Great idea! Thanks for posting :) We can also start on some of these fun ideas next week. As part of this chat, if you fancy any other comm activities or would especially enjoy an idea already mentioned just let me know!

I'm not locked down (yet) in the UK but lots of things being cancelled and my mum is currently in Spain with an Aunt, due to fly back Monday, so keeping an eye on that. Hope everyone is taking care *hugs*.

Okay, fandom chatter...

What drew you to the MCU?
I enjoyed Iron Man and I loved Avengers Assemble. The characters, humour, and found family vibe. And I guess it was the right thing at the right time.

Why do you love the comics, and how/when did you discover them?
I used to read X Men graphic novels but hadn't really discovered comics. When the MCU started I went looking for more, enjoyed a few (like Fraction's Invincible Iron Man graphic novels) and then Matt Fraction and David Aja's Hawkeye (and Saga and Pretty Deadly and) got me reading comics. I've been reading less comics and more GNs again lately (and independent GNs).

Do you have a preference for MCU Clint & Natasha, or do you love the comics versions better? How do you reconcile them?
Since Natasha is all things to all people and it's in her nature to play with identity, my brain can have all versions exist at once. Clint is harder, he's all AU versions of himself I think. No favs :)

Why Clint/Natasha (or Clint & Natasha) specifically?
I find them, and their dynamic, really interesting. Like Natasha's themes of identity and personhood and her hero arc in MCU, and Clint's ordinary hero, non-superpower, sassy self.

How do you feel about Laura? And Bucky? And OT3s? Marvel has a whole armada of ships and I enjoy a lot of them! I like Laura for all the possibilities since we know so little, love Bucky especially when sassy, and hell yeah love a good OT3 *grins*.

Bonus Question: How do you think Clint and Natasha (and Tony, for that matter) would deal with a pandemic? Comment fic welcome!
Natasha? Mostly sensibly.
Clint? There are neighbours and people to help. (Or he slept throught it.)
Tony? Working on fixing it.
Steve? Trying to stop Tony from giving us all a version of Extremis.
Bruce? Quietly helping, wherever he is.
Thor? Helping, but not quietly.
Natasha: Fine. Will impose some organisation and direction on this lot. (What? She said 'mostly'.)


Edited 2020-03-14 05:21 pm (UTC)

"Thor? Helping, but not quietly." PERFECT!!

I genuinely think Clint would just be Pissed Off that he has to sit and Do Nothing For Two Weeks. He'd be climbing the walls by day two.

And who would walk Lucky????

What drew you to the MCU? I've read comics for decades and decades, so I was all over the new comics-based movies. And of course, RDJ and Favreau did *such* a good job with IM.

Why do you love the comics, and how/when did you discover them? I, er, remember when Wolverine started with the X-Men so, yeah, I've been around for awhile. I like narrative, long-arc stories and really, back in the 70s, there weren't many options out there for that style. US daytime soap operas, comics, and the occasional fantasy book series. I flounced off from X-Men (who were my first love) with the Dark Phoenix storyline and only gradually came back, but then online readers became a thing and it was so much easier to get my fix.

Do you have a preference for MCU Clint & Natasha, or do you love the comics versions better? How do you reconcile them? So, I usually see MCU Clint as a slightly less military version of Ultimates-verse Hawkeye and MCU Natasha is very analogous with the Natasha that Marjorie Liu wrote in The Name of the Rose arc, so it's all good. But if you're a comics reader, you almost have to be able to flow from one characterization to another, because every major arc has a different slant. (This doesn't mean I like all the differing takes, but I do expect it.)

The first big thing I wrote in MCU was a Darcy/Clint and I finished it right before Avengers came out and I was delighted that my takes on Clint and Natasha that I culled from the comics fit what I saw onscreen.

Why Clint/Natasha (or Clint & Natasha) specifically? Clint and Natasha always have a deep connection, one that can flow back and forth between romantic and platonic, so they are awesome to read. And write. ;D (Also, I think our icons say it all.)

How do you feel about Laura? And Bucky? And OT3s? I'm good with All The Pairings (and OT3s) :D. (But I really do love Nat and Bucky a lot.)

Bonus Question: How do you think Clint and Natasha (and Tony, for that matter) would deal with a pandemic? Comment fic welcome!

