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felassan · 4 years

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If Morrigan taught Warden how to perform Dark Ritual, would it be possible for female Warden to get pregnant with their LI (even if it was another Warden)? Or is the Old God's soul nescessary to keep the baby alive and such Ritual wouldn't work in the end?

Hi Nonnie! The answer is under a cut for length and sensitivity purposes.

Huh, interesting question. Do you mean like instead of Morrigan performing it with the male Hero, Alistair or Loghain before the battle so that someone didn’t have to make the Ultimate Sacrifice, could the female Hero instead be the one to perform it with her (Scenario A)? Or do you mean like, in normal everyday circumstances where nobody’s life is at stake, could the female Hero perform it with their LI as a way of overcoming the effects of the Taint on fertility and so be able to have biological children together that way (Scenario B)?

Hard to say I think! The DR wasn’t totally explained and was left quite vague. We don’t really know all that much about it. It’s ancient and mysterious. A couple things:

The DR is old magic from before the Circles of Magi were ever created. Morrigan says some would call it blood magic. If it’s possible for Morrigan to teach others how to perform it, I’d guess that as it’s magic she would only be able to teach it to Amell and Surana. My first assumption would be that it’s not possible for mundanes to carry out the ritual, therefore the pool of which female Heroes would be capable of hypothetically performing the ritual with their non-Morrigan LI is limited.

The methodology of the ritual Morrigan learned from Flemeth. This causes me to wonder if only powerful mages would be able to carry it out. I also wonder about whether there’s some requirement that said mage is ‘special’ somehow, for lack of a better term, like would they need to have [x] trait or [y] background? Would they need to have been brought up as Morrigan was learning non-Circle magic arts from an ancient being, have had that training to have the ability? Would they need to be of Flemeth’s bloodline even? Kieran’s line “Mother is the inheritor, she who awaits the next age” I feel has several meanings. It’s about Morrigan’s general wish to come into possession of and preserve the magics and powers of old, and it’s about how Flemythal had intended to gift Morrigan her soul, had she been willing. It’s foreshadowing that Morrigan may one day drink from the Well and receive all that it entails, and it’s a vaaague asf allusion to the general future of Thedas (packaged with a meta ‘wink nudge, get it, AGE?’ card lol) as a whole in the same kinda vague manner that epic lines like “Change is coming to the world” and “The world fears the inevitable plummet into the abyss” are [~oohhh dramatic ominous noises~, y’know?]. It also brings to mind Morrigan’s DAO plot-arc of having been sent along with the Hero and Alistair in the first place in order to try to ‘inherit’ (poetic use of the word here) Urthemiel’s soul. The inheritor, “This is what I was meant to do”.. sounds a bit specific and predestined-ish. Could all mages who attempt the DR in Morrigan’s place manage to inherit the soul or successfully complete the rite, or are there some special requirements? This is unknown and purely just me speculating about all possibilities.

It was once written in that the female Hero (any female Hero) could be the one to perform the DR with Morrigan and the OGB would still be conceived. This was going to be possible via magic, but ultimately the writers scrapped this idea before the game shipped. So with reference to Scenario A, I don’t see why you couldn’t write/headcanon that the female Hero performed the DR with Morrigan and that as a result Morrigan became pregnant. It’s clearly something the writers were thinking about having be a thing once upon a time, and in this setting we have all kinds of powerful magics that we don’t question, so why not handwave this if you want to.

You could take into account Grey Warden fertility. The Taint decreases a Warden’s fertility and most can only conceive prior to the Joining. On occasion a Warden and a non-Warden can conceive, so you could have, for example, the female Hero and Zevran, say, settling down and having children in the usual manner after the Blight or whatever, albeit probably with some difficulty conceiving and it being a rare/notable thing if they managed to. The sooner they began the better their chances though, probably; Morrigan’s line about Riordan being unsuitable as a candidate because she needs a Warden who hasn’t been tainted for too long otherwise it wouldn’t work was said in reference to the DR, but from the sound of it it seems to imply that the longer a Warden has been tainted for, the lower their already low chances of conceiving are, and that after some timepoint it drops off completely and permanently and is no longer possible at all. Alistair is able to father Kieran about 1.5 years after going through the Joining, and Fiona was able to conceive Alistair with Maric about 1 year after being recruited, so we know it’s possible in the first 1.5 years at least.

Canonically as far as anyone [in-universe] knows, under normal circumstances two Grey Wardens can’t have children together naturally and it’s never happened. On this DG once wrote “just because it's never happened doesn't mean it never could, I suppose. There are always exceptions. [...] So if you involve some mysterious [magic McGuffin in the headcanons/fanfic of the player he was talking to in this exchange]... why not? [...] Unnaturally is an entirely different story.” It’s up to you whether you take on-board or discard this particular piece of canon that they can’t. I stick to it personally, but I can see why some Queen Cousland players, for example, would want their Heroes to be able to have biological children with Alistair and so opt to discard this or write around it.

Now, when a Warden does conceive a child with a non-Warden, the child doesn’t bear the Taint, like the Taint isn’t passed on. So the child of a Warden and a non-Warden conceived in regular non-DR circumstances isn’t in danger from getting or dying from the Taint or anything.

But, something about the way the DR works means that the resulting child would bear the Taint initially. The purpose of the DR was to make an embryonic beacon that the soul of the slain Archdemon would seek out. Some part of the DR ensures the Taint is passed on, because if the embryo wasn’t Tainted it wouldn’t be attractive to the soul and the soul wouldn’t go into it. However, Morrigan’s dialogue about how Kieran won’t be a darkspawn, how she seeks the soul free of the dark forces that corrupted it, and how the child as a result of the ritual will represent freedom for the soul and a chance for it to be reborn apart from the Taint implies that after the soul joins with the embryo, the Taint is cleansed from both. It’s the absorbing of the soul that cleanses the embryo of the Taint. And so, the presence of the Old God’s soul in the equation is necessary for the embryo of a Dark Ritual conception to be cleansed and born free of the Taint. With no Old God soul, you’d end up with a child which has the Taint and is therefore subject to what that can entail, like possible sickness or being linked to the darkspawn hivemind like a Warden or, presumably, eventually the ghoul-like corruption and premature death. I don’t know that any such embryo would even make it to term, really. So in Scenario B, I don’t think it would work like this unfortunately.

Hope this made sense, helped some and was a bit of food for thought. :)

(An aside: Lore discrepancy - Why can two Wardens not conceive together, but eventually after a Blight “Blighted animals will begin to breed again, giving birth to non-mutant [untainted] offspring”? That sounds like it’s saying a Blighted animal could breed with a Blighted animal successfully.)

#dragon age #bioware #Morrigan #queen of my heart #mj replies #video games #anonymous #alistair theirin #mj meta #fav warden #answering asks as I'm able :)#sgsajsosjd lmao some of this felt weird asf to write but the DR lends itself to that ><

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likealittleheartbeat · 4 years

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unpopular opinion but i actually don’t go for the zukaang soulmate trope. i understand why it’s appealing to some. at the end of the day, though, i don’t want them to be predestined for each other. when faced with the possibility of a romance, i like when characters choose one another. that’s something i really admire about the canon kataang relationship. by the end of the series, it stopped seeming inevitable. they chose one another, free from the pressures of destiny, which i think it’s such a beautiful move to make for characters who have felt the painful burden of destiny on their shoulders for most of their lives. in fact, the ability to shape our choices is a key theme in the show. I like fiction that grapples with two characters working on love like this: making choices, letting things go, requiring patience. I always strive to include that in my zukaang fics and headcanons. I ship zukaang because they are two heavily queer-coded boys with a dynamic built on their potential to support one another in transforming a sense of loss into peacefulness. it feels honest to make their relationship a sometimes rocky road. and it feels special to have two queer boys take on their challenges and doubts and mistakes with emotional maturity instead of the shallow dramatics and intensity associated with queer men. it’s probs not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s how i like mine served.

#and that's that on that

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sarcasticmudkip · 3 years

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Didymos Astor

Do I like them?

Unfortunately, yes 😔🐀💕

5 Good Qualities

Purple emo bastard aesthetic is on point

He’s a master gomoku player in hku which i personally just vibe with immensely

His dynamic with anyone is just top notch. Literally no matter who he is with he is just a tired old man. Siv? Yiga Husbands? Zavis? Link? He’s just tired of everyone’s shit and I respect him for it

In my opinion better than Nintendo canon Astor, especially story wise because he’s an arrogant little bastard man who’s just given up on life and settling for trying to save just one person and I think that’s pretty cash money

disgruntled bastard who doesn’t want to be a father figure/caretaker but ends up giving in and becoming one anyway trope my beloved

3 Bad Qualities

can we not bring about the destruction of the kingdom please, like I know it’s inevitable and you’re convinced that no matter your actions the outcome will be the same regardless but please

Astor: At least I had some people who cared about me! Ganon: But what if they didn’t Astor: oh... :(

Me, banging pot lids together and screaming into the void: IDIOT. DUMBASS. REALLY??? REALLY??? YOU FELL FOR THAT SHIT??!? YOU SMARTER THAN THAT YOU FUCKING DUMB IDIOT I HATE YOU

He’s such a bitch. He’s be like “You’re all fools, your defeat is already predestined,” like shut the fuck up, it’s true, but shut up about it

Favourite Episode/Arc: I forgot the arc name but his conversation with Zelda in Serenity’s Fortunes my beloved

OTP: I see him as aro, so it would be a QPR with Elane because I love them

BROTP: Astor just vibing with his bros while they pour vinegar on Ligero’s house UwU That’s the dream

OT3: QPR astor x elane x alive-and-not-cuccoed

NOTP: If you ship anyone with him romantically I respect your opinion but you’re also wrong

Best Quote: I’m paraphrasing here but it’s, “A coward? Well perhaps I am, but at the end of the day, when the heroes have died, I’ll be the one living to tell the tale. So shut up now and make me a good story.”

