If Asteria Was in Charge...

So presuming she was the Knight of the Laughing Tree and Rhaegar did find her and maybe talked about enough for that to be revealed, maybe having a bit in the her getting the crown at Harrenhal.  

Okay this last bit is dumb, but I'm grasping at straws at anything that doesn't end in him being the creep that the evidence is pointing at him being.

#i want them to have had a good non rape or creep relationship #just cause the rest of their story is nothing short of tragic #and cause i like nice things #and can't help but notice the age difference #and his wife and kids #and the fact he and she were both smart enough to know that her at least appearing to be taken by him would be politically dumb-ass #especially if he already was under suspicion from Aerys #so imo Rhaegar was being manipulated by someone else (like Varys) #or he had gone off the deep end about the prince who was promised and really only saw Lyanna as a means to an end and didn't give a damn about the realm #which really does not fit in with the opinions of him from Jaime, Jon Con, and Ned.  Oh and Barristan

#so this is a head canon to maybe give an option for a consensual R + L #where he maybe said 'i can train you and get you to Essos if you do this thing for me'

#wow maybe more along the lines of there was attraction between them before the 'kidnapping' [which there is evidence of with the her crying at his song and the assumption of them reaching an agreement when he found her as the KotLT ... okay this is a stretch, but leave me alone with it] #so they likey but she want free of Westeros and the whole 'be a Lady thing' and is aiming for the Company of the Rose #he knows about this and makes the promise to not get her in the shit with the KotLT or her plans to run #as long as she says when she is ditching #at which point he gets her enroute #at which point i am lost because how this would look like he had forcibly taken her is unsure #and then them staying in the Tower of Joy for at least a year (well her at least a year, him probs a little less) without either leaving following the Aerys being the worst to the Starks #or their whole tryst being what drove the Kingdoms into war in the first place #(well at least the excuse)

#which makes me think Rhaegar was planning to over throw Aerys #wanted a political excuse to do it #and totally bungled it due to some unseen complication #which was probably caused by Varys or someone of his ilk #which makes me wonder if Elia, Rhaenys and Aegon being held in King's Landing wasn't just as hostages for the Dornish #but for Rhaegar too #ooo i kinda likey

#(side note: did Rhaegar see Elia and the kids before he left King's Landing that last time to leave for the Trident?  I'm pretty sure they were there at that point...) #but through all this i can't get away from the fact that Rhaegar would not miss the whole 'ice and fire' thing with him and Lyanna #and really be wanting that third kid #i might keep to a head canon where he doesn't guess that and mayhaps doesn't know about her being pregnant at all #just for my peace of mind #(i think the timeline would be okay with that.  he left the ToJ shortly after the Battle of the Bells, travelled to KL, summoned the arriving Dornish and remains of the Royalist army and then marched to the Trident for that battle #then the rebels had to get to KL with the whole sacking thing #Ned going to relieve Storm's End of the siege #then tracking Lyanna down to the ToJ and getting there #would that be enough time that she wouldn't be obviously preggers when Rhaegar left?

#I'm going off R+L=J btw #just in case that wasn't obvious #it might leave enough time if she was a bit early going into labour #which could be feasible with it being a bad delivery thing #and gods know she was under plenty of stress at the time of her death and the birth #and her youth wouldn't have helped.

#wait... we don't know whether they were actually at the Tower for the whole time between him 'taking' her and the White Bull being sent to them... okay that's a stretch cause I don't think Rhaegar would be able to be super incognito #espec in Westeros #mayhaps Essos? #but then why did they go back

#okay i need to leave this alone now

#boy alive do i need the next book

Arguably the most recognised and accepted-as-fact theory about ASOIAF, aside from Sarella/Alleras, is R+L=J.

If you don't know it, here's the breakdown.  Jon Snow isn't Ned's son, actually he's the kid of Ned's sister Lyanna and the defeated Targaryean Prince Rhaegar.  Because Ice and Fire.  And sweeping star-crossed romance stories.  And it fits so much nicer with Ned's morality.  And because all the angsty drama.  There is a lot of precedent for this hidden in the text of the books, just do a google and you will find literal essays about this written so much better than I could ever hope to replicate, so I won't go so much into all that here.  Basically for me it is my favourite fan theory (at this point) full stop, and it works so well with the series, that most fans can't see the truth as being anything else.

From the books, here is more or less the canon of their relationship:

At the Tourney at Harrenhal in the year of the false spring, Rhaegar wins the joust and names Lyanna the Queen of Love and Beauty, passing over his own wife and affronting Lyanna's betrothed, Robert Baratheon.

About a year later Lyanna is either kidnapped or runs away with Rhaegar with the help of a couple of his closest friends [leading to Robert blowing a gasket and starting his Rebellion]

About another year later she is found in the Tower of Joy in Dorne following Rhaegar's death, shortly before she herself dies from a fever and probably substantial blood-loss, judging from Ned's memory of finding her.  Apparently both she and Rhaegar spent most of the war in the Tower, before he left to fight Robert.

There is some consensus amongst both the characters in the books and the fans that it was a consensual relationship because the only person who seems to have believed it was rape was Robert, even Ned was sceptical, and there is also a large enough group of characters who go on about Rhaegar and Lyanna being a love story.

Rhaegar is remembered fondly by most of the characters.  Even those who fought him and had a bit of a reason to hate him, like Ned, still recall that he was a good person.  He wasn't mad like his father Aerys (as far as we know), there are numerous accounts about his leadership skills, humility, and he just comes across as someone with his head screwed on.  Lyanna was a bit different.  Compared extensively in looks and temperament with Arya, she apparently had a 'drop of the wolf blood' in her, making her a bit wild and quite independent.  She spoke up for the little guy and was big on having her say and getting her way.  She wanted to learn how to fight and may have wanted independence to make her own choices about her own life.

So Why?...

My big issue, is why would someone who sounds more than anything sensible and honourable, decide to break his marriage vows and anger a lot of people at all?  Let alone at such a volatile time with Aerys becoming more and more paranoid.  And why would a strong willed woman decide to go off with this man, and remain kept away despite surely hearing about what happened to her family and the fact that a war had been stared over it?

There is clearly stuff we don't know that went on.  Otherwise this wouldn't be a fan theory, but with the above in mind, I feel there must be a lot we don't know.

Rhaegar was somewhat obsessed about the Prince Who Was Promised prophecy, and probably could put the links together of ice and fire with himself and Lyanna, as the fandom also sees, but I don't think he would be so nuts about it to start such an incident by taking Lyanna, especially with the political climate being as it was at the time.  Never mind how he really doesn't read as someone who would forsake his wife for another woman so publicly, even if the marriage was more political alliance than love based.  As for Lyanna, yes she sounds a little 'devil may care', but she seems to have loved her family and was about fifteen at the time of leaving them, that is old enough to know that there would be severe consequences for people other than herself 

There seem to be three prominent explanations behind why they ran off together:

It was a bit of an abduction, maybe because of Rhaegar's prophecy obsession, after which Lyanna sort of ended up falling in love with him in a gross Stockholm Syndrome like way.  I really hope this isn't the case because that's icky, too easy, and just awful.  