Natasha stops at the local greenmarket to pick up the last of the fresh fruits and veggies and then retires to her apartment, which is stocked and ready to go for at least 6 months. She monitors the situation remotely and mysteriously, help arrives where most needed.

Clint finally figures out why Natasha has been shoving all the leftover slices of pizza and random takeout containers into his freezer, so he works on those and supplements with curbside pickup while he's out making sure people aren't being taken advantage of.

Pepper had two different foundations set up as soon as the first inklings started leaking out of China. Tony spends his days and nights alternating back and forth, irritating everyone and getting shit done.

Well, hello there! :D And yes, as you know I'm one of the Olds here as well... Lord, I saw the original Star Wars in the theatre when it came out!

Your Laura is one of the best I've read, and I ADORE your Clint/Darcy fics!!

"Pepper had two different foundations set up as soon as the first inklings started leaking out of China. Tony spends his days and nights alternating back and forth, irritating everyone and getting shit done." Yes, this. And the Department of Damage Control will get a whole new mandate that somehow no legislator approved...

Edited 2020-03-14 08:19 pm (UTC)

Natasha absolutely would just go "okay sure" and retire to a well stocked safe house! She'd probably use it as a reason to catch up on all that reading she's been meaning to do.

Also, flowing between characterisations is probably the only reason I've managed to remain in this fandom as long as I have. If it had just been the films, I'd probably have lost interest after AoU. But I LOVE the options comics bring. <3

Ha, I love the idea of Nat stocking for Clint like that!

What drew you to the MCU?

Well, I turned up my nose at "movies made based on comics" (although I did watch the Chris Reeve Superman movies, even bought tickets). Can't they do anything original anymore, I said, and why on Earth do we need anymore superhero BS?

Then ca 2010, I'm on a plane coming back from Afghanistan, en route to Dubai, and Ironman was the only thing on. Fine, I said, I'll give it 10 minutes. And then the thing OPENS in Afghanistan, and addresses some of the Big Issues I was dealing with in my professional life (like the arms trade), and does them right and ... I was hooked. Showed it to the Fam & friends for movie night... But I drew the line - as a good Canadian - at something called "Captain *America* - and Thor? Seriously???

But then came Avengers, and the Movie Night crew decided we really needed to see all the backstpry prequels, and the rest is history!

Why do you love the comics, and how/when did you discover them?
Mostly through this comm, and people like Inkvoices, Franztastisch and Sugarfey waxing eloquent about them. The real-life Clint in the Fraction-Aja series turned me around! I even had a colleague buy the Hawkeye and Black Widow comics for me while I lived in Europe (where they were harder to get)! And for a while I resisted the idea of two Hawkeyes but I came around, and now Kate is one of my favourite characters to write.

Do you have a preference for MCU Clint & Natasha, or do you love the comics versions better? How do you reconcile them?
I love them all (okay, in the comics I prefer the Fraction-Aja, Occupy Avengers and Hawkeye/Winter Soldier/Deadpool versions of Clint and the Phil Noto/Edmunson Natasha), and mix them up indiscriminately now. If the comics can do ithat, so can I!

Why Clint/Natasha (or Clint & Natasha) specifically?
"You lie and you kill in the service of liars and killers". As a government peace-and-security girl, how could I resist the idea of government-paid assassins?? SUCH FUN!!! Plus, their chemistry burned off the screen.

How do you feel about Laura? And Bucky? And OT3s?
I like the idea of Laura for story writing purposes (cool new angles!!!) but the MCU story line sucks, and got totally predictable for Endgame. So ... mixed? Bucky, honestly, kinda leaves me cold, which is probably why I haven't given him more than a line or two in my fic. And OT3s really aren't my thing - I read them occasionally when written by a friend, but when it gets explicit it's kind of a squick for me.

As for the other thing - that will be a separate comment! :D

I am glad I am partially responsible for getting you into comics. ;P

Answering my own question about how Clint and Natasha would deal with a pandemic...

__________________



“What the fuck is ‘SOCIAL DISTANCING!’ supposed to mean?”

Clint squints at Natasha over his Starkphone.

