I have been thinking quite a lot about how fandom’s rampant aphobia factors into Reed hate, probably because I recently discovered that a Marvel artist had vilified Reed in the past over on Twitter by claiming that he is an asshole who thinks of his wife as “just a friend,” as though it somehow would make his love for her less valuable or important if he did. So I’m going to talk about the ways in which Reed has been coded as ace within Fantastic Four canon, and how he is troublingly framed as strange, abnormal, and Other both by official FF canon and fandom over this ace-coding. To be clear, Reed has never been explicitly called ace in canon, but there are moments where it’s been made abundantly clear that he does not experience sexual attraction and that he is fairly ambivalent about sex.
It does bear pointing out that Reed DOES love his wife romantically—if you’ve ever read FF comics, that much is fairly obvious:
I love you, Susan. You bring light…and life…and joy…and meaning to my days. Now and forever.
Marvel Knights 4 #21
But the fact that he doesn’t behave like a stereotypical heterosexual man—in possession of a high libido, sexually aggressive, obsessed with sex, constantly sexualizing and hitting on and competing over women the way Ben and Johnny do, etc.—means that, in many people’s eyes, Reed’s love for his wife is somehow lacking and not really love. Personally, I think it factors quite a lot into people’s arguments that Reed is “abusive” for “neglecting” his wife, which he simply is and does not do in canon. The implication is that it’s because of his lack of sexual attraction and low sex drive – Reed “owes” Sue sex because he’s her husband, the thinking goes, and his failure to provide it consistently means that he is failing in his husbandly duties. The aphobic notion that aces are abusive to their allo partners because they “withhold” sex is, unfortunately, old and familiar, and it is coercive and, worst of all, encourages rape. Unfortunately, it’s not an interpretation of Reed’s behavior that hasn’t been encouraged in official FF media – take, for instance, this exchange:
Just think of the technological marvels that ancient spaceport might hold, darling!
[sighs] I can see a bikini doesn’t stand a chance with you.
Fantastic Four: The Animated Series: Ep 2x12: The Sentry Sinister
Discussion of aphobia below the cut.
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it’s RINCEWIND FEELINGS O'CLOCK now at ten pm edt
when will any other character have that EXACT balance of acknowledged incompetence, Fear ™, cynicism, “oh no i care about this even though I’m not supposed to”, anger at the entire universe, and complete exhaustion. I love him. he’s doing his best and his best is a mess. he just wants to sleep. Let him rest.
The most striking thing about Papyrus (aside from his limitless positivity) is the fact that it is literally impossible to die in a fight against him. Even Toriel, who starts purposefully missing you once your health gets low enough, can accidentally kill you, but Papyrus? It is literally impossible. Papyrus has incredible control over his power! Wow, what a great and impressive skeleton. And, even though he could probably deal some legit damage to you on the murder run, his only action is to spare you, because he’s heckin worried about this little emotionless murder child.
A lot of people like swap aus where Sans is the one that dies and Papyrus is forced to shed his naivete and face you going all-out, which makes sense, but also, Papyrus is just so. Papyrus. I feel like if Papyrus had to be the final murder-run boss, it’d be more like, “After losing Sans, the world seems like a different place. I can’t imagine what you must’ve gone through for you to see the world the way you do.”
He only has one attack, but it’s a really long one and powerful one (kind of like Sans’ before his ‘special attack’), plus he talks during it, which would be pretty distracting. whenever he gets your hp down to 1, combat automatically stops and you’re ejected back into the judgement room. if you try to talk to him without healing, he’ll just say you’re too hurt - a gust of wind could knock you over! after you heal at the conveniently placed save point and go back to fight him, he has stuff to say about how you don’t have to be alone, you don’t have to do this, you might think there isn’t any good in you and it’s too late to change, but there is and it isn’t! After a few of those, he’ll talk about Undyne and Sans, and they always tried to help him, even when they thought he wouldn’t notice. He’s got a ton of stories about that. After he says his piece there’s an option to either fight or don’t fight, and every time you pick fight he looks disappointed, but he goes all out. He’s always able to be spared.
if you survive his attack, he goes down in one hit. his last words would probably be an apology, even though he tried really hard he still couldn’t show you a better path
‘By looking far out into space, we are also looking far back into time, back toward the horizon of the universe.’ - Siebren De Kuiper
The fact that Snape is one of the youngest if not THE youngest professor is fucking hilarious.
daily affirmations
I think a lot of things because of that Au mine that I don't know how to do but the point is this I think that the decision to be a consulting detective is something that did a lot of good for Holmes in many aspects of his life but I think one of the most relevant was in improve the relationship with his brother.
Personally I don't think they have a love / hate relationship or a strained relationship for siblings who get on badly in the canon are the Watsons.
For me it is more than anything a matter of characters: Mycroft does not is someone who shows his affection in an explicit way and although Holmes has very sweet moments and gestures from him, he also does not have the habit of being like that expressive.
So the Holmes brothers get along; In their childhood it is not crazy to think that who first develops his observation / deductive skills is Mycroft, in fact it makes sense and with things like the Diogenes club it is not so crazy to say that he is a lonely and lives in his own way but then there is the little Sherlock.
