MetalPhoenix

22 | They/Them | Actually Autistic | Actually ADHD | Asexual | Nonbinary | Marvel | Batfamily | Find me on AO3 under the same username!

[metalphoenix]

Captain America and Queer History

CW: mentions of sexual themes (nothing on screen)

Ok. So, whoever did the research for Captain America either didn’t do it or knew exactly what they were doing. 

Steve Rogers grew up in Brooklyn. No one denies that. Most comics/movies put him in the DUMBO or Brooklyn Heights neighborhoods. Those and the surrounding neighborhoods were notoriously queer in the 20s-40s. 

His neighborhood would have been awash with gay bars, drag balls, automats and cafeterias (which were usually lgbtq friendly back in the day), both male and female prostitutes, and the likes. He was probably cruised or propositioned regularly.   

The neighborhood next to the DUMBO was the Brooklyn Navy Yard which was covered in both brothels (some female but mostly male). You could see men (mostly sailors from the Navy) making out or getting blown in in most ally ways.  

The Ed Brubaker 2004 comic run put Steve’s apartment just a few minutes away from St. George Hotel, one of the biggest gay hang outs of the time. 

Remember that scene from CATFA where Steve and Bucky talk about going to Coney Island? Well Coney Island of the time was covered in gay bathhouses.    

So, Even if you don’t think Steve Rogers was queer or he came out only after being in the future there is no universe in which he is not comfortable around lgbtq people. They probably even remind him of home.

-Phoenix  

Sources: 

https://www.out.com/2013/10/07/queer-waterfront-brooklyn-history

https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2019/03/when-brooklyn-was-queer-the-forgotten-history-of-gay-existence-on-the-periphery-of-urban-life.html

https://theattic.jezebel.com/a-journey-through-the-queer-history-of-brooklyn-full-o-1833613031

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/in-the-early-20th-century-america-was-awash-in-incredible-queer-nightlife

https://www.history.com/news/gay-culture-roaring-twenties-prohibition

https://marvelatlasproject.net

[sillybillytime]

also “punk” had neither criminal nor subculture associations at the time. It meant essentially twink or bottom. It wasn’t until the 50s and 60s that it started to be associated with gangs and organized crime. To this day “punk” means bottom in prison.

[metalphoenix]

YES! At the time Punk was a term for a smaller gay man *cough cough* Steve *Cough* that usually accompanied an older and bigger gay man *cough* Bucky *Cough*. Like, Punk in the historical context AND the modern context (I'm taking about the punk subculture not the prison thing) both describe Steve pretty well (Steve Rogers is a punk in the modern sense and you can fight me on that he is the epitome of Be Gay Do Crime).

[metalphoenix]

UtRH and Stephenie Brown

So, I love UtRH, its in my top three favorite comics but I do have one gripe. In the first issue we see that Stephenie Brown is dead. Killed by the Black Mask. But then she's just... never mentioned again.

Seriously! Another child DIED being Robin! Not only that but her backstory is very similar to Jason's. They both grew up in poverty with criminal fathers and mothers who struggled with drug addiction. Both of them were trying to change things before they ever took up the Robin mantle (Steph becoming Spoiler to stop her dad, Jay trying to stop a crime ring going on in his school).

Not only that but she's killed by Black Mask. You know the guy Jason spends a good portion of the story fighting.

Like, if the writers had bothered to remember any of this it could have brought so much more angst. Jason stalked the fuck out of the Bats before this, l refuse to believe that he didn't know about Stephenie. Look me in the eye and tell me that the fact that another kid, another kid like him, died being Robin wouldn't have pissed him off.

But ya know, that would have involved the writers actually giving a fuck about Stephenie.

[papayafromtv]

do you guys think that because the all blades only come out around true evil that Jason could act as like, a metal detector for demonistic and satanitc shit? because now i’m imagining him becoming Gotham’s version of the supernatural brothers. just ghostbustering around Gotham in his spare time.

Jason’s so overworked. he has to deal with his strained relationship with the bats; Bruce and him arguing every time they see each other, Damian knocking on his door every time there’s something about his new life that he doesn’t understand/wants to complain about, Tim sneaking into his fucking apartment to demand they ‘bond’ and Dick getting weepy and nostalgic everytime he even sees Jason’s face. On top of that, taking care of the alley, and running an entire organisation of subordinates, by the time he gets to a point in his life where he realises ‘fffffuck. thats a goddamn demon and i’m the most equipped person in the city to deal with it.’ he’s honestly so over the whole thing.

he’s so bitter that he has to do this, because not only is this new side-gig tiring but it’s also fucking insane. killing rapists and overseeing drug shipments never involved travelling into nephilim lairs and learning about ancient rituals that end with him crawling out of the sewers at 9am covered in blue goo that smells acidic; the closest would be back when he was Robin during the golden era when shit was just wacko, and by the gods he does not have any interest in returning to that kind of work-load, so why he’s HERE is anybody’s fucking guess.

eventually Dick, desperate to bond with the younger brother that he can feel slipping away again, starts tailing him to figure out why he’s never around- and instantly decides to join. Jason is honestly just relieved there’s somebody lightening the supernatural workload- Dick was also Robin during the golden era, he might not have Jason’s skills and amassed knowledge but he’s not as useless as the others.

it ends up with Red Hood and Nightwing being the fucking Winchester brothers of Gotham, constantly running around under the other bats’ noses because Jason refuses to have any of those idiots get involved in his wheelhouse when they have no particular powers against anything demonistic. Dick on his own is enough of a risk, because he also has no special abilities and thus almost dies on like, every job. Jason just lets him tag along because, begrudgingly, that’s his big brother and he’s kind of enjoying how close they’re getting; not to mention Dick at least isn’t stubborn like the other bats- he will screech for Jason’s help if he knows he’s in over his head, so Jason isn’t too worried. also it’s kind of funny how indignant Bruce is about this new secret friendship his two eldest are cultivating. those two being a united front against him never works out and he is. paranoid. meanwhile the said ‘united front’ are freaking the fuck out because a possessed gargoyle is chasing them around an abandoned leisure centre and Dick lost his goddamn shoe

[fourohfourlifenotfound]

I mean yeah we can yassify Lex Luthor and talk about hes sooo gay for Superman.

Or MAYBE we can talk about how Lex Luthor in Superman (2025) is a clear parallel for Musk, and the president of Borovia is a parallel for Trump, in what was clearly a commentary on billionaires and their role in war politics that was written before but now feels more apt because of recent events.

