Two Sides Of The Same Coin

I've been thinking a lot about how Steve and Bucky have so many parallels.

The Helmet and The Muzzle. One left arm used for Defence, the other left arm a Weapon. A man in uniform standing up for the other in civilian clothes. One wanting to go to war, the other being drafted into war. One notebook about what he should enjoy about the world he woke up in. The other about the wrongs he thinks he should make up for in the world he woke up in... Falling from a train, falling from a helicarrier.

It goes on and on and it makes me hurt (good and bad) every time I think about it.

Anyway, enjoy the artwork. I'm not great at shading (still learning how to use free ibis paint) so I thought I'd upload the linework if any of you want to have a colouring page 😅 please link me if you do 🖤

Also side note if you got this far, please link your fav Ao3 stucky fics below. I need some new ones to read.

13 reasons why Teen Wolf the Movie is a big NO (Spoilers)

No Stiles

All the characters are 30+ but still acting/talking like they were teens. And I thought Eli was the one supposed to keep the "teen" element alive!

They brought back a character who'd been dead for like 18 years at that point in the story, and unnecessarily killed one of the best characters in the show (a character that had already suffered enough and was finally in a good place and had reasons to live for)

Almost all the couples broke up, but why? I mean, how did Malia and Parrish even happened? Just because they were the only ones who stayed in BH? And Melissa and Chris? They were adults, they could have worked! I get the kids, it would not be realistic if all the couples were still together 15 years later, but at least they could have told us HOW and WHY they broke up!!!

No Isaac, no Theo, no Ethan, no Braeden (soo, who's Eli's mom if we left Derek with her and he's clearly not her son?), but mostly NO STILES

Lame plot tbh (the revenge thing was awful and how is that teacher even alive? And I mean, I rewatched the show a year ago and I didn't even remember him). Also, what happened with the hunters after the series finale?

The Nogitsune was the best villain of the show, they ruined that too (but it was a long shot from the very beginning, as in s03 Dylan O'brien did a marvellous job with that character it was nearly impossible to live up to the expectations). Even its schemes were dull, in s03 the Nogitsune was bloody brilliant

Where did the chemistry this cast used to share go?

Shouldn't Allison be the same age as she was when she died? Therefore she shouldn't be with Scott at all? She literally regenerated herself wtf this makes no seeensee, also she was with Isaac when that happened, it was already bad that in her final moments she was thinking only about Scott, but now it's like Isaac never even existed, she didn't even mention him!

They took back the stydia endgame. THE AUDACITY

Liam and Mason didn't even meet wtf

Why did Scott suddenly go full Enchantix in that scene, what was that?

Kira's substitute just being put there and robbing us of the Thiam dream (assuming that he's in a relationship with her, I mean, they only hinted at that)

I know I passed the 13 reasons, but the CGI was so awful that I have to mention that. The same goes for the dialogues.

And also, 6 seasons of "being a pack" and 15 years later they all live in different places and barely talk to each other. Disappointing.

I was so happy when this movie was announced. Now I feel like it was so unnecessary... I guess I never learn... I hate revivals so much. It's always like this. I'm sure I could find other stuff I didn't like about this movie, but Derek being dead is the most upsetting of them all, so I'll just end the rant here and pretend this movie never came out in the first place

Conspiracies and the Problem of Peggy Carter

I bounced really hard off the Captain Carter version of Peggy Carter. For me, it felt like the triumph of her style over any quality she had as a character. I’ve spoken about this before, but I think giving Peggy dementia robbed her of her voice, unable to speak to her past, and thus providing a blank canvas for the writer and audience to use with as they will.

My biggest critique of Peggy’s fans have been this sense that they love her aesthetic and the platitudes over the substance of the character. She became 2010s girlboss. The Agent Carter series did provide the potential to further explore her as a character. It could give her a past pre-dating Steve, show the history of SHIELD, show her as a leader, and delve into the moral complexities of the MCU intelligence side. But that never happened. The show was canceled after two seasons and all we had left was a very marketable aesthetic.

We have some vague notions of what she did during her time as director of SHIELD, but nothing substantial. Then Endgame happened, Chris Evans left for other projects, and the Russos, Markus and McFeely seemed to have scrambled for a way to write out Steve. Steve’s exit seemed like an afterthought at best. As a consequence, whatever lore Peggy had in the main MCU timeline got completely thrown out. This is because Steve Rogers is a heroic paragon and his designated love interest must be above reproach. She is little more than a sexy lamp and when Captain Carter got attention in the What If... series, well she’s even more marketable now! 

The thing that gets me about Peggy’s haters is the level of reaching done to justify their dislike. I’ll get to some of my critiques on how Disney/Marvel Studios handle the espionage side of the MCU (not well). But stay with me here. I need to do some comic book history. 

The MCU Peggy Carter is an amalgamation of a number of love interests Steve’s had over his publication run. Earth-616 Peggy is a retcon love interest. She was introduced in 1966 after Steve’s book was essentially rebooted. Captain America was popular during WWII, but the initial post-war years weren’t kind to superhero comics. Atlas Comics (who later rebranded as Marvel Comics in 1961) tried to rebrand Steve from a Nazi puncher to a Commie smasher that went over like a lead balloon. His book was canceled in 1954 and Stan Lee and Jack Kirby revived Steve in 1964. They came up with the “on ice” backstory we saw in the TFA. The 50s Cap was explained as having been a succession of other characters acting as Steve, such as Jeffrey Mace (Patriot), William Naslund (Spirit of ‘76), and most infamously by William Burnside. 

