#virgil hawkins x reader

[dickmedowndc]

Hero Crush - Virgil Hawkins x Reader

Word Count: 1,515

Summary: When Richie starts asking about your younger years, he learns something interesting about your old teenage hero crush – it was Static. Unaware of your friends’ secret identities, Virgil has to try and remain collected after Richie calls him in ASAP, only to hear you defending your old puppy-love crush on the electric hero from an all too amused, and momentarily vexing, blond.

Notes: I just rewatch Static Shock a lot, okay, don’t @ me – Sparky needs some love. I can hardly find anything for him, so I shall make the content. 

…★…

“See, I need you to repeat that,” Richie chided, leaning forward with sudden rapt attention – one hand absent-mindedly playing with his earing. 

You could only huff, shoving his face away from you before leaning back, your cheeks beginning to burn in embarrassment. “I don’t know your game here, Foley, but you can knock that self-satisfied look right off your dumb smug face.” You couldn’t be sure where his sudden interest had come from in your answer, but that look he was giving you said that you likely didn’t want to know either. 

“No, I really need to hear you say it again: who was your childhood crush?” 

The smile threatening to take over on his face was hard to ignore, but you pushed it aside, glaring at his mocking attempt of being serious. “It was Static!” You bark out, throwing your hands up in frustration. “You’re acting like I was the only teenager who had a major crush on him.” 

Richie held his hands up in surrender. “True, you weren't – there was a line of girls and guys wanting to plant one on him.” 

You can’t help the huff of laughter that slips past your lips, though you’re still trying to hold onto your irritated persona with the blond in front of you. “There still is,” you finally chime, leaning back. 

Richie seems like he’s about to agree, or make some sort of smart remark, before a devious grin finds its way onto his face. “Actually -” 

That’s all the warning you get before he leans back with his hands cupped around his mouth and shouts. “VIRG!” 

And just when you thought you could avoid another noise complaint from the neighbors. 

“Man, Richie, why’d you have to yell so loud? I bet they heard you all the way on the Watchtower,” Virgil gripes, finger in his ear as he shakes his head in a show of over dramatics. Still, he makes his way forwards before finding a seat next to you on the couch. 

“I was just playing twenty questions with our resident dork here,” he chimes, gesturing towards you. 

“He was interrogating me,” you interrupt. 

“I was curious!” He pushes his glasses back up the bridge of his nose when they’re knocked loose from his jolt backwards. “But I really think you need to hear this one, Virgil.” 

You can only roll your eyes, leaning as far back into the couch as you can – praying to any deity listening that it opens and swallows you whole before you can embarrass yourself. Richie will get you to admit it, one way or the other, and it’s always easier to go along with what he wants when he seems this determined than it is to find out whatever information he has hidden away on you and ready to hold, affectionately, over your head as leverage. “Richie asked who my teenage crush was,” you say, turning towards Virgil but refusing to make eye contact, “and I said it was Static.” 

You do finally look to the man beside you when you hear him choke on his own drink. “I’m sorry – did you say Static?” 

“Why are you guys acting like that’s so surprising!” 

Richie seems to shoot a knowing look at Virgil, one you can’t quite decipher, and it only fuels your fire. Though you can at least acknowledge it seems to have ticked off something in Virgil who is staring Richie down like he can set him ablaze with his mind. 

Richie pays no mind to Virgil’s apparent telepathic attempts at threatening him, turning his attention back to you instead. “I mean, why Static though?” 

You scoff, insulted he would say such a thing and ready to defend your choice. “Well for starters, because I have good taste, so jot that down Foley.” 

You pause and glance at Virgil when you hear him honest to god snort before he hides his face behind his hand. 

“And secondly, have you seen him in action? I mean come on! Listen, he’s gotta be roughly our age. And he was cute when we were younger, and he’s still hot now.” 

Virgil interrupts you this time, leaning in. “Wait, are you saying you still have a thing for him?” 

You flush at that before straightening up and staring him down. “What of it?” 

Virgil says nothing, but you can see the flustered look he hides a moment later when he takes a long sip of his drink. 

Then it’s back to the blond who started this all. Richie is laughing, looking back at an awkward Virgil – for a reason you can’t place – and seeming all too amused with the situation at hand. “Was there like, a moment that solidified it or was it a gradual thing?” 

You actually have to pause and think at that, eyes fixed on the floor and face scrunched up in consideration. Almost three minutes pass before you can finally give your honest answer. “It was gradual for a bit, I think, but then there was one fight in particular that just,” you click your tongue and absently wave your hand, “ya know, sold it.” 

“Oh, please enlighten us.” 

“You know, you really seem to be enjoying this.” you huff, arms crossed as you stare down the man seated in front of you. 

“Consider it my payment since I was outvoted on our movie tonight.” Again, he shoots a look at Virgil, who at least has the decency to give him an apologetic shrug. 

Sure, the electric hero hadn’t wanted to see the movie you had put up on the table, but when your eyes had lit up talking about it Virgil was sold – breaking the tie between you and Richie in your favor. He had popcorn thrown at him all night in retaliation while you weren’t looking, but it had been worth it. 

Your resigned sigh brings everyone back to the present as you close your eyes, face scrunched up again and nose held between your fingers like you’re willing away a headache. Suddenly you shift forward, elbows to your knees as you recount it. “Fine - so it was one of the times when he was fighting Hotstreak – I don’t remember how long ago. But for some reason he had his sleeves rolled up and his glasses down. And firstly, that was already, like.” You falter, trying to find the words before just making the ‘perfect’ sign with your hand. “But then! This huge wall of fire went at him and Static made this barrier with his powers. This huge glowing field of electricity that surrounded him.” You taper off, embarrassed at how animated you had gotten recounting it. “That was it, I’d say.” 

Richie seems all too pleased with this information, and he’s staring you down in a way that tells you he’s biting his tongue so something doesn’t slip out. It’s vexing, really. Virgil, you notice on the other hand, seems completely embarrassed by your admission – and for your life you can’t understand why that is. 

“You know what I think,” Richie starts. 

“I’d rather not.” 

Your plea goes ignored. 

“I think that when you see Static you should just plant a kiss right on his cheek.” 

You stare at Richie incredulously, “I’m not doing that.” 

“You should.” 

You don’t try to argue with him, only looking to Virgil for any sort of desperate help before you throttle the blond and take your trio to a duo. 

Hawkins is as much help as a wet piece of end bread – which is to say, absolutely none. But he is doing a better job at molding himself into the couch than you were earlier, and you’ll give him credit for that, even if his actions have you puzzled. 

It’s all the more reason he’s endearing, you muse quietly to yourself. 

You catch Richie’s knowing smirk from the corner of your eye and turn to him with a look that has him reeling back. As though he understands the threat at hand should he say anything to allude to your painfully obvious crush on Virgil. But he never would, and you know that. You’ve been friends with the pair long enough that you think you’d trust them over the local heroes to have your back. 

Finally, the topic changes and you can breathe a sigh of relief, shoulders slumping and tension leaving your body. 

And days later, when Static has his next fight – well, maybe you notice a little faster when faced with an older version of Static pulling the same stunt that had your teenage heart swooning those few years before. The icing on top is when someone from the crowd asks him to say one of his old lines and he decides to humor them, just for a moment. “The name’s Static, I’ll put a shock to your system.” punctuated with a wink as he finally pushes his shades from his face. 

If it has any effect on you that’s your own business, and you’ll take that knowledge to the grave, no matter how much Virgil and Richie bring it up with an all-too-knowing glint. 

[lazypanartist]

Love Languages Ft. The Runaways

Tye, Ed, Asami, Virgil

Notes: I'm setting this kinda after the events of Season 2, so it's p much happening in the 2 year time skip before season 3. I don't think you can tell tho, except in Ed and Virgil's parts

-----

Tye Longshadow

Quality time

With Maurice around, still holding his mom's attention, the only other person he really has is his grandfather

So he takes you out for lunch, or for walks, shopping trips together, time at his grandfather's house for tea or breakfast or whatever

He wants to spend every moment possible with the people he loves, and that includes you

Eduardo Dorado Jr.