Maybe we can talk about how the "where's the dog" scene mimics the way conservatives (and terfs, too) provoke the people they don't like into an emotional reaction so they can seem like the one being "reasonable."

Maybe we can talk about how the story Luthor spun about Superman "grooming" the people of earth is just like the way conservatives frame immigrants and the queer community to fearmonger.

Maybe we can about the guy in Luthor's war room who changed his mind and pointed Mister Terrific to the right computer, saving minutes that saved lives.

Maybe we can talk about how Eve, an abuse victim, helped save the day with one small act of rebellion that seemed frivilous or useless until Lois looked deeper.

Maybe we can talk about how Lois's superpower is research and investigation and journalism to uncover the truth behind the media facade luthor put up.

Maybe we can talk about how Superman's greatest power isn't his strength or his brain but his Kindness, and how much he cares about every creature great and small, and how that care inspired Element Man to reach for the goodness within himself and do the right thing.

All my love and respect to the people who do ship them, ship and let ship is a rule I live by. I'm just amazed that none of the things that I truly love about this film made it onto my dash before I saw it for the first time tonight. And I wanna talk about them, because I think more people need to hear about them

[metalphoenix]

YES YES YES!!!! Listen I’m not going to tell people what to ship or how to engage with media but this is so important!!! I agree I feel like it’s not talked about enough.

That movie is such a potent discussion of the world right now. A few smaller things in this vein that I noticed.

The monkey bots hate spamming against Superman is so reminiscent of what happens during the elections (and also all the time)

The prison scene where the other people start yelling for the guards is a great example of the panopticon and how it forces people to self sensor. I also shows this doesn’t feel like the right word but community policing. Like when a group is “othered” and called dangerous, people will start accusing people of being in that group. Two other examples I can think of are the Salem witch trials and the French Revolution.

Also I really love how the movie tells us that change cannot be made alone. Superman would not have saved things if it weren’t for Lois, Jimmy, all the other journalists, Eve, Element Man, Mr. Terrific, ma and pa Kent and the falafel man. Like it took a lot of completely ordinary people doing “small” actions to win the day. All of those people were heroic as well.

[papayafromtv]

you know when i was a little kid i used to be in my own head a lot and didn't really understand the concept of paying attention to my surroundings visa-vi staying near my family, and with that in mind,

Damian being an independent queen that keeps accidentally running away. Damian isn't exactly used to being a normal child, let alone a normal child part of a familial unit. when he was six he was being sent on two week long hikes for survival training; the closest thing to a genuine caring guardian in the league was Jason, who although he did give a shit he was also kinda messed up in the head, not to mention he mostly grew up alone on the streets until Bruce found him, so he's just as stupid about families as Damian is.

so when he gets to Gotham, Damian doesn't quite understand that Wayne Manor is supposed to be his home, not a main base. he also doesn't understand that as a child, his family are supposed to fucking know where he is.

Bruce puts out a Gotham-wide alert when Damian doesn't come home from school one day and by the time they stumble upon Red Hood on patrol they are full out panicking.

"What if- what if somebody's taken him?" Dick gasped, pacing the rooftop. Tim looked over from where he'd been trying to run through Gotham security cameras for facial recognition. "What if they've hurt him?!"

"It will be fine, Dick," He soothed. "We'll find him, he'll be ok."

"Whose g'na be ok?" Jason's mask popped over the edge of the building as he clamberd over the lip, heaving like he'd just been running.

"Damian," Dick told him frantically. "Damian's gone, he never made it home from school- god I knew I should have picked him up myself, and now if he's hurt it will be my fault and-"

"D'ya try calling him?" Jason did not yet seem worried, and Tim had to answer as Dick was preoccupied with hyperventilating.

"We found his phone broken on a sidewalk, we think there was a struggle and he lost it trying to call for backup."

"That doesn't sound like him," Jason scoffed. "Damian's first instinct when needing backup is to say 'fuck it we ball' and bring out the pepper spray, not call for help. He probably just got bored and went on a trip, he used to do that all the time in the league. One time he made it all the way to Mexico before we found out where he'd gone."

"He would have told one of us where he was going!" Dick wailed.

"Why would he do that?" Jason asked, mystified. Tim stared at him, squinting incredulously. "Here, you know he still has that little flip-phone Talia gave him before sending us to Gotham; I'm the only other one with access to that number, let me call that phone and see if he picks up."

"He's had a second phone this whole time?!" Dick screeched, bounding over in a panic as Jason dialled the number. He shoved the elder away, putting the call on speaker and waiting casually for the line to connect.

"What do you need?" Damian's voice came through short and clipped, though not at all like he was in danger.

"DAMIAN?!?" Dick shot forward, white knuckling the arm that Jason was using to hold the phone and yelling into the device. "DAMI ARE YOU OK? DID SOMETHING HAPPEN?"

"...What the fuck is happening."

"They think you got hurt," Jason shrugged casually. "Apparently you didn't make it home from school?"

"Uh, yeah? I saw an ad for a wildlife preservation opening up in Tampa and I wanted to go see it."

"Tampa- you're in fucking FLORIDA?" Tim exclaimed, indignant. "What the fuck happened to your phone?!"

"Oh, that thing? It kept making noise so I threw it at a wall." Damian explained calmly. Tim became even more incredulous, even as Jason nodded like it was a completely normal thing to do.

"That noise was us trying to call to find out where you fucking were!"

"Why on earth would you need to know that?" Damian questioned, confused. "If there was a Gotham emergency I would have returned. There's no need to worry."

"See." Jason shrugged, casual. Dick let out a keening groan and sank to the floor, hands gripping his hair in obvious despair. Tim looked between the phone and Jason with an unreadable expression on his face, slightly suicidal in nature. His jaw opened and shut a few times as he tried to find the right words, before he finally gave up and reached a finger to turn on his comm unit.

"Cancel the state-wide search, we found him. He's a fucking idiot, but we found him."

Damian gets grounded for the first time in his life and it takes weeks for them to even get him to understand why.

[papayafromtv]

conversations overheard through the batkid com lines pt 2 (masterpost here)

*Damian and Jason, four hours into a stakeout*

Damian: Jay, hand me the mango pieces.

Jason: *plastic crinkling* ayyy, I’m Jason again!

Damian: *snorts*

Jason: what was with that, by the way? I just showed up in Gotham and found you referring to everyone like they’re your professor. Like, that’s not a ‘you’ thing, I don’t know why you started doing that.

