#i think it worked with Tony because that's his whole character. he's an asshole billionaire who makes weapons | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sineala · 10 months

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Hi!! I used to be big into superhusbands till about the whole international iron man by bendis (i abandoned there..Tony was too different)... I was wondering, do you recommend current marvel comics? Are they still ridiculously interrupted by crossing over and events?

I am actually really, really enjoying current Marvel comics! I also think now is a pretty good time to hop on board.

If you want specific recs, I have lots of them.

Current comics:

We just got a brand-new Avengers run -- issue #2 just came out this week -- and although Steve isn't on the team (Sam is), Tony is there, and Carol is the team chair. Many of us, myself included, have been really looking forward to this run, because it's being written by Jed MacKay, who is a relatively new writer to Marvel who in my opinion writes comics with very well-characterized characters and a lot of love for the source material. (He is also currently writing what has now become my favorite Doctor Strange run.)

MacKay especially writes a very good Tony; he did an Iron Man annual and an Avengers annual back in 2021 (part of the "Infinite Destinies" series of annuals. The Iron Man one had some very good Tony characterization, and the Avengers annual instantly became everyone's favorite because about half of it is Steve and Tony hanging out at home together, and the other half is Steve and Tony punching robots.

So there's not really a whole lot to say about the new Avengers run yet, but I am excited for it.

(Jason Aaron recently ended a five-year Avengers run. I would recommend skipping it, except for the issue where Steve, Tony, and Thor all go skinny-dipping together in a hot tub. It is the highlight of the run.)

We are seven issues into a new Iron Man run, being written by Gerry Duggan (whom you may remember from 1872), and I swear this is the best Iron Man ongoing comic that has come out since I have been in this fandom. Every issue is actually good, and he's absolutely nailing the Tony characterization, and he's clearly done all the reading. And also Tony is getting whumped hard. I really love it. Every time we get a new issue I am excited to read it because I know it's gonna be good.

(You have missed a couple of Iron Man runs. The Dan Slott run was not all that great, but it had some very sweet canon Tony/Jan and also very pretty art by Valerio Schiti. Then we got Christopher Cantwell's Iron Man run, which was the worst Iron Man run I have ever read in my entire life and featured Tony being a privileged and out-of-touch billionaire asshole who then got addicted to morphine, acquired the Power Cosmic, murdered most of his friends (and, I mean, brought them back, at least), and then decided that he should maybe go to rehab so that he could learn humility which apparently he did not have? My least favorite moment was the bit where Patsy Walker tells him he has no idea what it's like to be suicidal and Tony -- a person who has had at least two on-panel suicide attempts -- agrees that, no, he has no idea what that's like. Anyway. You should skip that.)

I have been kind of meh about the current Cap run (other than the fact that it appears to have given us canon Steve/Emma femdom) because a whole lot of it is basically "CATWS but what if 616" and also they killed off one of my minor-character faves and I am very bitter. There is one more issue left in this run, so you might as well just wait a couple more months and start with the next run, which will be written by J. Michael Straczynski. I know a lot of people have strong feelings about JMS' comics work but I have been a Babylon 5 fan since it started airing and I am excited that JMS, the guy who gave us the "no, you move" speech, is going to be writing Steve. (JMS also wrote Bullet Points, if you liked the Steve in that one.)

(Cap runs you have missed include Ta-Nehisi Coates -- it was fine but for the most part Steve was wildly OOC -- as well as a very short run by Mark Waid whose first arc you should check out because it was absolutely amazing and had great Samnee art. I think you've also missed Nick Spencer's run, which. Uh. I don't even know where to begin with discussing that.)

Recent events:

Comics are still going to be comics, so, yeah, there are always events. Some of them are pretty good, though. If you haven't been here for a few years, you've probably missed AXE Judgment Day, Heroes Reborn, Empyre, and War of the Realms. Possibly also Secret Empire, Civil War II, and Standoff.

Of all of these, I would have to say that AXE Judgment Day (written by Kieron Gillen) was my favorite; it featured the Avengers, X-Men, and Eternals all coming together to save the world from a Celestial that was trying to judge all of humanity and then destroy the planet. You know, the usual. I thought it was pretty well done and had a lot for Steve and Tony to do. They got to be on the same side, for once. Steve got a whole bunch of speeches and everyone got a massive amount of angst; there was actually an entire issue devoted to the Celestial's judgment of Tony. So yeah, it didn't have a whole lot of Steve & Tony together but they both definitely had starring roles for the event.

Heroes Reborn (yes, it would kill Marvel to think up a new name) was an event where Phil Coulson sold his soul to the devil to make the Squadron Supreme have always been the best superhero team on Earth. Coulson has been wedged into the comics from the MCU but Jason Aaron clearly committed hard to making him the most evil person possible.

Empyre -- by Slott and Ewing, art by Schiti -- was probably my second-favorite recent event. It once again featured heroes fighting villains, as is right and proper. Steve and Tony weren't the stars of the event or anything but they did, you know, get to help out a bit. It was a bunch of Kree-Skrull stuff and everyone fought some tree people whose names I am blanking on and it also ended in Billy and Teddy's Big Gay Jewish Space Wedding, so obviously you have to appreciate that.

I remember very little about War of the Realms. It was one of those Asgard things.

You probably missed Secret Empire? And possibly the lead-ins to it, Avengers Standoff and Civil War II. This was infamously the event where Steve was replaced by an evil Hydra version of himself who decided to make America into his own personal fascist state. (Standoff was the event where he was secretly replaced although we did not know this at the time; he spent all of Civil War II -- a Carol vs. Tony event, this time with Tony ending up in a coma at the end -- gaslighting all the heroes pretty hard.) Public reaction to Secret Empire was, as you can imagine, very very bad (they decided to promote this as "this is the real Steve and he has been evil forever" rather than, like, "hey we're doing a villain AU for the next six months") and they ended up concluding the whole thing much faster than they had originally planned to, presumably because the sales tanked hard. They basically did a very, very bad job with this one.

Secret Empire has mostly provided a lot of source material for fandom to pick apart and improve upon -- especially the people who like villain AUs -- and its major highlight is a lead-in one-shot, Civil War II: The Oath, which is a villain remix of The Confession in which Hydra Steve addresses Tony's comatose body and, among other things, tells him that the real Steve loved him, and that he always loved him, even when they fought. So, you know. We all enjoyed that page.

Other fun things you might have missed:

There have been a bunch of fun relatively-recent miniseries!

The thing you will probably be most interested is Captain America/Iron Man, which is a five-issue miniseries by Derek Landy of Steve and Tony teaming up to take down a villain (who is, of course, one of Tony's exes). It has some lovely character moments. The collected edition of this is called "The Armor and the Shield."

Jed MacKay -- yes, the guy writing Avengers -- also previously wrote a run of Black Cat that had a lot of Tony cameos, and then decided to write an Iron Cat miniseries in which Felicia & Tony team up to defeat both of their ex-girlfriends who have decided to try to murder them because apparently, yes, they both have terrible luck with relationships. (In Tony's case, this is Sunset Bain.)

We're also currently getting an Ayodele & Akande miniseries, I Am Iron Man, which is set at various points in Tony's history and I have to admit that I have literally no idea what's going on here but at least it's clear that they really like Tony, and it's sweet.

In what I can only assume was an attempt at some kind of MCU synergy, we just finished getting a second Secret Invasion miniseries (written by Ryan North of Squirrel Girl fame) which was an extremely clever series in which basically nothing was as it seemed, and also Tony was one of the major characters. I really, really liked this one.

If you like weird AUs, we also recently got a (Tom Taylor, I think?) miniseries called Dark Ages, in an alternate future where electricity has stopped working. It did have Steve and Tony.

It is not specifically Steve & Tony related but we just got a Wasp miniseries by Al Ewing, which is Jan's first solo book ever. Yes, ever.

And it has nothing to do with Steve and Tony at all, but I feel like people who don't ordinarily read Guardians of the Galaxy might really enjoy Ewing's run on that, because it is incredibly queer. Phyla-Vell and Moondragon are main characters, Billy and Teddy come guest-star for a lot of it, Avril Kincaid (the new Quasar, who is also gay) is there for a bit, and also the overarching relationship plot is "Peter, Gamora, and Rich decide they all love each other and are all going to be in a relationship." This is extremely heavily implied. There are multiple love confessions and the run ends with them embracing. So yeah, Pete/Rich is canon now. It's great.

That's all I can think of for right now.

#replies #lucrezianoin

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hangovercurse · 3 years

Text

Until You Fall Asleep

After moving in with the crew to help cure your quarantine boredom, you find a new way to deal with your insomnia.

Request: “Could you please do a Colson fanfic where you're a friend of the gang and you move into their house for quarantine so you're not alone. Colson finds out you have terrible insomnia and starts staying up to keep you company and you gradually start sleeping in his bed because it's the only place you seem to actually sleep. You start to get really close through these late night chats, watching films, sharing stuff and opening up to each other... Friendship starts to develop into something else. I need some fluff to see me through these sleepless nights! 🙏😘 Thanks!”

Colson X Reader

Warnings: cursing

Word Count: 3487

Living with your best friends during a nationwide quarantine seemed like a good idea when you agreed to it, but after the 5th night of wandering the huge house late at night because you couldn’t sleep, you were starting to think you should’ve stayed where you were. At least at your own place, you didn’t have to worry about sneaking around so as not to wake anyone up.

Luckily, no one seemed to notice that you woke up earlier than everyone else in the house or went to sleep later. Or if they did, no one said anything.

Day five

Tonight hadn’t been going so well. You had tried showering, you hadn’t eaten for at least a few hours before trying to sleep, you turned your lavender diffuser on, you’d even tried yoga. Nothing helped, and you were left staring at your ceiling.

Frustrated and uncomfortable, you rolled out of your bed, sock clad feet pattering across your room and slowly pulling your door open. You made your way through the house and out to the pool, letting the cool night air wash over you. A deep breath fell from your lips as you began to pace around the deck, hoping to tire yourself out enough to sleep.

After a few minutes, you heard the sliding glass door open, looking up and finding Colson stepping out with a blunt in his hand. He smiled tiredly at you, “you’re up early.”

You raised an eyebrow, “what time is it?” You figured it was 4, maybe 5 am.

“Almost 7,” he looked concerned, “you okay?”

You were trying to figure out how you managed to stay up until 7 am without a wink of sleep, “yeah, just couldn’t sleep. It’s cool though. Why are you up?”

Colson lit the blunt as he spoke, “couldn’t sleep either.”

Day eight

You found yourself curled up on the couch, reading a book at 5:30 in the morning after hours of trying to fall asleep. You swore if you stayed in your room a second longer, you’d break something, so you snuck out to the TV room with the most boring book you could find.

“Do you ever sleep?” Colson’s voice surprised you, making you jump lightly in your seat. The man chuckled at your reaction, taking a seat next to you.

You pouted at his glee, “I could ask you the same thing.”

He shrugged, “sleep is for the weak.”

A sarcastic chuckle fell from your lips, “oh yeah, I feel so strong and cool right now.”

The man laughed with you, but soon turned serious, “serious though, are you good? Both nights this week I haven’t slept you’ve been awake, and I know you don’t take naps.”

You sighed, “it’s just insomnia, I’ve been dealing with it on and off for a couple years now. It’s not a big deal.”

He cocked his head in curiosity and worry, “how much sleep have you been getting?”

You ducked your head in embarrassment, “I slept for an hour at like 3, hopefully I’ll fall asleep again at some point tonight.”

Colson frowned, “can I help at all?”

A small smile fell upon your face, “sometimes talking helps, but honestly not much else. It’s not that big of a problem, though. I’ve been dealing with this for a while, I’m used to it.”

He looked shocked, “dude, you sleep for a few hours every night! That’s a problem. I don’t even know how you’re still alive.”

“Like you’ve never gone a couple days in a row without sleeping,” you said sarcastically.

“No! I go to sleep late as fuck, but I sleep eventually most nights. You’re on a whole different level.” His tone was slightly defensive, if not concerned, “do I need to get you some pills or something? I can do that.”

Your eyes went wide, “Jesus, Kells, no. I have enough to deal with, I don’t need another addiction on my hands too.”

He chuckled, “I’m just saying it might help. I’m assuming weed does nothing?”

You sighed sadly, “it did for a while, but I think my body got used to it. I just have to wait it out until I inevitably pass out.”

“Well, guess I’ll just bother you until you fall asleep.” He relaxed further into the couch, throwing an arm around your shoulders.

“Colson, you really don’t have to-“

“You won’t let me get you drugs, so I’m gonna stay up with you. It’s the least I can do.” He smiled widely, knowing he would get his way.

“You’re ridiculous, you know that, right?”

Day Twelve

“You think that Captain America has the best character arc? Seriously?”

Your nightly chats with Colson had moved into his room after Baze was woken up by Colson’s loud laughter during a conversation about what type of dogs you’d both be. So, you were sat cross legged on his bed, facing each other in deep conversation.

The man tried to defend his stance to you, “okay, I know everyone loves Tony’s whole asshole to hero thing, but Captain America went from this goody two shoes to this badass criminal and he still got the girl in the end.”

You shook your head, “you’re just wrong in every way. I’m not even saying Iron Man had a better story, but literally every other character developed more than Steve. He wasn’t that badass in the end, and the fact that he went back to get the girl just proves he never really changed all that much. He was static.”

“So, you’re telling me, if we watched every single movie with Captain America in it, you wouldn’t be entertained?” He crossed his arms and leaned backwards, eyeing you challengingly.

You scoffed, “the movies are fine, I just think that Marvel has produced better superheroes with better plotlines.”

“New plan, we’re going to watch every marvel movie in order and then you can tell me that I’m right.” He grabbed the remote and turned on the TV across from his bed.

Rolling your eyes, you moved back to lean against the headrest, legs spread out in front of you, “you’re not right, but I’ll watch them just to see the look on your face when you realize you’re wrong.”

Colson flopped down on the bed next to you, throwing an arm over your shoulder and pulling you so that you were leaning into his side. A yawn escaped his mouth, “if you get tired, let me know.”

You giggled, “I’m always tired, I just can’t sleep. I won’t get offended if you fall asleep though.”

He pulled a face, “I’m not falling asleep.”

About an hour into the movie the slow rise and fall of his chest indicated differently. You chuckled to yourself once you realized he had fallen asleep, turning further into his chest, and allowing yourself to get more comfortable.

Somewhere between 4 and 5 am, you found your eyes finally closing of their own accord, unconsciousness washing over you.

Day 17

Since starting your marvel movie binges with Colson, you’d found yourself getting more sleep. You couldn’t tell if it was from the movies or from Colson, but either way something seemed to be working.

Tonight, however, even your new routine wouldn’t lull you to sleep. You tried every breathing exercise in the book, but nothing seemed to work. Colson had fallen asleep a while ago, his arm wrapped around you as per usual, so you couldn’t talk yourself to sleep.

So, you decided to take a stroll around the house, hoping the small form of physical activity would help. But in order to get out of bed, you would have to find a way out of Colson’s embrace without waking him up.

You slowly and gently grabbed his hand and removed it from your side, laying it on the bed next to you. Then, you sat up slowly, only to be pulled back into his chest, “where’re you going?”

His voice was deep and gravelly, sleepiness very evident. You responded with a whispered, “I can’t sleep, was gonna go walk around.”

He pulled you in closer to him, nuzzling his face into the crown of your head, “but you’re so warm.”

You chuckled, cuddling into the man, “fine, I’ll stay.” You tried to close your eyes and find sleep, but again, none came. Sighing, you accepted that you would be stuck in your current position, realizing there were worse things than being wrapped up in a beautiful boy’s arms.

Day 25

“I know aliens probably exist, but do you think they’d ever take one of us to study?”

Colson chuckled at your question, “like a human in general or, like, you and me?”

“Like you or me. Do you think we’re important enough to be studied?”

He squeezed your waist, “I think you are in desperate need of sleep.”

Laughing, you responded, “I’m serious! And I have been sleeping, thank you very much.”

“Okay, fine. I think if aliens ever came to Earth, they’d probably be more interested in, like, genius billionaires or really dumb people, like people from Florida.”

You slapped his arm, “don’t be mean to Florida.”

You could feel the vibrations from his laughter, making you giggle. “Fine, but my point is they wouldn’t be interested in us unless they’re really into music.”

“Darn,” you huffed.

He raised an eyebrow at you, “you want aliens to take you and study you?”

Balancing yourself on his chest, you lifted yourself up to look down at him, “yes! That would be so fucking cool.”

He shook his head with a laugh, “you’re crazy.”

“Think about it, who else would be able to say they got studied by aliens. And then you’d know that you were important to someone, even if it is just alien scientists.”

Rolling his eyes, Colson pulled you back down into him, your hands still resting on his chest, “I don’t need aliens to know I’m important.”

“Well not all of us can be ubertalented rock stars with millions of fans,” you joked, a teasing smile on your face.

You glanced up to find his eyes trained on you, holding a softer look in them than you had expected, “I didn’t mean that.”

It took a few moments for his words to get processed by your brain, but you immediately dismissed the thought that he could be talking about you specifically. More than likely he was referencing his family in general, which you could be included in.

Day 31

To celebrate a full month in quarantine, the guys had decided to throw an in-house only party, which just meant that everyone had an excuse to drink together more than normal. You were staying mostly sober, knowing that otherwise the boys would most likely break something, most likely themselves.

You watched from your place on the kitchen counter as Rook, Baze, Slim, Dre, Irv, Dub, and Colson played a round of King’s cup.

“Y/N, you have to drink,” Rook called from across the room, “it’s a six.”

“If there’s no women playing then you just skip that card, Rookie.” You called but took a sip from your cup anyways.

Colson whined, “this is boring.” You chuckled as he moved away from the table to come stand by you, the rest of the guys continuing without him. He leaned against the counter next to your dangling leg, letting you run your fingers through his blond hair, “parties are boring now, Y/N.”

You could tell that he was gone, the alcohol having almost full control of him. “When we get out of quarantine, we’ll throw the biggest party ever, Kells,” you said, letting your hand fall to rest on his shoulder. The man grasped your hand in his and moved it back up to the top of his head, silently begging for you to continue. He turned into a cat, practically purring as he leaned into you, “hey, Kells, you tired?”

He shook his head, “no, ‘m gonna stay up with you, remember?”

You laughed softly, “it’s okay, Kells. You should get some sleep; I’ll be okay for a night.”

His arms wrapped around your middle, head burying into your stomach, “I’ll go to sleep if you do.”