Anyway, during the 50s, Bucky got shot and was replaced by Steve’s then girlfriend, Betsy Ross (then known as Betty and later goes by the code names Agent 13 and Golden Girl). She is THE original love interest and first appeared in Captain America Comics #1, published in December 1940, created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. She basically did everything in the 40s comics that Peggy in the 60s (and the MCU by extension) was said to have done. The reason you’ve never heard of her is because of Betty Ross Banner - The Hulk’s main love interest. 40s Betsy got retconned into a relationship with Jeffrey Mace (one of the guys who was a retconned 50s Cap) and now lives in a retirement home.

Sharon and Peggy Carter get introduced in 1966. Sharon’s got a complicated story that we don’t have time to unpack so I’ll just say, Sharon is messy and that’s good. I think it’s good that she’s the Power Broker. Steve later dated glass-blower turned lawyer Bernie Rosenthal, who was introduced in 1980. He’s had an on/off relationship with former villainess Rachel Leighton, aka Diamondback (who was introduced in 1985). And there were romances with fellow super heroines like The Black Widow, Wasp, Rogue, and The Scarlet Witch.

Now we move onto the conspiracy theory Peggy Carter haters adore: Cynthia Glass. 

Cynthia “Cindy” Glass was created in 1991 by Fabian Nicieza and Kevin Maguir for The Adventures of Captain America #1 - #4. She had four total appearances before she was killed. There was apparently a guid book for the MCU where she was mentioned as an inspiration for MCU Peggy, but I’d like to see those receipts before I make a call on the veracity of the claim. But I can see why the Peggy haters claim her as the true inspiration of MCU Peggy. Cynthia kind of looks like Hayley Atwell (if you squint) and is revealed to be a Nazi double agent who gets shot. 

Look, if you don’t like a character (and maybe their actor, too), it’s fine. Just don’t fuck with them and move on, don’t make up shit about a character being a secret Nazi when there’s no actual proof. And don’t say that Cynthia Glass was Cap’s first love when she was a clear retcon that completely contradicts previously established canon regarding Betsy Ross and Peggy Carter. Especially when anyone can look up the publication history. At most MCU Peggy kind of looks like Cynthia and met Steve just before he got the serum. The decision to keep Atwell’s brown hair could easily have come down to “she looks better as a brunette.” Film production decisions are often not that deep. 

Peggy Carter was probably the most convenient love interest to adapt for TFA. She doesn’t have Betsy’s name problem. Sharon needs to be established as being Peggy’s niece to explain why they look so similar. You need to justify a face-turn for Rachel. And the only people who know about Cynthia Glass are those who read the original limited run she was in during the early 90s as it looks like it wasn’t collected into a trade paperback until 2018. Again, film production devisions are not often not that deep.

So now we get to my critiques of how Disney/Marvel Studios have handled Peggy and just the spy genre in general. Spy fiction can vary wildly in terms of tone and just how heroic the protagonist is, but generally the genre leans towards a cynical world view. This is fueled by the author’s own politics, and by their own experiences if they worked in intelligence themselves (ie: John le Carré and Graham Greene). The genre also borrows heavily from hardboiled detectives (think the works of Raymond Chandler) and film noir. In any case, the protagonist is, at best, an anti-hero and sometimes a terrible one. The nature of intelligence work requires moral compromises, both in and out of fiction. If you actually look into how that world operates, it’s honestly more like organized crime backed by a nation’s treasury and given the fig leaf of respectability because you’re “fighting for a cause.” 

This runs headlong into the MCU retcons when it comes to Peggy. By making SHIELD older than originally implied and putting Peggy in charge during the early days, she now has a fuck ton of skeletons in her closet. The problem is that Disney will never produce anything that is critical of the US government or could be as cynical as the spy genre demands. Yes, there was Agents of SHIELD, but that show (and I say this with love) has more in common with NCIS than The Sandbaggers or Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Disney is too scared of biting the hand that feeds. They’re scared of getting cut off from Pentagon money. This is Disney’s lone fear, and it shows how toothless The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was. They just come up to the edge of valid critic, actually showing how the empire works.

Bringing this back to the problem Peggy, because the Russos, Markus and McFeely needed her to be morally pure so she could be Steve’s perfect love interest. She can’t have a past, red on her ledger, or anything that puts her into a compromised position. It’s probably why Steve goes back to 1949 and gets with Peggy before SHIELD really starts. That way, Peggy hasn’t done anything wrong. The audience is asked to forget about Zola and the HYDRA infiltration (though it’s never explained what she knew when). The Bucky situation is a bit different, and the Cynthia Glass conspiracy requires you to forget that in universe the Winter Soldier is treated as an urban legend within the intelligence community. Natasha brings up in TWS that no one can agree if he’s real. Given the few crumbs we have on Peggy’s tenure as director of SHIELD, the most I’m willing to say is that she might have know that the Winter Soldier was real. But with hindsight, I think the HYDRA infiltration was pulled off badly. 

Like if I had my way, the Peggy Steve meets after he’s unfrozen would be played by an older actress like Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, or the late Diana Rigg. That way she can speak for herself in the present. If I had my way, Agent Carter would have lasted longer and Peggy would have become something along the lines of DC’s Amanda Waller mixed with Dench’s M with a dash of George Smiley’s moral grounding. We could get a more accurate understanding of Peggy and SHIELD and even if you still don’t like her, she’s still a character with actual depth. And maybe Captain Carter would just be a fun “what if...” and not a free mulligan. 

Cause it really feels like Disney wants to wipe the slate clean and rewrite Peggy as a morally uncomplicated heroine who can be Steve’s un-problematic girlfriend.

