fic: "downright complicated" [Maria/Steve/Bucky/Natasha]

[tielan]

Title: downright complicated (38298 words) by tielan
Chapters: 9/9
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain America (Movies)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Maria Hill/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov, Maria Hill/Natasha Romanov, Maria Hill & Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanoff
Characters: Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Maria Hill, Natasha Romanov, Other Marvel Characters
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Sedoretu, Sedoretu, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Not Black Panther Compliant, Developing Relationship
Series: Part 8 of sharp Evening stars and bright Morning flame
Summary:

A sedoretu is a four-person marriage, an intricate mesh of six dynamics - sexual and non-sexual - between Morning man, Evening woman, Morning woman, and Evening Man. But when a sedoretu consists of Captain America, the former Deputy Director of SHIELD, the Black Widow, and the Winter Soldier, things are bound to get downright complicated...

It is finished. *flops down in a heap*

Let the Infinity War come; I already know Maria won't be in it, let alone significant.

Comments

[kore]

Yeah, and the way they're handling the giant cast bloat is splitting everyone into TEAMS -- so group A does this, group B does that, group C does something else over here! Bleah.

[tielan]

a.k.a. "This movie has none of the reasons that I loved the first Avengers movie, Feige!"

*grr*

I'm kind of boggled that they even included Okoye and Shuri at this point. (And perhaps a little pissed off that they used Martin Freeman in Black Panther when I think his role could have been undertaken just as effectively by Maria.)

Is it just me, or was there a point where, once they realised this was going to be a coherent universe, they should have sat down and said: THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS, IT LEADS TO THIS, ALL THESE THINGS SHOULD HAPPEN BEFORE THE BIG CLASH, and just mapped it out?

[kore]

OOOOH MARIA IN BP

The Russos and writers are apparently comparing it to Nashville (two and a half hours long, maybe 1/3 the characters) and Game of Thrones (seasons and seasons long). And yay, we can have all these people in because we divide them up into teams!

I mean, I was kind of generally hating it, but now it sounds like it's just going to be a drag. And if they bring in Wakanda just to have Thanos pound it into the ground, I'm going to be really pissed.

[tielan]

I KNOW RIGHT??? A character who's already there, she and Okoye could totally have staring-off matches to start with, and she'd be all over dealing with Shuri. "Compared to some sixteen year old males - and some acts-like-they're-sixteen year old males - this is easy, Princess."

And if they bring in Wakanda just to have Thanos pound it into the ground, I'm going to be really pissed.

You, me, and a SHITLOAD OF PEOPLE, from the sound of it...

[kore]

OMG, Maria and the Dora Milaje would have been AWESOME. (I really hope Nat and Okoye get some more time other than that little standoff.)

You, me, and a SHITLOAD OF PEOPLE, from the sound of it

They wouldn't do that, would they?? We just got it! We should get Black Panther sequels! At least two more! Hell, how many Spider-Man movies did we get? ....I'm just feeling such dread. I think the Asgardian refugees will get it in the neck at the start and then it'll be all Deathy Destruction with lots of the giant grape monologuing and then Wakanda gets smashed at the end. I'm just so not there for that. I hope it's not going to be that depressing, but the way Feige keeps gleefully talking about how awful it is....aaagh.

[tielan]

Wait, didn't they mention a Black Panther 2 movie?

*clings to hope*

Honestly, I...actually want the Avengers to mess everything up and vanish into Infinity (or something), and then Maria, Fury, and all the people who weren't there the first time have to pick up the pieces in Part 2... But, yeah, death, destruction, and Wakanda gets killed = BIG FAT NOPE. One thinks that surely Feige is wise enough to know that if he kills off the bastion of Black Advancement in the movie, he's a dead man walking. Then again, this is Kevin Feige.

[kore]

I think they were kinda teasing the idea but nothing has been set yet. But it made so much money, and was so wildly popular, they'd be absolutely crazy not to set it up soon.

death, destruction, and Wakanda gets killed = BIG FAT NOPE. One thinks that surely Feige is wise enough to know that if he kills off the bastion of Black Advancement in the movie, he's a dead man walking. Then again, this is Kevin Feige.

Yeah, he was supposedly the one who walked into the writer's room, said "Civil War," and walked out again, according to that interview they gave, so I just absolutely hate him. There was NO reason for MCU to do that movie, and it royally fucked with all the relationships and the organic tension in the group and everything. They could have tried to recover after the AoU mess with a real Cap 3 movie and then a non-CW Avengers movie, and they just blew it. I just don't want them to totally blow Wakanda after Coogler did such a beautiful job making the world.

[kore]

And frankly, Nashville had a REASON for bringing all those people together. A movie like Magnolia, ditto. This is just going to be "Hey remember the giant purple guy with the enormous chin on his galactic toilet who was in a couple little cameos? Now he wants to destroy everything!" I know Thanos and Lady Death is this huge story in the comics (WTF, it sounds amazingly stupid) but there has been like NOTHING about it in the MCU verse, and the rocks are just these glowy MacGuffins. Nashville and other movies like that are character studies. They don't have plots and great big action sequences with people flying around in front of greenscreens.

And I don't watch GoT, but man, given what I've heard of its plotting, I don't think that's something to aspire to really.