Words of affirmation

With the last year or so of his life having been spent fighting with his father and the other STAR staff, he's just happy to have someone

He lets you know every single day

Praise based on your success, not what you can give him

Asami Koizumi

Gift giving

She comes from a completely different culture, and wants to know more about yours.. and yourself

Sending you articles online, giving you small handmade gifts or showing you trinkets she found while out and about

It's her way of connecting with you ^-^

More food for thought: Japanese candies

Virgil Hawkins

Physical touch

I've always felt that Virgil is the touchiest of the Runaways; he grew up in a loving home with his mom and sister, it seems only natural that there'd by physical affection

He'll throw an arm around your shoulders as you walk together, or hold your hand.. little kisses as you pass one another or are just hanging out

He gives you gentle hand squeezes to assure you he's okay after missions w/ the team

[sageheartwriting]

Virgil Hawkins (YJ Static Shock) x Artist! GN! Reader

Author's note: First time writing something on tumblr! I just love YJ minor characters so much but there's like not much content SO I'm feeding myself and if you'd like to send in requests that's fine too! Tell me if there's anything that I can improve on!!

Story: Virgil breaks his old skateboard and gets a new one. (name) offers to doodle some stuff on it and stuff ensues. (This is more fluff than anything romantic I think, tell me if it's bad haha)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Virgil whisked through crowds of people, music blaring through his headphones. He weaved through the streets, the wheels of his skateboard scraping along the floor.

"Shit, shit, shit! I'm so gonna be late...!" Virgil grumbled as he peeked at his phone. In that moment of his absent-mindedness, he bumped into a person and...accidentally stepped on his skateboard.

Unsurprisingly, he showed up late.

(Name) sat idly at the table, scrolling through their phone with a neutral expression, occasionally scribbling down sketches down on a small notebook. Virgil pushed open the door of the coffee shop, his signature skateboard and chirpy attitude absent for once.

"It's rude to make a friend wait, y'know."

(Name) looked up with a smug smirk, teasingly mocking his late appearance. They cocked an eyebrow at the dread-head, suddenly noticing his saddened expression. Virgil sat down opposite (name), eyebrows wrinkling into a frown (which they found cute).

"Ugh, I'm real sorry. I know we wanted to meet up and talk and stuff, so I actually wanted to come earlier! Ah, just my luck. My skateboard broke so I had to walk the rest of the way...sorry, man." He whisper-yelled in frustration at his own misfortune.

(Name) nodded and took a sip of their drink. "That's fine." They looked up to smile at him, flashing their teeth in a charming smile. "Maybe you should get a new one? Actually...when you do...can I..can I doodle on it?" (Name)'s eyes lit up at the idea that suddenly came to mind.

The pair soon found themselves in Virgil's room, seated on the floor with a brand new shiny skateboard, waiting to be decorated in colourful neon markers. (Name) took out their sketchbook - full of small doodles - and their phone - full of reference images - and went to work.

Virgil watched as (Name) got in 'the zone', completely immersing themselves in the moment. They held up a picture of a cute puppy. "Can I draw this?" They asked, eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. He could feel his chest tighten from (name)'s adorable actions.

"Sure. But why that?" He leaned back, giving them full creative freedom over the design of his skateboard.

"It's cute. It reminds me of you." (Name) spoke with zero hesitation.

Virgil's face flushed and he sat back up straight, leaning in closer to hear better. "S-sorry, what?" He tried to cover up his embarrassment. Surely, they didn't mean that...he just heard wrong! Right?

(Name)'s face reddened as they slowly realised what they said, and their hands stopped abruptly.

"Um...I...I said it's cute! Yeah! It's cute." (Name) also shook it off.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense and Virgil realised just how close his face was to theirs.

"Tell me the truth...please..?"

(Name) gulped and bit on the inside of their cheeks. Sure, Virgil was a nice guy...and his jokes was always the highlight of their conversations...and was just a joy to have around...

"Hey-you're getting really red...are you okay?" Virgil grabbed (name) by the shoulders, shaking them lightly. (Name) snapped out of their trance, staring back at him. "H-huh? What did you ask? I forgot." (Name) lied, eyes darting around the room in nervousness.

"What about the puppy that reminds you of me?" He asked.

Alright, time to rip off the band-aid.

"It's..." (Name) sucked in a deep breath. "It's cute like you."

They both sat there for a while in silence, before bursting into laughter. Virgil slapped his knee. "You're kidding!"

"No, I mean, yes. I mean it." (Name) regained composure, sitting upright to look at him properly. "I think...I...I think you're cute, Virgil." The feeling of something cold spreading along (Name)'s sock alerted them and they looked down.

"Oh, shit. I left the marker uncapped."

~

[rengokuswif3]

The 5th Wheel

Word Count: 1.5k

This is a very old fic, but I wanted to post some of my old stuff into here and I still kinda like this!

Virgil followed behind, like he always did. He watched as you and Eduardo talked Tye and Asami’s ears off about some stupid date you two went on. Virgil felt a pang in his heart when Eduardo leaned down and kissed you on the cheek, and his eyes drifted to Tye and Asami’s hands, fingers intertwined with each other.

He always felt left out, more lately than ever. Ever since you an Eduardo became a thing and Tye and Asami revealed they’d been dating the whole time. You were always doing “couple stuff” now. You always invited Virgil, but even when he was physically there with you all, he always felt like he wasn’t. Like now, you would often forget he was there. It hurt even more because he had always liked you, ever since escaping the Reach together. He wanted to make his move, but Eduardo had confided in him and told Virgil about his crush on you. Virgil, being the good best friend that he was, stepped back and even set you two up. It hurt to do, but he wanted his best friend and his crush to be happy.

He never let any of you know how he was feeling, though. He continued making jokes and teasing each couple, as if nothing was wrong. Virgil didn’t want any of you worrying about him, and he certainly didn’t want anybody to know he was pining after you. That would cause a whole bunch of drama he didn’t need, nor want.

When you all got to your destination, the skatepark, Tye shouted: “Virgil! I bet I can do a better 360 than you!”

“Oh, you’re on, man!” Virgil grinned, temporarily forgetting about his loneliness.

After him and Tye had their little competition (Tye won, of course. The bastard), Virgil just skated. Skateboarding always cleared his mind, let him focus on one thing for a little while that didn’t involve himself getting hurt. Well, emotionally that is.

“Oh shit!” Virgil suddenly realized he was speeding right at you, and before he could stop it, he crashed.

Virgil groaned as he got up, eyes widening when he realized where he was; on top of you, hands on either side of your head. He felt his face heat up as he heard Tye laughing, Eduardo rushing over to the both of you.

“Are you guys okay?” Eduardo asked, biting back his own laughter.

Virgil couldn’t move, he felt paralyzed. The girl he’d been in love with for almost a year now, was right below him, her face inches away from his. He wanted nothing more than to fill the gap and kiss her, but he couldn’t do that to you or his best friend.

“Virgil? You good?” You asked timidly, worried by the strange expression on his face. He was uncharacteristically quiet, and his eyebrows were furrowed in worry.

“Um…Yeah, Uh…I’m sorry.” He quickly climbed off of you. Eduardo was staring at him, both concern and irritation in his eyes.

“Dude, what’s up?” Eduardo asked, suspicious of his best friends behavior.

“Uh…what?” Virgil asked, panic rising in his stomach. He was already flustered from being so close to you, and now his friend was starting to put the pieces together.

“You…are you serious?!” Eduardo started to get angry, realizing his friends feelings for you.

He’d always suspected it, Eduardo wasn’t blind. He could see even the tiniest glint of hurt in Virgil’s eyes whenever he kissed you or brought you up in conversation. What he didn’t know was how long Virgil had liked you, but if he did he would’ve gone a whole lot easier on him.

