Fandom Overview: Marvel Comics Update December 2011 (XM: FC, The Avengers)

[arysteia.livejournal.com]

One of the chief joys of being a comics fan, I think, is that there's constantly something new on the horizon, and if something happens that you don't like, you only have to wait a little while for a retcon or a reboot. The unpleasant corollary, of course, is that sometimes it's something you do like that falls victim to the retcon/reboot. And of course, the whole thing can seem impenetrable and inaccessible to new fans.

My advice then to new fans: don't try to get entirely caught up, just dive in and start reading the fic! If there's a character you don't know who seems vaguely important, look them up on Wikipedia. That's what it's there for! (Jimmy Wales may disagree.) That's what I did, and it was enough to convert me from DC to Marvel in the real world as well as the fandom one.



The single biggest change in Marvel waters this year, I think it would be hard to argue, has been the popularity of the new movies, and thus the increased exposure of characters who were not necessarily well known, or well-fanned, outside comics circles.

1) X-Men: First Class -- debate still rages as to whether it's a prequel or a reboot, but for the most part fandom seems to be able to smoosh comics/original movies/new movie canon together well enough, or to cherry-pick as desired. There's been an explosion of both fic and art since June.




(Magneto (well, soon to be), Moira McTaggert, Emma Frost, Azazel, Beast, Havok, Angel, Mystique, Professor X)



(Sean Cassidy, Erik Lehnsherr, Raven Darkholme, Moira McTaggert, Hank McCoy, Charles Xavier, Alex Summers)

I don't think many would disagree that the major pairing of the XM: FC specific fandom is Erik/Charles (Magneto/Professor X). (There has always been a fandom for this pairing, I would stress on behalf of the old fans, but it's really exploded this year.) Several, if not many, minor ships are also thriving however, including but not limited to: Hank/Alex, Hank/Raven, Alex/Darwin, Charles/Moira, etc.

A sequel has just been confirmed, so expect this renaissance to continue.

2) The Marvel Cinematic Universe aka all the films that will unite in The Avengers in 2012. Includes Iron Man, Thor and Captain America. Technically one or both of the Hulks too, but let's not go there lest they reboot it again.



(The Hulk, Hawkeye, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Iron Man)



(Nick Fury, Iron Man, Tony Stark, Captain America, Hawkeye, Bruce Banner, Agent Coulson, Thor, The Hulk, Black Widow)

Somewhat notoriously, there has been a pre-emptive fandom explosion, leading to the unique situation where the film was very nearly ineligible for Yuletide, six months before being released.

At the moment I would say, with slightly more hesitation, that the major ship is Steve/Tony (Cap/Iron Man) despite the fact they've not yet met onscreen. This is based on the pre-existing comics fandom, clearly, but I don't see it changing next year. I could be wrong, *g*.

A strong minority ship would be Thor/Loki, based on the near epic levels of foe!yay scorching the screen in Thor. If bro!yay (or pseudo, as it is in this case) is not your cup of tea this one may not be for you.

Likewise, Tony/Rhodey and Steve/Bucky would be strong minority pairings based in Iron Man and Captain America respectively.

Tony/Pepper, Thor/Jane, and Steve/Peggy are popular ships, again based more strongly out of the individual movies in question. Hawkeye/Coulson is also a bit of a break-out pairing –- at least on the memes -- based on their cameos in Thor.




Fandom Overviews here at Crack Van

[I was going to do a full overview for the Avengers, but on reflection it seemed better to wait until the film is actually out. Watch this space next year.]

A Who's Who of Marvel U (chiefly Iron Man and Spider-Man, other teams and associated heroes in brief) by cupidsbow

X-Men (Comicverse) Overview by poilass

X-Men (Movieverse) Overview by devildoll

Young Avengers Overview by _fx




Pairing Specific Introductions at ship_manifesto

Steve Rogers/Tony Stark (Captain America/Iron Man) by elspethdixon

Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier (Magneto/Professor X) by alara_r (soon to be updated to include XM: FC)

Marvel Tag (various pairings being added one by one)


The Cap/Iron Man Slashy Moments List (Illustrations from Forty Years of Comics)



Livejournal Communities

The Avengers and Individual MCU Movies

cap_ironman (Steve/Tony)
starkindustries (other Iron Man pairings)
tonypepper (Tony/Pepper)
wingheads (other Captain America pairings)
thor_slash (a lot of Thor/Loki, but a fair amount of other Thor pairings)
thorki (Thor/Loki, fairly quiet)
mcu_slash (the wider MCU, quiet but it may take off)

