A Who's Who of Marvel U. (Fandom Overview)

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

Hi all! This month we're going to take a tour of the Marvel Universe, which includes such wonders as Iron Man, the X-Men and Spider-Man.

First up, a confession. Over the years, I've read various Marvel comics and I've seen the movies, but compared to hard-core fans, I'm a novice. Which makes me a weird choice for this gig, right? Yeah, I couldn't agree more. So how on earth did I end up here?

The thing is, I love the awesome, awesome fic and wanted to rec it. That's pretty much the beginning, middle and end of my story; that's how I ended up here, trying to figure out a way to encapsulate the entirely of Marvel fandom in this overview. *facepalm* Fortunately, likeadeuce and elspethdixon helped me out by adding stuff and pointing out holes, and lots of other people left links and suggestions. Thank you all! I honestly couldn't have done it without you.

Any remaining issues are down to me; please do let me know if anything is grievously wrong.

So. With that out of the way, on to point two, which is that this is not a definitive guide to Marvel fandom! (Oh, impossible task.) Instead, it's an overview of the most popular characters, so that you can get enough of an idea of who people are to read the fic. There's also a bunch of links at the bottom, so that you can find more of the good stuff once you're hooked.

Okay, now that's out of the way, let me introduce you to the Marvel-verse crew. Spoilers ahoy.

Iron Man -- Movieverse

Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.)



Tony Stark is a playboy billionaire industrialist; as a kid he was known as a wunderkind, and as an adult he invents weapons for Stark Industries. After being kidnapped by a terrorists, he builds a super-powered suit to escape, and afterwards takes on the role of the superhero Iron Man.

Tony is a brilliant inventor, but kind of screwed up, largely because he was orphaned at a young age. The only people really close to him are his personal assistant, Pepper Potts, his former guardian, Obadiah Stane, and military liaison, Lt Colonel Rhodes. At present Tony is most popularly shipped with Pepper.


Pepper Potts (Gwenyth Paltrow)



Pepper is Stark's personal assistant. She's super organised, always cool under pressure, and is one of the few people Tony really needs. The chemistry between Pepper and Tony is smokin', but she's doing her best to keep it strictly professional.


Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges)



Stane is Tony's guardian and his advocate to the Stark Industries board when Tony is off on one of his hairbrained schemes. However, it's revealed that he has long been secretly plotting against Tony, and at the end of the film he dons armour to become Iron Monger, Iron Man's chief nemesis.


Lt Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes (Terrence Howard/Don Cheadle)
Rhodey is Stark Industries' military liaison. In the film, we don't get to see a lot of him, but he's one of Tony's firm friends and he knows that Tony is Iron Man before just about anyone else. It has recently been announced (to some controversy) that Terrence Howard will be replaced by Don Cheadle in the new film.


J.A.R.V.I.S. (voiced by Paul Bettany)
In the film, J.A.R.V.I.S. probably stands for Just A Rather Very Intelligent System. J.A.R.V.I.S. is the AI which runs Tony's house, and helps him design the Iron Man armour; the AI is later uploaded into the armour as well. The name is a reference to Edwin Jarvis, Tony's butler in the comics.

Iron Man -- Comicverse

Iron Man/Tony Stark



Much like the movie, Tony Stark was a child prodigy, graduating from MIT at the top of his class. He inherited Stark Enterprises as a young man, after his parents died in a car accident. Tony built the Iron Man suit in order to escape warlord Wong Chu, who captured him after he was injured by shrapnel from one of his own weapons.

Also like the movie, Tony is a playboy billionaire. However, unlike the movie, he's an alcoholic with serious self-hatred issues. Lots and lots of wiggy stuff has happened to him, as you'd expect of a comic book hero, including heart transplants, cybernetic super-powers, and his armour turning sentient and falling in love with him.

Tony bankrolls the Avengers, and is/was (it's complicated) good friends with Captain America and James Rhodes, who are the main people he's slashed with. He ended up being one of the key figures in the Civil War storyline, which pitted hero against hero.


Captain America/Steve Rogers (currently deceased)



A fellow member of the superhero team the Avengers and one of Tony's oldest and closest friends, Steve is the product of a secret WWII-era government experiment designed to "turn a frail enlisted man into the peak of physical perfection." The "supersoldier serum" gives him enhanced agility & endurance, and a combination of that and a lot of practice has made one of the best hand-to-hand fighters in the Marvel Universe.

Steve was frozen in a block of ice in 1945, and unfrozen by the founding Avengers decades later -- he's been a fixture of the Avengers team ever since. Thanks to his sidekick and little-brother-figure Bucky Barnes getting blown up in front of his eyes during WWII, he suffered at one point from PTSD, but has since recovered (making him possibly the only superhero ever to actually get over something). Steve's a superhero's superhero; brave, noble, unselfish, strongly idealistic but not so much as to blind him to practicality, and really just exactly as good as people say he is (aside for a tendancy towards stubborness and the conviction that he's always right). He's also rare because he doesn't really have an alter-ego. Steve is Cap.