Someone To Talk To

https://archiveofourown.org/works/54546118 by HamiltonMarbleHornetsTWD "Today was pretty cool- I mean, it could have been better," Peter sighed, taking a bite from the pizza slice in his hand, "A guy bought me pizza cus I stopped some guys from robbing him - that was nice. He also got me some water- but I drank that already" Words: 905, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Kate Bishop, Kamala Khan, America Chavez, Yelena Belova, Clint Barton Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark Additional Tags: Post-Movie: Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Hurt Peter Parker, Peter Parker is a Mess, Peter Parker needs someone to talk to, peter parker is depressed, Depressed Peter Parker, takes place after endgame, Hurt, Angst, bitter sweet, More Bitter Than Sweet, REMINDER THAT PETER PARKER WAS SIXTEEN, HE WAS SIXTEEN IN ENDGAME, HE WASN'T EVEN AN ADULT IN NO WAY HOME, Peter needs an adult who won't die on him istg, lots of talking, Cat Prison Break read it on AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/54546118

Is It Really That Bad?

So it’s the mid 80s, and you’re tasked with one of the most exciting things imaginable: Turning a Marvel comic into a movie. Now, this is significant because this will be the first feature film based on a Marvel property; there were some TV films before in the 70s and 80s for Hulk, Captain America, and Dr. Strange, but this was going to be on the silver screen! Which famous character should be brought in for Marvel’s big debut? I mean, DC already killed it with West’s Batman and Reeves’ Superman, so Marvel should put their best foot forward! Should we have Spider-Man? The Mighty Thor? Perhaps the Fantastic Four, the first family of Marvel?

Nah, let’s do Howard the fucking Duck.

Adapting a character who was relatively obscure went over about as well as you might imagine with audiences back in 1986. After seven months of production and millions of dollars, the film bombed hard and left a lot of lives in shambles. The director of the movie Willard Huyck and the head of Universal Frank Price both ended up losing in this, as did George Lucas (contrary to what you might believe, he wasn’t the director), who ended up having to sell off Pixar to Steve Jobs to pay off Skywalker Ranch and divorce settlements, things he hoped this movie would have paid for. Frankly, Lucas was a scapegoat for Universal, who pushed his involvement despite his desire to not overshadow his friends working on the movie; Huyck had worked with Lucas on American Graffiti, Temple of Doom, and A New Hope, so he clearly liked the guy, but I guess the suits wanted some of that Star Wars money by slapping the name on. Price also really wanted to make the film similar in tone to Ghostbusters, which didn’t help matters at all.

Pretty much the only person who worked on it and doesn’t hate it is Lea Thompson, who played Howard’s girlfriend Beverly. She has been surprisingly positive about the film and owns her role in it, apparently even offering to to direct a new adaptation for Marvel Studios and lending her likeness to the comics so she could appear as herself beside her one-time fictional boytoy. You go, girl!

Ah, but perhaps the saddest victim of this film’s reception was Howard himself. Between this movie and Disney complaining he looked too similar to Donald, Steve Gerber’s wacky duck man was pushed out of the limelight for a long, long time. It wasn’t until 2009 when Bob Iger ordered the purchase of Marvel that Howard was able to start coming back, a return solidified by his awesome post-credit cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy, which got him a new series and cameos in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Endgame (where he appears for split second in the big portal scene, coming out with the Ravagers and toting a big fucking gun).

But now that we have dozens of other Marvel films under our belt, let’s take a look back at Howard’s sole cinematic solo outing. Was his big break judged too harshly by audiences of the 80s, or is the movie, much like Howard himself, quite fowl? Well, after giving it a rewatch, I’m here to tell you if Howard the Duck is really that bad.

THE GOOD

What this film lacks in… well, just about everything, it makes up for with sheer cheesy 80s charm.

Like, look at Howard himself. The suit is bad, the puppet is bad, the fact they tried using both leading to his appearance changing wildly between shots is even worse… But it’s not so bad that it’s unbearable. Like a crummy practical effect like this undeniably has charm, and it’s helped a lot by Howard’s cute, dorky voice. Would it have been better if Robin Williams had stayed on to voice Howard? Undoubtedly. Were we robbed because a young Jason Alexander was turned away after auditioning? Absolutely, and I cry every night that we lost out on this. But Howard just has a prime 80s everyman corniness to him that makes him a likable duck even if the effects don’t really convey him as well as they could.

Then of course there’s Lea Thompson, and you can see why she’s so unashamed of this film, because she is busting her ass for this film. She will make you believe that she finds a weird alien duck sexually appealing. Like I really don’t have much more to add here, she managed to pull that off, she deserved a better career. End of discussion.

Now, unfortunately, I must praise Jeffery Jones. Here he plays a scientist who gets possessed by the creatively-named Dark Overlord, and he really gets to ham it up in what feels like a prototype of Edgar the Bug. Despite the awful prosthetic work and the Saturday morning cartoon supervillain voice he uses, it ends up being moderately entertaining… and I hate saying that because Jones is an actual, literal sicko in real life. Let’s just say those scenes in Ferris Bueller where he is snooping about a teen boy’s house and leering in the windows hoping to see him is a bit more accurate to his life than you’d hope. It’s a shame, because he’s a solid actor, but it’s hard to praise him too much when he did what he did.

The Dark Overlord itself is also a pretty impressively-designed stop motion monstrosity, and its scenes in the finale are pretty awesome, only hampered by some really bad compositing. You can definitely tell where the budget went.

And then we have the song played at the end, a ridiculously cheesy slice of 80s pop cooked up by Thomas Dolby, the man behind the legendary one-hit wonder “She Blinded Me With Science.” Needless to say, Howard’s little song at the end is every bit as infectiously earwormy as that.

