Vici with her love

1) If you hate him for trying to kill Bucky, how would you feel if you were face to face with the person who killed your parents and one of your closest friends kept that hidden from you. Brainwashed or not, I’d be pissed too. Regardless of your opinion of Steve, he was in the wrong. Tony deserved to know.

2) The villain is ZEMO. He’s the one who actively goes after the Avengers. Everything Tony does in the movie is actually just damage control because of Zemo and Steve’s actions.

3) Also regardless of your opinion on superhero oversight, Tony gave valid reasons in favor of registration. Yes, the Avengers saved the world several times. But I’d be afraid too if there was a group like this acting without supervision. Tony’s side might be controversial but it’s not necessarily unfounded.

4) Spiderman is a fucking superhero who’s taken down bigger foes, it’s not like Tony’s bringing some random kid with a gun into the fight. Besides, the plan wasn’t to kill Steve and Bucky, it was just to bring them in. Tony was NOT trying to push for a fight, it just spiraled into one because Steve is a hardheaded jackass. Also, hypocrite much? It’s okay for Deadpool to bring Negasonic Teenage Warhead into a fight but it’s wrong for Tony to bring Peter in? I see you Tumblr.

5) Lastly, if you are going to villainize Tony, you also have to admit Steve was being a jackass as well. Bucky was a victim, yes, but was he really worth all of that chaos? Getting Rhodey paralyzed, blowing up the airport, splitting the team apart. Say what you will about Tony but the man was trying DESPERATELY to keep the team together while Steve didn’t mind if the group splintered. He even says at the end that the Avengers didn’t matter as much to him as they did to Tony. So please, don’t act like Steve was this shining paragon of truth in this movie.

"Yes, but he pays for all of this."

So here’s a thing that occurred to me after a conversation with crabsandlobsters the other day: I need to write a fic dealing with the boys prostituting themselves, which they canonically do, at least Aramis and Porthos. They do in the book, and they go out looking for patronesses in The Challenge. This appeals to me on so many levels, and I would absolutely love to use it somehow. For one, it creates a certain moral sordidness that I delight in. And secondly, and more importantly: it flips the male-female stereotype on its head by giving the women the economic power in the romantic/sexual relationship. Apart from kink fics where Aramis has to prostitute himself (to men) for a greater good, fics usually have them go to prostitutes; whereas in canon, they are the ones who get paid for services rendered. 

And so I thought in that scene with Adele above, where she says the Cardinal pays for all of this (implying that Aramis can’t afford it), and Aramis looks heartbroken and rolls off her, it’s not only because she brought up her status as the Cardinal’s mistress, but also because she reminded Aramis that he’s a kept man in the same way that she is a kept woman.

When the musketeers were trying to acquire the equipment they all (except for Athos) fell back on their mistresses. It is great that this was addressed several times during the show (more so during the challenge episode). 

Musketeers were poor (both in the books and the series), having come from poor noble houses and spending their low wages on drinks and gaming (and women).

Luke Evans as Aramis