#terry silver being entirely delusional?

[terrence-silver]

"Sooner or later, you'll understand. I had to do this. This is for your own good, okay? Let me take care of you."

I love this for Terry. As terrifying and restrictive and authoritarian as he most definitely is, under the surface, I feel like there's a little ember of well-meaning there. Because his way is obviously the best and only way.

---

Terry is good.

Terry Silver is good.

He's done so good.

Sure, the room to your chambers is locked, and you had carved iron bars on all of your windows installed as a precaution, but that was the way it has to be because it is an extreme measure in a likewise extreme situation. Because you're acting extreme, so he counters you in extreme ways, his hand extremely pushed. Don't you know that the energy you put out into the world is the energy you'll inadvertently get back? The glass you pour into is the glass you drink from? Especially where he was concerned? That if you bite him he'll simply neuter you? De-claw and skin you singlehandedly so you can't do that shit anymore, keeping your hide and teeth as trophies? All these things; plush, velvet gold-embroidered thread pillows. Egyptian cotton covers. Heavy brocade drapes. Antiques. Persian carpets. Original Majolica lamps. Cobalt decorations drawn out in silver ornaments. A window overlooking the skyline of Los Angeles from The Hills for your abode - all of it at the palm of your hand. He's done so well. For you. Terry could and would do even better, if you only let him. There's a pool on the ground-floor. An army of staff, waiting to serve you. A wardrobe he's compiled for you that you haven't even had a chance to check. Twenty eight cars in just one the garages alone. Artwork and jewelry. A private plane, willing to take you anywhere. And him, just a corridor away from your room. What kind of idiot says no to heaven? One in need of being taught a lesson, clearly. And since you were Terry Silver's idiot, the task and the right was his and his alone.

-"Sooner or later, you'll understand. I had to do this. This is for your own good, okay? Let me take care of you."-

He reasons with you, from the other side of the locked door, caressing its edges, like a lover does. Not because he's afraid of you or your tiny, downright amusing fists banging on the hard, massive wooden surface --- far from it --- it entertained him almost, and aggrieved him just as much; this lack of appreciation on your part; Terry could easily subdue you in one swift move and avoiding physical confrontation was not why this door was placed between you and him --- but because you did't deserve to see him. You've been ungrateful. You've lacked discipline. You weren't ready to receive. And he'd teach you to how to receive, in due time. Taught you would be. If you simply smashed up the whole chamber you were kept in and all the beautiful things in it, you'd sleep in a messy, sad wreckage, and that would serve no one but your own discomfort. If you rejected all the fine food you were brought, you'd merely go hungry and torment yourself. If you spat at him he'd wipe it off with his finger placed into his mouth and smile at you, tasting it. But, you wouldn't leave. You wouldn't. Because if an animal could be made to understand --- if an animal that bites could be tamed, have its claws cut, if it could be trained, collared, taught to sit, stand to attention, to expect its bowl when fed, to accept pets, to allow itself be bathed and taught tricks, why should people be any different? Thing is, they weren't. An owner didn't hate their pet when they'd come to the decision to give their animal a time-out by ushering them into their fenced off pen.

It was discipline, and discipline was love. It could be, yes.

Because it taught a higher, more polished form of self.

Got rid of all the weakness, limitations, grime and unnecessary chaos --- all doubt --- took a loved form of rough, rugged clay and made it greater than it ever thought it could become, leaving the doors open for growth and opportunity, and once you were ready to receive, your doors, both figurative and literal, would open too --- and Terry would be patient and wait on the other side, because Terry was good. He could be so good if you only let him.

[multiverseforger]

Hank Henshaw first appeared as a crew member on board the doomed NASA Space Shuttle Excalibur in Superman (vol. 2) #42, and Henshaw and the other crew members were next seen in Adventures of Superman #465.[4][5]

Hank and the other three members of the Excalibur crew, including his wife Terri, are part of a radiation experiment designed by LexCorp that is affected by a solar flare, causing their shuttle to crash.[1] As a result of their radiation exposure, the human bodies of two crew members were destroyed. However, their minds survived and they were able to construct new bodies out of cosmic radiation and bits of earth and wreckage from the shuttle, respectively. Initially, Henshaw and his wife suffer no ill effects from the radiation (though Hank's hair turns white), and the crew travels to Metropolis in the hopes of using LexCorp facilities to cure their mutated crewmates. During a brief battle with Superman, one crew member, now composed of radiation, becomes unhinged and flies into the Sun, destroying himself. By this time, Henshaw's body has started to rapidly decay, while his wife is beginning to phase into an alternate dimension. With Superman's help, Henshaw is able to use the LexCorp facilities to save Terri. The remaining member of the shuttle crew commits suicide, using an MRI booth to tear apart the metallic components of his body.[6]

Though Henshaw's physical body expired, he was able to transfer his consciousness into the LexCorp mainframe. Now able to control technology, Henshaw appears to his wife in a robotic body. The shock of this bizarre rebirth is too much for Terri to bear and in a fit of insanity, she jumps to her death. By this point, Henshaw's electronic consciousness has begun to disrupt Earth's communications networks. Using NASA communications equipment, Henshaw beams his mind into the birthing matrix which had carried Superman from Krypton to Earth as an infant.[1] He creates a small exploration craft from the birthing matrix and departs into outer space alone.[7]

Henshaw spends some time traveling between planets, bonding with local lifeforms to learn about the culture and history of various worlds. Henshaw comes to believe that Superman was responsible for the tragedy of the Excalibur after learning that around the time of the accident, the Man of Steel had thrown a rogue Kryptonian artificial intelligence (the Eradicator) into the Sun. Henshaw believes that this created the solar flare that resulted in the Excalibur crew's transformations (although Superman had shared this concern with Terri after he had saved her life and she had confirmed that the flares would have been triggered before Superman disposed of the Eradicator).[8] Over time, Henshaw becomes delusional and paranoid, believing that the Man of Steel had intentionally caused the deaths of himself, his wife, and his crew, then driven him from Earth. Arriving on a planet controlled by alien overlord and Superman foe Mongul, Henshaw learns of Warworld and forcibly recruits Mongul as part of a plan for revenge against Superman.[9]

Reign of the SupermenEdit

Main article: The Death of Superman



Cover of Superman (vol. 2) #79. Art by Dan Jurgens.