“You gotta let me off this counter for that.” This was a side of Colson you rarely saw; the drunk, very cuddly version of Colson. Occasionally he’d cling on to you when he got really tired, but that was in the privacy of his room. Here he was hanging onto you in front of all his friends, though granted they were too drunk to notice anything unusual.

You hopped off the counter, taking on some of Colson’s body weight in order to get him up the stairs and to his room. Truthfully, you planned to leave him in his bed once you got him there, but he had other plans. As soon as you moved to walk away from the bed, he grabbed your arm sleepily, “why are you leaving?”

Running a hand along his jaw softly, you softly said, “I’m gonna go to my room.”

He whined, “you never sleep in your room, stay.”

You bit your lip, unsure how to respond to that, “Kells, you’re drunk, you need some sleep.”

“I can’t sleep without you.” His eyes were glazed over, making his pleading look even more appealing than normal.

Sighing, you muttered, “yes, you can. I’ll be right down the hall,” but he wasn’t taking no for an answer, hand still firmly around your wrist.

“No.”

You rolled your eyes, climbing into the bed next to him, “I’m only doing this because you need to go to sleep.” He hummed in response to that, wrapping his arms around you and pulling you tightly into him, leaving no room for you to escape even if you tried.

Day 37

Nights with Colson had slowly turned into every moment with Colson. You woke up together, ate breakfast together, spent time together. You were rarely separated for long, not that either of you minded.

At some point, the line between friends and whatever lied next had gotten blurred, but not fully crossed. You and Colson were touchy and cuddly during the day as well as at night, and everyone in the house was starting to notice it.

Part of you just wanted to kiss him and see what happened, but you knew messing with a situation like this could go very wrong very fast. So, you just left it up to him to figure out where this thing would go, knowing he probably wouldn’t make the first move either.

But as you laid in his arms, listening to his midnight ramblings, you couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if you took matters into your own hands. You watched his lips move as he spoke, wanting nothing more than to lean up and press your own against them. Of course, you would never actually do it, but it was nice to dream.

There was a lull in the conversation which was spent with your eyes dancing across each other’s face, trying to figure out what to say next. Suddenly, he blurted out, “can I get your advice on something?”

You nodded in response, a soft smile on your face. He continued, “this sounds so stupid, but there’s this girl I’ve been talking to recently and I can’t figure out if she ‘s into me or we’re just really good friends.”

You sat up slightly, perking an eyebrow up, “well what signs has she given you that she’s into you?” Your heart burned, hoping he was talking about you. It was a feeling that had been happening a lot recently whenever you were around him, which was almost all the time.

He sighed, “I mean, we talk like, all the time about everything. And I think she flirts with me, but I’m not completely sure if she’s flirting or she’s just being friendly.”

“Well, what signs say that she’s not into you?” You ask, biting your lip to hide the grin forming on your face.

Colson hesitated, “I mean, none, really. I’m just scared of messing up our friendship, you know?”

You nodded, “well, you’ll never know if you never ask her. I’m sure it’ll work out.”

He was quiet for a long time, clearly turning the advice over in his head, “I would but, with quarantine and everything, I just don’t think it’s the right time. We wouldn’t be able to actually, you know.”

Your heart fell, realizing that there was no possible way he was talking about you. It felt like every bone in your body turned to Jell-o at the realization, a lump forming in your throat. “Right, well, maybe you could invite her over to the house. Or do a cute facetime date or something.”

He nodded but stayed quiet. You fully sat up, swinging your legs off the bed. “Where are you going?” he asked softly.

Something inside of you was slowly crumbling, and you needed to get yourself out of his presence as soon as possible, “I just need to take a walk, I don’t think I’m tired enough to get any form of sleep.”

Colson let out a small “oh,” as you stood up and swiftly left the room, tears forming in your eyes.

You felt silly for letting yourself fall so easily and for thinking that he might have felt the same way. But you could’ve sworn there was something forming between you two.

And how had you never heard of this new girl? How long had that been going on?

So many thoughts swirled around in your head as you made your way downstairs and out to the empty pool deck, pacing the familiar space. You tried to convince yourself that your feelings weren’t as strong as they actually were so that this could somehow be easier, but you knew it wouldn’t work.

The sound of the door sliding open caught your attention, your eyes meeting those all too familiar blue ones. “You okay?” he asked, leaning against the wall of the house. You flashed him a fake smile with a nod. “This doesn’t have anything to do with what I just-”

“No, no,” you cut him off, “I’m just restless right now, needed to get some energy out.”

He nodded, watching you cautiously, “I’m actually super tired, so I’m gonna get some sleep. I’ll see you in a few?”

You nodded, knowing full well you had no intention of getting back into his bed, “yeah, goodnight.” You turned your head to the ground, studying the cement below your feet.

The door opened and shut, but when you looked back up, Colson was still standing outside, watching you. “I don’t know why I said that. There isn’t a girl in quarantine. Well, I mean, there is, but we wouldn’t not be able to see each other.”

Your head was spinning, trying to make sense of whatever he was saying. He kept talking, “I got nervous and chickened out and then you left and I felt like an idiot.” You looked up to him, confusion evident on your face as he continued on the borderline of rambling, “so I’m just gonna throw this out there and whatever happens, happens.”

You stared at him blankly, not fully processing his words or what was happening.

“Would you wanna go on a date with me? Or, like, whatever kind of date we can pull off here?”

Your eyes went wide in shock, the rollercoaster you had just been on emotionally twisting your mind. You didn’t speak for a few moments, making Colson nervous, but you finally got out a stuttered, “yes.”

He sighed in relief, “god I feel like such a teenager right now.”

You came back to your senses, narrowing your eyes at him, “do you realize the emotional turmoil you just put me through? I feel like I’m crazy!”

He chuckled, moving towards you, and wrapping his arms around your waist, “I know, I’m an asshole. But it was worth it, right?”

“I was literally rethinking my entire life out here,” you pouted, leaning into his touch.

He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the corner of your mouth, “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

You rolled your eyes, “look who’s all Mr. confident now.”

The vibrations of his laugh shook your own body, “well, you said yes. This would be a completely different story if you had said no. Then I would be the one rethinking my entire life.”

You smirked teasingly, “I could always change my mind.”

He shook his head with a chuckle, “shut up.” His lips met yours, one hand reaching up to softly hold your jaw. You melted into the kiss, your arms moving to wrap around his neck loosely.

You pulled away slowly, a smile spread on your face, “this almost makes not being able to sleep worth it.”

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beautifulterriblequeen · 3 years

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I keep thinking about Silmarillion, and I was wondering : what do you think of Fëanor ?

I don’t know exactly how it should be seen...

Ooh, Fëanor. Gosh, okay, let me change the channel in my brain.

Fëanor is, at heart, a Capitalist Inventor. He's Dark Tony Stark. He creates endless things for the world to use, but what truly drives him is the bone-deep belief that he and his chosen ones deserve his most prized possessions more than anyone else. And he's willing to kill anyone on both sides to get them back. He swears an oath to fight until he gets what he wants, and thus seals the doom of untold thousands he'll never even meet.

That's an antagonist. Which is not the same thing as a villain. But Fëanor is very much an experience to be survived - or not - rather than any kind of ally. Much of what he does in the Silmarillion is imbalanced, driven by emotions he doesn't seem willing or able to control. And because he's an elf among elves, and they all live a very very long time, the effects of his choices carry forward for thousands of years. This one dude got a lot of people killed, directly and indirectly, including his whole family. For an elf was supposed to love the stars, he wasn't very stellar. Our Man in Valinor was way more into fire.

The part that bothers me about his character - and this is a modern take looking back at JRR Tolkien and his world in the last millennium - is that Fëanor is born this way. He is flawed from birth, and he's just Like That, forever. No chance to change, no encouragement to be different, to be softer, to be better, to corral his spirit of fire into something more light than heat. He's just dangerous chaos from start to finish. He comes into the world sucking his mother's spirit dry so she dies, he lives his life disagreeing with everyone around him except his sons, and he goes out encouraging those sons to hold to their unholy oath to retrieve the Silmarils or die trying. Which they do - the "die trying" part, anyway.

He's a piece of work.

He was also a brilliant, god-tier craftsman. I guess that's what happens when you study under the Vala Aulë himself, who literally shaped the physical world into existence.

He created the Silmarils, capturing the combined light of the Two Trees into three brilliant gemstones in a way no one ever did before or since.

He crafted the palantíri, which not even Sauron could replicate later.

He invented Tengwar script, which is the swirly elven writing we all associate with Middle-Earth.

He crafted the mysterious Feanorian lamps, which are crystals that emit blue light and cannot be doused.

He was constantly thinking up new ideas and crafting them. Eru only knows what he made that has been lost. You'll notice none of these things he made are swords. Yet he led an attack against the Teleri on his way out of Valinor, and the Teleri defended themselves, so I kind of assume he was also a weaponsmith, trying out new ideas in metal form if nothing else.

Brilliant and misguided, a flawed juggernaut, destined to drag the entire world and countless lives off course. The earlier these characters show up in the timeline, the more destructive chaos they end up causing.

I do not like Fëanor. He's a White Guy, doing as he pleases with no thought for the consequences, to himself, to those of his family he actually likes, or to anyone else. He holds enough privilege and power that people keep following him into disaster, and then he just goes and does it again, without learning a damn thing from his imbalanced approach. He even dies thinking he did nothing wrong ever in his life. Like... Bitch.

Having power is no guarantee that you deserve power, and Fëanor is a prime example of why.

This has nothing to do with the objects he made. Those are just tools, free to be taken and used for good or evil, as the palantíri were, and as every message ever written in Tengwar was. Would the world have been better off without the Silmarils at all, or the palantíri? Would a different language script have somehow altered the world for the better? Since it's fiction, we could just decide that Yes, Yes It Would, or No Actually Not.

What's not fictional is my distaste for presumptuous assholes with a bit of power but no self-awareness, because I've already met too many of them who weren't fictional, either.

You want my unvarnished opinion of Fëanor? He's a billionaire. And I'm glad he got eaten. It wasn't nearly soon enough.

Eat your billionaires before they get all crusty, kids. They taste best fresh and plump. Nom nom.

Still here? Oh, then it's time to compare Fëanor to TDP! Because as much as I despise him, he makes for excellent storytelling angst and conflict, and vicarious conflict is how we learn to avoid it in our real lives - if we're paying attention.

I've said before that I'd like to see some kind of Oath of Fëanor effect in TDP. The absolute horror at seeing good characters get yoinked into bad deeds just because they promised? Ahahaha, horrible, thank you, I'll have some more. If the Moonshadow assassins have something like that behind those creepy binding ribbons, I'm gonna be cackling in between my tears, fam.

But Fëanor himself? Oh, do you see, that's Aaravos! He's even got that craftsman side, since he made the relic staff, and boy is it swirly.

(Does that make Ethari a Celebrimbor type, separating himself from the dark deeds of his forebears yet still massively talented, creating amazing magical devices?)

Aaravos is the main villain of TDP, as far as we've been told. He's crafty, in both senses of the word. Did he have some angsty complex family life with half-siblings and a mother who died because she birthed him? Maybe. Stars can be born from the detritus of other stars that exploded and died, so there's a sciencey metaphor there already.

Of interest: Fëanor had seven sons, and the world of TDP has seven kinds of magic. Aaravos created at least one of them. Did he create primal magics too, from the deep magic that came before? Might there be some kind of oath involved there, with the first elves to wield differentiated magic?

How about those primal stones that look like palantíri? How many of those did Aaravos craft? Can he use one from his library to spy on people who have them or something? That would mean he could already know a ton about Viren even before he came to the Storm Spire and stole the mirror. Woah.

What about a Silmaril equivalent? Are there especially glorious magical gemstones in Xadia? Did Aaravos wear them in his crown and now he's mister Grumpy Glam without them?

Did he create the original runes that diverged into all the elven languages? With his sloppy handwriting? Heh, the other elves must've been very patient.

You know... Aaravos has been called a Promethean figure, gifting humans with knowledge and skill they didn't have. But that gift was the gift of fire. A tool. A tool employed by craftsmen.

Fëanor literally means "Spirit of Fire."

In the end, Fëanor was consumed by his own spirit. He never learned to vibe with it, and it destroyed him and many others. Sounds a lot like dark magic.

Maybe the real Oath of Fëanor in TDP is one you have to speak backwards.

#asks #Fëanor #tdp #tdp speculation #silm #oath of feanor #just fantasy things #aaravos

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isocrime · 4 years

Note

How do you deal with all the Tony hate? I'm new in the fandom and it seems like almost everyone in here hates Tony, it makes me feel like I'm in the wrong to actually like and relate to his character? Not to mention the double standards? It seems like everything Tony does can be twisted while everyone else's actions is ignored. Especially Steve and Bucky?

since i’m mostly in 616/ults/comics etc steve/tony fandom, i don’t have to interact with a ton of tony hate. all of my pals are very fond of him -- we wouldn’t write about steve/tony if we didn’t like both of them a lot. most of the tony stark haters seem to live in the mcu section of fandom, and i can breeze by it like “lmao i don’t even go here”

when i do see tony hate, a big chunk of it is coming from the “eat the rich” crowd. and believe me: i think real life billionaires should pay their taxes and then get hit over the head with a shovel. tony is very, very rich, and it’s easy to hold that up and say “hah! tony is bad!” and feel morally justified in hating him.

my reaction to that is to take a deep breath and remember that tony stark is a necessary fantasy. he represents the desperate wish that there was one fucking ethical capitalist. don’t you sometimes want to scream from frustration that all these rich bastards are so pointlessly awful and want to see even one of them be fucking decent? tony stark fulfills that wish.

dismantling capitalism is crushing, real world work -- i know this first-hand from union organizing, it sucks the life out of you -- and i don’t want all my media to be about that. i want to escape into a world where it can be fixed by one man being good. tony is good. when 616 tony takes over shield after civil war, employee satisfaction immediately goes through the roof, expenses go down, and he gets rid of the officer’s mess so everyone is treated the same. when fury is trying to force tony to make weapons again, every single one of his engineers walks out of the job to protest in solidarity with him because they believe in him. tony makes a point of funding women’s shelters. he cares. and, yes, he also spends a gazillion dollars on suits that go pew pew, but i’m here for superheroes, okay? a certain amount of suspension of disbelief is required to enjoy superhero comics. if you make tony financially realistic and have him divest from his assets and put them in the hands of a charitable trust, no superhero. no fun.

also, look: sometimes even my pissed off activist ass wants to imagine having a bathtub the size of a swimming pool. i want bespoke suits and meals where i don’t look at the prices on the menu. all the joyless assholes who want to shit on that can get fucked.

another reason i see for hating tony is that he is a filthy weapons manufacturer who glorifies american interventionism in the middle east, to which i say: did you watch iron man 1? have you read a single issue of comics where tony goes fucking nuts because someone has taken his tech and weaponized it? iron man exists because tony refused to make a gun. that’s basic media literacy. more broadly, if you want media where violence isn’t treated as the best solution to all problems, superheroes are not for you.

the last source of tony hate i see a lot is that he makes compromises that have really bad consequences. which -- yeah, he does. sometimes he’s forced to make a planet-killer bomb because the alternative is worse, even though it is VERY BAD to make a planet-killer bomb. one of tony’s flaws is that he thinks he knows better than everyone else and he machinates in secret and sometimes that blows up in his face. i think this is a character flaw that creates interesting narratives and conflict, but if you don’t like characters who make mistakes and have flaws, um -- read unbeatable squirrel girl i guess? it’s pretty awesome while also being morally upstanding.

comparing tony to steve -- that’s a whole ‘nother essay, and i think it’s safe to say that you can tear up either character if you’re determined to do so. there’s always something you can point at and go “hey! no giving sharon orders to do torture, that’s naughty!” there’s so much canon in comics that if you want to pillory any character, you can. which means there’s a certain amount of hypocrisy in picking one to pick on, but hey, haters gonna hate

(i really don’t see a lot of comparisons to bucky in comics fandom because 1) bucky is dead for a huge portion of the important steve/tony canon and 2) steve isn’t generally Like That about bucky in comics. in 616 they met when bucky was like 12, so he and bucky have more of a mentorship thing going on than an emotionally catastrophic codependent tension thing, in ults bucky is old and married to steve’s wartime sweetie, in bullet points he’s just a soldier steve saved from getting squashed by a tank, and in 1872 bucky was married to natasha and also dead the whole time.)

you’re allowed to like tony! i like tony! all my fandom friends like tony! we certainly don’t judge anyone for relating to this alcoholic charismatic self-sacrificing genius fuckup.

if you’re new to steve/tony and haven’t joined up, you can try out the 616 stony discord: you gave me a home! (click the link to go to the server, 18+ only please!) it’s very steve and tony positive and a great place to read comics together!! there’s also an mcu server (put on the suit, 18+) where i’m not very active but as far as i know there’s no tony-bashing there either.

#i am the most long-winded motherfucker #send help #Anonymous

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give-me-back-my-rhodey · 4 years

Text

The Treasures of a Stark - AUgust Day 16

Title: The Treasures of a Stark

Author: Purple_ducky00

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Brief mention of background characters’ racism

Pairings: Sam/Bucky, Rhodey/Tony

Link: Read on AO3

Summary: Sam and Bucky are famous Youtube treasure hunters. When searching for treasure that may have part of insurance fraud, they don't expect the grandson of the accused to help out.

+++++++

“So, this time, we’re searching for the insurance fraud dump of Montgomery Stark.” Sam Wilson looks right at the camera. “Rumor is, about fifty years ago, Mr. Stark reported more than half of his heirlooms and precious jewels stolen, racking up millions in insurance money. No one ever knows because he died two months after he collected the money, but there are rumors that the man ‘stole’ the things and buried them somewhere off his property. We’re going to see if we can find it. Montgomery Stark was outlived by his son Howard Stark, who died about fifteen years go. Now, the face of the operation is his son, Tony Stark.” “But if we do find it, we’re not giving it to the insurance company because fuck them.” Bucky adds. “Also fuck Tony Stark, the asshole.” Sam motions to cut, and the camera turns off.

Anyone who watches their show knows that Bucky has a dislike for insurance companies. They have screwed him over too many times. He’s highly distrusting of any high power and is more likely to punch first and ask questions later when feeling threatened. But when it comes to doing things for the thrill or exploring anything haunted, he’s the first one to advocate for it.

Sam, on the other hand, is a little more reasonable. He doesn’t exactly like people in power either, but he isn’t actively hating them. What he actively hates is horror, but he lets Bucky drag him into hunts for haunted treasure. He’s not sure why. Steve is. “Bucky, wasn’t Tony Stark the one who designed that awesome prosthetic?”