They just happened to meet that fateful day, and ran off together.  Even if including backstory to their relationship with the Tourney and maybe exchanging letters, to me is a stupid and also kind of lazy theory, as well as geographically infeasible based on their respective areas of residence.  

Similar to the above, that they planned it at the tourney.  This theory usually involves the two of them very quickly falling in love or working out they are the ice and fire, or a bit of both.  This is my favourite of the three, but it too doesn't seem to fit with the character stuff I keep nattering about, particularly regarding Rhaegar.  And if it is all because of the prophecy, I start to question whether Lyanna would be so devoted to it in so little time.

As most of my character stuff is just hearsay and probably too based of fanfics rather than actual canon, I realise I need something more concrete, and that is timing.

The first two suggest a level of spontaneity which the 'about a year later' bit doesn't really lead to.  Even assuming they couldn't run off at the tourney, if you are going to wait a few months, you may as well wait until Lyanna's volatile brother wan't free to do something foolish.  This is even more apparent if you go for the third theory.  You would have to be pretty blind to decide to do a move which would draw the attention of so many powerful people when your very powerful and very unstable father thinks you're plotting against him.

It makes you start to question whether someone wanted the Seven Kingdoms to break into Rebellion.

We know that Aerys was suspicious his son was plotting to over throw him, which may very well have been true.  There is also a hint at other great houses of Stark, Arryn, Tully and Baratheon, as well as possibly Lannister constructing plans before Robert's Rebellion properly started.  There were a large number of betrothals and marriages between these houses set up which sound unlike the previous norm.  Most of the parents of Ned's generation married amongst their own vassals/bannermen.  Suddenly we have Tully and Stark, Baratheon and Stark, and Tully and Arryn betrothals.  Never mind Martells were also looking outside their home turf.  There is another fantastic theory called 'Southron Ambitions' which goes into this, but at the very least these closer political ties made it possible for Robert's Rebellion to be successful.

When I first started to draft this, I was leading to the conclusion that I though Rhaegar was planning to over throw his father, and wanted a rebellion to start with plans to turn it to his own favour.  But after thinking on it even more, this is just another dumb theory.  Don't get me wrong, I think Rhaegar was aware Aerys needed to go, he almost said as much to Jaime Lannister, but I don't think he would try to do so in such a risky way, especially a way which was almost certain to end up in open warfare, something which never really goes well for anything.  Another issue with this idea was it didn't give any good reason for Lyanna being willingly involved.

Now I feel there was someone manipulating it all so everything would crumble.  It sounds as if both Rhaegar and Lyanna were at the Tower for the majority of the war.  By accounts they were surrounded by some of Rhaegar's trusted friends, which leads to the conclusion that there may have been at least a little free will from his side (so it wasn't so much them both being kept with lock and key.  But I still think there was someone leaning on the two of them to do what they did.

Another reason for believing this is although I'm a shipper of these two, GRRM hasn't painted a world where fluffy romance really exists and I strongly hope there is more to these two than that.

So Rhaegar was forced to take Lyanna and not really able to defend his actions (surely if he could he would have intervened with the whole killing Brandon, Rickard and the other northmen stuff).  This also would address the Lyanna becoming a damsel in distress side of things.  So may fics have her wanting to be free and after adventure, which I agree with to an extent, however if this was the case I don't think she would stay in the Tower for a year without something to keep her there.  Sure she was possibly pregnant for the later part of the stay, but unless it was a really bad one, women can still be active in the early months.

The idea of someone or a group of people pulling the strings is not new.  Lady Dustin, who gave name to the Southron Ambitions theory, mentioned how the maesters aren't all as independent as they might claim and were whispering to Lord Rickard and probably Aerys (we know Maester Pycelle is a Lannister man).  There is also the big obvious answer of Varys, who was seeked out by Aerys as he was worried his son was plotting against him.

So why would someone want to orchestrate the ordeal?  The motives are numerous.  Wanting Aerys gone.  Targaryeans out.  Part of the Southron Ambitions plot.  Kingdom split.  Prophecy.  Or just chaos.  You really can just go on and on.  Whether this plot was actually successful, who knows, but it's fun to think about.

...and Who?

Each motive opens up a large range of characters who might be the instigator.  My favourite is Varys.  As mentioned above, he joined the chaos of Westerosi politics at least before Lyanna and Rhaegar took off with each other.  There also has to be more to his working for the best of the Kingdoms, that's way too idealistic and perfect like for  a GRRM character.  I read a fic the other day where he's one of the Blackfyres, I could see that, sort of.  There is definitely more to him than we know.  He is also brilliant at plotting, just look at all his interactions with Ned and Tyrion and his work with protecting various character such as Aegon and Gendry.

Basically all I want to get through in this ramble/rant is that although I am a huge fan of the R+L=J theory, I am incredibly interested in the specifics of how it all happened. Even if they aren't Jon's parents, question of why still stands.  Why did these two reasonably smart and prominent people decide to make such a risky and catastrophic decision which could only end badly?  There must have been some bigger overarching plot.  It must have been separate to the one between the great houses, or there would have been more knowledge of it in the present of the books, and it probably wouldn't have been so disastrous, and wouldn't have involved Rickard Stark using his daughter and son like that.  I hope.  So who was it and what the heck was it?

Heck maybe Rhaegar was the villain Robert believed him to be.  Or maybe he just was mad about the prophecy and charmed Lyanna into falling for and following him at an unfortunate time.  

Or maybe we will never know.  We already have enough to explain what lead to the politics in Game of Thrones, Jon's conception and Lyanna's preganacy timeline and the cause of her death.

Baroness Orczy's  The Scarlet Pimpernel was first published in 1905, and since then there have been stacks of adaptations from films to sequel books to musicals to tv shows.  And to an incredibly awful high school production I did in my last year of school.  But I don't talk about that.

What's not to love?  

A masked hero pre-dating Zorro and Batman who is kind of a combination of the two

An intelligent and (fairly) balanced romance - she's not just a pretty face (...well theoretically, this was written over a hundred years ago and is set in the late 18th century, so our standards are a bit different, but she has spunk, I swear),

And so much potential for an adaptation this side of the millennium.

