Cross-Brand Thought X-ercise Feat. Distinguished Competition: Black Mercy

[jwatson]

BLACK MERCY: an alien plant from DC Comics that can subject a sapient life-form into a coma state where they dream an ideally perfect mindscape of their lives, drawing their deepest desire and wishes to manifest a perfect existence in the mind. The Black Mercy was introduced in 1985 on "Superman Annual #11: For the Man Who Has Everything" by Alan Moore, where the alien warlord Mongul ambushes Superman in his fortress and traps him in a Black Mercy dream. Luckily Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman have dropped by because it was Clark's birthday. Cue epic battle while Superman dreams he was still Kal-El living on an unexploded Krypton, with a family.

That was HIS Black Mercy dream, though as he begins seeing through the cracks the peaceful Krypton devolves into a conflict zone until he awakes when Batman removes the BM from him. Then the plant latches onto Bruce, subjecting HIM to a dream where his father Thomas beats up Joe Chill, allowing the senior Waynes to live all through Bruce's peaceful adulthood. Robin removes the BM from Batman and uses it on Mongul, where HIS dream sees him "evade" the Mercy being thrown at him, killing Superman, Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman in quick succession, and moving on to conquer the universe.

On the "Justice League Unlimited" adaptation of "For the Man Who Has Everything," only Batman and WW visit Superman that day. The political crisis dream-Krypton undergoes as Kal-El starts fighting the Black Mercy's creation is instead replaced with the seismic upheaval that canonically destroyed it playing out the more Superman becomes cognizant of his situation.

The Black Mercy species will reappear in other DC Comics titles since. On TV, it also appeared on The CW's "Supergirl" with Kara being the victim, and reinterpreted as growing stronger and more attached to its host the longer it remains, instead of the opposite.

And there's your Black Mercy recap. Can you visualize how a Krakoan will dream under its influence now?

I actually can it makes me think of Farscape and how John's mind was at one point.

It is an interesting question imo when posed as such.

I think if i were to say Storm she would defintiely dream of a world where there was integration between the two. But i don't think she would think of it as integration but as a natural state of communion between people who exist. That said, i personally feel she will get a sense it's just too easy, that it's just too perfect and in her Journey for the surreal to be actually real she would actually end up breaking through and discovering it to be nothing more than a dream. I think it would shake her though and affect some of the decisions she makes on Krakoa going forward because she won't be able to shake what could be.

[Domino_Dare-Doll]

I actually can it makes me think of Farscape and how John's mind was at one point.

It is an interesting question imo when posed as such.

I think if i were to say Storm she would defintiely dream of a world where there was integration between the two. But i don't think she would think of it as integration but as a natural state of communion between people who exist. That said, i personally feel she will get a sense it's just too easy, that it's just too perfect and in her Journey for the surreal to be actually real she would actually end up breaking through and discovering it to be nothing more than a dream. I think it would shake her though and affect some of the decisions she makes on Krakoa going forward because she won't be able to shake what could be.

Oooh, I love that!! In fact, I'd kill for a new Storm Solo with that concept...can we make that happen??

[powerpax]

Darn right it isn't. And you don't think a single Krakoan will ever dream of Integration, no matter how fleeting it may be, right? That they can only go with a separate and sovereign state/culture, or a super-powered ruling class (like The Thunderbird's proposed mutant dominion over flatscans), or the reluctance caretakers of a sapiens preserve, or the cathartic executioners of the one righteous and justifiable act of GENOCIDE that can ever be committed from a mutant POV: against humans.

No, and please stop putting words in my mouth. I think you're upset with people for approving of or identifying with the current X-Men status quo, and keep trying to railroad us into extreme hypotheticals in order to try to make us cede some sort of moral high ground. I know what the Black Mercy is but this isn't about that, this is about you trying to force people into a box of your own making. I'm not interested.

[Londo Bellian]

I actually can it makes me think of Farscape and how John's mind was at one point.

It is an interesting question imo when posed as such.

I think if i were to say Storm she would defintiely dream of a world where there was integration between the two. But i don't think she would think of it as integration but as a natural state of communion between people who exist. That said, i personally feel she will get a sense it's just too easy, that it's just too perfect and in her Journey for the surreal to be actually real she would actually end up breaking through and discovering it to be nothing more than a dream. I think it would shake her though and affect some of the decisions she makes on Krakoa going forward because she won't be able to shake what could be.

To your contribution I can only say...

[jwatson]

Oooh, I love that!! In fact, I'd kill for a new Storm Solo with that concept...can we make that happen??