“That idiot tweets something, all in caps, and we’re to, what. Applaud his wisdom? Or guess what goes on in that man’s pea-sized, demented …”

Natasha frowns and sets down her book.

“Are you reading the Dear Leader’s twitter feed again? I told you that was a dumb idea last time, when you started raving about the comments.”

Clint grumps and swings his feet off the couch.

“What else am I supposed to do, with everything shut down, even the Starbucks? I fletched at least a hundred arrows already. ‘S getting old.”

He gives her a hopeful wink.

“And does ‘social distancing’ really mean we can’t have sex?”

Natasha sighs.

“How long since you came back from Madrid?”

“Eleven days and seventeen hours.”

“Then no, we can’t have sex yet. Two days and seven hours to go. Fourteen days self-isolation. You know this. Why do you keep asking? Hoping the answer will change? Because it won’t. You’re lucky I even agreed to be in the same apartment with you. We could be having this chat over What’sApp.”

Clint mutters a curse, but there’s no real conviction behind it. He is grateful, he’s said as much many times. But… he’s still Clint. Idleness is not in his nature.

“Fuck, I need something to do,” he says. “Anything.”

He starts scrolling again.

“Can you get infected by kissing someone’s ass on Twitter? Because if you could, there’s some pseudo-Christian MAGAts out there that’d be sitting ducks for Covfefe-19. What moron would call himself ‘Esquire’ in their handle, anyway?”

“Probably a bot,” Natasha says, rolling her eyes. “Change the channel, Clint. Either read some real news, or go make us some coffee.”

The speed with which Clint shoots off the couch to do her bidding is a testament to his twitchiness. Eleven Days and seventeen hours (plus a few minutes) in Avengers Tower, without access to the common room, the bar or the gym, have clearly taken their toll. Even the avenging business has stopped; every super-villain on the planet has been self-isolating since Von Doom had come down with the virus after that fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago.

In her quieter moments, Natasha will admit to feeling a tad restless herself. Why can’t you go after a virus with a Widow’s Bite, or a bow? At least Stark has his lab, and is busily trying to find some virus-destroying nanite or whatever.

A few minutes later, Clint sets down a fragrant cup of the finest Colombian on the coffee table, three feet away from her. At least Pepper had the foresight to lay in sufficient supplies of the essentials, even if Thor is running out of toilet paper on his floor . Avengers Tower and its occupants are not in danger of under-caffeination.

Clint peels off the rubber gloves he’d been wearing while handling her cup and resumes his perch on the couch, as well as his scrolling. Natasha wipes down the cup’s handle with an anti-septic. She may have agreed to be quarantined with Clint to keep him company, but that doesn’t mean she won’t treat him like the leper the CDC considers him to be, by virtue of that mission in Spain.

For a few minutes, blissful silence reigns while he taps and swipes on his phone. How long since he’s disinfected that? Natasha makes a mental note to remind him before bedtime.

“Shit on a stick,” he suddenly hisses. “Nat, you’re not gonna believe this.”

“What?” she asks warily.

“There are people out there who’ve been buying up things like hand sanitizer, anti-septic wipes and masks by the pallet load, and are now trying to sell the stuff on the internet for, like, five times the price.”

“Seriously? What site?” Natasha picks up her phone.

“New York Times. Front page.”

She taps the app. Sure enough, there it is – names, photographs and all, and even a link to the Vancouver Sun site, about some couple doing the same thing North of the border. Aren’t Canadians supposed to be better than that?

“Unbelievable.” Clint is genuinely incensed. “Like war profiteers. And now that Amazon and E-Bay have shut this scum down, they can’t even get rid of the stuff. So it just sits there in their garages, while hospitals are running out of supplies.“

An idea blossoms in Natasha’s mind, suddenly and unbidden, but so complete in its perfection that she can feel a grin splitting her face. The Quinjet has been sitting idle on the landing pad for two weeks now… it takes only two to operate it, and disinfection will be a cinch.

“I think you just found us a great way to spend…” she checks her watch, “…the next two days, six hours and fifteen minutes, and do some good in the process.”

She can see the realization dawn in his eyes. It’s what she loves best about Clint - his ability to match her thinking step for step, no explanations necessary.

“You’re on,” he says. “I promise to wear gloves when we handle the stuff and not to breathe on the lowlifes.”