X-Men: First Class

oldfriends (Erik/Charles, has the old school fic as well as the XM: FC renaissance)
erik_charles (Erik/Charles)
cxe_firstclass (Erik/Charles)
thefirstclass (XM: FC generally)
1stclassslash (XM: FC generally)
hank_alex (Hank/Alex)




Big Bangs

Steve/Tony Big Bang Tag
Steve/Tony Reverse Bang Tag

These are mostly from Cap/Iron Man, but some are from wider Comics Verse Big Bangs, linked there.

xmenbigbang (goes live tomorrow, a lot of Erik/Charles, a lot of XM: FC, but some other pairings, some other verses)
avengers_bang (currently under way)
yabigbang (currently under way)




Kink Memes

Probably the most prolific source of new fic in the wider MCU Avengers-verse (ie non-main pairing specific). XM:FC has a higher proportion of medium/long fic at the various comms, though it's still thriving at the memes.

As a general rule Marvel Kink Memes are not actually very "kinky". I pass no judgment there, I'm simply commenting (as a long time frequenter of memes in a wide variety of fandoms) that as a rule they more closely resemble request memes for tropes and scenarios, rather than for specific sexual kinks. That said, there is a fair amount of non-con and dub-con, but trigger warnings are now compulsory almost everywhere so with judicious scrolling you should actually be okay.

Active

norsekink (highly active and full of a wild range of prompts, a lot of Thor/Loki, a lot of Thor (movie) specific pairings, a lot of Avengers wildcard stuff)
capkink (active, a lot of Steve/Tony, but also a decent amount of Captain America (movie) specific pairings)
avengerkink (active, a lot of Steve/Tony, but also a fair amount of other Avengers pairings)
1stclass_kink (originally very active, now largely on hiatus, a lot of Erik/Charles, but also a lot of everything else imaginable)
xmen_firstkink (now the active meme, a lot of Erik/Charles, but also a lot of everything else imaginable)

All of these were (completely, or in the process of being) archived at Delicious. But we all know what that means. Check out the individual header posts to see if and where they jumped.

Alive but Not Really Kicking

marvelkink (highly ambitious, aimed to cover every facet of the Marvel U, sadly never took off)
avengers-kink (suffers from the minority status of DW)
capkinkmeme

Dead but Check Out the Past Fills

ironman_kink
iron_kink
marvel_kink

Empty, presumably Name Squatting

avengerskink

Comments

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Pssst, you're missing the ".com" from the link for the "Thorki" comm.

[arysteia.livejournal.com]

You beat me to it! :D

[oxfordtweed]

Somewhat notoriously, there has been a pre-emptive fandom explosion, leading to the unique situation where the film was very nearly ineligible for Yuletide, six months before being released.

I saw that, and was a bit baffled. I wasn't sure what was more startling, actually, that fact, or the fact that Yuletide allowed fandoms for things that don't technically exist yet.

[arysteia.livejournal.com]

I'm also perplexed, and I say it as a fan, not a hater, that Steve/Tony is *possibly* (I don't think there was a ruling, but an implication) still specifically banned. And Thor is on the banned list despite the fact all the fic is at the meme, whereas the archives pass the rarity test. And surely, surely, if you look at all the various comms together, Avengers shouldn't pass the rarity test, even were it in existence... Like Steve Rogers I could do this all day, but there's no rhyme or reason to it. :-)

[oxfordtweed]

The whole thing just... IDEK. I have no words. Clearly, the Marvel fandom has its own laws and physics and stuff, man. Because I seriously made this face O_o at seeing the Avengers on the list.

[arysteia.livejournal.com]

Marvel breaks the laws of physics every day before breakfast. But how can the group fandom be small enough if the individual fandoms that make it up are too big???

She cannae take much more of this, Captain, she's beginning to break up!

[winter-elf.livejournal.com]

thank you very much for all the communities info! I needed that!!!

[oaktree89.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this fandom suddenly became even more monstrously huge than before. Thanks for all the info!

[ellex42.livejournal.com]

Having been sucked into the Captain America/Iron Man fandom lock, stock and barrel earlier this year (despite no prior familiarity with the Avengers universe outside of the Iron Man films), it's really nice to see this.