Top However-Many MCU Fic Rec List
I’ve seen a few posts going around of people listing their top 10 fics in a fandom, the ones that really stuck with them. I figured I’d do the same, because I love sharing. These are the MCU fics I’ve found so far that have been so good that I’ve reread them or they permanently changed my understanding/conceptualization of the characters involved.
Original Programming - ameonna/zetsubonna. I’ve reread this fic like seven times now, I love it so much. If you want a fascinating, original, and slightly disturbing take on the Winter Soldier’s extremely distorted POV (as well as a bonus of oops-the-serum-failed-and-now-Steve’s-tiny-again) as well as some hot smut, read this fic.
Eight-Pager - triedunture/stuffimgoingtohellfor. You know all those pre-War fics about little-Steve drawing Bucky? This is that trope, except Bucky is femme, or genderfluid, or possibly trans. This is one of my favorite pre-War Steve/Bucky fics ever.
Pure As the Driven Slush - Odsbodkins. Another pre-War Steve/Bucky fic, in which Bucky is saving himself for marriage but Steve knows he’s a cute twink and has used that to his advantage at all the local gay bars. Turns the “experienced!Bucky/virgin!Steve” trope on its head, and does it convincingly.
Five Things the Avengers Caught Tony Stark Trying to Put In His Ass - thingswithwings. If you want a smutfic that features Tony being Tony in the most shameless possible ways, this is it. If you want “everybody is poly because Avengers” and “team gangbang” fic, this is it. This fic is hilarious, hotter than hell, and pretty much defines my mental image of Tony and his sexual lifestyle now.
Ask Galatea - thingswithwings. This fic portrays the most moving and insightful concept of Steve’s feelings about being Captain America that I’ve ever read. It’s also a gorgeous example of Steve/Phil done right, in which there is no creepiness to the icon/fan aspect to their relationship, and instead what they do is based entirely on a mutual desire to meet the other’s needs as perfectly as they can. Lines from this fic spring into my head every time I watch the movies now. Beautiful and very very sweet.
(There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) The Highway to Hell - what_alchemy/what-alchemy. This fic uses the “super-soldier serum gets reversed” trope to incredibly good effect. One of the few fics that really sells me on Steve/Tony and possibly even monogamous!Tony. I’ve reread this fic at least four times the whole way through. It’s also really hot and sweet, and features tiny!Steve working hard to stay in the Avengers.
Stark, A.E., and Banner, R. Bruce. (2013). “Biodosimetric Tools for Measuring Induced Isomeric Transition in Inverted Paired States.” International Journal of Radiation Biology 89.9, 43-85. - thingswithwings. THE classic Tony/Bruce fic, except it’s also Tony/Hulk in a way that’s convincing and as consensual as that pairing can really get. (Also includes great polyamory between Pepper, Bruce, and Tony!) This is one of the pieces that changed how I thought of Bruce and the Hulk and the shift between them, as well as being incredibly hot and sweet and very in-character.
Bonus fic rec in the same vein: Green Is Indeed the Color of Lovers by Petra, for if you want more Bruce/Tony/Pepper and another lovely depiction of the Hulk in bed. This one also includes the Hulk getting double-fisted!
Every Bell That Tolls Me - thingswithwings. In this one, Natasha and Bruce help each other work through their fear of the Hulk, and they do it via Natasha becoming Bruce’s nonsexual Dominant. She trains him to take pain, he learns to enjoy it, and it’s amazing. This is EXACTLY how I would never have known I wanted to see both Natasha and Bruce. There’s also very sweet Bruce/Steve, but it’s sort of a sideline pairing around the amazing story about Bruce, Natasha, and the Hulk.
Monster - thingswithwings. The other version of Bruce that I would never have thought to want. This fic plays on the idea that ‘good becomes great, bad becomes worse’ as a result of the serum, and in Bruce’s case, this means was that Bruce is a very, very intense sadist who’s also ashamed and a little scared of this fact. This fic is the best depiction of a hardcore sadist’s headspace that I’ve ever read in any fandom, and it’s a gorgeously intimate Tony/Bruce fic. Content warning though: both characters consent to everything that happens, but their scenes in this fic take place in very, very problematic circumstances. Mind that if you think it’ll be triggering for you.
What We Pretend to Be - ifitwasribald. One of those game-changing novel-length fics that made me wonder how any fandom could be privileged enough to get writers like this hanging out in it. Also another “good becomes great, bad becomes worse” fic about the super-soldier-serum and its effects….only in this fic, Natasha, Tony, and Clint all get nonconsensually dosed with the serum. They have to then make the choice of whether to expose themselves to gamma radiation right away to see what happens when they do, or keep working as superheroes, hope they never get exposed, and thus potentially kill thousands of civilians if supervillains manage to expose them to the radiation later and they turn into monsters like the Abomination. This fic shaped my understanding of all three characters, Natasha, Clint, and Tony, as well as being amazingly-written and featuring Bruce/Tony.