Headcanon: Sheikah tech has a lot of star themes so Astor helped young zelda map out what all the Sheikah constellations meant while she hung out in his office

#ask game #hku #thanks for the ask!#hyrule kingdom updates

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sinsthinkingof · 11 months

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The more parallels and facts I learn about lestappen make me want to make a power point presentation because I have thoughts ™️

#lestappen #charles leclerc #max verstappen #charles leclerc x max verstappen #formula one #fandom: f1 #ship: inevitable and predestined

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valyrfia · 8 months

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This may be a controversial opinion, but honestly - I am a ride or die lestappen fan, I love nothing more than the fantasy of seeing them end up together.. but if I think with my logical, realistic brain, I honestly think if any drivers were actually dating, lestappen is more fantastical than other ships.

Like if Charles were to one day actually reveal that he's in a relationship with another driver? I think it would probably be Pierre.

And if it was Max, it would be Daniel.

I love lestappen more than those two ships, but I acknowledge that Piarles and Maxiel have more real life chemistry lol

It IS controversial anon and you're brave for saying it in this economy! That being said, I fully disagree with you.

Max and Daniel are extremely close and comfortable with each other, obviously enjoy each other's company and like joking around. Pierre and Charles have known each other for ages, are very close friends who care greatly for each other. Both of these dynamics are great, with great chemistry–but I look at them and see only platonic. Not to negate the importance of them in the slightest! The vibes are just not there.

Lestappen on the other hand, feels different because there's something resembling romantic chemistry, which can feel more stilted than platonic chemistry at times because of the inherent tension. I also just personally prefer Lestappen over Maxiel or Piarles because I think the Max and Charles combo has the greatest potential for a partnership. There's a different compatibility required for romantic partners than there is for friends, and I think the Lestappen dynamic captures the essence of it. If Charles were to win a WDC, him and Max would basically be two of the only people to fully understand each other and their lived life experiences, there's a bone-deep intimacy in that. I very much advocate for a romantic partner being an equal, and Max and Charles match each other well in that way. Inevitable and predestined, etc. It's also quite obvious from interviews that the two of them love racing in a way the rest of us mere mortals don't entirely get, Max logging ridiculous hours on the sim, Charles staying up til midnight before a race working on strategy. I think the two of them would compliment each other well as romantic partners and there is a deep respect between them (moreso than Max with Dan and Charles with Pierre). So yes, I disagree and think if we were in an ideal utopia where everyone dates everyone and no one gives a fuck, Lestappen would be the most likely.

#strong disagree anon i'm sorry #i am ride or die lestappen #lestappen #anti maxiel #anti piarles #i mean not really but i don't want to offend anyone #i love the other two i just do think if we're going to be delusional we might as well go all the way #and consider that lestappen would be THAT power couple #anyway #anon

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evies20dollars · 4 years

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Have you always have thought of Otis as the 'nice guy' or did you perception of him change watching the series?

Honestly, I watched season one when it came out a year ago and I haven’t rewatched it since. As you might imagine, binge-watching in a few days is not exactly ideal for remembering a lot of details so this is a bit difficult to answer. I do think he gave me that vibe a little, but not to the point where it made me dislike his character altogether, nor do I now. Like I’m really not trying to say he’s bad as a person or a character, I think he is well-meaning, but between my feeling he isn’t right for Maeve and the fact he was so obsessed with her in season one and even in season two when he was dating Ola (I don’t think it was fair of Ola to demand Otis cut Maeve off entirely though– ultimatums are the actual worst). Still, Ola deserved a person who wanted her above all else (and I’m glad she found her), and Otis’s forcing himself to be with her while liking Maeve, but also not treating her particularly well just made me kind of annoyed with him on both girls’ behalfs. And then, of course, you had his drunken speech. But coming back to the ‘nice guy’ of rom coms, I think it was just the fact he was destined to get the girl and let’s be real, I can ship Maeve with Isaac all I want, but she is almost certainly going to end up with Otis. It’s that kind of predestination that annoys me when combined with the fixation on her– I think that’s what spells that ‘nice guy’ trope more than his personality itself. I saw a post I thought was really good that talked about how in terms of Isaac, instead of having Otis redeem himself for his actions, to prove Otis was the right guy they had Isaac do something worse and I realized that was a whole other reason why it bugged me that they did that. Up till this point, I think at least, and others may disagree, that Isaac was the better match. If Isaac is able to own up to messing up and Otis doesn’t then I would say Isaac still is the better match. Either way though, Maeve and Otis ending up together feels inevitable and that’s where my frustration with him lies.

Here is the post I referenced: https://asexual-fandom-queen.tumblr.com/post/190332133626/on-maeve-and-isaac by @asexual-fandom-queen

#otis milburn #sex education #maeve wiley #sex education spoilers #ask #foulwitchqueen #isaac #ola nyman #otis x maeve #maeve x otis #media criticism #media critique #isaac x maeve #maeve x isaac #i talk

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arch-cygnus · 4 years

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of-plains-and-airships

It had always been November.

Inevitable. Predestined. As the summer months waned and the leaves cooked themselves to a crisp, he was always just around the corner. Engrossed in that little Gameboy of his—a reminder of happier days, he had said—he didn't even lift an eye the first time I strolled by. If only I had done the same.

Regret is for the privileged. Behind me lies the golden plains of Erlija, stretching all the way to the setting sun. The wind blows tides across the grain, reflecting a beam of light as it moves across the sky like a spotlight shining on the hands the weaver of the clouds. Like waking from a dream, I attempt to cast aside the nagging desire to stay and reminisce. Yet, as I stare into the waves, as their ebb and flow crashes endlessly into my consciousness, I almost give up. I could stay here forever.

And so I stay, if only for a moment longer. The splashing of the water draws my attention to the Avalon as it bobs up and down. Back and forth and back and forth like a rocking horse toy, it is as majestic as a white stallion carrying a knight in shining armor. But a knight I am not—and alas, no damsel in distress awaits me on the opposite shore. In fact, I have very little idea what awaits me, if I can even make it across.

As I carry over the last of the canned beans from the wagon, I wonder: will this be enough? A part of me wishes that November would have prepared the food for me as well. The Avalon is not big like the cruise ships, so it cannot store months and months of food and fuel. But I won't need it. Hopefully, this will be over in just under two weeks.

Already having adjusted to the wobble of the ship during loading, I take one last look at Erlija and the now-distant airships patrolling above it. Surprisingly, Al had still not left the dock. I wave, expecting the sound of the whip and the turning of the wheels shortly after, but hear nothing. They must be too far away for sound to travel. As the last traces of light disappear from the sky, the ship begins moving. After hovering over the instruments on the ship's dashboard pretending to have an idea how to operate it, I descend into my room on the lower deck. Amidst the dust particles dancing in and out of visibility, I spot that which I had left unread.

When I was young, I had read a story about a girl named Sophie. A young teenager, she sailed across the ocean with her family to live with her grandfather on the other side. Every night, she would tell them a story that she had heard from her grandfather from his childhood. She would tell them stories of books and bridges and beauties, but they always ended with grandfather close to drowning. He would always slip and fall and slide and end up in the water. When they finally meet the grandfather on the other side, he denies having ever ended the stories with such dangerous scenarios. It turns out Sophie's parents were not her real parents but instead her aunt and uncle. Her real parents had drowned at sea.

I temper my expectations of that which I hold in my hands. November was always one to write sappy notes—was it even that? The note's parchment is rough to the touch. Was it deliberate, a designer's choice? Or, perhaps, that was the only thing he had access to at the time. There are two slips of paper, the outer folded in half over the inner to hide its contents. The crease is not sharp. I unbuckle my boots and slide them off, placing them to the side as I prop my back against the pillow on the bed's backboard. I entertain the thought of having a window of the sea on my right. My imagination will have to do.

I take a deep breath.

Aria,

The airships of Erlija should be out of sight already. They're a wonder—truly, I dared not to imagine that its few propellers could keep an entire airship adrift. But the plains! They've always shined brighter for me. I'm not sure when Al would have taken you across, but I hope it wasn't during the day. Trust me, they're a lot prettier in the dark.

Apologies. I had promised myself not to erase anything I wrote, so that introduction will have to do. On one hand, I have given all my most important instructions to Al, whom you've already met. On the other hand, I feel as if getting you to Blackfeather isn't my top priority anymore. Hopefully, it's yours now.

When I think of the ocean, and when I think of you, I can't help but remember those days back in Fonte. As soon as lunch started, I would look for you in the cafeteria. When school ended, I would follow you to the pool. We would wait in the lobby, while you let me play through the Scribblenauts games on your Nintendo DS. And when swim practice ended—our parents would pick us up, and I would pray that I would see you at school tomorrow morning. And I would, lest it be a weekend. But, that Wednesday night, do you remember? When you ran into me by the creek?

That night, I died for the first time.

...

And, so, too, did I.

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sharkiegorath · 6 years

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Ship asks: what ship do you hate the most?

Thank you! :D wow this answer got Away from me yikes

There are plenty of ships I dislike, but not passionately enough to call it hate. (If I find something super morally objectionable, it doesn’t count.) However, there’s a certain portrayal /interpretation that breeds resentment, so I guess it counts as a hated type of ship:

I tend to resent ships strongly portrayed as positive on the grounds of destiny/fate/anything else that’s, idk, spiritual inevitability. Especially if predestined specific relationships aren’t canon in the first place. I usually don’t mind prophecy as a plot device; I don’t mind the concept of a fluid or vague destiny - like, if certain people are ‘meant’ to be in each other’s lives in some way. But ideally, the nature of any ‘destined’ relationship isn’t set in stone.