The book is free to read here if you feel the need.  Or want to.  Note the writing style does show the age of the literature, so if you can't quite bring yourself to read it, there are thankfully many adaptations and you could always do a google...um or read my rant to be honest.  The 1934 film is generally considered by the fandom to be the most accurate to the book and you can watch it here.  It is black and white with no backing soundtrack (believe me, that makes it feel weird as a modern viewer), but still enjoyable.  If that doesn't appeal, the 1982 film is also quite good.  This one is not very close to the book, it actually combines two of the books in the one film, and if you are a stickler for historical accuracy be prepared, it does stray.  But it is entertaining with its big '80s hair dos, young Sir Ian McKellen as the villain, and cheesy lines.  And it has the basic plot which I love so much in it.

Without further ado: HERE LIE SPOILERS, THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING :)

The Basic Synopsis:

NB: I've read the book several times, but I have also watched several adaptations of it, so I tend to get them a little confused.  I have tried to keep to the book plot as much as possible, but there is a chance that some of the little details are not quite right.

The year is 1792 and the French Revolution in all its head-lopping-off glory is in full swing.  So to speak.  

Meet Marguerite [Margot].  She was born in France as a pleb and was a proud Republican with her ideals of brains over birth.  She made a name for herself when she was younger as a fantastic actress who created her own circle of intellectuals, herself considered the cleverest woman in Europe.  Now she's the wife of an English nobleman, Sir Percy Blakeney, Baronet.  Sir Percy is the richest man in England, close friends with the Prince of Wales, and a total inane fop, according to his peers and wife.

Oh, he also has a secret identity known as the Scarlet Pimpernel through which he invents ingenious plots he and his closest friends implement over in France in order to save French aristocracy from the guillotine.

Not that Margot is aware of this... yet

Back in her acting days, she came across info which linked a French aristocratic family, the St Cyr's, to traitorous communication with Austria.  As the family had treated her brother unjustly some time before the revolution, she got her revenge by giving the information to the new government, assuming they would give justice.  Of course the government took this too far and executed the entire family.  The execution occurred around about the time that Percy and Margot got married (possibly even on their wedding day).  Percy from then on saw his wife as something akin to a murderess, and became estranged with her, hiding his intelligence and indeed most of his personality from her.  

It is a year into this marriage of two of the most stubborn people and neither are particularly happy (I will likely do a post of my dissecting their relationship some other time).  The Republic has sent an ambassador to England in order to uncover who the demmed Pimpernel is.  This ambassador is a small, kind of distasteful man by the name of Chauvelin.  Chauvelin happens to be an old friend of Marguerite's.  Preying on her feeling of loneliness and the fact that he knows her sole remaining family (brother, Armand) is one of the League, Chauvelin captures Armand in France, and blackmails Marguerite into helping Chauvelin to uncover who the Pimpernel is.

Marguerite is in turmoil.  She (from her perspective) has nowhere to turn.  She admires the Pimpernel for the lives he's saved, yet she is faced with a choice to save her brother (who, I think, practically raised her) at the expense of a brave man who is only doing good as far as she can see (she believes in the ideals of the revolution, not the execution [pun not totally intended]).

She eventually decides on family over stranger, and gives Chauvelin info which he uses to work out its Percy, not that Margot has picked up on this yet.  Feeling she can't trust Chauvelin to let Armand get away and probably feeling a little guilty, she turns to her husband and finally comes completely clean, including explaining her actions around the St Cyr debacle.  He finally sees her for who she really is, but is still all cool to her, says he will do what she can, then leaves her.  The next day he stuffs off to France (not that he tells her that).  She is mooching around their mansion feeling their may be hope for their marriage, completely drained after the emotional roller coaster she's been through.  After talking to a friend who happens to be waiting for her father to be rescued by the League, Margot finally comes out of her daze to click about who he is.

Feeling even more guilty, she finds Percy's second in command (Andrew) and together they make their way to France to try to warn Percy about the trap.  They are slightly too late, hidden in shadows she sees Chauvelin and Percy meet, and Chauvelin seemingly corner Percy.  Following Chauvelin, Margot (hidden from pretty much everyone at this point) tries to get herself in a position to warn her husband out of the trap, even if it costs her life (because melodrama is awesome).  She fails and is apprehended by the Frenchies, to Chauvelin's glee.  

Forced to witness a trap slowly close on her husband, brother and others, a whole lot of trickery involving seaside paths, an old shack, people being idiots, and a touch of racism ends with Margot being left on the beach with a Jewish man who was helping Chauvelin earlier.  She still believes Percy is dead/about to die, until she hears him making some inane exclamation about the circumstances and lo and behold, the Jewish man is yet another of the Pimpernel's clever disguises.

They finally get a tiny bit of closure, he goes all action hero and carries her along the beach [because of her 'poor feet'] to his boat.  Where they assumedly start catching up on the years worth of ... honest conversation that they have been missing.

It is cheesy.  The hero wins, gets the girl, and makes the villain look like an idiot in the process.  There is angst, melodrama, a bit of telling rather than showing, and Margot's character kind of loses a little of her appeal after a point (in my opinion), but I just can't get enough of it.  To the point that I have watched every version I can get my hot little hands on.

This looks out of place on this blog, but I figured I needed it for reference.  I have at least three adaptation ideas going nuts in my head, and I figured if I wanted to post them, I should do something about giving background.  Or maybe I just wanted to write about this story.

Meh.

Thanks so much for reading, my next post is likely to be...well actually anything to be honest.  I'm kind of considering a Wanda Maximoff: what I want in the films rant.  Or something about anime.  Or more on the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Before I begin, here are some notes to refer to before you tell me I'm an idiot.  I conceived this and the X-Men most before the news of Maximoffs in both franchises were revealed.  I realise that the companies which hold the rights to X-Men and the Avengers are not going to go out of their way to make Wanda and Pietro's stories possible in both franchises.  This is me listing the stuff that I want to see.  I...it's my thing [see every other post I have made].  I don't know everything there is to know about the Avengers, the current rumours of the films, or the entire histories of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver (but I know more about this than most of the other stuff I have posted...).

Again, I've focused more on Wanda than Pietro.  I am sorry for that, but it has just turned out that I know much more about her and she is very much favourite character of mine.

Slotting

Okay the fitting in with X-Men.  Reminder this is all in reference to this post.  All my previous musings.  

Their first appearance in the Avengers follows the events of their first appearance in the X-Men.  By the end of their first film with the Mightiest Heroes, they go back to the mutants for their second appearance I gave.  So basically between their first and second Avengers appearances, they have become recognised officaly and pubicaly as Avengers and mutants (however much these will never both be in either franchise).

As of the second Avengers plot, they know they are actually related to Magneto, and have that in the background as he continues to be a political influence.  I actually see at this stage, Pietro side-tracking off separate to the Avengers, maybe with the Inhummans or X-Factor or something while Wanda remains with the Avengers, and her powers and position in the team have matured so she is considered one of the heavy hitters.  At least here this is not just me playing favourites, just by what I've read, Wanda was an Avenger for longer and more consistently than her brother...I think.

