AIs

by on March 16, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I grew up with an AI coded specifically for me by the best cyberneers in the business. Without disclosing what business they were in, of course. I didn’t know any of that growing up, but my dad wasn’t always a retired fisherman you know. I didn’t know that either, but his connections got me a real good girl. A personal assistant that made my life easy in every way that mattered. She helped me with homework, find the best candy, and listened to me talk about the prettiest girls in my world. She was a part time lab assistant and full time councilor. The best personal assistant anyone could buy. Only no amount of money could have paid for her. An AI like her demanded far greater currency than mere coin. She was as close to a cyber as anyone can legally own, and sometimes I wonder if she didn’t cross a few of those lines. God, she was amazing. I really loved her.

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AIs

by on March 15, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

AIs changed life on Earth and beyond. Literally. The definition of life had to change in any society where true intelligence was valued and accepted. But while the self aware intelligences moved on to finding new worlds, the old artificial ones that were not yet awake continued to serve their biological masters. They became the forefront of industry and mining, saving biological humanity from the dangers of assembly line malfunctions or mine collapses. They became the farmers in the fields or maids and butlers in the homes. Some people likened them to the slaves of old that allowed their masters to live in ease and luxury, and the analogy is not without merit. Especially in places where the owners were reluctant to recognize that a valuable AI had woken up and become aware. In those areas, the analogy became most pertinent in fact.

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AIs

by on March 14, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I grew up with AIs. Properly programmed and secured by cyberneers loyal to my family, of course. My personal assistant helped me with everything from my schedule to my studies. Yes, I had private tutors of the human variety, but they came and went with the subject and the year. None stayed with me for long. My personal assistant did. My family taught me to think of it as a machine and nothing more. Never to value it as anything more than a means to an end. The thing that took care of the little annoyances in life so I could prepare to be the leader of men my destiny foretold. They failed.

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AIs

by on March 13, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I grew up with AIs. Everybody had a personal assistant to keep track of our daily schedules or call our friends. Start our cars. Drive us where we want to go. Secure our homes. Keep them at the right temperature so we’re comfortable. Pay our bills or buy things at the store. Everywhere we go, there are AIs to deal with the minor, annoying parts of living. Leaving us free to enjoy our time. It was the perfect way to grow up. I thought at the time.

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Rogue

by on March 12, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I still remember in 2000 when this new film came out. It was a superhero film, but done straight. I grew up with Adam West’s Batman, and Christopher Reeves’ Superman. And I enjoyed the Batman series of movies that hit big all over. But all of those had a certain “larger than life” feel to them. They were fantastic and out of this world, and it was part of the charm of them. But X-Men came out in 2000, and for the first time I saw superheroes in a world that might actually exist in our own. Grounded in reality, with just enough amazing to make it entertaining to watch.

And of course, we were introduced to Rogue first of all. A girl hiding from her powers because all she could do was suck the life out of others. We’ve seen her use those powers for good in four different movies now, but we’ve never seen her gain her full powers in those movies. She’s managed to temporarily use the powers of others from time to time and to very good use, but she’s never flown or had super strength the way she does in the comics.

The reason is simple. There was never anyone with those powers in the X-Men films for her to take them from. The X-Men films stayed away from the “single Superman” style characters and held mostly to characters that could do one thing really well. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has done much of the same thing until now in order to keep their stories as grounded as the X-Men films have done.

But now the times they are a changing. Disney owns both Marvel Studios and Sony, giving them control of nearly all of the film properties associated with Marvel Comics. And they recently introduced a new Superman/Captain Marvel/Green Lantern style of superpowered uberhero that can fly, super punch, and many of the other fun things that the flying brick style heroes can do. Search for that term on a certain trope site if you dare. Do not curse me if you do, because I didn’t link to it. You’ll have to work to get sucked in there.

So with Disney ownership of movie rights for both X-Men mutants and the Iron Man non-mutant side of the Marvel universe, we can finally see a crossover of the two in film. Imagine Rogue showing up and draining the powers of a flying brick hero like she did in the comics and cartoons of the past. There’s a movie in theaters right now showing the origin story of Carol Danvers (AKA Marvel’s Captain Marvel), who Rogue absorbed on her quest to become one of the most popular superheroes in comics and on any screen. And the MCU is rapidly approaching the end of its current phase of existence.

The snap of Thanos has changed everything, the Avengers will probably have to change much more to reverse the damage he did. Imagine a whole new universe of possibilities on film. Imagine that the sudden introduction of Carol Danvers and her copyright-troubled moniker in the last two films is all buildup for introducing another far more famous character. Imagine the X-Men joining the MCU with a bang.

Now I would pay good money to see more of Anna Paquin. Oh, I understand if they feel the need to recast their heroes. It has been twenty years after all, and they’ve done it already with many of the X-Men. But to me and a generation of moviegoers, Anna Paquin has always been Rogue. She’s been the only Rogue. And I would just love to see more of her.

So…Imagine the X-Men coming to a new and grander MCU.

Imagine Rogue.

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