It could be interesting. One thing i learned early and still hold with me is imo the only true heroes are those who know ultimately they are fighting a losing game. At the end of the day the whole goal of a hero is usually to save lives and make the world better but if your a true hero, like an obsessed hero, you know every second you spend saving someone else or sleeping you've failed. But i'm not sure that would be fun to read about. lol

[Domino_Dare-Doll]

It could be interesting. One thing i learned early and still hold with me is imo the only true heroes are those who know ultimately they are fighting a losing game. At the end of the day the whole goal of a hero is usually to save lives and make the world better but if your a true hero, like an obsessed hero, you know every second you spend saving someone else or sleeping you've failed. But i'm not sure that would be fun to read about. lol

I think our definition of 'true hero' is gonna clash:

See, I see storm as a true hero because she fights for all of those things, but, at the same time, she knows that the best thing she can do is to step back and look after herself a while. Because, like, if you can't look after yourself then how in the world could you preach to others that you're going to do it for them? Ya know? Like I can't help anyone when I'm suffering a burn-out, but, I do know others who can assist in the meanwhile. And like, Ororo is fantastic at fostering new relationships in general, it's not a stretch to think she can't do the same for the larger cause?

[jwatson]

I think our definition of 'true hero' is gonna clash:

See, I see storm as a true hero because she fights for all of those things, but, at the same time, she knows that the best thing she can do is to step back and look after herself a while. Because, like, if you can't look after yourself then how in the world could you preach to others that you're going to do it for them? Ya know? Like I can't help anyone when I'm suffering a burn-out, but, I do know others who can assist in the meanwhile. And like, Ororo is fantastic at fostering new relationships in general, it's not a stretch to think she can't do the same for the larger cause?

I think we see it the same. Ultimately you have to get to place with yourself where you can give yourself a break otherwise you may cross the line to villiany in your convictions. But i think the ending goal for any hero is that they are just making a difference in the lives of the people they save and that has to be enough. Because at the end of the day a hero can never really know for a fact they are making the world better and it's impossible for them to save everyone so how do you not get jaded by that day in and day out, How can you keep the enthusiam you had when it was fresh and new or you were on a series of what you consider wins. I think the hero mentality imo should be one of some semblance of depreciation, but that doesn't mean sadness or negativity but more a reality that maybe tomorrow i can save one more rather than my job is to make things right in the world.

[BroHomo]

Saw The last 2 words and thot it was about a dancer at Follies lol

[Domino_Dare-Doll]

I think we see it the same. Ultimately you have to get to place with yourself where you can give yourself a break otherwise you may cross the line to villiany in your convictions. But i think the ending goal for any hero is that they are just making a difference in the lives of the people they save and that has to be enough. Because at the end of the day a hero can never really know for a fact they are making the world better and it's impossible for them to save everyone so how do you not get jaded by that day in and day out, How can you keep the enthusiam you had when it was fresh and new or you were on a series of what you consider wins. I think the hero mentality imo should be one of some semblance of depreciation, but that doesn't mean sadness or negativity but more a reality that maybe tomorrow i can save one more rather than my job is to make things right in the world.

Well yeah, but unless you're a pre-cog...can any of us really, truly know? Sometimes you have to start on a smaller level because those can then snow-ball into a bigger impact. It's frustrating as hell to wait, but it isn't pointless ya know? I definitely get what ya mean about heroes being humble, totally, but they shouldn't let themselves fall victim to the 'futility of it all,'--they're heroes because they keep going in spite of that, whether success is guaranteed or not.

[jwatson]

Well yeah, but unless you're a pre-cog...can any of us really, truly know? Sometimes you have to start on a smaller level because those can then snow-ball into a bigger impact. It's frustrating as hell to wait, but it isn't pointless ya know? I definitely get what ya mean about heroes being humble, totally, but they shouldn't let themselves fall victim to the 'futility of it all,'--they're heroes because they keep going in spite of that, whether success is guaranteed or not.

I agree but i think imo, and i could think a lot of the word hero. You do have to think about that and make a resolution with it to be able to do it well and not cross that line. I don't think it's ever good to just block things out you have to find an answer to it and find out if you can deal with it or not.

[Londo Bellian]

I definitely get what ya mean about heroes being humble, totally, but they shouldn't let themselves fall victim to the 'futility of it all,'--they're heroes because they keep going in spite of that, whether success is guaranteed or not.

When somebody describes a hero as such in my hearing, this plays in my head.