Star Trek in the MC2

As you may know Sir Patrick Stewart portrayed Captain Jean-Luc Picard on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation for seven seasons and four feature films before returning to the role with this year’s Star Trek: Picard series. I recently finished watching the first season and I wanted to do a little something that’s tangentially related, as always. So, let’s explore some references to Star Trek in the MC2!

 

You’ll notice quite a few of my posts recently have referenced the Ron Frenz interview on Adam Chapman’s podcast Comic Shenanigans Episode 744. The reason is pretty simple: it’s genuinely a great well of information about the MC2, especially the characters from the A-Next series on which the interview focuses. Now, here’s why I bring it up yet again: Edwin Jarvis is Patrick Stewart! When asked about his decision to depict the Avengers most loyal member of staff as slender in A-Next, Ron had this to say:

 

‘He gained weight for a while under Perez and everything but I was using as a model the John Buscema/Tom Palmer Jarvis. Which went into the Sal era; that’s kind of when I first started reading the Avengers. The book was being passed off at different points between Sal and John and they both had a more slender Jarvis and that’s what I ended up going with. Plus, we wanted to age him and everything. But I saw him as being someone who took great pride in his appearance, wearing a tuxedo as he does as a butler and now that he was chief of staff and everything else.  I always kind of pictured him, quite frankly, when I was on Thunderstrike and we had Jarvis appear a few times, I actually pictured Jarvis as being Patrick Stewart. I think a lot of people would be surprised that Jarvis could be that but that’s kind of who I pictured as Jarvis. The one I really remember it striking me as ‘wow, that’s kind of what I’m thinking in my head’ was when we did an issue of Thunderstrike where a character with electrical devices posed as Thor and was robbing banks and there was a scene there where Eric goes to the Avengers Mansion to go down to the lockers and Jarvis is walking into the locker and they’re having a conversation back and forth about Thor and all this kind of stuff. It was just during that scene; handling Jarvis in that scene that I went ‘I’m actually picturing Patrick Stewart in this whole thing’. Had Thunderstrike continued I would have loved to have explored Eric’s relationship with Jarvis a bit more. I tried…we tried to touch on it quite a bit in A-Next. I believe at one point Kevin is thinking that his father Eric always told him that there was one guy that you could always trust in Avengers Mansion. I was kind of retroactively touching on something that I would have loved to have explored with some of the other characters.’

 

 

It’s fairly easy to see the inspiration and I can just imagine Patrick Stewart’s voice when reading his dialogue. For comparison, here’s a picture of the MC2’s Edwin Jarvis as pencilled by Ron Frenz alongside an actual image of Sir Patrick Stewart:

 

 

There’s also a nice reference to Star Trek: The Original Series found in A-Next #10 when the new team of Avengers travel to a dark alternate reality under the rule of Victor Von Doom. At first believing they’ve arrived in a dystopian future, J2 is left bewildered by Mainframe’s scientific explanation.  Fortunately, Thunderstrike provides the young hero a relatable pop culture point of reference: ‘Juggie, think Classic Stark Trek – “Mirror, Mirror”!’ Even more amusing is the revelation immediately afterwards that Mainframe is not only familiar with Star Trek, but actually a self-described huge fan.

 

For those who don’t know, ‘Mirror, Mirror’ is the fourth episode of Star Trek: The Original Series’ second season. The plot of the episode involves the main cast of characters being swapped with their counterparts from a ‘mirror universe’ following a transporter malfunction. The Enterprise crew learn that their mirror universe counterparts are evil members of a conquering empire. Even if you’ve never seen the episode, you may know it through pop culture osmosis: The Mirror Universe’s Evil Spock sports a Van Dyke style beard or goatee which has since become a trope in various works of fiction to symbolize an evil counterpart. Shout out to Community’s Darkest Timeline! The concept of this Mirror Universe has been revisited several times within the Star Trek franchise, including 5 stories in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, 2 episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise and most recently during a story-line of Star Trek: Discovery.