*audible chewing noises*

Damian: do you want the genuine honest answer?

Jason: please god do tell

Damian: so- and you aren’t allowed to laugh. but when I first came to Gotham and I showed up at the manor, father obviously had to give me a tour of the place, right?

Jason: yeah.

Damian: and they wanted to do a DNA test to check that my mother wasn’t pulling a fast one by claiming my birthright, so the first place he showed me was the cave, which was also where Tim was.

Jason: *hums*

Damian: and you know that place- the first time you went to the cave, it was wild, right?

Jason: oh, like walking into the tardis for the first time. insane.

Damian: exactly. all high-tech and shit, and I’d just come from the desert compound I’d spent my entire life in- like, my first time going into the kitchen at the manor I saw Alfred loading the dishwasher and my first thought was ‘oh my god what the fuck kind of machine is that-‘

Jason: *abrupt cackle*

Damian: -so the fucking cave for the first time? as a little desert-boy ten year old? I was a little distracted,

Jason, chuckling slightly: ok, fair,

Damian: and so I’m zoned the fuck out, looking around this cave and not paying attention to anything father’s saying, and then I finally tune back in just to hear the words ‘-ackson drake’ while he like, tries to introduce me to Tim.

Jason: *slowly starts laughing again*

Damian, raising his voice to be heard over Jason’s increasing beats of laughter: -and so I’m fucking standing there, ten years old, no clue what this kid’s first name is, and everybody’s looking at me like I’m supposed to be the one fucking talking right now, and ALL I can think of is my mother, who before she shipped me off to Gotham completely alone kept fucking telling me ‘Damian you have to be strong and show that you deserve to be the Batman’s blood son. show no weakness and take the mantle you were born to have; show no fucking hesitance.’, so I’M panicking,

Jason, still cackling: *a clap* NO I DO- I DO REMEMBER, LIKE, BACK IN THE LEAGUE-, holy shit back in the league when your only coping mechanism for not knowing the fuck was going on around you, was literally just to pretend you knew what the fuck was going on around you and bullshit till you make it,

Damian: WELL IT WAS LIKE THE ONLY FUCKING THING MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME-

Jason, through tears: -that’s why I didn’t say shit when I came back to Gotham and found you fucking, doing all this blood son bullshit! You started calling me Todd and speaking in old english and I was just like ‘bless him he’s terrified, just leave him be’

Damian: *cackles* and I did- I did appreciate you going along with it, because back when this happened I panicked and just started calling Tim ‘Drake’ because I was too embarrassed to ask him for his first name, and then by the time I heard somebody else call him Tim in passing, everybody had just assumed this was a thing I did. and I was too socially awkward to clear it up and switch back, so I just had to stick to Drake.

Jason: *wheeze* a-and Grayson?

Damian: well at first I just went along with the surname thing out of awkwardness, but then I’d gone too deep and I had no way out- AND THEN- and then Batman fucking died-

Jason: *wheeze*

Damian: -and I went from being parented by the gymnastics version of the dark lord to being gentle-parented by fucking Nightwing-

Jason, choking: holy- holy shit-

Damian: do you know what it’s like to go from *gruff voice* ‘Damian we don’t fucking kill, give me the katana or I’ll put you in Arkham’ to *high pitched, sweet voice* ‘oh hey Dames, obviously I can’t stop you from killing but I really would appreciate it if we discussed all our options and came to a mature decision together on what’s best in this scenario-‘

Jason: *crying, silent wheezes*

Damian: so DURING all this I’m trying to subtly switch back to using peoples actual names, except it fucking backfired because people just assumed I was calling Richard Richard because we had that special parental mentor bond, and Tim had pissed off to- whatever he was doing in the desert for six months- getting a hysterectomy or whatever the fuck happened-

Jason, amused: hysterectomy- he lost a spleen, Dames

Damian: well whatever happened he wasn’t AROUND for me to shift to calling him Tim! and when father was back I’d made no progress and was back to square one, except this time I was stuck calling one brother Richard and the other Drake!

Jason, still laughing: and this is where I came in?

Damian: I felt BAD! I’d already taken Robin from the guy, I didn’t want him to feel like he was lesser of a brother to me than Richard. So I demoted you to Todd so he wouldn’t feel alone.

Jason: very thoughtful.

Jason: we should probably get you a therapist, dude. I think everybody forgets that when you showed up you were literally just a very confused immigrant child with no experience of normal social interaction apart from me at the league.

Damian: oh I was like, 60% into an anxiety attack consistently for the first two years I was in the city.

Jason: *snorts*

Damian: the first time I was left alone with Tim we were in the kitchen and he said ‘do you want wifi?’ and, y’no, coming from the league, barely any tech and the only normality was the concept of fighting to the death over everything, MY instinctual ten-year-old thought was ‘oh shit, wifi must be slang for brawl here, we’re about to fight’-

Jason: *laughter* you’re fucking kidding

Damian: -so I’m like, so be it, and I say ‘come on then’ and get ready to start punching, only for him to turn around and grab a piece of card stuck to the fridge and hold it out to me,

Jason: *cackles*

Damian: and he goes ‘here’s the password so you can connect, I’m assuming you have a phone or something’-which I fucking didn’t by the way, my mother gave me a shitty flip-phone to call her in emergencies but it didn’t use wifi-, and he’s holding it out to me and I had to like, subtly shift my posture out of the defensive position I’d been in-,

Jason, delirious from laughter: this is the fucking best. thing.

Damian: -and I take it from him, and he gives me this weird look like he has no idea how to communicate with me, and I was just like ‘shit I might have to kill this one, it’s the only way to get out of this interaction’.

Jason: *wheeze* if we go through the timeline, every murder attempt on Tim’s life has just been an occasion where you’ve felt socially awkward and didn’t see any other way out of conversation,

Damian: pretty much, yeah. I should have been on xanax for those first few years.

Jason: stories from your first years in Gotham are my favourite thing in the world.

*a few silent beats*

Tim: are you telling me I’ve been stuck as Drake for YEARS all because Damian’s fucking scared of social interaction?!

*crashing sound*

Jason: HOLY FUCK-

Damian: OH MY GOD I FORGOT WE WERE CONNECTED TO THE MAIN LINE-

[metalphoenix]

Oh my god I’m loosing my shit this is so funny! But I also feel so bad for poor Damian. I never stoped to think of like… the culture shock that he (and most likely Dick too) experiences when moving to Gotham.