Out of the Dead Land - emilyenrose/emilyenrose. Another game-changing novel-length fic that makes me wonder how any fandom could be privileged enough to get writers like this hanging out in it. This Steve/Bucky fic features one chapter of entirely superfluous porn right at the end, so if you don’t want porn, you can skip that bit entirely. But seriously, read this fic. This fic is otherwise 100% plot that is almost certainly gonna be better, more emotionally truthful and meaningful, and more exciting than any actual sequel the movie directors could create. I can’t even believe this fic happened, it’s so good. This fic is all about Bucky, Steve, the Winter Soldier, Zola, Hydra, holding on to hope, and what it means to be a person. It’s been weeks and I haven’t recovered from this fic.
Perspective - Silverlace_Vine. I have very mixed feelings about reccing this one, because this series is not only an abandoned WIP but the Mandarin is the main villain. I don’t mean the “Mandarin” as he is in IM3, I mean the actual Yellow Peril racist stereotype villain like from the original comics. The author never addresses how extremely problematic this Marvel villain or their depiction of him is, so please only read this if you think you can tolerate that as well as a fairly graphic depiction of rape in one of the chapters. But what this fic does offer is a beautiful depiction of demisexual!Steve and a very gently-unfolding poly triad between Steve, Bruce, and Tony. Despite this being an abandoned WIP, the last posted chapter actually gives it a fair amount of closure too.
A Marriage of Convenience - enigmaticblue. A tropefic featuring they-get-married-to-save-one-person’s-life-and-then-they-fall-in-love. Tony/Bruce. It’s slow, it’s incredibly sweet, and I nearly died from squealing too hard while reading this one.
Timestamp - what_alchemy/what-alchemy. Starts off with pre-War Steve/Bucky and goes all the way through to an AU in which Steve visits Asgard, talks to Heimdall, and thus discovers that Bucky is still alive, frozen and waiting in a Hydra storage facility. This AU is so memorable, so hot, and fills such a huge plot-hole in the actual movies that I couldn’t possibly leave it off this list.
It’s Not Linear - chaya/fieldbears. A WIP that’s already more than 120k. Focuses on Steve/Bucky and how they both handle the Winter Soldier being so lost and scattered that he brings himself to Steve, who then takes him to the Avengers tower. Has one of the most tearjerking inside-the-Winter-Soldier’s-POV depictions I’ve ever read as well as being very sweet, very gentle, and very ethical. (Yes, ethical, because Steve tries REALLY HARD to behave to Bucky in ways that are ethically sound.) This fic also includes numerous rarepair side-pairings, some characters from the comics, exploration of just about every character in the entire MCU canon, and asexual-biromantic Sam.
Don’t Look Too Closely (All the Angles Are Oblique) - shaenie. I almost didn’t rec this one, because it’s entirely kinky PWP, but this rec list is for fics that were in some way so outstanding as to permanently alter my understanding of the characters. And this fic captures the weird overwhelming uncomfortableness of Tony With a Crush so well that it’s now my gold standard for imagining him as a romantic partner. The fact that this series is also one of the most pants-dampeningly hot kinkfics I’ve read in the fandom is a bonus.
Complementary fic rec: Steve Rogers Never Was a Boyscout by ifitwasribald. Don’t Look Too Closely is top!Tony/bottom!Steve, and Never A Boyscout is top!Steve/bottom!Tony. These two series are a perfectly matched set as far as I’m concerned and I couldn’t rec one without reccing the other. Never a Boyscout also explores Tony and Steve and their sexualities in some depth.
Building From the Ground Up - EmilianaDarling. You know that tumblr post that went around that basically said “Why write pre-serum stucky when you could have almost a century of unfulfilled longing instead?” Yeah, this is that fic. It hurts so good. But mostly it just hurts. (I can’t find that tumblr post, but holy shit this fic.)
Breaking News - astolat/astolat. The fic in which Steve and Sam get engaged, Tony finds out, and then desperately tries to save them from the media shitstorm he knows this news will produce….and Steve doesn’t listen. Hilarious, sweet, and realistic, not only does this feature an adorable depiction of Steve/Sam and some fantastic characterization of Tony, but a serious glimpse of how an Avengers pairing would actually be greeted by the world.
If you want more fic recs from me, check out my bookmarks on AO3.