He reconsiders for a second or two.

“Or maybe just a little.”


Edited 2020-03-15 01:05 am (UTC)

every super-villain on the planet has been self-isolating since Von Doom had come down with the virus after that fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago.

::snorts Diet Coke while trying to drink & laugh at the same time::

(pre-caffeinated, obvs)

♥ <-- DW kudos

Brilliant! Thanks for this :D

this is *chef's kiss* perfection.

Personal Favorites:

“What the fuck is ‘SOCIAL DISTANCING!’ supposed to mean?”

'Covfefe-19'

'Aren’t Canadians supposed to be better than that?'

and Thor almost running out of toilet paper

this gave me a much needed laugh, thank you so much!

What drew you to the MCU?
My dad loves Spiderman, and growing up I used to check out the spiderman omnibus comics from the library over and over. When they made the Tobey McGuire movies, I was beside myself. Obviously, since I loved Spiderman, I simply HAD to see any other marvel movie coming out. Thus, Ironman. Thus, seeing Avengers at midnight opening night, and then six times again after...

Why do you love the comics, and how/when did you discover them? see previous answer for my first intro to comics. Once they started making Marvel movies, I started checking out different titles from the library, and then eventually buying some (too many). I love the artistry of comics, and how the gutter of a comic strip creates a kind of drama or suspense you can't find in other art forms. Also, I love Marvel because it's generally lighthearted and grounded in the real world (more real than, for example, Gotham). I like that I can go places (or Google Maps places) that characters have visited or claim as their hometown. Also, I just... love superheroes :)

Do you have a preference for MCU Clint & Natasha, or do you love the comics versions better? How do you reconcile them?
I tend to like comics!Clint and movie!Natasha, though I honestly pull bits and pieces from all over the place. Movie!Clint is a little too military and a little too personally competent for me; I prefer my Clint with a bit of weight on his shoulders, plus the circus background, plus a minor disaster (plus Lucky). Also, I love Natasha's comics but she's such a loner and I like exploring Natasha in connection with others and how that forces her to confront her past or adjust her present.

Why Clint/Natasha (or Clint & Natasha) specifically?
I love when, in ships, one is stoic and one is emotional, especially when women get to be the stoic one (looking at you, the too-soon-gone Whiskey Cavalier). I like two people who are only soft with each other. I love That Scene in Avengers. To be honest, though, I didn't start to ship them until Winter Soldier!! The necklace... phew. I love minor, tiny details that reveal depth of feeling, so... case closed.

How do you feel about Laura? And Bucky? And OT3s?
Laura: just not interested. AoU is truly one of my least favorite movies in the franchise, and I don't feel like they did a great job introducing her in a way that felt natural instead of shoe horned.
Bucky: love him! I generally prefer him as Nat's ex and now friend rather than as a current partner.
OT3s: sure! I don't write them, but I'll read them!

Bonus Question: How do you think Clint and Natasha (and Tony, for that matter) would deal with a pandemic? Comment fic welcome!
Part of me wants them to do what I want to do, which is to retire to a remote beach house and spend these long, quarantined weeks lying in the sun... But that isn't really what superheroes do :)

Also, I love Natasha's comics but she's such a loner and I like exploring Natasha in connection with others and how that forces her to confront her past or adjust her present.

I was just talking to inkvoices about this today! Personally, I hate every solo Black Widow run I've read because Natasha is always very Batman-I-Work-Alone in them and what I like is how this emotionally close person interacts with the people around her.

Edited 2020-03-15 08:42 pm (UTC)

"Movie!Clint is a little too military and a little too personally competent for me"

I borrow that Clint when I do mission fic. For a while I thought Fraction's version was a bit too shleppy. Now I basically use them both - comics!Clint for screwball fic and MCU!Clint for competence porn, and both for different explorations of emotion. Like, I used comics!Clint for the depressive aspects of the Vanishing (Five Times Clint Barton Picked Up A Stray) and MCU!Clint, with a dose of Occupy Avengers!Clint for my (pre-Endgane) Ronin fic (I forget the title and am too lazy to look it up). I love the range all these Clints give me to play with.