[p4nishers]

clark shouting "people were going to DIE" in the face of the "think of the consequences of your actions" argument is so fucking important to me bc it really IS that simple you can't look at a genocide and just twiddler your thumbs bc you're a afraid of the consequences ESPECIALLY when you can do something about it and THATS WHAT CLARK DID. WITHOUT HESITATION. WITHOUT CONSIDERING HOW IT COULD HURT HIM. bc hes a good person and in his brain its really just people were going to die so i had to step in bc what else would it be. superman i love you i love you i love you

[metalphoenix]

Hearing a superhero say that on the big screen was so cathartic and also a little empowering to me. Like I’ve had that exact conversation with so many people. I’ve wanted to snap and yell at someone like Clark did so many times! After a while it gets hard not to second guess yourself no matter how firmly believe in something. People were going to die, people are dying, it really is as simple as that.

[charlataninred]

Love how tumblr has its own folk stories. Yeah the God of Arepo we’ve all heard the story and we all still cry about it. Yeah that one about the woman locked up for centuries finally getting free. That one about the witch who would marry anyone who could get her house key from her cat and it’s revealed she IS the cat after the narrator befriends the cat.

[meraarts]

Might I add:

The defeat of the wizard who made people choose how they’d be to be executed

The woman who raised the changeling alongside her biological child

The human who died of radiation poisoning after repairing the spaceship

[eater-of-hopes-and-dreams]

The adventures of a space roomba

Cinderella finding Araura (and falling in love)

I don’t know a snappy description but the my nemesis cynthia story certainly lives in my head

[blitzlowin]

hilariously, these are almost all in my fic tag. so, a compiled list from the notes (and some extras):

The God of Arepo (graphic novel 1 / 2 / 3) (ebook)

The Monster of Sentan

The Witch’s Cat

Raise Both Children

Stabby the Roomba (honorable mention)

Cinderella Marries the Prince (comic)

My Arch Nemesis Cynthia

Pirates and Mermaid

Eindred and the Witch

The Demon King

The Cornerwitch

Grandmother Beetroot

Apocalypse Daycare Worker

Grandmother Accidentally Summons a Demon

New Year Saga

A Story About Changelings

Ranger in the King’s Forest

The Difference Between a Hare and a Rabbit

Goblin Men (Canines)

[charlataninred]

I am in love with you /p

[inkvoices]

Adding Faceblind Prince Charming and Cinderella

[inkvoices]

21. The human who died of radiation poisoning after repairing the spaceship

22. The defeat of the wizard who made people choose how they’d be to be executed

[lightningladybug]

adding the Doctors Without Borders one

[inkvoices]

I LOVE tumblr storytime, so here’s a bunch more your weekend reading. Enjoy!

24. The Queen with Three Cursed Children

25. Tiny Dragon with one coin hoard

26. Haunted house

27. Shark hero was about to go rogue

28. Grandma lives in the woods comic

29. A Different Aftermath comic

30. Battery (microstory but I love it so much)

31. It’s A Date comic

32. Supervillian kidnaps rival’s kid and they want to stay

33. Narrative Town

34. I have been hired to clean the wizard tower comic

35. Robot Apocalypse

36. The Statues That Do Not Weather

37. Kushiel

38. Tooth Fairy

39. Alien abduction

40. Felonious wish-granting

41. When humans met actual space orcs

42. Space cousins

[dannnnnnnnnnnnex]

WAIT REBLOG THIS VERSION INSTEAD

[crackheadgremlin-deactivated202]

its not a book nor banned but honestly? unknown stories or those cherished by few are also important so here.

Also adding a couple of my favorites! Long Forgotten God and the kindergarten class

Angels and Demons accidental sandwich

[snakebites-and-ink]

May I add:

45. Intergalactic Red Cross

46. Being Villagers

47. The monster under the fridge

48. Humans are the only species with a concept of vengeance

49. The Blue Key

50. Different stories resonate with different people comic

51. Whalefall horror comic

52. The Fox God comic

53. The Stone of Possibility

54. Worthless War

[snakebites-and-ink]

Wait I have more: (including many from the notes)

55. A Pool in the Heart of the Forest (comic)

56. I am asking you to endure it anyway

57. You Help Kill Heroes

58. The witch who raised herself

59. My pilot is good

60. Hsthete (comic)

61. Variations on the Frog and the Scorpion

62. The monster under the bed

63. Cleric slamming healing spells (microstory)

64. The Priest of Arepo

65. The Villain Wrangler

66. Old Gods vs Aliens

67. Last Contact

68. Dragon on a farm

69. Antler Guy

70. Bakery with mythical customers

71. ‘Port

72. The king prophesied to defeat evil

73. The Night Gentlemen

74. In love with a sphynx

75. A fae asks for your name

76. Once their home

77. When you die in the ocean (comic)

Also “tumblr storytime” is such a cute thing to call it

[koreanbibliophilegirl]

78. The three princesses of the tower

79. Opportunity off to the afterlife

80. Transcript of Multiple Conversations Between the Awakened Hero of Legends and a Reporter

81. Moon’s Stuck In a Timeloop

[metalphoenix]

Ahhhhh I love tumblr folklore! I would like to add a couple stories that I really enjoy.

82. Stories of Quelt

83. Cinderella and the face-blind Prince (repeat as old link wasn't working)

84. Ghost Trees

85. At 18 everyone gets a superpower. yours is mediocre but your in the top 10 heroes.

86. You are the worlds most successful marriage councilor

[metalphoenix]

Autistic Matt Murdock

Ok look. This may just be my autistic ass projecting but Mr. Matthew Michael Murdock is 100% autistic and you can fight me on that. 

He is literally like /always/ stimming. You can see it in the show he fidgets with his hands or cane all the time, also that little hop jump thing he did in the college flashback. 

Also, I know he has super senses but they read to me a lot like autism/sensory processing disorder. I mean think, he’s not the only character with enhanced senses. Steve, Bucky, T’Challa and Peter all have them too (I’m sure there are other but these are the ones I can think of off the top of my head) and other than Peter (who is also autistic and you can fight me on that) none of them have the same problems that Matt does. We see Matt having multiple sensory overloads throughout the show and honestly they are kind of similar to mine. Everything is too much and I get overwhelmed. Steve/Bucky/T’Challa don’t have that problem. Also “cotton feels like sandpaper on my skin” I mean come on.

