The Deal: I pitch movies set in the Marvel or DC cinematic universes. Also other things. This pitch is a direct sequel to Heroes for Hire 1.
The Pitch: We start on a briefing largely presented by Daredevil and She-Hulk. She takes point, and has a more aggressive, prosecutorial demeanor. “Some of you have been Avengers, most of you have met them. This isn’t a task for them; theirs is a world of moral certitude, wholly pure good versus nightmarish evil. Our task is more subtle and more difficult, requiring us to exist within a world of gray.”
“I
prefer black and white,” Punisher says, slamming home a
magazine for emphasis; for further emphasis, he isn’t wearing the
red skull uniform from the Thunderbolts, but his black and white
uniform. “A world where the bad guys are dead, and everyone else is
safer.”
“Please
hold comments to the end,” Daredevil says coolly.
She-Hulk
eyes him angrily, seething with a desire to smash, before continuing
calmly, with a glint of humor in her eye. “The Kingpin is, first
and foremost, a real-estate mogul. It is through those channels, and
using those contacts, that Fisk built an underworld empire with ties
to every known ethnic gang in New York City, with tendrils that go up
and down the coast, and reach all the way into Pride territory in Los
Angeles. It’s also where he derives his legitimacy and power; he’s
been on a first-name basis with every Mayor we’ve had since the
Chitauri invasion, and not a one of them has condemned him, not even
when he spent time in a federal prison. He is more dangerous than any
other criminal figure precisely because he has that deniability, that
presumption of innocence, that invincibility. Leave that intact and
he won’t see the inside of another cell, but damage it, and he
becomes vulnerable.”
“Get
me a vantage point and enough gun to cross the distance,” Punisher
begins, “I’ll show him just how vulnerable he is.”
“This
man’s a psychopath. You all know that, right?” Hawkeye asks,
pointing a thumb at Punisher.
“I’m
sorry, are arrows suddenly nonlethal?” Punisher asks.
“Quiet,”
Daredevil yells. “We’re not here to police one another. Today,
we’ve got a higher call to answer. Some of our alliances are going
to be uneasy ones, but if we’re taking the fight to Wilson Fisk-
and I mean really taking it to him- we’re going to have to
accept any help we can get. But… I understand everyone has to
follow their own conscience. Anyone who doesn’t want to work with
Frank, doesn’t have to. But there are ways that he can hurt Fisk’s
empire that the rest of us cannot.”
“That’s
because he’s a domestic terrorist,” Hawkeye says.
“Not
all of us are lucky enough to be spies and have SHIELD and Nick Fury
okay the bombs we set,” Castle says. “And I’ve never killed
anyone I didn’t intend to. You think your aim’s that good? You
think Sokovia would agree?“ Hawkeye tries to throw a punch,
but Spider-Man catches his fist with a web.
“Oh,
come on,” Hawkeye says, as Punisher reels back to sucker-punch him.
But he takes a boxing-glove arrow to the face, and we pan to see Kate
Bishop is the one who fired it.
“I
have always wanted to use the boxing glove arrow,” she says,
overly proud of herself.
Punisher
turns back angrily towards her. He does not draw, but even his
scowl’s enough she kind of flinches. But Daredevil’s there, the
angel on his shoulder. “Punching a man while he’s webbed up? Come
on, Frank; you deserved that one.”
Punisher
glares a second longer, before smiling, licking the blood off his
lip. “Wasn’t very sporting,” he admits. “I’ve never had a
lot of patience for Avengers sanctimony. They’re sloppy. Maybe
when the threats get big enough, they deserve some more leeway… but
you’ll never convince me that putting Stark in that armor instead
of an actual soldier didn’t lead to a higher body count. And I’m
still not sold on Operation: Kingfall. Or joining, however
temporarily, your little band of Heroes for Hire. I’ve had a bad
history with mercenaries.”
There’s
a lot of that sentiment, actually; they came, out of respect, to hear
the pitch, but so far the pitch has been more a presumption that
they’re in. “Think that’s my cue,” Luke says, and stands up.