Steve is currently dead in Marvel canon, but many fic-writing fans prefer to ignore this, except for the purposes of inflicting angst on Tony. He is frequently shipped with Tony, and sometimes with Bucky or Sam Wilson (the Falcon). His major canon love interest is SHIELD agent Sharon Carter (she is, ironically, also the person who killed him).


Virginia "Pepper" Potts/Hogan



Much like the movie-verse, Pepper is Tony's right-hand woman. In particular, when he first inherited the company she did much of the day-to-day administration, much to her dismay. She was infatuated with Tony early on, but later fell in love with Happy Hogan and married him. She is now team leader for a group of superheroes known as the Order.


Happy Hogan
Happy Hogan is/was one of Tony's longtime employees and oldest friends. Originally hired to be a chauffeur, he was the first person to learn of Tony's identity as Iron Man, and has been a strong source of support for Tony over the years. Happy is also the longtime comics love interest of Pepper Potts. He was killed by a vengeful supervillain during Marvel's Civil War event, as a result of Tony publically revealing his identity as Iron Man.


War Machine/James "Rhodey" Rhodes
Rhodey was a marine before he became Tony's pilot. Rhodey and Tony met in Asia -- Tony escaping Wong Chu, and Rhodey shot down during combat. Together, they successfully repaired the helicopter and escaped. Rhodey found out about Iron Man when Tony accidentally outed himself while drunk; as a consequence, Rhodey stood in for him as Iron Man on various occasions. Later, he had his own armour and was known as War Machine, although he stopped due to a cybernetic glitch that was making him insane.

His friendship with Tony has been on-again off-again, largely due to Tony's alcoholism.


Obadiah Stane
Unlike movie-verse Stane, who was a trusted father-figure to Tony, 616 Stane's relationship to Tony was entirely adversarial. He's one of the most successful and dangerous of Iron Man's "evil businessmen" villains, and at one point succeeded in driving Tony into a near-suicidal alcoholic breakdown and stealing his company out from under him. He's dead now, and relatively unmourned.


Edwin Jarvis
Jarvis is Tony's butler, and not-so-jokingly referred to as the longest serving member of the Avengers (despite having no superpowers). During the Civil War story arc, Jarvis became involved with May Parker, but this has since been retconned.

Spider-Man

Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire)



Does anyone not know Spider-Man? Hooboy, where to start. Peter Parker was orphaned as a young child, and raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben. He was bitten by a radioactive spider at a science exhibit, and so gained many of the abilities of a spider, such as super-strength and agility. After a rocky start using his powers -- earning money by winning masked prize-fights, followed by the death of his uncle -- Peter decides to use his powers for good. Although a shy science nerd in his everyday life, once he puts on his Spider-Man disguise, Peter's smart mouth is given free reign -- Spider-Man is well known for his zinging one-liners.

As an adult, Peter works as a part-time high school teacher and as a freelance photojournalist for the Daily Bugle. Spider-Man sometimes works with the Avengers. I can't even begin on all the adventures, but notably, Peter was originally on the side of Pro-Registration in the Civil War, and unmasked himself, but soon regretted it and changed sides. He's since been retconned through magic, and his alter-ego is secret again.

Spider-Man has several enemies, most notably the Green Goblin and Doc Ock, and in a less physical capacity, newsman Jonah Jameson. Peter's canon squeeze is MJ Watson, and he's often slashed with former best friend Harry Osborn.


Mary Jane (MJ) Watson (Kirsten Dunst)



A successful model and actress, MJ is Peter Parker's main love interest. Over the years, she and Peter have had an on-again, off-again relationship, largely due to Peter's secrets. In movie-verse they're a couple, but in comic-verse they eventually married. However, a recent retcon undid their relationship (in addition to making Peter's alter-ego secret again).


Harry Osborn (James Franco)



The troubled son of industrialist Norman Osborne, Harry was one of Peter's first true friends and they became room-mates during college. Of course, the friendship didn't run smoothly. Not only was Harry a competitor for MJ's affections, but he witnessed what seemed to be Spider-Man killing his father (not knowing his father was the Green Goblin). Tensions rose between a vengeful Harry and Peter, as Peter refused to reveal to Harry who Spider-Man was. Eventually Harry went crazy, discovered that his father had been the Green Goblin, and adopted the persona. He died in costume, after a last-minute reconciliation with Peter; however, the recent retcon has restored him to life.