Again between films they have gone back to deal with mutant issues, and if we did get to an Avengers 4, we all know it would likely be big on the epic scale, characters who had been introduced would be tried to be back for at least a cameo, and I wouldn't be surprised if they attempted to drag in any of the tv stuff that managed to get off the ground.  This would leave little space for real character stuff, but I would see Wanda as being one of the main Avengers (as long as she hasn't gone nuts and blown it all to pieces...or isn't the villain of the story...always a possibility with these too actually, they could easily just stick in the moral grey throughout their existence in the Avengers films) and Pietro probably not so much.  By this point, the Avengers line up would definitely have changed, because I don't see all of the actors sticking around for that long, or the writers wanting to keep the same characters all the way through, that's poor story writing (she says, trying to sound like she knows anything).

Snippets

I think that their introduction will be similar to Hawkeye's in the comics: basically misunderstanding and them being treated as criminals to begin with, followed by a grudging 'okay you can join on a probationary basis' and 'wow I couldn't imagine the team without you'.  Their intro to the team in the regular comics was along the lines of the Maximoffs approaching the Avengers and saying 'hey we are trying to make amends, aren't actually bad people despite the terrorist record, and want to join your team'.  In the Ultimates it was more a set up made by SHIELD.  I don't think they will be introduced simply by 'hey meet your new team members', and the less they look to the Ultimates for the Maximoffs the better, in my opinion [*shudder*]. So maybe there will be a late stage 'can we help?'  A mid-battle assist that saves the day and a team member from certain death and which makes the team re-think prior opinions of them.  [The more I write, the more I realise everything I say is a cliché...]

I kinda have this scene in my head of early in the film, the Maximoffs meet at least one of the team.  Pietro doing most of the talking, being his fantastically abrasive self, and Wanda trying to interpret Pietro speak if need be.  Keeping the peace and being a voice of optimism when the twins are talking it over.  Let's be honest, Pietro's short temper will be a problem.  One I can't wait for.

I also have this headcanon of them spending time between making it to NY and joining the Avengers, of them more or less living in the lower socio-economic class, because if keeping at least in some way with their origins, they would be new immigrants with an easily googled bad past and not much in the way of employable skills.

I had it in my head for a while that earlyish into the film Banner started to Hulk out in a crowded area which happened to include at least Wanda, who managed to fluke-like stop or at least slow the process, s'pose it could be a way of introduction.  Anyway... this is going nowhere fast...

There could be some sort of reference of the fact that the Maximoffs, Wanda particularly, not only have issues which none of the others (original films 6) really can compare to (ish), but also are similar to the originals.  They both have:

past manipulation and mistakes they want to make up for (like Clint and Nat [this is alluded to in the film, but reinforced through their comics history])

their background is in the lower reaches of the socio-economic spectrum (Steve, and Clint again)

the worst in the way of family issues (as does Thor and to a lesser extent Tony, also Clint if they keep with his bro being a bit of a plonker)

time displacement* (Cap)

Then Wanda has:

terrifying capabilities if she loses control ('Bruce, you can level a city if you get mad? I can level a civilisation')

sticking with my X-Men plot [because I really want both franchises to allow each to be canon for each other, even though they won't], she had a capture by hostile forces, torture thing going which she is dealing with but has in some way effected the use of her abilities (hey there Tony)

Just a conversation or passing comment of 'you think you have issues, take a closer look at her' because really her character has been super crapped on in the comics (like most characters.  And I realise the institution/torture thing is sort of my invention, but in the comics she was nearly stoned for being a witch, had the wrenchingness of her husband losing his humanity and the trauma of discovering her kids kind of weren't real and she had non-biologically accidentally created them, nevermind the whatever force that apparently took over her regarding the House of M and Decimation.

* if the timeline of Pietro and Wanda is kept as in the books - kids of Holocaust survivors, so probably born at the latest in the 60s, in the comics they were introduced in the 60s as teenagers, and it wasn't much of an issue, but nowadays it doesn't work.  I remember reading in a comic (can't remember which...that's not like me) that they were kept in a kind of limbo in Wundagore (mystical place they were born in) until they found foster parents.  This is my head-canon, going as fas as they lived for their childhood in the out of time Wundagore, leaving occasionally and having to adapt to the modern world.  At the least they would likely have to put up with this.  I don't know where this is going....just ignore it.

I really want the next Avengers villain to be Ultron, Thanos going to the Guardians (is that happening? who is the Guardians villain? I need to look into that...) as there is much more of a connection there.  You wouldn't necessarily need Hank to introduce Ultron (there wasn't a connection to begin with in the comics), he could just be a robot villain whose origins are mentioned when they work out who the big bad is, then that can add tension to whenever they decide to bring him into the loop (although in Ant-Man, aren't they doing a split time period thing? Hank (and Jan?) in the 60s and Scott at present? Who knows anymore).  This would make it more possible for a Vision intro.

Wanda was apparently key in some of the original defeats of Ultron, her magic stuff messing with the tech (small aside, Tony is just going to love being on a team with someone who calls herself a witch).  And as much as I didn't like the arc at all, in the Ultimates Wanda kind of sort of makes an ish version of the Vision by one of her hexes.  That turns out to be a really bad idea, but it could be an origin for him.  It would add him to the list of love interests of hers which are a little bit dubious (Simon, Steve...actually anyone because she can apparently manipulate reality), but still.

And finally, more than anything above, there has to be a Kooky Quartet scene.  Just a team up as a throw-back to the days of the second official line up of Avengers.  Steve, Clint, Pietro and Wanda (wow, so much blonde...) kicking butt at some point.  If there is anything remotely like this I will be actually cheering in my seat as I watch it for probably the second time because I AM SO EXCITED THEY ARE GETTING A BIG SCREEN DEBUT AND IF SOME FRANCHISE POLITICS STUFFS THIS UP FOR ME I WILL ACTUALLY CRY.  *Cough*  As you can see I have strong feelings about this matter.

Character Stuff

Probably in part because of the vague physical resemblance between Wanda and Pietro, and myself and my brother, I have always loved the sibling relationship between the twins.  Yes it can be quite domineering on Pietro's side, but they have that 'we were all each other had and we can always* depend on each other' dynamic.  That and their relationship, however super complicated, with dear old dad Magneto, makes the Maximoff/whatever family probably my favourite in comics.  Actually second favourite to the Cages, but definitely up there.

I think what I'm getting at here, is in any portrayal of these characters, they need to have this strong dynamic very clearly and believably apparent, particularly in their first appearance, when they really only know/trust each other.  

Without a hint of incest.  

At all.  

Because that really makes my skin crawl [blimin' Ultimates].