It’s weird that Family of Choice is such a positive, popular trope, yet Romantic Love of Choice isn’t. I think any type of relationship is more meaningful and narratively powerful when choice is emphasized, instead of static people automatically following - or, worse, surrendering - to what ‘should’ be.

tl;dr fate indelibly tethering people together in highly specific ways is a squicky concept for me. Its prevalence in a ship almost guarantees me backing away, holding a knife, while beeping like a reversing truck. :p

#romance tag #meme things #phantomdivine

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seashellsoldier · 3 years

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“If Then” by Jill Lepore

The phenomenal Jill Lepore, prolific contributor to The New Yorker, chronicles the little-known history of Simulmatics, what will inevitably be the original catalyst for mankind’s eternal misery (sorry, no nuclear reptilian avatar of Gaia will emerge from the sea to wipe humanity from the face of the Earth, though I wish that would be true—that or an titanic asteroid strike). No, it is pocket computers, biometric and behavioral data, and the unregulated internet that is the omnipresent threat.

“The Simulmatics Corporation, Cold War America’s Cambridge Analytica, claimed credit for having gotten John F. Kennedy elected president of the United States in November 1960. Months later, its scientists spend a summer at the beach planning new projects for their invention: a computer program designed to predict and manipulate human behavior, all sorts of human behavior, from buying a dishwasher to countering an insurgency to casting a vote. They called it the People Machine.

Hardly anyone, almost no one, remembers Simulmatics anymore. But beneath that honeycombed dome, the scientists of this long-vanished American corporation helped build the machine in which humanity would, by the twenty-first century, find itself trapped and tormented: stripped bare, driven to distraction, deprived of its senses, interrupted, exploited, directed, connected and disconnected, bought and sold, alienated and coerced, confused, misinformed, and even governed. They never meant to hurt anyone” (p. 10).

The consumer has become the prime commodity in the age of surveillance capitalism fueled by behavioral psychology, a commodity expected to earn some $12.4 billion by 2022 (p. 354), never mind social engineering on societal levels such as China’s “social credit” machination, and the puppeteering of authoritarian despots around the globe. Yet the sheep are willing participants in their own commodification, eating grass while being fleeced.

Lepore is a gifted writer with a flowing narrative style that brings much more into the overarching theme. Read her recent book review of Linda Colley’s The Gun, The Ship, and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions, and Making of the Modern World, highlighting the Achilles heel of our own constitution (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/03/29/when-constitutions-took-over-the-world), and see for yourself. The brink is never far beyond our feet.

The 1960s and early ‘70s truly were a fascinating period of time, one in which so much could have been accomplished for the greater good, and sadly one we seem destined to be mired within its painful reverberations with engrained racism, historic classism, insatiable warmongering, vampiric capitalism, and rabid political tribalism. This book uncovers another dimension of this time period, with the evolution of computers and their fledgling use in analyzing and manipulating human beings. Lepore did an interview with <i>The New Yorker</i> (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/08/03/how-the-simulmatics-corporation-invented-the-future), as well as NPR (https://www.npr.org/2020/09/15/913039402/collect-data-influence-votes-if-then-traces-the-genesis-of-data-driven-politics), for some additional insight.

“Human nature does not follow laws like the law of gravity, and to believe that it does is to take an oath to a new religion. Predestination can be dangerous. The profit-motivated collection and use of data about human behavior, unregulated by any governmental body, has wreaked havoc on human societies, especially on the spheres in which Simulmatics engaged: politics, advertising, journalism, counterinsurgency, and race relations. Its rise also marked the near abandonment of humanistic knowledge” (p. 351).

The wanton greed and reckless wielding of such power by the Goliaths of Amazon, Facebook, Google, many governments, police departments, Big Ag, Big Pharma, Big Oil, and, well, just about everyone else began with a fascinatingly dysfunctional company called Simulmatics in 1959. This is that story, but the saga is ongoing and the GOP seeks to control that power, as Adam Serwer summarizes (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/dont-buy-conservative-rebellion-against-corporations/618519/):

“Like the Republican turn against democracy, the newfound opposition to the market fundamentalism that conservatives once espoused and the free-speech principles they pretended to revere is superficial and contingent. Free speech, democracy, and free-market capitalism were fine as long as Republicans could expect victory in these arenas. But with public opinion shifting against them on key priorities, their focus has now turned to rigging the rules of the game to their advantage rather than winning over a larger share of the public. They do not seek to achieve a more equitable distribution of either money or power, but to ensure that the present inequities work to their political advantage.

An irony is that the era with which the right is enraptured was in part a product of a set of mid-century economic arrangements—higher taxes on the wealthy, greater union density, stronger regulations—that the left is attempting to restore, in some form, while including a novel commitment to racial and gender equality. Republicans have no interest in curtailing corporate power in this fashion—not when they believe that power could be used to reimpose a diminished cultural hegemony. These so-called populist Republicans do not wish to throw the one ring into Mount Doom; they simply want to wield it on their own behalf” (the emphasis is mine). We need to rage against this machine.

#Rage Against the Machine

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iishipallthethings · 6 years

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The Wager Chapter 1

Story Summary: Another Day of the Dead is finally here. La Muerte goes to the land of the living and is shocked to see Maria, the jewel of the town, unsatisfied with her marriage with Manolo. Another wager is struck and La Muerte finds herself falling hard for a human. 1 year after movie! Main ship: Maria X La Muerte (kind of slow burn) but there is another :)

It was a clear night that was brightened by thousands of candles. Families gathered around various tombstones as they placed plates overflowing with food for their ancestors. Small children ran and screamed in delight as they chased one another in a game of tag. Adults bowed their heads and prayed, feeling their deceased family come up from the Land of the Remembered to visit them for that one night out of the year. All around were smiles and celebrating. Everything was so colorful and lively in a field filled with death.

La Muerte smiled from her spot on the roof of the church as she watched a dog join in the game of tag with the children. She laughed behind a raised hand as one of the children had tried to tag the dog, succeeding only when he baited the creature with a churro. The poor thing was confused as the children ran away from it, but after a moment it barked in joy as it chased the one who had tagged him. La Muerte suspected that it was more out of the desire to get more churros than the joy of playing the game.

A scoff was heard from behind her. "Really my dear. Why do you find such squealing creatures amusing?"

The smile only grew but she kept her eyes on the game of tag as she answered the presence behind her. "Come now Xibalba, it is the Day of the Dead. The children are only celebrating the only way they know. They're living."

A humph was her only reply and La Muerte turned her head to look at her husband. Xibalba leaned against his two headed snake staff, his eyes watching the children with a look akin to puzzlement. La Muerte giggled at the expression and got up from her sitting position. She more floated than walked to his side and entwined their arms. She felt Xibalba tense for a moment before leaning into her touch with a barely audible sigh of content.

"I simply do not understand the appeal to children. They screech like a banshee if they get a scraped knee, they need to be constantly looked after, and they know nothing of manners." Xibalba shook his head in distaste as his black wings ruffled behind him.

"They also smile at even the most simplest of gestures, they are so filled with potential, and they do not know of the hardships of this world," La Muerte replied. When Xibalba grunted in disagreement, she reached up with her free hand and stroked his face in a way that would make him agree with anything she said. She smirked at the way he followed her hand when she began to pull it away.

"See mi amor, children aren't so bad." She nodded towards the group who were now sharing food with one another. They gave the dog most of the food and the creature's tail would not stop wagging. La Muerte smiled at the scene and with a discreet wave of her hand, a bone appeared in front of the dog. It yipped in shock at the sudden appearance of magic but quickly dove for the treat. The children were thankfully too busy talking to one another to notice the bone manifesting.

"Hmm," Xibalba hummed noncommittally, still dazed by La Muerte's display of affection. He smiled at his wife, completely unaware of his surroundings.

La Muerte laughed as she rolled her eyes. He is simply too easy, she said in her head. Her eyes wandered back over the festivities. After a second, she focused on a statue of a man a little ways away from the main part of the cemetery. She knew that the statue was not there a year prior and wondered for a moment who it could possibly be. The statue was very short and had some sort of round body that indicated the man had a hunchback when he was alive. She tilted her head to the side as she saw a figure dressed in black bow its head and bend over to rest a bouquet in front of the statue's feet. The figure was very much unlike the other people, this one preferring silence and gloom rather than celebration.

"Maria?" La Muerte knew that the young woman's father had passed recently and that the town and had made him a statue as a tribute to his dedication to the safety of San Angel. She glanced at Xibalba who finally realized where he was and was now watching the woman as well.

Together, they materialized into a cloud of magic to get a better spot: La Muerte a breeze of marigold pedals; Xibalba an inky shadow.

They stopped on top of a dome of some mausoleum. They paid their respect to the ancestors by making flowers spring out of the ground around the stone building, or rather La Muerte did. Xibalba only scoffed at the irritated ancestors. With one glare, he forced the dead to back away without any more complaints.

La Muerte frowned at her husband and turned her attention back to Maria.

Maria smiled sadly at the statue. "Hola Papa. It's me, Maria. I'm sorry that I haven't come to see you as often as I probably should but-" she paused as she wiped some tears from her eyes. "Oh papa," she cried, "I-I think I made a mistake in marrying Manolo."

