Meme, take two

[bagheera_san]

Name Those Characters!

1) Make a list of 10 characters.
2) Assign each character a number.
3)Without telling anyone who's on the list or the character's assigned number, get questions from your flist about what they'd like to know about them. IE: "If 3 and 4 were trapped in a cave together with only a blanket and a toothpick, what would they do?" (The more random the better!)
4) Post the answers and who was who on the list.

So here's the list:
1. Catwoman (DCU)
2. Magneto (X-Men movie/comics)
3. Severus Snape (Harry Potter)
4. Lex Luthor (SV, comics, JLU)
5. Belial/the Mad Hatter (Angel Sanctuary [manga])
6. the Master (Doctor Who)
7. the Rani (Doctor Who)
8. Lord Voldemort (Harry Potter)
9. the Borg Queen (Star Trek)
10. Evil!Superman (red kryptonite, brain-washed, Bizarro...)

And here are your questions and answers:


[Voldemort is the evil guy from Harry Potter. He's your basic evil overlord. Lex Luthor is a very smart scientist/business man who is very obsessed with Superman - you know Superman, right? You also know about the Master - evil Time Lord (alien who travels through time doing stuff) - because of my rantings about him. The Rani is also an evil Time Lady, but she is... differently insane. And really into science. The Borg Queen is the queen of the Borg. Cyborg people. Assimilation. Resistance is futile, etc. Magneto is a dignified elderly mutant with magnetic powers, and is pretty unique in that he doesn't hate the heroes who fight him (because they're mutants, too, and besides, they're his former students), he only wants to assure the survival of the mutant race. By killing/subjugating everyone else. Catwoman is a cat-burglar/vigilante. She and Batman are OTP4eva. Snape is a wizard/spy/double agent/potions master/reformed villain, played by Alan Rickman. Belial is a fallen angel of indeterminate gender. S/he's a bit of a clown, and a hedonist, and faithfully but unrequietedly in love with Lucifer. Definitely the "Trickster" kind of villain. S/he's also known as the Mad Hatter.

So we have most evil archetypes:
1. Thief/Rogue
2. tragic villain with a Cause
3. reformed villain/ double agent
4. evil capitalist
5. Trickster
6. evil... evil person
7. mad scientist
8. evil overlord / serial killer
9. evil artificial intelligence
10.thug/ brain-washed hero]

jakrar asked:
1. If #7 could convince any one (but only one) of the others to join him or her as an ally, which would he/she choose, and why?

The Rani might choose Catwoman simply because of Selina's gender, but on the other hand, Catwoman doesn't make a strong ally (depending on what you want to do, of course. Catwoman is very specialized.) The Rani knows the Master, and they pretty much despise each other, but they used to be friends and have worked together before, so that's a possibility. I think the Rani might also form a fruitful partnership with Lex, because they're both interested in science, but Lex (depending on the version) might object to some of the Rani's more ruthless practices. The Rani is also one of the few people on the list who'd form an alliance with the Borg Queen if it were beneficial to their cause.

2. If #5 had to pick one of the others to be his/her lifelong enemy, which would he/she choose, and why?

Belial doesn't know any of the others, and s/he doesn't have an archenemy within his/her universe. S/he isn't the type, because s/he's in the evil-business for love and laughs. But s/he'd choose somebody who is fun and attractive, for example Catwoman or evil!Clark. Their enmity would mostly consist of hi-jinks and flirting. If Belial chose someone they actually dislike, it'd probably be Voldemort or the Borg Queen, because they're narrow-minded and/or bigoted.

3. Which of the others would #3 most like to seduce?
Ahahaha. None of them. Alright, Snape just might feel attracted to Catwoman, or (if you believe fandom :D) to evil!Clark, because of Clark's looks, especially the eyes. Or, wait! Snape and the Rani would only ever bicker and bitch at each other, but they're actually totally soul-mates: frigid, snarky scientist types. But it'd be unrequieted (Snape is used to that.)

medea_aries asked (amusing me greatly):
So, number 2 and 9 are currently dancing foxtrot (fox trot) in a room full of seniors that want to learn ballroom dancing. How the hell did that happen?
[the Borg Queen. Ball-room dancing. Whut.]