“What’s wrong with you, dude?” Eduardo glared at Virgil.

“What is going on?” Asami asked, looking between the two boys.

“Virgil’s a creep!” Eduardo spat, then erupted into curses directed at him. He was rapidly speaking in Spanish, so fast none of the Runaways could understand what he was saying.

“And you’re a dick!” Virgil yelled in his face.

“You’re the one who can’t get a girlfriend so you have to try and steal mine!” Eduardo snapped.

“Lalo!” You scolded.

Virgil became enraged, it felt like a stab to the heart. A kick in the gut. He shoved Eduardo back, making his best friend angrier and throw a punch towards him. Virgil dodged it, swinging back and punching Eduardo in the face. Eduardo held his now bloody nose, before kneeing Virgil in the stomach.

“Hey! That’s enough!” Tye yelled at them, grabbing the backs of their hoods and prying them off each other. “You’re acting like children!”

“What is the matter with you two?” You scolded them, Asami rolling her eyes in disapproval.

“Man, let go, man!” Virgil swatted Tye’s hand off of him, not taking his stare off of Eduardo. “You’re such as asshole, dude! You’re lucky I’m such a nice person or I guarantee you never woulda gotten with her in the first place!”

“Excuse me?” You cross your arms and raise an eyebrow at him.

“Man, you’re all blind! Y/N, I’ve liked you ever since the Reach, man! In fact, I was about to tell you but then Eduardo told me he liked you! So I stepped back, cause I’m a good friend! Unlike you, dude! None of y’all hardly notice me anymore, it’s all double dates now! I’m done!”

Virgil shook his head, grabbed his skateboard and stormed off. You all watched him leave, shocked at his outburst. Virgil was such a chill and cool guy, he’s never been angry in his life.

Eduardo felt like a jerk, he didn’t even realize what Virgil had been going through this whole time. Some best friend he was…

“We really messed up.” Tye finally let go of Eduardo’s hood, realizing he was still holding him back.

“I gotta go talk to him.” Eduardo mumbled, stepping on his skateboard and grabbing it.

Eduardo rushed after Virgil, running to the street corner he saw him disappear behind. He didn’t see Virgil anywhere, but knew where he was headed.

Eduardo skated down the street, arriving at an old school diner, Luke and Danny’s. This was him and Virgil’s personal hangout, they liked the vibe and the burgers. He walked in, seeing Virgil sitting at the bar counter with a soda. Eduardo went to the jukebox and played ‘No Scrubs’ by TLC, which was the song him and Virgil would play on repeat just to see how many times they could before Luke or Danny banner them from playing another song. Their high score was 8.

Virgil turned around when he heard the song start to play, sending a glare at Eduardo. He turned back around, ignoring him as he sat in the seat beside him.

“Dr. Pepper, please?” Eduardo asked Luke, the waiter behind the counter.

“What are you doing here?” Virgil asked, venom dripping in his voice.

“Just chillin.”

“Cut the crap, man. What do you want?” Virgil rolled his eyes, looking at anything but Eduardo.

“I wanted to apologize, esé.” Eduardo said quietly as Luke set down the glass of sizzling Dr. Pepper. “I didn’t know.”

“I know that.” Virgil scoffed.

“I’m serious, Virgil.” Eduardo looked at him. “I was way out of line. If I had known you liked her first I would’ve-“

“No dude. She likes you. There’s nothing either of us can do about that. This isn’t anyone’s fault, I overreacted.”

“No you didn’t. I was a total Tonto del culo, vato.” Eduardo said as Virgil finally looked him in the eyes, expression softening.

“Yeah, you were.” He gave a small grin. “Sorry for punching you in the face.”

“Sorry for kicking you in the balls.”

“You wish you did, dude.” Virgil chuckled.

“I’m serious though, for leaving you out. None of us realized we were doing that. I promise it’s not gonna happen again.”

“Of course it’ll happen again, y’all can still go on double dates Y’know. Just make sure to invite me once in awhile.”

“We cool?” Eduardo held out a hand.

“We’re cool.” Virgil smiled, taking his hand and half hugging him.

“Any food today, boys?” Luke asked, drying some dishes.

“Usual, man.” Eduardo nodded.

“Got it.” Luke nodded before handing off a ticket to the chef, Danny.

“So, how are you and Y/N?” Virgil asked.

“We don’t have to talk about-“

“Nah, I want to, man.” Virgil interrupted him.

“We’re doing fine. Took her to that dumb Ryan Gosling movie that just came out.”

“Man, you don’t like Ryan Gosling?” Virgil raised an eyebrow.

“Not when he’s shirtless and that’s why she wanted to see it!” Eduardo exclaimed, making Virgil laugh.

It was good to have his friend back, even if they were only fighting for a whole half an hour. Virgil even got some closure over you, maybe he’d move on soon. He had to eventually, nothing was gonna get in the way of their friendship. Not even a girl.

[vampireimiko]

hi can you do a static x reader and just some general dating headcanons? thank you ☺️

𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐜'𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐥

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, none at all, just straight fluff <33

𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞, the request didn't exactly specify if you wanted the yj version or the version I used, so hopefully this is what you meant💀, anyways enjoy !!

⬤ hhhh I'm so Inlove with him look at my bby- anyways 😁

⬤ now,, for this relationship to work out you would already have to know that virgil is a superhero, bc y'all seen how his friendship with daisy was barely working💀

⬤ so let's just say right after the big bang happened he went straight to going to see you and richie afterwards

⬤ so technically that would mean you and richie got powers since virgil was still doused in the big bang gas, BUT that's another story for another time <33

⬤ so with that being said, let's go ahead and jump into these hcs ✨

⬤ OKAY. so, with virg being a teenage superhero and all he doesn't really have much time for you sadly, trying to balance school, getting good grades, and being a superhero was pretty hard

⬤ but nonetheless virgil is glad that you understand his lifestyle and you don't tend to get mad at him whenever he's late for a date or two

⬤ but when he does have time for you best believe he makes it worthwhile

⬤ he'll take you out on small day dates when both of you have time, you'll both go too the mall, park, or the burger place virgil had to work at once

⬤ when he's not fighting anybody and off patrol he'll fly to your window with his board and ask if you wanna fly around the city with him

⬤ HATES when sharon teases him😭

⬤ "aw look at my baby bro, all grown up now!" she'd say while getting in his face and squishing his cheeks together

⬤ cue him pushing her off of him and coming up with a snarky remark back to her

⬤ and then there's you standing in a corner laughing your ass off💀

⬤ also when he's not busy, any chance he gets he's showing you off to anybody around y'all😭 ⬤ but as soon as a nigga tries something virgil is on they ass like grass ok ⬤ one time francis (hotstreak) was flirting with you and well let's just say when francis was causing trouble as usual, static rocked his shit a little more than usual

⬤ but all in all static is a very nice boyfriend and you wouldn't trade him for the world :))

𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 ; I'm not too happy with these so maybe I'll go back and edit them later on, but here's what I came up with for the time being, enjoy !!

𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

[silverdecepticon93]

Virgil: Y/n chapstick tastes really good.

Tye: Oh my god, did you guys kiss?!

You: No, he ATE it!

[spacesuitsforemergency]

Virgil and Eduardo’s S/Os Meeting Their Parents

Requested by: @amateurwriterbigdreamer

Request: Could I request an Eduardo Dorado jr who's s/o meets his dad for the first time? I have seen some with tye and jaime, so could you do the other runaways like virgil and eduardo as well, maybe do Bart Allen 

A/N: didn’t do Bart cause Y’know...