With Superman apparently dead after his battle with Doomsday, Henshaw decides to pose as him in order to destroy his reputation. To that end, the Cyborg claims to be Superman reborn, the result of the hero's body being pieced together and revived with technology. The Cyborg then uses knowledge obtained from Superman's birthing matrix to construct a body that is genetically identical to Superman's.[9] When analyzed closely by Professor Hamilton, the Cyborg passes for the real thing, due to components within himself that include Kryptonian alloys, combined with the fact that the replaced body parts correspond with those parts of the original Superman's body that were most severely injured in his fight with Doomsday.[10]

After destroying a Superman memorial plaque in front of the Daily Planet, the Cyborg exiles Doomsday into space, prevents a nuclear meltdown, and saves the President of the United States from an assassination attempt. The White House then endorses the Cyborg as the 'true' Superman.[11][12] When confronted by Lois Lane, the Cyborg claims his memory is "blurry", but he can see a "spaceship on a farm and the name Kent", suggesting that Henshaw may be aware of Superman's secret identity.[10]

Henshaw's arrival as Superman is simultaneous with that of three others: John Henry Irons (the self-styled Man of Steel), the Eradicator (the self-styled Last Son of Krypton), and the modern Superboy.[11] The endorsement of the President ensures that the Cyborg eclipses the rest of the heroes claiming to be Superman's heir. During this time, two cults spring up in anticipation of Superman's return from the dead: one that deifies the Eradicator and another that venerates the Cyborg. Supporters of both eventually come to blows over which is the real Superman.

Destroying Coast CityEdit

When an alien ship appears over Coast City, the Cyborg attacks and severely injures the Eradicator, allowing Mongul's craft to destroy the city. The Cyborg also murders an entire family of vacationers trying to find a way out of the devastated area.[13] The Cyborg was then able to convince the White House and the public that the Eradicator was responsible.[14] After tricking and defeating Superboy, Henshaw prepares to launch a nuclear warhead intended to convert Metropolis into a second Engine City.[14][15]

Superboy is able to escape and warn John Henry Irons, Supergirl, and the resurrected (but powerless) original Superman of the Cyborg's plans.[9][16] The quartet travels to the site of the former Coast City, and Superman (whose powers are slowly returning), Supergirl, and Steel confront Mongul and the Cyborg, while Superboy stops the missile from hitting Metropolis.[17] While Green Lantern defeats Mongul, the Cyborg lures Superman and the Eradicator to the Engine City main reactor and attempts to kill Superman with the kryptonite that powers the engine. When Henshaw tries to kill Superman with a concentrated blast of kryptonite radiation, the Eradicator intercepts the blast at the expense of his own life. As the kryptonite energy passes through the Eradicator, the radiation is altered and acts to fully restore Superman's powers. Superman is then able to easily defeat the already weakened Cyborg by sticking his arm through Henshaw's chest, killing him and shattering his body. When Henshaw panics and states that he will "somehow" find a way to come back, a doubting Superman simply says that if Henshaw does, he will be waiting.[18]

It was later revealed that Henshaw chose to attack Coast City first because he and his late wife were former residents. This was part of an effort to erase his former life.[19]

ReturnEdit



Hank Henshaw in Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey #1, drawn by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding

Before exiling Doomsday into space, Henshaw had installed a device on the monster to allow him to detect if Doomsday were to ever escape. After the destruction of his Cyborg Superman form, Henshaw transfers his consciousness into this device as Doomsday is "the safest place in the galaxy" for the Cyborg to hide. Doomsday is brought on board a space cruiser and, despite frantic efforts of the crew to jettison him, kills the crew, and upon landing on Apokolips, proceeds to pillage the planet.

When Superman, his power now boosted by being repowered by "purple kryptonite", arrives; Henshaw emerges by reconfiguring an armored Apokoliptian trooper, brutally murdered by Doomsday, into a new body (which, by all accounts, had its DNA overwritten with the Kryptonian DNA Henshaw had obtained while in Superman's birthing matrix, and thus still retains a portion of Superman's abilities and still looks the way the Cyborg Superman looked, except for a change in the color of the Cyborg's metallic components) and proceeds to lay siege to the planet alongside Doomsday. The Cyborg successfully takes over most of Apokolips but is captured by Darkseid's Omega Beams during a battle with Superman.[20]

Apokolips and beyondEdit

Darkseid did not kill the Cyborg; rather, the Omega Effect captured Henshaw in a small orb, with Darkseid planning to use the Cyborg against Superman at a later date.[21] Darkseid eventually frees Henshaw with the understanding that Henshaw is to leave Apokolips and never return.

The Cyborg eventually aligns himself with an intergalactic Tribunal which is seeking to bring Superman to trial for the crimes of his ancestors. Henshaw assists the Tribunal in capturing the Eradicator, Superboy, Supergirl, Steel, and Alpha Centurion, who had intended to rescue Superman. However, the Cyborg betrayed the Tribunal and attempted to conquer their planet for conversion into a new Warworld. Superman and his allies stop the Cyborg's plan and, when Henshaw's involvement in the destruction of Coast City is brought to the attention of the Tribunal, they find him guilty of genocide and sentence him to death. As an electronic consciousness, Henshaw cannot be killed by normal means and is transported beyond the event horizon of a black hole, where not even light can escape from the gravity.