How the hell indeed. First of all, how did they get there? Magneto might know ballroom dancing already, and it's certainly the least of his priorities to learn it if he doesn't, because he's old and has a cause to fight for. The Borg Queen... is perhaps the least likely entity in their own universe (and several others) to try and learn ballroom dancing. Perhaps some wily good guy convinced her that ballroom dancing is an essential skill needed for universal domination and not some irrelevant activity. Or Magneto is trying to save the world from the Borg and using his powers to simply force the Borg Queen to dance - but... no. Magneto could just kill the Borg Queen, and totally would. I think this must be somebody's hallucination. [or holodeck program!]

So medea_aries changed her question to:
Well, then, who would be number 2´s dancing partner? And what´s with the room full of seniors anyway?

Ah, I know! Magneto used to be a teacher at a school. The seniors are his students [the X-Men], and he is teaching them to dance. He would be dancing with his nemesis and best friend, except this only works in some continuities [because it depends on whether Charles is already in the wheelchair. Which you can dance in, but I highly doubt he'd do that.] If Magneto had to be dancing with someone on the list, Catwoman would be likely... except, wait. Magneto might not dance with Selina because of Selina's genetics. I guess he might dance with Belial (Belial is most certainly an excellent dancer, and could well be powerful enough to pretend to be having the right genetics.) Another obvious partner: Lex. Lex can presumably dance very well, has the right genetic makeup and looks remarkably like Magneto's nemesis/best friend. I think Magneto is dancing with Lex to teach the X-Men how to dance, because Charles asked him to. And this is totally an AU where Lex ended up at said Charles's school.

And venilia asked:
1. Ok, so for whatever reason, 4, 5, and 8 are forced to work with their best enemies. Which one does that the best, and why?

This is routine for Lex, and Lex is good at it, but some versions of him have a bad habit of betraying their best beloved enemy, who, btw, is a version of 10. Still, Lex does this the best, because Lex and his archnemesis used to be friends and work well together (and sekritly love it.)
Who is Belial's best enemy? Belial doesn't really have one.
Voldemort has never worked together with his archnemesis, and his archnemesis would never work together with them... but, oh, a fic in which they had to work together against a common enemy, wow, that'd be interesting. I want this.

2. Could 1 and 3 be convinced to team up together if they were facing down any of the other characters on your list? If so, who would they go up against? If not, who would they rather partner with?
[I left this like I answered it in comments with the numbers because it's more amusing that way :D]

1 and 3 are probably the least evil people on this list - they're actually good guys/reformed villains. They would definitely team up, although they'd annoy each other very much. I think 3 would remind 1 a bit of his/her former nemesis and lover, because 3 is similarly repressed and dark. 1 is too fun-loving for 3, and I highly doubt 3 would appreciate 1's costume (for shame.) They could naturally fight 8, who is 3's nemesis, or 4, who is an enemy of a friend of 1's lover (said friend sometimes turns into 10). They would also fight #9, because any sane person would fight 9, and 1 and 3 are very sane people. They'd probably fight 6 and 7, too, because 6 might remind 3 very much of 8.
If 1 were given the choice, 3 would be his/her partner of choice simply because of 3's non-evilness, but 1 would have some problem with 3's powers, which include the ability to brainwash/make 1 forget things - which is something 1 hates and has been through. 1 might also team up with 2 in 2's saner/nicer moments.
3 would prefer someone other than 1, because 1 isn't a very strong ally and 3 is amoral enough to ally him/herself with someone considerably more evil. I think he might respect 2's attitude and dignity, but he'd soon realize that 2 is not that different from 8 - they're both racist/specieist. 3 might choose 7, or try to mind-control 10 (it'd work, and 10 is very useful.) If 3 and 6 ever teamed up: ultimate stylish awesomeness.



Now, flist, tell me: are there any fics in which Harry and Voldemort team up? Or fics in which Dumbledore and Grindelwald fight crime? This is HP, there must be fics like that. (Because... otherwise I might write something like this.)

Comments

[medea-aries.livejournal.com]

So... what would it take to convince you to actually write an AU with Lex as a student of Charles's school? Because that would be so much fun. That´s the kind of crack live for...

[bagheera-san.livejournal.com]

Heh. All it would take is inspiration - I'd love to write that story. I even tried it, once, but I didn't get very far. It'd be interesting to see the SV/DC universe with a mutant issue (normally they don't have it, they just accept super-powered people, but if they did have it, Superman's position would be pretty interesting.)