Eduardo Dorado Jr

⁃ Him and his dad fight over everything

⁃ Like his relationship with him has been getting better, but’s it’s not amazing or anything

⁃ He really doesn’t need his father’s approval, but he does want you to meet the guy

⁃ Eduardo bites back any comments that could possibly lead to a fight since he doesn’t want to yell at his dad in front of you

⁃ It’s tense and a little awkward, you know they’re not best friends or anything

Virgil Hawkins

⁃ His parents are really chill and fun, he’s not worried at all

⁃ He has a good relationship with his family so he’s actually pretty excited

⁃ He just hopes his mom won’t break out the family photo album

⁃ Or that his sister won’t tell you embarrassing stories

⁃ And do they disappoint? No

⁃ They do all of the above, he’s humiliated for life but is relieved you get along so well

[novaoutofthisworld]

Y/N: Let a bitch make my man her man crush monday

Y/N: Coming on tear that ass up on tuesday

Y/N: Whoop that bitch wednesday

Y/N: Throw them hands thursday

Gar: Babe chill-

Y/N: Free my ass friday

Virgil: Sis clam down-

Y/N: I'm still coming on saturday

Y/N: Slap that hoe on sunday

Bart: *laughing*

Y/N: I bet you she won't post him again on monday

Gar: *Kisses Y/N to calm her down*

[starsscribble]

Don’t Be A Baby

AU:  the one where soulmates can heal each other’s injuries. 

Relationship: Soulmates

Fandom: Young Justice

Character: Virgil

Warnings:

“Ow. Ow. Ow! That hurts Y/N.” Virgil whined as you place your hand on his broken rib.

“Stop being a baby and let me just heal you.”

You and Virgil had met at STARS Labs unlike him you had put yourself there because you wanted to learn to control your growing powers. Your friendship with him and the other runaways had been very rocky. But soon you both join the team at the same time you started to get close. It was on a mission where you both learned you were each other's soulmates. Your arm was broken along with a few other things from a fight with Bane, Kaldur had ordered Virgil to get you back to the Bio-Ship as they dealt with the others villains. Virgil listened and got you on board the Bio-ship as Conner took your place in the field. Every breath you took hurt as Virgil land your head on his lap.

“Everything is going to be fine,” Virgil said placing his hand on your broken arm.

“Too bad my soulmate isn't here to heal me.” Just as you said that you felt the pain in your broken arm leave and a warmth took its place. You moved your arm and looked at him.

“I guess your soulmate is here.” He said as he placed his hand on your broken ribs taken the pain away from you.

Ever since that day Virgil and you had always been together, you had even met his family. The other members of the team often picked on the both of you but you truly didn’t care. You had found your soulmate and that was all you cared about.

[dickmedowndc]

Nicole A. W.

Masterpost

★…★…★…★…★…★…★…★…★…★…★…★

Amazo

Mechanics of the Heart

...★...

Bart Allen [Impulse]:

Good Old Days

Artist's Muse

This Too Shall Pass (OC/Canon)

Future Worries

Future Comforts

Feels Like Fighting Gravity (OC/Canon) - UPCOMING

Bad Days

Kiss Tax

Heart Stops

...★...

Cassandra Cain [Orphan]:

When You Come Home

...★...

Conner "Kon" Kent/Kon-El [Superboy]:

Storming in the Streets Part I, Part II, Part III - UPCOMING

When Stars Die - UPCOMING

...★...

Jaime Reyes/Khaji Da [Blue Beetle]:

Sour [Jaime only]

af·fec·tion [Jaime only]

Little Menace Part I, Part II - UPCOMING [Jaime/Khaji Da]

Figured it Out [Jaime only] - UPCOMING

...★...

John Constantine

Goodnight

...★...

J'onn J'onzz [Martian Manhunter]:

To Woo You Part I, Part II

Misunderstandings

...★...

Virgil Hawkins [Static]:

Overload

Hero Crush Part I, Part II - UPCOMING

[lazypanartist]

Runaways reacting to reader's spring allergies

Because if I take after my father, I'm allergic to.. well, life. Also giraffes and elephants.

-----

Tye

I firmly believe he'd *also* have spring allergies

Coming from a hotter, drier area, he probably doesn't notice at first

Thinks it might just be humid

But as soon as you start sneezing from all the pollen..

Game over

You're both sitting and sneezing

He eventually starts laughing just because of how ridiculous it is

---

Virgil

He caught after you sneeze a few times

I'm sorry

He's not an only child, and so when the other sibling (or in this case, partner) is suffering from sneezes, he just.

Giggles about it

If you pout at him he'll apologize, but it'll happen again

---

Eduardo

Doctor's kid

Reaches for a tissue in his pocket while blessing you

If you keep sneezing for too long, he might search for a mask

Doesn't want to get sick

Might also have some kind of nasal spray on him as a just-in-case

Starts badgering you to take allergy meds of some kind that night

If he sees you out from Benadryl he'll just sigh & toss a blanket over you

---

Asami

You sneeze once

Then again

And again

It takes a few times, but Asami finally turns to you and mumbles "Daijoubu?"

If you give her a look, she'll shrug

Probably won't offer a tissue tho

Might offer to make you some tea, though

Clear your sinuses & throat

(in Japan it's typically considered impolite to acknowledge a sneeze, but after a few times, she'd say something. Iirc blowing your nose esp around other people is gross & impolite, too.)

[adventseven]

Static Is Back | COMIC BOOK REVIEW

It’s time to put a shock back to your system. That's right, after its short-lived run as a part of DC's New 52, the electrifying teen superhero is gracing the pages of DC comics once again. 

The series is titled, Static: Season One, written by Vita Ayala and art by Chriscross and Nikolas Draper-Ivey. The first issue of this six-part series was released on June 15th, 2021. 

Static isn’t the only hero from Milestone Comics making their return. Both Icon & Rocket and Hardware are receiving six-part series as well, officially re-establishing the “Dakotaverse”.

For those of you who don’t know what the “Dakotaverse” is, let me give you a quick rundown. The “Dakotaverse" refers to all characters licensed by DC Comics from Milestone Comics. All characters involved are based in/operate out of the fictional city of Dakota, whose population is majority Black with a heavy gang presence. Milestone Comics’ creator, the truly incomparable Dwayne McDuffie (may he rest in peace) and Denys Cowan, wanted to write stories featuring Black heroes so readers could see that heroes come in all colors. They also wrote stories from their own experiences which is why Dakota is a stand-in for any inner city in America.

The following will be a review for both Milestone Returns and Static: Season One #1. Spoiler Warning.

Milestone Returns is essentially issue 0 for the three new series being revived, Static, Icon & Rocket, and Hardware. For both Static and Hardware, it revamps their origin stories. Originally, Virgil Hawkins, Static, gains his powers because he was dragged into a gang war and was exposed to an explosion of strange gas. This event is known as the “Big Bang”. In Milestone Returns, the “Big Bang” happens at a Black Lives Matter protest in Dakota when the police decide to use an experimental “tear gas” on the protesters. 

Of course, updating Static’s origins allows readers to connect with the story on a personal level, given the events of 2020. This also aligns with McDuffie’s goal of using common experiences to tell amazing stories.

Hardware is introduced as the scientist, Dr. Curtis Metcalf, who developed the gas for Alva Industries (evil corporation). He is immediately blamed for the “Big Bang”. Seeing the writing on the wall, Dr. Metcalf runs to his secret lab to transform his body and equip armor with a lot of firepower.

Icon and Rocket's origins aren't fully explored here, but it does establish that Icon is an alien who has been on Earth for a looooong time. He is a Superman-like hero with several abilities even known to him. Rocket, on the other hand, is a girl from Dakota that met Icon and convinced him to clean up the drug problem in Dakota.

Milestone Returns defines the social issues created by the “Big Bang”, basically the same problems seen in the X-Men comics. We are shown Virgil’s first conflict with school bully turned pyromaniac villain, Hotstreak, and the rise of the big bad, Holocaust. There are a few smaller stories included in this comic but I'll let you read those for yourself.

