#aaaahhhh

When mc embraced him tight and his gaze softened

Specifically in context of the 1979 version of them, which gave me brain worms from this tweet. First of all, absolutely KILLER fanart. I'm aware people have likely already made these connections and they aren't new, but I just have to ramble.

Trigger warning: mentions of suicide (1979 Nezha) + gore (1979 Ao Bing):

Previous. Masterpost

“Lex, come on! There is a difference between maliciously hindering and a strict guideline.” Phantom scolded.

“I am telling you, boy, there needs to be a set of repercussions for property damage!” Lex growled, glaring at the papers strewn across the large meeting room table.

“I am not arguing against that, but paying Heroes, then immediately getting them to spend that entire paycheck, plus garnishments if needed, to pay for all damages, regardless if they or the villain of the day do the damage, is Pointless!”

“Then how else are they to keep everything from being destroyed!?” Lex bellowed

“Like you are one to talk, how much property damage have you caused? ‘Cause by the VideoFeed compilations, you should be living in a shack in Gotham’s dockyards by your wording!”

“The majority of that was either Superman throwing me through those walls, or him dodging my attempts at self defense!”

Phantom snorted and snarked. “SeLf DeFenSe. Wow, real adult of you Lexy.”

Lex's face went completely red with both anger and embarrassment. Phantom wasn't wrong, even his excuse seemed woefully childish to his ears. At the same time though, Lex wouldn't have to try to prove that the alien wasn't as good as everyone thought he was if he just showed his true nature.

Phantom broke his thoughts with a small sigh.

“Lex, shut away your nihilism for a couple of minutes, and see it in this perspective.” Phantom waited until Lex calmed down and gave him a nod.

“Facts: Superman stated that his planet has been destroyed, there is proof of this. His knowledge of human society points that he has lived here for a while, he has made references that he was a child when he came over. Point is, he grew up human…. As human as a child with powers can be, and there are proof that they are just as normal as regular kids, we saw that with my questions and research on the Baby Boom incident. We are seeing a rise of meta humans, we could argue on if Superman would have been the first one openly using his powers. By all of his actions, he is just genuinely a good person. Not everyone is bad with bad intentions, or bad with good intentions, or the reverse.

For all we know, Superman grew up as a ‘Good Ole country boy’ from, I don't know, Kansas?, with ‘‘family values’’.” Phantom matched the quotations with his hands. “You are acting as if he is the wicked witch from Oz."

Lex snorted humorously at that.

“Either way, I don't think he is what you are projecting onto him.” Phantom concluded.

“Projecting? It is human nature to use power dangerously!” Lex argued.

“But he isn't human.” Phantom pointed out.

“He grew up human, we are selfish creatures, and that could have rubbed off on him.”

“Ah, the nature vs nurture debate.” Phantom sighed. "That he is just some master manipulator that rivals the Wizard of Oz himself, regardless of if it's an inherent species trait, or it was a learned trait by us humans."

Lex glared at the child before sighing as well. “Maybe we should put this down for a moment. We are not getting anywhere.”

Phantom pursed his lips before agreeing. “Ya, ok. Want to watch a VideoFeed of Brucie Wayne fall compilations?”

“Why not.” Lex huffed, suppressing a small smile.