looking at his hands, then a self-loathing smile came over his lips. “What’d your dad’s file say? That I’m an ego-maniac who puts on airs because he’s a second-rate hero that’ll never amount to anything?” (Y/N) merely gazed at him, watching, waiting. “I wanted fame, (Y/N). Glory. That’s why I came back here. It’s why I do what I do.”

Booster looked at him. “The only people who ever want to be around me are Ted and Skeets. Why do you hang around?” he shrugged. “Why do like me?”

(Y/N) thanked the waitress for handing them their drinks and set his cup to the side. “You bet on your games to save your mom’s life. Without the money, she wouldn’t’ve gotten the treatments and most likely would’ve died. If she hadn’t, your family would’ve drowned in medical debt.”

He tore the paper to his straw. “Your theft was a problem, but you recognized the error of your ways and made up for it with the jail time.” Slowly, he pulled the plastic tube out of the white paper. “Your ego is as big as your head, but when proven wrong, you admit it, sulkily, but you do.” (Y/N) crumpled the wrapper. “You have no skill other than the technological advances of your suit and Skeets’ help.”

Placing the straw in his drink, he added, “You suck at hand-to-hand combat, but you learn quickly when there’s a threat to your pretty face, so that’s a plus. You’re loud and obnoxious, but you’re clever enough to keep low so that you don’t alter the future by being a globally renowned hero.”

(Y/N) met his eyes. “Ted’s your best friend and Skeets is stuck with you. I’m here because I see what’s underneath.” He searched Booster’s gaze. “You’re a good man, Michael. Can you be an idiot? Absolutely. Can you be annoying as hell? Yeah. Can you leap without looking where you’re going? All the time. But at the end of the day, your friends know that if they needed help, they could count on you to back them up, even if you knew you might not know what you were doing.”

He pointed at Booster. “And that’s what makes you a hero.” (Y/N) smiled, gesturing to himself. “Michael, I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of. Been a lot of things I’m not proud of. But the difference between being a hero and parading as one, is what you do when you keep getting knocked down. Real heroes get back up. Frauds cower and hide.”

Tipping his head to the side, he offered Booster a look of chance. “So? Are you the hero? Or the fraud? All evidence points to the former.”

Booster was stunned silent. He had no words, no clever quips, no heart-throbbing lines to throw back. He was completely speechless. His mouth was moving, forming words his vocal cords wouldn’t produce as wet warmth flooded his bright blue eyes, and all he could do was lower his head, putting his hands over his face to hide the tears.

(Y/N) knocked his foot against Booster’s calf. “I’m gonna tell Ted I made you cry on our third date.”

A laugh bubbled from Booster’s chest as he quickly wiped his eyes, chuckles escaping his lips every couple seconds; he looked at him, murmuring, “Thanks (Y/N).”

He shrugged. “I’m just telling you the truth, Michael.”

“Yeah…but it means a lot to me.”

(Y/N) set his hand on Booster’s, the man turned his hand palm up in response, thumb running over the smooth skin of his palm as he replied, “You mean a lot to me.”

“I do?” he questioned in disbelief. “Really? You like me?”

“I only taught you how to break someone’s skin open with your elbow and how to break ribs and legs with a solid kick,” (Y/N) snorted. “So, yeah, I like you.”

“You’ve got an awfully weird way of showing you’ve got the hots for me,” Booster grinned, and he rolled his eyes.

“Better than your lame pickup lines and offers to go out on missions with you.”

“Hey! You agreed!”

“Because it was pitiful how love-struck you were with me.”

“I am not love-struck!”

“Really? ‘Cause a little gold robot told me you’ve been recording dirty diary entries about me.”

“What?! Skeets told you!”

“Well, he didn’t, but you just confirmed the suspicion. Nice going, Sherlock.”

“OH MY GOD!”

[nyqma]

I see those six panels of booster gold preserving ted kord's tombstone thru time and I start bawling

[supeson]

Hi I love how you're happy with doing unpopular characters, thank you for that they're kings. what would do you have any hcs for booster gold's (or his blue beetle bff if you're up to it) reaction to a baker S/O?

UGH OF COURSE…………….i’m slowly filling the tag………they’ll talk about me in museums one day……..the brave booster gold fucker………

Booster met you after accidentally wandering into your shop one day. He thought it was just a Dunkin’ Donuts and started trying to order a coffee. It took a minute for him to realize the place wasn’t even orange and magenta

Once you finally get him to realize where he is, he orders a BUNCH of cookies, telling you how he’s going to bring them back to the Justice League, telling them all about the cute baker he met today. 

(you really think he’s joking, until he comes back later with a low blood sugar Flash in tow)

He comes back with his boyfriend, Blue Beetle. You’re a little disappointed, but you’re happy to make them anything they want anyway.

It takes a couple of visits, but Ted works up the courage to ask for your number. You’re confused at first, but give him your number after he explains that the both of them would like to date you. 

Booster is ALWAYS asking you to bake crazy stuff. He binged all of Nailed It on netflix one day and kept asking you if you could make these huge cakes. (He had tried himself once, but failed miserably.)