Green Goblin/Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe)



Industrialist and billionaire Norman Osborne was always a bit crazy; but it really ramped up when he secretly tested a serum on himself, hoping to gain super-strength. He did, but at the cost of his sanity. He became obsessed with two things: setting up an organised crime syndicate and Spider-Man (who thwarted said syndicate); in order to battle Spidey, Osborne created the Green Goblin persona. They duly fought several times, but without a clear winner; eventually Osborne went even crazier, and was finally impaled by his own glider. In movie-verse that was the end of him, but in comic-verse he came back for several encores.


Doc Octopus/Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina)



A brilliant physicist and inventor, and hero to Peter, Dr Octavius was caught up in a radioactive explosion which fused him to a set of highly-advanced robot tentacles. The explosion altered his brain chemistry, allowing him to telepathically control the tentacles, but also set him on a path of crime. Doc Octopus, as he is now known, is one of Spider-Man's most dangerous enemies.


Aunt May Parker (Rosemary Harris)
May Parker raised Peter after his parents' death. In comic-verse she eventually found out that Peter was Spider-Man and has supported him in that decision ever since. After Peter publicly revealed himself as Spider-Man, May was shot by an unknown sniper. For a while it looked like she wouldn't survive, but recently her health was retconned (along with reversing Peter's coming out as Spider-Man).


J. Jonah Jameson (J. K. Simmons)
Editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle, Jameson has a hate-on for Spider-Man and takes every opportunity to depict him as a public menace in the paper. Ironically, he's also Peter Parker's boss, and has several times been rescued by Spider-Man.

Other Marvel People of Note

James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes/Winter Soldier (has currently assumed Captain America's costume & identity)
Bucky is the former sidekick of Steve Rogers (Captain America). For most of the past 40 years of canon, he was supposedly dead (killed in an explosion at the end of WWII, the same incident that left Cap frozen in ice), but writer Ed Brubaker recently resurrected him, introducing a retcon wherein Bucky was rescued by Soviet forces and turned into a cybernetically-augmented assassin code named "the Winter Soldier."

Having now broken free of Soviet brainwashing, Bucky assumed the costume and identity of Captain America upon Steve Rogers' death. Thanks to his assassin past, he's a broody & gritty kind of hero (unlike Cap, he carries a gun as part of his "Captain America" costume), and a good entry point to the Marvel U. for fans whose previous comics experience leans more towards the Bat-clan and the DCU.

Bucky is usually shipped with Cap, and in canon is involved in a relationship with fellow ex-Soviet agent the Black Widow.


Daredevil/Matthew Murdock
Daredevil is a vigilante-style hero who protects the streets of Hells Kitchen (part of midtown Manhattan) from criminals and mobsters. In his civilian identity, Matt Murdock is a blind lawyer who works as one half of the law partnership of Nelson & Murdock. Daredevil has enhanced senses, including a form of sonar (the comics call it a radar-sense, but since it uses sound waves, it's basically sonar) that enables him to "see" despite his blindness. He's one of the Marvel U.'s angstier, grittier heroes, thanks to a long and influential run Frank Miller did on his title back during the 70s/80s. Like Bucky, Matt is a good entry point for Batman/Dark Knight/DCU fans, given his vigilante bent and the title's traditional noir flavor.

Matt's canon love interests tend to die or go insane. Perhaps as a consequence, he's often shipped with his law partner, Foggy Nelson, or with Spider-Man.


Elektra/Elektra Natchios
Elektra is a Skrull a highly trained assassin/ninja who currently leads a covert underground organization known as "the Hand." She has been both a hero and a villain over the years, and is a longtime love interest of Daredevil's (her temporary death at the hands of the supervillain Bullseye back during Frank Miller's run on Daredevil is responsible for about 1/4 of Matt's insane amounts of angst).


Other Notables:
Hulk/Bruce Banner
Silver Surfer/Norrin Radd
Human Torch/Johnny Storm
Invisible Woman/Susan Storm Richards
Mister Fantastic/Reed Richards
The Thing/Benjamin Grimm
Dr Doom/Victor von Doom

X-Men

New information: the X-Men have moved their base of operations to San Francisco, and Xavier's School is closed. You can find everything else you need to know at the two existing overviews for X-Men fandom on the van:

X-Men Comicverse: An Overview by poilass
X-Men Movieverse Overview by devildoll

Marvel Teams

Avengers
The Avengers are the team that fight the bad-guys that no single hero can defeat. The line-up changes regularly. At present, there are two teams of Avengers. The new offshoot group, the Secret Avengers, is led by Luke Cage, and is comprised of: Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Ronin (Clint Barton, previously Hawkeye), Spider-Man, and Wolverine. The Mighty Avengers, which is led by Ms Marvel, works out of Stark Tower, and includes: Iron Man, Wasp, Wonder Man, Sentry, Ares, the Black Widow, and Spider-Woman. Other well-known Avengers (currently not on either team, but present in a lot of backcanon) include Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, Hank Pym (Ant-Man/Giant-Man/Goliath/Yellowjacket), and Thor.