Luke is the hype man for the Heroes for Hire; always has been. But
this is still going to need one hell of a sell job. “I been a lot
of things, in my day. But the one I kept coming back to was helping
people. I know a lot of you were here through the worst of it.
Kingpin took near everything away from us. So this could feel like
revenge, petty, and mean-spirited, and frankly, beneath all of us.
“I
also know those were lean times. We had to share the pot we pissed
in. And I wouldn’t blame anyone who couldn’t do that all over
again.” His face falls, like this is the ‘everyone who isn’t in
can leave moment,’ “But the trick is we won’t have to.
Kingpin’s stepped on a lot of toes, hurt a lot of good, reputable
people’s businesses. And this is New York, so of course some of
them are billionaire industrialists who don’t take kindly to having
a criminal elbow his way to the head of the table. What I mean to say
in all of this is: we’ve already been hired, ethical, corporate
sponsorship. I’m talking salary, comped meals, new threads.”
Colleen
Wing slaps Danny on the back, assuming Luke means Rand is picking up
the check. He plays coy, but also lets everyone make that assumption.
Most of us will, too, because Luke continues with the pitch. “Did I
forget to mention he insisted we have this thing catered?”
Servers start bringing in a spread on carts in silver serving dishes,
fancy things, and at least for a moment, this wins people over.
We
cut to later. Hawkguy is talking to Spider-Man over pizza; Spider-Man
has his mask rolled up so he can eat. “We’re Avengers,” Hawkeye
complains. “You’re supposed to have my back. I’m telling- wait,
who’s in charge of the Avengers? Is it me?”
“It
can’t be you. It’d be me before it was you.”
“Get
back to me when you hit puberty. You’re just lucky there wasn’t a
Young Avengers, then, or you’d be sitting at the kiddy table.”
“The
kiddy table?” Kate asks.
“And
by that I meant…” Clint turns towards Spider-Man, only to see
that he’s leapt to the other side of the room. “He’s supposed
to have my back…”
“That’s
why you have me.”
“No
one else brought their sidekicks…” he mumbles.
“I’m
your partner– not that way. And I’m the only person but the
guy in the red leather pants- which I’m very jealous of-
whose gone toe-to-toe with Kingpin.”
“We’ve
all, oh you mean when he rag-dolled you around a toy store. Sure.
That’s a great reason to bring you along. Like distracting a pit
bull with its favorite chew toy.”
It’s
a great opportunity to catch up with some old friends, Jessica Jones
checking out Hellcat’s new costume, that kind of thing. I’m not
going to lie, I’m a little behind on the Netflix Marvel shows (I
think Luke Cage and Defenders are the only ones I finished watching
all the way through), but there were a lot of great characters so
there’s plenty of room to have them bounce off of one another.
Daredevil
catches Punisher sneaking out. “I work better alone,” Frank says,
before we know Daredevil is there.
“Maybe.
But you haven’t come any closer than the rest of us to neutralizing
Fisk.”
“Neutralizing.
Cute. Put me in a room with him, and he won’t leave it.”
“We
don’t want him murdered. A dead Kingpin just opens up his influence
and his territories to a successor. But a deposed Kingpin, one who
falls, and hard, as an example to anyone else who would build that
kind of empire…”
“What
would you need me to do?”
“There
are industrial drug processing facilities; most of the heroin on this
seaboard pass through there.”
“None
of it belongs to Fisk or his empire.”
“I
think, whether his hands are technically on any criminal
activity in the city, one of the reasons he has the clout he has is
that he’s guaranteed the safety of every criminal working. Maybe
they aren’t his facilities, but damaging them damages him,
regardless.”
“Why
not just call the cops?”
“I
did. One of them was raided, eight weeks back. Everything was
boxed up, put into evidence. Two weeks later it was back in one of
their facilities, like it never happened. Same serial numbers. Same
bricks of drugs. There isn’t a cop they can’t own or threaten-
none with any kind of life expectancy.” That pisses Frank
off.
“You
make a compelling argument, councilor.”
“You
going to be okay?”
“You
aren’t that kind of
counselor.”
“I’m
not trying to be. But I’ve been alone. Isolated. It’s better to
have people.”
