Coming out...

(x) at 8:58

XD OMG who subtitled, Jonathan?! “Wobert” 

starkstower:

Just appreciating Tony Stark's face in Avengers Assemble #9

Avengers Assemble #9 - #11 is my favourite story arc, plus, epic Science Bros!

(Source: paralysedbeaver)

raeosunshine:

I signed a year-long lease )8

(Source: allison-chains)

queersuperteens:

THERE ARE IRON MAN 3 SPOILERS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS META. If you scroll down slowly and then whip past after the “Pepper doesn’t need violence to be badass” paragraph, you’ll be fine.  Just in case unspoiled people want to read the meta.

beeftony:

ffrenchtoast:

It frustrates me that there are still people who think that if a female character isn’t slinging a gun or swinging a sword, she’s automatically categorized as a ‘whiney damsel in distress’ or something along those lines. Like a female character needs a weapon in order for her to be a strong character. I see this a lot when it comes to Pepper, that all she does is scream and get rescued by Tony -

No. Just. No.

Years of being Tony Stark’s secretary teaches you patience, tolerance, and molds an otherworldly work ethic - but it does not teach you how to react when crazy guys holding electric whips or wearing big metal suits try to attack you. She can scream when she’s scared. Any regular person would do the same. And yes, Tony saves her when she’s in trouble - but don’t forget, in the last two Iron Man movies, she’s had a hand in saving Tony not once, not twice, but three times.

Pepper Potts is sassy, smart, and she has willingly put herself in harm’s way to help save the person she loves - all without having to shoot a gun.

So basically, if you don’t like Pepper Potts, you’re wrong and you should feel bad.

Adding to this, being a strong character isn’t necessarily about kicking ass in the physical sense. It’s about having agency. Does the character make her own decisions and face the consequences or are her decisions made by the plot to serve the narrative of other (often male) characters? Pepper is one of my favorite Marvel ladies precisely because she manages to be badass without having to resort to physical violence.

For one thing, she is outstandingly cool-headed in high-stress social situations. Anybody would freak out in high danger situations where her life is being immediately threatened, but watching her subtly maneuver her way out of Tony’s office when Stane corners her in the first film—while maintaining a superficial friendly conversation with him the entire time—paints her as a competent heroine in her own right, because we all know Tony would not have been nearly as smooth.

And what does she do immediately afterward? She tells Agent Coulson to walk with her and tells him exactly what’s going on and goes with them to stop it. She also alerts Rhodey to the fact that Tony is not responding to her calls and needs help. Remember, even though Tony recovered the Mark I chest piece, Rhodey still helped him up off the floor of his garage. If he’d been even two seconds later Pepper would have been grenaded to hell by Stane. Tony handles the physical rescues, but she saved his ass about three different ways right there by controlling the situation.

Not to mention how in the second movie she actively coordinates the evacuation efforts during the attack on the Stark Expo while cooperating with police both in getting Justin Hammer arrested and keeping civilian casualties to a minimum. She does have a mini-meltdown on the roof later, but only because the stress has been building up the whole movie to the point where it’s literally not healthy for her body to take it anymore.

Pepper can still be badass even in the presence of physically strong characters like Natasha (who, it must be stressed, is also quite skilled at emotional manipulation and preying on people’s expectations of her), because not every woman has to fulfill the same set of traits. We don’t expect male characters to all match the same archetype, because that would be boring. And yet, there seems to be this mindset that unless a woman meets a certain checklist she’s not really a strong, brave, amazing character. Pepper doesn’t have to be violent to be awesome, and that’s what makes her unique.

That said, the part in Iron Man 3 where she delivers the final beatdown to the main villain like a badass out of hell? I smiled from ear to ear, and Tony did too, because Pepper has always been the bigger hero.