La Muerte and Xibalba shared a shocked glance before looking back at the grieving woman. Neither of them were expecting this.

"I j-just don't l-love him and I know he d-doesn't love me," Maria sobbed. She angrily wiped away the tears before she continued. "I just - oh papa I'm so al-alone!"

La Muerte felt sympathy for the young woman; from the sound of her voice, she guessed that Maria was holding this in for a long time. She glanced at her husband. Xibalba looked uncomfortable as he witnessed the woman's break down. Strangely, he was the first to say anything.

"Come mi amor, let her have her peace." He turned away and morphed into a cloud of inky shadow, zooming his way back to the church roof.

La Muerte prepared to follow his lead but someone coughed to get her attention. She looked down to see the ghost of General Posada looking pleadingly up at her. "Please my lady, can I tell mi hija that I am with her?"

La Muerte smiled sadly and shook her head. "We do not belong in this world, Dali Posada. We can allow them to feel our presence for this day but they cannot see us. I'm sorry." And she meant it. She knew that Maria only wanted some company but she could not bend the laws again. Not so soon after last year.

Posada gazed at his weeping daughter and sniffed. "If I ever get my hands on that boy, I'll-" He stopped talking and walked over to Maria, placing a hand on a shuddering shoulder that will not be felt. He looked back at La Muerte. "Surely you can do something? My child does not deserve such pain."

La Muerte thought for a moment and sighed. "Life can be really hard for the living. I swear that I will see if I can do anything to ease her burden." She bowed her head. "Goodbye General Posada."

She did not wait to hear the dead man's words. She left in a cloud of marigold flowers and materialized next to Xibalba. She noticed that the god was looking anywhere but the direction of Maria. She placed a hand on his arm. "Are you okay, Xibalba?" she asked.

"You seem saddened by the girl's predicament," he said carefully. He still did not look at her.

La Muerte furrowed her brow. "And you are not?" She looked down at the celebrating people. "It is our fault that she is feeling the pain she is now."

It was Xibalba's turn to look confused. "How so?"

"That wager we made long ago, about who will take Maria's hand in marriage. Perhaps we shouldn't have." La Muerte sighed, her shoulders sagging under the sudden weight of her actions.

Xibalba raised his eyebrows in shock. "Even if we hadn't, Manolo would have married the girl. It was inevitable," he reasoned.

La Muerte shook her head after considering the god's words. "We can never know for sure though. We interfered with their lives, used them as pawns for some stupid bet! Xibalba, what if Maria was never meant to marry either of those two boys?" She looked at Maria's silhouette in shame and panic. "We could have very well robbed her of her chance at True Love."

Xibalba did not look convinced. "Who could she possibly have married if it wasn't Manolo or Joaquin? Face it dear, you are simply too excitable these days."

La Muerte frowned at the lack of sympathy from the lord of the Land of the Forgotten. She knew that the time he spent ruling such a wasteland had hardened his heart but she could not believe he was acting so callous.

He seemed to notice the change of mood with his wife as Xibalba cleared his throat a moment later. "What I meant to say is, the girl would most likely have wound up with one of the boys. I bet you that if we were to take a look at the Book of Life then it would have clearly shown Manolo and Maria getting married!"

La Muerte looked appalled and Xibalba retreated a step, ashamed of himself as if he brought up a taboo subject. After a moment La Muerte shrugged her shoulders as she looked over at Maria, the burst of anger giving way to sadness. "We will never know now," she said. "Manolo erased his predestined story and wrote his own. Because of us."

Xibalba's eyes darted from one family to another down below as he thought of a way to cheer up his wife. A fleeting thought entered his mind of telling La Muerte that some people do not have stories set in stone for them but threw it out a moment later. This will only serve to make her more upset. He smiled suddenly when an idea came to his mind. "Are you so sure about that?" he said, his voice becoming as smooth as honey.

La Muerte glanced at him, her face warning him to think his words very carefully. She knew that tone of voice and when he spoke like that, he wanted to-

"How about we have another little wager?"

- have a bet of some sort. She scowled at the smiling god, the candles that adorned her dress and sombrero flaring up and her eyes glowing with the force of a small sun. "I just told you that we should have never made that wager and you ask me for another one." Her words were calm but her eyes did not lose their luminescence.

Xibalba smiled, apparently unaffected by his wife's display of displeasure. "Yes. I wager that you cannot make that girl happy again."

La Muerte narrowed her eyes, not believing what she had just heard. She barely noticed that the flames of her candles receded to their natural height and her eyes dimmed to their normal luminescence. "What did you just say?"

Xibalba's smile grew. "I said I bet that you cannot make that Maria girl happy again."

She thought over the words, wary to the fact that she was starting to like this idea of Xibalba's. "And if I do?"

His smile turned triumphant. "If you win then," he trailed off, thinking of something not that important for him to lose but something that would keep his wife interested. He frowned when he found the perfect gamble. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he decided.

This is to make her happy, he thought.

"If you win then I will not interfere with the lives of men. For only one century mind you!" he added hastily.

La Muerte blinked slowly as Xibalba told her of her possible winnings. "You swear? No meddling with the affairs of men for an entire century?"

The god nodded, making sure that his wife knew just how reluctant he was.

"And if I lose?"

Xibalba's smile returned however it turned much darker. "Then I get the Land of the Remembered!" La Muerte's eyes narrowed as the flames rose up warningly. "I'm only kidding mi amor! If I win then you must allow me to at least go to one of your Day of the Dead fiestas."

La Muerte smiled as she held out a hand. "I will do you one even better. If I lose, then you can visit me every Day of the Dead and we can enjoy the endless fiestas together."

Xibalba chuckled and shook hands with his wife. "That my dear, sounds most wonderful. Good luck." He vanished away without another word, leaving La Muerte alone on the church's roof.

She shook her head in amusement before calming down. She stepped off of the roof, a cloud of marigolds making steps for her. She reached the ground and began to walk towards Maria and her father's grave. None of the people even glanced at her, she was invisible to them. When she passed a fountain, she glanced at the wall of water flowing down to meet the pool below.

No longer was she La Muerte. She was now Mary Beth. Her glowing eyes became baby blue and her long, curvy black hair turned into straight red hair that ended at her waist. Her traditional dress and hat also changed. Instead of a red dress, she wore a white shirt hidden under a blue jacket that highlighted her eyes and a white skirt that showed off her legs and black heels.

Mary made her way over to Maria and hesitated at the mausoleum. She took a deep breath before resuming her march.

Maria sniffed and did not look at the figure that was approaching her. "Manolo please, I just want to be left alone," she said with another sniff.

"I'm sorry but who is Manolo?"

Maria stiffened and looked at the woman who was watching her curiously. She rubbed the tears from her eyes and stood up. "I'm sorry, I thought you were my husband." Her breath caught on the word 'husband' and she turned her head so the stranger did not see her watery eyes.

Mary looked at the statue Maria was staring at. "He looks like a hero," she commented.

Maria smiled weakly at the other woman. "He was," she whispered. Tears pricked at her eyes but she would not allow them to fall in front of someone she did not know.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Mary said softly. She took a step closer and glanced to the left of Maria where her father stood watching them. The man looked like he did not like this turn of events but did not voice his opinion. "Can you feel him?"

Maria hesitated before shaking her head. "No. I think he might not have shown up today. He's probably disappointed in me." She blushed as she realized that she had told a complete stranger something extremely personal.

"How are you so sure?"

Maria glanced at the strange woman who had turned her head to stare at the statue. "That's none of your business." She was shocked at how cold her voice sounded.

Mary was surprised as well. She turned her head to stare at the younger woman, as if she could not believe that Maria would have the audacity to talk to her like that. Maria saw a glimmer of something that looked like admiration but she could not tell for sure. Mary nodded in understanding. "I'm sorry for prying. It's just that I just arrived here and I have no idea where anything is or who anyone is. If you like, I can leave you to grieve in peace. Although, if I may, I believe that your father would prefer if you celebrate who he was in life."

Mary turned to walk away from Maria but felt a soft hand touch her shoulder.

"No wait. I'm sorry that I snapped at you." Maria looked ashamed as she looked at the ground. "Today is the first Day of the Dead without my papa."

Mary turned around and offered a sad smile. "It gets better." She nodded towards the statue. "He doesn't seem like the kind of man who would be ashamed of his daughter."

Maria smiled but it did not reach her eyes. "I hope so. I really do." She ran her hands across her dress to buy herself some time to think of something to say. "You mentioned that you were new right?" Mary nodded with a smile. "Well, how about I show you around tomorrow as an apology?"

Mary looked confused for a moment. "You already apologized and besides, it was my fault. I shouldn't have intruded on your private moment."

Maria shook her head. "Don't worry about it. It would be my pleasure to show you around San Angel." The little light in her eyes dimmed as she added. "It would get my mind off of some things too."

Mary nodded and felt a little concerned at Maria's attitude. "Okay, where do you want to meet?"

Maria asked, "Do you know where the town's fountain is?" Mary nodded. "Great! We'll meet up there at noon."

Mary smiled a small smile. "Until then," she said. She turned around and began to walk away. After leaving Maria's eyesight, she turned back into La Muerte. She dashed to the church's roof top before anyone could see that she was there. She looked at the direction of Maria and felt relieved when the young woman did not seem to start crying again. She felt excitement bubble up inside her and she found that she could not wait until tomorrow.

The bet was on.

#thewager #book of life #maria posada #la muerte

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continentalholidayss · 3 years

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A Brief History Of Kochi

Kochi is the commercial capital of Kerala. Kochi survived lot of natural and human attacks in the past to reach the a status of today. Here is the brief summary of the kochi's history. the Portuguese, Dutch, English men all played their part in the development of Kochi.