“Not
doing what I do.”
“I
think especially doing what you do. Talk to Nick Fury. Talk to
Hawkeye. Even if you don’t want to come in and work with them,
doesn’t mean grabbing a beer couldn’t help you feel more human.”
“Humans
make mistakes, sometimes lethal ones. I don’t want
to be a man. I don’t want
to feel. I want to be a machine, one that punishes the ones nobody
else can.”
“Fine,
Frank. But at the end of this, I’m buying you a beer. You don’t
even have to drink it, but you’ll sit and listen while I drink
mine.”
“Feels
like a very Catholic punishment,” Frank says with a smile.
“Thought
you’d appreciate that…”
During
the party, Jessica conspicuously takes a call; Danny will be missing
when she does. She’ll be back by the time things are winding down,
the last one remaining is Jessica Jones. She’s had a few, and he
tries to be gentle with her, and offers to get her a rideshare.
“Can’t.
I threw
my last driver into the Hudson. It was a case. He assaulted some
fares, blackmailed them with photos. I might
have taken the case a little personally.”
“He
live?”
“He
limps. But he gave up
the extortion and assault.”
“And
you’re stuck relying on the kindness of strangers.”
“Usually
Trish gives me a ride. Did. Until she started working for the Single
Female Lawyer.”
“It’s
good to see you.”
“Careful.
I wouldn’t want to upset Claire. I still owe her for some
stitches.”
“She…
moved on.”
“Oh…”
He
gives her a ride home. She has him stop, neither of them realizing
until that moment that they’re where Jessica killed his wife. “I
know what you lost here,” she
says. “And I need to tell
you I’m sorry. I’m sorry you lost Reva. I’m sorry you lost me…”
“I
didn’t have to lose
you. What happened? That wasn’t you. Not telling me, though,
letting me care about you without telling me… that was.”
“I’m
sorry.”
“I
know.” The scene is him comforting her, but then asking, “You
need some coffee?”
“I
am one coffee short of an Irish coffee.”
They
find an all-night diner. “You mind if I ask what happened, with the
nurse?” she asks.
“I
happened, mostly. End of the day, she didn’t want to date one of
us; I think she chose me because I felt like a less self-destructive
version of Matt… until I wasn’t.”
“Self-destructive?
I have no idea what that’s
like,” she says wryly.
“Quite
the pair we make.”
“Flawful,
is what Trish calls it, though half the time she pronounces it like
filafel and I get hungry.”
“But
either way, you ‘feel awful?’” he asks with a grin, but then it
fades. “Why didn’t
you tell me?”
“I
tried. I wanted to. I stayed close, because I knew I didn’t have a
right to tell you, just to make me feel better, but I was hoping an
opportunity would present, where it would be for you,
even if it also made me feel better. Only… carrying it made me a
wreck. And then you noticed… and tried to unwreck me.”
“That…
is not how I’d have described that night.”
“Different
kind of wrecking…” they
both share a smile, “but I knew I screwed up. I couldn’t fix it
without hurting you. I couldn’t stop it without hurting you. It was
a slow-motion accident- I could see it all happening, but I couldn’t
do anything but watch.”
“You
know what I hate? You believe that’s true. To this day. You don’t
understand how different things could have been, if you’d just been
straight with me.”
“Maybe,”
she’s noncommittal, and looks away.
“Jess,”
he puts his hand over hers, and she
meets his gaze.
“I’m
still in love with you.”
“That
was not what I
expected.”
“Sorry,”
she tries to take her hand back, but he holds it.
“Wait.
Just because it wasn’t what I expected, doesn’t mean I want you
to go.” He positions his hand so he’s cradling hers, instead. “It
took me a long time to see why it hurt so much, finding out the way I
did. It wasn’t just the betrayal, it was because you were the first
person since Reva- the only
person since Reva… I don’t know. I don’t know if I can
do this. But I have tried to move past you, and I don’t think I
want to. But if- and I mean if–
it’s got to be slow. I’m not taking you home- well, I’m taking
you home, but not- you know what I mean.”
“So
you’re into me but you don’t
want to bang it out? Maybe you aren’t
right for me.”