Ted becomes your test subject. He’ll eat almost anything you put in front of him (especially when he’s in a zone while tinkering or reading a research paper or something). The ones he actually realizes he’s eating go in your shop. 

Ted tries to revamp your in store kitchen with all the latest baking tech (the first time he had said “baking tech”, and tried to explain his ideas, you’d started laughing so hard you’d stumbled and flipped a pan into the floor)

MJ will DEF eat all of the day’s leftovers. They’ve become a frequent fixture in the Justice League break room

One day you got an order to cater a Wayne Enterprises function and you almost fainted.

[angelzrose]

Mobile Masterlist

Welcome to my mobile masterlist! Here you’ll find the list of celebs and fandoms I write for. If you’d like a specific imagine, preference, or drabble, feel free to send in your request.

*Note: I don’t write any NSFW or smut stuff, so please don’t ask.

Dana XOX

✧༺ Imagines ༻✧ 

✧༺ Preferences ༻✧

✧༺ Drabbles ༻✧

Anne with an E

All

Gilbert Blythe

Buttercream Squad

All

Byron Langley

Caspar Lee

Conor Maynard

Jack Maynard

Mikey Pearce

Josh Pieters

Joe Sugg

Oli White

Celebs

All

Noah Centineo

Taron Egerton

Tom Holland

Zayn Malik

Shawn Mendes

Charlie Puth

Nick Robinson

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

All

Credence Barebone

Percival Graves

Newt Scamander

Theseus Scamander

Game of Thrones

All

Gendry Baratheon

Joffrey Baratheon

Tommen Baratheon

Ramsay Bolton

Theon Greyjoy

Jaime Lannister

Oberyn Martell

Podrick Payne

Jon Snow

Jojen Reed

Bran Stark

Robb Stark

Viserys Targaryen

Harry Potter Series

All

Cedric Diggory

Seamus Finnigan

Neville Longbottom

Draco Malfoy

Harry Potter

Tom Riddle

Dean Thomas

Fred Weasley

George Weasley

Ron Weasley

Oliver Wood

Magcon

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Taylor Caniff

Aaron Carpenter

Cameron Dallas

Matthew Espinosa

Hayes Grier

Nash Grier

Carter Reynolds 

Omaha Squad

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Jack Gilinsky

Jack Johnson

Nate Maloley

Sam Wilkinson

One Direction

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Niall Horan

Liam Payne

Harry Styles

Louis Tomlinson

Peaky Blinders

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Luca Changretta

Bonnie Gold

Michael Gray

Isaiah Jesus

Arthur Shelby

Finn Shelby

John Shelby

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Toby Cavanaugh

Jason DiLaurentis

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Star Wars

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Cassian Andor

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Kylo Ren

Bodhi Rook

Han Solo

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Luke Skywalker

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Jack Kline

Michael

Castiel Novak

Samandriel

Kevin Tran

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Teamiplier

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Mark Fischbach

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The Chronicles of Narnia

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Caspian

Edmund Pevensie

Peter Pevensie

The Originals

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Lucien Castle

Elijah Mikaelson

Klaus Mikaelson

Kol Mikaelson

The Vampire Diaries

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Stefan Salvatore

Twilight

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Quil Ateara

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Jared Cameron

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The Witcher

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Jaskier

Why Don’t We

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Jonah Marais

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YouTubers

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Grayson Dolan

Finn Harries

Jack Harries

Jacksepticeye

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Luke Hemmings

Calum Hood

Ashton Irwin

[midnightswithdearkatytspb]

🪙Run To You a Bucky Barnes Mafia!AU Playlist

Mafia Boss!Bucky hires the Reader to be his Bodyguard. Based off the story Run To You by @bestofbucky

Tracklist:

Run To You by Whitney Houston

Feeling Good by Michael by Bublé

Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) by Emily Browning

I See Fire by Boyce Avenue

Worst In Me by Unlike Pluto

Nobody Wants to Be Alone by Christian Reindl & Atrel

Figure 8 by Ellie Goulding

Initium by Keaton Henson

Carry Your Throne by Jon Bellion

Service and Sacrifice by Samuel Kim

I Shall Rise (From “Rise of the Tomb Raider”) by Karen O

Everybody Wants To Rule The World (From Hunger Games: Catching Fire) by Lorde

Mercy by Hurts

Love To Lay by The Weekend

Chasing Hearts by Breathe Carolina & Tyler Carter

Emperor’s New Clothes by Panic! At The Disco

Partition by Beyoncé

Bury Me by Breathe Carolina

Ammunition by Krewella

Gasoline by Halsey

Every Breath You Take by Chase Holfelder

Emissary by Keaton Henson & Ren Ford

Let Me Down Slowly by Alec Benjamin

Poison & Wine by The Civil Wars

I’m Not Okay by RHODES

No One’s Gonna Love You by Band of Horses

Break My Heart Again by FINNEAS

If I Killed Someone For You by Alec Benjamin

The One That Got Away by The Civil Wars

Let Me Be With You by Keaton Henson

Bed Head by Manchester Orchestra

Believer by Imagine Dragons

Who Do You Trust? by Papa Roach

We Must Be Killers by Mikky Ekko

Request a Playlist ✨

Spotify Links: Song a Day Playlist 2019 | Song a Day Playlist 2020 | Song a Day Playlist 2021 | March 2021 | Tumblr Pt. 1 | Tumblr Pt. 2 | Frank & Mary Adler Adler Mixtape | The Sam Wilson Playlist | Dr. Darcy Lewis Playlist | Mr. FBI Agent Jimmy Woo | This Is Monica Rambeau | punisher s. 1 | punisher s. 2 | Bruce Banner Playlist | The Actor and the Diplomat Playlist