Ditto Natasha - I'm less fond of the lone wolf aspect of the comics, but I do like the hints of the "before" relationships we get there, and her attitude towards Liho, which is kind of how I think she sees her Avengers "family".

What drew you to the MCU?
I watched the Avengers and loved it. And I was between fandoms at the time and decided this might be a good way to move, so I searched out Hawkeye comms (because the Sixth Favourite Avenger totally was my favoruite) and pretty quickly found this place!

Why do you love the comics, and how/when did you discover them?
I bought the first two trades of Neil Gaiman's Sandman from the charity shop I volunteered at, because I loved Neil Gaiman and I enjoyed it enough that I looked for more. But then, as Fraction's Hawkeye run was getting published, I plucked up the courage to enter my local comics shop (they're all lovely) and tried it out. And then I tried that slew of female let #1's that Marvel put out in 2012/2013 and borrowed a whole heap of stuff from the library, finding Saga and Guy Delisle and Pretty Deadly and Secret Avengers and a whole host of things.

Do you have a preference for MCU Clint & Natasha, or do you love the comics versions better? How do you reconcile them?
generally, I prefer comics Clint and MCU Natasha. MCU Clint's character inconsistencies started to get to me, plus those started cropping up around the time of Fraction's Hawkeye which just gave be such a better, more compelling alternative. Comics Natasha is too Batman-I-Am-The-Night in her solo runs, and I much prefer exploring her relationships with other people, how she opens up and all her vulnerabilities. There are comics versions of her I liked (Ales Kot's Secret Avengers, Kelly Sue DeConnick's Avengers Assemble 2012) but a lot of her early 2000 runs I've not read (e.g. Name of the Rose). But mostly they've become my own mishmash of character traits, dependent on what I need for the story to work.

Why Clint/Natasha (or Clint & Natasha) specifically?
I maintain that there is more chemistry is that scene where Clint wakes up after Loki than in almost any other scene in the MCU. There is so much potential and so much unsaid in that scene and I genuinely think that the MCU missed a trick not capitalising on that.

How do you feel about Laura? And Bucky? And OT3s?
Laura: makes for a great ex. Otherwise, is there anything to feel about her? What were we given, really? Nothing. She's a cardboard cutout. And if you want to paint her into something more than that, go for it, she deserves it so much. But I am not that person.
Bucky: MY BABY. I love him. Though in the films, I will always love the Winter Soldier the most, and I think it's the murder thighs? I don't know. He was just so effortlessly badass while being horribly sad and I am a horrible person because I loved that. In the comics I'm more eh about him. Never really read anything about him. I'm trying to track down a print copy of the original Brubaker Winter Soldier run to change that though. Currently it seems to be out of print.
OT3s: I LOVE THEM. Literally, my favourite thing. I can be particular about my OT3s though. Clint/Nat/Bucky is, completely unsurprisingly, my jam though. :D

Bonus Question: How do you think Clint and Natasha (and Tony, for that matter) would deal with a pandemic? Comment fic welcome!
Clint: Annoyance and boredom. Who will walk Lucky??? My constitution is made of iron! I'll be fine!
Nat: Retreats to a well stocked safe house and uses the time to catch up on those books she's been meaning to read.
Tony: Instant cover for all SI employees, regardless of country - gives them whatever they need. Sick pay? Done. Child care? Yes. Work from home? Fine. Unionise the cleaners, all essential employees get hazard pay. Press conferences badmouthing government responses.
(Pepper: The logistics for what Tony is doing, plus smoothing it over with shareholders.)
Thor: Can't catch it and can't transmit. Takes it upon himself to help isolated elderly and homeless because why the hell is the government not going more, hey Sif you want to help out? Good.
Bruce: Holes up for 48 hours and synthesizes a vaccine. Actually saves everyone. Won't patent it, or take credit. Wins a Nobel Prize which is collected by Tony.
Steve: Also can't catch or transmit - takes every opportunity to critises government responses. Urges unionisation. Campaigns for universal health coverage. His twitter is a Thing Of Beauty. #Cap2020 trending.

Edited 2020-03-15 09:09 pm (UTC)

There is so much to love in your response!

"mostly they've become my own mishmash of character traits, dependent on what I need for the story to work." EXACTLY THIS. (See my more detailed comment on that in reply to gsparkle).