“I
think between the two of us our issues would be the life’s work of
a gifted shrink- if either of us were the kind to see one. It’s a
lot. It’s going to take a lot of time. Patience.”
“Not
my strong suits, I know.” She’s
stand-offish, before she switches to vulnerable.
“But some things are worth working for.”
In
the background, through the front window of the diner, Felicia swings
by. We cut to her swinging through street level, before she lands on
a roof. A moment later Spider-Man lands on the wall next to her.
“Felicia, fancy swinging into you, here. Wait, that was lame…”
“Spider,”
she says. “Were you stalking me?”
“Stalking?
No. I might have been swinging around outside the party for a couple
of hours hoping I’d see you because… I wanted to talk to you.”
“Should
I consider myself down one more life? Because if you’re here to
lecture me about the terrible things I’ve done, you can save your
breath. You can’t
make me feel worse than I already do, letting an animal like Kingpin
corner me like that.”
“Hey!
Whoa! Felicia… I wanted to talk because… because I talked to Mr.
Murdock.”
“Mr.
Murdock?”
“He…
did some legal work for my family, and
it’s still weird calling him ‘Matt.’
But he
told me… what you went through, and that part of how they
manipulated you into stealing again was playing me against you. And…
I feel terrible for putting you in that position. I wanted what was
best for you, but I see now that I put you in a position where you
could be hurt, instead. That’s why I came tonight. It’s why I
want to help take Kingpin down. Because I know there’s no way I
could say sorry enough to make up for it, but I can at least make
sure the people who hurt you see justice.”
“Oh,
Spider,” she says, and peels up his mask to kiss him.
We
cut back to Luke, waving from his car as Jessica enters her building.
Her office is unlocked, and for a moment we’ll play up the idea of
danger. A figure is seated behind her desk, cloaked in shadow.
“Well?”
She
flicks on the lights, blinding Iron Fist. “These things take time.
Before tonight, he wouldn’t even talk
to me. And I’m surprised you’re not using Trish. Everyone else
seems to be.”
“She’s
got a conflict, since she worked for him. And was busy tonight. But
obviously you were my
first choice.”
“I’m
not screwing him for
you.”
“I
wouldn’t ask. If you screw him, screw him only for you.
But this… this is for
Luke. I love him like a brother, but… you see the worst side of
people. So do I. Luke sees the best. Even when he’s dealing with
the worst.”
“Wow.
You just aren’t capable
of saying the right thing.”
“I
didn’t mean you. I
more meant the Hand. And vampires, apparently. And I don’t want
Luke accidentally selling his soul to the devil.”
“Especially
not if he’s going to drag the rest of us down to hell with him?”
“Luke’s
my priority. The rest of us are certainly a compelling second. And if
you’re not concerned, you can always quit.”
“You’re
right. He was evasive. He doesn’t want
to talk about it. Which means there’s something there. And I can’t
let him screw this up just because I’m screwed up.”
Iron
Fist stands up, and starts moving towards her door. “For what it’s
worth, he always talked about you. Even when he was with Claire.”
“That’s
sweet. And you should know, if you break into my place again, I’ll
give you an enema with your own Iron Fist.”
“I
have never seen what
he sees in you.”
“Sorry
you’re not his type,” she shuts the door on him.
We
cut to a storage facility. Close in on a lock on a storage space,
before She-Hulk’s green hand seizes
it and tears the lock clear.
Hellcat
opens the door, while talking. “I feel like, as my lawyer, you
should probably be telling me not
to do things like this.”
She-Hulk
steps inside the storage space. “I’m not
your lawyer, I’m your employer.
It wouldn’t be ethical for me to also represent you. But I can talk
to Matt about representing you. And we’ve tried
the legal route. There isn’t a judge in the city Kingpin hasn’t
bought or threatened; most wouldn’t even take my calls, let alone
consider a document request.”
“And
what makes you think Kingpin has actual documents
in here, let alone ones confirming criminality?”
“He
doesn’t- at least, not here. This
is the start of the maze, not the end of it.”
“What
makes you think there’s any cheese at the center, though?”