Milestone Returns is a showcase of what we can expect in the future from the new writers and artists for these series. I highly recommend reading this comic if for nothing else seeing Virgil let out some major voltage. I rate it a 7/10.

Static: Season One #1 continues to dive into Virgil’s thoughts about all the changes he is going through. After his fight with Hotstreak, he’s worried he can’t control this new power. To his relief, no one except Hotstreak and Virgil’s friends, Frieda and Richie, knows he has powers. 

Virgil is constantly feeling the buzz of electricity under his skin. While it isn’t hurting him, the pressure of controlling it is causing anxiety and irritability with those he's close to. Add in the trauma of being hospitalized by the "Big Bang" and knowing that the person that hates him the most could barbeque him, it's a lot for a 16-year-old to handle. It's a lot for anyone to handle.

The artwork and paneling in this comic are stunning. I am loving Virgil's new design. The characterization of Virgil, his family, and Hotstreak is perfect. Artist Nikolas Draper-Ivey has stated multiple times on Twitter that he wanted to give this series a cinematic quality. He has not disappointed the reader, so far. There are two scenes between Virgil and his family, one before the "Big Bang" and one in the present. The page layouts are identical but the conversations are very different in tone, and I am just amazed by these scenes.

I was already a Static fan before reading this comic, and now I’ve fallen in love with the character all over again. I rate this issue 9.5/10.

The next issue of Static doesn’t have a release date yet, but in the meantime, Icon & Rocket will be released in July and Hardware in August.

TL/DR: Static is back and it’s really good.

Milestone Returns, available now. Rating: 7/10

Static: Season One #1, available now. Rating: 9.5/10

By Tré Hanzy

Follow Tré on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tre_hanzy

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Advent_Seven Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/AdventSevenMedia

[amandajoyce118]

Friday Five: Black Heroes In Comic Book History

This week, in honor of Black History Month I thought we’d have a little fun and look at some of the black comic book characters who made history. I bring you a few fun facts instead of just my usual ramblings this time around. 

Five: Black Panther

I mean… everyone knows who Black Panther is now thanks to the movie (that is a seven time Academy Award nominee) released last year. Even people who have never been interested in comics in their life know that the Black Panther is also a member of the royal family of the fictional African nation of Wakanda. What you might not know is that he was Marvel’s first mainstream black hero - and the first black character in Marvel or DC Comics to have super powers. Now, when the editors at Marvel started featuring Wakanda and its people in comics, they were a bunch of white guys who didn’t have a lot of experience with Africa as a whole. That means the older comics do suffer from some stereotyping and some unfortunate villains (like M’Baku the Man Ape). They still made a serious statement for Marvel, which was made of mostly white Jewish men, which was that comics aimed to be inclusive in 1966 when a lot of their readers were still hell bent on drinking from whites only water fountains.

(What’s that Fresh Prince gif? They were confused, but they got the spirit.)

Four: Storm

Storm is the first mainstream black heroine, and again, it was Marvel Comics who brought the history making moment to the page. She made her comic book debut in 1975. Ororo Monroe became a member of the new generation of X-Men, helping diversify the lineup so readers didn’t just have five white kids with powers on the pages. Over the years, there’s been a lot of retconning going on with her character, but the little pickpocket whose weather manipulating powers had her worshipped as a goddess is still a favorite. (Fun fact: Misty Knight actually debuted in comics the same year as Storm.) DC Comics didn’t have a black super heroine until 1981 when Vixen debuted.

Side note, because I feel like it’s important: Storm is not the first black super heroine, but the first mainstream one. Atomic Comics actually debuted a character in 1971 named Butterfly. She appeared in a Hell-Rider comic. She only appeared in two issues, while Storm stuck around a whole lot longer for Marvel.

Three: Luke Cage

Luke Cage become popular during the era of blaxploitation. His solo title began running in 1972. There is sooooo much cringeworthy about the original comics. However - Luke was the first black superhero to have his own self titled series. That’s right, Black Panther appeared in other people’s stories for nearly a decade before Luke Cage got his own comic. (There were other black characters who had self titled comics, like the western Lobo, but Luke was the first superhero.) The man with unbreakable skin broke up gang wars and tried to keep his neighborhood safe. He wasn’t the kind of guy who needed to fly halfway around the world to help someone, and that’s probably part of what still makes him popular today. (RIP Netflix series!)

A few years after Luke Cage debuted, DC Comics decided they couldn’t be outdone and put out Black Lightning.

Two: Lion Man

Alright, so this is where things get even more interesting. You’ve never heard of Lion Man, you say? Neither had I until I went looking to see if Black Panther really was the first black superhero. There’s a reason people always qualify and say “mainstream” superhero when they talk about T’Challa. Lion Man was really the first, but he appeared in a single comic book. That comic was All-Negro Comics #1. It was the first comic book of its kind - created, written, drawn, and distributed by an entirely African American team. And it was the only issue to ever be released. It debuted in 1947. Lion Man was a scientist sent on a mission to the African Gold Coast to guard a dangerous element in a mountain side… and honestly, it sounds like it could have been the starting point for Black Panther. It really, really, makes you think how different comics could have been if more diverse voices were welcomed into the world earlier.

One: Static

In the early 90s, a group of African-American writers and artists created a coalition that became known as Milestone Media. That group produced Milestone Comics, which eventually were absorbed by DC Comics when the company folded. Now, the important part here is that the group formed because they believed minorities were underrepresented (no kidding) in comics. In 1993, they debuted Static, one of their most memorable characters, who also got his own animated series in Static Shock. He had powers involving electricity, but that’s not why he’s on my list. He’s here because he was inspired by a real life lawyer from Florida. In fact, he was even named after him. Static’s civilian name is Virgil Hawkins.

In 1949, Virgil Hawkins wanted to go to law school, so he sought out what was supposed to be the best in the state: University of Florida. He was denied admittance because he was black. Separate but equal was in full swing, and it took nearly a decade before Virgil brought his case to the Supreme Court and they ruled that UF had to let him in. The racist Governor Collins refused to comply. Eventually, Virgil went to law school in Boston and got the Supreme Court to exempt him from taking the Florida Bar Exam because people in Florida were still racist another decade later. In 1977, when Virgil was 69, he finally got to open his own practice in Florida. Unfortunately for Virgil, he never had the chance to get the education he needed, and he faced several disciplinary hearings over the years, eventually being removed from Bar and losing his right to practice. What that man went through is enough to make anyone want to give up. Having a comic book hero named after him is the very least of what he deserved.

[ultimate-miles]

Spider-Men II (2017) - Or, the comic book that shouldn’t exist

Spider-Men II is a meandering, unfocused mess of lukewarm ideas with no pay-off, that dabbles in colorism and whitewashing.

Somewhere around the “Venom Wars” and the “Spider-Man no More” arc, there was a sharp decline in the quality of writing for Ultimate Comics Spider-Man. At the crux of it was the death of Miles Morales’ mother – Rio Morales – and the emotional bullying of a kid who wanted nothing to do with superheroing following the death of his mother, but was battered into thinking otherwise by the female clone of Peter Parker (Jessica Drew), Gwen Stacy, and his friend, Ganke Lee. 

If “Venom Wars” was the signal that things were going south in the writing department, the death kneel for Miles Morales’ storyline truly began with the story arc “Spider-Man No More”, which was lead directly into a discombobulated series of story arcs that preluded and finalized the death of the Ultimate Universe.

Since then, Bendis’ take on the character – who had a fairly solid start (from Issues #1-19 of UCSM) – declined in a way that I can only describe as a writer simply losing interest in their pet project and disregarding how he handled the character from thereon out. There was no emotional investment in Miles’ day-to-day life, his family unit, friends, and etc. like there was for Ultimate Peter Parker. Ultimate Spider-Man was, as far as Marvel comic title goes, was fully realized story. But, if we’re being honest, Bendis also didn’t have to do a lot of thinking for Peter’s stories because they were often retreads of plots written fifty-sixty years before his time at Marvel.