History of Kochi

The plane dips in almost sensuous surrender to the velvety thickness of green at Kochi airport. There is wetness to the dawn air. For Kerala, perennially verdant land in south west India, is nature blessed country. The rains comes twice a year, unrestrained and swollen with a restless energy that transforms the countryside into a blaze of fierce green. Kochi lies there glittering in the sun, swept by surf of Arabian sea, a pretty mosaic of old colonial bungalows, pristine white churches, old Jewish Synagogues, a scattering of islands and mysterious spice streets. India's most romantic port city.

Muziri's Era of Kochi

The year was 1341 A.D, when as a result of heavy floods in river Periyar, the mouth of ancient port Muziris got silted up. This grand old port, was hailed as the 'Premium Emporium indiae' since the early centuries of the Christian era. A Tamil poet of the Sangam Age describes it as "…the thriving town of muchri, where the beautiful great ships of yavanas bringing gold, come splashing the white foam on the waters of Periyar which belong to Chera King…and return laden with pepper." Paranar in his 'Puranauru' also refers to the brisk trade of pepper at muzris- "Sacks of pepper are brought from the market. The gold received from ships in exchange for articles sold is brought on shore in barges at Muchiri, where the music of the surging never ceases…" Merchants flocked here from lands as distant as Bagdad, Byzantine and Moorish Cordova. It was here that St.Thomas the Apostle came first with his message of Christianity, it was to Muziris that the Jews fled for refuge after the final destruction of Jerusalem, it was at Muzris thet India's first Mosque was built. But now with flooding of Periyar, Muziris lost her former glory. Deprived of her natural harbor, and with a restless monsoon washing away her bulwarks, she lost her trade and her people. The discipline into insignificance was bulwarks; she lost her trade and her people. The discipline into insignificance was inevitable.

Kingdom of Kochi

In the same upheaval, anew natural harbor was formed that came to called Cochazhi or Kochi in common parlance, and Cochin in the English Language. In no time Kochi came to be recognized as one of the India's finest and safe ports. The fall of Muziris coincide with Kochi's rise. It enjoyed so much prosperity that its only rival was Kozhikode. Eventually the royal family shifted their capital to Kochi and the seal on its political importance.

Rulers of Kingdom of Kochi

1. Unni Raman Koyil - 11 (1503–1537) 2. Veera Kerala Varma (1537 – 65) 3. Keshava Ramavarma (1565–1601) 4. Veerakerala Varma (1601 – 15) 5. Ravivarma (1615 – 24) 6. Veera Kerala Varma (1624–1637 ) 7. Godhavarma (1637 – 45 ) 8. Veera Rayira Varma (1645 – 46 ) 9. Veerakerala Varma (1645 – 50 ) 10. Ramavarma ( 1650 – 56 ) 11. Rani Gangadhara Lakshmi ( 1656 – 58 ) 12. Ramavarma ( 1658 – 62 ) 13. Godhavarma ( 1662 – 63 ) 14. Veera Kerala Varma(1663–1687) 15. Rama Varma (1687–1693) 16. Ravi Varma (1693–1697) 17. Rama Varma (1697–1701) 18. Rama Varma (1701–1721) 19. Ravi Varma (1721–1731) 20. Rama Varma (1731–1746) 21. Veera Kerala Varma (1746–1749) 22. Rama Varma (1749–1760) 23. Veera Kerala Varma (1760–1775) 24. Rama Varma (1775–1790) 25. Rama Varma(SHAKTAN THAMPURAN 26. Rama Varma(1864–1888) 27. Ravi Varma(1943–1946) 28. Kerala Varma(1946–1948)

The Portuguese in Kochi(1503-1663)

Caesar Frederick, merchant of Venice described Kochi as "the chief place that the Portugal's have in the Indies next to Goa…Out of the kingdom of Kochi properly they carry away them into Portugal great abundance of pepper, great quantities of ginger, dried and conserved wild cinnamon, good quality of areca, great store of cordage of catire made of the bark of tree of great nut, and better than that hemp, of which they carry great store in to Portugal."

Dutch era of Kochi

The Dutch who captured Kochi from the Portuguese in 1663, contributed greatly to the place and its trade, while also building some very fine guys, houses and bastions for the port.

English Period (1814 — 1947)

A tough old war horse, Kochi was survivor of thousand battles between the feuding kings of Kerala as well of deliberate sabotage attempts by the colonial powers, as for example the British who blew up the finest buildings, quays, the fort and the magnificent Portuguese Cathedral of Santa Cruz in 1806 in their bid to establish the supremacy in the power struggle.

Post Independence era

By the 19th century, the winds of nationalistic were sweeping across the land and Kochi played her predestined part in the revolution. History took its due cause until Indian independence in 1947. Kochi was integrated with Travancore to form the new state of Travancore- Kochi in 1949. And on the first November of 1956, when the states of Indian Union were re-organized on the linguistic basis, Malabar district was added to Travancore-Kochi, and thus the modern state of Kerala came being.

Today's smart kochi

Today the Kochi with its twin Ernakulum, comprises the middle section of the Kerala, and continues to be a commercial entrepot for merchants dealing in cashew nut, coir, tea, coffee, rubber, timer, sea food, spices and most important pepper. As it happens, Kerala pepper is the largest foreign exchange earner among India's cash crops. It is a busy city, a commercial centre with any number of office, housing blocks, modern supermarkets and luxury hotels. Yet Kochi wears its patina of sophistication thinly. Beneath it is the same respect for tradition, the same passionate love for the soil that marks the rest of Kerala

#Kochin_History

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thebibliomancer · 6 years

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Essential Avengers: Avengers Annual #7 + Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2

December, 1977

A joyous various winter type time period for you and yours!

Due to these issues issues coincidentally falling in December and also wanting to get back to the main book as soon as possible, I’m doubling up issues in this post. It’s a Yule-esque miracle, perhaps.

I wanted to get this out last Friday but I couldn’t make it in time before I had to visit my family for pre-Christmas.

Anyway, lets get into it.

The Avengers and Captain Marvel and some jerk named Adam Warlock team up to fight Thanos.

We’ve seen this before but the Avengers got kicked off the field so Drax and Captain Marvel got to hog all the Thanos to themselves. Maybe they’ll get their asses beat by him personally this time.

Dangit, maybe I should have saved this for when Infinity War came out? Eh. I can always cover Infinity Gauntlet. Its Avengers-adjacent.

Without further ado, let us commence without stealing someone’s catchphrase.

We start with Adam Warlock being moody and in space, the two prime facets of his character.

In brief, Adam Warlock was created by evil scientists to be the Perfect Man. He was then beaten near death by Thor and went back to his cocoon. Later, the High Evolutionary named him Warlock, gave him the Soul Gem, and sent him to Counter-Earth to become its champion where he gained the name Adam. Then he became involved in a predestination paradox with his evil future self the Magus and had to murder himself in the future to prevent his evil future self from existing. Thanos helped with this for his own nefarious purposes.

Warlock has been tracking Thanos, following the trail of destruction as it were. But he finds Gamora, Thanos’ most faithful servant.

Gamora is a lot different than in the movies. For one thing, she’s dying.

She discovered his secret plan of Stellar Genocide to wipe out all life and so he left her for dead.

Gamora: “He’s quite mad, you know.”

She says, master of understatement.

Gamora also reveals that the only person Thanos fears is... ADAM WARLOCK.

Warlock swears he’ll hunt down Thanos. But he won’t do it alone. bwoop. His forehead jewel eats Gamora’s soul. As it do.

He also scream exposits at no-one that he thought Thanos was a friend but Chaos and Order whispered to him while he slept that Thanos was a betrayer and also that Warlock is the Champion of Life, the natural foe to Thanos, Champion of Death.

Usually its worrying when voices tell you not to trust your friends but Warlock is kind of intense so I won’t tell him if you won’t.

Shouting into the void done, Warlock heads off to Earth. Which is a good segue for the Avengers portion of this Avengers Annual.

It is a dark and stormy night. Iron Man is brooding by the window. Scarlet Witch is trying to get Vision to go talk to him. And Beast has revised his policy on kissing and telling with Cap apparently into it.

Scarlet Witch finally convinces Vision to talk to Iron Man by basically saying they’re the same kind of stubborn stoic jerk who hides their emotions and Vision is like fine geez good logic.

Iron Man doesn’t really have an answer to give though. He just has a foreboding feeling.

Iron Man: “It’s just that ever since I arrived here tonight, I’ve had this unexplainable feeling of danger -- of forces at play about me. I don’t want to be here but I can’t bring myself to leave!”

Captain Marvel: “That’s because you are meant to be here this night, just as we are.”

CAPTAIN MARVEL (not those ones) AND MOONDRAGON!

Coming in through the window. And dripping on the carpet. Because fuck politeness, amirite?

It took all of my willpower to not edit this panel to have Tony say “Iron nipples... rigid! They sense danger!”

Because why would you choose that panel and pose to detail his chest dials?

I wonder how awkward it is for Iron Man and Moondragon to be in the same room. He was kind of an ass to her the majority of the short time she was on the team. And then she sabotaged his new roster by quitting and then convincing Thor and Hellcat to also quit.

Maybe that’s why it seems like they’re glaring at each other. Or perhaps Tony is just mad she’s taller than him.

Anyway, weird feelings are going around because Captain Marvel and Moondragon were also drawn to the mansion with a premonition that their powers would be needed.

This same premonition must have also drawn part-time Avenger Thor here.

‘No, I just wanted to hear stories about Beast’s love life. Now was this hair curling an euphemism or did grooming serve as foreplay in this encounter?’ Thor might have said.

