Horrifically European

In honor of our @niche616exchanges and its current theme Don't Call Me Captain, You Gave Me A Home will spend this summer (re)-running various Captain America Book Clubs that showcase Steve Rogers not being Captain America. And we're starting with a classic: Nomad!

Yes, we're reading the famed 1974 arc by Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema once again. We are reading Cap v1 #176-183 (and Avengers v1 #131 for the Nomad cameo) but this is all spinning out of the events of Secret Empire (original flavor) in which Steve watches Richard Nixon betray the entire country and then commit suicide -- if you want to read all of that, you can start with Cap #169.

But we know you're really here for this guy:

Watch him sulk! Watch him sew his own costume! Watch him sulk more!

And the best thing about his costume? Tony likes it!

Hello, SteveTonies! Here is your friendly reminder that Sign Ups for Don't Call Me Captain, the third Niche 616 Exchange, close in ~48 HOURS! Get those sign-ups in!

>>>Sign up HERE if you're ready!<<<

Dedicated to a dream he sometimes keeps alive single-handedly, 616 Steve carries an iconography and mythos so immense that he has, more than once, Just Quit - throwing aside his mantle to brood, regroup, and reflect on a world that often doesn’t measure up to the potential he sees in it. In this round of Niche 616 Exchange, we are celebrating 616 Steve’s many transformative periods of disillusionment and evolution. Who is the man when he is not serving as Captain America? What power does he wield when he is not wearing the flag and can he ever truly put it down? What does it mean to keep the dream alive and what does it mean to walk away from it? Does Tony love Steve or Captain America?

Sign-Ups Open: MAY 8 Sign-Ups Close: JUNE 7 Exchange Assignments Sent Out: JUNE 12 Check-In: JULY 6 Creation Period: JUNE 12 - AUGUST 14 Fanworks Due: AUGUST 14 Reveals Start: AUGUST 20 Author Reveals: AUGUST 30

Please read the collection/event [FAQ] before signing up:

Fanworks for this exchange must be comics-exclusive and Steve/Tony or Gen

The focus/main theme of your work must be Steve Rogers beyond/in contention with his mantle

Minimum requirements are 2.5k words for fanfic and lineart for fanart (you are free to do more).

You must be 18 or older to participate.

No AI-generated works or works developed with generative AI/LLMs.

MCU is strictly not allowed in this exchange.

YGMAH will be running thematically complementary book clubs as the creation period progresses! Think Nomad, Armor Wars, Commander Rogers, Civil Warrior, and more. Works exploring Steve as outlaw, artist, activist, fugitive, spy, eugenics experiment, etc. are all welcome.

>>>Sign up HERE if you're ready!<<<

(Niche 616 is a small fanworks exchange focusing on 616 Steve/Tony run through the You Gave Me A Home Discord community + Ao3. Your mods are @starvels, @annthonystark, and @kiyaar.

Niche616 is proud to present our THIRD exchange, Don’t Call Me Captain!

Sign-Ups Open: MAY 8 Sign-Ups Close: JUNE 7 Exchange Assignments Sent Out: JUNE 12 Check-In: JULY 6 Creation Period: JUNE 12 - AUGUST 14 Fanworks Due: AUGUST 14 Reveals Start: AUGUST 20 Author Reveals: AUGUST 30

Dedicated to a dream he sometimes keeps alive single-handedly, 616 Steve carries an iconography and mythos so immense that he has, more than once, Just Quit - throwing aside his mantle to brood, regroup, and reflect on a world that often doesn’t measure up to the potential he sees in it. In this round of Niche 616 Exchange, we are celebrating 616 Steve’s many transformative periods of disillusionment and evolution. Who is the man when he is not serving as Captain America? What power does he wield when he is not wearing the flag and can he ever truly put it down? What does it mean to keep the dream alive and what does it mean to walk away from it? Does Tony love Steve or Captain America?

Please read the collection/event [FAQ] before signing up:

Fanworks for this exchange must be comics-exclusive and Steve/Tony or Gen

The focus/main theme of your work must be Steve Rogers beyond/in contention with his mantle

Minimum requirements are 2.5k words for fanfic and lineart for fanart (you are free to do more).

You must be 18 or older to participate.

No AI-generated works or works developed with generative AI/LLMs.

MCU is strictly not allowed in this exchange.

YGMAH will be running thematically complementary book clubs as the creation period progresses! Think Nomad, Armor Wars, Commander Rogers, Civil Warrior, and more. Works exploring Steve as outlaw, artist, activist, fugitive, spy, eugenics experiment, etc. are all welcome.

>>>Sign up HERE if you're ready!<<<

(Niche 616 is a small fanworks exchange focusing on 616 Steve/Tony run through the You Gave Me A Home Discord community + Ao3. Your mods are @starvels, @annthonystark, and @kiyaar.

COMING SOON, to an ARCHIVE NEAR YOU............niche 616 exchange #3: STEVE ROGERS EDITION...........

The way Tony is written in Hulk comics is always pretty interesting to me, because he often represents the established/mainstream heroes, with all the judgement and lack of empathy of someone who is "perfect" (as opposed to the "monstrous" Hulk). So we get moments like this, where he's written as antagonistic (notice how Reed is the middle voice of reason here). In this series, The Infernal Hulk, the Hulk has been split from Bruce Banner and has been taken over by a very evil demon/god/entity? called The Elder. The Elder wants to take over the world and probably kill everyone. Anyways. Bruce and Betty are trying to live as ordinary people under fake names but when The Elder starts killing people left and right, the Avengers and other heroes rightfully start asking themselves what is up with Hulk, and Tony and Reed find Bruce. And we get this conversation (issue 3). And Tony is just. Insanely judgemental here. But. Later in the issue, we get these messages from him to Bruce:

We get a pretty epic fight between Infernal Hulk and Hellbuster in issue #6, with Infernal Hulk comparing Tony to the greatest mortal warrior of another city he destroyed long ago, called Sennacherib. He also comments on the fact that Tony came alone. This is Tony's answer:

I am a sucker for Tony being reduced (and reducing himself) to a weapon manufacturer. He is, tragically, one of if not the best at making weapons on the planet. It's a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, where everyone knows he is good at it, and thus he's the one tasked to make new cataclysmic weapons when there is a (real or not) need for them. It's tragic. He hates it. He still does it. I love it.

AND THEN. Infernal Hulk sees right through Tony.

He says that Tony came alone because he knew the battle was pointless. That he came alone so that no one else would die with him. And guess what! Tony proves him right! Tony calls for Reed and the others, who are safe somewhere far away, to detonate the other weapons that they had in case Tony failed. Regardless of the risk to Tony's life!!!!! So they do, and it fails, because Infernal Hulk is unstoppable, and then they fire their last resort weapon, on Tony's request, potentially killing him, AGAIN.

Look at this. Look at this injured angel. Look at Iron Man with a halo and wings doing everything in his power to stop Evil. Look. Self-sacrificial Tony how I missed you.

Title: What I’ve Been Yearning For (Give it to me Strong) Writer: lomku Artist: dirigibleplumbing Universe: MCU Rating: Explicit ❤️ Wordcount: 50k Genre: action/adventure, angst, AU, character study

Summary: Iron Man is a villain who has a palladium problem, freshly-out-of-the-ice Captain America gets tasked by SHIELD to stop him, and then they get horny about it.

Warnings: Under-negotiated Kink, Power Dynamics

[view the art on ao3]

[view the fic on ao3]

Team DIRECTOR creator spotlights:

writer spotlight | artist spotlight