*Season 2 spoilers for the next paragraph* When he looses his hearing after Frank shoots him in the head and he’s sitting on the floor screaming and smacking his hand on the wall? That is a meltdown. While I don’t scream during mine I do curl up in a ball and sometimes hurt myself. It’s a meltdown. 

His sense of Justice. Ok, so not every autistic person has a strong sense of right and wrong but a lot do. We can also see it in the fact that he would rather help people than make lots of money. I heard of a study done (Ok so this study is not without faults, it uses functioning labels and try to patholigize autism despite the results) where there were a group of autistic people and a group of neurotypical people. They were both given a choice, they could donate money to a good cause that would help people but would loose them money, or they could donate money to a not so good cause that would make them money in the long run. There were two tests run, one that was observed one that was not. The autistic group where much more likely to pick that good cause in both. Neurotypicals, on the other hand, were more likely to pick the good cause when they were being observed but the bad cause that would make them money when they were not. Matt literally chooses helping people over money every single time. Hell, he chooses to help people over his own safety every time.

His special interests! He has two big ones: law/justice and protecting Hell’s Kitchen. I mean he basically spends all of his time either working a case or on patrol. He maybe also has a smaller one on catholicism.

Scripting. I think he does a lot of that in the show. He describes his senses as a “world on fire” multiple times and uses “I’m blind” as an excuse for his injuries even when that excuse doesn’t really fit said injury. He is also extremely eloquent in court when he can rehearse and know what he is going to say but often trips on his words in regular conversation.    

So ya, Autistic Matt Murdock y’all!

-Phoenix

Edit: OMG How could I have forgotten Matts giant special interest on Thurgood Marshall??? 

[jaedofspaeds]

I will argue that Matt is Autistic and BPD like Dex and Like Frank as well.

[metalphoenix]

@nyikura I could totally see that! I just don’t know enough about BPD to make any claims about it. I do also think that in season 3 he may be showing signs of Psychotic Depression (hallucinating his dad and Fisk). This isn’t so much in the show but in the comics it seems like he may have some kind of Bipolar Disorder. several characters make concerned comments about him drastically switching between happy and energetic and can-barley-get-out-of-bed depressed.

(That being said I know only /slightly/ more an about psychotic depression and bipolar disorder than I do about BPD, so, not much. So if this seems incorrect or offensive to anyone please let me know and I will change/delete this part of the post)

[boykingsofhell]

HBO SPN ASK GAME

Sam’s eyes flash yellow when you’re not looking. Piercing lamplight across sinking graves in swampland. Do you meet his eyes? Do you fear him?

Dean’s got twelve tattoos and counting, creeping out of shirt sleeves and snaking down long arms. He got the first one a year after John Winchester died. What do they look like?

Don’t tell Castiel his wings are phasing again. Don’t let him know he’s slipping. Are his wings ugly or beautiful? How?

Lucifer whispers to Sam in the early hours of the morning long after Cas took hell from him. What is he saying from the other side of the bed?

Sam and Dean’s scars are so numerous they’re overlapping, skin rough and patterned and rippling with unforgotten pain. Tell me about your favourite.

Sam carries a sharpened rosary and a handgun, an old photo of Jess crumpled beneath three one dollar bills for when he yet again forgets her face. He doesn’t carry a wallet. What else does Sam keep on him?

Mary whispers through the vents of the Impala long after she’s dead. Scraps of white nightgown get caught on all the sharp points between seats. Sam and Dean listen for her beneath the blare of their father’s rock music. What do they hear?

Cas’ eyes haven’t glowed blue in a long time but they haven’t stopped glowing either. What colour do you see, waking up to God’s angel watching over you? Don’t think about what made them this way.

Sam cuts scrapes his knee tumbling at age nine and doesn’t bleed red. What does Dean do? What does John do?

You can cure vampirism but you can’t cure the instincts. Tell me about Dean, bloody-steak-red-meat man promising himself he’s fine. Tell me all the way’s he’s not fine.

Sam wakes up soulless and feels nothing but relief at the cool earth beneath his fingers. Does he know his soul is trapped in hell? Does he want it back?

When Sam is eleven he recoils from the holy water at pastor Jim’s. What else makes him unholy? What else can’t he touch?

Sam doesn’t belong at Stanford and he knows it. Too many knives and not enough friends, grin sharp and alluring in a way he doesn’t notice. He studies harder and calls it penance, please, let him belong. He takes long walks at 3am and doesn’t return for days. Where does he go?

Twelve-year-old Dean gives his little brother beer when he can’t sleep. John notices the missing bottles and doesn’t care. What else doesn’t Dean tell John? What other secrets does he fail to keep?

A hundred years in hell and Enochian is more familiar to Sam than English will ever be again. When he cries out at night it’s in a language Dean doesn’t recognise. What is he mumbling that only Cas understands, averting his eyes because he speaks Enochian like the devil. Tell me something about Sam that Dean can never understand.

Sam and Dean have always been homeless, but hbo spn makes sure the viewers know it too. Tell me about Sam and Dean sleeping on the side of the road because all the motels were full. Tell me about looking for coins under the seats of the Impala for the washing machines and coming up short. Tell me something I don’t know.

Dean keeps his father’s jacket longer than he wants to, hides it in the bottom of a duffel where he knows Sam won’t look. What does he do with it when Sam does find it anyway?

Jack is born wrong and he knows it, tearing his mother apart with a violence he doesn’t mean. Wings drag heavy on the ground, eyes glowing gold and he can’t shut them off. He can’t leave the bunker during the day. Sam and Dean and Cas know what it is to be monstrous. What do they tell him, that comes from such bitter experience?

Demons can’t turn their black eyes off, teeth stained black by demonic smoke and mouths more like maws. Sunglasses and lipstick are essentials, and the brothers can’t help flinching whenever they see someone sporting both. What’s another tell for possession, and how does it affect Sam and Dean?

Demon blood isn’t the only addiction either of the brother’s have, Dean, who’s smoked a pack a day since his father’s death and Sam who picked up worse habits at college he never managed to shake. Does this make Dean more sympathetic to Sam’s demon blood addiction? Less? Does he still lock Sam in the panic room? Does he lock Sam in with himself?

Dean hates his father’s music and listens to it anyway. What does he wish he could leave behind? What music can he hear and not think of his father? (yes this is an excuse to drop your hbo spn playlists)

Angels are never quite there, vessels vibrating and flickering with the strain of holding their host. The smell of ozone portends their arrival. Tell me how the angels are viewed differently, closer to monstrosity and further from God?