THE BAD

I think what really kills the film is just how weak the third act is. The film was at its best when it was about Howard being put into awkward situations, like being forced to work a shitty job or starting a bar fight. But I guess that doesn’t get asses in seats, so they have a third act where Howard has to save the world from destruction by evil aliens by stopping a gigantic sky laser. Considering how that very plot has become a widely-mocked cliché in the wake of movies trying to copy this very thing from The Avengers, Howard was truly ahead of its time in terms of comic book adaptations.

Even in the good parts of the first two acts there’s some weakness. The conceit of the character is that he’s an alien duck forced into the mundane situations the real world provides, and while we do get some of that, a lot of stuff is abandoned a bit too quickly for my liking. Sure, we didn’t need a montage of Howard applying for a bunch of crummy jobs, and I suppose we didn’t need to see him manage the band excessively or anything, but too much of what makes this movie charming in its weird and awkward way is thrown out for some souped up climax where Howard flies a little plane contraption with Tim Robbins and then fights an alien monster. It feels like a bunch of half baked plots haphazardly slapped together more than a cohesive narrative the writers gave a shit about.

On top of that, the film feels remarkably cheap. The suit and puppet thing is bad, the compositing of the Dark Overlord is bad, it genuinely blows the mind that these effects were this mediocre when the movie was relatively expensive to make. I have to imagine most of the budget went towards getting the crew cocaine to deal with the miserable shooting schedule, because it definitely doesn’t seem like it went to costumes or making the visuals look good.

And speaking of things that don’t look very good… Duck tits.

IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

Nah.

Look, I can’t pretend this movie is amazing or anything. It is incredibly flawed, with rushed production values and more corniness than the fields of Iowa. It has trouble finding its tone, and kind of loses its webbed footing in the third act. But I have watched a metric fuckton of superhero movies in my time, and this film has a sort of corny, earnest charm that genuinely awful ones lack. Like Thor: The Dark World is utterly mediocre and forgettable, and I couldn’t tell you a single thing that happened in it, but this movie? Even with the parts it drags I could still recount some of the wacky plot beats. And maybe it has worse production values than Batman v Superman, but it’s also a lot less miserable and has a cool stop-motion alien monster instead of a shitty gray CGI blob that murders Superman. It’s just not a film that feels quite as awful in terms of comic book movies when filmmakers have gone out of their way to make infinitely worse, infinitely less fun films in the decades since.

It also helps a movie very similar to this came out that did what it was trying to do better, and you’re not gonna believe what it is: Seth MacFarlane’s Ted. It is extremely similar, a fish-out-of-water story about a fantastical being stuck in the mundanity of the real world. Ted even gets a human girlfriend, and the movie has a really weird third act that’s a bit more action packed than the rest of the film! It manages to work a lot better there, though, and that’s despite starring Mark Wahlberg! So yeah, even if the actual Howard didn’t fully live up to its interesting premise, we have something that does just that, which makes this film dropping the ball a little less egregious.

The 4.7 up there is honestly not quite as harsh as you’d think given this film’s reputation, which probably reflects how opinions of this have turned a little bit and given this film a cult following. I might even be so nice as to round it up to a 5; it’s not really a bad movie so much as a weird one, and it is filled with cheesy 80s charm if you can get on board with it. It’s probably not going to change your life, but it’s fun, mostly harmless comic book movie fluff, and if nothing else it’s unique and out there in terms of comic book movies. We wouldn’t get anything quite this weird again until they started letting people like James Gunn and Taika Waititi make comic book movies, so it’s nice to go back and see where it all began. Howard the Duck is a very interesting piece of history, maybe more for the story around it than the film itself, but damn if I don’t get a few chuckles out of watching it and a goofy grin from that cheesy end credits song.

It’s definitely more worth a watch than Wonder Woman 1984, that’s for fucking sure.

In Endgame it seemed like the producers wanted Tony dying to be the only way he could be at peace. Like Pepper literally tells him 'Rest now', as if sacrificing himself to destroy the enemy that's been haunting him since Avengers 1 is the only ending where he can be happy.

"Sorry meant to add this to my ask (about Tony's death in Endgame being portrayed as his only possible happy ending): The whole thing makes me want to cry. And scream. Your opinion on what was being portrayed there?"

.

Friend, I...think you're more invested in this than I am, at this point. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I have ranted at length about my feelings on everything related to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. [Note: those are only some of the highlights. There's plenty more— I'm not even including the whole "in an interview, the writers flat-out said they didn't like the characters" thing, even.]

Beyond that, the main thing you should know about me is the fact that I have very, very limited time and energy, and prefer to focus on things I enjoy over dwelling on things I know I'll hate. Because I've seen this road before, and it never ends well, and life's got enough bs without me piling on even more.

Am I going to be forever bitter about what went down? Yes. Am I never going to let go of the fact that the writers prioritized ticket sales over the age-old art of telling a good story and threw years' worth of effort down the drain in the process? Also yes. But I refuse to let it get to me.

The MCU lived in my head rent-free for a good chunk of my childhood and teenage years, and— yeah, I mourn for the potential it once had, but if I cling to the anger I feel about how the writers butchered everyone's character arcs and consistency for *drama*, I will never know rest.

If I let myself, I know I'm capable of being incandescent with rage over how they fridged the only woman in the original Avengers' Initiative, of the way they somehow managed to make Steve "I don't like bullies, also FUCK Nazis" Rogers into someone completely unrecognizable in the span of three movies, and—

I'm tired.

Look: you probably found this blog because of my most famous fic, The War is Far From Over Now. I started writing it because I needed at least one (1) world where Tony Stark got a happy ending for all the bs the MCU kept throwing at him [and only him], and if that meant making it myself, then so be it.

