100 days of enemy recs: 4. Avengers

[melannen]

The random number gave me this one for three days in a row. I kept going "no, we don't need more superheroes already, try something else" and then it gave me Avengers again. So I guess it's Avengers! I swear this list isn't half superheroes (it's 15% AT MOST.)

So Avengers + enemyship. I actually split this up so most of the separate Marvel throughlines have their own entries (it's a large part of that 15% I'm afraid) so some other MCU ships will turn up later. But just limiting to the original movie Avengers I could talk about how the first comics Civil War storyline, which turned Steve & Tony's long, deep relationship into a deeply conflicted enemyship, managed to build the original, wonderful Steve/Tony fandom, which was a large part of what got me seriously into American comics again in the first place. And how early MCU fandom picked that dynamic up, probably from the existing fanfic, and ran with it, but sort of in reverse, because the movies didn't have that deep history between them. And then the movies tried to rerun the comics Civil War storyline and flubbed it because they'd never bothered to build a strong foundation for the relationship, and that almost killed the ship entirely, while the comics were doing all sorts of other interesting things with Cap and Tony on different sides. I could talk about the difference in Bucky's story in comics and MCU. I could do an entire volume just on Loki (and probably will at some point) or Natasha and Clint.

But, like. Nobody here needs Avengers fandom explained to them at this point, do you? Either you know all about it or you're tired of hearing about it. So here's some recs for my favorite Avengers-adjacent goofy hero/villain AUs where the villain is someone who's not usually a villain.

• Engaging the Enemy (22823 words) by tsukinofaerii
  Fandom: Marvel Adventures: Avengers
  Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
  Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
  Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
  Characters: Steve Rogers, Tony Stark
  Additional Tags: Crack, Fluff, Villains, Alternate Universe
  
  Captain America keeps getting captured by the notorious supervillain Iron Man. Not on purpose! Mostly! And kissed by him. Also not on purpose! Mostly. Look, as supervillains go, Iron Man's not so bad, he just steals from and sabotages defense contractors, the worst thing he's been accused of is kidnapping and disappearing the mysteriously missing billionaire Tony Stark...



• Secrets of a Successful Marriage (24118 words) by valtyr
  Fandom: Marvel 616
  Rating: Explicit
  Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
  Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
  
  Part-time CEO, part-time supervillain Tony had no idea his loving husband Steve the firefighter was secretly the superhero Captain America... until he had to save him from death at the hands of one of Tony's allies. No wonder he never seemed to mind when Tony had to cancel date nights to fight the Avengers! Now that their secrets are slowly coming out, will their marriage hold together? (ans: yes. obvs. it will.)



• Life of Crime (35399 words) by neveralarch
  Chapters: 8/8
  Fandom: Marvel 616, Hawkeye (Comics)
  Rating: Explicit
  Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
  Relationships: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton, Clint Barton/Carol Danvers, Clint Barton & Kate Bishop, Kate Bishop/America Chavez, Barney Barton & Clint Barton
  Additional Tags: Deaf Clint Barton, Edgeplay, Consensual Kink, Polyamory, Supervillain AU, also lots of other characters and implied pairings but these tags were starting to get out of hand
  
  AU, but heavy on the Fraction Hawkeye comics: Clint and Natasha and Kate are freelance contractors with supervillain security, and often work with Bucky, who's in the same job. Clint keeps running into Carol aka Captain Marvel on the job, and in between head injuries and pissing off a variety of people, Clint accidently gets into, like, a thing with her? But it's okay because it's not like he's the only one who has a thing with a hero! This is just so goofy and funny and sweet and fun.



• No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Pine (16465 words) by galwednesday
  Fandom: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
  Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
  Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
  Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
  Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, SHIELD Agent Steve Rogers, Freelance Agent Bucky Barnes, Competence Kink, Enemies to Lovers, sort of - more like professional adversaries to lovers, Accidental Honeypot, Humor, Slow Burn
  
  AU where they are spies, not superheroes (but still supersoldiers.) Steve leads a SHIELD team. Bucky's a freelancer. They keep running into each other, and by that we mean Bucky keeps saving Steve's life/mission and then disappearing. SHIELD can't decide whether they want to recruit Bucky or terminate him, but both Steve and Bucky have a pretty firm preference there.

Comments

[sineala]

Every time I think of Life of Crime I remember this bit:

This is James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes, alias the Winter Soldier: male, former American citizen, former Soviet citizen, currently stateless. Either in his late 30s or his mid 80s, depending on how you're counting. One big metal arm, brown hair that he cuts short when he remembers and then lets grow for months at a time, surprisingly deep laugh lines. Do not ask about the big metal arm, or the circumstances of his statelessness, or what he did between 1945 and 2006.

Bucky Barnes has been named most valuable employee by fifty-seven supervillains or supervillain organizations, including the Circus of Crime, Doctor Octopus, and the Hellfire Club. The President of the United States rescinded his posthumous Medal of Honor in 2007 for somewhat obvious reasons.

If asked, Captain America has this to say about Barnes: "He was the best friend I ever had. He's courageous, dedicated, and extraordinarily intelligent. We'll probably have to shoot him."

And then I laugh and laugh.

[cyprinella]

Secrets of a Successful Marriage is I think the only fic I've ever read that accurately depicts aquarium maintenance.