Dean comes back in Lazarus Rising but he comes back wrong. He’s been in hell too long for it not to leave a scar of its own. Tell me what’s different.

Chuck who’s forgotten he’s God, who relearns divinity through angels and learns to fear them faster. Does he rebecome God? Does the song remain the same?

Free space: tell me a hbo headcanon for any character!

[metalphoenix]

2. Dean gets a flash tattoo in every town they hunt in. He picks one that has something to do with the case. He starts in Season 3. A 7 for magnificent 7, rabbit foot for bad day at black rock, a bitten apple for bedtime stories, Etc. They take up one arm and shoulder. The styles are all different from dozens of different artists but somehow it all works. A strange mosaic. Castiel removes them when he's "grips him tight and raises him from perdition" Dean screams at him. Weather he gets them back is up to you.

9. Sam doesn't bleed the right shade of red, hasn't since he was 6 months old. His blood is so dark red it looks black unless the sun shines on it right and you see a dark red tint. Dean sees it. He doesn't know what it means but he knows it will be bad news for Sam if Dad sees. He does everything he can to make sure he's the one that responds when Sam bleeds. Dont let Dad see.

12. Holy water burns Sam's skin like a sunburn. His nose bleeds when he exorcises a demon. Afterwards he has a headache and is drained. Latin makes his mouth tingle. If he speaks it for too long his tongue and lips go numb. He can cross a demon trap but he always stumbles on his way out. He goes to church every Sunday in college and when he can on the road. His feet feel like pins and needles the whole time. He learns to ignore it. Even before he knows about the demon blood he feels like he's repenting for something.

13. Sam goes on walks at 3 am and sometimes doesn't come back for days in college. Sometimes he just walks till he collapses then gets up and walks some more. Sometimes he gets drunk at a bar and pretends Dean is sitting next to him. He drinks till he passes out. The next day he stairs at his phone for hours, Deans number typed in, finger hovering over the call button. He never presses it. Sometimes he hears about something happening an hour or two away. He tries to tell himself he's stopped hunting. He goes anyways. He only brings his backpack with lighter fluid, matches, a can of salt, a flask of holy water and an iron knife. Its reckless and he comes back bloody and bruised more often then not. Jess worries about him, when he disapears. She can see the pain in his eyes. She doesn't know how to help him. Sometimes he screams in his sleep. Sometimes he screams for Dean.

14. Dean doesn't tell Dad a lot. He doesn't tell Dad about everything he has to do to keep Sam fed. Doesn't tell him about the tight clothes, the Hands, and the cash in the middle of the night. John knows. He sees the finger print bruises. He doesn't care, just hates him a little bit more.

16. The Boys squat more than they stay in motels. Dean shoplifts more than he can pay for. They both are more accustomed to sleeping in Baby or on the ground than on beds. Sometimes in motels when they wake up in the morning one or both of them will be curled up on the floor. They don't talk about it. They savor showers when they can get them. Even with dollar store bar soap they use to wash everything.

20. Both Boys have addictions. Dean's been smoking since he was 13 and he can't go a day without a drink. Sam started using adaroll and ritallin in college when he needed to study hard. He still has the little pill bottle with a name thats not his on the percription and will down a few when he needs to research a case. He's done meth too. When Dean was dead he started again. Dean becomes addicted to angel grace, looking to Castiel for his fix. It makes Cas's absences even harder. Sometimes when they have a particularly brutal case they will pass a joint back and forth till neither of them can think anymore. Dean still locks Sam in the Panic Room but this time he's in there too.

22. Angels never seem quite human. There is always something uncanny valley about them. They don't blink, they don't breath. When cut they bleed silver. Theres an intensity about them. Anyone that gets near an angel will get goosebumps and raised arm hair.

23. Dean comes back Wrong. Sometimes he will forget to breath. He runs cold now but sometimes he becomes stiff and cold like the dead. His nose will start bleeding and he will cough up blood. Like his body sometimes forgets how to be alive (Based on this Red Hood fic).

25. Sam doesn't take quickly to the demon blood. Not as quick as he does in canon anyways. At first it makes him sick, queezy. Ruby will tell him to drink more when he fails to exorcise a demon and he will protest because he feels like hes going to vomit. He also prays every time he drinks, both before and after.

25. (pt 2) they actually talk about how many times in canon Sam has been raped and sexually harrased. Some days he will feel all the hands he never wanted there all across his body. Sometimes he can't bear to be touched by anyone. After a while the only person he's ok with having any physical contact with is Dean because he is Safe. Sometimes when the Hands get bad all that will sooth him is his brother's hugs. Sometimes he wakes up at night screaming for Lucifer to stop touching him. He blames himself a lot. He can kill a demon but he couldn't stop That from happening. (if something like this has happened to you it is NOT YOUR FAULT. Sam just doesn't know that yet.) One day they have a rough case involving sexual assult. That night with alcahol in their stomachs they end up telling each other about their perspective traumas. Both end up crying. They never speak about it again after that night but they get incredibly protective of each others space after that.

[metalphoenix]

Hobie Brown had a plan from the beginning

So a little while ago I saw a post that said that Hobie's biggest weakness was that he quit the Spider Society when he did (I can't find that post so I won't link it). I don't really agree with this.

The thing about Hobie Brown is that he knows the value of community. Obviously, we don't get much back round about his personal life in the movie so I'm going to go off of the Spider Punk mini series.

I'm this run Hobie is homeless. He lives out of a van and a community center in Brooklyn (he's originally a New Yorker) but he's not alone. He lives and/or works with a bunch of friends: Captain Anarchy (Karl Morningdew, E-138's Captain America and a gay native american man), Riothart (Riri Williams, E-138's Ironheart), Mz Marvel (Kamala Khan), Hulk (Robbie Banner), Daredevil (Mattea Murdock, in E-138 she is a blind punk drummer in Philadelphia) and other unnamed characters. So even though they switched up his backstory in the film I still belive that he's not alone in his home universe. Punk culture, anarchy and communism are all about building community and helping others.

Honestly I think thats why he's part of the Spider Society in the first place because he obviously does not agree with anything their doing. He's there because he knows they will recruit vulnerable teenagers who don't have the support that he does. Thats why he takes Gwen and Pavitr under his wings I think (to make it clear Hobie is also a teenager that needs support he's just uniquely positioned to give it in this situation because of his background but he is still very much a teenager.) He also knows that sometimes the best way to take down the system is from inside of it. He's gonna play along till he can take them down.

