Illuminati #7

[history79]

Comments

[zylly]

Crusher and Mary are adorable as a couple.

[erikred]

I was really hoping Crusher would lay out some serious therapy talk there about them both working really hard to take personal responsibility for their relationship.

I get the impression that they've definitely done couples therapy.

[redmagpie]

I really love what this book has done with Titania. Her costume and personality here has been awesome.

[starwolf_oakley]

The Hood needs to think more like The Flash Rogues who do What they do to pay the mortage. It is just the money instead of taking over the mobs or trying to kill superheroes.

[locuatico]

i think my favorite Rogue moment was during Identity Crisis when Captain Cold makes a point of sending their condolences for Sue dibny, since he knew there would be a manhunt from the superhero community because of her murder.

[beyondthefringe]

Hah, screw you, Hood.
He's a guy who constantly rises to the level of his incompetence, whose ambition far outstrips his capabilities, and I like watching him reap the consequences of his actions. He screwed over Titania... she gets even.

[tigerkaya]

dormammu: .....And strike two what a dunce. I wonder if Mordo is available?

[bruinsfan]

The last I heard Mordo had died of black magic cancer again, but that was before Secret Wars rebooted the Marvel universe. He hasn't appeared in the "Death of Magic" storyline so far.

[crinos]

So this is like what, the fifth time Hood has gained cosmic power only to lose it again?

Not that I cam complaining, because this is the perfect punishment I can think of for this little shit: Gaining a taste of the power he craves only to lose it all, over and over again for all eternity, but seriously this shit keeps happening.

And it would be nice if it was Tigra who took him down one of the times this happened. But good on Titania.

Also, should we be worried about that squid skull thing that came out of the cloak when Titania ripped it?

[tigerkaya]

Probably a Dormammu takes his soul type deal. That or fight Mordo's Sapient pearwood treasure chest.

[erikred]

Baron Mordo And His Sapient Pearwood Treasure Chest WMAGNFAB or a Harry Potter crossover fanfic.

[md84]

Parker Robbins is a total power junkie. After he got his first 'hit' of super powers, he can't live without them. He's let just about every other part of his life -- including the family he claimed to love and became a criminal to support -- fall apart in his never-ending search for that next big score.

The best part is that EVERYONE around him could see this coming and tried to get him to stop. His cousin and former partner-in-crime was by far the smarter one since he outright refused to try on Parker's hood and boots, fearing (rightly as it turns out) that using them might cost him his soul. He even begged Parker to go to Doctor Strange for help in freeing him from the damn things. A shame Parker didn't listen.

[chalicother]

I like Crusher and Titania's willing to accept what their hero's do to them. Their marriage is something they chose and has problems due to them, no one else. Also their willing to not attack families, which you know gets kinda of hard these days, as if you attack a Summer or Pym family member, you got at least five hero's just by blood that will want to kill you.

[glprime]

These two have walked a long, hard road, but dammit, they're responsible for every step. Respect.

The Hood is just a scrub.

[tcampbell1000]

What makes this so freakin' great is that everything the Hood is saying is exactly the kind of chop-logic that other, lesser superhero stories have used to justify other supervillain team-ups.

Although there's one incredibly dumb thing the Hood says that goes unchallenged-- "They gave you fake happy lives and then took them away!" UH, NO, ZEMO TOOK THEM AWAY WHEN HE WOKE YOU UP.

I could view this as Marvel continuing to struggle to explain just why it was such a terrible human rights violation to send all those convicted criminals to Perfecttown instead of Hellish Prison in Madeupistan Bay, but I prefer to read it as the moment where the Hood's would-be underlings start to realize that this guy doesn't have the slightest idea what motivates them and it's embarrassing to watch him pretend.

Finally, HELL YES AND MORE PLEASE to the return of the likable, relatively levelheaded versions of Absorbing Man and Titania.

[md84]

TBF, the real issue with Pleasant Hill was that they were brainwashed. Supervillains or not, that's definitely a human rights violation.

[tcampbell1000]

I just don't know. I feel like there's a world of difference between the kind of brainwashing that the Winter Soldier suffered and what Pleasant Hill seems to have been like for most of its inhabitants. Both involve forgetting who you really are, but one of them involves doing things that would traumatize and horrify the real you, forever and ever until you die, and the other involves working in a friendly community for good wages until your sentence is served, then taking those memories back with you into the real world. No, it's not freedom (Jim Carrey was right when he fought against a similar situation in THE TRUMAN SHOW), but "not having freedom" is kind of the DEFINITION OF PRISON.