When I first started, I wasn't old enough to legally drink. Originally, it was supposed to be something short and sweet, something funny— but spite made it longer, and the readers' reception meant more inspiration to go into even more detail, and then it turned into a stress relief valve for all the shit that kept going down in my life.

[I try to keep personal life bs separate from my writing, but.

Shit went down.]

So, long story short: TWiFFON started out a fun thought exercise, but ended up becoming my love letter to what the MCU used to be— and later, a eulogy for the same.

Because over a decade of being invested in the world that turned my casual interest in the comics into something more concrete, only to watch as the audience was robbed of just about every sort of resolution there possibly could have been.

This isn't my first disappointment of this type, sure: Harry Potter was the book series I learned to read English with and I'd once thought the epilogue was as bad as things could get in that regard [...boy was I wrong], and Naruto and Bleach both managed to be incredibly ??? in their finales, but.

Of all of the things that made up so much of my childhood, my favorite character was Tony Stark.

The man who tried so, very hard to do his best, and kept getting beaten down for it time and time again. Who, by all rights, should have been the villain— either as the rich white guy who apparently can do nothing right [see: Iron Man 1 onwards], or simply because it makes no sense for him to be on the same side as the heroes who lied to his face and stabbed him in the neck or back time and time again [see: Iron Man 2 onwards, special mention for Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War].

Who was both the Da Vinci and Cassandra of his generation, because for all his accomplishments, nobody ever took him seriously— and never even got an "I told you so", after shit hit the fan and everyone immediately turned to him for answers [see: Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Infinity War, Endgame and need I go on?]

...I could go on for hours. But I won't.

If the writers won't give it this much thought, I won't either, not anymore.

Same way I refuse to watch another Marvel movie or tv show. I'd only barely been sticking around and gritting my teeth at the writing before Endgame, but that's the movie that made me ragequit the MCU entirely.

I've moved on, trying my hand at other fandoms and hobbies to occupy my brain when I'm not working or studying. At most, I have been poking at old cartoons and comics when I feel up to retreading old ground, but...right now, the main thing I feel when I think about the movies is disappointment.

Top 10 Chris Hemsworth Transformations of All Time

Actor Chris Hemsworth is always buff and super fit for any role he's working on. He's a role model for kids and guys when it comes to fitness and eye candy for all the girls. Moreover, in his multiple roles as an actor, we've seen him beef up and prepare for several roles. His exercise routine is documented and he's always willing to share details about how he takes care of himself when preparing for a role in those action movies he always stars in. So, today, we're going to examine how has he fared across the years for those multiple roles. Let's take a look at the top 10 Chris Hemsworth transformations. Chris Hemsworth, an Australian actor who plays the Norse god Thor in the Marvel movies, is also essentially a god in the gym. He is the ideal actor to face off against the Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok and all the other antagonists he has faced in the Thor franchise because he is tall, ripped, and sculpted. The same goes for his roles in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, which is essentially two of the most epic superhero films ever and star the ultra-ripped Josh Brolin as Thanos. Hemsworth has repeatedly had to change his body to play the hero, and it's not always simple to do. Top 10 Chris Hemsworth Transformations The following is a list of Chris Hemsworth's 10 best transformations. 10. George Kirk in "Star Trek" (2009) Hemsworth's first major Hollywood role was as the father of Captain James T. Kirk in J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" reboot. It was a small but important role, and Hemsworth did a fine job in it. 9. Owen Chase in "In the Heart of the Sea" (2015) Hemsworth starred alongside Benjamin Walker and Cillian Murphy in this Ron Howard-directed film based on the true story of the whale ship Essex, which was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale in 1820. Hemsworth played first mate Owen Chase, who was one of the few survivors of the shipwreck. It was a solid performance from Hemsworth in a film that was not particularly well-received by critics or audiences. 8. Luke Davidson in "Ca$h" (2010) Hemsworth starred alongside Nicholas Cage in this low-budget crime thriller about a man who is kidnapped and forced to rob an armored car. It was not a great film, but Hemsworth did a good job in it, and it was interesting to see him in a more action-oriented role. 7. Eric in "A Perfect Getaway" (2009) Hemsworth starred alongside Milla Jovovich and Timothy Olyphant in this thriller about a honeymooning couple who become embroiled in a mystery when they are stranded on a remote island. Hemsworth played Eric, the husband of Jovovich's character. It was a small but pivotal role, and Hemsworth did a good job with it. 6. James Teller in "Red Dawn" (2012) Hemsworth starred alongside Josh Hutcherson and Josh Peck in this remake of the 1984 film about a group of American teenagers who must defend their town from a foreign invasion. Hemsworth played James Teller, the older brother of Hutcherson's character. It was a solid performance from Hemsworth in a film that was not particularly well-received. 5. Thor in "Thor" (2011) and "Thor: The Dark World" (2013) Hemsworth has played the Norse god Thor in two solo films and three "Avengers" films. He will reprise the role again in "Thor: Ragnarok", set for release in November 2017. Hemsworth has been terrific in the role, and he is one of the main reasons why the "Thor" films have been successful. 4. Ian in "The Cabin in the Woods" (2012) Hemsworth starred alongside Kristen Connolly, Fran Kranz, and Jesse Williams in this Joss Whedon-directed horror film about a group of friends who find themselves in a nightmarish situation. Hemsworth played Ian, the boyfriend of Connolly's character. It was a small but key role, and Hemsworth did a great job with it. 3. Fat Thor Although the effects used to create the Fat Thor look were all-natural, as revealed in the Endgame behind-the-scenes looks, Hemsworth did not need to gain weight for the role. The actor recalled that his character originally wore a fat suit that weighed 60 and 70 pounds before donning the layers of clothing he eventually did, especially during the final battle when he wore his battle armor. To make his cheeks look fuller, Hemsworth also had to stuff them; this, it seems, caused a slight change in his voice, which he didn't mind and, in hindsight, was hardly audible. Hemsworth changed his hairstyle and beard to finish the look. The Australian actor didn't watch that wearing the fat suit during filming limited his mobility and added to the discomfort of carrying all that extra weight from the lawsuit, as his Endgame co-stars Paul Rudd and Tessa Thompson revealed. He was eager to adopt a new persona because it would change his character. 2. Rush Rush is a biographical Formula 1 movie that was also directed by Ron Howard. It shows the rivalry between British driver James Hunt and Austrian driver Niki Lauda from the 1970s to 1976 races. The film's star, Chris Hemsworth, portrays James Hunt with a fantastic performance that captures the character's ambition and drive for success. Many viewers agree that his and his co-star Daniel Bruhl did a fantastic job of portraying these motorsport heroes and that the movie is moving as a result of these performances and easily relatable to many real-life struggles. 1. Thor Ragnarok Thor: Ragnarok, the third installment in the Thor movie series, was directed by Taika Waititi and featured a version of Thor who was without his hammer Mjolnir and had to travel from the other side of the universe to save Asgard from his sister Hela. Fans got to see a new side of Chris Hemsworth's Thor thanks to the new director, who gave the role a more comedic emphasis. Even without his weapons, the character is still haughty, but throughout the movies, his haughtiness is used as a running gag. Hemsworth convincingly portrays the character, which is put through a variety of situations in which he is mocked and removed from his podium, throughout the movie. Those are Hemsworth's most important transformations. I hope you liked that rundown. Thanks for your attention. See you next time in Otakukart. Also Read: The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King Ending Explained   Read the full article