S.H.I.E.L.D
Standing for "Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division," S.H.I.E.L.D is a quasi-government organisation that focuses on defending against superhuman and alien threats to Earth. It's a world-wide organisation staffed by many Marvel superheroes, but the head office is located on a mobile Helicarrier in New York, and is currently run by Tony Stark. The first and most famous Director was Colonel Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson in the Iron Man movie).


Fantastic Four
Based in New York, the Fantastic Four are as much family as a superhero team. The four are: Human Torch, Invisible Woman, Mister Fantastic, and the Thing.


Young Avengers
Also based in New York, the Young Avengers are a relatively new group (2005) of young superheroes. The current line-up of the team is: Wiccan (formerly Asgardian), Hawkeye (Kate Bishop), Hulkling (Teddy Altman), Vision, Patriot (Elijah Bradley), Speed (Thomas Shepherd), Stature (Cassandra Lang).


Runaways
Another newish group (2003), this time located in L.A., the Runaways escaped a murderous cult run by their parents, called Pride. They managed to defeat Pride, and now watch over L.A. together, rather than staying with the foster families they were placed with. The team is made up of: Bruiser (Molly Hayes), Lucy In The Sky (Karolina Dean), Victor Mancha, Old Lace, Sister Grimm (Nico Minoru), Talkback (Chase Stein), Xavin, Klara Prast.

Significant Events

Superhuman Registration Act
Probably the single most controversial event to have taken place in the Marvel-verse, the Superhuman Registration Act was the catalyst for a civil war between pro and anti superheroes and between superhumans and humans. The Act itself was a law proposed by the U.S. government which required all superhumans to register as weapons of mass destruction, and unmask themselves. In response, there was a strong anti-superhero sentiment amongst the public, and the superhuman community split down the middle. On one side, was Captain America, who refused to police the act and went underground, forming the resistance movement. On the other side was his best friend, Tony Stark, who became the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and proceeded to enforce the Act, hunting down those in the resistance movement. After much conflict, Captain America surrendered, and was assassinated on his way to court.

Predominant ships

Tony Stark/Steve Rogers (comics)
Tony Stark/Pepper Potts (movie-verse)

Peter Parker/MJ Watson
Peter Parker/Harry Osborn


Other popular pairings
Bucky/Steve, Tony/Peter, Tony/Rhodey, Spiderman/Daredevil, Jean Grey/Wanda Maximoff (X-Men: First Class), Hulkling/Wiccan (Young Avengers).

Online Fandom

For canon information about characters, histories, etc, check out the Marvel wiki.

Guides

• Marvel Newbieguide by devildoll
  
• Marvel Comics on Fanlore

Overviews

• Printed Circuits: A Tony Stark character and fandom overview by elspethdixon
  
• Newbie Guide to Iron Man by likeadeuce
  
• Writing the Avengers by crimsonquills
  
• Writing Captain America/Iron Man by crimsonquills

ship_manifestos

• Captain America/Iron Man: A Sword, a Horse, a Shield by elspethdixon
  
• Bodyslide By Two: The Cable/Deadpool manifesto by puritybrown
  
• Enemies: A Love Story: A Sentry/Void Manifesto by mississippienne
  
• Matt Murdock/Foggy Nelson: Woobie Young Lawyers in Love by elspethdixon
  
• X-Force: Rictor/Shatterstar: Amigos and More by traveling_storm

General Marvel Fiction
marvel_fic (fic from any Marvel 'verse), and the associated Marvel Fanfiction archive.
marvel_slash (slash with any Marvel pairing, bar X-Men)

Iron Man
cap_ironman (Captain America/Iron Man slash community), and the archive Tales of Suspense
ironman_movie (movieverse fanfic)
starkindustries (movie and comic fanfic)
sentient_kink (Tony/Armour)
the_funvee (Tony/Rhodey)

Cable and Deadpool
cabledeadpool (slash and gen)

Runaways
the_leapfrog (fanfiction and fanart)

Young Avengers
youngavengers (fanfic)

Spider-Man
spiderman_slash
spideyslash

X-Men: First Class
xmenfirstclass

Comments

[beatrice_otter]

For more information on the Avengers, check out the recent superhero_muses post on the Avengers.

[twigged.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[delurker.livejournal.com]

Nice overview! Can't wait for the recs. :)

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I admit I have an ulterior motive -- I want to read other people's recs. :)

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

My pleasure, as always. :)

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I hope they live up to expectations. :)

[20thcenturyvole.livejournal.com]

WOOOO AVENGERS! I am looking forward to some quality recs! :D

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

*beams* I hope they live up to expectations.