“Why
isn’t this all an elaborate trap? Because he came up through real
estate. Which means somewhere, he has to have records. Maybe not the
kinds that would stand up in a court, but at least the kind that
would stand up to other criminals. This is a start.”
We
do a flyover of an industrial facility as the sun rises over the
horizon, before finding Frank at a high position, overlooking the
area with binoculars. He watches a guard exit a door, and jots down
the time, before opening a thermos and pouring himself a cup of
coffee. Daredevil lands behind him.
“You
make more noise than you think you do,” Frank says, not looking up.
“You’d
be surprised.”
“This
isn’t a two-man job. All
you’re doing is increasing the chances we get seen.”
“No.
I’m here for support.” He’s got a satchel, with some kind of
food that travels, maybe a couple of hot dogs. Frank brought
supplies, and he looks at them. “Sometimes a hot meal makes a
difference.” Frank shrugs, and accepts a hot dog.
Frank
and Daredevil eat together. “Take it you lost the toss,” Frank
says.
“I
brought you in because I can see past our differences. But I also
know not everyone can.
I volunteered to work with you.”
“So
no one else would have to.”
“So
no one who couldn’t see the utility in what you do. And because I’m
the only one who had a chance of convincing you not to just kill
everyone here.”
“Couldn’t.”
Frank hands him the binoculars, before stopping himself, “Right.
The patrols they use at night, are hired hands, from a legit security
company. Innocents. Likely means the cleaning staff are, too. Could
be others. We’ll have to be careful.”
“I’m
not just talking sparing the janitors. I want to save as many lives
as I can.”
“You
can’t save everybody,” Frank says bitterly.
“I
had to learn that the hard way. But we save who we can.”
“I’m
not taking chances. Not with my life. Not with yours. Not with
anyone’s.”
“Fine.
The plan will be yours. But I go in first. I put down everyone
nonlethally that I can.”
“And
if I have to plug someone to save you?”
“You’ll
do what you have to do.”
“But
can you live with
that?”
“Are
you, a lapsed Catholic, asking a fellow lapsed Catholic, if I can
handle the guilt?”
“They
really drill it into you, don’t they. But we find a way to get by.”
“It’s
a sin not to.”
Later,
She-Hulk arrives to her office with two coffees. She puts one on the
desk beside Trish, in her civilian clothes. “You get any
sleep?” She-Hulk asks.
“I’m
a cat. We’re nocturnal.”
“I’m
not going to have to find
a place for a litterbox for you, am I?”
“Only
if you’ve got a really weird fetish, and triple my fee.”
“You’re
joking.”
“Of
course. The tabloids would pay ten times my fee for the pictures
alone. If I were for that kind of sale, I wouldn’t be working for
you for a little scratch.”
“Cute.
What have you found?”
“Raw
intel, so far.” Trish leans over the printer, as it spits out
another page. “I’ve been pulling any document related to the
papers we found. But it’s all gibberish legalese. I could negotiate
you under the table if it were something related to signing for a pop
album… but this is way beyond me.”
“That’s
because it’s shell companies within shells.” Jen starts arranging
papers on her table. “This company exists only as a legal fiction-
essentially a cut-out pass-through for this entity, which is
essentially a holding company for this one…”
“I
honestly can’t tell if you’re Beautiful Minding or just screwing
with me.”
“I…
might have taken a few of the pages home with me and been up all
night researching in parallel…”
“I
knew it!”
“That’s
why you’re the PI.”
“But
Fisk must have an army
of lawyers. It would take forever to decode all of this, and in the
interim they could be spinning up all new fictions to distance
themselves from whatever we find.”
“I
had that thought, so I called in a few favors.” Jeri Hogarth and
Foggy Nelson enter, trailed a few steps behind by Matt Murdock.
We
cut to Alias Investigations. There’s a knock on the door, and
Jessica starts. She slept in her clothes, and stumbles to her door.
It’s Luke, with food. “Figured after a night like that, you were
going to need something to settle your stomach. Breakfast burrito?”
“Depends.
Were you planning on staying to eat with me?”
“I
can go, if that’s a deal breaker.”