This doesn't mean they be perfect and non-argumentative, because they are siblings, that would be stupid, unrealistic, and incredibly boring. From what I have managed to sus out, there seems to be a ying-yang thing about the personalities of the twins.  Wanda is usually trusting, caring, and optimistic.  Pietro tends towards, suspicious, abrasive (to be fair, I would get incredibly short tempered if I lived at his speed....wonder how he comes across to other speedsters...), and pessimistic.  At the very least there seems to be Wanda seeing the best in people as Pietro holds a slight superior air.

Sorry this was super disjointed and so long, but I wanted to have something along with the X-Men one I wrote, and again wanted to vent and share.  More so with my other posts, because of the crap nature of the writing of this, thank you so much for getting this far.  You are actually a fantastic person.

This small monster is in two parts, first up is me going a bit nuts about a common theme of comic books which drives me nuts, then tried to write out the scene which has been driving me nuts.  Feel free to skip either section.  Or just skim.  Whatever.  Thanks for being here basically. *two thumbs up*

Rant

This all started the other night as I was thinking about the girlfriends of superheroes, specifically the non-super ones, the Lois Lane, Mary Jane Watson, Jane Foster types. Generally they really, really bug me, except Lois because of Smallville, simply because they don't seem to be there for anything other than occasional fridging, damsels in distress, and to be the prize at the end.  And the power games of *heroic voice*: 'look how well I hide who I really am from the woman I say I love.  Haha she is so silly and know nothing'.  I understand that the usual justification is along the lines of protecting the significant other, but it reads as a trust issue.  And there seems to be a bit of a ‘win’ felt each time the hero manages to keep the girl from working it out. 

Gah!  It really bugs me, I prefer my equal relationships: Nightwing/Oracle (or Batgirl, just Dick and Babs, okay?), Electra and Daredevil, Batman and Wonder Woman (damn Justice League cartoon got me a’shippin’), and especially Jessica Jones and Luke Cage.  They are equal not in terms of their power levels, but because the games about identities isn't a dominant dynamic between them.

So I was sitting there thinking about how it would feel to discover your boyfriend was a superhero, and then naturally started thinking dirty things, and the Flash being fast at everything kinda came up.  Don't judge.  Who doesn't giggle at that every now and then.  So I thought, ‘let's do a Wikipedia on both Wally and Barry and their respective 'girls'’.  And I did.

First impression:  what is with all the twins, seriously.  And the thing with reporters.  Gah.  Such a type.

Secondly, Iris West (Barry’s) learnt about his extracurricular activities in spandex on their wedding night?  Because he sleep talked?  WTF?  Okay the fifties origin doesn’t help, but still.  Wow. 

Reading and laughing at this made me think about what I would do in that sort of situation.  And thus a scene and a bit of a synopsis outline has been bouncing around in my head since.  As with Pamela, I’m hoping that getting it out of my head and on to the internet will give me more headspace for study.  And sleep.  

Anyway the wedding night reveal has probably at some point changed during a reboot, and I haven't researched this at all (the Wikipedia look was seriously only at the very first couple of paragraphs of each page, it was after two in the morning), but it still has stuck in my head.  So much so that I have the whole scene mapped out in my head for a remake in modern media format.  Because that is what I do.  Without even seeing a panel from the original story. Just a reminder I know I don't know what I am talking about.

Scene

Instead of it being their wedding night, it's just after they’ve gotten  engaged, which happened through some sort of emotional turmoil like period, so it’s kind of a secret engagement, but Barry had been planning it, the timing was just not right to go too public (this is me trying to give him justification for not telling her, in some way...).  

So just after they got engaged, she gets up part way through the night (for a glass of water or something, hey maybe she needed the loo) to come back to find Barry muttering.  She realises he is sleep talking, and tries to gently wake him up. He is in some kind of nightmare, tossing turning all like, so she is trying to soothe him, and be mutters something that gives it away that he is the Flash.  

She freezes, and works it out.  When running the hypothetical of ‘what would I do’ I came up with two scenarios, neither of which I would actually probably do.  Either she (A) stops trying to gently wake him and instead starts to poke him in the belly, loudly telling him to wake up.  Which he does, to be greeted by 'you're the Flash?' in a slightly hysterical tone OR (B) keeps calming him until he is sleeping properly again, gets a lot of her stuff together, and all scary calm like leaves, he wakes in the morning, confused about where she is.

B is my favourite, and I have the follow up for that, so with B we go.

She scampers off and hides away for a bit, getting someone to be a messenger to let Barry know she is fine (by hide I really mean go get space.  If there has been some sort of emotional uproar then she probably needs to deal with that as well as finding out about Barry, so the space is probably at least feels needed, even if it isn’t healthy, I don’t know.  I'm just setting up the scene).  He is a bit too distracted for the moment by some sort of world emergency and the main hero plot, because those are great at coinciding with emotional drama by at this point, so isn’t able to spend too much energy in finding out what went wrong. But he is still a little off about it.

So after the fight that always comes before the final fight (the one where all hope seems lost) Barry came home to find Iris on the couch, curled up a bit, kind of out of it.

He approached her cautiously:

‘Iris?  Where hav- Are you okay?

She’s staring off into space.  ‘Is the Flash genetic?’

‘...Why?  I don't think Kid Flash is the Flash's son’

Iris looked up at him. ‘No.  Kid Flash is the nephew of the Flash's fiancée’

Barry stopped in his tracks.  ‘Iris-‘

‘You've been talking in your sleep.  It was the other night, after *insert drama llama here*... I couldn't sleep, so got up to, I dunno, a glass of water or something, came back and you were muttering away.  Didn't think much of it at first, until I started listening.  Something about *insert Flash villain name here*, the Speed Force, and then what must have been the end of a conversation you've had with Wally.’

Barry swallowed. ‘Iris, pl-‘

Silence for a couple of beats.  ‘How did Wally get involved? Did you just decide you needed a sidekick? Because he's seventeen, he can’t even vote and you think giving him super powers was a good idea?’

‘He did it himself.  He recreated the series of events that gave me my powers, he must have done a better job of it than I did because his body is even more efficient than mine.’

‘You didn't coerce him into anything?’

‘Iris, you know I would never do anything like that’

She raised an eyebrow and coldly said ‘I hate to sound cliché, Barry, but I really don't think I do.  Were you actually ever going to tell me?’

‘Yes...I- Yes I would have, but the time-‘ Barry spluttered

‘-never felt right?  Barry, we are engaged, that’s supposed to mean trust with everything, and you didn't trust me to not, what, run around the streets yelling 'the Flash is my husband'?  To freak out or get in the way or ...’

‘I'm sorry I just-’

Iris is back to staring into space.  ‘I'm not even sure about it all.  At first I thought I was mad at you, but then I realised I was really really angry at myself.  Disappointed’ she starts to tear up.