With Miles Morales, Bendis, was, to some degree, flying blind and more or less had an open field of possibly and stories to play out. He could’ve created a legit mythology for Miles. Yet, when you boil it down, if Miles wasn’t being thrown into a “Blockbuster Event” meant to boost title sales then he was often standing in the shadow of some version of Peter Parker or Peter Parker’s family members in his own title. Simply put: Miles could not be Spider-Man in the same way Denzel Washington’s The Equalizer couldn’t Jason Bourne the hell out of bad guys without the say so of a white authority. Every time Miles’ story circles back to Peter Parker, the limitations of Bendis’ imagination with his Black Male Superhero was clear.

I don’t think anything encapsulates this more than the unwarranted sequel to Ultimate Marvel’s 2012 miniseries, Spider-Men: Spider-Men II – released in 2017 with about the same amount of issues to its name (five).

Spider-Men saw a then-brand new Spider-Man, a thirteen year old Miles Morales – encounter the 616 Universe version of Peter Parker, who accidentally ends up the 1610 Universe after some convenient circumstances involving the 616 version of Mysterio and a dimension hopping device.

Similar to Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1-5 and Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #13-14, and Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #1-7, Spider-Men #1-5 runs Miles through the third consecutive gambit of getting “The Blessing™” of someone connected to Peter Parker, or Peter Parker himself. Spider-Men is more or less about how an adult Peter Parker deals with the fact someone much younger than himself (when he started doing what he was doing) was playing the role of Spider-Man following the death of teenaged version of himself (1610 Peter Parker), and eventually accepting that. It was a fun crossover that saw Miles work alongside someone he admired, and most importantly, didn’t lose sight of its tone and who the story was about in the end (Miles).

Spider-Men II, unfortunately, does the exact same thing, but now there’s no Brand New Car Smell, the question of how Peter Parker would react to a kiddy Spider-Man has been answered and Miles has been friggin blessed, officially, four friggin times, by Peter Parker and his unit in every way you can think of.

 Whitewashing your Protagonist is a Bad Idea™

The crux of Spider-Men II is to answer the question that Miles Morales asked: “I wonder if there’s a me in your universe?” The original Spider-Men ended with 616 Peter Parker searching – online – for the existence of a Miles Morales in his universe and being “shocked” by the answer. Knowing in advance that the series was only five issues long meant that the answer Bendis would provide – almost five years after the original Spider-Men – would be both underwhelming and rushed with no satisfactory resolution to rest on.

The bread-and-butter of a comic book character is their ability to become relatively different characters or offshoots from the one that was the origin point. Marvel’s brand revolves around allowing writers to reinterpret established characters into someone radically different, or just update them for younger audiences. Sometimes this works for good, other times for bad. Anna Paquin’s Rogue isn’t 616 Rogue, 1610 Rogue isn’t X-Men Evolution’s Rogue, and so on and so forth.

Where the reinterpretation of a character becomes an issue is when it begins to erase a marginalized identity. It would be common sense among anyone with enough sensitively and the ability to look beyond themselves to know: You don’t reinterpret a Black character – like Virgil Hawkins or Ororo Munroe – into a white or non-Black character, you don’t reinterpret an LGBT character – like Renee Montoya or John Constantine – into a Heterosexual character, you don’t reinterpret a female character into a male character. White or male or female characters? Most of the time their fair game – with reservation (Heathers is a perfect example) – there’s usually nothing remarkable or unique about those characters because they’re representative of the norm, the thing people have been socialized to sympathize and empathize with.

Unfortunately, Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli are white, so they have neither sensitivity nor the ability to look beyond themselves. Spider-Men II confirms that, yes, there is a 616 Miles Morales. But, he’s a criminal who makes friends with Wilson Fisk (the Kingpin), and is so light-skinned there is no resemblance to his Black counterpart. He’s just the ambiguously brown stereotype. To brazenly imply that Miles Morales was, as a lot of folk were saying when the title was being published, “Sammy Sosa’ed”, is to imply that the story was tackling the subject of learned self-hatred, self-harm, and anti-Blackness and that somehow figured into 616 Miles’ narrative. Instead, this just atypical comic book racism played straight.

There’s little reason to even sympathize with 616 Miles Morales, and the point of sympathy is merely watching him cry over a woman named Barbra Rodriguez, a gallery curator, then use his criminal enterprise, namely the hired hand Taskmaster (which counts like a DC Comics reject tbh) facilitate a means for him to travel to another dimension to be with another Barbra – who presumably hasn’t met that universal equivalent of Miles Morales. For lack of a better word, 616 Miles Morales is probably the version of Miles Morales Bendis would’ve executed if he hadn’t killed Peter Parker (lbr). He’s a terrible character and a particularly woeful answer to a question better left hanging in the air.  

There is no “Mary Jane Watson” for Miles Morales

Bendis’ attempts to provide Miles a love life has been – on all accounts – incredibly bad and unsurprisingly limited to white women. Jason Reynolds might be the only writer to tackle Miles Morales to even remotely consider that Miles’ dating pool might be predominantly Black – but, he’s also the only Black writer to tackle the character, so therein lay the problem. 

One of the biggest issues with trying to shack Miles up with a girlfriend is that his character has never been allowed to mature. Where Peter Parker (in the 616 universe, anyhow) was allowed to graduate High School and go to College before he started any serious romantic relationships (Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane) or flirtations (Felicia Hardy) and was, therefore an adult where more adult situations could occur, Miles is a teenage boy who’s mind arguably would change like the four winds about girls, but this is never reflected or explored in his title.

Add to the fact that there were no longstanding female characters in his mythology, no one Bendis planned on introducing was going to work. Then there’s the fact that most readers were probably rooting for Miles and Ganke Lee to hook up as opposed to dropping a female character on him – because they liked their dynamic and most were content to compare their relationship to Peter/Mary Jane anyway. But Marvel was gonna pull the trigger on that in the same way neither Miles or Miguel O’Hara will ever get their big media break in something that isn’t a animated film (Into the Spider-Verse), or television series usurped from them (Spider-Man Unlimited).

Early issues of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man (namely issues #12 and #19) preluded the character who would later become Ultimate Kate Bishop – Katie Bishop. Katie Bishop would play a supporting role as a then fourteen year old Miles’ girlfriend – a year after the death of Rio Morales – from issue #23 of UCSM until the end of Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man (which was only thirteen issues long). But, the persisting issue with Katie Bishop is that – unlike Mary Jane Watson (in almost any iteration of Peter Parker’s story) – she was never given any proper build-up or development as someone who would be important to Miles’ arc before the romancing starts.

She’s just dropped into the middle of his story, and audience is supposed to accept it. Then, Bendis and co. ultimately decide the only way to make this character interesting is make her the daughter of Neo-Nazi and a Neo-Nazi herself who follows the Ultimate version of Hydra. Instead of building any kind of goodwill with the reader, Bendis poisons the well altogether and sabotages the character and this was way before the bullshit he, Nick Spencer, and other writers would pull that would lead to creation of Nazi Captain America (el-oh-fucking-el).

The second attempt to give Miles a love interest was in the misfire series All-New Ultimates, wherein a fourteen year old Miles began flirting with the idea of messing around with, for all intents and purposes, a grown-ass woman named Diamondback – highlighting one of the major issues with why Miles and Romance subplots never work out. Following Miles’ move to the 616 universe, Bendis and whoever was responsible for the Spider-Gwen title tried to establish an Instant Oatmeal romance between a eighteen year old Gwen Stacy and a now fifteen/sixteen year old Miles Morales that was both misguided (Bendis really tried to justify it with the line “I’ll be seventeen in a month!” fuckin’ creep), gross and flat-out boring.