[ironxkid]

((although it’s common to see Carter constantly moving about or doing something engaging, she does take time to read, and if she’s interested in the book, she can easily sit still for hours doing nothing but. She tends to read more nonfiction astronomy books, but does branch out into other genres as well - though, she tends to avoid romance books, and usually goes for sci-fi

some titles that can be found on her bookshelf are listed below!

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe and Everything; So long, and Thanks for All the Fish; and Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams, as well as And Another Thing... by Eoin Colfer (all sci-fi)

Star Lore: Myths, Legends, and Facts by William Tyler Olcott (her copy is well-worn, but not falling apart) (nonfiction)

The Last Stargazers by Emily Levesque (nonfiction)

Imagined Life by James Trefil and Michael Summers (nonfiction)

Black Hole Survival Guide by Janna Levin (nonfiction)

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly (nonfiction)

Stars & Planets: The Complete Guide to the Stars, Constellations, and the Solar System (updated and expanded edition) by Ian Ridpath and Wil Tirion (nonfiction)

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (fantasy)

Percy Jackson & the Olympians 1-5 by Rick Riordan (young reader fantasy)

The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer (sci-fi)

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (it was a joke gift and she refuses to read it, but hasn’t gotten around to donating it) (young adult fantasy/romance)

A Darker Shade of Magic; A Gathering of Shadows; and A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab (fantasy)

First Light: The Search for the Edge of the Universe by Richard Preston (nonfiction)

Packing for Mars by Mary Roach (nonfiction)

Cosmos by Carl Sagan (nonfiction)

The Science of Star Wars: The Scientific Facts Behind the Force, Space Travel, and More! by Jon Chase and Mark Brake (nonfiction)

Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe by Brian Greene (nonfiction)

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything by Chris Hadfield (nonfiction)

Catching Stardust: Comets, Asteroids and the Birth of the Solar System by Natalie Starkey (nonfiction)

Finding Our Place in the Universe: How We Discovered Laniakea -- the Milky Way’s Home by Hélène Courtois (nonfiction)

The End of Everything: (Astrophysically Speaking) by Katie Mack (nonfiction)

A Brief History of Time; Brief Answers to the Big Questions; The Grand Design; The Theory of Everything; A Briefer History of Time; and The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking (all nonfiction)

How to Die in Space by Paul M. Sutter (nonfiction)

Hubble Legacy: 30 Years of Discoveries and Images by Jim Bell (nonfiction)

Celestial Atlas: A Journey in the Sky Through Maps by Elena Percivaldi (nonfiction)

Written in the Stars: Constellations, Facts and Folklore by Alison Davies (nonfiction)

Fire Bringer; The Sight; and Fell by David Clement-Davies (young adult fantasy)

What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe (nonfiction)

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari (nonfiction)

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean (nonfiction)

The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy: What Animals on Earth Reveal about Aliens -- and Ourselves by Arik Kershenbaum (nonfiction)

Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars by Lee Billings (nonfiction)

The Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence by Paul Davies (nonfiction)

Alien Oceans: The Search for Life in the Depths of Space by Kevin Hand (nonfiction)

The Life and Death of Planet Earth: How the New Science of Astrobiology Charts the Ultimate Fate of Our World by Peter Ward (nonfiction)

The Living Cosmos by Chris Impey (nonfiction)

Women Spacefarers: Sixty Different Paths to Space by Umberto Cavallaro (nonfiction)

Faint Echoes, Distant Stars: The Science and Politics of Finding Life Beyond Earth by Ben Bova (nonfiction)

Firestarter by Stephen King (horror)

The Martian and Artemis by Andy Weir (both sci-fi)

Red Rising; Golden Son; Morning Star; Iron Gold; and Dark Age by Pierce Brown (all sci-fi)

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy (fiction)

Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh (nonfiction humor/biography)

The Fire Within; Icefire; Fire Star; The Fire Eternal; Dark Fire; Fire World; and The Fire Ascending by Chris d’Lacey (all young reader fantasy)

The Hunger Games; Catching Fire; Mockingjay; and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (young adult fantasy)

When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore (young adult fiction)

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (both sci-fi)

Aurora; Red Mars; Green Mars; and Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (all sci-fi)

Jurassic Park and The Lost World by Michael Crichton (both fiction)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (nonfiction)

Wonders of the Solar System by Professor Brian Cox and Andrew Cohen (nonfiction)