Rather than being destroyed, the Cyborg is transported (unknowingly by another villain, Thanos) to a Marvel Multiverse dimension designated as 616, as seen at the beginning of the Green Lantern/Silver Surfer: Unholy Alliances crossover one-shot issue. The Cyborg destroys a planet in another attempt to recreate Warworld, attracting the attention of the Silver Surfer. Their short battle is interrupted by the arrival of Parallax, who has been tracking the Cyborg for some time, seeking vengeance for the destruction of Coast City. In the confusion, Henshaw escapes and is returned to the DC Universe. Parallax undoes the destruction of the planet that Henshaw had caused using power donated from the Silver Surfer.



Henshaw in his later, less Superman-based configuration. Art by Doug Mahnke

The Cyborg encounters Hal Jordan again at the Source Wall,[22] a nexus of statues that channels vital energy to preserve the Fourth World. Parallax uses his powers to generate representations of the victims of Coast City, which tear the Cyborg's body apart. Jordan then disperses Henshaw's consciousness, and the Cyborg is seemingly destroyed once again.[1]

During a crisis involving the Godwave, Superman (wearing his blue energy costume at the time) travels to New Genesis and encounters Henshaw again. Henshaw has taken part of the Source Wall's structure and crafted a small world made up of his memories, which he uses to taunt Superman before being defeated again. Unknown to Superman, the Cyborg stored his own consciousness in Superman's high-tech containment suit. After Superman returns to Earth, Henshaw escapes and constructs a new body, this time posing as an art teacher at a high school in an attempt to start over. He is a popular teacher and befriends the blind Ashbury Armstrong (daughter of Dirk Armstrong), but ultimately his rage towards Superman causes him to reveal his true identity and his new body is lost in a fight with Superman. To escape detection, Henshaw stores his consciousness in a clay statue. This statue is later stolen by the Toyman and the two villains join forces to kill Superman. To this end, the Cyborg designs a machine that will break Superman's energy form down into multiple components and beam them to different points in the galaxy, preventing Superman from reforming. A malfunction in the machine causes Superman to split into Superman Blue and Superman Red, the latter of whom eventually defeats and recaptures the Cyborg.

The Cyborg later attempts to take over Kandor, but fails when he is defeated by Superman and sent to the Phantom Zone. Shortly after the Superman Y2K story, Henshaw escapes the Zone and attacks Superman, who was suffering from Kryptonite poisoning. Henshaw is defeated with the help of the Kandorians and sent back to the Phantom Zone, swearing revenge. However, he is not encountered on subsequent visits to the Zone.

ManhuntersEdit

Henshaw returns in a form similar to his original body, when he is revealed to be the Manhunters' new Grandmaster.[23] With his influence, the Manhunters have been upgraded with organic material, most notably with blood. On the Manhunter home world of Biot, in sector 3601, Henshaw is holding captive several assumed-to-be-dead Green Lanterns, most of whom appeared to die during the Emerald Twilight saga.

Henshaw has also used Kryptonian technology to upgrade the Manhunters. During the Green Lantern story arc No Fear,[24] Kryptonian robots are seen servicing the Manhunters. Henshaw, the Grandmaster, allowed the Green Lantern Corps to rebuild for unspecified reasons as a part of his master plan. While Henshaw explains that he first encountered the Manhunters around the time he was imprisoned in the Source Wall by Parallax, it has yet to be revealed how the Cyborg was able to escape the Phantom Zone and take control of Biot. Henshaw is defeated when Biot explodes, destroying most of his body aside from his head.

Henshaw's head is then brought by a Guardian back to Oa so that they can learn of how he was able to take control of Biot, what he has learned from the Manhunters and to learn about "the 52"[25] (referring to the 51 alternate Earths created during the second Crisis as well as their own reality). It is also revealed that the Cyborg knows of the 52, though exactly how he came by this knowledge is not made completely clear. It is stated that he has explored "The Bleed"; the space between dimensions, which could have occurred either when he was imprisoned there, when he was imprisoned in the Source Wall, or in his past exploration of the Marvel Universe.

Sinestro CorpsEdit



Cover art for Tales of the Sinestro Corps Presents: Cyborg Superman #1, by Ethan Van Sciver.

Henshaw's head is taken by the Sinestro Corps after their invasion of Oa to Qward. Henshaw is later seen as a herald of the newly returned Anti-Monitor. He reconstructs his cyborg body and replaces the S-symbol on his chest with the symbol of the Sinestro Corps. He now wields ten Qwardian power rings.[26] It is revealed that Henshaw has joined the Sinestro Corps so that the Anti-Monitor can later kill him and allow him to rest in peace.[27]

Henshaw was the focus of the Tales of the Sinestro Corps Presents: Cyborg Superman one-shot that was released on October 3, 2007.[8][28][29] In this book, Henshaw and his Manhunters head to Earth to assist the Sinestro Corps in their attack. En route, Henshaw stops leading the Manhunters which continue to their preprogrammed destinations. As he watches them go, he remembers everything that has happened to him, from their dreadful shuttle accident to his wife's suicide when she sees him in his robot form. He finishes this journey down memory lane by going to his wife's grave. He digs her corpse out and rips it into two, shouting that all he wants is not to be with her, but for these memories to fade.[8]

Meanwhile, the Manhunters begin an assault on the JLA satellite. Hawkgirl, Black Lightning, and Red Arrow retaliate; however, all three are neutralized when Henshaw assists in the attack and he successfully tampers with the mechanics of the satellite core. As the satellite is thrown out of orbit, Superman appears and engages Henshaw in battle. Their fight continues on Earth, while Sinestro transports his crew and his ship from the anti-matter universe. At first Superman seems to have the upper hand; however after two punches, Henshaw strikes with great power and rage, punching him through the Statue of Liberty. By the end, Henshaw has Superman in a choke hold, thinking that the victory is near.[8]