I once wrote a Lex-as-Charles, Clark-as-Magneto AU (a part of Elseworlds, but it could need cleaning up).

[medea-aries.livejournal.com]

Well then, if you´d like to write it you have a foot in. Let´s see...

So, how old was Lex when he went into the school? How about Clark? (if he went at all)

I think Lex would get in when he was little. He strikes me as the sort that would sniff out and plot to get into a place like that very fast, not only because of the school itself, but also because it´s filled with mutants and Lex is... Lex.

[bagheera-san.livejournal.com]

I think the most logical way to get Lex into Westchester is for Charles to find him when he's freshly mutated after the meteor shower, mistake him for a normal mutant (I'm a bit unsure on this, but I think "mutants" in the Marvel sense are only people with a specific kind of hereditary mutation), discover that Lionel is *mean* and just kidnap Lex (perhaps with added mental blocks so Lionel would forget him entirely.)

Lex would meet Clark later, when the X-Men have become outlaws and are hunted by the government. Superman, ever popular, would be on the side of the government, and they'd naturally clash. Lex would resent him because he's "special" too, but people don't hate *Superman* and that's unfair. And Clark would think the X-Men are dangerous freaks, just like the meteor mutants in SV, but eventually he'd realize that he's on the wrong side. There's also the question what Lex's role within the X-Men would be: he doesn't have a terribly useful power. Either he'd be their tech-guy (if you assume that SV Lex is potentially as smart in that area as other Lexes.) or he'd be some kind of fifth wheel, and that'd make him reckless and potentially dangerous/liable to go evil.

Well, and then you'd probably have to find a solution for the conflict. And Lionel would have to figure in it somehow, to make it more symmetrical. He could tempt Lex with the power of money. (The obvious Lionel parallel would of course be Stryker.)

*laughs* I'm not really that much out-of-love with SV. And I never really got the chance to play with the X-Men. I only ever wrote one story in that fandom!

[medea-aries.livejournal.com]

I think even more logical would be for Lionel to send Lex to the school himself. On the outside it`s only a school for gifted children, and with a little mental push he would have no problem on shipping him off.

And to think of any universe where Lex isn`t smart is just so, so wrong. Lana Lang outsmarting Lex in SV was one of the stupidest things ever, and in SV that`s saying a lot.

So, tech guy I think. And with as much potential for going evil as ever. Maybe that`s one of the things Prof. Xavier saw in him, and that`s one of the reasons he took him under his wing. He has way too much potential to be left unsupervised.

And I don`t think you can tempt Lex with money if he has science to work on. He gets to study mutants, what`s owning a castle compared to that? Plus, he`s smart enough to make money if he really wants to. I have always had a slight suspicion that Lex Luthor is not only smart; he is also bored, and that`s what makes him so dangerous.

And Clark will be Clark. He doesn`t really get it until it`s almost (or way) too late. I have never met a character that stumbled around life the way he does.

And Lionel... well, I never really got Lionel. As I see it, trying to predict what he`ll do depends on the SV episode you are watching. But I suspect... he wants Lex back and the X-men to himself. Preferably working for him, but he`s not picky, and it`s good enough if he only gets to poke them. So he needs to catch them first.

[bagheera-san.livejournal.com]

No,no,no! Of course you can't tempt Lex with money for money's sake (an essential part of Lex characterisation is that he is completely willing to risk money for interesting projects, to the point of bankruptcy... okay, that's probably not spelled like this... anyways! Just look at him, he could make billions and billions without a risk if he just left SV alone. There's virtually no profit in what he does there.), but he'd know that money=the power to help fellow mutants. With money (and LuthorCorp) he could do considerable good for mutantkind. (Charles has money, but not nearly that much.)

It's definitely the kind of AU I love to invent. It might get written. ;D

[medea-aries.livejournal.com]

*Purses lips* Would he be interested in money? Seems it´s actually a very good question. Still, I don´t think if he wanted money he would take it from Lionel. He would probably use/convince fellow mutants to do a few things here and there, nothing big enough to set an individual´s moral compass off. Now, when you see the final result, that´s something else altogether.

As a side note, I suspect Lex visits with Magneto much more often than Prof. X is comfortable with. They play chess and discuss politics and world domination.

And Yey! Fic! From you! *Dances*

[jakrar.livejournal.com]

This would be so much fun to read!