He looked at her, confused.  ‘What?’ he says softly.  ‘This is no way your fault, you're right, I should have told you, and I do trust you-’

‘I had no idea.’

Silence

‘At all,’ she slowly looked up at him, eyes glassy.  ‘That you were keeping something like this from me.  I mean, I thought there was small stuff, you know, work stuff.  I mean, you're a cop, I'm a reporter, there's stuff you can't tell me and I get that, but hiding something like this?  I had no inkling.  When I worked out you and Mr red spandex were the same person, I felt like there should have been a moment of clarity.  When it all fell into place, all the lies and the off feelings made sense or something, but it didn't.  Because I didn't feel there was lies, or an off feeling, or anything like that.  I thought I knew everything about you.  And then when I did find it out, all it left me with was confusion.  Because I couldn't overlap the two.  Barry Allen and the Flash.’

‘Is that why you left?’

‘Well that and I really am mad at you for not telling me.’ Iris was getting flustered. ‘It's more complicated than just being mad, and I needed the space to work it out.  I just feel like maybe we aren't actually right.  You can't trust me enough to tell me the biggest part of your life, fullstop, and I didn’t even realise there was something big in your life that you weren't telling me.’

‘Iris.  Yes I should have been honest, but with all that has been happening recently, I didn't know where to start.  I was going to let you, grieve a bit longer and try to finish up some things first then I thought we would be in an okay place and I could spend the rest of my life making it up to you.  Which I still planning on doing, if you let me.’

Iris broke eye contact again.

‘You just saw Barry and loved him.  Um, me. For all that I was always turning up late.  You've known me since before the accident, did that change anything between us?’

‘Well, yeah’

‘Beyond this mess right now.   I mean in the-’ he cleared his throat.  ‘In the relationship between Barry and Iris, right up to before my subconscious decided I had waited long enough.’

‘...No’, Iris sighed.  ‘There was a bit where you were a little shaky, which I suppose was one of those off things which was meant to suddenly make sense, but we have always been...us.’

‘Iris I love you.  So much more than I can ever say.  And if you want to leave- I understand and I’m not going to force you either way.   But I want us to continue, with no more secrets and no more lies.  Please, give me a chance.  We can call off the engagement and just go back to square one if you want, but please give me a chance and I swear I won't waste it.’ 

‘I love you too [*they be teary now*, gods this is sickly] and I'm sorry I left like that but I didn't know what else to do.  I freaked.  I've thought it through, and there is still more I need to ... to work out and I'm still really...wounded by you but...I don't want to leave us too.  Despite myself.  I like what we have, you need to give me a bit more space to get myself together, but I'm happy to keep us going.  More than so.’

‘.. So no calling off the engagement?  Which I don't think anyone knows about anyway.’ Barry said with a hopeful grin.

‘No calling off the engagement’ Iris smiled.

*sappy kiss, kind of mostly just embracing and all that stuff and teary because this is just angst all through because weeeee and gah and stuff*

They break apart.  ‘You never answered my question’ Iris said, sniffling.

‘What?’

‘Is the Flash genetic?’

‘According to what research I've been able to do there has been a change to a molecular level, but whether it could be passed on is unknown-’

‘Because, just to start the whole no secrets thing,’ Iris’s voice began to fade.  ‘There's something else I realised while I was away.’

Barry drew back.

‘I'm pregnant’

Beat of silence.

‘That’s probably another reason to remain engaged-’

*and more sappyness*

  Okay, reviewing this has shown that I really write god-awful sappy crap that if I think too much about will make me start worrying about how bad the messages in it are, but this was in my head, I wanted it out, so just deal with it. *folds arms and pouts in what she thinks is a threatening manner*

I then have a scene where Barry takes Iris to meet Bart, who has just popped up, with a ‘don’t worry about the survival of your kids (oh yeah, you’re having twins), meet your grandson’.  Because I’m a fan of all the clichés.   As I loudly speak of how I dislike them.

Anyway, this is what I want to say.  Thanks for reading the over 2000 words I’ve written, and please remember this was just an exercise of me venting for head space. 

Also, any recommendations of Flash comics to read, please send my way, I do want to read more.

Disclaimer: like anything I post here, this is all my opinion.  I own nada of it and I don't know every detail about their origins/story/character/likes/turn-ons/offs/favourite colour so if there is something that stands out as being wrong, please just accept it (or nicely tell me).  Also, because it is pretty much a rant, there will be inconsistencies and likely some Mary-Sue-ness as I kinda like Wanda way too much, to the point that it is ridiculous if I look too closely at it.  Okay then.  Let the ramble commence.

The following is the character arcs I would love to see for the Maximoff twins through a X-men movie series that I would love to happen.  Because I feel what we have doesn't really live up to the comics/awesomeness that could be there.  To be honest most of this was created with Wanda in mind, me naturally fitting in a Pietro arc as I went, so there is more detail in her part (and more of a part) so you could read this for Wanda mostly.  

  First Film: Original!X-Men vs Original!Brotherhood

I like the idea of including the Maximoff's origins in this first film, as a bit of a parallel to maybe a new member of the X-Men (event though I like the idea of the original X-Men team, I wouldn't want an X-Men origin film, maybe just for Jean (she was the last to join)).

Wanda and Pietro have for the most part their standard back-story  adopted kids of a Romani couple from the made up country of Transia (or anywhere Eastern European).  Adopted parents died, the kids fended for themselves, shunted by everyone because of reasons, end up getting themselves [this is where I go stuff the comics a bit] into Genosha just as a government there has a public 'we love mutants and want to help them' image.  Wanda and Pietro at this point have worked out that they are mutants, and Wanda in particular is having difficulty controlling it (tendency to hurt people when she uses her abilities, usually by accident).  She volunteers herself into one of their facilities as they promise to assist her with control.  

The facility is not so nice (big surprise, she says sarcastically), they have this torture thing going for them.  They have a collar they put on her which shocks her each time she tries to use her powers, which happens outside of her control for the most part anyway.  They try to get a reaction out of her, she tries to use her powers automatically in response, gets punishment.  This leads to her being a bit crazy like and reluctant reluctance to use her powers for the extent of the first film and majority of the next.  

So Pietro is all 'no that is my sister/only family I have wtf do you all think you are doing' but realises they would just take him down, is trying to get her out by himself, runs into Mags as he and Mesmero and maybe Toad (original Brotherhood ftw) are visiting the facility under other pretexts, sort of awkward team up then so on and so forth.  Magneto maybe wasn't planning on taking on more to his team (particularly a hot-head or an unstable girl) or be all heroic like, but feels sympathetic towards them because of their race and some sort of familiarity (foreshadowing... yus).  This sort of scene could be a good place for a show of Magneto's powers as he goes all ape crap and show his awesomeness by blowing everything up (because why not).