I have a sinking feeling the Loki series isn't being made for fans of Loki. It's being made to cater to the 18-49 year-old cishet white fanboys Marvel has decided are their core fanbase. It's like how TR felt like a Thor movie for people who didn't like the other Thor movies, this is a Loki show for people who aren't fans of Loki. As a Loki fan not in that demographic, I feel a little pushed aside.

Right now, it certainly feels like it’s being made for fans of TR and/or the comics, which is kind of... on the one hand, I get it, Ragnarok is popular amongst the general public. But it was also made, perhaps not exclusively but definitely in part, with an expressed agenda of punishing Loki and his fans for his popularity. Which is a weird trend to continue in a show that’s ostensibly all about him and I have an extremely hard time reconciling it with Tom’s apparent excitement (or his involvement at all, for that matter). Maybe it’s not exactly the same situation because we don’t have any reason to think Michael or Kate hate Loki like Taika did, but the thing is, you don’t have to have nefarious motives to screw up a character and just because Loki isn’t turned into a literal punching bag in this series doesn’t mean it’s going to be good or even decent. It just all feels Very Wrong right now and I don’t know how to reconcile what we’ve heard from the people working on the series with what we’ve seen with our own eyes. I don’t buy the idea that the trailer is just that misleading and the tone of the series is actually going to be the complete opposite. With all due respect to the people still holding onto their optimism—because many of them are people I adore and I’m honestly envious of their perseverance—the Loki fandom at large right now kind of feels like "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, fool me a third time, please fool me as many times as you like, I’m so desperate I will literally lick crumbs off this dirty floor”. 

The Starks♥️

I'll never get over them.😭💔

Tony stark and Morgan Stark’s (Happy) Moments in Avengers Endgame

The whole Avengers Family Dinner. Steve and Nat sitting side by side having dinner together. WE SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN THIS. We were robbed out of this fucking world.

Wow I can't wait for Anthony russo to be revealed as the next queer character! I love marvel's Inclusiveness ((:

RDJ specifically asked for more money and equal screen time in CW or he would drop out completely. As a big Cap fan I was so disappointed they dropped the original idea for Cap 3, gave him Avengers story line and gave rdj almost a bigger role then Chris. Cap 3 should have focused on Steve, Sam and Bucky and not on tony since Steve and Tony were never shown to be close. Steve fans deserved the full cap trilogy like the IM and Thor got but we were robbed because marvel does like to accommodate rdj little too much (like being paid triple the ammount of other og avengers in endgame, Tom Holland being paid less than 1mil for homecoming and RDJ getting 15mil for 10 minutes, taking over Chris's last Cap film)

I try not to speculate bad things about real people because we tend not to have the full story. Often these stories about money/screentime are leaked by nameless sources with agendas, so it's hard to interpret their veracity.

My understanding is that RDJ's contract was finished after IM3 (or was it AoU?), which opens up negotiations for new contracts for CACW, Homecoming and the later Avengers movies. This already puts the MCU at RDJ's mercy because Tony's character is well-established and commonly identified with RDJ, making him hard to replace. A couple of things that made it easier for RDJ to push for a bigger pay cheque:

At that point IM 3 is the top grossing solo movie in the MCU. IM 3 grossed $174 million in opening weekend, while CATWS only grossed $95 million. Meanwhile, all the Avengers team-ups have grossed higher than the solo movies. From a business point of view, CACW makes sense (and this is why we're getting Dr Strange 2: MultiAvengersVerse rather than his solo).

RDJ has also made Sherlock by this time, which helped show that he was a box office draw.

Prior to RDJ's fall from grace, the guy has garnered critical acclaim and popularity, and has had two Oscar nominations (corrected). All of these put him at an advantage compared to many of his costars

Feige wanted him, more than RDJ needed them. I tend to believe that RDJ would have bowed out of the MCU after IM3 if they didn't want to keep him onboard for CACW and Spider-Man.