Ah, but I'm repeating old arguments, and I'm sorry for that: I'll let it go after this. It just frustrates me that this seems like a story where two sides of the argument could have been made (all it would take would be for one villain to say they missed Pleasant Hill and wished they could go back), but instead just about everybody seems to agree this was a terrible thing except a few SHIELD guys we'll never see again and Maria Hill, who's usually cast as the hardass government foil and is probably being phased out in favor of Samuel L. Nick Fury, so sure, let's make her eat those sins.

The funny thing here is that the Hood seems to agree with me. The way he phrases it: the Bad Thing the heroes did was "giving you fake happy lives and taking them away," not "forcing you to live in fake happy lives." But then of course he goes on to say "Oh, and I took your actual happy life away, Titania, but that was different." One thing we can all agree on: the Hood is a hilarious idiot.

[md84]

It's not just because Hood's a hilarious idiot (though that's a huge part of it). It just wouldn't occur to someone like him that someone like Titania who had superpowers would truly be happy working in a pawn shop.

And TBF, that would be true of Titania's past self -- the insecure girl who wanted so badly to be special that she let Doctor Doom experiment on her to give her superpowers. What Hood doesn't get is that -- unlike him -- she's actually grown up a bit.

[fiddlingfrog.livejournal.com]

"Finally, HELL YES AND MORE PLEASE to the return of the likable, relatively levelheaded versions of Absorbing Man and Titania."

Basically, let anyone other than Jason Aaron write them, please.

[tigerkaya]

Along with Hickman, apparently he writes Crusher as an actual rapist and necrophelia.

[tcampbell1000]

There needs to be some kind of editorial enforcement here, really. DC has had far too much by all accounts for the last decade or so. Marvel's spent the same period getting out of the way of its creative people, and that's led to some great stuff, but when one of them says "Hey, I half-remember some old stories with the Kingpin, he probably never got laid, right?" and writes a script that shows this, somebody needs to be ready, willing and able to say "No, Vanessa is KEY to the appeal of his character, this is unprintable, write it again and do your homework next time."

[tigerkaya]

Consistency and oversight from editors would help greatly. That and I wonder if his son is even still around post Secret Wars.

[md84]

Does Hood really not get that targeting heroes' families would turn out even WORSE for the villains in the long run? They'd only need to look at the friggin' Punisher to know how that would end -- and Frank's a more or less ordinary human!

[tcampbell1000]

HAHAHAHAHA I DIDN'T EVEN THINK OF THAT

[bruinsfan]

I think it's a reasonable plan. He should start with the Fantastic Four's family. How much trouble can a couple of kids be?

[shadur]

... God, I suddenly want to read this.

Especially the finale where he's begging for the cops to please take him away, he'll confess to anything and everything just don't leave him there...

[matrix_dragon]

Okay, time to pay out the bets. Who had issue seven for 'Hood loses his latest powerup?'

[fiddlingfrog.livejournal.com]

I've got to admit, I didn't think the Hood would outright admit to Mary that he was responsible for her losing her job.

[matrix_dragon]

He is not a smart man.

[shadur]

Seriously, Hood. You flat out admitted you deliberately screwed over her attempt at getting a normal life to make a fucking point and expected her to be appreciative?

You should be grateful all she's ripping in two is your cape rather than your more essential bits.

[quatoria]

Yeah. I think it's clear that she gets that she's dealing with a junkie here, and probably a type of addict that she's seen before. Rage doesn't do you any good. She's right - she's trying to save him from himself, here, though I think Parker might actually be past saving, given what he had to mortgage to get that hood back. It's an awesome moment for her.

[cainofdreaming]

"Let's target their families! First one: Odinson!"

[erikred]

"Hey, now... Lord Thor, my One True Lord and Savior, is not responsible for anything with our marriage-- apart from giving us His Eternal Blessing back when he moved Asgard to New York that one time."

Am I the only one who remembers when Crusher bent the knee to Thor?

[bruinsfan]

Other fun families to go after:

Luke Cage's wife

Black Panther's ex-wife

The Vision's ex-wife, pseudo-brother, and pseudo-father

The Scarlet Witch's kids and father (take your pick which one!)

She-Hulk's cousin

Dr. Strange's ex-wife

Professor Xavier's ex, son, and sister

The Fantastic Four's kids