"Bruce: Holes up for 48 hours and synthesizes a vaccine. Actually saves everyone. Won't patent it, or take credit. Wins a Nobel Prize which is collected by Tony." PERFECTION! With the little hiccup where Ross swoops in and tries to take production over for the government (because he is planning his own election campaign and won't that be a ticket to glory?) and there's a little altercation that results in the Pentagon becoming a Quadrangle, and then Nat puts the formula out on the internet for Bruce because since the merger, his fingers have gotten too fat for the keyboard.

Aww, I love your bonus question <3

this is sort of off-topic but I saw a tumblr post where someone is being followed by a spy and the spy is doing spy things (attaching a tracker, following them, stakeout to find a movement pattern) but the person is so clueless that nothing works. Kind of like an Inspector Clouseau movie.

I saw that and instantly thought of Fraction Clint (or comics!Clint in general) and how he could fit both roles.

and honestly, that's the only thing that's made me laugh without wanting to cry this week

*giant hugs* <3

Also that's a great idea. :D

here's the actual post (and i want this to be a fic)

https://heroofshield.tumblr.com/post/612687744408371200

Edited 2020-03-15 10:48 pm (UTC)

Bonus Question: How do you think Clint and Natasha (and Tony, for that matter) would deal with a pandemic? Comment fic welcome!

Natasha and Clint would already have some kind of plan in place, be it heading to a safe house somewhere in a sparsely populated area to avoid the bigger cities or stockpiles at designated locations already in place. They'd head out as soon as the pandemic reached a certain point after rounding up people they wanted with them.

or

They stay in the city with Tony and the others, maybe convince him to open Stark Tower to needy family's since he has the space, and try to help where they could; showing up at stores where people might be getting out of hand or start patrolling areas where people might try to take advantage of the chaos.

Tony would show up to Chinese groceries/restaurants in a splashy way (posting social media photos/tipping off the press) to show that everyone's prejudices were harming people who had been here for decades and to give the restaurants a bump. Tony would drag whomever he could find along with.

Thor and Clint have a contest to see who can eat the most dim sum. Thor wins by a very large margin.

Yes to Tony advertising using Chinese takeaways/supermarkets!! I love that idea. <3

hello all, coming in a little late here, but I work in the hotel industry so you can imagine the week i've had

What drew you to the MCU?
I'd read a few comics as a kid (see below), but wasn't allowed to watch much TV or movies so I didn't start watching the MCU movies until 2014 when I moved in with the roommate and we marathoned all the MCU movies so I could watch Agents of SHIELD with them.


Why do you love the comics, and how/when did you discover them?
Ok sooooooo baby Paperairplanes was at the Scholastic Book Fair in...2004? I think? I was 8. And I had some awareness of Spider-Man and thought he was cool and there was a paperback book of "Spider-Girl" comics and I was like ?????spider-girl???? and so I bought and read them. Does anyone remember those? Peter and MJ name their daughter May Day Parker because why not???

After that, my dad got me a double feature Spider-Man origin story and a Fantastic Four skrull story and I got really attached to Fantastic Four.

(and then when I grew up a little bit more I read Elfquest because my mom didn't know what that was and my Dad loved it. also I worked a Universal for. quite a while)

(I typed all of that and realized this was probably about Clint and Nat comics whoops. Didn't read those until after I'd gotten attached to the MCU versions)


Do you have a preference for MCU Clint & Natasha, or do you love the comics versions better? How do you reconcile them?
...does it count if my favorite versions is just certain people fanfic interpretations of them? I guess if I have to pick it's MCU Nat and Comics Clint but my favorite Clint is Secret Avengers Clint.


Why Clint/Natasha (or Clint & Natasha) specifically?

ok. so. When I was ten years old I fell in love with Mara Jade from the Star Wars EU, who is a brainwashed, former assassin, who served the Dark Side and learned the error of her ways. So now whenever I see a pretty red headed fighter girl type I imprint like a duckling.

Clint came as a package deal and also the red headed assassin lady needs a man to stare adoringly at her.