[wolveswithoutteeth]

any book recs? ✨

of course! my goodreads has more recommendations and i’ve created shelves for certain themes/time periods/genres but here are some favorites:

fiction:

the secret history by donna tartt

the goldfinch by donna tartt

red, white & royal blue by casey mcquiston

the song of achilles by madeline miller

the hours by michael cunningham

tipping the velvet by sarah waters

deathless by catherynne m valente

the round house by louise erdrich

ghost wall by sarah moss

on earth we’re briefly gorgeous by ocean vuong

if we were villains by m.l. rio

normal people by sally rooney (the tv adaptation is now available on hulu!)

conversations with friends by sally rooney

lie with me by philippe benson

girl with a pearl earring by tracy chevalier

homegoing by yaa gyasi

trumpet by jackie kay

tin man by sarah winman

little fires everywhere by celeste ng

everything i never told you by celeste ng

burial rites by hannah kent  

the remains of the day by kazuo ishiguro

the underground railroad by colson whitehead

americanah by chimamanda ngozi adichie

young adult:

we are okay by nina lacour

everything leads to you by nina lacour

the grisha trilogy by leigh bardugo

six of crows by leigh bardugo 

the winternight trilogy by katherine arden

shatter me series by tahereh mafi 

i’ll give you the sun by jandy nelson

19th and 20th century american lit:

moby dick by herman melville

little women by louisa may alcott

behind a mask (and other stories) by louisa may alcott

cecil dreeme by theodore winthrop

the awakening by kate chopin

the house of mirth by edith wharton

ethan frome and other stories by edith wharton

giovanni’s room by james baldwin

all of toni morrison’s books! (i recommend reading her work in publication order if you can but my favorites are beloved and the song of solomon)

victorian:

the moonstone by wilkie collins

lady audley’s secret by mary elizabeth braddon

jane eyre by charlotte bronte

villette by charlotte bronte

wuthering heights by emily bronte

the picture of dorian gray by oscar wilde

middlemarch by george eliot

bleak house by charles dickens

british modernism:

wide sargasso sea by jean rhys

good morning, midnight by jean rhys

voyage in the dark by jean rhys

mrs dalloway by virginia woolf

maurice by e.m. forster

the return of the soldier by rebecca west

collected stories by katherine mansfield

rebecca by daphne du murier

poetry:

devotions by mary oliver

crush by richard siken

war of the foxes by richard siken

collected poems by edna st. vincent millay

collected poems by christina rossetti

selected poems by edith wharton

undercurrent by rita wong

the wild iris by louise gluck

useless magic: lyrics and poetry by florence welch (if you’re a fan of florence + the machine, this hardcover book is beautifully published and includes poems, lyrics, illustrations, photography, etc.)

graphic novels:

all of isabel greenberg’s books!

through the woods by emily carroll (very spooky! and the art is beautiful!)

and the ocean was our sky by patrick ness 

short story collections:

the bloody chamber and other stories by angela carter

how to breathe underwater by julie orringer

by light we knew our names by anne valente

st lucy’s home for girls raised by wolves by karen russell

kissing the witch: old tales in new skins by emma donoghue

interpreter of maladies by jhumpa lahiri

the thing around your neck by chimamanda ngozi adichie

the last animal by abby geni

nonfiction/theory:

upstream: selected essays by mary oliver

into the wild by jon krakauer

hunger by roxane gay

braiding sweetgrass: indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants by robin wall kimmerer

playing in the dark: whiteness and the literary imagination by toni morrison

in the wake: on blackness and being by christina sharpe

forms by caroline levine

touching feeling by eve kosofsky sedgwick

TBR books i’m excited to read as soon as this semester is over:

the starless sea by erin morgenstern

frankissstein by jeanette winterson

glass town by isabel greenberg

supper club by lara williams

the night watchman by louise erdrich

writers & lovers by lily king

her body and other parties by carmen maria machado

the library book by susan orlean

my life in middlemarch by rebecca mead

my year of rest and relaxation by ottessa moshfegh

the lonely city by olivia laing

the women’s prize postponed their winner announcement to september so i’ll be reading from the longlist this summer (and some previous winners/longlisters to celebrate the prize’s 25th anniversary this year!) this year’s list is really strong but a few books i’m most excited about:

hamnet by maggie o’farrell

girl, woman, other by bernadine evaristo

a thousand ships by natalie haynes

weather by jenny offill

red at the bone by jacqueline woodson

lastly, support independent book stores (if you can!) i ordered two books last month that i’m excited to read:

crude by olivia laing

a little book on form by robert haas

[renaroo]

Some Times (Time and Time Again) (8/8)

Disclaimer: Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, and associated characters are the creative property of DC Comics. Warnings: Canon shaken not stirred, Heavy canon references to Booster Gold (2009-2011) and Blue Beetle (2016-2018) Pairings: Boostle Rating: T Synopsis: Booster Gold and the rest of the Time Masters are still straightening up things in the wake of the most recent universal Rebirth. But Rip Hunter is still missing in the aftermath, leaving Booster in charge with Skeets, Michelle, and Rani. But there’s a distraction for Booster, one he can’t keep himself from ignoring.