He is later seen briefly in Tales of the Sinestro Corps Presents: Superman-Prime, having presumably been beaten back by the combined strength of Superman, Supergirl, and Power Girl.[30]

When the Green Lantern Corps decide to detonate New Warworld and the central power battery of the Sinestro Corps to destroy the Anti-Monitor, Henshaw allows himself to be trapped behind a shield and exposed to the massive explosion. Before he is destroyed, however, he thanks the Green Lantern Corps.[31]

Most of Henshaw's body survived the explosion, but it took further damage when Superman-Prime hurled the Anti-Monitor into space. The upper part of his skull was retrieved by the android Manhunters. Unable to detect any life signs and confused without his leadership, the Manhunters reanimated the brain of the Cyborg Superman. He shed a tear when he realized he was still alive.[31]

Death and retrievalEdit

In the Brightest Day crossover, Henshaw would eventually return and work with the Alpha Lanterns as they attempted to augment every Green Lantern, including Ganthet, into an Alpha.[32][33] This was apparently at the suggestion of the robed figure holding Ion and Parallax, who told him that Ganthet held the knowledge to destroy him permanently, after Henshaw's attempts to provoke Nekron into killing him during the Blackest Night failed because he lacked a heart to attract Nekron's interest.[34] By threatening to make the Alpha Lanterns kill themselves if Ganthet does not cooperate, Henshaw forces Ganthet to work on reversing the augments that turned the Green Lanterns into Alpha Lanterns, hoping that he can use the resulting information to restore his original mortal body.[35]

Henshaw was seemingly killed when his lifeforce was finally separated from his nearly indestructible body by the combined full powered blasts of several Lanterns and Ganthet, and appeared on the mental plane of Alpha-Lantern Boodikka in an attempt to take her bio-mechanical body over, where both beings were their original, un-powered selves. Her essence, gifted with her innate, formidable combat skills, engaged his in one-on-one combat, and she quickly overpowered and killed his astral form.

Afterwards, however, Ganthet noted immediately that there was something different about her. Boodikka claims this is because Ganthet's newly discovered emotions allowed him to see her as she is (Boodikka's true self, now in control of her body again), not by what she is (an Alpha Lantern).[36]

In the Reign of Doomsday crossover, Boodikka was attacked by Doomsday while investigating the remains of New Krypton, and Henshaw was revealed to still be alive inside her, forming a new body out of her internal circuitry to fight Doomsday while Batman and Supergirl were trying to repair Boodikka.[37] Henshaw uses his abilities to take control of the JLA Watchtower and uses the satellite's defenses in an attempt to kill Doomsday, reasoning that if he could manage to destroy the creature that killed Superman, it would prove once and for all that he is superior to Superman. After the creature is violently dismembered by Henshaw, it somehow absorbs the nanotechnology from Henshaw's body and repairs itself, becoming a new being dubbed Cyborg Doomsday. Cyborg Doomsday somehow manages to negate Henshaw's ability to repair himself, which leads Henshaw to believe that he might finally meet his demise. Supergirl bursts onto the scene and attempts to stop Doomsday herself, but Henshaw fires an energy blast at her, stating that he would not allow her to defeat the creature that had humiliatingly beaten him only moments before. With Supergirl distracted, Cyborg Doomsday knocks her out and then tears one of Henshaw's arms off before departing with both of his unconscious captives.[38] Trapped in a satellite with the other Supermen, the heroes conclude that Henshaw has been trapped with them to keep them disorganized due to the tensions caused by his presence, prompting Henshaw to depart and search the satellite himself. After Superman arrives to rescue his comrades, Henshaw reveals that the Doomsdays that fought them were actually all clones of the original created by Lex Luthor.[39] Henshaw tries to fight them, but Superman rips his central node off, knowing that they would not survive a confrontation with the Doomsdays.[40] After the Doomsday clones are sent to another dimension, Henshaw is in custody of S.T.A.R. Labs.[41]

The New 52 and DC RebirthEdit

In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, a fully human Henshaw appears as a doctor working for the Advanced Prosthetic Research Centre and colleague of Caitlin Fairchild. He is tasked into reactivating the android Spartan.[42]

While in space and after saving a planet called I'noxia, Supergirl discovers an amnesiac Cyborg Superman living there. This version is revealed to be Zor-El, who survives Krypton's destruction and is reconfigured as a half-human half-machine by Brainiac to be his scout looking for stronger species in the universe. His heart was switched with that of a human to remove his ability to be affected by kryptonite.[43]

When the human Henshaw is sent into space on the Excalibur on a long-term mission, he is monitored by the Clark Kent and Lois Lane of the pre-Flashpoint universe, who were trapped in the New 52 world following the Convergence, with Superman seeking to prevent the rise of some of his former adversaries in this world. When the Excalibur crashes after returning from a ten-year journey to Jupiter and back, Superman saves the ship, but is puzzled to see that Henshaw is the only person on board.[44] Taking Henshaw to a base he has established in the Arctic regions to better assess if this Henshaw is a threat or not, Superman is briefly forced to face both Henshaw and a new foe called Blanque, who possesses powerful telepathic and telekinetic abilities and was also kept in the fortress, but once Blanque is focused on fighting Superman, Henshaw helps Superman defeat this new foe with the weapons of a spaceship that was also kept in the fortress. It is later revealed that Henshaw acquired part of an object known as 'the Oblivion Stone' on Jupiter, with Superman forced to face an alien warrior seeking both Henshaw's part of the stone and another part kept in the fortress, but Superman drives her off, Henshaw claiming when questioned that he had no memory of anything that happened on the Excalibur or between it landing and him being discovered.[45]