RDJ was instrumental in recruiting Chris Evans and Mark Ruffalo (that I know of) to the franchise, which I don't doubt was also used as a bargaining chip. Not so much in the sense that "these guys will leave if I leave" but more "I have connections and my Oscar nominations bring a sense of prestige to these popcorn films if you want to attract other serious actors to the franchise".

As for the screentime...is it a chicken and egg situation? Did RDJ specifically push to be a deuteragonist in Cap's movie, or did Disney look at how much money they're spending on hiring him and say, "Well we gotta make him worth his gold"?

The sad fact is the MCU is a commercial product, not an art piece, and that comes with all the disappointing features of something made to maximise uptake and profit margins, and minimise investment and controversy.

As an aside, if you ever work in a contract job -- never let your prospective employer guilt-trip you out of asking for what you're worth because your coworkers might be earning less. That's often a tactic employers use to get out of paying people what they deserve.

Tom Holland in the Wild and Woeful Cherry: Exclusive First Look

Cherry is a movie that dares you to try and describe it in a few lines. It’s the first film that Anthony and Joe Russo have directed following their Avengers finales, Infinity War and Endgame, and it reunites them with Spider-Man star Tom Holland. It also compresses their penchant for large-scale action and cataclysm into the core of a single person.

Holland’s title character is both volatile and vulnerable, a hard-knock nobody from Cleveland who’s just scraping by but doesn’t even have any big dreams to guide him. Every solution to his problems only deepens the trouble: College isn’t working out, so Cherry joins the Army to serve in Iraq as a medic. He returns home haunted and damaged, and starts abusing opioids to blunt his PTSD. To pay for the drugs, he resorts to bank robbery. The more desperate he gets, the more banks he has to rob.

It’s tempting to call this film, which hits theaters first on February 26 and then premieres globally on Apple TV+ on March 12, a smaller, more intimate project from the brothers who made some of Marvel’s most grandiose films. It’s definitely a passion project for them. But Cherry is also a sprawling tale that ventures around the world, albeit locked within the mind of Holland’s sweet-natured, grimly addicted bandit.

“We do think about it as an epic film, and it is very much a person’s life journey,” said Anthony Russo. “But it does have a little bit of a split personality between being this character study and an epic life cycle.”

They described Cherry as six movies in one, spanning from the mid 2000s to the present. “He travels a great distance over a 15-year period,” Joe Russo said. “The movie’s broken up into six chapters that reflect those different periods, and each one has a different tone. It’s shot with different lenses, different production design. One’s got magical realism. Another chapter is absurdism. Another is horror…There’s a bit of gonzo in it. It’s raw in its tone. He’s a character in existential crisis.”

Based on the 2018 novel by Nico Walker, the screenplay was written by the filmmakers’ sister,  Angela Russo-Otstot (V, The Shield), and Jessica Goldberg (The Path). “The book was very, very self-aware, self-deprecating, and self-loathing,” Joe said.

They felt a strong connection, even if the story doesn’t necessarily mirror their own. It’s close enough: “We’re from Cleveland and Nico’s from Cleveland. Interestingly enough, we know a lot of people that are implied in the book,” Joe added. “I think he’s fictionalized names and personalities. But I worked at the same restaurant that Nico worked at, 10 years apart. So he had a very similar upbringing to us. He just had a very different journey than we did.”

The Russos also wanted to tell a story about the people back home who are hurting. “Ohio is unfortunately at ground zero in the fight against the opioid crisis. And we’ve got a lot of people in our family that have either passed on or died from the crisis, or are struggling with their current addiction. So, this is a very, very personal movie for us.”

The one bright spot in Cherry’s life is Emily (Ciara Bravo, A Teacher), whose devotion to the love of her life may reveal her own self-destructive tendencies. While she’s the stabilizing thing he clings to, the only pure thing in his life, Cherry’s reckless actions threaten to destroy her too.

“The love story is the central spine of the film,” Anthony said. “Without that relationship in the movie, it all falls apart for him. We knew that we needed to make her presence and her character glow in the moments that we did have with her.”

“We really wanted someone that embodied that sense of innocence for him. It was a dream girl, the girl next door,” Joe said.

That’s a quality Holland also brings to the screen, from his breakthrough as a resilient kid trying to survive a tsunami in 2012’s The Impossible to his “aw, shucks” approach to Peter Parker in the Marvel films. With Cherry, the 24-year-old weaponizes that boyishness, allowing it to be battered and bruised and blasted off of him by the harshest things life can throw at a person.

The Russo brothers know this might sound like a turnoff. That’s why they wanted the role to go to Holland, whom they had successfully lobbied to get the part of Spider-Man in 2016’s Civil War.

“When Tom walked into the room…what, six years ago? He was younger, raw. His charisma just blew us away. There was an effortless charm to him,” Anthony said. “As an actor, that is very difficult to replicate. He’s just so likable. We knew for this part we were going to need someone of Tom’s charisma to keep the audience from shutting down during the darker parts of the film.”

“This is a movie that’s supposed to define the experience of having PTSD, the experience of being addicted to opioids,” Joe added. “And the mission of the film is to generate empathy, not to generate disdain, not to indict. It was critical that you empathize with his struggle and his journey because a lot of people are going through this, and they’re having a very human experience. I think empathy is in incredibly short supply right now in the world. And it’s a tragedy.”