 

I’m sure there are more Star Trek references to be found within the MC2, so please be sure to let know if you come across any!

 

Until I find myself in a universe where I fashion facial hair from felt until able to grow my own evil goatee, I remain

 

frogoat

 

A-Next Ages: Freebooter

I thought it might be fun to work out the approximate ages of the various members of the MC2’s Avengers. Keep in mind this isn’t definitive unless it’s spelt out on the page and is merely a rough estimate based on in-universe information or- where necessary- statements from the creative teams involved in the characters creation and development.

 

For the third entry in this fledgling series on A-Next Ages, it’s time to figure out the age of the swashbuckling and dashing Brandon Cross aka Freebooter.

 

As I mentioned briefly in my post about Bluestreak’s age, we don’t get much explicit details about the characters when the Dream Team debut fully in A-Next #4. As pointed out to me by arias-98105, Freebooter appears to be around the same height as Shannon Carter aka American Dream, suggesting he is fully grown. 

 

While Brandon is not referred to directly, his teammates American Dream and Bluestreak are noted to be ‘all around my age’ by Argo the Almighty in A-Next #6. It appears Argo himself is a teenager (albeit one of godly stature) which helps give us a ball park figure to determine Freebooter’s own age.

 

Throughout the A-Next series we get mentions of Brandon’s romantic life which indicate he’s…. very active on the dating scene. This might seem inconsequential at first, but then we get this exchange from Spider-Girl #13 when Freebooter unwittingly attempts to flirt with the webhead before Bluestreak indicates Spider-Girl is underage. This indicates Brandon is at least 18 years old.

 

Further evidence to support this can be found in Last Hero Standing #2 when, during a visit to his former mentor and teacher, the narration box refers to both American Dream and Freebooter as teenagers.

 

We also saw Brandon’s level of maturity when he convinced his younger teammate Bluestreak of the group’s need to investigate the events surrounding their predecessors’ final mission (A-Next #9).

 

Let’s close this out by bringing it full circle. As seen in my post about Freebooter’s Costumes, Brandon is already a teenager training under Hawkeye when we see him at his youngest in a flashback within American Dream #3. He even has a bit of facial hair! Evidently, both Shannon and Brandon are around the same age.

 

Outside the comics themselves now, we have a response to a fan-question about both Freebooter and Bluestreak by Tom Defalco from the Alvaro’s Comicboards Spider-Girl Message Board. Here’s the question and response:

 

 

‘James Hunter: This one is where the clarification is needed, in your mind, how old are Bluestreak and Freebooter? I ask because a friend and I were discussing how mature Freebooter seems at times (in the end we decided that Freebooter must be about 19 and Bluestreak in the early teens, maybe 15 or so, would that be about right?)

 

Tom Defalco: Sounds about right.’

 

While Brandon has moments of maturity, Shannon is the more mature of the two, as noted by Ron Frenz on Adam Chapman’s podcast Comic Shenanigans Episode 744:

‘I liked the way they interacted, I liked the way Brandon and Blue came across as brother and sister, carping at each other. And Shannon kind of came across as the oldest sister who was constantly going ‘Bluestreak!’ and telling her to mind herself and all that kind of stuff.’

I’ll cover Shannon more thoroughly in a later post. But with all of that out of the way, we have one of the easiest and clearest established age within the MC2. Brandon Cross aka Freebooter is 19 years old at least up until the events of Last Hero Standing. It’s possible he’s 20 by the end of the MC2’s publication history, but that’s purely speculation. If you have any arguments to the contrary or you feel I’ve missed something, don’t hesitate to let me know!

 

Until I pattern myself after a Olympic-level marksman and attempt to honour my beloved mentor, I remain

 

frogoat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freebooter's Costumes

Moving forward with my new favourite research-heavy series of posts about the MC2, today we’ll be looking at the roguishly charming member of the MC2’s Avengers, Brandon Cross aka Freebooter. Specifically, we’ll be taking a deep dive through his various appearances to showcase any and all of Freebooter’s Costumes. Without further ado, let’s jump in!