“Yeah, but he’s a billionaire. Fuck him.”

Sam shakes his head. “Ok, well, you can do that, but I’m going to research this a little more.” He gets up and doesn’t notice Bucky’s face behind him. Pulling out maps and the case files, Sam tries to figure out where the late Mr. Stark could have hidden his stash. Bucky sits at the table a few minutes later.

“What do you want me to do?” He asks.

Sam hands him the printed statements from everyone the police had interviewed while the case was open. “Here, read through these. See if anything looks useful.”

Bucky gets to work, and Sam plots different coordinates into his maps. He’s not finding anything anywhere until Bucky slides over a paper that has the statement of Montgomery Stark’s housekeeper, a Madeline Foster. They first ask her if she was there the night of the robbery. She advised that no, she was not, as she starts work and 6am and leaves at 7pm each day. The robbery took place around 9pm. After clearing herself after a few more questions, they begin to interview her with the view of Montgomery Stark committing insurance fraud. She told them that she doubts he did because “Mr. Stark runs on a schedule that he hasn’t broken for the last fifty years.” Ms. Foster goes on to give the police Montgomery’s full schedule.

“We can work with this. See where these places are. I wonder if any of these places has anywhere that he could have hidden it.” Sam grins.

They both work on the case for a good five hours before they both call it a day. “We’ll get back to it tomorrow.” Bucky stretches. “Hey, Steve texted me, asking if I wanted to grab dinner. Wanna come?”

“I don’t want to third-wheel if Steve wants it to be you two.” Sam isn’t sure why Bucky does this. Does he not want to be in a relationship with Steve, but he doesn’t know how to break up with him?

Bucky’s eyes widen. “Sam, Steve and I, we’re like brothers. There is, never was, and never will be any romantic love between us. Only platonic and familial. Now, come on. I can even buy you dinner if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I can pay for my own.” Sam shoves him. “I’m not going to be your sugar baby.”

They meet Steve at their favorite local restaurant. He asks them about their newest project. When they tell him, he warns them, “The Starks can be pretty private. I knew Howard Stark before he died, and he was nice enough, but I didn’t really know anything about him.”

Bucky swears. “It figures. If they hear anything about it, they’ll shut us down. Can’t stand to let us find out hidden family secrets.”

“We’re not that big. I’m sure they won’t hear about it.” Sam tries to reassure them.

++++++++

Sam and Bucky try to find clues to help them figure out where Montgomery Stark might have hidden his treasure. After two weeks of no progress, they are wondering if they should just give up. They hear their secretary say something in a loud voice, and another voice answers her. “What’s going on out there?” Bucky wonders.

“Sir, you can’t just walk back there! You need to book an appointment!” Darcy is getting closer.

The other voice replies. “Relax. I just want to talk to them. I’m not going to hurt them. This door?” The door opens… and Tony Stark walks through.

“Fuck.” Bucky mumbles. “Guess Steve was right.”

Stark looks at them, then holds out his hand. “Hello, Mr. Wilson & Mr. Barnes, I presume? I’m Tony Stark, and I’m here to talk to you.”

“Sam Wilson, sir. Nice to meet you.” Sam shakes it. “This is my colleague, Bucky Barnes.”

“Ah, the first Stark Prosthetic. Does it meet your needs and expectations?”

Surprised that Tony Stark would remember a name, Bucky stumbles over his words. “Y-yeah it works…. Um… pretty good, I I guess.”

“Pretty good is not good enough. If we have time today (and you’d like), I would take a look at it for you. But that’s not why I’m here. I’m here because I heard wind that you were looking into Grampa Monty’s treasure.”

“Do you have a problem with that?” Bucky challenges.

Stark shakes his head. “No, I want to help you. The truth is, I fully believe that my grandfather committed insurance fraud. Which is kind of a dick move because 1.) my grandmother was so disturbed by the whole ordeal; she spent the rest of her life in bed. Not that he knew, I guess, because he died a few months after the robbery. Bad karma is my guess. Also, 2.) much of that stuff was my mother’s jewels from her family. He had no right to collect insurance on any of that, but he did. Now, I would like my mother’s belongings. I’m not sure how it works, but if I have to pay the insurance companies back, I will. If you have any clues, I will help you out in any way that I can.”

“Are you ok with being videoed for the episode?” Sam asks. “We will have to get our lawyers to draw up a form for you to sign.”

“Of course. I don’t want to be a bother. Take your time. Here’s my card. Please, give me a call when you can, and I will come down as soon as possible. Thank you for you time.” Stark nods and walks out the door. They can hear him thanking Darcy as he leaves.

She comes in a few minutes later. “I’m sorry guys. He just wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“It’s ok Darcy. There was nothing you could do about it.” Bucky smiles at her. “Thanks for trying.”

“I like what you do, and you guys pay me well.” She winks.

When Darcy goes back to her desk, Bucky turns to Sam. “What do you think?”

“I mean, he seems like he’s eager to help us.” Sam nods. “He can probably get us into different high-end things that we could not on our own. Want to call Matt and Foggy?”

“Yes. I think they might have some good insight.”

Sam calls their lawyers, Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson, explaining the situation. They advise to make a strict NDA for Tony to sign. If he’s ok with it or only requests small changes (to be okayed by them), they would advise to go forward with Stark’s help. An NDA is drawn up and forwarded to Stark. He arrives the next day with it and another man in hand.

“Everything looks good. It is signed and noted. Shall we start?” He questions.

“Tones.” The other guy gives him a look.

Smacking his forehead, Stark looks embarrassed. “Fuck. I forgot. Gentlemen, this is my boyfriend, Colonel James Rhodes. I call him Rhodey. Rhodey, this is Mr. Sam Wilson and Mr. Bucky Barnes.”

“Nice to meet you,” The colonel says, shaking their hands. “Call me Rhodey.”

“Rhodey signed the NDA as well, so you don’t have to worry about me trying to loophole something with him. We are going to do this with integrity.”

Bucky and Sam give each other a look, both seemingly swept up in Tony Stark’s big personality. Rhodey notices and gives him a small shove. “Tones, this is their show. We’re just in the background pulling strings to help them.”

“That’s right. Tell us where we need to be and what we need to do.”

Sam takes control. “Thank you, gentlemen. If you want to take a seat at the table, we are just going through these papers with a fine-toothed comb to see if there’s anything we missed.”

The cameras roll, and the four men go through the papers. Tony finds Ms. Foster’s statement, and he holds it up. “This could be huge. Let’s see… the house was robbed on a Tuesday. He probably would have stashed the loot in the next two days, wouldn’t you think?” He looks to the others for confirmation. “Ok, so his Wednesday schedule. Come down for breakfast at 6:30. Go into the office by 7. He wouldn’t have kept the stuff at the office because police did a full sweep of SI as well. Wednesday lunches were spent at La Palova. That’s a pretty exclusive restaurant with plenty of cameras. Let’s just say for now that it’s probably not there. Back to office by one, wow, he kept a really tight schedule. Old Monty left the office at 230 to golf at Emerald Isle. Tons of open land there. Be home by 730 for dinner. I mean, there’s time, but not much. Sorry, am I taking over here?”

“No, you’re the only one who knows about this stuff, so keep going.”

“Ok. Thursday schedule, almost the same. Gives himself an hour for lunch, but after work, he likes to drive in the canyon. He was too old for much exercise, I’d bet, but maybe he likes to watch the sunset? The sunsets there are beautiful. Also, a great place to hide not-really-stolen treasure.”

Rhodey speaks up, “There’s also that little bend where we used to go to make out away from the house, remember? For a guy who spent his whole life driving the canyon, he should know all the ins and outs.”

“Are you saying that we might have had sex on top of my mother’s heirlooms?” Tony shudders. “That’s creepy.”

Bucky and Sam share that look again. Sam shakes his head and puts his hands up. “Okayyyy… we do not need to know more. Remember, the camera is rolling. So, you think that Montgomery Stark hid the stuff in the canyon?”

“I honestly think he hid it somewhere on the golf course. He owned shares in the course and the club, so technically, no one could ask him why he’s on any part of the land. I wonder if that got passed down.” Tony hums. “I think Monty would’ve thought that people would be suspicious of the canyon.”

“Well, when we actually get our resources, we can split up into two bands. Mr. Stark, you can take one of us to the golf course. Rhodey, you can take the other to the canyon. There will be a lot of exploring to be done.” Bucky advises.

Sam tacks on. “Yea, and we have more than one camera so we can film both of us at the same time.”

By the end of the week, Sam and Bucky think they have the resources they need to scope out both places. They banter back and forth like normal throughout the week. As they’re arguing about who’s going to the golf course and who’s going to the canyon, when Tony asks, “Hey, I meant to ask you. How long have you guys been dating?”

Bucky chokes and Sam coughs. “We’re… not… dating.” He says and looks at Bucky.

“Oh, just fucking? Like friends with benefits?” Tony raises an eyebrow.

Rhodey admonishes. “Tony, language. Camera is rolling.”

“Ah, they’ll edit it out. Listen boys, if you’re not dating or at least screwing, you should. You got some serious charisma. Kind of like my honeybear and me.” He smooches Rhodey on the cheek.

“Well, we’re not. End of discussion.” Bucky knows his face is bright red. He really likes Sam, and he thinks Sam likes him. However, he’s too afraid to make the first move. He doesn’t want to mess up the team dynamic.

Tony smirks. “Whatever. I think I can answer your question, though. Due to the fact that old elitist country clubs are still pretty fucking racist, it might be better if I take Bucky. Unfortunately, there will be less suspicion, and we can get through a lot faster without someone trailing us at all times. You should have seen the last time I took Rhodey somewhere like that. I refused to go back.” He shudders. “I’ll see what I can do if we have to go back a second day, but…” Tony trails off.

Sam slings an arm around Rhodey’s shoulders. “Don’t worry. We’ll have fun exploring the canyon and talking about you white boys.”

“If you’re sure. I’m sorry we had to make a decision that way, you know?” Tony smiles sadly.

+++++++++

The next day, Tony takes Bucky to the Emerald Isle golf course. They talk about this and that, but Tony notices Bucky is a little withdrawn. “Hey, you ok?” He asks.

“Yea, I’m just trying to figure out what my friend would say if he found out I was hanging out with a billionaire today.”

“Eat the rich kind of guy?” Tony knows a few of those.

Bucky grins. “Yea. I am, too.”

“Well, you surely aren’t pulling any punches. Do you have any questions for me?” Tony is genuinely interested. Barnes seemed like a level-headed kind of guy. He might have some good ideas for Tony to try.

“I do, actually. How do you feel about making a difference in the world?”

“I am very strongly for it, but I don’t always need my name on things, contrary to popular belief. They call me a billionaire because I earn billions annually. However, I and the company pay most of our taxes without using loopholes. Other than voting and lobbying a little, I can’t convince the government to do the right thing with the money. Yes, I do have multiple houses and cars, and I even own an island, but much of my money is sunk into various charities and funds around the world. Some have my name backing them, like the September Grants, but plenty of them are given anonymously so my accountant can’t get mad at me for not taking the tax breaks. So, yes, I do want to help change the world for the better, but I don’t want it to seem like I, myself made the world better.”

Bucky just nods. They make small talk again until Tony brings up Sam. “I think he’s a great guy. You have a great co-worker in him.”

“Yea, and he’s the love of my life.” Bucky sighs.

Tony turns to look at him, and Bucky warns. “Eyes on the road.”

“I will.” Tony turns back. “But you love him? Why don’t you tell him? Do you know amazing your life would be?”

“I don’t want to mess up our already good thing. I mean, I think he likes me, but what if he doesn’t? What if we date and then break up, and we can’t do this anymore? It’s not easy to find a job with a prosthetic.”

“You could start your own channel. People like you enough. They’ll watch you.” Tony suggests. “But if you want it to last, don’t think about what will happen if it doesn’t.”

“I’ll think about it.” Bucky mutters.

Tony pulls into the Emerald Isle valet parking area. “We’re here.” He hands the valet his keys and tips him. “Follow me.”

He leads Bucky to the manager’s office where he tells the man at the desk that he just realized he inherited the shares from Howard, and he’s looking over the property to see if he should buy more shares, sell these, or stay where I’m at. Do you mind if I take my guy and look around?”

The manager stammers and acquiesces. He gives Tony keys to a golf cart and a map of the property. They start scouting, the camera guy sitting in the back of the cart. “You know what you’re looking for more than me.” Tony tells Bucky. Let me know if you want me to pull over somewhere.”

++++++ “So, how long have you and Tony been together?” Sam asks as Rhodey drives him down the interstate towards the canyon.

Rhodey shrugs. “Nineteen, twenty years? We started dating when he was nineteen. I was twenty-one.”

“You guys seem to have what it takes. I’m happy for you.” He wishes he and Bucky could have that, but he knows that Bucky doesn’t like him that way.

“Thanks. Yea, Tony can be a complete dumbass eighty percent of the time, but he’s a loveable one, you know?”

Sam nods. He knows someone like that. He sighs. If Bucky’s not for him, Buck’s not for him. End of story. He’ll find someone else at some point. “So, how’s life as a colonel? That’s got to be rough on your relationship, especially before DADT was repealed.”

“I am happy with my job. I do get more leave because I date Tony Stark, who supplies the military with hi-tech equipment that can’t be weaponized. He won’t make them weapons of any sort anymore.”

“I don’t blame him. Weapons manufacturing is not a business I’d like to be in.” The two chat about whatever comes to mind until Rhodes pulls off the road at a bend in the canyon.

“Ok here. There are caves just beyond this bend. Most of them have never been explored. I’ll show you the ones we have definitely been in.”

“Oh yes, now I’ll be imagining your sexploits.” Sam groans and Rhodey chuckles. “Now, we have to think… Montgomery was an old man at this point. There’s no way he could have dug very deep.”

Rhodey mans the camera, and Sam grabs a shovel. They head toward the caves. Cave after cave, Sam checks the ground for any areas that may have been dug up and replaced. Those he did find were too small to hold anything like the stash the late Stark would have had. Further and further back they go until Rhodey is worried about the wall stability. “We should probably stay closer to the cave openings.”

After going through all the caves and finding nothing, Sam relaxes back against the cave wall. “Whew. Maybe Tony was right. There’s nothing here.” The wall moves a little, and he jumps out. Turning, he and Rhodey see a 10” by 10” hold in the wall. Looking inside, they see a small pile of jewels and gold bars!

Sam whips out his phone to call Bucky just as his phone starts ringing. “Hello?”

“Sam! We found some of the treasure! It was in a secret room in a shed near the edge of the property. It was all overgrown because no one has been there for years!” Bucky sounds very excited.

“We found the rest! It was in a secret wall in one of the caves! Are you taking it with you today? We’re going to grab this stuff.” Sam is smiling widely.

Putting on gloves, Sam slides all the treasures into a knapsack. Once done, they walk out of the cave. Rhodey looks back at it, squinting. “Tony’s not going to be happy about this.” He grins.

“Don’t tell me.” Sam warns. “I don’t want to hear it.”

Rhodey drops Sam off at home. “Put that in a safe or something til tomorrow.” He warns. “Hey Sam, also, I don’t want to tell you what to do, but Barnes likes you, too. He makes heart-eyes at you all day. If your fans can see it, it’s there.” Sam nods and Rhodey drives off.

++++++ “So, friends, that’s how we found treasure and solved a crime in the episode!” Sam grins.

“Also, when Tony asked the question of how long we’ve been dating, we have an answer for him now.” Bucky adds in. “It has been a week ago today.” Sam and Bucky kiss in front of the camera as the screen fades to black.

“Wow, this episode got a lot of love,” Tony comments. “I’d like to think it was all me. Also.” He turns to Rhodey. “I can’t believe we blew each other right beside my mother’s jewels. I think her ghost is attached to those things. I may have scarred her for her entire afterlife.”

“Tell me, does ‘Bam’ or ‘Sucky’ sound better as a ship name?” Bucky speaks up. “Twitter made a poll.”

Sam swats at Bucky’s shoulder. “Tell them Sambucky. They should learn how to name things correctly.” They share a kiss again. Sam is happy he had the courage to talk to Bucky. Spending the rest of his life with this man sounds like a good idea.

#sambucky #ironhusbands #treasure hunt au #tw: racism mention #au_gust_2020 #i write!#mentions of smut

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unknownunseenunheard · 5 years

Note

So why don’t you like Tony Stark? I personally just find him boring, but I’m curious as to why you also dislike him?

Oh sweetie. The ironic thing with Tony is that I genuinely tried to like him. You see, he's a comic character, and in general I give comic characters the benefit of the doubt because there is just so much material that covers them. But Tony? He's a consistent amoral asshole althrought. Although, here are a few points:

It took this man literal decades to realize his weapons were killing people. It took him literal decades to realize his weapons were 'falling into the wrong hands', and do you know why it took him decades? Because. He. Didn't. Care. Enough. To. Pay. Attention. Because. He. Was. Too. Busy. Being. A. Fuckboy. While. Fourty.

He thought it would be a good idea to get drunk at a party with the Iron Man suit on.

He called a kid a pussy because the kid missed his dad.

He created Ultron behind everyone's backs and died thinking it was a good idea ('precious freedom's speech', anyone?)

While Bruce felt guilt over the whole Ultron thing, again, Tony died thinking it was a good idea.

Tony did not care about the fallout from Sokovia until he learned an American had died. At that point he was like, oh damn, guys, we need to be put in check!

On that note, he wanted to level Sokovia, period and just kill everyone on it instead of trying to save them. You know, like a hero is suppose to?

He pushed the Accords, thus causing the Avengers to have to scatter, and the most ironic thing? Tony isn't held accountable to them. He isn't. He breaks them several times through the course of the movie and absolutely nothing happens to him.

On that note, he kidnapped a minor, dragged him across international waters, and set him on his teammates.

Peter is never actually made aware that he got drafted into fighting against his own rights.

Tony is a horrible person to Peter in general, really. He has the kid so brainwashed that Peter feels the need to apologize to Tony while he's dying because of something Tony had told him earlier. That is all levels of fucked.

Tony would rather face Thanos on his home territory then try and get the Avengers back together because he didn't want to admit he was wrong. This decision is, canologically, why Thanos won, so you can blame the Decimation on Tony Stark.

Tony alone had the direct line to Steve, so the decision lied with him, and he still did not call to warn everyone.

Then, of course, forcing a confrontation on Thanos' home territory could only end with them loosing, which is how Thanos got the Time Stone. Once he had that? It was literally game over.