I think it makes perfect sense that he "quit" when he did. At this point Miles knows Spider Society is really fucked up, he knows his dad is gonna die in two days and he's made it clear that he will not go quietly. Hobie knows all of this and trust Miles to have everything handled. I think that he also knows that when Miles escapes Gwen is going to be disillusioned by the Spider Society and get sent back to E-65.

So he trusts both Miles and Gwen to be able to handle themselves for the moment, but because he knows the value of community when organizing he also knows that they can't do it alone. So he quits (like he always knew he was going to). He knows that the best use of his time and skills right now is to make sure they have everything they need to oppose Spot and Miguel when the time comes. We all know he made at least two watches (he had to have made one for himself as well) but I think that he was also recruiting the rest of the band at the same time.

The only other main spider besides Gwen that we see in the chase scene is Peter. We see Penni that one time during the confrontation scene but not again. I think that he was finding Pavitr, Peni, Noir, and Ham. I think he knew that Gwen would probably go to Peter first. He probably knew when she activated the watch he gave her and brought everyone else to regroup.

But Margo was also in that final shot and Hobie would not have had enough time to recruit her between Gwen being sent back and the final shot. I think they have been working together behind the scenes this whole time. When Miles sends himself back, sure at first she didn't know what was happening, but when she saw Miles in the go home machine she kind of froze. She is looking right at the controls for the machine and there is an option to shut down. She doesn't press it. She could, but she didn't. She even tells Lyla to get out of her way, probably because she doesn't want her to interfere too much. She may have known she was gonna help him escape before that scene even happened. Once that was done she could get out and regroup with Hobie and the rest.

So ya I don't think he's a coward for quitting when he did I think he was really smart. We know he plans and excutes political actions in his home universe. Actions that could defiantly end up with him or others in jail. When planning things like that you need to be smart about it, often times for particularly dangerous things no one has all the information till the very end, of course he'd keep it a secrete. Even from Gwen because she's still not ready. He's not a coward he just knew how to best utilize his and everyone else's skills. He knows when he needs to be in the background as opposed to the front line.

[metalphoenix]

Super heroes as an allegory for Queer and Trans Narratives

Forgive me if this is a little rambley I have already taken my sleep meds.

I was just thinking about why I like super heroes so much (they have been my special interested for probably around 8 years now) and I think because they can be seen as a queer allegory.

You have a separate life, one that you have to keep separate from your day to day life. That very much feels like being in the closet/mostly in the closet. That secrete life comes with a different name and different clothes. Trans people or Drag Artists anyone? Most of the time super heroes find each other and form a tight community because no civilian will understand their experiences. This mirrors queer people finding and building community. In both Marvel and DC older heroes will take younger ones under their wings to teach them and give them community. Queer people have taken me under their wing and I've done the same for others.

Theres also the isolation. Most heroes are only "out" as heroes to other heroes and maybe a few civilians they really truly trust. Or maybe no one knows. The knowledge that you have a huge secret. You are hiding a big part of your self. Maybe the part that is more you than the you everyone else knows. You know that if you tell or someone finds out, everything will change. Others may or may not except that part of you. You may loose people you love. Maybe the people who are close to you are pro heroes (Ned from Spiderman) or maybe they are not (Foggy from Daredevil) but either way there will always be a possibility of rejection.

The danger of being a hero also lines up. They wear masks, cowls, helmets, disguises etc, to hide their identities because if people knew they and the people they love would be in danger. Heroes who's identities are known (either by their own volition or someone else's) are also in danger. Batman keeps his and his kids identities under lock and key because everything goes wrong when the wrong person finds out. Jessica Jones does not because she's tired of hiding. Queer people weather in or out of the closet are also in danger of being outed. I've been outed before and it ruined one relationship and almost ruined another. I've lost friends and family because of being queer and nonbinary and I'm from a pretty liberal area. Just look up death, houselessness, rape, unemployment, suicide statistic etc. All of them are higher for queer, trans and intersex folks.

The last parallel I can think of is how both super heroes and queer/trans people exist outside of the system/establishment. Heroes and vigilantes work outside of the justice system because in most cases because they see it doesn't work. They are usually at risk of arrest by cops or in danger from the government (the Sokovia accords are a good example of this). Queer people exist outside of many establishments: The gender binary, amatonormativity, heteronormativity, the sex binary, etc. Queer people are also at greater risk of arrest and experiencing police violence.

IDK these are just my thoughts. I hope everything made sense. If you can think of any other ways super hero narratives mirror lgbtq experiences feel free to put them in the notes! (or not its whatever)

[metalphoenix]

The bat family is neatly split into two categories:

The Rich and rich adjacent: Bruce, Tim, Damian, Alfred, Dick

The anti capitalist Poor: Jason, Stephenie, Duke, Harper

Funnily enough this is also the split between People Who Think Police Reform Works and the People Who Would Punch a Cop With No Hesitation (let’s be real Jason can absolutely blue ladder lace his boots)

I like to think that whenever Commissioner Gordon comes over for dinner at the manor the Anti Capitalists/ACAB group nopes out to Jason’s apartment for dinner and a game of who can destroy the most hostile architecture in an hour.

(Listen people may come for me for putting Dick in the Rich group but I put him there because he was adopted by Bruce the youngest and probably adapted to the new lifestyle pretty quickly. Cassandra isn’t in there because I’m not 100% where to put her)

[metalphoenix]

Guys is it gay to hate fuck your worstie in the back of a Honda Odyssey to save your universe?

[metalphoenix]

Do you think theres a memorial to the second Robin in Crime Alley? I like to think that even if the rest of Gotham didn't know where he came from that Crime Alley knew he was one of theirs.

Do you think they were devastated when it came out he was dead? I don't think it would be a official memorial or anything. When it was announced he was dead people started putting candles/cards/stuffed animals/food out on their roof tops in honor of him.

Maybe a few weeks later someone graffitied a mural somewhere up high in his honor. They did it in the middle of the night. After that people started to leave things there.

Theres no official care taker for the memorial. Everyone helps out. People who leave stuff take care to clean up any trash left around. Theres a few people who make sure theres always at least one candle lit.

One day its vandalized. Robin may have been one of them but its Crime Alley and he made life difficult for criminals. Maybe someone he put in jail got angry and vandalized it. The people fix it. There no call to action they just see it and take it upon themselves to restore it.