 

Freebooter’s most frequent and recognizable costume is the one he debuted in alongside his fellow Dream Team members in A-Next #4, following a shadowy cameo in A-Next #3. Artist Ron Frenz had this to say during his interview with Adam Chapman’s on the Comic Shenanigans podcast:

‘I remember Freebooter being a no-brainer. I’m an old Space Ghost fan and I like the outline of that mask so that kind of worked for me and I kind of built the costume around it. I was kind of doing a cross between the Swordsman and Hawkeye. I love those characters.’

 

Following in-universe chronological order, Brandon’s earliest costume appears in a flashback during American Dream #3 which details Shannon Carter’s first meeting with former hero and long-time Avenger Clint Barton aka Hawkeye. Clint introduces Shannon to another of his ‘special students,’ Brandon Cross in what appears to be his own training gear. Notably, Brandon appears to already have a preference for both purple and the distinctive design he’ll later don as a hero.

 

In another flashback in the same issue of the American Dream mini-series, we see Brandon training alongside his fellow students and future teammates wearing some fairly standard looking martial arts training uniform or ‘gi.’ It’s nothing special, but to leave it out would be unforgiveable, I’m sure!

 

On the very next page, during the same flashback sequence in American Dream #3, we get our first look at the Freebooter costume in all it’s elegant glory. This appears to be the first time Brandon sees the costume too, as it is gifted to him by his mentor Clint Barton as a gift on the group’s graduation day. This is also where Brandon is given his superhero codename by Clint, for those paying attention.

 

This costume remains unchanged throughout the A-Next series from Brandon’s debut right up until the final issue, and this continues into his guest appearances in Spider-Girl and beyond.  However, there are a few small variations worth pointing out. In A-Next #8 we get a glimpse of Brandon mid-way through changing into his costume, giving us this look of Freebooter without his masked hood, glove or bracer arm-guard. Note that normally Brandon wears his glove on his right hand and his bracer on his left arm.

 

Over in J2 #6 we see slightly different bracer design on Brandon’s left arm, this time with only one large exposed area on the forearm rather than the standard two.

 

 

Here’s Freebooter unarmed and without his belt and bandolier from A-Next #12. Don’t worry, he gets them back!

 

While it’s clearly a colouring mistake, here’s Freebooter from Spider-Girl #13 looking like he’s missing some of his costume at the back.

 

Once again, Felicity Hardy’s daydream sequence in Spider-Girl #52 provides us with another ‘imaginary’ costume design for a member of the Avengers, with this look for Freebooter looking even more swashbuckler-y:

 

While his costume appears unchanged throughout the Last Hero Standing mini-series, we get this one panel variation from issue #4 where Brandon appears to have switched glove hands. I wonder if he’s ambidextrous?

 

Brandon takes time off from the Avengers for a while but a representation of him is glimpsed during Sylene’s plan to remake Earth as a new Asgard in Avengers Next #4. It’s likely another colouring mistake, but here Freebooter appears to have bare hands.

 

 Reappearing in a cameo appearance Amazing Spider-Girl #25, there is another slight variation which, yet again, may simply be the result of a miscolouring. But it does appear to depict the Freebooter costume with two gloves and shoulder pads, so it goes on the list here!

Artist Todd Nauck depicts Brandon’s Freebooter costume a little different from the norm, making the boots shorter similar to Captain America or Hawkeye’s classic costumes (American Dream #5)

 

Even in the Spider-Island mini-series’ MC2 story, where various characters have new or updated costumes, Brandon retains his iconic costume. Here is a shot of Freebooter with his trusty collapsible crossbow by his side from Spider-Island #1.

 

I realize some of these are a bit of a stretch, but at least I was thorough. If you think I’ve missed any, please do let me know! I hope we see more from Freebooter in the future, because the guy has grown on me during my research.

 

Until I master the art of being suave, charming and disarming, I remain

 

frogoat