The Maximoffs in the rest of the film are serving Magneto mostly in gratitude for saving Wanda, as well as security for who/what they are.  But there are moments where it is clear that they didn't know what they were signing up for (such as in the early comics).  Neither like the idea of killing people, and Pietro doesn't think Magneto has been telling them the full story.  Pietro does start to think that maybe Mags' is the only way, not so much the killing, just that force may be necessary, I don't want to villanise Quicksilver.

For the most part, Wanda is just blindly doing as instructed, but doing her best to keep out of it as much as possible.  She keeps her power use to the minimum as at this point they are so unpredictable.  We get a bit of her defending anyone really with her not wanting to see badness in people viewpoint.  Pietro being brash and arrogant, as he does, seeing himself as Magneto's second in command. Actually Magnus doesn't care for any of his little band beyond their powers (he may have a particular interest in this area with Wanda).  Film ends with the Brotherhood disbanding as they are defeated by X-Men.  Maximoffs like 'stuff you Magneto, we've paid you're debt back, we don't like your methods, we're out of here' [maybe to visit and join the Avengers :P].

Next film: Genosha, Sentinels and Genetics

The Genoshan plot line is looked into more, Magneto had gone there following the last film and overthrown what remained of the government, replacing it with an attempt to establish a country of mutants.  This starts the development of Sentinels (I think that makes sense).  Pietro and Wanda are brought back into the mix thanks to the working of maybe Hank who has worked out that Magneto is daddy dearest.  [This discovery may have been the result of a Hank arc as he tries to trace and understand the mutant gene and such like, I was thinking this could link into his when he turned himself blue in the first place plot, but also is him continuing Xavier's research, which managed to turn up the relation between Magneto and the Maximoffs (and Lorna/Polaris)]

Anyway, this brings them into the story and to Magneto as he is the only family they have, and they too are worried about what he might do regarding being a ruler.  Wanda is more of the view that Magneto has goodness in him and is inherently wanting to trust him, largely because she has always wanted a proper family, and sees this as a chance.  Pietro's perspective is likely more pesimistic, however he wants Wanda to be happy, and is curious about the idea of a mutant nation (and still has those 'maybe Magneto has a point' ideas).  This slight disparity (or maybe an actual disparity) between the sibling may be the start of them realising they can be independent of each other (particularly Wanda, who up until this point has been a bit more passive in the decision making process).  

They are drafted in as part of the new Geonoshan royal family just as Sentinels attack.  X-Men arrive to help out, or maybe they realise the risk from the Sentinels following  Genosha attack becomes a mainland US attack or something.  Team-Up of at least the Maximoffs and the X-Men against the robots with Wanda finally beginning to show the power potential she has.  

After the battle, Wanda and Pietro somewhat part ways, maybe after a bit of an Avengers stint again.  Pietro eventually goes back to Genosha with Magneto or maybe even off with a splinter group - actually strike that, Inhumans (never mind their rights are held by who knows what film company).  Wanda keeps with the Avengers because duh with maybe some Agatha to teach her more about her powers.  

Next film: Apocalypse

Because he is awesome [NB: I am useless as I know little about him in the comics, and don't want to use X-Men Evolution too much.  So fill in the gaps for what his plot is: I'm assuming a bit of a 'take over the world using mutants for mutants' sort of approach to a level which is significantly different to Magneto's].  

I'm doing this rather than Dark Phoenix as I feel that storyline would matter more if we had had more time with nice Jean.  Heck the good phoenix could even pop in here as foreshadowing.  There would be brainwashing of four mutants to become the horsemen, but I wouldn't want them to be the 'adult/mentor' like characters as in the cartoon so much, I'm a fan of Archangel, and  Gambit's Death, and also I would want a good chunk of the cast to be adults by this point.

Anyway, the Maximoffs would be dragged back in as the mutant world starts to turn on its head, probably coming in to help Magneto's faction in Genosha still (maybe).  Issues arise as the mutants fail to pull together to actually stop the problem.  There would be several groups by this point;  the Brotherhood (which by now would likely be Mystique's gig rather than Magneto's), X-Men (which by this point will have a split from being Xavier led, and more Scott being boss), maybe even a splinter group of the X-Men which could be a bit more space oriented (I like Havok and Polaris, okay? even if I don't really read them much), Genoshan peeps sort of including the Maximoffs, and some outsiders such as Namor (who I feel should be in most of these just to stir).

The Maximoffs would be not particularly important in this, let's be honest it would not really be able to fit nicely into a film, way too much going on, but let me dream.  I just have this really clear scene in my head of the leaders of the respective groups loudly arguing and driving each other closer to an all out war until Wanda goes ape crap.  She has been trying to talk them down like a civilised person until some sort of flying object knocks her back.  She gets up, determined, walks into the middle of the group, says 'just stop', throwing her hands up (or doing some sort of dramatic twist... tehe) and uses her powers to literally stop everyone in their tracks.  

She keeps them all in place and calmly takes charge, showing her leadership ability (which she would so show in the Avengers, she did a bit in the comics... before that all went pear-shaped) and sets them all right.  Following this 'everybody stop being so petty, this conflict is bigger than our individual squabbles, we need to do this fight and win it for our race and the lives of all these people, yadda yadda.  You lot, group together as your powers are compatible, you guys are our tactical geniuses, why not work together and come up with a semi-good plan, Namor, get your head out of you nether regions and realise that this affects you and you need us too.'  She then glares at everyone, releases them from her powers, and storms off.  To be honest, Pietro would have been one of the stirrers in this, and this is where it is clear that I made up most of this with primarily Wanda in mind.  

They are both part of the final epic battle, then part from the mutant world indefinitely (well, theoretically, I would love for them to be in these as much as possible, but even more I would want them to be echoing their comics selves and removing themselves from the X-Men stories more or less entirely).

Disclaimer:  This is all my opinion.  I own nada here, and I swear this is all from me unless I mention it being from elsewhere. If it resembles anyone else's musings, I did not intend it and haven't really looked into any, including fanfiction (thinking about it now though...), and please tell me if it reminds you of anyone-else's so I will link them in or mention them or delete this if they want  or something.  I don't want any hating for this, it is just me wanting to vent my thoughts in a way that won't leave my flatmates or family wanting to tear their hair out.

Please also note that I don't really know her character that well, and I do realise this.  Also, I'm not sure of any of her other origins beyond the one in The Batman (where she is Barbara's friend and a school kid).  So bear with me.  Please.

From what Wikipedia tells me, her (current) origin story is as follows: a quiet, shy, frumpy, introvert college type (Pamela) is easily seduced by one of her professors.  He injects her with plant poison, she nearly dies, yet manages to survive and finds herself immune to poisons.  And slightly mentally unstable.  And some other plant-related undefined-powers stuff.  This tri-factor and her already environmental point of view turns her into the eco-terrorist we all know and love today.  Well its something like that.