Do you think Jason sees it when he comes back as Red Hood? I think he found it in his first two weeks back in Gotham. He wasn't big yet. He was still taking control. He stumbles upon it on accident. He's not expecting it. He's grateful no ones around because he breaks down. The enormity of everything that happened to him hits him like a brick and suddenly he's on his knees sobbing.

Maybe once he's taken over and the people trust him he'll ask about it. He'll ask why they care about the second Robin. Why do you take care of the memorial so intensely? They tell him. They tell him they know the second Robin was one of them. They tell him how much hope he brought to the people that had none. Do you think he realizes how much he meant to these people?

Maybe someone connects the dots. They don't know who he is but they see how fiercely protective the Red Hood is of the alley and they remember the boy in bright colors and an even brighter smile. They look at this angry broken man trying so hard to do good and see the boy who died too soon.

The next day a mural of Red Hood pops up across from the Robin Memorial.

[101maverick]

Ok guys who’s gonna write the fic? I think this needs a fic

[metalphoenix]

I have one written I just need to type up the second draft and get it beta’d hopefully I will have it up by the end of the week! I will repost it on this post!

[metalphoenix]

Ok I wrote the fic! Here it is: https://archiveofourown.org/works/58042195 (Its called Flightless Bird)

Summery:

Crime Alley knows that the Second Robin is one of them. When he dies a memorial in his honor pops up.

Four years later Jason is back in Gotham.

Its a little short but I hope you like it!

[metalphoenix]

Do you think theres a memorial to the second Robin in Crime Alley? I like to think that even if the rest of Gotham didn't know where he came from that Crime Alley knew he was one of theirs.

Do you think they were devastated when it came out he was dead? I don't think it would be a official memorial or anything. When it was announced he was dead people started putting candles/cards/stuffed animals/food out on their roof tops in honor of him.

Maybe a few weeks later someone graffitied a mural somewhere up high in his honor. They did it in the middle of the night. After that people started to leave things there.

Theres no official care taker for the memorial. Everyone helps out. People who leave stuff take care to clean up any trash left around. Theres a few people who make sure theres always at least one candle lit.

One day its vandalized. Robin may have been one of them but its Crime Alley and he made life difficult for criminals. Maybe someone he put in jail got angry and vandalized it. The people fix it. There no call to action they just see it and take it upon themselves to restore it.

Do you think Jason sees it when he comes back as Red Hood? I think he found it in his first two weeks back in Gotham. He wasn't big yet. He was still taking control. He stumbles upon it on accident. He's not expecting it. He's grateful no ones around because he breaks down. The enormity of everything that happened to him hits him like a brick and suddenly he's on his knees sobbing.

Maybe once he's taken over and the people trust him he'll ask about it. He'll ask why they care about the second Robin. Why do you take care of the memorial so intensely? They tell him. They tell him they know the second Robin was one of them. They tell him how much hope he brought to the people that had none. Do you think he realizes how much he meant to these people?

Maybe someone connects the dots. They don't know who he is but they see how fiercely protective the Red Hood is of the alley and they remember the boy in bright colors and an even brighter smile. They look at this angry broken man trying so hard to do good and see the boy who died too soon.

The next day a mural of Red Hood pops up across from the Robin Memorial.

[101maverick]

Ok guys who’s gonna write the fic? I think this needs a fic

[metalphoenix]

I have one written I just need to type up the second draft and get it beta’d hopefully I will have it up by the end of the week! I will repost it on this post!

[metalphoenix]

Trans Dick Grayson Head canons

He knew from super young that he was a boy. Like he was 3 or 4 telling people he was not a girl. I like to imagine his parents just kind of rolled with it. Like they live in a circus. Being weird is like... a prerequisite or something. Maybe Richard is what they were gonna name him if he had been born male so he chose that then found out that Dick was a nickname of Richard and the rest is history.

All this to say, he'd been living as Dick Grayson for years by the time he met Bruce.

This is how I think Bruce found out. So Dick wasn't born in the United States (no idea if this is canon or not but for the sake of this head canon that is the assumption I am operating under). So it would probably take Bruce a bit to get all of Dick's papers like birth certificates and other forms and he's very confused as to why he got a girls birth certificate?

Dick *walking into Bruce's office*: Hey B

Bruce: Oh good, I wanted to talk to you. Do you have a sister or a female cousin you haven't told me about?

Dick: No???

Bruce: Ok well I'm trying to get all your papers sorted and I think Haly may have sent me the wrong ones because these are for a girl named [insert dead name of choice] Grayson.

Dick: What? No, thats me?

Bruce *now very confused*: What???

Dick *confused at Bruce's confusion*: Ya? I was born [deadname] but thats not my name anymore?

Bruce *realizing this means his new tiny son is trans* hnn

Bruce asks him a few days later if he wants him to change his paperwork so it says Richard Grayson and has his sex marker as M. Dick is kind of confused why it matters but is just like sure?

The Puberty Talk is very awkward on Bruce's front. He ends up talking to Dick about hormone blockers to hold off on puberty for a bit which Dick agrees to. He starts blockers at 11.

At 13 he starts on a low dosage of Testosterone under the guidance of Dr. Tompkins and a pediatric endocrinologist.

Bruce does all of his T shots for him and they make a little event out of it. They day they do the shots they take a night off from patrol and order take out and eat it on the couch while they watch a movie. These are also the only days Alfred lets them eat ice cream straight out of the carton. (Bruce still goes on patrol but only after Dick goes to bed. It wouldn't do to have a very noticeable pattern of days he takes off).

Because of this Dick never goes through female puberty, combine that with the fact that everyone knows Bruce Wayne adopted a son, he's pretty much stealth.

When he's 16 he starts talking to Bruce about getting bottom surgery (he doesn't need top surgery seeing as he never grew breasts). He has all three bottom surgeries over the next year.

I like to think that he just... forgets people don't know. Like it doesn't occur to him that to everyone thats not Bruce, Alfred or Leslie he just looks like a cis dude. Maybe when he's like 17 he goes to pride and wears a trans flag or paints the trans flag on his cheek or something. The papparazi take a photo of him and it becomes Big News.

They hold one press conference to be like "ya I'm a trans guy, I've always been a trans guy. No stop asking about my transition that is private medical information"

He becomes more involved in the trans community after that.

Extra: Maybe he is an olympic athlete as well. obviously he competed in mens gymnastics. Imagine the debates that would cause.