How do you feel about Laura? And Bucky? And OT3s?
Laura: Listen I love Laura. I recognize that Laura in canon doesn't do anything, but that just means that I can project on her all of my messy feelings and also make her say things I want to be said to Clint and Natasha. Also, I've shipped it since she called Natasha "Honey" in AOU. My OT3 to end all OT3s.

Bucky: I like Bucky and I like ClintNatBucky OT3. However, I somehow developed the headcanon that Bucky trained Nat when she was small and so sometimes I squick myself out unintentionally when it comes to Nat/Bucky stuff. I want to like it and reading OT3 stuff has def made me ship it more, so maybe I'll get there some day.


Bonus Question: How do you think Clint and Natasha (and Tony, for that matter) would deal with a pandemic? Comment fic welcome!

Pre Avengers they'd probably hole up in a safehouse until it all blew over. Post Avengers I figure they'd be drawn into making handwashing PSAs for the greater good.

Late is fine! We celebrate until the next Friday rolls around (or the one after that)... And it's not like I didn't post late...

"whenever I see a pretty red headed fighter girl type I imprint like a duckling." Love it! Happens to me with Damaged Males With A Past.

Hi there!

*waves*

What better way to spend isolation than to get back into fandom? Hope it's ok to jump in uninvited.

About a hundred years ago, I used to be on LJ (same name), and am pretty sure I even looked in on that incarnation of this very community. For what it's worth, most of your names still look very familiar!

When LJ was sold, it coincided with unrelated RL stuff which had me dropping out of all fandom activity.
Years later I discovered AO3. Over there I am ALeaseInWonderland.

As for the questions:

What drew you to the MCU?

Archery, also Joss.

My first ever fandom (the discovery that there was such a thing as fandom!) was Buffy (I'd first seen Renner on that first series of Angel). I had seen Iron Man at some point (likely dubbed, which never improves viewing experience) but had never heard of any of these characters. As any romcom would tell you: "She never expected to fall in love."

Why do you love the comics, and how/when did you discover them?
There was no comic culture where I grew up. Apart from artistic biographical graphic novels, Fraction/Aja's Hawkeye was probaly the first one I read not aimed at children. What a place to start, hey? I fell even harder than for MCU Clint/Natasha.

Do you have a preference for MCU Clint & Natasha, or do you love the comics versions better? How do you reconcile them?

I had only just fallen in love with MCU!them when AoU rolled around and jossed everything so hard, I was pretty sure that was going to be it - I wasn't going to get into anything Marvel related.
But the comics were still there, and I still loved those. So I tried to find out more backstory and got completely lost when I realized origin story reboots were a thing. O.o
Couldn't reconcile any of it, really, so fled to AO3 and now my headcanon is just a bit of everything.

I made a new RL friend, proper comic/sci-fi geek about a year or two ago and luckily, he convinced me to give MCU another try. I am only officially caught up on the MCU as of last week. *hides*
In a way I only ended up here because I had all these *feelings* after Endgame and AlphaFlyer kindly let me flail at her. Cheers for that! Also: sorry for the kind-of-stalking and lack of DW-specific coding skills. I'll look that up.

Why Clint/Natasha (or Clint & Natasha) specifically?

Because it's right? Look, we'll be here until this Corona thing has runs its course if you get me started. Because neither of them is whole without the other. Even if I read them romantically involved with anybody else (which only works for me for one single exception), the other has to be their platonic other half because one without the other is just sad beyond words.

How do you feel about Laura?

I've tried hard to hate her but in the end I can only dislike those who created her to begin with. I don't like it when fanfic writers take their frustrations out on a character. She's been written excellently in some fics! Better than by the actual MCU, if I may say so.

And Bucky?

He's the one exception I can see Natasha/Natalia with, because of backstory. Not him and Clint though.

And OT3s?

In general? Sure. For Clint and Natasha? No.

Then again, a good writer can make you read stuff you'd never expect to like (e.g. Laura or Bucky?!), so who knows.

Bonus Question: How do you think Clint and Natasha (and Tony, for that matter) would deal with a pandemic?

This comment has become embarrassingly long already. I will get back to you on that.

Yay! You came over!!! So glad to see you here. And everybody is invited!!!

I think we agree on the OT3 thing. Just doesn’t feel right but some of my best fandom friends write it, so I’ll read it if not too long or explicit.

And hooray for your sci-fi friend!