Then, Tony can't admit he fucked up so he blames Steve for the whole thing and no one says a damn thing and Tony thinks tearing out that thing in his chest was a power move.

On that note, he doesn't actually need it to run his heart, so him collapsing afterwards was him being a drama queen.

Then, the icing. The fucking icing, which destroyed any chance I might like this guy. While everyone else is running around trying to help a broken universe after Thanos, what is Tony doing? He's rebuilding Project Insight, without any of the safety precautions, and ohhh would you look at that it BACKFIRES.

This isn't even counting how the MCU Spider-Man movies, due to Tony's direct influence, are now basically propaganda that show working class people screwed over by billionaires as evil.

And comics Tony? This dude was such an asshole that Marvel had to retcon his memories out of existence to explain why anyone still liked him.

So, I don't like him. At this point, though, I'm content to ignore him, although if I see some anti tony thing that makes me laugh I'm gonna reblog :p (which is what I'm guessing prompted this ask? I'm not sure, but that was the last anti tony thing that showed up, as far as I know)

Anyways, I hope that cleared things up! (:

#someone wants to know #anti tony stark #protect peter parker #everyone really but peter specifically #mcu peter may be a white washed miles #but hes still a kid #on the bright side tony isnt alive to fuck with him anymore #but considering hes still causing him problems from beyond the grave #im not sure how effective that is

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thepartyresponsible · 5 years

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fourth drabble! i’m still working on drabbles from this list. this one’s for @izumikouhei, who asked for tony stark/bruce wayne with 66. “if i die, i’m never speaking to you again.”

for the record, there’s bonus roy harper/jason todd. no real warnings for this one, except that it’s ridiculous and kinda fluffy.

also, i failed spectacularly to keep this one under 1000 words. damn, did i fail.

It could have been anyone and anything, but it’s a kid on a rooftop, out of his mind on fear toxin, and it’s a four-story drop crashing through a poorly-enforced fire escape. Batman ends his nightly patrol with a broken arm and three broken ribs and a concussion so mean he can barely stand up without puking.

The kid is fine, though. Of course he’s fine. Bruce sacrificed his grappling line to save him.

“Yeah,” Jason says, when he shoulders his way into the Manor, drops his duffel bag at the door, and lets Alfred wrap him in a hug. “Yeah, whatever. Beacons are lit. Gotham calls for aid. Here I am.”

“Oh good,” Tony Stark says, peering inquisitively over Alfred’s shoulder, drinking what is either a glass of orange juice or a casual mid-morning screwdriver. “I was hoping someone sturdy would show up.”

It should be Dick’s problem, but Dick’s doing something complicated with the Titans that involves a lot of fraught interpersonal dynamics and new uniforms and maybe the apocalypse. It could also be Tim’s problem, except he’s at summer camp with the Teen Titans or whatever the hell they do when they all collectively disappear for a while, and Damian, of course, is around, in the sense that he’s always around, but Jason doesn’t trust Gotham to his tender mercies.

Damian’s a promising enough kid, but he’s also potentially the Antichrist. And if the kid gets killed, Jason’s going to have to deal with Bruce in mourning, and he doesn’t have the stomach for that kind of showy, resolute self-martyrdom anymore.

So it’s Jason’s problem. He packs his bags, lets Roy kiss him goodbye, and then he heads to Gotham. He even has the decency to leave his guns behind. He feels a little stupid about that once he discovers he’s patrolling with Iron Man, but it turns out Stark’s swapped all his ammunition for non-lethal rounds.

“Of course I did,” Stark says, three nights in. Dawn’s slowly bruising the skyline, and they’re drinking ice water on the rooftop of Wayne Manor, trying to cool off after another bullshit night of sweating through their body armor. Stark clears his throat and then drops his voice, approximating Bruce’s Batman-growl with impressive accuracy. “If you kill a killer, the number of killers in the world remains the same.”

Jason groans and presses the cold glass to his forehead. It doesn’t help as much as he wants it to. “He’s such an asshole.”

“Yeah,” Stark says, with a wide, affectionate grin. “And surprisingly bad at math.”

Jason doesn’t mind working with Stark. He’s like a funhouse mirror version of Bruce: too rich, too smart, too good at what he does, but stretched-out and wrongly-proportioned, all that grim resolve replaced with good-natured purpose, that laser point attention swapped with a cat’s capricious focus.

The Iron Man suit is fun, and Jason wants one of his own, but he’s content to keep dropping his tech on the breakfast table and watching as Stark’s concentration is slowly but inevitably drawn away from his coffee.

“You owe me, like. Hm.” Stark pauses, tips his head. They’re down in the Batcave, and Stark’s upgrading Jason’s rebreather. “Shit, how many things have I fixed for you? What is this? The…seventh? Do you know what my time’s worth?”

“Put it on Bruce’s tab,” Jason suggests. He’s texting Roy, who’s frothing at the mouth trying to get himself an invite. He’s got some kind of bizarre inventor’s crush on Tony Stark.

Stark goes still for a second and then laughs. He stifles it quickly, which is out of character.

When Jason looks up, Stark has his head ducked, mouth flat, and his cover is so egregiously shitty that he might as well be whistling innocuously with his hands in his pockets.

“Huh,” Jason says, just so they’re clear. Just so Stark knows that Jason knows that some weird shit is afoot.

“You know what you need?” Tony says, damn near doing jazz hands in his completely transparent attempt to redirect the conversation. “Repulsors.”

There’s one bad night where Jason lets Scarecrow dose him because getting drugged is better than letting the creep touch Damian, and then Jason’s out of his head, fucked up, clinging to the Iron Man suit while they skim through Gotham.

“Graveyard,” he says, because his mouth is full of imaginary blood and his fingernails feel broken to the nailbed and he’s been screaming for days, for years, for lifetimes. “Don’t take me to the graveyard.”

“Hey, scout,” Tony says, which is offensive. Which is bullshit. Jason is twenty-two years old. “I’m taking you home, okay?”

He takes him to Bruce’s house, and Alfred fusses, and someone asks, “Can I get anyone for you, kid?” and so Jason says, “Roy, I need Roy,” even though he doesn’t, not really, but he knows he’ll feel better if Roy’s there.

And then Roy is there, sitting suited up at Jason’s bedside, bow in hand, and it’s ridiculous, it’s all made-up, it’s fine. But. It’s nice, having someone on watch.

In the morning, Roy steps out to grab breakfast and comes back wide-eyed and red-cheeked. “Holy shit,” he says, under his breath. “Holy shit, Jay, it’s like walking in on your parents.”

And Jason’s got no fucking clue what he means by that, but he’s too wrung out to ask for clarification. He rolls onto his side, lets Roy scramble up into bed beside him, and then he makes soft pathetic noises until Roy pours just the right amount of sugar into his coffee.

Eventually, Bruce gets well enough to become a Goddamn nuisance. As soon as he’s cleared to sit in front of the screens in the Batcave for a couple hours a day, he decides, naturally, to play backseat driver while Jason and Tony run patrol.

He is fucking insufferable.

“Red Hood, on your right—on your right.”

“Iron Man, this is a street brawl, not a dance competition.”

“Hood, you could have shattered his scapula with that. Be careful.”

“Iron Man, the disarming sequence is—no, stop that, I have it right here. Stop it.”

Jason daydreams a lot about punching Bruce in the mouth. Tony Stark, for his part, just laughs and fires back.

“Oh no,” he says, when he’s disarming the bomb that’s supposed to level a city block. “Oh, how clumsy of me.”

“Iron Man,” Bruce says, voice tight.

“Whoops,” Tony says, while Jason coughs into his comm unit to hide his laughter.

“Iron Man,” he says, voice so low and tense that Bruce’s vocal chords might as well be glaciers grinding together.

“Gotham is just so dangerous,” Tony says. “If I die, I’m never speaking to you again.”

“Tony,” Bruce says, and there’s something weird in it, something held back.

The bomb goes dead and harmless at Tony’s feet. “Sorry, sweetheart,” he says. “But I’m still better with explosives than you are. Don’t play tech support with me.”

The thing is, Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne don’t usually spend time together. They could. They both have that playboy billionaire thing to lean into, and there’s a whole series of archived news articles about their exploits in their early twenties. And Jason remembers, dimly, that Tony came by the house once or twice before that regrettable incident in the desert with the Joker and the crowbar.

Something happened between them after Jason died. Or maybe after Tony had his own regrettable incident in the desert.

“Why’re you here?” Jason asks, finally. Because it’s been three weeks, and Bruce is starting to train like he thinks he’ll be suiting up soon. Which means this vacation is almost over, and Jason’s going back to the Outlaws, and Tony’s going back to the Avengers, and Bruce is going back to brooding on rooftops. “I mean, I’m glad you are. Thanks for the upgrades. But Bruce is kind of an asshole, you know?”

Tony laughs into his coffee. There’s a vaguely evasive look on his face, and he’s smiling for no damn reason at all. “Bruce,” he says, with a shrug. “We grew up together. Even went to the same boarding schools a couple times.”

Jason cannot imagine Bruce as a child. “Before his parents died?” he asks, because that’s the part that seems impossible. Bruce Wayne, as a kid with parents, as someone with a future instead of a mission.

“Sure.” Tony shrugs; his smile disappears. “And after. We went to each other’s parents’ funerals. He brought a flask to mine, even though he never approved of—well. That’s how you know about people, isn’t it? At least with someone like Bruce. When they’ll give in, just a little. Because it’s something you need.”

Jason wouldn’t know about that. After all, the Joker’s still walking.

Although maybe, if he thinks about it, there’s a hundred different ways Bruce has compromised for him. And if he hasn’t done the one thing that would mean the most, maybe that’s because there are parts of yourself you can’t ever give away. Maybe Jason’s old enough to understand that now. Because, in the end, Jason hasn’t killed the Joker either.

“Sure,” he says. But he’s thinking about Roy. He’s thinking about Roy dopesick and shaking and terrified. He’s thinking about Roy, clean and steady and brave.

Tony finally looks over at him. His smile is crooked and fond. “You’re a good kid,” Tony tells him. “You’re all good kids. Don’t know how the hell Bruce managed it. But good for him.”

They were good kids before Bruce Wayne. They would’ve been good kids without Bruce Wayne.

But Jason’s ready to acknowledge, in the privacy of his own head, that maybe they’d also all be dead kids without Bruce Wayne.

Tony Stark stays for a month and a half. He and Bruce spend the last week fighting, loudly and dramatically, over every single improvement Tony’s made to the Batcave while Bruce was too busy trying not to throw up on his shoes to stop him. Jason and Roy sneak down to watch, but Roy keeps getting antsy and dragging Jason out before things can get too heated.

“You’re just not ready,” Roy tells him, earnestly. “Your virgin eyes, Jason. I mean it.”

“My virgin what?” Jason asks, incredulous.

“Your slutty eyes,” Roy amends, conciliatory.

“That’s—wow.” Jason stares at him. “That’s even worse.”

“Aw, c’mon, baby,” Roy says, mock-apologetic. “You know I love how slutty you are.”

“Great,” Jason says. “Awesome. So, we’re breaking up. You can move out tonight. Never speak to me again. It’s been terrible, and I won’t miss you at all.”

“Oh no,” Roy says, eyes wide, sounding so legitimately devastated that Jason has to kiss him, immediately.

Roy snickers into his mouth, which really underscores to Jason how out of his depth he is, how much of him Roy owns completely.

“I hate you,” Jason tells him, because it’s been years but I love you still feels like a jinx, like an invitation to the universe to break his fucking heart.

Roy grins at him, immensely pleased with himself. “Hell yes,” he says, “I love hate sex. Let’s go.”

Jason’s not an idiot. He has an idea of what’s going on. He knows two adult men don’t spend that much time together passionately discussing differences of opinion on technical innovation unless they plan to get naked at some point. He knows what it means when Tony’s eyes go warm and distant like they do sometimes when he talks about Bruce. He knows what it means that Tony’s here at all.

It’s just that he figures Bruce Wayne is fucking everything up, the way he always does. He figures Bruce is crashing headlong through the world in grim, determined pursuit of the best, fastest, most justice-glorifying path from Point A to Point B without realizing that Point C has more merits than he deserves.

He figures it’s one-sided. He figures Bruce is going to break Tony’s heart. He figures Tony’s going to let him, has been letting him.

And then he turns a corner on Tony’s last morning in town and walks right into the kind of goodbye kiss that needs an age restriction warning.

“Oh, Christ,” Jason says and slams his eyes shut. A second later, Roy’s hand slaps down hard across his face, palm wrapping protectively across his eyes. It stings a little, honestly, but Jason forgives him for it. He just wishes he’d been faster.

“Oh God,” Roy says, “I warned you! I told you it’s like walking in on your parents!”

“Stop it.” Jason hisses through his teeth, clinging to Roy’s arm. “Get me out of here, fuck’s sake.”

“Your kids are so cute, Bruce,” Tony says. Jason feels endlessly betrayed by the smug amusement in his voice. He’s been fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with this man for a month and a half, and he had no idea he was such a shameless philanderer.

Jesus, just tongue-deep in each other’s mouths right in the hallway, where God and Alfred and Damian could walk by at any moment.

“Only one of those is mine,” Bruce says. He sounds – terrifyingly – like he is out of breath.

Jason wretches, audibly. Roy hauls him against his chest and starts dragging him to safety, back the way they came.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Tony says. His voice is deliberately pitched loud enough to follow them. “Looks like you’ve practically got yourself a son-in-law.”

��Roy,” Jason says, “just kill me. I’m done with this earth.”

“Aw, Jay,” Roy says, pressing a quick kiss to the top of Jason’s head, “don’t give up. We’ll go find the Scarecrow, see if he can bleach it outta your head with more of that fear toxin.”

“God willing,” Jason says, low and fervent.

Jason and Roy go out a window on the second floor, just to be sure they don’t run into Tony and Bruce defiling any other hallways with their goodbyes. Jason’s not proud of it. But he’s finally learned the merits of a well-executed retreat.

It turns out to be unnecessary though, because Tony’s already down in the driveway, climbing into an offensively beautiful red sports car. Jason braces a hand against Roy’s chest to keep him from throwing himself at the hood to get to the engine.

“Hey, kids,” Tony calls, waving jovially. His mouth is very red. Jason is prepared, at this moment, to offer his soul to the multiverse.

“Hey,” Roy says, voice reverent, eyes running all over the car with a licentiousness that would make Jason blind with jealousy if he were looking at a human being.

“Last time Bruce fooled around with someone,” Jason says, “he spawned the Antichrist. So you just think about that the next time you mix your bodily fluids.”

“Oh no, my girlish figure.” Tony does not seem to be taking this as seriously as Jason means it.

“Bodily fluids,” Roy says, under his breath. He doesn’t seem to be taking it seriously, either.

Jason curls his hands around the car door, pins Tony with a look of grave concern. “Listen,” he says. “You deserve so much better than that shithead in there. He’s a disaster. He is the definition of emotional constipation. He knows everyone’s blood type and nobody’s birthday, and he gives up kidney stones easier than personal information, and he absolutely has a plan for how to neutralize you if necessary, and he honestly, legitimately, no-shit thinks that’s what teamwork means.”

“Kiddo, pal, Red Hoodlum,” Tony says, giving Jason’s hand an encouraging pat. “That’s my emotionally constipated shithead disaster in there, and I’d thank you to remember it.”

Sometimes, there’s nothing you can do to save people from themselves.

Jason steps away from the car and shoves his hands in his pockets. “I’m sorry you’ve chosen to do this to yourself,” he says. “You seem like a perfectly decent human being.”

“It’s been a real treasure working with you, too, scout,” Tony says. He glances over Jason’s shoulder toward Roy and smiles wider. “And, hey, Wayne-In-Law, if you ever want to talk shop some more, swing by SI. You’d love the labs.”

“Oh my God,” Roy says, very quietly. And then, louder, “Oh, okay, sure! Maybe! Next time I’m in town.”

Tony nods, smiles again, and then turns toward the manor and blows a giant, ridiculous kiss over his shoulder.

And Jason thinks he’s an idiot, thinks he’s just asking to get his heart broken, but there, on the third floor, is the subtle but unmissable shift of curtains falling back. Bruce Wayne was up there, lurking through a final goodbye, and Jason honestly needs to get out of this town immediately.

He climbs on his bike, waits for Roy to do the same. And then, just to see how far this lunacy has spread, he texts Grayson: Did you know Stark and Bruce are fucking?

Dick texts back a string of fruit-themed emojis that Jason instantaneously blanks from his brain. A second later, Dick sends: You didn’t see the pics from Stark Expo???

“Roy,” Jason says, “I love you. Let’s go somewhere with no wifi signal.”

#writing #fic #fill #drabbles

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anonthenullifier · 5 years

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So I was cleaning out my writing documents and re-discovered all of my notes for a SV roller derby AU. I had planned to write it last year for the Scarlet Vision Valentine’s AU event, but didn’t because I realized it was going to end up being a multi-chaptered ordeal and I just didn’t have the time or energy to do so. Sadly I will likely never write it but did have fun brainstorming it, so I thought I’d share the world building and plot that I did come up with in case anyone might enjoy it.

Rough Story Summary: Victor Shade recently relocated to upstate New York after accepting a cybersecurity position at Stark Industries. His boss, THE Tony Stark, refuses to accept Vision’s preference for living in peace and insists he attend a bout for the local roller derby team, the Thunder Dolls, for which Stark is both a patron and a ref. What started as a begrudging placation to his over-enthusiastic boss, turns into genuine wonder as he takes in the brutal yet complex game on the track and finds himself drawn to the ethereal movements of one particular jammer, Scarlet Witch.

Below the cut are character summaries and a fairly rough plot. Hope you enjoy!

Brief note on terminology for roller derby:

Bout = a match between two teams

Jammer = this is the person who wears a helmet cover with a star on it. This is the person that scores points. They first have to make it out of the pack (see below) and then on each lap around the track after that during the 2 minute period they get a point for each player of the opposing side they pass.

Blocker = the other members of the team on the track. Their job is to block the other team’s jammer while also helping their own jammer through the pack to help her score points.

Pivot = a blocker that wears a helmet cover with a solid line down the middle. This gives them the ability to have the jammer helmet cover transferred to them and they then become the jammer.

Pack = the largest conglomeration of blockers from both teams currently on the track.

List of Characters

Note: each person may have multiple pieces of information: Their name, their derby name, a description of their non-derby life, and, when applicable, what the announcers would say for their character at the derby bout. Also...some characters have more info than others based on how important they were going to be to the story and how far I got in actually planning them out.