Okay. Maybe I’m curious. Don’t judge me.

Anyway, the Avengers and guests ponder what kind of horror might be approaching that would need such an assemblage to stop.

A few hundred light-years away, a Playstation rendered TIE Fighter shoots a beam at a star and then the star kerplooies.

And a few hundred light-years back, Moondragon feels millions of voices cry out in terror and then were suddenly silenced.

I’m not being flippant. She basically Obi-wans.

Beast is being flippant. Doing card tricks and laughing off the idea of psychic screams and talking winds. This from the guy who was on a team with Professor X and Jean Grey. Won’t be laughing once Jean pulls the same shit on a different star, I tell you that.

He also won’t be laughing right now because Adam Warlock appears out of nowhere just to sass Beast.

I truly believe Adam Warlock’s true superpower is drama. He’s even got his own weird speech bubble quirk.

Anyway, he’s another person for this assemblage. But he also brings word of their common foe: THANOS.

Apparently it was supposed to be sort of a surprise? They haven’t said his name until now but if you’ve read any of the stuff Adam Warlock appeared in you’d recognize that Gamora worked for Thanos and the distinctive shape of Thanos’ ship, which is not actually a poorly rendered TIE Fighter. Its actually much bigger.

If you haven’t read any of the previous Adam Warlock stuff well then sucks to be you. He’s barely introduced here in this Avengers book.

But Thanos? Thanos gets a whole page of recap and introduction. By Adam Warlock. His best frenemy.

What’s weird is that apparently everyone is making faces like ‘yeah we know all this already’ and Warlock sees those faces but just keeps plunging on anyway.

So yeah we get through the stuff where he turned into a giant wireframe head in space and Captain Marvel chopped a Cosmic Cube to bits.

Now apparently Thanos is one of those villains who doesn’t think they could possibly lose but sets up some contingencies just in case. See also: Ultron.

Being ungodded left Thanos floating helplessly in space. And apparently he can breath in space. But then his not TIE-ship retrieved him and he began scheming anew.

But here’s the problem (from Thanos’ perspective): Death abandoned him for his failure. So he decided he needed a grand romantic gesture to win her back. Aka: where most of Thanos’ horrible atrocities start.

And on a scroll from a dead world, he found his answer. And the answer is what his answer always is. Gathering the six shiny things.

Yup.

This is the first time Thanos gathers the Soul Gems. Later to be called Infinity Gems once Thanos in a later story realizes he kind of underestimated them.

Actually the Infinity Gems got a bit of play before they were revealed to be Collect Them All Become God powerful. The Elders once tried to use them to kill Galactus because they were mad he was older than they were.

We get a brief montage of Thanos retrieving all the Gems. Stealing one from the Stranger, liberating another from a prison satellite, finding one in a cave, getting one as an epic drop from killing a monster named Xiambor, and finding one on the Moon because of course there’s one on the Moon.

The final one he was afraid to make a grab for because it was Adam Warlock’s Soul Gem and could steal Souls.

Instead, Thanos pretended to be his friend, worked together with him to defeat Warlock’s evil future self Magus because comics, and secretly siphoned off some energy from Warlock’s forehead bling without Warlock even knowing.

And then he transferred those energies and the energies of the other five Gems into a giant synthetic Gem. A truly, truly outrageous plan.

Truly a better telling of how he collected six things then the full miniseries that preceded Infinity Gauntlet and was just Thanos being smarter, stronger and more handsome than anyone else ever. I heard Thanos was shredded. I heard he had an eight pack. Etc.

When Gamora discovered that he planned on blowing up every star, she tried to backstab him but she was no match alas.

So most of this exposition Warlock learned by eating her soul with his forehead.

Meanwhile, hundreds of light years away, Pip the Troll arrives at Thanos’ Sanctuary ship to pay the “old gang” a visit. Nobody seems to be home so Pip loudly talks to himself, objectifying Gamora and insulting Thanos and basically digging himself into a hole.

I mean, in fairness, Thanos would have killed him either way. Now that he doesn’t need to pretend to be nice to Warlock, there’s no need to be civil to Pip either.

Lets just assume that something bad happens off-screen. Because we are changing scenes again.

So we have Thanos a) doing something crazy as a grand romantic gesture for Death and b) gathering several powerful gems. What’s next on our Thanos bingo game?

Invading Earth with a giant space armada? -checks- Yup.

And its such a giant space armada its twice the size of the giant Skrull armada from the Kree-Skrull War. These imaginary numbers are way bigger than those imaginary numbers!

(How does Thanos keep getting people to sign up with him if he inevitably leads them to their deaths and then laughs at them??)

The Avengers prepare to go fight an entire space armada by themselves again (seriously, start building space defenses, the Earth). And Adam Warlock just skips out without so much as a goodbye.

As the heroes prepare to go into battle we get some good character beats from each of them. And they each kind of lead into each other. Its good stuff.

Moondragon ponders how Thanos always shatters any peace she finds. Later on down the line, he even interrupts a date with her girlfriend. Thanos is the worst. Anyway, he also killed her family and caused her to be adopted by Mentor of Titan so really he’s always been screwing up her life.

Iron Man grapples with fear. He’s going to fight Thanos for a fourth time and wonders if he should have his head examined. Each time he’s fought Thanos he barely survived. And the last time the Avengers fought Thanos, they were only able to thwart his schemes. They didn’t even fight the man. Are the Avengers just heading for an unmarked grave among the stars?

(Maybe I should have saved this for Infinity War, geez)

Captain Marvel ponders how little they truly know about Thanos. And also he hugged Death and still lives. Whats the deal with that?

Thor is just thinking ‘man its about time I get to deck this Thanos fellow in the face.’

Vision wondering if decking Thanos will even win the day. Thanos is in effect a mutant demi-god. Because apparently the Titans of Titan are an evolved offshoot of the gods of Olympus. Which I guess makes Hercules and Thanos related? And also, wuh?

Captain America wishes they had more information about Thanos’ firepower and plans. But also suspects that Warlock knew more than he let on. Which will continue to be Cap’s frustration every time he ever works with Adam Warlock, who tends to use the superheroes of Marvel as disposable pawns in his inscrutable chess games.

Beast wonders who Adam Warlock even is. He was skeptical about this whole thing until he looked in Warlock’s eyes, the eyes of someone who has seen life, death, and infinity.

Scarlet Witch though is thinking that Adam Warlock is totally evil and that he and his Soul Gem could one day prove to be their foe.

And hey. She isn’t even wrong. Because Adam Warlock’s Evil side the Magus tries to take over the universe. And his ostensible Good side? She tries to KILL EVERYONE.

I sometimes think Adam Warlock only ever falls mostly on the side of good because of spite against people that side with evil.

And then the time for pondering ends. GIANT SPACE FLEET.

God. What a spread.

The Avengers really should start evolving their strategies against massive space invasions because the plan is still to send Thor and Iron Man out the airlock to dogfight spaceships individually while the Avengers’ shuttlecraft makes a run for Thanos’s H-shaped flagship.

A massive laser cannon aimed at space would be really helpful right now but some jerk time traveler never lets us have one.

Oh. And this is kind of a suicide mission. In that the Avengers looked at the odds and thought welp we’re boned. And decided to snatch victory from the jaws of numerical disadvantage anyway even in dying.

Wait, where the shit is Wonder Man? He usually has something to say about the Avengers grimly and dutifully marching off to their deaths. Usually of the ‘I wish that were me I me I don’t want to die but I do kind of want to retain dignity while I rush into death anyway.’

Anyway. Thor starts breaking space stuff FOR MIDGARD! FOR ASGARD! FOR LIFE! while Iron Man... has to be more indirect. Since repulsors are laser punches, he uses them to redirect the enemy’s ionic rays back into their allies.

Although if you think about it, hitting a spaceship going as fast as it is with a punch laser would probably punch a hole in the hull. No sense putting an extra step into it.

And technically with no sound in space, this would be more accurate:

Just Thor loudly screaming nothing as aliens asphyxiate.

Anyway.

With exactly two people running distraction (even though Captain Marvel can also fly through space I guess they need to keep some muscle to fight Thanos), the Avengers reach Sanctuary II.

Creating a kind of seal with the bomb bay doors somehow, Captain Marvel blasts a hole in the hull.

Beast: “I imagine a small army of aliens is waiting below to massacre us.”

Captain America: “So what are we waiting for, Avengers? LET’S GO!”

Nice.

Just wading hip deep into an army of alien malcontents. Now that’s cosmic.

If Avengers: Infinity War doesn’t have Vision fist a crocodile man, then the Marvel Cinematic Universe has failed.

Anyway, the Avengers do their Avenger things. Beast acrobats around and makes the wise-cracks.

Vision just stands still and lets someone shoot through him. As I get further and further into this liveblog I realize more and more how much Vision can just passively win battles and realize where Wonder Man got the idea from during his pacifism phase.

Scarlet Witch does a probability hex at a pig/bug/devil alien wearing no pants but wearing boots and a belt and bling to make his gun hand explode.

Moondragon smugly asserts that she needs no help. And she also reaches an armament control panel so she can turn the Sanctuary II’s guns against the rest of the fleet.

Also, there’s a giant cyborg space ape named QU’LAR THE MASSIVE.

He lasts for exactly two panels before Captain Marvel tells him to sit on it and possibly ruptures every one of Qu’lar’s organs.

Related to this, it strikes Captain Marvel that things have been a bit too... easy. It was too easy to get through the Sanctuary II’s hull. Too easy to reach it in the first place. And too easy to beat up Thanos’ forces.