After the reality disruption caused by Mister Mxyzptlk caused the histories of the pre-Flashpoint and New 52 Superman to merge during the DC Rebirth reboot, Henshaw's memories of his past as the Cyborg Superman were restored. With this knowledge, he set out to assemble various old foes of Superman like Metallo, the Eradicator, Blanque, and his old 'ally' Mongul to form the Superman Revenge Squad before using the Oblivion Stone to restore his body to its Cyborg Superman state. He even expressed interest into recruiting General Zod to his group.[46] The new Superman Revenge Squad then set out for Kal-El's Fortress of Solitude to obtain the Phantom Zone Projector, still in need of Zod's Kryptonian army to defeat the Superman family. What the Cyborg did not realize was that Zod was using the Squad to achieve his own ends. After finding his family trapped within the Zone's confines, Zod betrayed them, leaving Henshaw trapped within the Phantom Zone.[47]

He would soon be released by his hated enemy, Superman, on account of an epiphany Clark had while on a time traveling excursion with Booster Gold. To keep the maddened bionic menace docile while he came up with a more humane means of detaining him, Superman gave Henshaw a Kryptonian memory crystal that would pacify the Cyborg Superman's rage by letting him relive his happiest memories in an fantasy world fabricated by his own mind.[48] This self-imposed incarceration would not last, however, as the demented machine man found another means of escape. While he was trapped, a part of his mind escaped into the universe, where he sought to manipulate the Guardians and their appointed intergalactic law enforcement bureau, the Green Lantern Corps, to facilitate his escape.[49]

Even trapped within Superman's Kryptonian dwelling, Henshaw was able to influence the Central Power Battery back on Oa a universe away. From within his cell, he orchestrated a mystery surrounding the death of a Guardian to find a powerful weapon, the Phantom Ring.[50] After hacking into the Lantern ring network, Henshaw used the unsuspecting Corpsmen Simon Baz, to break the Cyborg out of the Fortress of Solitude and deliver him the Phantom Ring.[50] Though Henshaw was able to capture the Green Lanterns as his hacking into their main central Power Battery rendered their rings useless,[51] however due to John Stewart and Simon Baz using the Kryptonian weapons that Simon borrowed from the Fortress, along with the fact that any Green Lantern who had not recharged their rings prior to Henshaw hacking into the main battery (such as Hal Jordan and Kilowog) were immune, allowing them to fight back.[52] In retaliation, Henshaw retreated to Earth with the intention to recreate the disaster of destroying Coast City with the power of the Phantom Ring. With the help of other Green Lantern Corpsmen (such as Sodam Yat), Henshaw was defeated and forced to retreat with the Phantom Ring

[nemolian]

Terry Gilliam’s Don Quixote film finally hits the big screen after 25 years

Enlarge /

Jonathan Pryce stars as an aging Spanish cobbler who becomes convinced he is Don Quixote in Terry Gilliam's film,

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

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It's been 25 years in the making, but The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, director Terry Gilliam's tribute to the classic Spanish novel, has finally hit the silver screen. The project has foundered and been revived so many times, it became a poster child for Hollywood's notorious development hell, with a reputation of being cursed. But Gilliam persevered, and while the finished product isn't exactly a masterpiece, it definitely reflects the singular vision of one of our most original filmmakers.

(Mild spoilers for the film and Miguel de Cervantes' 17th-century novel below.)

Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote is inarguably one of the most influential works of Spanish literature. The book is written in the picaresque tradition, which means it's more a series of loosely connected episodes than a plot. It follows the adventures of a nobleman (hidalgo) named Alonso Quixano who has read far too many chivalric romances and becomes convinced he is a knight errant. With his trusty peasant sidekick, Sancho Panza, he embarks on a series of random tragicomic adventures, with the Don's hot temper frequently getting them into scraps. (Sancho usually gets the worst of the beatings and humiliations.) Don Quixote is the archetype of the delusional dreamer, tilting at windmills and believing them to be giants, preferring his fantasy to mundane reality.

Everything went almost comically wrong from the start.

Gilliam came up with the idea for his Don Quixote film back in 1989 when he read Cervantes' novel, but he didn't secure funding until 1998. Johnny Depp signed on to play the role of Toby Grisoni, while his then-partner Vanessa Paradis would be the female lead. Shooting commenced in 2000 in Navarre, Spain. But everything went almost comically wrong from the start. There were conflicts with the various actors' schedules, making it difficult to get everyone on set at the same time. The production site was near a NATO military base, and F-16 fighter jets flew overhead the entire first day of shooting, making it necessary to dub those scenes in post-production. A flash flood ruined the second day of filming by damaging equipment that was not covered by the insurance policy. The flood also caused continuity problems, since the colors of the terrain had noticeably changed.

Finally, on the fifth day, the film's star, the late Jean Rochefort, was clearly in pain during the scenes on horseback, despite being an experienced horseman. He turned out to have prostate problems and a double herniated disc, and while Gilliam tried to shoot around Rochefort's scenes, it soon became clear the ailing actor could not return to the set. The production was officially cancelled in November 2000.

The shoot did produce a critically acclaimed documentary film, Lost in La Mancha (2002), detailing the production's various woes. (It was originally intended to be an accompanying "making-of" special feature. A second follow-up documentary is in the works, titled He Dreamed of Giants.) In it, cinematographer Nicola Pecorini claims that "never in 22 years of being in this business have I seen such a sum of bad luck."