See the way I look at it is she is meant to be amazingly knowledgeable in poisons/hormones and all the rest, and deserves a more 'she had a role in it' backstory.  So here is mine.  Think of it as a head-canon reboot, or for an imaginary tv show I would love to see happen (if this musings blog thing continues, there will be a lot more on the tv show I really want to happen thing...I do love the batfam...).

She is a biochemist.  Studying post-grad at some university not in Gotham (this is the case according to Wikipedia anyway). She keeps a vid-diary (maybe vlog) where she lets out the frustrations she has of the world, mostly related to the blindness she feels humans show to the importance of the environment (this is kinda a dramatic device I am using so we can see her viewpoint and maybe descent into madness.  Might actually record something along the lines of this...  (seriously, if one person indicates wanting to see it, a video would likely appear in a week... at least as long as it takes to have the flat to myself...)). 

Her research is into the typical plant/animal chemicals/hormones as she uses in the comics (I think?), but with a research/experimental focus into trying to create a proto-biochemical, from back before life split into plants and animals/fungi (I am pulling this completely out of the messed up place that is my head, scientific accuracy doesn't belong in comic books anyway).  Late one night in the lab she has an eureka moment.  She makes the chemical, stares at the (colourless?) liquid in disbelief.  Begins to dawn on her how mega this is.  Enter one of her lab-project partners.  A guy who has befriended her in order to take advantage of her. Academically advantage taking.  She is a shy introvert, often if you are like that and someone talks to you or notices you, you tend to offer quite a bit in return, such as letting him take credit for some of her work.

So he (we will call him Joe Bloggs just cause) has stolen some of her work in the past.  He enters the lab, and is angry she has made these leaps without including him so he could weasel himself in and find some obscure way to take credit for it.  He lashes out.  In some sort of confrontation the conical flask of the new chemical is spilt over her and she crashes into all these other chemicals, because that is totally how chemistry works.  She starts writhing around in the lab screaming, he freaks out and bolts.

Next morning Joe comes back, trying to make sure the scene doesn't incriminate him in any way and to maybe take her work in the process.  Finds the lab as he left it, but Pamela is nowhere to be seen.  She has woken up some time earlier in an intoxicated-like state and wandered out to the gardens she walks through each day to get to university (or a convenient nearby swamp or something).  

Eventually, a couple of days later, Pamela digs herself out of whatever she managed to get herself into and goes back to her apartment and cleans herself up from her commune with nature.  Could include a scene of freaking herself out as she glances in the mirror, thinks she sees a green tinge to her skin.  Looks back and it's gone, brushes it off as being jumpy or just a throwback to her illness.  She goes into the lab to retrieve her work, finds it not there and everyone surprised to see her, considering she had mysteriously disappeared.  She figures Joe must have grabbed them.  Visits his apartment to grab the work, he is cagey and surprised to see her.

"Are all right after the...accident in the lab the other night?"  

"Yea, fine, it was just a reaction, I think"  

"Pretty violent reaction"  

"I'm fine now," *shifty eyes*

He takes this at face value, and then tries to manipulate her into not giving back the notes, saying he will look after them, or maybe tries to get himself into being able to take credit for the work again.  During this conversation, something in Pamela clicks, and she finally sees him for the tosspot he really is.  She starts saying yes, he can attach his name to the work, that isn't a problem, she draws nearer to him.  He says something along the lines of: 

"Great! I knew you would come through for me Isley, glad you're ok and just had a bad reaction to the batch" 

Pamela comes back with: 

"I never said it was a bad reaction" 

Kiss of poison, and he's gone (plus, look at me try to write dialogue...haha..ha).

I don't want this to be an instantaneous sort of leap, as in she has no idea what has happened to her, she finds out what a tosser Joe is, and then feels compelled to kiss him.  I was thinking maybe she worked out something had changed, for some reason she tested her saliva and discovered it was toxic (you can see why I haven't tried to turn this into a fic, the leaps are too weak and my writing/science is shocking).  Then got really angry at him very suddenly and decided to use her new 'gifts'.  She grabs her work, and leaves his apartment for the cops to find and be very confused by.

She has finally realised what she has become, to an extent, and decides to no longer be passive in her opinion, to take action and make a real difference.  Back to the lab, grabs as much as she can grab, and makes her own lair with a fantastic chemistry lab and lots of greenery.  What she has gained from the accident is the poisonous body fluid thing, maybe an ability to make chloroplasts [linking to the controlling the greenish tinge of her skin, chloroplasts to the surface, green skin, chloroplasts sucked in, no green tinge].  This would mean she can get energy from sunlight. Mostly I want her threat to be more her brains, in this case via her chemistry knowledge, rather than superpowers, as I think it is in the comics.

At some point she moves from her hometown and sets herself up in Gotham (maybe there is a headquarters for a major company she despises there or something), and there she is trying to claim back some of the green earth for the greenery.

For her reasoning of taking the name 'Poison Ivy', the experiment Joe had taken credit for had been the fast growing plant thing that she tends to use (?), which worked on its first trial for an ivy plant, so Pamela sees that as kind of the start of the road which led her to where she is now.  And poison because she is.  

As you can probably guess, something that really bugs me about Ivy ( a reason why I haven't really thought much about her before), is the hyper sexualisation of her story and character.  To be fair this is an issue of an alarming number of female comic characters...but I digress.  It's not that I want to eliminate it entirely, considering the amount of energy plants expend on sex (flowers, pollen, anything haploid really) and how manipulative they can be (seriously, google mechanisms plants use for pollination, they are vicious) it is somewhat logical... I suppose, but I wanted to make her story a bit more...feminist friendly?  Maybe?  The one in The Batman is pretty good for this too, actually...

I also wanted to remove her from the 'hippy' slot, because that is too easily dismissed/mocked.   She doesn't like the material world, sees the cracks in human society, and dislikes the fact that humans have forgotten where we really came from.  Her green stand is scientific more than anything else, she just goes a tad over board.  She recognises that humans are really part of a huge system and not the centre of the universe, and have been split from that with our manipulation to the max of our environment.  She wants humans to pay for what they've done, but not to destroy them all.  Reasoning that sustainable living is possible, as seen in examples of numerous indigenous cultures around the world.  Her broken psyche is maybe over guilt for her origin to some level (the killing a guy who really hadn't done that much bad, not enough to be killed over) and the fact that there are chemicals in her which shouldn't be in humans), but it will be mostly due to disillusioned-ness she has of human society.  

I maybe slightly projecting here...I swear I won't become a super-villain. Not smart or determined enough to do that.