According to the case Gloria Scott Holmes considered his observation and deduction skills at that time a simple hobby. And he was seen as an aimless young man but why would someone develop such a strange hobby? I think the answer is that little Sherlock did it to get closer to his brother mainly and if he continued with that it was out of his own natural curiosity.
The point is that Mycroft is the first to be different if we deviate to a somewhat queer perspective. If Mycroft is the first who knows that he is different, maybe many of his attitudes are to protect himself; observing the people around, being able to do this from a seat, his search and acceptance of a position of power and imposing - politics isn't easy or light! -.
So his own little eccentricities are why his younger brother manages to form a bond with him, they bond over and maybe even one day he will be honest with Sherlock when SH realizes his own distinctions but his attitude is different, Mycroft points out that Holmes has the energy of the family and the desire to do fieldwork.
I think this again is a reflection of how they handle things, Mycroft does not want fights, he does not want direct confrontations, he wants to deduce everything from a chair, hidden, protected in his own sanctuary and with the assurance that if someone were to try to harm him. .. It would be complicated but Sherlock is different, he is there saying his name out loud when a dangerous criminal abruptly enters his home, he makes jokes after almost dying, he is the type who is not afraid of confrontations in reality. (Maybe in other areas yes, but in apologizing for being who he is? He is not afraid of being who he is) There is even something careless and reckless in his youth.
But returning to the subject, in addition to their own personalities, these different paths that each one takes are the only point that could have separated them; because these are two very different perspectives, it is not hatred or contempt just to grow up and belong to different worlds.
They would still have their little deduction games and a few visits but there would be an outside line until Sherlock Holmes decides to be a detective. What I'm going to is that in his youth he had many doubts about what to do with his life; we know he could be just a chemist, or an actor in the theater or a violinist or an underground boxer! but S. Holmes, thanks to Trevor's father, argues that what he likes to do, what was his first approach to his brother could be useful to live and help others.
If Sherlock had dedicated himself to something else I feel that Mycroft would have supported him but there would be some inevitable distance that is broken a bit when their jobs / life missions intersect as much as when Sherlock is a detective, we saw it in the Greek interpreter, from time to time Mycroft helps him solve cases or guides him in the matter! In stressful and difficult matters that Mycroft faces in his work, he can directly request Sherlock's support and even see how he solves that complication in his life!
I think there is something... there at the bottom of how both have improved their relationship by ending up in two parallel paths; each one is different but from time to time they cross paths and meet and it's cute.
The most striking thing about Papyrus (aside from his limitless positivity) is the fact that it is literally impossible to die in a fight against him. Even Toriel, who starts purposefully missing you once your health gets low enough, can accidentally kill you, but Papyrus? It is literally impossible. Papyrus has incredible control over his power! Wow, what a great and impressive skeleton. And, even though he could probably deal some legit damage to you on the murder run, his only action is to spare you, because he’s heckin worried about this little emotionless murder child.
A lot of people like swap aus where Sans is the one that dies and Papyrus is forced to shed his naivete and face you going all-out, which makes sense, but also, Papyrus is just so. Papyrus. I feel like if Papyrus had to be the final murder-run boss, it’d be more like, “After losing Sans, the world seems like a different place. I can’t imagine what you must’ve gone through for you to see the world the way you do.”
He only has one attack, but it’s a really long one and powerful one (kind of like Sans’ before his ‘special attack’), plus he talks during it, which would be pretty distracting. whenever he gets your hp down to 1, combat automatically stops and you’re ejected back into the judgement room. if you try to talk to him without healing, he’ll just say you’re too hurt - a gust of wind could knock you over! after you heal at the conveniently placed save point and go back to fight him, he has stuff to say about how you don’t have to be alone, you don’t have to do this, you might think there isn’t any good in you and it’s too late to change, but there is and it isn’t! After a few of those, he’ll talk about Undyne and Sans, and they always tried to help him, even when they thought he wouldn’t notice. He’s got a ton of stories about that. After he says his piece there’s an option to either fight or don’t fight, and every time you pick fight he looks disappointed, but he goes all out. He’s always able to be spared.
if you survive his attack, he goes down in one hit. his last words would probably be an apology, even though he tried really hard he still couldn’t show you a better path
Ah Vander...
I'm still cracking up over this one line!
Vander has seen Silco turn a teen into a monster who killed 5 armed enforcers, the sheriff and then Benzo, got knocked out and dragged here, heard Silco's passionate speech, and he still seems to think that Silco could possibly be satisfied with just killing him.
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, VANDER??
What have you done to Silco, that you believe that he might stop everything he's got going and call it quits after killing you?
The more I look at this sentence and the more it feels like Vander has this sort of... self important perception of who he is, or what he means to Silco.
Vander betrays a massive lack of understanding for Silco's dreams and passions, which is sort of heartbreaking, and feeds my perception of a young Vander who was always more in on it for himself than for ideals or true beliefs.
Vander would settle for personal revenge. Vander understands revenge more than anything else, because even after Silco's speech, he *still* believes that deep down it's all this is really about.