In the years since, Gilliam kept trying to revive the project with a constantly shifting cast and multiple rewrites of the script. Finally, he succeeded in getting funding and completing The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, only to have its release delayed by legal disputes involving one of the earlier producers. The film ultimately debuted at Cannes last year, although it was ineligible for the top prize because of its ongoing legal woes.

They might be giants

Don Quixote tilting at a windmill.

YouTube/ONE Media

It gets the better of him.

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"Cut!" Adam Driver plays Toby Grisoni, an auteur advertising executive who comes to Spain to shoot a commercial.

YouTube/ONE Media

"I am Don Quixote!" The beginning of a years-long delusion.

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A delusional Javier mistakes Toby for Sancho Panza.

YouTube/ONE Media

Javier/the Don ridicules the notion that his lowly Sancho can read.

YouTube/ONE Media

A joust! Why not?

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Toby and Javier/the Don run into Angelica (Joana Ribeiro), whom Toby first met while making his student film.

YouTube/ONE Media

Thou shalt not covet thy boss's wife, Toby: Olga Kurylenko plays the alluring Jacqui.

YouTube/ONE Media

An elaborate gala designed to humiliate the delusional Javier.

YouTube/ONE Media

Oligarch Alexei Miiskin (Jordi Molla) uses and abuses Angelica.

YouTube/ONE Media

A steamy tango as Toby and Angelica rekindle their spark.

YouTube/ONE Media

You see windmills, but Don Quixote sees giants.

YouTube/ONE Media

Don Quixote cannot die; he will ride forever with his trusty companion, Sancho Panza.

YouTube/ONE Media

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote features Jonathan Pryce as Javier, an old cobbler in a small Spanish village. He becomes convinced he really is Don Quixote after a visiting college student named Toby Grisoni (Adam Driver) casts him in a student film about the legendary hidalgo. Ten years later, Toby is a hotshot advertising executive who returns to Spain to shoot a Quixote-themed commercial. He finds Javier still so caught up in his delusion that Javier mistakes Toby for his loyal sidekick, Sancho Panza. Together, they set off on a series of increasingly wild and incoherent misadventures. And like Cervantes' Sancho, Toby often bears the brunt of the consequences.

The cast is fantastic, especially Pryce and Driver. The dialogue is sharp and witty, and Gilliam remains a master at skirting the fine line between comedy and tragedy—much like Cervantes himself. The first half of the film works really well, driving home the unintended consequences that a naive Toby's student film wrought on the people of that small Spanish village. ("I'm incorporating the idea of the damage that films do to people, so it's become a bit more autobiographical," Gilliam told the BBC last year.)

This may be one of those visionary films that will play better with age.

Unfortunately, the plot, such as it is, unravels into delirious chaos during the second half. Toby even breaks the fourth wall at one point to wonder aloud, "There's a plot?" Certainly the sumptuous visuals and dazzling dream-like sequences, blurring the line between what's really happening and what's just in Toby's head, reflect Gilliam's unique sensibility. It's the same sensibility that produced Gilliam's incomparable dystopian satire, Brazil (1985), which kept the director's wilder instincts well-constrained and was all the better for it. The Man Who Killed Don Quixote might have benefited from a few more constraints. But given the sheer effort of will it took just to make the film, I'm inclined to forgive its chaotic excesses. It helps to be familiar with the source material, since the film shares the same meandering episodic structure and weaves in plenty of nods to Cervantes' novel.

"The problem is that people have very high expectations," Gilliam told the BBC in May 2017. "And a lot of people say I'm a fool to make the film, and that it would have been better to let people imagine how great it would have been rather than making it a reality and disappointing them. People love Roman ruins because they're not complete and you can imagine them. So I may be making a great mistake. Maybe the film would be better as a fantasy."

He has a point. Personally, I'm glad Gilliam finally finished his film, the way he always wanted, with all its messy imperfections. Whether it connects with audiences remains to be seen. This may be one of those visionary films that will play better with age. Its spirit is true to the picaresque tradition, and the Man of La Mancha would approve, I think. Gilliam has been tilting at this particular windmill for 25 years, and it's gratifying to see him finally conquer the giant.

Trailer for Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.

via:Ars Technica, April 14, 2019 at 09:01AM

[davidsilvercloud]

                              Terry David Silvercloud, aka ‘Butch’.

Tuesday, 3 October, 2017.  9:30am, bright and sunny in my studio/home.  I've been up for an hour having coffee, a T3, and stabilizing.  I've been much better the past few months, in the morning.  I began taking Diclofenac, once a day.  It tires me out, a bit, and I tire more quickly, but it greatly relieves the aches and pains and has helped with bowel issues I had.  I feel pretty well, all things considered and the fact I'm about to be 73 years old.

I live alone and fight loneliness all the time.  In the mornings, because I'm retired and don't have to be anywhere, I sit drinking coffee, watching the news on TV, and thinking about the day ahead.  I feel well today and plan a normal kind of day... working on my paintings, exercise, doing some selfies.  I'm a photographer and really enjoy taking photos.

I don't see well, anymore, and don't have all the gear I used to have.  These days I use a SONY NEX-7 camera on auto pilot.  I let the camera decide the focus and exposure most of the time.  I use extreme wide angle lenses, a trick I learned while doing commercial photography.

I'm known for using extreme wide angle lenses.  My camera uses a standard 16mm lens with a dedicated fish-eye attachment... I can remove it quickly.  I mention this because many don't quickly grasp what it is that makes my photos look so different than most people's photos.

Today I want to mention EQUALITY.  Equality is an illusion... people are NOT equal.  Equality is a social convention... rules we live by.  Some people are tall, some short.  Some are thin, some are fat.  Some are sick, some are well,  some are poor, some are rich.  The issue that really separates the water from the oil is intelligence.  Some people are, quite naturally, intelligent... it came with their genes.  Most people are average in intelligence but are NOT equal in experiences and education... it just never ends, the DIFFERENCES.