As it traversed a decade and a half, Cherry also gave Holland a chance to show a more somber screen presence. “Tom is a nice person. He is, but he doesn’t let himself get trapped by that. He’s a seeker, he’s an artist, he’s always looking, running after complicated things in life,” Anthony said. “He’s a young actor, right? We haven’t seen him do that much up to this point. This is definitely something he’s had within him the whole time. We just haven’t been able to see it yet.“

Joe and I were surprised ourselves to see how thoroughly committed he was to every facet of that character,” he added. “The darkest, most difficult sides of that character, he really embraced them and ran at them and tried to give them life within himself in a way that not a lot of people could pull off.”

good things take time | sub!peter parker

[Warnings] sub! peter parker x dom! reader, older reader, smuuut, post-endgame peter, aged up peter, oral sex (female receieving), premature ejaculation, little editing

A/N: sorry for any typos! this an idea I got from an anon!

In which Peter returns after the blip to find that his girlfriend is both older and more experienced than he is. 

word count: 1.1k

“Peter, why are you on my balcony?”

“I have to talk to you,” He rushed out, stumbling inside the window to your apartment. You had just gotten out the shower, your hair still a bit damp, and your floral, silk rob wrapped around your newly lotioned body.

As Peter took in your appearance, he realized the difference between the two of you once again. He was disheveled, grieving from Tony’s death, and you had your life together as well as a great job. 

“Peter, we discussed this,” You sighed, crossing your arms, “Things are not the same as they used to be and I can’t get involved with a high school senior! I have a good job now and a reputation to uphold.”

Peter could tell by the spacious living room he was standing in. He still had no idea of the trials and tribulations it took for you to get there. 

Peter took a step forward, “It can’t just be over,” You thought his voice might break, “To me, we were in love just a few weeks ago. I was finally getting used to working with Mr. Stark and school was good too. Everything was good and then … I’m sorry, I just ….”

Looking at him reminded you of a simpler time. Things were hard back then but you were young and you had Peter looking out for you. You had learned to live without him but was it fair to make him do the same? 

“I’m sorry,” He apologized, cutting through the silence, “I shouldn’t have come-”

“I’m not like how I used to be,” You stepped closer to him, your hands playing with the strap of your robe, “Not as innocent as I once was. It’s been a long five years, Peter.”

Peter’s eyes seemed to widen, watching your fingers. His heart was already racing, the blood already rushing to his penis, “Oh,” Was all he could manage. 

You wrapped your arms around his neck, your body now pressed closer to his. Peter tried his best not to look down at the exposed sides of your breasts as he stared into your eyes, “I could teach you what I’ve learned if you want to know.” 

Peter nodded quickly, “Y-Yeah.” His eagerness made you smirk. 

As you leaned into his lips, Peter froze. It started with a peck like you’ve done before, but you began to move your lips against his. Peter had never kissed like this but he tried to mimic your actions. Your hands trailed down his shoulder and then to his waistband. 

You moved to reach into his waistband but he pulled away from you suddenly, “Sorry,” He immediately rushed out, his cheeks bright red, “I just … can … c-can you teach me how to please you first?”

You smiled at that, “Take off your clothes,” Peter stared back at you, his eyes wide, “Now.”

Peter was nervous but his movements were still eager as he slipped off his hoodie. He was muscular but his skin was smooth and young, unlike the older men that you had slept with. It reminded you of his innocence 

He slipped off his shoes and jeans and, as he stood up straight, he noticed that your robe had fallen down. Peter paused again, taking in your appearance. Even before the snap, he had never seen you naked and now he was practically a kid in a candy store. He wanted to touch every part of your body. 

As he took a step closer to you, you took one back. You fell onto the living room’s loveseat, slowly spreading your legs. Peter was practically drooling at this point, his brown eyes hungry with lust. 

You beckoned him closer before saying, “Get on your knees, baby.”

He did as you said, bending down between your legs. You leaned forward grabbing one of his hands and bringing it to your breast. Peter felt them in his hands, his thumb rolling around your nipples in a curious manner. You grabbed his other hand, doing the same, letting him feel your nipple growing harder. 

“To do it right,” You had to stop yourself from biting down on your lip, “You have to do a lot teasing. Kiss down my body till you get between legs.”

Peter did as you said and loved every moment of it. He leaned into you, kissing down your stomach, above your vagina, on your thighs, and then he left small kisses on your inner thigh, “I-Is that good?” 

“Perfect, baby.” He could tell you were wet, glistening in the dim light of the living room. 

You spread your legs more for him, “Go for it, baby. Lick all the way up and down then … just listen to your instincts.”

Peter buried himself between your legs, taking in your scent and the taste of you. He licked up and down your slit, teasing you even more. Peter hadn’t felt this right in a long while, “Just like that,” You encouraged him as he started to pay extra special attention to your sensitive bulb. 

You couldn’t be still anymore after that, your hips ground into him so much that Peter had to grip your thighs to keep himself study, “Don’t stop. Don’t fucking stop,” You commanded, moaning at the sensation. 

Peter was rock hard but he had yet to touch his own cock. He was too focused on you but that didn’t stop the pleasure he was filling himself. It was overwhelming his every sense. 

“You don’t stop when a girl cums, you stop when-” You moaned loudly, “You stop when she pulls you away from her because she can’t take it anymore.”

Peter understood and as you reached your shuddering climax, he kept lapping at you, still hungry as before. You smiled a wicked smile but you suddenly noticed him groaning, a shudder rippling through him just like it did for you. You scooted away from his grasp, watching as the boy grunted heavily, gasping for air. 

Your smile grew even wider, “Did you just cum?”

He looked up at you, his face completely bright, “I-I’m sorry and I think I got it on your carpet … just give me a moment-”

He came without even touching his cock. He came just was from eating out. You had been with a lot of guys over the last few years but you had never seen anything like that. 

You leaned forward and smashed your lips on his. Peter kissed back, this time with a little more knowledge of what you did. He gaped at you as you pulled away, “We’re going to have fun together, Peter.”

Peter was overjoyed.

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