The Thunder Dolls

Thor Odinson aka Thor: A professor of literature with a specialization in mythology and a hobby in astrophysics by day, and at night, he is the bench coach for the Thunder Dolls. He wears leather pants, a fur-lined vest with no shirt underneath, and a horned viking hat for bouts.

Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow: Former special ops (her partner was Clint) and currently runs a bootcamp style gym, though everyone suspects she is still a spy but are too afraid to ask her. She is one of the co-captains, the main strategist, and a blocker.

“Be careful ladies and gentleman, she’s quick, she’s silent, and she’ll eat you once she’s done, the co-captain of the Thunder Dolls, Black Widow!”

Okoye aka Wakondyass: Was a visiting Fulbright scholar in chemical engineering and was offered a position upon finishing her Fulbright. She is a blocker and co-captain of the Thunder Dolls.

“You better never try to get between our co-captain and her team or else she’ll Wakondyass!”

Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch: She is a social worker who works primarily with refugee and immigrant families. On the team she is a jammer who many suspect can read minds and manipulate the people around her because of how seamlessly she weaves between all the skaters on the track.

“I hope you brought your salt, because you’re going to want to throw it over your shoulders if you cross her path, next up we have the Scarlet Witch!”

Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel: Active in the Air Force and plays derby whenever she’s back home. She is a pivot.

“Our next skater is a marvel to behold and has nothing at all to prove to you, put your hands together for Captain Marvel!”

Pepper Potts aka Rescue: CEO of Stark Industries and fiancee of Tony Stark. In her spare time she runs a rescue shelter for dogs. She is a pivot.

Other members of the team (forgive the rough names, never finished these):

Hope van Dyne aka Winsome Wasp: A jammer.

Brie Hilde aka Valkyrie: A blocker

Maria Hill aka The Shield: A blocker

Gamora aka Xenomorph : A blocker.

aka Nebula: A blocker.

aka Preying Mantis (called Mantis for short): A jammer.

Peggy Carter aka MI #6: A blocker

Jessica Jones aka This Is My Alias: A blocker

Trish Walker aka Hellcat: A jammer.

Non-Skating Characters

Victor Shade aka The Vision: a computer engineer specializing in cybersecurity. He finally attends a bout when Tony chips away at all of his excuses and he gets a free ticket in order to be a line-up tracker. Eventually he moves up to become a penalty box official. Scott Lang aka Ant-Man: an electrical engineer by day and a derby announcer on the weekends. His entomology hobby got him his name. Clint Barton aka Hawkeye: former special ops who now has a quiet life on a farm with his family. He is the other announcer for the derby bouts. Bucky Barnes aka Winter Soldier: Friend and former member of Steve’s original military unit. He now tries to live a normal life and has been trying to get Black Widow to notice him. He is a penalty box official. Pietro Maximoff aka Quicksilver: A professional speed skater who is often out of town for training and competitions. Wanda used to do pairs competitions with him but decided that speed skating was too linear and boring for her.

Zebra Team (aka Skating Refs)

Tony Stark aka Iron Man: founder of Stark Industries and a jam ref for the Thunder Dolls.

Clint: “We all love to hate him, it’s the genius, billionaire, playboy...”

Scott: “Former playboy, Hawkeye.”

Clint: “...former playboy, philanthropist, jam ref, Iron Man.”

Steve Rogers aka Captain America: current military member who is a jam ref when he is not on active duty.

Clint:“ (Caw-Caw sound effect) Is that a bald eagle? You bet your stars and stripes it is, so please stand and pledge your allegiance to our head ref tonight, Captain America!”

Sam Wilson aka Falcon: former military, currently working towards his Ph.D. in clinical psychology while externing at the VA (Veteran’s Administration). Is an outside ref.

James Rhodes (Rhodey) aka War Machine: current military, best friend of Tony Stark. An outside ref.

“Our outside refs tonight are the dynamic, swooping duo of War Machine and Falcon!”

The Rough Plot

Event 1: Vision is invited to a bout by Tony because he “needs to get a life and meet people”. Tries to dodge it as best he can, eventually settling on the fact he doesn’t have the money with his recent move. Tony, who first points out how much he pays Victor, finally settles on the strategy of informing him they just happen to need a line-up tracker so he can get in for free if he’s willing to write down some numbers. Vision gives in because he can tell Tony will never drop it until he agrees. At the bout Vision finds himself engrossed in figuring out the strategy of the game and might also be a bit entranced by watching Scarlet Witch move on the track. He even messes up his lineups a few times because he can’t stop watching in awe. Tony invites him to the after party but Vision turns him down.

Event 2: After Vision attends a couple more bouts and seems to enjoy it, Tony suggests he should go through the ref boot camp coming up because they can always use more skating officials. Vision admits he, quite unfortunately, doesn’t know how to skate and believes that will be the end of it. Except Tony swings by his cubicle later that day to invite him to the adult skate night at the local roller rink and informs Vision that no is not an acceptable answer. So Vision goes to the skate night and discovers that most of the derby team is there, as it is a weekly hang out for them. Vision tries to leave but Tony spots him and pays for his skate rentals (you know, since Vision claims to be so poor), even lets Vision borrow his wrist guards and knee pads since he’s a skating virgin.

Vision is...not good at skating, at all, his limbs all want to go in opposite directions and he thinks he might be too tall, plus gravity is a cold hearted asshole. Additionally, Tony ditched him as soon as he saw Pepper. This leaves Vision clinging to the wall for support while he works his way to the exit until a woman appears in front of him skating backwards. It is Scarlet Witch and she offers to help him figure out how to skate. A bit flummoxed, Vision takes a few seconds too long to respond and not be socially awkward, but she doesn’t seem to notice or at least doesn’t care. Scarlet Witch (her derby friends call her Scarlet so he does as well) sticks with him almost the whole night, gently providing pointers and (after asking permission) touching his hips and knees to help him get into the best stance. The only time she isn’t with him is for the backward skate, which he sits out and watches as she glides effortlessly around the track. At the end of the night, Scarlet Witch comes over to him and hands him a flier. For the first time she’s a bit nervous as she says, “I don’t know if this applies to you, but if it does then...you should check it out. I’ll be there with some of the team.” After she leaves he sees it is a flier for a Valentine’s Day Singles Skate night.

Event(ish) 3: Vision goes to the singles night and spends it with Scarlet Witch and three of the other skaters. He has a good time and gets dinner with all of them afterwards. From then on he goes to the weekly skate night, each time getting a tiny bit better, which is nice (mainly for his ass because he falls less) but it also means Scarlet Witch isn’t as close to him the whole time, though she checks up on him often and will slow down to skate with him throughout the night. Usually he goes out for food afterwards, one time it ends up just being him and Scarlet Witch.

Event 4: Vision bumps into Scarlet Witch at a little diner near work and she asks if he wants to sit with her. When he calls her Scarlet, she for the first time smiles a bit embarrassed and informs him her name is Wanda when she doesn’t have skates on. They have a nice lunch and make plans to meet again in a couple weeks when she’s back in the neighborhood for work.

Event 5: Throughout the months since his first bout, Vision has moved up to being a penalty box official alongside the Winter Soldier. In general, Wanda doesn’t talk to him during bouts, because she’s so focused, but she does share some banter with him when she tries to stand too soon during her penalty time and he has to politely tell her to sit down. It’s not long after she leaves the box that one of the blockers on the opposing team just blindsides her and sends Wanda flying into a wall. When Wanda doesn’t immediately get up, Tony calls for a time out due to a downed skater, and Vision, without thinking, rushes across the track to check on Wanda. She’s fine, a bit discombobulated, but skates it off with a big smile and double handed wave to the cheering crowd. The thing is, no one is supposed to rush the track and Vision is (in a mainly friendly manner) made fun of the rest of the night by skaters being sent to the penalty box (quite a few Lover Boys and insinuations of him being under the witch’s spell...which isn’t exactly wrong). After the bout, Vision waits awkwardly near the concession stands in sight of the locker room exit so he can catch Wanda on her way out and apologize for his breaking protocol. When she sees him, she confidently walks over, ignores his stuttering apology, and kisses him.

#scarlet vision #wanda maximoff #vision #the vision #roller derby au #i have no energy to write a multi-chapter thing #but i do miss playing roller derby and think about this story every so often #mine

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thehollowprince · 5 years

Text

Endgame - Tony Stark

WARNING: MAJOR ENDGAME SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT!!!

I figured I’d start with Tony, because as anyone who follows me, or has seen my blog knows, I do not like this character. This movie is no exception to that, in that I wasn’t a big fan of what they did with his character in here, but there were moments I actually did like. So I’m going to make a list of what I liked and what I didn’t about his character and then some thoughts on his overall arc throughout this movie and the MCU in general.

I will try to keep the dislike section away from being blatantly “Anti Tony” but I make no promises.

Also, these lists will have bits from other characters that were a part of the main six’s journeys, so just keep that in mind.

Fair warning, the likes section is probably going to be a lot shorter than the dislike list, which won’t be too long either. The Russos kept their word in that the Avengers from Infinity War that took a back seat were given more in this film, but Tony was still in it a bit too much for my liking, especially with how everything played out.

With that out of the way, let’s do this.

LIKES

Morgan Stark

Pepper’s Iron Woman suit

Tony and Howard

“I am Iron Man”

Rhodey and Pepper being by his side

Proof that Tony Stark has a heart

Let’s start with what I liked about his story arc in Endgame. I loved Morgan. His daughter was adorable and he had a great little relationship with her, from what little we saw of it, away from everyone (left) and living in a cabin in the woods. The whole scene where he says “Shit!” not knowing his daughter is sitting right there was hilarious and precious all at the same time. Add to that the fact that she blackmailed him into getting her a treat for her silence and my heart was won.

How he acted with Morgan was a great shift in his character from all of the previous movies and I’m assuming it had something to do with having a biological child, as opposed to this whole concept a good percentage of the fandom likes to pretend is a thing (”Irondad”), but more on that later.

Pepper’s suit that she wore at the end was amazing. I loved it so much better than any of the other IM suits used throughout any of the movies, and I loved during the epic battle at the end how well the two fought together. Plus Pepper being included in the big Girl Power team-up at the end of the fight is the stuff of legends.

As anyone who followed me over this last year knows, I’m not a fan of Tony’s (and his fandom’s) constant need to blame everything wrong he ever does on a combination of things, one of which is his relationship with his father. This is probably the most screen time Howard got in any of the movies and I did love that Tony used it to connect with his father over something they now have in common - having kids. It was nice to finally see Tony put aside all his issues and recognize that his father was a human being. Also, Jarvis being there was amazing!

More on this in the Dislikes section, but Tony’s response to Thanos’ “I am inevitable!” line being “I am… Iron Man.” It was a nice callback to the first movie and the comics and I’m glad they ended his character on that note.

As he lay dying, which I didn’t take nearly as much pleasure in as I thought I would, I did like Rhodey and Pepper being there by his side, and Pepper’s little speech to him, telling him he could rest now, which was a nice callback to earlier in the film where she asked him if he could rest if he didn’t help. As much as I don’t like them together, it was a touching moment to see him die with his wife and partner at his side.

The wreath with the original arc reactor put on the lake was just a nice touch, in my opinion.

DISLIKES

Nebula

His return to Earth

The Five Years Later

Still building suits

His superiority complex and attitude in general

His treatment of Scott Lang

“Do you trust me”

The constant quips and sarcasm

Peter Parker

One

His funeral

Okay, this one might upset people, but I did warn you.

For starters, I did not at all like the way they (The Russos) had Nebula act around Tony while they were on the Guardians’ ship. Granted, they did a lot of character assassinations in this movie, but this was one of the ones that stood out the most to me, especially given how she treated everyone else throughout the rest of the movie, with her usual disdain except for her sister and Rocket. Having her be so kind and nurturing to him just felt like something out of a fanfiction by someone who worships Tony but never saw any of the Guardians of the Galaxy films. Though, I will admit, having him in his dying moments open his eyes to see Carol blazing in to save him and then her setting the ship down like it was nothing was pretty spectacular.

The moment he’s back on Earth, he just starts in with his bullshit again. I’m sorry, but blaming Steve for the epic loss that they all faced was such a childish move, but that’s become something of a staple for him. Blaming all of his problems and failures on someone else, even when they’re not just his failures. It’s always someone else’s fault, because self-reflection isn’t a strong suit of his character, nor is his capacity to let it go. Him standing there and yelling at Steve, as if everything was entirely his fault because Ultron blew up in his face and his “suit of armor around the world” didn’t pan out the way he wanted was such a dick move. We’ve seen how Thanos and his forces dealt with Wakandan technology, which we all know is better than Stark Tech. So for him to think that the Ultron Project would have even been able to stop Thanos, especially once he was armed with the Infinity Stones is pure hubris and I’m sick and tired of it.

The five years later scene, particularly when Steve, Scott and Natasha come to him for help after they thought up a way to fix it all, just made my blood boil. I know no one wants to admit this, but Tony didn’t lose anyone in the snap. And no, I’m not counting Peter as someone close to him, because up until the scene where Peter went poof, he’d been nothing but disdainful or outright neglectful of him. The three that showed up to ask for his help lost everything, and while it is understandable that he didn’t want to lose what he now had, his outright dismissal of them was infuriating. Especially when you factor in that he had to have his ass handed to him, and watch everyone else lose their loved ones before he finally put aside his ego and settled down with Pepper.

Even with the world decimated, he still can’t stop with the suit building? Seriously? Sure, it came in handy later when Pepper donned it for the big fight, but he was working on that before Steve and Nat even showed up. He wasn’t preparing for the fight, he was just doing what he always does and feeding his addiction to those suits.

Another thing that bugged me about them coming to him for help was his whole attitude about it. Not only how dismissive he was to Scott, but since when is Tony an expert on quantum physics? There was no build up to that, no mention of it before, and it just smacked of something they threw in there to try and find a reason for Tony to rejoin the Avengers for this final film. Between Scott and Bruce, and with Rocket’s brilliance and Thor’s knowledge of Asguardian science, they should have figured it out. But no! We had to have the Tony be the one to save the day.

You’ll get a theme here about my dislikes all being related to the blatant fan service of those who worship Tony Stark.

In regards to the way he talked to Scott throughout the entire film - I didn’t like it. I didn’t like his dismissive attitude or his constant barrage of insults. Scott Lang is probably one of, if not the, nicest character in the MCU and he doesn’t deserve to be treated like that by some bored billionaire with a grudge.

The “Do you trust me?” line was aggravating as hell. Anyone who watched these movies knows that Tony doesn’t trust his teammates, or even treat them with basic respect half the time, and given how he acted to Steve upon his return to Earth, and how they left things at the end of Civil War, I think the addition of that line was a slap in the face to any of the people who loved Steve’s character over the years.

The constant sarcasm got old about seven or eight movies ago. At some point these writers and producers have to realize that being a sarcastic asshole isn’t really a personality, despite how much they try and pretend it is. It’s 2023 in this movie, which puts Tony over fifty. It’s way passed time to just let it go. He doesn’t always have to get the last word in.

I am not a fan of all of this whole "Irondad" farse that so many people have fallen for. The few times they've interacted at all, Tony has been either outright dismissive, if he even pays attention to him at all, so for Peter to come back and that hug to take place, not to mention Peter crying while Tony was dying bugged me. We've seen absolutely nothing in the MCU that would support this behavior aside from blatant fan service.

Tony looking over and seeing Strange holding up his finger (not the finger I would have chosen) to indicate this is the one time in 14 million that they stopped Thanos annoyed me. Not the fact that Tony got the stones for that final snap, but the fact Tony was even able to touch them. Before anyone comes for me, I’d feel the same way if it had been Steve or Clint or T’Challa or Sam or Bucky or whoever. One of the things we’ve been shown throughout the MCU was how damn powerful those stones were. Hell, the Power Stone killed almost everyone that ever touched it, with my understanding being that humans would have been disintegrated on contact. But someone, Tony Stark, the middle-aged man was able to hold all six Infinity Stones and perform a snap? I mean, sure, he died in the end, but he shouldn’t have been able to do it at all, especially when we saw how using the Stones nearly killed Thanos, who has been proven to be vastly stronger than so many of them, Tony included.

I also really didn’t like the funeral. Yes, it was nice to see his friends and family there, but the further back they went, the more I kept questioning “Why?” Why were all those people there? The Bartons and the rest of Team Cap and that random kid behind them? Carol? Some of those people barely had any interaction with Tony, if at all, and suddenly they’re all there to mourn him? I don’t know if the whole thing was supposed to be an homage to the fact that an era has ended in the MCU, but the whole scene left something of a sour taste in my mouth.

FINAL OPINION

Anyone who has followed me over the years knows that I don’t really like this character. It started out with mild dislike, but then just snowballed into outright hatred, so this film, which managed to pull him back even if only a little, helped me remember some of what I originally liked (read: didn’t hate) about the character.

The whole Tony exiting the MCU thing by having him sacrifice his life just reeked of fanservice and RDJ’s heavy-handed negotiation skills. It’s been a constant in every movie he’s been in, except Homecoming, that he has to have the big emotional climax. This film marks the fourth time that Tony has decided to leave superheroing behind, and at this point, it’s just become a gimmick. Even though this time he is confirmed as dead, I don’t really feel all that bad for the character because of MARVEL’s insistence in putting him in movies where he wasn’t needed and I’m sure they’ll find a way to bring him back somehow for future installments.

This character could have been so great over the course of the MCU, but the writers just stuck with the same tired old tropes and put them on repeat, even up to the big heroic sacrifice in the end, which fell flat to me because he already had more than one of those. Those being his flying of the nuke into the wormhole back in The Avengers, and then his destruction of all his suits in Iron Man 3.

They tried this so many times already that it lost it’s uniqueness for any of those who are invested in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

#just my thoughts #tony stark #avengers: endgame #endgame spoilers

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buckysforeverprincess · 5 years

Text

What Do You Want From Me? Ch 13

Lance x Reader, OMC Jase, OFC Claire

Words: 3510

Warnings: Language

A/N: There’s a lot going on in this chapter. Enjoy!

October…

“Claire, I can do this on my own!” She's standing behind you straightening out your dress. Since your belly is getting bigger it's getting slightly harder to do simple things. Claire had offered to help your get situated for the evening ahead of you and you reluctantly let her help, not sure as to why you wanted to endure this kind of torture.

She turns you around and looks you over making sure everything's in place. “I just want to make sure you're perfect this evening!” Claire squeaks and is like a kid in a candy store.

“Claire, stop. I know what's happening. No one can keep a secret and it's been expected since we started dating…especially with the arrival of the babies.”