In spite of all our differences, the vast majority of humans cling to the concept of equality... everyone wants what everyone else has and most don't see any reason why it should not simply be GIVEN to them.  There is a sense of entitlement among many, if not most humans.  

Democracy is supposed to level the playing field and bring some level of equality to the masses, but the vast differences in intelligence, education and experiences mean that the democratic system is doomed to failure.  Power groups form which take control of government and the voting system keeps the entire system in eternal instability and government is by popular opinion, not based upon any kind of wisdom of any kind.  It guarantees an eternal overthrow of governments, all of which are interested in the self interests of the governing party under the delusion it is for the good of all.

It's rather like labour unions.  Seemingly a good thing to protect workers, unions end up being cliques of privileged workers who have only their own self interest to look after and that includes keeping out people from the union.  The union has only the union's interests at heart to the exclusion of all others.

Workers should be protected by government regulation and policing, not by unions which have caused the destruction of the industrial base in North America over the past twenty years as business moves overseas under free trade deals.

Free trade is a good idea except the world is not a level playing field.  Equality... as I'm trying to point out, an illusion of idiots.

I wrote a bit about equality in my book "The Shape of God"...

http://TheShapeOfGod.com/page261.html

http://The-Shape-Of-God.Tumblr.com

Tom Petty passed away yesterday.   He was 66 years old.  These kinds of things... well known entertainers and others, who are younger than myself, who have died.  I'm about to be 73 and people say things like "oh, you're still young".  I know they mean well, but when you get past that age 60 marker, you begin to realize your days are winding down and you begin to take on a different outlook upon life.

I'm hugely disappointed in the human race... I don't belong, at all.  For me, I don't give a flying f**k anymore.  I gave up on the humans some time ago and, mostly, keep to myself as I find it impossible to find anyone in whom I have anything in common, or wish to spend any time being with.  I try to be nice to everyone, but my patience is low.

I share my life in photos, paintings, and words in hope of making this planet a better and nicer place to live.  I'm trying my best to turn this living hell into a more pleasant place to be.

I notice my beard, hair and public hairs are all rapidly turning white, so old age is now totally upon me.  I always looked much younger than I was.  I attribute that to my genetics, but mainly to trying to eat without too much junk food, regular exercise, and avoiding drinking and smoking cigarettes.

I did smoke cigarettes for a few years but managed to quit.  I can't stand the smell of them, now, and can't be around cigarette smoke because it is so awful smelling.  I smoke a lot of pot... not saying that is a good thing, just saying.

I let you into my life through my photos in hope of inspiring you to think about things other than your daily grind.  I'm well aware I'm not average, nor 'normal', whatever that is.  We are not equal.  Humans are not equal... it's time we found better ways to deal with that issue... providing opportunities for those who are gifted, while finding fair ways to feed and house the indigent... the failures in life and oversite, by government, to police businesses.  Capitalism, as we know it, is a license to exploit.  It needs strict rules.  Socialism... total government control, will not work because governments are, by nature, always corrupt.

Government, itself, needs multiple levels of control over those who govern.  Voting, in my opinion, is not a right unless you are properly educated, therefore, I believe in levels of voting rights.  I said it, I mean it, people are NOT equal and the concept of equality is delusional.

The very fact that there is such a thing as homelessness should bring great shame to every single human upon the planet.  The fact that there are those who go hungry, or with illness, or bad teeth, is testament to the horrific evil that is mankind, these days.  Humans are not nice animals.  They are greedy, self centred, poorly educated animals who walk and talk.  We can change that, but I won't wait up... I have no hope for the human race and will be quite happy to leave this planet and never return.  If you wish to associate with me, you will have to prove your worth to me.  I won't wait up, but am hopeful that my equals are out there, somewhere.

Remember this... EQUALITY is a social concept that assumes the basic rights of everyone to be treated decently and with fairness.  It, completely, disregards the rule of nature... the strong eat the weak and lead them.  EQUALITY is a concept about fairness among humans in the way a person is treated by others and the group, as a whole.  It requires rules... because it defies nature.  Nobody is born an equal to others... the very idea is ludicrous and, evidence shows, that is not true.  Everyone is different, in some way... why you are you. Equal opportunity is a myth.  Nobody has equal opportunity.  One is born into a situation that is, completely, out of one's control and one is not born with knowledge.  A child doesn't really know any different life than the one they have... or why the disease of religion is so easily spread around.  There is a truth to the concept of being born with a silver spoon in one's mouth. We, already, live in a world where a few enjoy the riches of the planet while the masses struggle for day to day needs.  Millions of people, if not BILLIONS, live quite horrible lives with no chance, of any kind, of anything better.  Face it, equality is a concept, not a reality.

While I'm still alive and above ground, I maintain several Domain Names where you can go direct to my sites.  Most are now on public servers.  Check me out...

http://TheShapeOfGod.com

http://ElectronSpeed.Tumblr.com

http://ButchBoard.com

http://ButchNaked.com

http://ButchNews.com

http://DavidSilvercloud.com

http://SeriousThunder.com

[terrence-silver]

Would you write something about beloved being way to hard on themselves and struggling with insecurities? Terry’s never made them feel like this, but they’ve always struggled with the way they look, and can’t understand what Terry sees in them. Maybe Terry comes home from work to find beloved situated in front of a full body mirror, crying and analyzing the imperfections that are invisible to any other eye. Usually Terry would feel apathy towards this display of emotion, but it’s different with beloved. What lengths would Terry go to in order to show beloved how much he loves and is attracted to them?