Ted Kord, miraculously, is still alive. And that makes everything more complicated than Michael could have ever imagined.

A/N: We’re finally here! After such a long wait, we’ve finally come to the end of this fic. It’s been a wild ride, fueled at the end here by quarantine and anxiety, but I really have loved writing this story. I adore these characters, miss the Time Family in the comics, and hope I did them justice in this story. I hope it is something enjoyable for all of you, too.

As we wrap up this long journey, I absolutely must thank all of you for coming along with me. And, of course, a wonderful and appreciative thank you to @babybatbrat, @spiralcass, @shibascarf, @mcbangle, gaymage, Schw0099, GeorginaNadia, @secretlystephaniebrown, and arouraleona for your lovely comments and supportive words <3 I appreciate them so very much!

Michael Jon Carter

Booster Gold is not new to being a superhero.

He’s been there and seen that. His current “job” interview was him watching the rebirth of the multiverse after a giant mind-controlling worm tore everything to hell. He fought with the bravest and greatest men and women he ever met against the monster that killed Superman. He actually got to confess his feelings and act with them for the friend that he couldn’t stop from dying years beforehand. 

And he is still unprepared for the twists and turns before him now. 

From underneath a metal I-beam, Michael Jon Carter stares in silence at the shimmering black metal of Black Beetle. He heard Rani’s accusation, but what is more deafening is what comes after.

Black Beetle stands in silence rather than correct her. 

Ted, on his back still behind Rani, looks around multiple times before squinting at Black Beetle. “What’s a Boppy?” he asks cluelessly.

“Nothing,” Black Beetle insists, scooping forward and grabbing Rani’s wrist before retching her away from his line of fire. “Not anymore.”

A wild spark of protectiveness takes possession of Booster as he realizes what’s about to happen. Even with the pounding in his chest and ears ever-growing -- god, Rani can’t be right, she can’t -- he knows he has to save Ted first and foremost. He pushes and shoves at the heavy metal laying across him when it rather unexpectedly gives way.

Blinking in surprise, Booster glances over and sees Michelle across the other side of the lab near the transporter platform. She’s weary, but her hand is reaching forward outstretched toward the I-beam, using her suit’s magnetism.

“Mike, go!” she coughs out. 

His family, his loved ones, are all in pain around him, and Booster can’t figure out a way to heal all of it outside of the most direct way first.

Clenching his fist, Booster flings himself forward with the force of his flight ring. He tackles into Black Beetle’s waist and takes him into the nearest wall before he can fire at Ted. 

Then, before either himself or the time-traveling menace can catch their breath again, they are enclosed in a thick bubble produced by the forcefield belt.

“Boost!” “Mikey!” “Michael!” muffled yells cry from outside.

For the moment, Booster ignores them, pushing up to his feet one foot at a time. He can feel a trickle of blood down from his nose yet again, but he ignores it, focusing instead as Black Beetle stands back up. 

“You think you can keep me trapped in here, Gold?” he snarls.

“I don’t know, it worked for Guy Gardner before,” Booster only half jests. He stands tall, meeting Black Beetle eye to eye. “And like it or not, he has a lantern ring. Is that blaster stronger than the most powerful tool in the universe?”

Black Beetle snarls and begins to readjust his suit’s weaponry. “Then I’ll take that belt off of you and free us both.”

“Maybe,” Booster admits, “but you should at least answer some questions for me first.”

“I don’t owe you anything,” Black Beetle growls. 

“Yeah? So sure about that?” Booster taunts, stabbing a finger at Black Beetle’s armored chest. “Is Rani right? Is whoever is inside that black tin can Rip Hunter?” He squinted at the little exposed face he could see and felt a sickening lurch in his stomach. “Are you my missing friend?”

“You and Rip Hunter were never friends,” Black Beetle says coldly.

“We were friends to me,” Booster says gently. He searches Beetle’s face and feels his chest clench. “Rip. C’mon, Rip. It’s you. Please, just. Take the helmet down. I haven’t seen you in months. Years, it feels like.”

For a moment, there is no response from Black Beetle at all. He stands, stoically, nose to nose with Booster before tipping his head down. All at once, his armor responds, cryptically unfolding and reforming away from his head regressing back into the torso of the suit. 

Booster sets his jaw, his heart still aching at the reveal no matter how much Booster attempted to prepare himself. 

Rip Hunter’s face is unmistakable, from his firm brow to the stern lines of his jaw. His hair is returned to the dirty blonde, no longer dyed or shaded as Rip has taken to. But, what is not the same, is the haunting glow that now envelops his eyes. It permeates out around him, rotating in a colorful display of the rainbow lights Booster has become so familiar with from the timestream. 

“What’s happening?” Booster demands immediately. “You wouldn’t do all of this without a reason, you wouldn’t… None of this would be happening unless Rip Hunter had a good reason. No matter how crazy he is. You are. Whatever. What I’m trying to say is...” Booster looks down to his hands which seem to be shrugging back at him in confusion before he throws them up in defeat. “What the actual fuck!?”