“You mean Lance's babies.” Her response is snarky, and you really want to slap the privilege out of her.

“We’ve been over this before, I will not discuss him with you.” You gave her a look of anger and dominance.

Claire rolls her eyes and shakes her head but decides to concede to your words. “Fine. Let's enjoy the show!”

You walk out of the bedroom and down the stairs to the dining hall. There's several guests you don't even know and quite honestly didn't care too. This really was not your idea of fun, but you'd have to get used to it. If not now, when?

“Darling!” Jase exclaimed, leaving his aunts side to walk over to you.

“Jase.” You smiled at him and placed a kiss on his cheek.

“This is too much isn't it?” He asked you, knowing how you felt about too many people in a small space.

“It's fine, Jase. I know this is more for your aunt than anything else.”

Jase could sense your unease with the whole evening. “If you want, we could leave. I mean...you already know what I'm about to do, so we could go and do it in a more private setting?”

You appreciated the gesture. Knowing he was open to going somewhere more intimate meant the world to you, but there was no escape at this point. “No, honey. Let's just do this for her, and then we'll go home and have our own celebration.” You smirk at him and he kisses you softly.

“Let's do this, shall we?” He grabs your hand and walks you to the center of the room.

The governor starts by welcoming the guests and thanking them for coming out. He speaks about Jase and raising him from a little boy to the man he is now. You tuned out at some point and started looking around the room. Claire is grinning at you and giving you two thumbs up in approval. Her constant presence is starting to annoy you more as of late. You desperately need a break for sanity's sake before you deliver these twins in prison.

You're brought from your thoughts by Jase’s touch. He moves himself and is now facing in front of you with a big bright smile.

“Y/N. I know we haven't been together long, and I know we come from very different worlds. I never imagined I'd be here at this moment, about to pledge my love and devotion to another woman until I met you. You've made me happier in these last six months, than anyone else I've ever met. I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy and making a wonderful home for our children. I know we've done things backwards, but I wouldn't have it any other way.”

Jase gets down on one knee and pulls out a ring. You can't help smiling at him and beaming with happiness. Even though you knew this was happening it still felt like a moment from a fairy tale.

Jase looks into your eye as he opens the box with the ring inside. “Y/N, will you marry me?”

“How about a pumpkin?” Lance asked you.

“Just because I look like a pumpkin, doesn't mean I want to pass out candy as one!”

He laughed at you and moved on to another costume. The two of you were shopping for Halloween decorations and possible costume ideas. The plan was to pass out candy at his home, since you lived in a penthouse with Jase and there we hardly any kids in the building.

“What are you thinking about going as?” Lance was looking at all the Marvel character costumes.

He holds out a red, white, and blue shield in your direction. “What about Captain America?”

You laugh and the ridiculous pose he’s making while holding the shield. “I'm actually thinking you're more of a Bucky Barnes than a Cap. You're too much of an asshole to be the symbol of righteousness!”

The two of you laughed hysterically and he concedes defeat. “Ok, ok…maybe Iron Man? I mean, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. I could pull that off!”

You nod your head in agreement. “Yes! Your douchebag skills and fuckery make you a good candidate for Tony Stark. I'm game, but you really don't need a costume to be a dick!”

Lance smiles and grabs the ridiculous outfit and walks over to you. “What about you? Find anything?”

You shrug your shoulders, “I'm fat! I won't look right!”

He chuckles at you and places his hand on your belly, “sweetheart, there are two perfectly beautiful babies making a temporary home in your belly. Soon they'll be out, and your belly will be gone and you'll become a hot mom I'd like to fuck!” He starts laughing, and you punch him his arm.

“You guys are so cute!” There’s an older lady in the aisle with you.

Lance grabs your hand and smiles at the woman, “isn't she adorable?”

The lady nods her head, “you two make a cute couple.”

Lance is enjoying every second of this, “we hope we make cute babies too!” He puts his hand on your belly, and the woman coos.

“Well you sure are a good looking young lad, I'm sure it'll look just like you if it's a boy!”

Lance just can't help but continue, he gets closer and leans into the woman. “Shhh! Don't tell anyone...but we got a really great deal. Two for the price of one!”

The lady shows a look of surprise, and you can't help but laugh at them both.

“As cute as you both are, you'll make great parents. My dear, you should be a pumpkin for Halloween!”

“So I've been told.” You smirk at Lance, who just shrugs his shoulders back at you.

“Well, good luck with your babies. Two will keep you very busy. You got a nice, good looking man to take care of ya, don't let him go!” She smiles at you before walking off through the store.

Your face morphs into alight disappointment. Too bad I'm engaged to someone else.

“You just had to make it weird?”

Lance laughs at your pouty face, “I was just having fun. She was cute.” He grabs your hand and walks you up to pay for your items.

Maybe she'll adopt you, or at least she can be your sugar momma.”

Lance laughs at your comment. “Awww, jealous of my skills on the elderly? Afraid I might replace you?”

You shake your head and laugh. “Of course not! At least not yet. I'm still fairly young, and with you being older, I'll never reach cougar status. I don't think you'll replace me for at least ten more years.”

Lance bites his lips and smiles at you. “I'll never replace you.” He leans in and presses a soft kiss to your lips.

“Lance!” You push him off you and give him a dirty look.

“I'm sorry! I know I'm not supposed to, alright? It's just…why are you even marrying him?”

You've thought a lot about that very same question. “Not here, Tucker…we'll talk at home.”

He raises an eyebrow at the word ‘home’ but says nothing.

The two of you grabbed take out and ended up back at Lance's house sitting on the couch watching Netflix. You can see the building frustration carry over from the conversation earlier and you know he wants to address it.

You grab for the remote and pause the tv. “Talk!” You demand as you turn and face him.

“Why? Why are you marrying him?” He looks at you in disbelief.

“Lance, we talked about this…”

“No, you talked about it, while I stayed quiet and listened. I’m sorry to have to say this, but I don’t think he’s right for you, and I’m pretty sure he’s not in love with you!” Lance removes himself from the couch and is pacing around in front of you.

“He asked me to marry him, I think he loves me!” You're defending your absent fiancé to a man that you know is in love with you.

“No, he doesn't! You're here more than at home with him, you're practically living here now! He's always ‘working’, and when's the last time he went to an appointment with you? Huh? I seem to remember going to the last ultrasound with you. I got to see those babies and the man who's supposed to be their father, who you're marrying, is continually out of the picture! So, I ask you again, why are you marrying him?” He begins to stare hard at you.

“Because of you!” You scream at Lance in a fit of emotions. “Lance Tucker doesn't do family life! You never wanted it, so why would you now? You only want me because another man has me. So, I break things off with Jase and then what? I come playhouse with you until you get bored and decide we cramp your style? Discard us like yesterday's trash? I can't do that Lance! I have to think about the babies!”

Lance has stopped pacing and looks shocked at your words. “Is that really what you think of me? All this time we've spent together, and that's what you think? I've gone shopping with you, taken you to dinner, gone to the ultrasound with you, hell, where did you sleep last night?! Curled up with me in my bed! I'm pretty sure my hand has been on your belly more than your fiancé, and yet you think I'm playing a game?! Unbelievable!” He runs his hands through his hair in frustration.

“Tell me Lance...what if these were your babies? What then? Huh? I walk up to you and say ‘Lance, we're pregnant.’ How do you respond?” You ask him and wait for his response.

He just stands there silent. He opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out.

Again, speechless.

“That's why Lance.” You're much calmer now. “When Maggie told you she was pregnant, you panicked. Swore you weren't the father and had a long drawn out court battle. After everything that happened we stood there in the same kitchen we had sex in, and you told me you would never want a family. That's why I can't. Because deep down, you don't want that, and I won't make you change for me.” You stand up from the couch, “I love you too much to change you.”

You grab your purse, phone, and keys and walk back over to Lance and place a kiss to his cheek. “I'll call you tomorrow.”

You move from in front of him and make your way to the door. “Lance…” you said to him as you opened the door. He's looking at you like a lost puppy. “Today, I love you more than Jase...I just wanted you to know.” He nods his head and gives you a forced smile, and watches you walk out.

“I'm so shocked you text me!” Claire says sitting across from you at the little corner deli. “I was sure you hated me and wouldn’t speak to me again” The woman frowns at you.

“I'm pretty certain I do indeed hate you, but I needed someone to talk to and going through my phone, you were the only one to respond.” Your tone dry, and she just shrugs at you.

“So, what up? What’s weighing so heave on your mind that you have to use me as a last resort?”

“I'm going to end things with Jase.” You tell her and the look on her face looks like a raging bull instead of shock and awe.

“Why would you do that, you're about to get married!” She looks like she wants to freak out on you.

“Because Claire, I have to come clean with Lance. He has a right to know he's going to be a father and I just can’t keep this up anymore.” You put your head in your hands and sink into the table.

“And what do you think will happen?” Claire has raised her voice. “He’ll hate you for not telling him. You know how much he wanted to prove he wasn't the father of Maggie's baby, he'll do the opposite to you! He'll have you in court trying to take them away from you because he'll think you won't let him see them. You won't have Lance or those babies, is that what you want?”

Maybe she had a point. Lance will be furious when he finds out you lied. Would he go to that extreme, though?

“You're suggesting I just keep up with the lie and ruin not just Lance’s life, but Jase and the babies as well?”

“Yes!” She responds harshly.

“Jesus, why do I even bother? I'm leaving…I need to go find Lance!” You grab your things and leave her yet again for the umpteenth time.

Behind you something was happening, but you had no idea what. Claire watches you leave and pulls out her phone, dialing a stored number.

“Claire, what the hell?” The male says on the other end.

“Where are you? You better not be with that whore I told you to dump weeks ago!” She's practically yelling through the phone.

“What do you want?” The man asks sternly.

“Move the wedding up!” She demands of him.

“Why, beginning of December isn't good enough for you?” He responds sarcastically.

“Not when she's going to find Lance and tell him the truth! I told you not to let her spend time with him, but of course you'd fuck up a wet dream! Now fix this Jase or I'll make sure you never see partner at that firm and everyone will know about your extracurricular dominant activities. That won't look good for your uncle’s re-election campaign!”

Jase huffs, irritated through the phone. “What do you want me to do?”

“Call her now before she goes to him. Tell her to meet you and move up the wedding! I'll have my own talk with Lance Tucker…he's overdue for a reality check!”

Jase is less than happy at the demands being dictated to him by the tyrant, but he knew what he signed up for when he agreed to this in the first place. “Fine, I'll call her. You do know, this is going to end very badly. You're playing with too many lives, just to get back at one!”

Claire laughs at him through the phone. “All I care about is getting what I want from Tucker! It's not my fault her dumb ass got pregnant! Now call her!” She hangs the phone up on him.

Jase stares at the phone for a few minutes before dialing Y/N to ask her to meet.

“Hey!” You happily greet your fiancé.

“Hello gorgeous! What are you doing right now because I'd love to see you.”

“Well I was headed over to see Lance, but I could come to you instead?”

Maybe he'd decline, and you could still go talk to Tucker.

“Great, I'm at the office! Just come in when you get here. I'd like to talk about the wedding!” Jase sounded unusually upbeat. This was a whole level of weird for him.

“Ok, I'll be there soon.”

Hanging up the phone, you made a few turns, and went back into the direction of Jase's office.

Guess the conversation with Lance would just have to wait for another day.

Lance arrives at the posh restaurant and gives the host his name. She grabs a menu and takes him towards the back to a table where the other guest is already seated.

“Claire Baxter…what do you want?” He's practically dismissing her, and she just smirks at him.

“Have a seat Tucker, we have much to discuss.” He shakes his head at her but sits down anyway.

Lance doesn't like her. Never has. She was a one nighter that wanted more, and he was never inclined to give that to her. She may have been beautiful on the outside, but inside she was Gollum, or maybe an Orc. She had looks, but the sex was horrible, and he knows she's used to getting what she wants. He hates high class pussy.

“I'll ask you again, what do you want? What was so important that I had to come meet you here? And how the fuck did you get my number? Stalker much?” Lance is giving her his best ass hole face, showing no emotion. He knows how she works and he'll be damned if he gives in.

“Y/N Y/L/N.” Those are the only two words she says to him.

“What about her?” Lance senses this is a cat and mouse game, and he has no interest in playing it.

“What does she mean to you?” Claire smiles at him, but it's not a nice smile. It's a ‘I know more than you’ smile and he’s already sick of her bull shit.

“She's a friend and former employee. But you already knew that, so why the interrogation?” He takes a sip of the water in front of him trying not to show how uncomfortable he is with Claire bringing her up.

“She's more than a friend, isn't she?” She raises her eyebrows and takes a sip of her wine.

“I guess I don't understand what you want to know or even why I'm here. So, I'm not answering anything until you tell me the reason for the Spanish Inquisition.” Lance sits back and crosses his arms to his chest.

“Fine…but I liked my way better.” Claire places her arms on the table and leans in towards him. “I'm going to tell you a story…stop me if you've heard it. There once was a girl, sweet and innocent. She moved here from Boston after graduation and made a life for herself. Things were going well, but she had a disagreement with an employer and was out of a job. She needed something so badly that she took the offer from an agent and became the PA of a world class asshole. Sound familiar?” She asks with a smirk.

“I'm intrigued…keep going.” Lance responds.

“She worked very hard for him, but he was still a world class fuckboy! She did everything he wanted, including kick out his one-night stands, all the while, falling deeply in love with the man. One day after three years of employment, she makes a horrible mistake. For some reason, they had sex…shocker! He fucks up, of course! And she ends up dating another man. You sure you haven't heard this one?” She's taunting him now.

“Get to the point!” He's becoming increasingly irritated.

“Where was I? Oh yes, she starts dating another guy. Then, she finds out she's pregnant! Scandal! But guess what? It's not the boyfriends! Eek!”

Lance’s breathing has increased and his face is getting red. “Finish…the fucking...story, now Claire!” He says through gritted teeth.

“She promised the boyfriend she wouldn't tell the father, but the pathetic things is…he's been around almost the entire time! Gasp! You sure you don't this one?”

“Fuck you Claire!” Lance slams his fist onto the table. “She wouldn't do that to me!” He says angrily.

“Oh, but she has. See...I hate you...maybe, and I may have made sure you never have anything to do with her or those babies. Who do you think introduced her to Jase? I'm the conductor of this train, and it's about to leave the station. They're getting married sooner than expected. You can kiss her goodbye! This is what happens when you reject me! I told you you'd regret it, and Y/N played perfectly in my hand!”

Claire starts to laugh at him, and he has clearly had enough. He grabs his glass of water and throws it in her face.

“Listen here bitch! If all of this is because I rejected you years ago then you don't deserve the life you're living! I may be an asshole, but your fucking with kids…my kids to be exact, and I'll be damned if you deny me the right to be in their lives. Good job, cunt! You just made me your worst enemy! Trust me bitch, you don’t want to fuck with me!” Lance gets up and leaves the restaurant.

Claire wipes the water from her face with her napkin. “But I already have!”

#lance tucker #lance the fucker tucker #lance tucker x reader #lance tucker fanfiction #the bronze au #the bronze #pa!reader

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ty-talks-comics · 5 years

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Best of Marvel: Week of August 21st, 2019

Best of this Week: Tony Stark: Iron Man #15 (Legacy #615) - Dan Slott, Jim Zub, Juanan Ramirez, Francesco Manna, Edgar Delgado and Joe Caramagna

Tony Stark may not be the man he says he is anymore.

Since the landmark 600th issue of Iron Man, Tony Stark hasn’t been entirely sure that he is actually himself and not just a strange collection of nanobots and machines strung together in the form of the billionaire tech wizard. After the horrible incident surrounding eScape, Tony Stark’s virtual reality world, leads to the deaths of a few people and millions or more in property damage, Tony has to take the stand and address what exactly happened.

He’s grilled pretty thoroughly on what an AI is and how much was his responsibility vs. how much can be blamed on Controller, the supervillain who hacked into the supposedly secure network and caused all of this damage. Overseeing the hearing is a surprising character from another mechanical superheroes past. Senator Miles Brickman, a character that originally appeared as something of an anti-machine/anti-AI character in the pages of Machine Man’s original series, it livid and irate at Tony Stark. Showing a bit of prejudice in his questioning, he asks has Tony Stark ever made any changes to his body using technology, then follows by asking “Can you prove that you’re not some form of artificial intelligence?”

Tony initially tries to dance around the question, but upon being reminded that he’s under oath, reveals that it is actually quite possible as his body was put back together cell by cell while he was in his coma. This shocks everyone, from Rhodey to Bethany Cabe, his head of security at Stark Unlimited, and even his brother Arno Stark who is watching the hearing from his office at Baintronics, the rival technology company.

AI Tony calls for a recess after a few snarky lines as we cut to Vision and Wonder Man arriving at Avengers mansion, thinking they’ve been called to assist in Tony’s hearing. Immediately some red flags might want to be set off with the characters involved, especially when Jarvis lets them in and soon after betrays them with a large piece of metal embedded in the back of his head with a familiar design.

Things start to heat up as Brickman produces the Tony Stark AI that was used by Riri Williams while Tony was in a coma and asks does this fully functioning, autonomous copy have legal rights and responsibilities. What makes me so uncomfortable about this scene is that it plays on the fear of the unknown.

Brickman has tried to have Machine Man destroyed in the past and even knowing that Tony Stark has saved the world in the past, he’s not willing to consider that he still has right once it’s admitted that he may not be fully human anymore. In a way it mirrors some of our own discussions as it pertains to AI and whether or not we’ll allow them autonomy once they become advanced enough for it. There’s a whole discussion for sex robots that no one is qute ready for just yet.

The Wasp, Janet van Dyne, flies through a robot protest on her way to meet Tony for lunch and catches him talking to Tony AI. Tony AI agrees to be loaded into the Iron Man suit and they all fly off when suddenly they’re met with a gross amalgamation of Vision and Wonder Man fused together. Ramirez’s art makes him look so horrifying with only half of Wonder Man’s luxurious hair and cracking skin that’s as red as Vision’s. He rushes at Tony in a rage and promises to rip the human and AI halves of him apart, displaying an anger that neither character has ever presented.

In the middle of their fight, Jarvis appears and zaps Janet, who was knocked out of the fight during the initial rush. He places her in his pocket and leaves thereafter. Tony and WonderVision continue their fight, destroying the robot protestors in the process. Tony realizes that they only way to stop them is to use a localized EMP which will also kill Tony AI. The technological Tony isn’t fazed and just tells Tony to kiss Jan a bunch and feel vaguely bad about it later.