It hints at a young Vander who was full of rage and violence, but devoid of ideals. Silco thought he'd shared his dream with him, but he only gave him a direction to channel his anger, a conduit for his violence. Vander, I think, never really cared for a free Zaun, or never believed in it. That probably made betraying Silco that much easier, back then.
Silco asks him if he's forgotten, and he hasn't. He simply never really believed.
Sigma interacting with his co-workers in talon (with his pills):
Sombra
Sigma: Unh? Oh Hello my friend! I haven't notice you there.
Sombra: Oh! Yes! I finaly made it work.
Sigma: I'm afraid i don't follow. What did you made work?
Sombra: It's a old device from the old times on Dorado. I found on a junkward with only It's hopes and dreams to keep it alive. It's a camouflage exo-skeleton that went missing after that accident of transportation to the moon.
Sigma: That was indeed a terrible incident. It's a queit a riddle of how in the many odds that could've happened.
Sombra: For the brigth side, i gain this little one. Look: It's filled with nano bots, they are soo tricky to control though, too many and too complex even with my current technology; imagine back then when i didn't had none of this! Needed like ten years just to hack 100 of them and on the stage that i found it i was already thinking that it was imposible to make it work. But oh man! Más vale manã que fuerza.
Sigma: Outstanding! And that's one marvel of engineering that Horizon was caring, and as you said: Complicated. I unfortunately had little to no contact with this kind of technology, i only saw when It's was being refined, years away from the current time. Seeing it on this stage shows how your handwork really improved after your studies.
Sombra: Learned with the best.
Sigma: Well, thank you but to be frank you're queit the prodigy yourself. I do not believe a admirer of the systematics of relativity is queit, eh, sharp to thought the control ofd sub atomic non-organic devices.
Sombra: It's true though. Without you, i wouldn't be capable of understand none of that right now, it took years just understand their basic composition. I own you alot, viejito.
Sigma: I appreciated.
Moira
Sigma: Could I go outside today, doctor?
Moira: I'm afraid i can't do that, you're under supervision after that surgery that we passed.
Sigma: Yes, yes, immune system weakend cannot be teased with a little clue of fresh air. But.... By the time that is passed here i don't feel stronger.
Moira: Your diagnoses said otherwise.
Sigma: I mean in pratice. My abilities seemed to increse and i showed more results while i was outside. Hitting the walls, going back in furth, this isn't a natural display of mines here.
Moira: We understand your struggle doctor, but for now you will be just the very thing that you are not craving right now, for the benefits of your health and the full sucess of the experiment. So we stay right here, yes?
Sigma: . . . I understand.
Doomfist
Doomfist: Doctor De Kuiper? The subject sigma, still... Instable? I see, i hope nothing unchracterist happens here.
Sigma: Hello mister Ogundimu! Never thought i would see you in flesh.
Doomfist: Unh hum... Charmed. (Takes a step back)
Sigma: i'm marveled for seeing you here. The doomfist! The title behind It's as heavy as It's sounds.
Doomfist: You know my title?
Sigma: And who doesn't? A man that in a battle killed his own master. Now, i know It's sounds harsh for but for pete's sake you are queit skilled, the cloath needed to be changed, in a way or another.
Doomfist: How do you know this?...
Sigma: Many events happens in many universes, universes that comes with mutiple choices of certain characters, and yours my friend, the universe singed your history and It's happens to be true in this variation. It happens time to time, i can't tell why!
Doomfist: Sure... It was good to see you, doctor de Kuiper. (Goes away)
Sombra: Got em'! Best actor ever.
Sigma: He looked very frigthen.
Sombra: That's what he get's for thinking he is high and mighty.
Sigma: You sure are happy with this.
Sombra: Yep! Oh man his face was priceless.
Sigma: Well, this could've got worst. But guess you handle pretty well.
Reaper
Reaper: Get off the way, doctor.
Sigma: How can one desmaterilize and still be asking for space?
Reaper: The very one is thinking in fill you with bullets. So, Get. Back.
Sigma: If a cologne of protozoa makes It's way for the mind of a fish. This means the fish is now passing for a evolutive process or devoluteve process?
Reaper: What?
Sigma: Has a ant ever thought that the universe that it got It's actually just another particle on the grand scheme of things?
Reaper: Have you lost your goddamn mind?
Sigma: purpose has purpose?
Reaper: (grunts) just get away from me. (He dissapers.)
Sigma: Finally peace. (Smiles.)
Widowmaker
Sigma: (singing)
Widowmaker: Could you please shut up?
Sigma: Oh! Why? It's beautiful day today.
Widowmaker: We wipped out a battalion of soldiers.
Sigma: Oh... So you still knows what compasion is?
Widowmaker: Nothing beyond a distraction.
Sigma: So Gerard was in the wrong since the start?
Widowmaker: What did you say? Did sombra made you say this?
Sigma: No, i just heard about it. Did you miss him?
Widowmaker: It's none of your bussines.
Sigma: If you do, Doctor O'Deorain could've failed on her experiment, if you don't that means she is good on her work, and i will trust her. Which is it?
Widowmaker: ... Don't cross my line of sight again, doctor.
Sigma: I know my answer now.