Scowling at him in a way that only Rip Hunter can, Black Beetle glares back into Booster’s face. “I am doing what Rip Hunter always must do -- correct the timestream, preserve events, make the tough choices.”

“Were you always Black Beetle?” Booster asks. “Either you need an Oscar or Rip -- my Rip -- didn’t know anything about this when you first showed up.”

“A Rip Hunter is always Black Beetle,” he answers cryptically.

“You really are Rip, because only Rip can make me that infuriated in a sentence,” Booster groans, rubbing a hand across his face only to flinch at the pain from his nose. “Why are you trying to kill Ted? Time has changed -- you yourself used to talk about it being fluid! Everything’s stable! Ted doesn’t have to die to save the universe!”

“He has to die for Rip Hunter to exist, that is obvious!” Black Beetle snarls, the chronal energy beginning to shine through even his mouth. “Each moment takes me closer to being rewritten, closer to impermanence! And without me there will be no protection for time itself! The universe will never survive!” 

“Wow, you egotistical jackass, I’m right here!” Booster shouts back, gesturing to himself wildly. “You trained me! And I wasn’t going to sit back and let you disappear before I knew you were going to have this chronal temper tantrum, and I’m definitely not going to do it now! Give me some credit.”

“You will be too content to see me come to existence,” Rip declares, beginning to fold in on himself, his body convulsing in a seizure that was all too familiar to Booster after his own bout of chronal leprosy. “I will never come to be.”

“What a terrible thing to think of your family,” Booster jokes gently, moving to catch Rip’s now bulking shoulders. He falls to his knees on the floor with him.

“You don’t even know how much family we are,” Rip chokes out. “You may never know.”

Booster’s chest clenches at that and he presses his forehead to Rip’s. “I think, buddy, I’ve got a clue,” he remarks gently. “You’re sick and you’re not thinking straight, Rip. And if you think you’re not coming into existence in this universe, you’re so wrong it’s laughable. Really! When you’re old enough, I’m going to give you such shit for it. The great Rip Hunter, bested by Booster Gold.”

“Bested by Michael Carter,” Rip says weakly back, his skin beginning to crack and shed chronal light more and more. The crevices of his suit shine brightly with it. “Will you promise? To make sure?”

“Of course, Rip,” Booster says, leaning back and away far enough to look fully into Rip’s face. “I’m good on my word to my family. Always.”

He waits, watching as Rip and Black Beetle in one disappear before his very eyes, pieces of chronal energy breaking up bit by bit and folding in on itself, disappearing from visible existence as if it were never there. Michael clutches his fists and tightly squeezes his eyes together as his chin drops to his chest. A surge of emotions he hasn’t let himself feel for Rip rush through him at once. 

After a long breath, he lowers his field and releases a long sigh. 

“Chalk that one down,” he says miserably, barely glancing over his shoulder at the three standing in shocked silence behind him. 

“Chalk what down, Boost?” Ted bothers to utter as Michelle and Rani hug and let tears run down their faces. 

“Well,” Booster sighs, pushing up to his feet, “I promised whenever he’s reborn and old enough, I’m going to give him shit for being wrong for once. That is a father-son promise that absolutely I am going to keep.”

He’s wobbly in his knees as he steps over to Ted and the others, but he tries his best not to show it. He’s already feeling weak in a lot of other ways and he doesn’t feel like letting any of them show. 

Ted is banged up and holding onto his right shoulder rather tenderly. But his face is more concerned than pained. 

“Are you okay?” Ted asks.

“Of course not,” Michael answers back. “You?”

“I’m, honestly, really confused,” Ted says, scratching at the back of his head. “But I’m also, just, really glad. Glad’s a weird way to be right now, isn’t it? I mean I’m relieved. Nope, not any better. I’m, uh. I’m…”

For just a moment, Booster raises a finger to hush Ted and tilts his body enough to look Michelle and Rani’s ways. 

“Girls? Are you guys going to be okay?” he asks tiredly.

“Yeah,” Shel answers, wiping at her eyes with the hand not gripped by Rani. “I-I’ll be okay.”

Rani nods, sniffling. “Boppy’ll be back. So I’m okay.”

Nodding, Booster takes a breath and then immediately slings his arms around Ted’s shoulders and pulls him into a full-body hug. “This is the weirdest, wildest, dumbest reunion of all time, but I don’t want you to ever doubt that…” he looks ahead, searching for his words. He blinks in distraction. “Don’t… want you to…” 

Holding Ted and arm's length, Booster stares ahead at Skeets and, more specifically, at the chalkboard just behind Skeet’s floating form.

Where before Ted Kord is KEY was written by itself, there is now a giant checkmark

“That… That dramatic son of a bitch!” Michael cries out, forgetting his weariness to stomp over to the board and examine. “He’s-- He does exist in this universe and has been writing on the board! The whole time! He could have-- why did he want--”

“Michael,” Michelle clears her throat before stiffly nodding her head toward Ted. “Maybe he… needed to make sure… things happened.”

Ted, for his part, looks utterly lost. 