“The
opposite. I’ve had enough breakfast burritos come back on me, I
don’t know it’s worth the risk. But for company? I can choke back
my gag reflex.” We can tell from the look on his face he might have
something to say about her gag reflex,” she notices what
she said, too late.
“Don’t. Too early.”
“A
gentleman never comments on a lady’s gag reflex.”
“You’re
as much of a gentleman as I am a lady,” Jessica says, taking a very
unladlylike bite from her burrito. “God, that’s better than sex.”
“Not
the way I remember it,” Luke says around a daintier bite.
“No,
but I’m not sure my stomach could handle that
much excitement. I… have something of a confession. About last
night. It wasn’t a coincidence, that I was the last one there, or
that I had a few too many. I wanted to talk to you… and I was
anxious about it, so…”
“I
put that together. That’s why I’m here. I wanted to talk to you,
too. It’s why I offered you the ride. It’s why we stopped for
coffee.”
“That’s…
part of it. But I was also… I know it isn’t Danny, bankrolling
you going after Kingpin. He tried to keep his cards close to the
vest, but you and I both know Danny Rand would have been basking
in the spotlight last night… if he was the one footing the bill.
And it was written all over his face, too. So if not Danny, who? I
doubt Potts or Stark would pony up, after we stole their Hulkbuster.”
“Borrowed,
technically.”
“And
I know there are a fair few billionaires in the city, and they’re
just as petty and preening as you’d expect. But who hates Fisk
enough to risk pissing him off?”
“Jess,
this is just a social
call.”
“Luke-
it can’t be. We
can’t compartmentalize. We can’t be Luke and Jessica in the
sheets, Power Man and whatever on the streets.”
“Power
Man? I guess I just think of us
as Luke Cage and Jessica Jones wherever we’re at.”
“You
know what I mean.”
“I
do. And I get it. Believe me, I looked this gift horse in the mouth.
I looked everywhere else I could think to, too. Guy has no
criminal record, no known associations with any
crime, organized, petty, or otherwise. If I didn’t believe this was
both the right thing to do and
safe, I wouldn’t have asked any of you to join me. I care about you
too much.”
“Danny
will be touched- as touched as he’s capable of being, anyway.”
“He
can be a prick, but he’s capable of more than you might guess. And
I wasn’t talking about Danny. I care about you
too much.”
“I
think I feel my burrito coming up.”
“I
hear you. It’s too early, in the morning and in whatever
this is-” she lunges for her
trashcan and dry heaves. “Oh, you meant literally.”
“False
alarm,” she says. “Wait.” She dry heaves again. “Nope. I
think we’re safe.” Luke is staring at her. “What? I get egg in
my hair?” We can see that he’s staring at her with adoration.
“You
look perfect, Jessica.”
“And
you’re-” she dry heaves again.
“Maybe
the burritos were a mistake.”
“No,”
she says, looking up, “they were worth it. Oh
god-” she
lunges one last time, and we cut away before we find out if it was
dry or not.
We’re
back in She-Hulk’s offices. We pan across a table that has been
colonized by take-out containers from several different restaurants,
to signify they’ve been here through three meals worth of day. To
justify dragging her in, Hogarth gets to give the summation of what
they’ve found. The gist is that Fisk’s paper enterprise, while
spanning continents and wrapped in incorporations from dozens of
countries, at some point they all refer back to contracts or other
companies that mention one location. It seems to be a clearing house,
where all of their full contracts are stored.
Quick
cuts, of the employees closing up a bank. We watch the last of them
leave, and pan up to see Spider-Man and Black Cat swing to the top of
the building. She lands a moment before him, opens an electrical
panel and places clips bypassing electrical circuits. “So…”
Spider-Man lets the word out
slowly, “I know I said this
seemed like it was more in your wheelhouse, so I’d follow your
lead? Well, I’m regretting that decision, and, if I’m being
completely honest, freaking out a little bit.”
Cut
inside a vent, as Black Cat leads him through. “Trust me, Spider.
I’ve been breaking and entering since you were just an egg in a
sack.”
“Wait.
Are you older than me? And why does that make my tights tighter, or
is it just the confined space?”
