@BESW what is the context for this?

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 A recently leaked spoiler for an upcoming Marvel comic which appears to say that Captain America is Hydra. (For non-comic folks: a hero defined by his unfailing dedication to decency and human equality, originally created by Jewish cartoonists during WWII as an anti-Nazi figure, is being revealed to have always secretly been a Nazi-sympathising fascist.)

@BESW That makes no sense.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 The comics section of the Internet is frothing.

well nothing is permanent in comic books.

As Vernon says, it's clearly just another in a long line of nonsensical gimmicks pulled by DC and Marvel to attract attention to their flailing lines of comics while the really interesting stories and characterisations are playing out on their animated and live-action media.

I do share her interest in how much people care about this one though.

Except that you haven't read the stories. Cap is "Hydra" because he is actually Skrull.

The real Cap is elsewhere in captivity. It's the lead-in to the Kree-Skrull conflict and the Infinity Wars.

that's more reasonable

Well. I mean. Probably.

wait, have you read it?

Not the leak, no.

but recent issues?

Not recent. But the Infinity War is old news.

Isn't it?

yes, in the late 90s, I have the comics

The civil war storyline with the MRA and stuff, that was out when I was a kid.

Well. Teenager.

well, that was after infinity war

thinks about this

civil war was after I stopped reading comics, Infinity Gauntlet and Infinity War were before I stopped.

Infinity Crusade was, I think, after I stopped reading Marvel but before I stopped reading Image.'

Not in the cinematic universe storyline though. They planned the arc this way.

civil war was early 2000s, I think

I recall a friend telling me about it

It was in three phases and Civil War marks the start of phase three, which ends with the Infinity Wars, iirc.

yeah I recall reading an issue of Spiderman wearing the iron spider suit after I moved to Toronto

@KitZ.Fox that's the MCU storyline you're referring to.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Yes. That's what I said just there.

But the "Cap is Hydra" is current comic books

The Hydra!Cap leak is a contemporary Marvel comics event. Not an old Marvel comic event, nor a contemporary Marvel Cinematic event.

OK, my bad.

I can't recall, are there Skrulls in the MCU?

There's Thanos.

And I think Superskrull was in Fantastic 4.

he's a skrull?! suddenly feels disoriented

but FF isn't part of MCU, I don't think

Isn't he? Oh no, he just kind of looks like one?

I can't keep it all straight.

He's half Skrull in Earth X continuity, but outside of that he's just got their chin.

In most continuities he's a fugly Eternal Deviant.

lol, "most continuities"

I just hope they keep Thanos's motivation for getting the Infinity Gauntlet as "Wanting to impress Death so she'll date him."

comic books are confusing enough when there's only one universe, then it becomes a multiverse, then they make new continuities, then those continuities become other universes in the multiverse, then they reboot the multiverse, then they decide to reboot the reboot, then the reboot becomes just another universe in the original, restored multiverse

@BESW heh. Death will probably be an emo alien.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Thankfully most comic books don't do that, or at least keep their sense of humour when they do. Unfortunately it's the highest-profile publishers which think some particular continuity formula is a key to success.

I decided to make a breakfast of om nom nom

It's as good as it sounds.

@BESW yeah mainly DC has rebooted their multiverse. Or just part of it? But Marvel just keeps squeezing out new 'verses.

The Marvel sliding timescale worked a lot better than the DC rolling reboots, but even that's slid a bit too much. Both franchises are struggling with a corporate inability to let old stories end to make room for new ones, so we just get all the stories crammed up against each other, re-told constantly.

Good stories tend to have strong endings, and the mainstream comic industry isn't comfortable with that. So their storytelling struggles and they try to compensate with gimmicks both narrative and commercial.

yeah

One of the reasons the MCU works, I think, is we've bought into trusting that it's building toward a satisfying conclusion.

(See also: Lost, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, for other examples of a franchise's success hinging on an audience that trusts creators to deliver a definitive finish.)

I am hoping they will allow characters to age out, retire, die, etc, and be replaced by new versions of that character. Like, Tony Stark retires, and is never seen again, but maybe someone else can be a new, different Iron Man.

I don't think the MCU needs to end for it to continue to be successful, but it'd be great if the characters could change.

although the MCU is pretty fresh still.

It has lots of room for new stories.

Cuz it's a reboot of the universe.

It's the problem with soap operas.

I'd rather they tell the same story from a different perspective than reboot from the same perspective.

I'd rather they continue the story, but Peter Parker is killed and Miles Morales gets to be Spider-Man

Yeah.

I'm thinking of a Superman-type story build off the lightning write we did ages ago about Superman.

Superman flying over the rockies

I should go to bed, but some time soon I may ask for some help polishing up phrasing on a new micro-RPG about the overblown adventures of a cocky pulp hero and his nerdy sidekick.

I've had an idea like this floating around in my head for a couple of years. Basically, someone who is immortal or becomes immortal must at some point get tired of humans.

@BESW Cool, sounds like fun.

@KitZ.Fox I'm quite sure I've read more than one story dealing with that theme, but remembering them will have to wait until after sleep.

ttfn

sleep well, my friend.

@KitZ.Fox like Dr. (or is it Mr.?) Manhattan in the Watchmen

Yes, like that.

Also, I'm thinking the Martian? Or Vision? There's a guy that Dr. Manhattan was modeled on.

Well, I assume.

A similar character from some comic that I've read.

@KitZ.Fox The Malazan books are full of immortal characters, many of whom are tired of people or extremely bored

Fine. I won't write it then.

The Prince of Nothing/Aspect-Emperor books feature immortal characters who can only remember traumatic things. Everything else they forget.

grumbles, stomps

@KitZ.Fox No, I'm not saying you shouldn't write it.

It's obv a good idea... others have done it.

Man, this data is messed up.

stirs data with a spurtle

I can't understand how this was put together this way.

I mean, I see data on the page, but I can't figure out how it gets there. I can't find the relationship in the data source. It's just weird.

maybe it's a Heisen-feature

or a Schrödinger's feature

whichever joke makes most sense