#wrote this during potty time yayyyy

[yallaya-blog]

Ok quick breakdown as to why I think Terra and Markus have so much rivalry!! Maybe its too late for this but SPOILER WARNING FOR SHOW ONLYS 🙏 and this is super long so bear with me

Terra and Markus don’t essentially hate eachother, theyre really just envious of eachothers lives, so really theyre just too blinded by jealousy to realize they don’t really hate eachother. We see them quarrel as young children but its nothing too major (markus breaking terras ipod). However whenever they are drawn in the same scene together (cory walkers doodle blog posts or again scenes from the actual comics) theyre drawn as young adults/exiting their teenage years, and its usually in a setting were Terras ascending down from the sky and Markus laying in rubble (presumably after a fight). I feel like this could be a metaphor for Terra looking down on him with pity, and Markus looking up at her with jealousy.

Markus is jealous of Terra’s life because shes an alien who was raised on an alien planet, whos always known shes an alien. Markus is an alien raised on a human planet, and didnt even know he was an alien up until he was 4, when mark told him of Viltrum’s origins. Terra is close to the empire (that she later chose to detach from which is okay!!) and their father and Markus is envious of that, hes envious that she seems to be automatically given their fathers validation (example of this would be her being taken on missions with Mark, being put into training under the mentorship of Kregg) meanwhile he feels like he has to earn it, that it has to be rewarded (him becoming earths new Imvincible, his reason for do-goodings being in hopes their father will recognize him and be proud, and to make him feel more included with the empire and their family. Terras life had a gradual shift from quiet to loud, Markus life is relatively quiet and discrete, but he desires that loud, adventurous life of his older sister. Markus also had to BUILD UP a team or join one, it isn’t really stated if he joined the NEWER guardians of the globe or not but he definitely worked along side them, meanwhile Terra had that team support already provided when she joined the Conservation Order (brinigng it up again later!) And a canon reason why Markus envies Terra is her conception in contrast to his (this is revealed after he attacks Mark). Markus says that he feels his existence is a constant reminder that he was made with hate and that Terra was made with love. He knew that Mark always loved Terra more, and he hated himself because he felt he could never be good enough for Mark BECAUSE of his conception (fuck u an*ssa). Markus feels his mother always doomed him to be bad, and that Terra’s mother destined her for greatness, because Eve is the love of Mark’s life, and an*ssa is a woman who traumatized Mark forever. Markus strives to fit what he thinks Marks narrative of greatness would be, and his way of doing that was carrying on his legacy as Invincible. Markus could also be envious that Terra got to know their uncle and grandfather before they died, they held her, talked back, meanwhile he has to talk to a cold grave that Nolan doesn’t even rest under.

Terra is envious of Markus’ life because he grew up in a two parent household (until an*ssa died during Mark’s battle with Thragg) with an emotionally available mother he could relate to (in terms of powers and species), and the people surrounding him didnt have a distaste for him because of his species considering they didnt (at the time) know he was a Viltrumite. Terra, up until she was 5, was raised by a single mother. This ofcourse isnt Eve nor Marks fault, he didnt intend on getting sucked back into the past for 5 years by some supernatural alien, and Eve didn’t intend on allowing him to leave for YEARS. Terra, being so young, was probably too young to understand why her father wasn’t there, and having him come back into her life after forgetting any memory of him, and then having him AND Eve have to leave to fight Thragg so he can’t harm their family again. Also canon reason when Thragg, Ursaal and Onaan temporarily “killed” her parents and permanently killed Oliver, she had a massive amount of guilt (has a panic attack after Haluma and Debbie catch her training, and on her back after crashing into the ceiling instead of playing with her infant cousins). She felt as if she was too weak to intervene or didn’t try hard enough to protect her family from harm and that she had failed her uncle, or failed to be strong. She feels Olivers obligation to protect her is what killed him, and it shattered her, that she feels because of her, her cousins are now fatherless and Halumas husband is gone. And when Haluma expressed she was afraid of losing her sons next, that definitely ignited a new found fear of Terras; getting killed and having her family weigh the guilt. Markus doesn’t have to bear the guilt of Olivers death, or feel guilty, but Terra does. Terra is envious that Markus always had that father figure beside him, shes jealous that Markus’ adoptive father Scott wasn’t bombarded with missions and enemies that could potentially harm her family or prevent him from being with them. Shes also jealous that the only “father” figure in her life before Mark came back was Kubian, Eves ex and Telia’s brother, and the first person to openly show distain for her for things she cant control (being a Viltrumite and a child), Eves ex who was a piece of shit. And he made it very clear to her that he hated her, while Markus had a loving adoptive father that doted on him and Molly, while her mother’s boyfriend hated her. Terra could also be jealous of the fact that, on a very mild scale, Markus can relate to his (disgusting) mother because they are the same species, look similar, and have the same abilities. In contrast to Eve, Terra and Eve are POLAR opposites, as opposite as mother and daughter can be. Terra doesnt look like Eve (shes 100% debbie/marks clone), she doesn’t have powers similar to Eves, they aren’t even exactly the same species. Markus could look to (BARF) anissa for guidance with his powers and understanding his herritage (well before she died), Terra couldn’t look to her mother to guide her because Eve isn’t a Viltrumite, and therefore lacks the knowledge to help Terra. Terras jealous that Markus has a quiet life with his loved ones that he has the option to be 1 on 1 with, without other people or events flocking in to interrupt, and the only quality time Terra gets with her parents after Marks coronation is being on a mission, training discipline, ex.

Their reasons for envying eachother are actually pretty similar, Terras is jealous of Markus’ dad being emotionally available, Markus is jealous of Terra’s father being their to validate and guide her. They both feel the need to achieve extravagant things in order to be great (Terra going to college to join the Conservation Order to save ecosystems and different planets, Markus becoming the new Invincible, carrying on Marks legacy). They both have major fights/battles, (Terras championship battle that she won against a man more than 5x her size, and Markus fighting that shadow creature that hurled Darkwing back up after he was thought to be dead after the Invincible War concluded). They also bear familial guilt, Markus is guilty of being the product of an event that traumatized Mark for life, and Terra weighs the guilt of being a contributing cause to Olivers death, he died protecting her, and all she could do was cry, because she wasn’t strong enough to fight back, and that there was nothing she could do to save him.

I LOVE THEM SO MUCH THEYRE JUST LITTLE BABIES MY SILLIES I hope they have a more repaired relationship in the show as time goes on, and hopefully get more Molly screentime. I can’t wait to see what Cory’s been brewing up in his witches cauldron on his blog page for Terra and Markus HEHEHE