“Are
you sure that’s not the view?” We don’t have to show
that with the two of them wriggling through vents he’s got a nice
view of her butt, but we should at least show the reverse, before he
tries to maintain professionalism.
“And
how long have you been
doing this?”
“Dad
took me on my first bank robbery when I was three, unless you count
the ones he carried me in a harness.” She stops, and uses an EM
measuring device to test if the alarms are still operational. Quick
insert shot of the bypassed electrical panel on the roof.
They
drop directly into the safe deposit box room. Felicia has a list of
deposit boxes she will quickly and expertly open as they talk. “Do
most banks just have a direct route through the vents to their safe
deposit boxes? Because knowing that might have made me consider a
different career trajectory.”
“Most
don’t. This one had a clerk get stuck behind the time lock one
night; she suffered some mild brain damage by the time they found her
in the morning, and the insurance company said they’d either need
to remove the time lock or connect to the vents to ensure no one
could suffocate inside. Most of this job is research and knowledge;
only 10% of it is catsuits and air vents.”
“That
is the best part.”
“Onlybecause the renovations are
recent. Vents get super dusty. The fur on my forearms, that’s as
much for cleaning as I go as for style.”
“Yeah,
definitely. I wash this suit so
often. You end up with the weirdest stains from crawling on walls.”
The
boxes are filled with MCU McGuffins, maybe a Gem of Cyttorak, or
things of that ilk- things that link to heroes, to villains. And if
some end up being fakes, who cares? Black Cat places the last of them
down in front of Spider-Man.
“That’s
everything?”
“Yep.”
“Are
you just that good, or is everything
a lot less secure than I’d like to think it is.”
“Never
give a girl a choice like that if you want a straight answer,
Spider.”
“I
don’t think I’m going to sleep tonight.”
“If
you want, I’ll let you, but I have a feeling either way, you’ll
be spending the night with me.”
We
cut to a large, fortified facility. There are armed guards
everywhere. “And we’re sure about this?” Hellcat, back in
costume, asks. “I’m not strictly against being shot at, but those
mercs look like they know what they’re doing, and I’d hate to get
to the end only to hear that our princess is in another castle.”
“That’s
why I’m here,” Jen says. “I’m going to give you a Hulk-sized
distraction.”
“And
by that you mean…”
“You
could pirouette through the front gate in your birthday suit and no
one would even glance in your direction.”
“I
think you underestimate the power of my birthday suit.”
“I…
think if I respond to that I might create a hostile work environment.
Trish may have been my first girl-crush.”
“That…
was probably the sweetest come-on I’ve heard in a long while.”
“I
just, I mean teen me would squee at getting to meet you.”
“And
now-you?”
“Trying
to keep professional distance. But open to coffee, maybe, once I’m
no longer technically your employer. But for now- get in position.
Your distraction’s coming right up.” She-Hulk jumps down to
street level. Hellcat swings down, in the opposite direction.
The
compound has a wall around it, large enough that guards with
automatic rifles are posted on top of it. She-Hulk runs through one
of the pillars, sending chunks of stone flying. The guards scramble
in the direction of the collapse, only for another of the pillars to
give as she runs through it.
We
watch as Hellcat swings into the courtyard, and slips inside. She
checks the specs she downloaded for the building, on which she’s
highlighted to most likely room. She slips inside a room to avoid a
guard. When one enters behind her from the opposite direction, she
knocks him out, and drags him inside, pocketing his keycard.
Hellcat
slinks down the hall, then down some stairs. She finds a locked door
where she expected the records to be. Because I’d kind of like to
give Hellcat a moment in the sun, I’d make it a guard room,
instead; so she has to have a quick, John Wickian fightscene in the
confines of the monitor/guard supply room, using her tools and what’s
around to fight off a half-dozen guards, using the confined space to
her advantage. On the opposite end of the room there’s another
door, this one leading into the storage she was looking for.
The
room is larger than she expected, with wall to wall cabinets. Hellcat
calls Jen over an earpiece. “Found it. But there’s a lot more in
here than I planned for. How long can your distraction keep them
occupied?”