If Thanos wanted to stop them, wouldn’t he be throwing worse at them?

He barges into the ship’s central section expecting the other shoe to drop.

Oh hey. Its empty. Well, except for Adam Warlock and Pip the Troll.

Adam Warlock: “His name was Pip, and he was my friend. Perhaps my only friend. He was joy and light to my darkness and damnation. He was unique among the heavens... and Thanos destroyed his mind and left him for me to find. First Gamora, now Pip. All about me those I love are falling. This cannot be allowed to go on. Nor, by my Gem, shall it!”

And Adam Warlock om nom noms Pip the Troll’s soul.

Alas, Pip. You were. Someone who existed. And who I have no strong feelings about at all. I guess Warlock’s Good side trying to kill everyone makes more sense if Pip was his idea of joy and light.

Anyway, by eating Pip’s soul, Warlock now knows what Thanos is really up to. Because Thanos did the villain thing and monologued his plans before destroying Pip’s brains. And Warlock absorbed that knowledge when he ate his soul.

So why did Thanos brag about his plans and then leave Pip’s husk for Warlock to find and learn from? Shrug. Thanos planting the seeds to his own destruction is ridiculously common even at this point. Its why he becomes a farmer later. He got so much experience with planting.

Anyway, Thanos is in an exact replica of his ship (Sanctuary III?) on the other side of the sun. The flagship and the fleet and all was just a distraction.

Of course, the fleet lured the Avengers out here in the first place. If he had just snuck up on the sun and destroyed it, he might have gotten away with it. More seed planting, perhaps.

But even as Warlock and Marvel approach the apparent real Sanctuary II, it fires its Starkiller at the Sun and starts suncrushing it.

The Sun goes red and purple and begins to flare. Eight minutes later, some astronomers are really going to freak.

But not if Captain Marvel has anything to say about it! He full-speed rams into the ion-laser projector that Thanos’ big synthetic Soul Gem was housed on.

I mean, maybe aim for the big gem next time, Marv?

Because Thanos is like oh darn I guess I’ll just replace the projector and get back to murdering stars?

Then Adam Warlock finally catches up and proclaims that he’s going to kill Thanos.

He gets one punch in before Thanos counterattacks and mortally wounds Warlock.

And since he’s dying anyway, Thanos asks if he’ll rely a message to Death.

Thanos: “Tell her I follow shortly behind you, bringing an offering of undreamed of magnitude... the stars!”

-Warlock plops to the ground, probably not going to deliver that message at all-

Thanos actually seems kind of disappointed on how smoothly this is going. He expected the Champion of Life to be more of a challenge.

THEN THOR AND IRON MAN BURST IN

Because its just one thing after another with heroes.

While Thor and Thanos exchange fisticuffs and... hammercuffs? Iron Man decides to attack the big shiny thing. Because he for one knows you attack the weak point for massive damage.

With the giant synthetic Soul Gem decided, Thanos’ plans and his chance to regain his love’s favor have been thwarted.

He teleports away, vowing that they’ve earned his enmity and will have few remaining minutes of life.

But I’m sure that everything is fine and will continue to be fine forever.

So now what?

Captain Marvel wakes up, probably with a horrible headache, after his face first tour of Thanos’ projector. And he sees Warlock talking to Warlock?

Whaaaaaaaaaat?

Okay, so context. In the Adam Warlock comic, Adam Warlock traveled into the future to absorb his own soul to keep his future self from becoming his evil future self the Magus.

In-universe, this only happened months ago. And also right now.

But the months have felt like an eternity to Adam Warlock as everything he has ever loved or accomplished has fallen to ruin or died. His whole life has been a failure and he welcomes its end.

So Adam Warlock om nom noms his own soul.

And goes back to his present to live out the events that will lead him to getting his soul eaten by himself.

All the while having the soul of Adam Warlock inside and outside the soul gem.

COSMIC!

Having watched this all, Captain Marvel is mostly confused. As is anyone else who didn’t read the Adam Warlock series.

Even with Thanos’ plan to kersplode the sun thwarted, his forces still prove a threat so Thor, Marvel, and Iron Man decide to head back over to the fake Sanctuary II to help the other Avengers.

What to do with Adam Warlock’s body? Eh. Leave it. He’s at peace now. And he’ll peacefully rot in space. Probably like he always dreamed.

Or maybe give him a proper burial?

Throughout Marvel’s conversation with the two Avengers, a green-hued Warlock has been coming to terms with life after death.

Being absorbed into the Soul Gem means being reunited with everyone it has eaten. Gamora. Pip. Some other people probably from Adam Warlock’s own mag. And the realm within the Soul Gem is a land of peace where all can live as one and share a collective memory and heart.

A land where hearts are an open book, where understanding is bred, and the ego is muted. In the Soul Gem there can only be love.

Not bad for a piece of jewelry normally portrayed as evil and voracious.

So a happy ending for Adam Warlock. And a happy ending for the Sun. And a happy ending for the Avengers who decided that they’re not doing any corpse disposal. Happy ending for everyone except Thanos whose grand romantic gesture was thwarted and the idiots he always manages to inspire to follow him who are getting their teeth punched in by the Avengers.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE

December, 1977

I’m not ashamed to say that one of my favorite comic book tropes is when someone hits someone with someone. But only if they’re using said person as a bludgeon. Throwing the person is the coward’s way out.

So last time: Just scroll up. Thanos was going to blow up the Sun but Iron Man blew up his bling and Adam Warlock achieved his fondest desire and died.

This time: Peter Parker’s plot senses are tingling.

He senses... that a crossover needs him.

His plot sense also recap the events of the Avengers Annual issue and-

is that an upside down cyclops? What the heck!

Uh, anyway. Yeah. Just a recap of the Avengers Annual. Which is mighty obliging. A less scrupulous writer would have dropped a brief text recap and made you buy the issue to find out what happened.

Anyway, Peter’s dream goes beyond just the events of Avengers Annual #7. He starts dreaming of THINGS NOT ON PANEL. Except now they’re on panel because he’s dreaming of them.

Also, I lied. Its not Peter’s plot sense that's tingling. Moondragon just beamed a recap into his dreams.

After Avengers Annual #7, Thanos teleported back over to the other Sanctuary II where the Avengers were still fighting his diverse crowd of alien jerks (why do villains always believe in diversity more than the heroes do?).

With some actual leadership, they go from being an ineffectual mob mostly existing to make the Avengers look cool to a fighting machine.

In five panels, the fight turns against the Avengers and they all lie defeated.

Well, except for the away team of Captain Marvel, Thor, and Iron Man.

They take an additional page to defeat.

Thanos goes right from organizing his mob in their defeat of the Avengers to an armament control console with no time for gloating in between (which you know is very hard for Thanos) and blasts Thor, Captain Marvel, and Iron Man while they’re flying back towards the fake Sanctuary II.

I was going to joke that its because this isn’t an Avengers book that the Avengers can be totally stomped in two pages. But that’s just their life, isn’t it? Even in their own book they aren’t free of getting taken out humiliatingly easy, are they?

Thanos then had all the unconscious heroes put in stasis beams. Y’know that thing where the heroes are all lined up in a row but unable to move but there aren’t any obvious restraints? Well this time it works by keeping the heroes a micro-second out of sync with reality.

Without the giant synthetic Soul Gem, Thanos can’t blow up every star. But with the Soul Gem on the dead deceased corpse of Adam Warlock, maybe he can still blow up a star. And conveniently, he happens to be near a pretty one called Sol.

Maybe just blowing up the one star in Marvel that matters will be enough to appease death.

And then Peter wakes up, the recap portion of this recap over.

He only wonders why Moondragon chose him to send this message to. He’s a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man not a powerhouse or cosmic dude.

And we cut to Master Order and Lord Chaos basically being to blame. Their game against Death goes poorly and they’re forced to put their reserves in play.

I.e. Spider-Man and Ben Grimm, the Thing.

Because Spider-Man realizes ‘hey wait I can’t webswing into space, I need to borrow a spaceship’

And he knows just who to borrow one from.

Cue a funny moment where Spider-Man startles the Thing while he’s engrossed in reading Salem’s Lot causing him to accidentally inhale his cigar.

Oh what shenanigans you get up to, Peter.

But he gets the Thing to stop complaining about Spider-Man disrespecting the security system by shouting at him to STFU. Ben realizes that maybe Spider-Man has troubles.

So he pours Peter some coffee and listens to his story. And immediately asks what Peter has been smoking. Old tennis shoes maybe?

Which is. Ben knows that real drugs exist, right?

But since Peter is serious about it Ben figures what the heck. There’s an experimental spaceship he was supposed to test-pilot when he got the chance and now’s as good a time as any.

Spider-Peter doesn’t really have... exact directions but the spaceship’s tracking systems will track down Thanos’ ship if its up there.

Spider-Man: “If? Still have your doubts, then?”

The Thing: “About your story? Perish forbid such a thought. How could anyone doubt the word of a man in blue and red leotards who crawls on walls?”

Police, I’d like to report a murder.

But despite Ben’s skepticism, they find Thanos’ giant H on the very next page.

The Thing: “Appears like I was wrong about you this time, Spidey. My apologies.”

Spider-Man: “What do you mean ‘this time’?”

The Fantastispacecraft gets caught in a tractor beam and dragged inside the giant H (for Hate?). Ben kicks the door of his spaceship out so he can immediately go out and start punching some space goons.

Thus making the ship nonviable for a return trip. Good thinking, Ben!

Spider-Man joins in the goon punching, although he admits that monster bashing isn’t his usual comfort zone. But if he fights the small fries which basically look like weird people then he should be good.