Bendis, has, summarily struck out two times in his lack of effort to create a version of “Mary Jane Watson” for Miles Morales. One was underdeveloped (Kate), the other was outright creepy and his living out the fantasy of fucking Gwen Stacy. Michel Fife’s (the writer of All-New Ultimates) creepy and halfhearted attempt to give Miles a “Black Cat” equivalent unilaterally failed with the end of the title itself. Spider-Men II, unfortunately, is Bendis’ third and final miss in the pursuit of Miles Morales’ love life and it’s a big part of why – outside of the whitewashing – Spider-Man II fails as a story.

Bendis attempts to posit that – for every universe that has a Miles Morales, there is a woman named Barbra Rodriguez that he will ultimately fall in love with. 616 Miles Morales’ entire narrative motivation – which renders 1610 Miles Morales’ side of the story completely irrelevant and void – in Spider-Man II is to escape to another universe where there is a Barbra Rodriguez, because his version of Barbra Rodriguez has died. But in the same universe (616) there’s a younger 616 Barbra Rodriguez that just shows up for no reason for 1610 Miles to swoon over. It’s so groan inducing.

Like Ultimate Kate Bishop, as an idea, Barbra Rodriguez isn’t a bad one per se. The issue is, like Ultimate Kate Bishop, that Barbra Rodriguez is dropped into the lap of the reader and expected be swallowed wholesale. In a series of panels illustrated by a perpetually bored Sara Pichelli (who’s interpretation of Miles has become, honestly, more and more ape-like than anything resembling the stellar character design she and David Marquez started out with, but only Marquez remained faithful to before his departure from Miles’ story) in something that resembles the image of the conceited little girl from Monster House selling Halloween candy to a neighborhood she doesn’t live in, the reading audience is meant to believe Miles falls in love with Barbra.

Barbra Rodriguez is a painfully unwritten and boring character to the point where I don’t think you can call her a character – just a prop for a half-baked romance subplot that doesn’t involve the version of Miles Morales readers have picked the book up for. As a character, she brings nothing to the table, as a prop she’s not even interesting. Bendis tries to pull the Star Crossed Lovers Xena-level Soulmates position without ever earning it and as a result Barbra is forgettable. Maybe if he actually introduced her in his last outing for Miles instead of creating a walking stereotype of a grandmother, this might’ve worked better. As it is, Barbra Rodriguez is a last minute thought the story itself fails to capitalize on for anything other than manpain.

Miles Morales isn’t Peter Parker, so naturally, he will never have a Mary Jane Watson. Not even on a metaphorical level, or for the sake of comparison. I honestly think that the only character, if it had to be a woman and not Ganke Lee, that would’ve worked, would probably be Bombshell (Lana Baumgartner). She’s the only female character within his age group he’s actually interacted with and established a genuine relationship. 

616 Peter Parker is an Asshole

Peter Parker’s interaction with a then thirteen year old Miles Morales was a fairly fun read. I liked the idea of Peter indirectly promoting himself to temporary mentor because he’s a grown man overly worried about the fact that someone far younger he was superheroing and largely in the memory of even younger version of himself – who he can’t quite deal with being dead (because it’s him). It was cute. The rationale behind Peter’s actions made sense, and it didn’t overstay its welcome.

Peter in Spider-Men II is a jerk for almost no reason. Because the narrative begins in medias res, with Miles and Peter arguing about how they got tied upside down, the reader spends a great deal of their time wondering why the hell Peter is being so antagonistic with Miles – to the point where he bluntly tells Miles that his being Spider-Man was a “mistake”.

Spider-Men II does not really answer this question – but instead spends the bulk of its first two issues being evasive about the issue altogether (because issues #3 and #4 are dedicated to 616 Miles Morales and his relationships with Barbra and Kingpin, with issue #5 “wrapping” things up for 616 Miles). Recapping that Peter Parker searched and presumably found Miles Morales in his universe before the implosion of the UM, Spider-Men II then has Peter pretending to help Miles locate the 616 version of himself, going as far enlisting the help of Jessica Jones – who summarily tells them there are no traces of a Miles Morales equivalent to even be worried about.

Because the reader is either meant to believe or knows that Peter is lying or being dishonest with Miles, a lot of their dynamic is artificial. Whatever Bendis managed to capture with the first crossover event between the two characters has vanished altogether. A lot of the time Peter Parker – who I keep forgetting is basically a diet soda version of Tony Stark, right down to wearing an armored suit with a glowing symbol and owning his own billion dollar franchise (Parker Industries) – comes off as condescending and a spandex wearing asshole. An asshole operates on the belief that he has the right and authority to tell a now fifteen year old Miles Morales when and when he can’t be Spider-Man.

Even weirder, instead of shutting that nonsense down, Miles takes it on the chin is more less like, “aww, gee, I guess you’re right, I’ll go be depressed now” even as Peter offers him a half-hearted apology and Miles can only say “well, you said it”. It’s the equivalent of Cyclops telling Storm she can’t be the leader of the X-Men, but without the holy retribution of Cyclops being smote with lightning. Like, I spend a grand bulk of this series – which doesn’t even legitimately resolve or explore the fraught dynamic between the two – wishing Peter Parker would fall into a hole and die. Peter Parker’s character in this title is downright insufferable. I miss John Romita Jr. and that other guy’s Peter Parker, but I hear he died in the Civil War. 

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES

Behind all the mess that is the core of Spider-Men II, there was a fairly interesting idea to explore. Bendis really could’ve focused on how the two Miles Morales dealt with existing in the same space. He could’ve dealt with how Miles was coping with having his mother back, and living in a universe that was not his own – and how the death of the Ultimate Marvel universe affected him.

If he had established Barbra Rodriguez before this miniseries, he could’ve actually dedicated the time barely spent on her to simply furthering the relationship that should’ve started way before this story.

As it stands? 1610 Miles Morales and his exploits are more or less an afterthought to the core of the story itself. Peter Parker is a billionaire asshole throughout most of the plot and honestly not even required to tell the story. You can remove him from any and all plot points involving the “who is 616 Miles Morales?”, Jessica Jones, and the conflicts with Taskmaster, and nothing would change. He is irrelevant.

There’s too much time spent on the whitewashed version of Miles Morales – something that both hinders and illustrates just how far gone Bendis’ writing for Miles has diminished since 2013. 616 Miles Morales wasn’t a bad idea, but the execution of the character is fairly horrendous and racist.

Almost no one talked about Spider-Men II when it was released, almost in the same way there was barely an eye bated when the confusingly branded Spider-Man title (Miles’s 616 outing) was released in 2016 (beyond the “who cares if I’m Black?” bullshit). Everyone was talking about Spider-Men and Ultimate Comics Spider-Man when they were released, a lot of people liked it, some didn’t, but it was rather an indicator of its quality. The almost unilateral silence even Miles Morales fans visited upon Spider-Man and Spider-Men II rather speaks volumes of how bad it got.

I don’t recommend this to anyone who is a Miles Morales fan. You’re better off pretending Spider-Men never got a sequel.

[brettsinger]

Gambit Sucks - Sean Barry - Ep 28

NOTE: some spoilers for The Boys comics and TV show. Who is the worst X-Man and why is it Gambit? What is Blackest Night? What is the connection between House of M and WandaVision? How good is the Justice League animated series (finally on HBO Max)? Will the comics you're buying now ever be worth anything? Which way does Hawkman lean politically? Are comic book writers just trying to get into the movies now? Should DC put John Stewart Green Lantern in the movies? How will Marvel introduce the X-Men into the MCU? Which was better, Deadpool 1 or Deadpool 2? How young is too young to read The Boys? Why did DC stop publishing The Boys? What is the biggest difference between The Boys TV show and the comics? Do we want a multiverse in the movies? Is Batman just a rich white guy beating up poor people? (Yes, but there's more to it than that.) What is the average age of a comic book reader? How about Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas from Stranger Things) as Virgil Hawkins (aka Static Shock)? How dumb was Spider-Man: Brand New Day? Is watching Zack Snyder's Justice League an obligation?