---

-"Feel it."-

When he comes back to the estate and finds you sobbing in front of the carved, ornate bedroom mirror, he spins you around at whirlwind speed and places the palm of your hand over the outline of his cock tucked inside of his dressing trousers as an elaborate 'Hello, honey, I'm home!' of sorts. You gasp, not hearing him show himself inside the master sleeping chamber. Thing is, he sneaked in, ambushing you and it was that simple for him. He came home already reeling with absolute need, accumulated and heightened through absence. -"Terry! What, I ---"- You gasp, startled to the bone and entirely caught off guard, eyes reddened with tears. Third time this week he has found you sniveling and crying home alone over what you considered imaginary physical imperfections (once alerted by his staff calling him, and twice on his own accord, spying your antics through the camera feed) and the third time this week Terry Silver has had just about enough, patience wearing dangerously thin on the issue, like ice about to crack, wishing he could pin point causes, circumstances, individuals and reasons why you felt this and destroy everything that ever caused you injury. Avenge you. If you didn't stop this, he'd have every mirror in the mansion singlehandedly smashed by ramming his own fist into each and every one for warm-up practice and then having it thrown off of the balcony. Did you want a set of billboards with your face overlooking LA with the words 'The most beautiful being that has ever walked this godforsaken city and every precinct, county and street. This State. This everything.'? Is that what you wanted? Because that could be easily arranged. Would cost cheap change.

Only thing preventing Terry was the jealousy that came with a city of ten million people looking at you at all.

-"You think there's no desire here, huh? For you?"-

He asks, gravely, maintaining unflinching eye contact, holding back anger.

Fingers intermingled with yours over the hem of his erection.

You weren't even together today and he still ---

-"Even your tears get me hard."-

Terry leans down with lips reaching the shell of your ears and he whispers, half growling, half purring, squeezing your hand around his groin and trapping it firmly in place, cupping himself with the pressure and the blood delicious mingling down in his muscles, inhaling the salt and the wetness on your warm cheek, right before kissing away one, and then two and then three, finding himself licking your face clean of all the signs of crying, like a beast grooming another beast in the wild --- Terry could fully imagine getting himself off like this, on the spot and entirely dry. Yes, you were beautiful smiling. Beautiful flushed with ire. Beautiful weeping (particularly then). Beautiful in bed under him. Beautiful begging. Beautiful riding his cock. Beautiful eating dinner with him and soaking up the sunlight. Beautiful clean and covered with his cum and beautiful at night and during the day and always, and much like only a Sensei knew how, Terry Silver would teach and drill that fact into your skull by any means necessary until it was borderline a shamelessly delusional, irrefutable truth in your mind. -"Now say it."- Terry separates his greedy saliva coated tongue from your cheeks moistened by tears. and he speaks, grim, humorless. -"Say what?"- You whimper and stutter, shivering, shaken and confused, peering up at him like a lost lamb. You were holding his cock aroused for you and really didn't know what that meant or what he wanted you to say right about now, huh? Terry straightens his shoulders, dignified, telling you precisely what he wanted to hear you tell him, to his face, time and time again, for as long as it would take, until the lesson stuck with you. -"I am the most beautiful person in the world and I belong to you, Mr. Silver"-

[terrence-silver]

The Fair Folk or fairy AU for Terry Silver is very interesting.

Because we can attribute it to his feelings of otherness prevalent in his arc.

In a sense of Magical Realism, Terry could’ve always known there was some odd sort of something, something otherworldly, if you will, flowing in him, perhaps, much to his chagrin, controlling him from the inside. Something that he, control freak that he is, loathes most in life. That’s not to write off his own sense of merit, achievement, skillset, his sub-textual queerness, his success and even darker aspects to him, like his sadism, purely to the supernatural, but Terry’s different. He’s always been different to most everyone else. When he sets his mind to something, he gets it, even after a lifetime. Nothing escapes him. Nobody escapes him. He is unusually lucky, having survived Vietnam even though being something of an unfit soldier in need of frequent rescue. He picks up abilities with excessive mastery and there’s not a thing he flunks at and cannot do. People are innately drawn to him, whatever in the positive or negative sense, almost as if charmed. He has a hypnotic quality to him. Something wild. Feral. A long time ago, when he was a boy, his parents told him that one of their ancestors from the Old Country was someone strange and unusual, someone believed to clairvoyant, slippery and wispy, passing between worlds and plains with ease but it is later transformed and rationalized as a family anecdote merely writing off a distant, distant, distant relative as a delusional pathological liar who liked to make stuff up. A great-great-great grandfather who enjoyed bullshitting. It was simpler to digest the information that way.

Terry doesn’t subscribe to superstitions.

Terry’s a man of commerce, calculation, business, wealth and empire.

But, he sometimes, thinks about his own concealed supernatural nature (and the suffering it caused, alongside his mental problems and PTSD); he thinks just how easy it is to manipulate people, like an ancient trickster god. He thinks how easy it is to wear masks, like a shapeshifter or a face-stealer, smoothly borrowing bits and pieces from everyone (or claiming, like in the case of Ponytail, a whole identity taken), to make a perfect him, fitting a moment’s notice. He does so because he’s a skilled orator and he’s charismatic and cunning enough to pull these things off, entirely on his own, his nature not influencing his personal self, but at the same time, there’s bits and pieces of something extraordinary peppered in Terry Silver here and there which is absolutely undeniable and difficult to explain. When someone leaves him indebted, like in the case of John Kreese, young Twig both wanted to be eternally devoted because to save a Fae means earning their life-debt and because John’s a friend who he cares for, but he also had to be, as per rules and laws written out in times immemorial, while the grass was still young. Terry’s bound to do so, he loves it and hates it and loves it and hates it and loves it and hates it, because he can’t help it and it is a bond that doesn’t die until he or John die. Or Terry himself does. Terry supposes he loves it more than he hates it, though, feeling both influenced in his choice and yet not.