He’ll let the Thing fight the giant space serpent.

AND USE THE SPACE SNAKE TO HIT PEOPLE WITH. That’s what I’m talking about, Ben!

Meanwhile, Thanos watches this on a monitor. He must be wondering how many heroes he aggroed today. They just keep showing up.

So he has the gravity turned off in the chamber Spider-Man and Thing are in. That’ll show them.

And Thanos’ men, who I guess trained for just this sort of contingency, waste no time blasting Spider-Man and the Thing while they’re discombobulated.

Its a bit of a shame. I wanted to see if Spider-Man would try to use his webs. A much later comic than this made the point that without gravity, Spider-Man’s webbing would splurt out instead of thwip out in nice lines. I wanted to see if that would be used here, decades before the first time I saw it.

Meanwhile, Master Order and Lord Chaos continue to commentate on the crossover. Another round goes to Death with Spider-Man and the Thing temporarily out of play. Still, they both expected this.

Summoning Spider-Man and the Thing was a ploy to get Adam Warlock back on the field from the emerald hill zone.

Meanwhile, in the land of emerald skies (they look purple actually) and green hills, Adam Warlock exposits about recent events.

Yup. He sure died. And now he lives in the Soul Gem, a paradisaical world where he can forget about his worries and his strife. All within the Soul Gem are one and live in harmony for harming another would be harming oneself. Yup, afterlife in the Soul Gem is good and will remain good forever.

Elsewhere and while, Spider-Man and the Thing wake up at the foot of the hero display case and/or stasis beam.

Thanos didn’t get the chance to gloat earlier so he’s seizing the opportunity now.

His henchaliens are preparing stasis beams for Thing and Spider-Man but in the meanwhile, look at how awesome Thanos is. He collected the Avengers better than the Collector ever did. Suck it, old man.

Spider-Man decides to hear Thanos out, hoping that encouraging Thanos to ramble will give them time to plan. And Thanos knows he’s being played but what the hell, he loves to hear himself talk.

So he explains to the heroes that he’s having another stellar projector prepared which will use the Soul Gem’s power to cause the Sun to go nova (but not that one. Or that one. Marvel has a lot of Novas).

And then he explains that he’s doing this as a grand romantic gesture for Death. Recaps how he fell out of her favor by fucking up his plan to become god with the cosmic cube. But anyway, yeah, thats why the Sun and countless lives on Earth must die. So Death will be really impressed with him.

Ben Grimm doesn’t find that a good motivation so he punches Thanos in the dick.

Thanos just no-sells it and purple energy blasts the Thing unconscious.

Annnnnd Spider-Man realizes he’s out of his league so when Thanos asks him if he wants a turn, he just webswings away.

Thanos: “WHAT?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

Spider-Man: “Leaving! This is the Avengers’ hassle.”

For some reason, Thanos takes exception to this and orders his alien mooks to bring back Spider-Man’s head.

Except now what? He doesn’t know how to fly spaceships so he can’t just steal the Thing’s ride (also its no longer air tight). He can’t stay here, he’ll just get killed. But he can’t go back to Earth because if Thanos blows up the Sun, Earth will get a whole lot less hospitable.

So if he’s dead either way, he might as well stay. And if he’s staying, he might as well do something. But he can’t fight Thanos directly. He’d sweep the floor with Spider-Man and probably any hero Spidey knows.

Except.... maybe Thor?

Okay, good plan. Good plan. Free Thor. Save the world. Have everything be good forever. Spidey is glad he talked himself out of that blind panic spiral.

Meanwhile, another Master Order and Lord Chaos intermission. They sure are glad that Spider-Man didn’t let his self-preservation overrule his strong heart.

So Spider-Man loops back around to where Thanos showed him his Avengers collection. And darn, Thanos is still there. And also he changed his mind. He’s not adding Spider-Man to his collection now. So there.

Spider-Man decides the thing to do is smash the stasis beam projector WITH HIS BODY.

So the Avengers wake up and immediately charge Thanos. While Spider-Man limply hangs half out of the machinery. Oh, and the Thing woke up by this point too.

That’s some quality Assembling! Good job, Spider-Man. Probably fracturing half of your bones was worth it.

Thanos summons his army of mooks and we get down to a real rumble.

Weird that apparently Adam Warlock will be needed to resolve this scenario. Thing and Thor seem to be thumping Thanos pretty effectively while the rest of the heroes keep the small fry off their backs.

And the other heroes are playing it very strategically. Captain Marvel is keeping an eye on the overall crowd composition so that one of the heroes can go and bust up any attempt to build up or consolidate a position.

Yeah, I’d say this is in the bag.

But just as Thor and Thing are still kicking Thanos’ ass and looking good doing it, Thanos eye beams Thing unconscious and puts Thor on the ropes.

Dangit.

Spider-Man regains consciousness, still stuck hip deep in some defunct machinery and realizes that he must Do Something. In fact, he feels as if everything depends on the decision he makes next.

In happy paradise green land, Adam Warlock is struck with a terrible migraine and realizes that the plot needs him for one last hurrah.

Spider-Man’s spider-sense spider-leads him to notice Adam Warlock’s Soul Gem, encased in a glass globe.

So obviously he should break that, right?

Yeah.

And with the Soul Gem freed from containment, Adam Warlock manifests as a naked fire man and proclaims himself the Ultimate Avenger.

(Was Adam Warlock ever in the Ultimate Universe? I can only think if he was, his re-imagining would have been endlessly disappointing.)

And Ultimate Avenger Adam Warlock (with kung fu action grip) could not rest while Thanos remains a threat to the universe.

And Ultimate Avenger Adam Warlock is so very, very tired and wants to rest. So Thanos will have to go.

So Ultimate Avenger Adam Warlock takes Thanos for granite because that’s just something Ultimate Avenger Adam Warlock can do.

Fuck you, I don’t have to explain anything. Its cosmic.

Which leaves just the cleanup.

Thanos’ army immediately surrenders.

Which is a good decision for them because they’re probably going to get released with no punishment aside from the hits they’ve already taken.

Spidey objects but Captain Marvel asks what he would suggest doing with them? Put them in Earth jail? That’s ridiculous, Spider-Man. You ludicrous radioactive Spider-Man.

I guess.......... space jail isn’t an option for some reason? They’re kind of accessories to the destruction of a star and conspiracy to commit another star murder.

When Jean Grey and/or the Phoenix did that it was a whole to-do but I guess its just okay this time because it didn’t personally inconvenience the Shi’ar?

Maybe Captain Marvel is just lazy and doesn’t want to do the considerable amount of paperwork it would take to arrest an army.

No Sam Vimes this Mar-Vell.

Perhaps realizing they were dicks before, the Avengers decide to actually have a funeral for Adam Warlock. They bury him on some random space rock.

And they leave his Soul Gem right on his grave for anyone to steal. WHICH HAPPENS AND CAUSES INFINITY GAUNTLET.

Geez, the Avengers. Geez.

Also according to his tombstone, Adam Warlock was only ten years old. He was a melancholic child.

Later, aboard the fake Sanctuary II which was apparently Sanctuary III all along and maybe you could have mentioned that earlier and prevented a lot of name confusion for me, personally.

Spider-Man mourns the loss of Adam Warlock. He didn’t know him that well but the universe feels much emptier without him.

And the Thing suggests they check to see if Sanctuary III had a coffee pot anywhere. SPACE COFFEE (do not drink in space).

And within the Soul Gem, Adam Warlock resigns himself to living in paradise free of any strife, problems or pain. Or darn. Well he’ll manage.

And the Thanos statue cries because Death doesn’t love him. And also petrification is often portrayed as a living death so he doesn’t even get to be with his crush.

Phew.

Two annuals back to back was a bad idea. And almost nobody is even going to read this today because I have almost nobody that even reads these on a non-holiday day and today is Christmas so people are probably going to be with families and singing to the Christmas raptor.

Well. Here it is anyway. The last stand of Adam Warlock.

And that’s the major thing to bring up.

This is Avengers Annual and Marvel Two-in-One Annual. A book about the Avengers and a book about the Thing and his amazing friends. But the story that spans these two issues is about Adam Warlock. The others are just along for the ride.

The giant cosmic space heads even say as much. Spider-Man is only here to get the real star of the show on stage. The Thing is only here because this is his team-up book (and because Spidey needs transportation).

Its kind of a tendency of Adam Warlock to make any story about him. Both in and out of universe. He’s kind of self-absorbed.

Whether you like these stories probably comes down to whether you like Adam Warlock. Because on this day the Avengers, Spider-Man, and the Thing took the backseat to the space messiah who hated to wear pants.

Other than that? Pretty good.

A good Thanos plan. An intentional downgrade from his plan to become god in terms of ambition. But possibly even worse because he planned to blow up every star just to get Death sempai-dono to notice him.

This is the end for Thanos for a while. He’s still a stone statue during the Death of Captain Marvel in 1982. Thanos doesn’t stop being stoned until 1990.

People that didn’t read Adam Warlock’s book probably don’t really get why Thanos was most scared of this golden brooder but I think turning into a naked fire man and turning Thanos to stone is context enough.

So happy and merry whatever. Next time I get back to the main book but we’re still going to have the Avengers storming a giant thing in space.

During this time in their lives, the Avengers just storm giant space things more often than typical.

#Avengers #Thanos #Iron Man #the Vision #Scarlet Witch #Thor #Captain America #Beast #Adam Warlock #Captain Marvel #Moondragon #the Thing #Spider Man #Marvel Two in One #Essential Avengers #Essential marvel liveblogging #I've already said plenty words #happy this time of the year

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