“Come here,” Booster groans, reaching over to grab Ted’s wrist and yanking him close before planting a kiss to his cheek. 

“God, you could just ask me to take a few steps forward,” Ted chuckles into Booster’s skin.

He then grabs Michelle and Rani and pulls them all close.  “My family is all here,” he says confidently. “Even if one’s hiding out in the timestream like a jackass right now.”

“Language, Michael, really,” Michelle says with no heat to her words at all.

“And I’m always going to do what’s right for all of you,” he promises. 

They hug him back, every bit of his body held close by the people he loves most in the world at that moment in time. 

Then another I-beam falls ten feet ahead of them causing them all to jump and yell in surprise. 

“Okay,” Booster says, slow and drawn out. “What’s best for our family next step is probably fixing this place up before doing any other time shenanigans because I think I’ve put that off for about as long as the old Lab’s going to take it.”

“Well, not to brag,” Ted says before reaching up and pulling his goggles down over his eyes, “but I’m actually kind of a genius with labs.”

Booster feels his face melt into an affectionate smile, looking over Ted so fondly. “I know.”

“Ew, is this what love looks like,” Rani says, sticking out her tongue.

“Come here you,” Booster laughs, grabbing her sides and pulling her into a bear hug so that he can nuzzle her neck while she struggles and shrilly giggles. He flinches and lets go to check on his nose.

“You deserve that, brother-o’-mine,” Shel baps him on the head.

Ted, though, is on his knees and holding out his hands to study the bandage over Booster’s nose instead. He smirks and shakes his head. “You do know that promise goes both ways, right?” he asks, gently putting his hands over Booster’s. “I’ll do anything that’s best for you, too.”

“I know,” Booster says.

He knows there’s a lot of work still left to do, and that this new universe has a lot of things left to fix, but he feels in his soul more than he ever has before that on the track they’re on, there’s no place he’d rather be in that moment. For once, he can’t wait to see what the future might bring.

[batsupes-love]