Reading tips: Marvel's House of M, Batman Beyond: 10,000 Clowns (digital only), Blackest Night, Sinestro Corps, War of the Green Lanterns (Geoff Johns' run), Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender, The Boys, Immortal Hulk, Invincible, Sean Murphy's Batman: White Knight, Dan Slott's Superior Spider-Man, Scott Snyder's American Vampire, Dark Knights: Metal, Marvel's Civil War

Recorded 2-12-21 remotely (each part recorded separately and then edited together)

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Pairing: Young Justice x Reader [platonic] Kaldur x Reader [romantic]

Relationship: friends and past relationship 

Request: nope

Plot: based on theses prompts;  50. Promise me you’ll come back...I need you to promise me,49. I can’t promise you that, 51. I missed you,‘don’t break my heart and tell me you’ve forgotten me’, 91. How long has it been?

Key: [Y/N]= your name, [h/c] = hair colour, [e/c] = eye colour.

Words: 1,588

A/N: I’m sorry I haven’t uploaded anything in so long. I’m hopefully getting back on track soon. 

3 years ago

The mission had been long, and it had been physically exhausting on the young heroes and this was obvious as they walked into the main area of Mount Justice where they were greeted with Batman and and Black Canary staring them down, Canary with soft eyes and Batman with his usual hard stare as they all joined them around the screens on the computer that seemed to be broadcasting all their mistakes from the mission, well more specifically [Y/N]’s mistakes.

The young hero had been the newest addition to the team and, and though she had been there close to a year upon recommendation of Doctor Fate after seeing her magical potential she was still having difficulty controlling her magic and she once again put the demon in danger by not being able to keep it in check.

Looking to the ground, she rubbed her arm with her opposite hand and let out a gentle sigh, she didn’t know what was wrong with her or why her magic always seemed to go nuclear when she tried something even slightly more difficult than a defensive or telekinetic spell, but it did. And now the team was getting punished for it.

The feeling of a warm hand wrapping around her own hand and pulling it down to the side, away from her arm that she had unconsciously stopped rubbing and started digging her nails into, broke the [h/c] girl out of her thoughts and forced her to turn to face the man she had come to call her boyfriend.

A comforting smile was on the Atlantean’s face as he rubbed his thumb softly over the knuckles of the girl as the team was dismissed. Another sigh left her lips as she looked into the eyes of Kaldur, the two of them being the only two remaining as Batman had left for Gotham and Canary was beginning her sessions with some of the team to go over the trauma of the mission.

“I’m useless-” another sigh left the young girl's lips as she used her free hand to move some hair out of her face, “- I can’t do anything right.” A comforting smile made it’s way onto Kaldur’s face as he removed his hand from [Y/N]’s, only to bring it up with his free hand and cup her cheeks as he spoke to her.

“You are doing fine my love. You are still learning.” Another sigh passed the girl's lips and she cast her eyes to the ground again, “You are still improving. This time 12 months ago you had no idea that you had magic and now look at you, you are doing amazing.”

While she enjoyed hearing the encouraging words coming from Kaldur, [Y/N] knew they weren’t true. What was true was up until 12 months ago she had no idea what she could do, she thought she was normal, that was until her family was in danger and she found herself unconsciously casting a shielding spell around them, protecting them from shrapnel and gunfire.  That was how the League found her, well more Doctor Fate, and he recognised the potential in her and took her under his wing, bringing her into the team almost immediately to allow her to learn with those her own age as well as from him.

It was also then that she learned she was adopted and her adoptive parents had no idea what she could do, though they didn’t love her any less, and they had been trying to find out everything they could about her birth parents ever since then to giver her a chance to find out who she really was and how she was born with magic.

“We both know that’s not true. Kaldur, I’ve been working with Doctor Fate for a year and I can’t even do a simple tracking spell! I-” Huffing slightly, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked to the man, “I have to leave.”

Kaldur’s eyes widened as he processed her words, he hadn’t expected that and he didn’t want that. He was sure the team didn’t want that either, they adored the girl despite her misfortunes and thought of her as a sister. “W-What? Why?”

[Y/N]’s tongue darted past her lips as she felt them dry up, along with her throat, a direct response to having to tell Kaldur that she had to leave. “My birth parents? Their from a homo magi community that’s really reclusive. They, uh, when we contacted them to find out about my parents they told me they could help me.”

“I have to go.” She stepped closer to the boy, closing the small gap that had been between them as she spoke because this might be the last time she spoke to him for a while, the last time her lips would touch his for a while.

“Promise me you’ll come back” He looked down to the girl, his hand reaching out to push some hair behind her ear, “I need you to promise me” A soft sigh pushed passed [Y/N]’s lips and she once again looked to the ground, a nervous tick she had. “I can’t promise you that.”

It was the truth, she didn’t know if she would be back. She didn’t know the price she would have to pay to learn to control her magic, and she didn’t want to leave with empty promises in the air. So, that was the last thing said before the girl leaned up and pressed a kiss to Kaldur’s lips, their last kiss before she left.

Present, 3 years later.

The team was tired, they always were after a fight and they had just gotten out of the showers when they were called to the training area for a briefing for their next mission, well a continuation of their current mission that seemed to be broken into sub-divisions of missions like in a video game, and a long groan left the lips of many of the members. But they went anyway.

This team, this team consisted of Kaldur, L’Gann, M’Gann, Connor, Bart, Artemis, Tim, Jaime, Barbara,Virgil and Cassie, it was a new configuration that took some getting used to as old members had left and new ones had joined and they were getting used to the others abilities and fighting styles. But they were a good team, they got along well and worked well together but this newest mission was kicking their ass and so Batman had called in reinforcements.

Before the team stood a girl, with long [h/c] hair that looked familiar and [e/c] eyes that sparkled with excitement and happiness and she overall looked familiar, like a friend not seen in years and the feeling of knowing nagged at the back of the original teams mind as if they should know this person and yet they don’t.

“Who is this?” It was Kaldur that broke the silence and a gentle laugh filled the air, it came from the lips of the stranger who was standing with their arms crossed and their eyebrow raised as they looked over the team. “Don’t break my heart and tell me you’ve forgotten me?” And it was then that everything clicked.

Smiles broke out onto the faces of M’Gann and Artemis as the girls walked forward and wrapped their arms around their old team mate while Connor and Kaldur remained frozen, trying to comprehend what was happening. “[Y/N]!” It was the declaration of her name by M’Gann that broke the boys out of their trance as realisation dawned upon them. However, the remainder of the team remained confused as to who their stranger was and how she was known to the original team.

“I missed you. All of you.” She looked to her former teammates, though there was 2 missing, she still spoke the truth, she had missed them all. “Where did you go?” A little chuckle left the girls mouth and she tilted her head slightly and let out a ‘tt’ sound, “That’s complicated. Because it was technically another dimension so we will not talk about it.”

A light laugh left Kaldurs lips as he stared at the girl with an eyebrow raised, “Of course you would end up in an alternate dimension.” [Y/N] pouted slightly, “Okay. It was deliberate? I was supposed to be there.” Kaldur laughed at the girl and a kind smiles were shared between the two.

“How long has it been?” [Y/N] questioned her friends, after all she wasn’t sure because she was preoccupied, “Three years.” Shock dawned on [Y/N]’s face, she honestly hadn’t realised she was gone that long.

“Not that I don’t love you being back, but, why are you back?” Licking her lips slightly she thought for a moment, “I thought it was time for me to come home and Batman needed reinforcements for your fight against Faust. I wanted to come back, Batman just gave me a reason too.”

“Wait, so you’re back for good?” M’Gann’s voice raised a few octaves at the end of the question to match the squeal she let out when the girl answered her question with a nod, “I’m back for good.”

The friends were broken out of their conversation and brought back to reality as a new voice broke through the crowd, the voice of Virgil Hawkins who’s tone matched the looks on the rest of the team, “Can someone explain what is going on?”