Unfortunately, this leaves Tony in the middle of the carnage. He’s surrounded by broken robots, likely to take the blame for all of it and realizes that Jocasta was right, he only sees everything as data. He breathes a small sigh that he’s still alive and that WonderVision didn’t take Janet… until he can’t find her. We then cut to the surprising return of The Avengers greatest enemy as his new gambit to destroy Tony Stark and spark a new machine age is in full effect.

What I liked most about this issue is that Tony’s mistakes really catch up to him in a bad way. He’s always managed to skate by the skin of his teeth when his machines have gone haywire. While Brickman was being an asshole for the trial, he made a good point in that we don’t quite know if we can trust this Tony. Given what we as the audience know thus far, he’s falling hard. Almost going back to the drink, questioning his own existence, not even having the trust of the brother that’s been by his side since his appearance in the mid 2000s (in this universe).

And that ending, finally seeing the seeds of what’s been sewn for months now starting to take form, is always fun. I had wondered what happened to this character since Infinity Wars (2018) and I can’t wait to see where exactly this story is going to go and what the repercussions of that event will be. I also can’t wait to see how exactly he’ll scar Tony and his extended family now that he’s returned. High recommend!

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

Things were looking up for Otto Octavius. He had found a nice woman and was slowly falling in love, he had mended fences with Anna-Maria in a way. After the events of War of the Realms, he was a respected and loved hero in San Francisco and then it all came crashing down.

Runner Up: The Superior Spider-Man #10 (Legacy #43) - Christos Gage, Mike Hawthorne, Wade von Grawbadger, Jordie Bellaire and Clayton Cowles

After taking the lovely Emma on a swing through the city, The Spider-Man of San Francisco goes on to visit the child he saved all the way back in issue #4 and help his new adoptive parents get custody of him. These small moments of warmness are a far cry from the maniacal nature that we were once accustomed to from Octavius. Bellaire colors most these scenes in a nice, warm orange. Giving us this feeling of joy and some happiness for Otto… at least until he’s discussing having a child with Emma and she alerts him to the news report that asks if the SF Spider-Man is really Otto Octavius.

Things start to spiral even further as Spider-Man is interviewed and dances around the question and the Brothers Grimm acknowledge that he hired them for some temp work if they went straight, alluding to the first arc of the book. Otto is furious, Anna-Maria gives him snark and Emma tells him that he needs to face things head on, getting in front of it all. He can prove that he’s changed. Unfortunately, Anna-Maria brings up the kid as an example of someone who he’s helped and he swings to the apartment to find the foster parents angry and the child sad that he lied. Normally Otto wouldn't think twice about lying to someone or omitting information, but looking into that child's eyes as he began to cry, Otto reveals that he lied because he wanted the kid to like him and they hug.

Soon after, Otto is called back to Horizon University where he is known as Professor Tolliver. Max Modell is waiting for him as he's received an email telling him that Tolliver is actually Otto Octavius. Surprisingly to Otto, Max already knew. Max Modell may act like a goof, but he's not considered one of the brightest minds in Marvel for no reason. He ran a DNA test to confirm soon after his emergence and gave "Tolliver" a chance to prove himself a changed man and given that he has, he's been trying to help clear his name.

With Max's security footage and his own enhanced suit, Otto is able to determine that it was actually Spiders-Man that sent all of the incriminating data to everyone. Once Spiders-Man realizes he's caught, the thousands of spiders that make up his form reconstitute until Ock defeats him and compresses the former Peter Parker's consciousness into one Spider-Body. After some pushing, Spiders-Man reveals that it was Norman Osborn's idea. This Norman Osborn, however, is from another dimension where he's the Spider Totem and his main enemy was a Green Goblin Peter Parker, if I remember right.

Spiders-Man also tells Otto that Norman is in his own dimension, safe from harm. During the events of Spider-Geddon, the Web of Fate was destroyed, making dimensional travel much harder for Spider people. Octavius hits a wall until Anna-Maria comes out that she's saved a bit of Terrax's energy from the first arc in the Living Brain robot, in case Otto ever reverted. This makes him sink even lower, but ultimately he understands and tries to use the power to make a portal...only Norman planned for this and over loads the machine, causing it to destroy the building almost killing everyone inside if not for Otto.

Otto manages to save Max and Anna-Maria, but is swiftly defeated and left for dead by Norman who was there the entire time. When Otto asks why Norman is doing this, he responds in the most Norman Osborn way possible by saying, "You insulted me."

Just when Otto Octavius was finding his place in the world as a hero, forces mostly belong his control have made their move in an effort to derail him. Otto finally seems happy, even helping out a young child that he absolutely has no obligation to and starting a budding new relationship with an older woman that's just as smart as he. Things were going well, he even got a key to the city for crying out loud!

But, as fate befalls all Spiders, his terrible actions in the past are coming back to haunt him. Who's to say that Mephisto doesn't have a little bit of a hand in this as well? We can only hope things turn out well for Otto in the end, but not before Norman makes things much, much worse.

#comics #marvel #marvel comics #iron man #tony stark #janet van dyne #machine man #dan slott #jim zub #juanan ramirez #francesco manna #superior spider man #otto octavius #norman osborn #spiders man #christos gage #mike hawthorne

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bad-puns-and-even-worse-magic · 6 years

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The Phoenix of the MCU: How Tony Stark’s Character Rose, Fell, and Rose Again

The Tony Stark of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a different breed from the Tony Stark that’s seen in the comics and while that’s a good thing in its own right, the movie genre creates an alternate universe compared to characters that exist on the printed page. Similarities between the comics and the MCU exist, but the characters, the stories, and their interactions have just enough familiarity to them to draw in old fans and new ones.

Just like the comics, the movies are written by different people, they’re directed by different people. The MCU is a sandbox that multiple kids are playing in which means that there will be a great influx of characterizations—especially when movies are being completed near or around the same time. For Tony Stark, this means that there is a major rise, then fall, to his characterization that is rebooted in time for Avengers: Infinity War (2018).

In 2008, the superhero genre received a massive shock to the chest with the release of Iron Man. Despite any feelings directed towards the plotline of the story, Tony Stark not only is a major key factor about why the story works, but also was just flat out fun to watch. The armour was badass, his banter with Jarvis was fantastic, and Iron Man was easily the coolest superhero on the big screen.

Until Captain America.

Part One: The Fall of Tony Stark aka How to Bucher a Character in Two Hours or Less by Joss Whedon

The First Avenger wasn’t the best movie—nor was it the worst—and it relied heavily on Chris Evans being incredibly charming, touching, and so impossible not to love that he distracts the audience from its almost cheesey Indiana Jones style plot (looking at you ‘Nazis searching for magical objects’). Evans, as Steve Rogers, proceeds to carry the character through The Avengers and beyond but while his character rises, Tony Stark’s falls.

The Avengers was a cinematic feat that still manages to hold up plot wise with its pacing and story. Its major pitfalls are with the characters. Instead of focusing on the characters as a whole, each of them is given a defining characteristic and then that characteristic is emphasized, expanded, and blown up enough that it becomes nothing more than a balloon waiting to pop.

Take, for example, Steve Rogers suddenly becoming a thundering dumbass who constantly reminds people that he was born in the 1940’s. “I understood that reference”, while funny in the short term, is just a long list of tally marks to make everyone remember that Captain America is Old Fashioned. He says things like “there’s only one god ma’am, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that”, wears clothes that look straight out of some grandfather’s closet, and constantly looks confused by the tech around him. This is a far cry from The First Avenger where he learns how to use the Hydra weapons, figures out that he was probably kidnapped based on a baseball game playing on the radio, and immediately disrespected authority to go save Bucky. In the Avengers all that is pushed to the side and Steve Rogers becomes less of the three dimensional character the audiences knew and more one dimension and a half.

In contrast, Bruce Banner benefited from such a tactic by becoming more intense, more regretful, and more nervous. Seeing the guards on the helicarrier, he immediately ducks away as the instinct to hide kicks in despite the fact that he’s allowed to be there and was actually invited by Nick Fury. This is a moment that establishes the character; he feels uncomfortable, he doesn’t want to be there. After The Incredible Hulk, Marvel was looking for a rebound and this was it.

That rebound was not intended for Tony Stark. The same Tony Stark that already had two movies that established his personality and laid a basic groundwork for his character. In The Avengers, Tony is a straight up jackass. This isn’t about his normal asshole-ness where he is sometimes brass and difficult to work with—because that’s just who he is—but The Avengers takes that quirk and runs a marathon with it. He was never a bully in Iron Man and Iron Man 2 so his line to Steve Rogers (“You might have missed a couple things. You know. Doing time as a Capsicle”) is completely out of character, the way he says “I’m a big fan of the way you turn into a giant green rage monster” despite Bruce banner clearly not being comfortable with it, and mocking Nick Fury’s disability in front of the rest of the ‘team’ shows a lack of understanding of what this character has gone through and the growth he’s already had.

Fans at this point would argue the point of Howard Stark. ‘But Tony hates Cap because of Howard’s relationship to Rogers!’ and they can argue that point until their blue in the face but at this point of time—when The Avengers first came out—there was no Agents of Shield to build a backing on and there was no Agent Carter. Iron Man 2 didn’t set up the reasoning for Howard’s neglect; just that it happened. For the Audience simply watching the movie at that time with no comic book background, Tony Stark is being a major jackass.

The mischaracterization doesn’t stop there. It doesn’t even stop at The Avengers. Tony becomes ignorant (“I have a plan: attack”) and rushes in despite stating that he’s a genius and the other movies building up that his mind is his greatest advantage, not the Iron Man suit itself. There’s also the fact that he’s just so rude to people. This is, apparently, the same man who was spooked and horrified by the fact that he was letting people come to harm in Iron Man to the point that he dedicated the rest of his life to righting that wrong. In Age of Ultron he creates a killer AI and his first reaction to when Helen Cho asks “why is it trying to kill us?” is to laugh.

Thor: Do you think this is funny?

Tony: No. It’s probably not, right? Is this very terrible? Is it so...is it so...it is. It's so terrible.

The same guy who wanted his company to have nothing to do with weapons, who halted all manufacturing immediately and was so betrayed by the knowledge that Obadiah Stane was still selling them to both sides, laughed at the threat on other people’s lives. It’s almost as if he’s going out of his way to be a douche bag in this movie.

In Age of Ultron Tony Stark is a jerk who is actually playing with lives. He laughs about the situation he and Bruce banner have put the Avengers in, constantly uses his past trauma as an excuse to be forgiven for all misdeeds (“Does anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?”) and while Tony’s intentions are to fight the Big Bad that he believes is coming, the creation of Ultron is not the problem; it is how he reacted, as a character, to the idea that people’s lives were in trouble. Compared to Iron Man, where he is almost visibly brought to tears, the Tony Stark in Age of Ultron is a heartless bastard.

On the same note of comparing Iron Man and Whedon’s Avenger movies, Tony Stark is suddenly ridiculously overpowered. The idea of the Superhero Genre is to take characters who are Good and place them against the Bad. Playing around with the grey area between is where the audience gets to see remarkable character interactions but having a hero who is strong enough that they aren’t challenged by the big bad Baddie means no interesting interactions, means no fun rise of that character overcoming their struggles, and basically means that Tony Stark can apparently overpower the Hulk and blow Ultron into itty bitty pieces.

Granted, blowing Ultron to pieces doesn’t fully work in the end, but there is a massive difference between how Tony has a breeze fighting both the Hulk and Ultron while Steve has to get up again and again and again despite how the odds are against him.

Steve Rogers: Welp! He’s definitely unhappy! I’m gonna try and keep him that way.

Clint Barton: You’re not a match for him, Cap.

Steve Rogers: Thanks. Partner.

That’s what a superhero is. When Tony is so efficient that no other characters can compare and is never getting a good asswhooping he has to rise up against, it’s boring. It’s ridiculous. It’s absolutely a waste of the superhero genre. If I wanted to watch billionaires overcome all the odds so easily I could turn on the TV and watch the news. When a hero is so ridiculously overpowered that you know they’re going to win anyway, it’s hard to root for them. The Nuke scene in The Avengers is probably the closest director Joss Whedon ever manages to get to actually playing with this concept but it’s still not as impactful as the scene in Iron Man where Tony is crawling across the floor of his garage to get to his old Arc Reactor before he goes into cardiac arrest.

That is the kind of moment that has the audience on the edge of their seats, where they are truly rooting for the main character to succeed. Not in a battle with the Hulk where the only actual danger is maybe the Hulk Smashing Armour is damaged. And that’s a big ‘maybe’.

Between the two Avengers movies is Iron Man 3 and while the movie does try to humble Tony Stark through his PTSD, it falls short of actually doing the mental condition justice as he just seems to think his way through those panic attacks. It’s a good example of the after effects of heroism, how something like flying an active warhead through a portal and into space can have an effect on people, but after the last panic attack in the car he just seems to get over it and there’s no mention of it through the rest of the movie.

It seems, however, that Iron Man 3 and Age of Ultron have the same issues plot wise, however, and that’s having a villain that doesn’t necessary challenge Tony Stark in a meaningful way. Killian kidnaps Pepper, but there are no actual challenges to Tony fighting him besides a visibly cool scene involving the different armours and a guy that can regenerate limbs and breathe fire. Obadiah Stane and Vanko challenged Tony in a way he never had before while Killian did not.

Beyond Killian, the only major part of this movie that would have raised the stakes for Tony Stark would if Pepper Potts had died during the climax. While this falls into the glaringly gross trope of Women in Refrigerators, it would have added the emotional baggage that just hasn’t existed for Tony since Iron Man.

Between the area of The Avengers and Age of Ultron, there was no growth for Tony Stark. He suffered (a little) became a douche bag (a lot) but he wasn’t really challenged in the way Steve Rogers had been challenged on the other side of the MCU.

Part Two:

The Foil of Steve Rogers, How Captain America Stole the Spotlight, and the Build Up of Tony Stark

Compared to Tony Stark, Steve Rogers went from strength to strength and none more so than in Captain America: Winter Soldier. In Iron Man 3, Tony falsely loses things (his house which he can rebuild because he has that kind of money, his suits which he doesn’t so much as lose as blow up, and Pepper who is still alive after “[falling] thirty feet”) While in Winter Soldier, Steve loses a lot. Peggy Carter, his one last connection to the past, has Alzheimer’s and her body is failing, Shield—perhaps the one true stable point in his life—ends up being a front for a Nazi organization he fought to eradicate in the 40’s, and, perhaps most importantly, he loses his faith in authority. Throughout the movie he’s challenged both ideologically, emotionally, and physically to his limits.

The way this is done is through a triangle of supporting characters. Unlike in The Avengers, Winter Soldier doesn’t depend on inflating characters into caricatures to establish differences between the cast. The supporting characters—Natasha Romanoff, Sam Wilson, and Bucky Barnes—play off of Steve and, in return, help to move the story forward.

Natasha Romanoff forces Steve to broaden his look at the world. She challenges him ideology, teaching him that the world isn’t black and white. The good guys can do bad things and the bad guys can do good things. The world is too grey for the thought of a true Right and Wrong philosophy. Steve Rogers has to choose between doing the good thing and breaking the law or doing the bad thing and not breaking the law. Of course, Winter Soldier is a superhero movie, so doing the good thing while breaking the law wins out in the end.

On the other hand, Sam Wilson fills the role of a new best friend. He’s similar to Steve and they have shared experiences, but his wit and humour plays off well against Steve’s no-nonsense 20th century temperament. Finally, it’s a return back to The First Avenger where Bucky and Steve joke just before getting on that all important train.

Last is Bucky Barnes. He’s a Terminator style antagonist who not only has the very real chance of killing Steve but almost succeeds in doing so. He challenges Steve emotionally and physically to the point of almost breaking the hero, opening a harrowing window to the past that no one else in the movie can quite understand. For the audience it’s watching Tony Stark crawl through his garage all over again except worse because the watchers don’t exactly want Steve to win the fight (as that would mean losing Bucky again) and they don’t want him to lose (which could possibly end in death for Steve).

This triangle of characters forces Steve to experience challenges and emotions in a new and fresh way and it’s what happens to Tony Stark in Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. He becomes bolstered by a triangle of characters that challenge him, change his views, and force him to think about things differently.

The first of these characters is Steve Rogers himself. While most of the driving force between their relationship in the movie is based around the Sokovia Accords, Tony is convinced to support the law due to a run in with Miriam Sharpe. Her son, Charlie Spencer, died in Sokovia and she asks Tony “who is going to avenge my son, Stark? He’s dead and I blame you.” Compared to the scene in Ultron, Tony’s attitude is remarkably different. Rather than laughing about the danger he’s created, bragging about his achievement in making a murderous AI, Tony takes responsibility for his actions and even makes a concerted effort to try and keep the team together. When he says “I’m trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart” at the airport, it’s clear from the look on his face that he doesn’t want to fight the people he’s come to respect and doesn’t want to see his friends behind bars looking at him with disdain and hatred.

At the same time, there are two different stories happening in Civil War that are part of the same coin. Steve Rogers is trying to save Bucky Barnes from wrongful imprisonment while trying to bring the actual terrorist to justice, and Tony Stark is struggling with looking Mariam Sharpe in the eye and realizing that there is not justice to be done for the people who died in Sokovia. In fact, for both characters, nobody except for the audience actually know how Tony and Steve feel because we are the only ones who witness both moments.

This is a storytelling trick that helps the audience align with both characters and see both points of view which is why it is so hard to actually choose a side in Civil War and why the argument could be made that the audience was never meant to actually pick one in the first place. Whether or not there is agreement on their stance on the Accords, the movie makes it clear that both Steve and Tony have a point.

Civil War takes it a step further with Tony and forces him out of his comfort zone in a way that he hasn’t been challenged since Iron Man or Iron Man 2 in order to keep the peace. While the movie was about Captain America, it had to do a lot of major patch up work for the character of Tony Stark. He is morose after finding out that his actions directly led to someone getting killed which is a return back to the whole point of why he became Iron Man in the first place: to save people’s lives.

Even when Steve and Tony argue, there is no direct bullying from either side that happens in the posturing in The Avengers and even Age of Ultron. Neither side resort to insults and, even in their disagreements, never resort to the needle-like jabs that Joss Whedon seems to think should be the basis of their ‘friendship’.

Steve Rogers: Protection? Is that how you see this? This is protection? It's internment, Tony.

Tony Stark: She's not a US citizen—

Steve Rogers: Oh, come on, Tony.

Tony Stark: And they don't grant visas to weapons of mass destruction.

Steve Rogers: She's a kid!