Challenge

Write one of the following. 01. Top! Bruce Wayne x Bottom!Clark Kent 02. Top!Joker x Bottom!Bruce Wayne 03. Top!Dick Grayson x Bottom!Clark Kent 04. Top!Jason Todd x Bottom!Clark Kent 05. Top!Tim Drake x Bottom!Clark Kent     06. Top!Tim Drake x Bottom!Conner Kent 07. Top!Damian Wayne x Bottom!Tim Drake 08. Top!Barry Allen x Bottom!Clark Kent 09. Top!Hal Jordan x Bottom!Clark Kent 10. Top!Barry Allen x Bottom!Hal Jordan 11. Top!Lex Luthor x Bottom!Clark Kent 12. Top!Dick Grayson x Bottom!Bruce Wayne 13. Top!Jason Todd x Bottom!Bruce Wayne 14. Top!Tim Drake x Bottom!Bruce Wayne 15. Top!Damian Wayne x Bottom!Jonathan Samuel Kent 16. Top!Damian Wayne x Bottom!Conner Kent 17. Top!Alfred Pennyworth x Bottom!Clark Kent 18. Top!Ted Kord x Bottom!Michael Carter 19. Top!Billy Batson x Bottom!Clark Kent (Just imagine how Elseworld, Distant Fires might have turned out...) 20.Top!Lobo x Bottom!Conner Kent 21. Top!Roy Harper x Bottom!Jason Todd 22. Top!Tim Drake x Bottom!Jason Todd 23. Top!Batzarro x Bottom!Bizarro 24. Top!Batzarro x Bottom!Clark Kent 25. Top!Bizarro x Bottom!Clark Kent 26. Top!Kirk x Bottom!Hernan 27. Top!Thomas Wayne x Bottom!Jor-El 28. Top!Owlman x Bottom!Ultraman 29. Top!Joker x Bottom!Clark Kent 30. Top!Joker x Switch!Bruce Wayne x Bottom!Clark Kent 31. Top!Eradicator x Bottom!Clark Kent 32. Top!Lord Batman x Bottom!Lord Superman 33. Alpha!Bruce Wayne x Omega!Clark Kent 34. Alpha!Dick Grayson x Omega!Clark Kent 35. Alpha!Jason Todd x Omega!Clark Kent 36. Alpha!Tim Drake x Omega!Clark Kent 37. Alpha!Damian Wayne x Omega!Clark Kent 38. Alpha!Alfred Pennyworth x Omega!Clark Kent 39. Alpha!Lex Luthor x Omega!Clark Kent 40. Alpha!Damian Wayne x Omega!Jon Kent 41. Alpha!Tim Drake x Omega!Conner Kent 42. Alpha!Kirk x Omega!Hernan 43. Alpha!Lord Batman x Omega!Lord Superman 44. Alpha!Thomas Wayne x Omega!Jor-El 45. Alpha!Dru-Zod x Omega!Kal-El 46. Alpha!Hernan x Omega!Kal-El 47. Top!Midnighter x Bottom!Apollo 48. Switch!Midnighter x Bottom!Clark Kent x Top!Bruce Wayne x Switch!Apollow 49. Alpha!Midnighter x Omega!Apollo 50. Alpha!Eobard Thawn x Omega!Barry Allen 51. Alpha!Jay Garrick x Omega!Alan Scott 52. Alpha!Big Barda x Omega!Scott Free 53. Top!Scott Free x Bottom!Clark Kent 54. Top!James Gordon x Bottom!Clark Kent 55. Top!Jimmy Olsen x Bottom!Clark Kent 56. Top!Perry White x Bottom!Clark Kent 57. Alpha!Steve Lombard x Omega!Clark Kent 58. Top!Dan Turpin x Bottom!Clark Kent 59. Top!Ron Troupe x Bottom!Clark Kent 60. Alpha!Dirk Armstrong x Omega!Clark Kent 61. Top!David Corporon x Bottom!Clark Kent 62. Top!Inspector Henderson x Bottom!Clark Kent 63. Top!James Jacob Harbor x Bottom!Clark Kent 64. Top!Mick Rory x Bottom!Clark Kent 65. Top!Leonard Snart x Bottom!Clark Kent 66. Top!Bibbo Bibbowski x Bottom!Clark Kent 67. Top!Pete Ross x Bottom!Clark Kent 68. Top!John Henry Irons x Bottom!Clark Kent 69. Top!Kenny Braverman x Bottom!Clark Kent 70. Alpha!Lar Gand x Omega!Clark Kent 71. Top!Agent Liberty x Bottom!Superman 72. Top!J’onn J’onnz x Bottom!Clark Kent 73. Top!Orion x Bottom!Clark Kent 74. Top!Rip Hunter x Bottom!Clark Kent 75. Top!Clarkn x Bottom!Clark Kent 76. Top!Constantine x Bottom!Clark Kent 77. Top!Rokk Krinn x Bottom!Clark Kent 78. Top!Anung un Rama x Bottom!Clark Kent 79. Top!Tony Stark x Bottom!Steve Rogers 80. Alpha!Loki x Omega!Thor 81. Top!Alec Holland x Bottom!Clark Kent 82. Top!Reep Daggle x Bottom!Clark Kent 83. Top!Garth Ranzz x Bottom!Clark Kent  84. Top!Querl Dox x Bottom!Clark Kent 85. Top!Mark Moonrider x Bottom!Clark Kent 86. Top!Jason Teague x Bottom!Clark Kent 87. Top!Davis Bloome x Bottom!Clark Kent 88. Top!Adam Knight x Bottom!Clark Kent 89. Top!Carter Hall x Bottom!Clark Kent 90. Alpha!Vandal Savage x Omega!Carter Hall 91. Top!Victor Stone x Bottom!Clark Kent 92. Top!Roy Harper x Bottom!Clark Kent 93. Top!Garth x Bottom!Clark Kent 94. Top!Thomas Wayne x Bottom!Clark Kent 95. Alpha!Jonathan Kent x Omega!Clark Kent 96. Top!Halk Kar x Bottom!Clark Kent    97. Top!Bruce Banner x Bottom!Clark Kent 98. Top!Slade Wilson x Bottom!Clark Kent 99. Top!Deadshot x Bottom!Superman 100. Top!Ra’s Al-Ghul x Bottom!Clark Kent     

[ragingbookdragon]

Can you please do "being strong doesn't mean never asking for help or admitting you are in pain" with Batbro?

I can, but only because you said please <3

"Being strong doesn't mean never asking for help or admitting you are in pain."

***

“Can I ask you something?” Booster murmured one night when they were laying atop the roof of Wayne Manor, gazing at the blanket of stars before them.

He hummed, shifting closer to wrap an arm around Booster, letting the man rest his head on his shoulder. “You can ask me anything, MJ,” he replied, trailing his fingers up the man’s arm.

“How do you do it all the time?”

“Do what?”

“Be perfect…and strong.” Booster sighed heavily, turning to wrap an arm around his waist, nose digging into the soldier’s shirt. “I fuck up a lot, but when I look at you…you never make mistakes or have to stop and take a step back because you’re in too deep.”

He inhaled deeply, taking in his lover’s words as his fingers carded through golden locks, brushing out the gel and hairspray. “I don’t like to lean on others when it comes to things I know I can do myself. I get it from dad, and I’ll be the first to admit it, but I know my limits, MJ, and when I reach them, I do ask for help.”

Tugging lightly, he made the man look at him; with a solemn tone, he said, “Being strong doesn’t mean never asking for help or admitting you’re in pain.” He bent his neck, nuzzling Booster’s nose with his. “I’m strong because I rely on the ones I love to catch me when I fall. To help me stand when I can’t rise. To stay beside me when I’m hurting.” He kissed him. “And I’m not perfect, MJ. I’ve made and continue to make mistakes. It’s all a matter of learning from them.”

Booster stared at him, then let out a huff of air though it was closer to a humored sigh. “You should be a guidance counselor.”

“God forbid,” he laughed, pressing another kiss to the man’s lips. “But I can be yours, if you want.”

“Can we roleplay?”

“Why do you always go there?”

“It’s because I have no other choice.”