Tony Stark: Give me a break! I'm doing what has to be done to stave off something worse.

He’s listening to Steve and they both respect each other to hear the other’s point of view. In this single scene, Tony is far more measured than in both of the previous Avenger films combined. It almost feels like he’s grown up. Steve Rogers and the situation at hand is forcing Tony to look at himself and become better from it.

This isn’t to say that Civil War doesn’t take Tony Stark to his lowest point and possibly the closest we ever will get to the almost villainous Tony of the comics, but it’s a moment that feels, for once, truly earned.

Steve Rogers: Tony. Tony.

Tony Stark: Did you know?

Steve Rogers: I didn't know it was him.

Tony Stark: Don't bullshit me, Rogers! Did you know?

Steve Rogers: Yes.

As a character who is never supposed to lie, this moment is a breaking point in the relationship between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. As a character who has always told the truth, no matter how big that truth is, Steve keeping a secret means that the information is incredibly important to him. Bucky is enough for Steve to bend his morals and is something that is, understandably, shocking for Tony as he is directly involved. While Bucky was controlled by Hydra, Tony Stark goes through a massive amount of revelations all at once; finding out his parents were murdered instead of dying in a car accident (watching them being beaten and choked to death on a monitor), finding out Bucky was directly involved, and then also finding out that Steve, a man he trusted, kept that a secret from him. All of this is the cataclysm that begins the fight at the end of Civil War and everything leading up to that one key moment make perfect sense.

The fact that the fight gets so out of hand that Tony Stark would have been willing to murder Bucky, the fact that he cowers underneath Steve when the shield is raised thinking that he’s driven Steve to do the same to him; that is what ruins their friendship in the end. The trust is gone and he doesn’t even get to take the high ground in the situation as Steve leaves the shield of his own, free will and walks away leaving Tony completely alone and abandoned by the team he once surrounded himself with.

Suddenly all that humbleness, all that struggle, all that loss that was missing from 2012 onward is dumped across Tony in the biggest way imaginable. Civil War patches up the holes in Tony Stark’s character and refuses to use the frilly Hello Kitty band aids of Iron Man 3 but instead use a whole tub of quick drying cement and sand him down so it’s polished. While I’m sure a lot of his fans would like for him to not have gone through the entirety of Civil War at all, the movie was completely necessary to not only fix Tony for future instalments in the MCU but it’s simply just good writing.

Part Three:

The Unstoppable Force Meets an Immoveable Object

In Avengers: Infinity War, the introduction of Thanos becomes the epicentre of Tony’s entire focus. He now knows the name of the Big Bad he’s feared since the end of The Avengers. Tony Stark, realizing the threat, goes into overdrive. There is an influx of sudden physicality and panic where he stretched against Doctor Strange’s cauldron and argues about what to do with the infinity stone.

During his argument with Doctor Strange aboard Ebony Maw’s ship, it’s clear that, for the first time since Obadiah Stane, Tony has met his match. Out in the universe, there is an entity that can drive him to obsession, give him PTSD, and leave him designing the ultimate nano-tech suit just in the hope that maybe he is prepared enough to face this colossus on the horizon. Up to this point, Tony Stark has suffered from having good, but not great villains. They never actually ever manage to leave their mark on Tony despite having all the right ingredients. The closest would be Ultron, but it’s still Miriam Sharpe who directly impacts him, not Ultron himself.

After so long, after a grand total of nineteen films, the final fight on Titan between Tony and Thanos feels like a culmination of all that waiting and there is finally a villain that can match Tony Stark step by step. Both of them dread it, both of them have to face it, and, when Tony is the last one standing, giving everything he has; Thanos wins.

Every hero failed in Avengers: Infinity War but no one failed as much as Tony Stark. His story was built up around this battle. His suffering after New York, his PTSD in Iron Man 3 and his desperation to keep the team together in Civil War has all led up to the single moment on Titan where Thanos stabs him and walks away with Doctor Strange’s time stone.

While Civil War marked the rise and the beginning of the rebirth of Tony’s character, Infinity War was the fire that set the phoenix ablaze. It was a rejuvenation, a cultivation, and the beginning of a new start for Tony that simply wasn’t there during The Avengers and Age of Ultron. It brought back new love for the character and an appreciation of who he is, what he could do, and why all of this, the entirety of the MCU, started with Iron Man.

#analysis #i put this entire thing behind a cut #so if you had to scroll all the way through i'm so sorry

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nobodyzhuman · 5 years

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Undercover (5/5) Finished :)

Fandom: Marvel

Characters: Clint. James. Steve. Nat. Tony. Bruce. Sam Relationships: Clint/James. Tony/Steve. Nat/Bruce

This is Part 5 and the end. :) Hope you enjoyed

It took three days to drive back to New York.

And it was hell.

Because James was a fucking tease.

They hadn’t moved passed kissing or holding hands. Something Clint didn’t know he liked until they left the motel three days again and James reached out and took his hand and held it while he drove.

They even stopped getting rooms with two beds. Not that they did more than sleep close, James’s arm draped over him. Which was how Clint found out about the metal arm hiding under all the long sleeves. (Not that he mentioned it. He already figured out it was a sensitive topic and knew James would tell him when he was ready.)

Anyways, it was all soft touches and teasing looks. And Clint was perfectly okay with moving slow, but James kept teasing him. Little shit, resting his hand on Clint’s thigh when driving. Biting his lip when ever he knew Clint was looking at him. Rubbing his thumb of Clint’s hand when ever they held hands.

Flirting with him when ever they stopped to rest or eat. Not subtle either. James apparently had not issues with be out and proud. He stand behind Clint, when they ordered food, his arms wrapped around him, head in his shoulder, whisper in his fucking ear. (The one he heard best out of, which had he wondering if James had figured it our or if he had just been lucky so far.) He had no doubt James was enjoying his little game, but Clint was about to explode, and of course they were about pull into the tower’s parking garage so there wasn’t much he could do about it.

“I’m fucking nervous.” James muttered.

Clint squeezed his hand. “Just think of how happy Steve will be.”

That earned him a tiny smile. James parked the car and Clint’s own stomach knotted. He hadn’t lied to James, Steve was going to be so happy to see his friend, but that didn’t mean the others would. He was sure Bruce and Nat would be okay. They both had troubled pasts and understood doing bad things because of things out of their control. But Stark was an unknown, the man seemed like he liked to do what he wanted and fuck everyone else. So, Clint was really hoping he would be okay with James.

They got out of the car together. The garage was empty, and Clint was a little grateful that he hadn’t giving Steve a time or date for when he would make it back. He walked to the front of the car and took James’s hand. Pulling him to the elevator.

“Hello, Agent Barton and…” Jarvis actually hesitated, which Clint was sure he had never heard the AI do. “Sergeant Barnes. Which floor?”

James stiffened probably from the creepy voice coming out of nowhere knowing his name. “Common level. Jarvis don’t tell anyone, yet, please.”

“Or course, Agent Barton.” Then the elevator started to move.

James hand was holding his so tight, Clint was losing feeling. “Hey,” He swung around and placed himself in front of James, “It’s okay. That’s Jarvis. An AI Stark build. He has access to like every bit of info on the whole team, plus Steve is looking for you. So, of course he knows your face.” James looked at him.

“Okay?” Clint asked. James nodded. And the elevator slowed.

They both took a deep breath as the doors opened.

Clint wasn’t sure if he was relieved or not, that no one was looking their way. Tony and Steve seemed to be arguing over something. Nat was sitting on the back of the couch watching them with a bored expression. And Bruce was talking to a tall dark man that Clint didn’t know.

Of course it was the stranger that saw them first. His eyes widened when he saw James and he quickly made his way over to Steve. Trying to get the blonde mans attention.

James chuckled behind him, as Steve sent a glare and the unknown man and went back to yelling at Stark.

“Steve.” The man said sounding a little annoyed, with just a little bit of urgency.

Clint just rolled his eyes and whistled, causing the whole room to stop and look at him. And he knew the second Steve saw James. Because he blinked and took a step forward, like maybe he wasn’t seeing what he hoped he was seeing.

“Bucky?” He asked, moving towards them.

James didn’t move at first. Probably still afraid of his past orders, or maybe seeing Steve again had been more of a surprise than he was expecting. Clint took the hand he was holding and tugged. Causing James to step forward. Then it seemed to two men moved in sync, James dropped his hand, they both moved, wrapping each other in a hug.

Clint smiled.

Then he was smacked in the back of the head.

“Ow.”

“What part of something stupid did you not hear?” Nat asked from next to him. He grinned as his best friend.

“I was kinda already with him.” He said.

“Of course, you were.” She rolled her eyes.

Then she hugged him.

“I’m glad your safe.” She whispered into his good ear.

“ Miss you too.” He whispered back.

A cough separated them. Steve and James too.

“So, now that we have Barnes” Tony, “ Can we get back to our Hydra problem?”

“What Hydra problem?” Him and James asked in unison.

The new guy, snorted, Steve gave them both an interesting looking, and Stark just went with it, “ We found a base here in New York, But Cap here, didn’t want to move against it until we knew Barnes wasn’t there. He didn’t want his buddy caught in the middle.” Steve shot Tony a glare.

They stared at each other for a moment and it was James’s laugh that broke their gaze.

He looked at Clint, “I see what you meant.”

Which had Clint laughing.

Everyone looked at them, confused.

“What?” The other two men asked together.

Causing him and James to laugh harder.

No...noth….nothing…” He gasped out between laughs. Steve looked bewildered and Tony looked annoyed.

“Oh for the love…” Nat mumbled, but he could tell she was trying not to laugh.

“As amusing as this is,” the new guy said with a chuckle, “Shouldn’t we be making a plan.”

It turned out the Hydra base wasn’t that big of a problem. It took them an hour to get it, round up the assholes up, and blow the place to hell. In which time he learned new guys name, Sam and got to watch James blow up the base with a smirk.

By the time they returned back to the tower, Stark’s lawyers, along with Fury, (who Clint actually hugged, much to the surprise of the other man), were working on getting James name cleared. Between secret court meetings and interviews, James and Clint, moved into the tower. Steve’s floor to be exact.

It gave both him and Steve a chance to get to know James.

They all had good nights and bad nights, each suffering from their own night mares, and it turned out having all three close together was a good thing. Someone was always there to help talking them out of the panic or fear. Which made Clint and Steve grow closer as friends.

It took two months before James was cleared, which surprised no one. There was to much paper and video evidence of what he had been through for anyone to deny him his freedom.

It took six months of James and Clint’s teasing before Steve asked Stark out on a date. Which had caught the billionaire by surprise.

And eight months before they had the floor to themselves, when Steve moved up to Tony’s. And for Clint to figure out that Nat and Bruce were dating and that somehow no one had noticed. He told James and they decided to keep quiet and see who noticed first Steve or Tony.

It took one year before Steve and Stark made an announcement to the press about their relationship. Only because the press kept posting pictures of them, writing speculation, and calling Pepper for a comment. Pepper finally demanded they tell the press because she was sick of dealing with them.

A year and two months, is when Steve caught Natasha and Bruce making out on the couch on the common floor and had to back out of the room quietly, so Natasha didn’t murder him.

A year and half in, Steve and Tony got married. James and Bruce happily playing best men.

2 years after him and James showed up at the tower.

Clint and James were married.

It was a private ceremony held on his farm, with mostly just the team and a few close friends. Steve stood behind James grinning happily at his best friend, while Nat stood behind him, her hand firmly on his back, her fingers wrapping his tux jacket as he kept trying to say fuck it and drag James away, because the man looked so fucking incredible in a suit. Clint had never been happier.

#winterhawk #hawkeye #james barnes #clint barton #Winter Solider

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spaceorphan18 · 6 years

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MCU Rewatch: Iron Man

This is going to be a fascinating experiment, that’s for sure.

The interesting thing, to me, is that there are a couple of ways you can look at Iron Man. On one hand - it’s on the tail end of old school (god - am I really calling superhero films of the 00s old school?) comic book films. The X-Men and Spider-Man trio had wrapped up at this point. Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight came out right at this time - and comic book films felt either super gritty or super tired. Looking at what’s around it - Iron Man feels like a breath of fresh air. It’s fun, funny, tense, heartwarming, action-packed, and just generally a good film. No, the villain isn’t that great - I couldn’t even tell you his name and I just watched it (though I can tell you Jeff Bridges was the actor). But Tony Stark is a complex character who does have a brilliant sense of charisma about him - and maybe that’s why I’ve always gravitated to Marvel films. Because it’s not about the dark complexity of its psychopathic villain (as compelling as that can be) but it’s about the growth of the character within the film.

It’s interesting to me that this is contemporaries with the Nolan Batman trio -- because Iron Man is, essentially, Marvel’s answer to Batman. And, yeah, I don’t really care that Batman will always be the more popular character. He’s too dark and brooding for me. Iron Man might be cut from the same cloth (super genius, billionaire, with parents who died early on) -- but man is he a romp. And there’s a great character arc within this movie, that feels much more human and flawed than the stoic and often cold Batman.

Anyway, on the other -- you have the beginning of this huge and layered universe. Of course - they didn’t fully know what it was going to be -- even with the (exciting) hints of SHIELD and Nick Fury popping up at the end, they must have had a vague plan if Iron Man did well at the box office, this is still very much a stand alone movie. That said -- and maybe this is hindsight speaking -- this film feels like the first chapter of something much bigger. And that’s the really cool thing about Marvel films -- they all build off each other, and this movie works fantastically as its foundation.

(Thinking a lot of the MCU in general this past week -- I’ve come to realize that MCU works more like a TV series than a movie franchise -- which I think is awesomely cool. And I kind of hope they are able to keep that feeling going.)

The original Iron Man feels simplistic, in a way, especially when looked at against the complex web that is Infinity War. And in many ways - it has more in common with its predecessors (the early X-Men and Spider-Man films respectively) than it does with the later Marvel movies. It’s an obligatory origin movie - its plot almost standard issue. But what makes it stand out is how it uses what we’ve come to expect about comic book movies and plays with it.

The strongest thing it has is a sense of humor, something the Marvel movies are really going to end up being known for. Snarky banter, great one-liners, unexpected beats of comedy that, yes, lighten the mood -- though I’ll argue that it doesn’t detract from the darker aspects of the story or the tension that is built throughout the film.

The other thing that stands out to me is how far we’ve come with special effects - and that it’s not necessarily a bad thing that we weren’t as advanced in 2008. Iron Man’s tech is gonna get extreme (and extremely CGI) in a few years, so it’s nice to have a film that has a ‘real’ feeling to it. Yeah, there was a lot of CGI here, too, but there were also some practical elements that grounded the movie, too. I’m not a huge action person (yeah, why am I watching these again?) but the thing I appreciate is that - yes, there are some great action sequences in this film -- but they never outshine the story. And the story is what matters at most.

So. Tony Stark. Robert Downy Jr, as everyone says for a reason, was born for this role. On paper, he could be incredibly unlikable -- but RDJ is able to masterfully pull off a sympathetic character without betraying the fact that this guy is, often times, a real asshole. And it’s funny - we’ve come so far with Iron Man (and yes, I’ve heard the criticisms that they keep playing the reset button) but I’ll argue that -- he has grown in a lot of ways over the years. Tony Stark is stumbling in every since of the world. And while he’s in his 40s in this movie, I’d say he was emotionally stunted keeping him mentally around a wild child of 22. And here (and of course over the years) he’s forced to grow into the godfather of the Marvel universe that he becomes.

I mean - at the end of the movie, he’s starting to figure things out. He and Pepper don’t have that grand sweeping kiss - but it’s slowly coming. He and Rhodey aren’t bffs /yet/. Tony Stark still has a long way to go before he can be apart of the Avengers - work with them and lead them, before he can have deep friendship with Steve Rogers that hurts when it’s broken, before he can mentor a young Peter Parker who will look up at him like a surrogate father. So yeah - there is a complete emotional arc here - but it’s just the beginning.

Meanwhile (and man does this movie benefit from not having a ton of cast members)... Pepper Potts. I still kinda wish we knew more about her - like, how did she get that job in the first place? But, and I can’t believe this is going to be written down - Gwyneth Paltrow does a really good job here. (Huh - maybe there was a time she could act.) And the banter between Pepper and Tony is incredibly engaging. I actually like the dynamic here - and really, I’m fine the little bits we get with her over the years since it’s never a central plot. But I also appreciate that it’s not about two hot people just finding each other attractive - but about two people who’ve essentially been together for a long time learning how to navigate real romantic feelings along with all the other ways they’ve bonded. It’s a neat twist on an otherwise cliche thing.

(And anyone else notice that Marvel, the longer it goes on, the more it kind of strays away from that normal romance narrative?)

Then there’s Rhodey. Hmm. I think, tbh, I’m just used to Don Cheadle and his interpretation. Terrance Howard’s Rhodey is a lot more of a straight man to RDJ’s Tony. And I’m not really sure that works for me. Are they friends? (I mean they learn to be) Does Rhodey feel like he’s just dealing with Tony and is sometimes amused? Howard feels slightly wooden here. (Oops, sorry, am I allowed to feel that?)

And then there’s Jarvis and all the tech pieces with personalities of their own. Kinda love this twist on the whole Alfred/Butler thing. Adds another layer of fun to it all.

As I stated above -- Jeff Bridges’s character (who I did go look up - Obadiah Zane?? Really?? Let’s just go with Iron Monger) is perhaps the weakest link. The fight stuff is cool, and god, can we talk about Tony having his own surrogate parent turn villain on him -- I mean, that puts a new spin on his relationship with Spidey -- but he’s kinda forgettable after this movie -- which is fine. It’s not about the villains anyway.

Some smaller notes:

Can we talk about the German doctor dying in Tony’s arms - and this is the first time he really understands human compassion?

I realize this stemmed from the 60s - but can we talk about Iron Man and the political commentary about weapons of mass destruction?

I’m not usually into this sort of thing - but I kind of liked the evolution of Tony’s suit throughout the film. The suit gets an arc, too!

The room where Tony and Pepper had their dance scene is the same room that will be used for Glee years (and years) later -- it’s used as the NYADA hall where they all sing their finals and where one Kurt Hummel will sing about Being Alive.

Final thoughts: This movie holds up for being ten years old! It’s not perfect by any means, and a bit formulaic, but it’s still a lot of fun.

Infinity Stones watch: Yeah - they’re not planting seeds of /that/ yet. But I do kind of want to see if I can keep track of them.

After the Credits: Nick Fury shows up and the fanboys lose their shit. It’s a good thing this movie did well. ;)

#mcu #s.o. reviews films #apparently I had a lot of feelings about iron man

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