Cut
to She-Hulk, who is essentially juggling mercenaries in the air. “The
tough part is mostly keeping them from hurting themselves or each
other.” Another arrives, and fires off a shot. She kicks her shoe
off with enough force that it knocks him back into a wall, struggling
to breath.
Back
with Hellcat. She finds two extra heavy duty cabinets- high tech,
almost alien looking. “I think I’ve found the important stuff.
You think you can carry out two cabinets?’
“Drop
me a pin.” She-Hulk smashes her way inside. Hellcat shows her the
fancy cabinets, and she tucks one under each arm. “See you back at
the office,” she says, and then jumps away.
There’s
a knock on the door at Nelson and Murdock. It’s night. The DA walks
in. “This better be good, Karen. I only came because of your help
in the Fisk case. Don’t make me regret it.”
“You
won’t,” Karen says, leading them into the conference room.
Foggy
is there, with documents spread out over the conference table. “As
you may not be aware, my firm is suing Fisk Industries for predatory
lending practices, monopolistic practices, and fraud, amongst other
things, related to his development projects in Hell’s Kitchen. As
part of routine discovery, his lawyers delivered 13 boxes of
documents, 13, on a manifest with only 12. We only realized the error
after our staff had spent hours perusing the documents, including how
they linked to our case I suspect the manifest implies they intended
to omit documents that should have been handed over, and either
someone in their offices made a mistake or had a fit of conscience.
Now, it is my legal
opinion, as an officer of the court, that it is my duty to turn these
documents over to your office where they seem to be part of a
criminal conspiracy, and I’m going to stress that as soon as this
information is understood to be in our possession, steps will likely
be taken to remove incriminating evidence or goods. Act now, or I
might as well be giving you really itchy toilet paper- but if
you act now, I’m likely talking to the next Mayor of New York.”
Finally,
we cut to Kingpin, sleeping peacefully. He’s woken by a phone call.
He’s largely unconcerned, because as he explains it, “Even if
they managed to take sensitive documents, they’ll have no
provenance, no chain of custody. They won’t be able to prove they
haven’t printed them up themselves, no legal way to tie them to our
operations. Of course. Deal with it in your way.”
Kingpin
hangs up, then goes to a wall safe, and opens it, to check for
something. It can be a McGuffin, or something related to Vanessa.
It’s there, and safe.
Suddenly,
we’re watching him through his security cameras. Before he shuts
the safe, the camera goes to static. As he passes through them and
off camera, they go off, one by one, until he lays in his bed. The
footage of him opening his safe plays again, and we see a zoom as he
inputs in his
passcode 71967;
it’s Black Cat, hacked into his security feed, watching his cameras
on the smart lenses embedded in her domino mask.
“You’ve
got the papers?” she asks, turning to Spider-Man.
“Picked
them up from Murdock myself. Is… this okay?”
“Cold
feet? Maybe booties aren’t
the right footwear for a New York night.”
“I
know he hurt you. Hurt a lot of people. But we’re framing
him.”
“No.
We’re just putting evidence of his crimes somewhere it will
actually connect back to him. But if you don’t want
to, I can finish the job myself.”
He
exhales. “No. You’re right. He’s only out and hurting people
based on technicalities, gaming the system. Just like he gamed me to
hurt you. That’s more than enough reason to do this.”
They
sneak inside. Felicia opens the safe, and they place documents and
stolen items inside,
enough that it would barely fit, if one of the papers weren’t
blocking the lock- the kind of mistake you could understand someone
making late at night.
They
sneak out again. On the roof, Felicia bypasses one alarm, which she’s
marked, “Security Company.” On another, she’s marked, “Police,”
and trips that alarm.
Cut
to cops arriving at Kingpin’s. He answers the door in silly
underwear. “Everything’s fine, officers, fine. I have no need of
assistance.” He sees that his safe is mysteriously open, and then
that it’s filled with things he didn’t put there.
“Listen,
sir, I’m going to need you to let me inside? We have reports of a
break-in. I’m going to need to see ID, and make sure you aren’t
the perp trying to bluff me.”
Kingpin’s
face falls. He knows he’s lost. “It’s all right, officer. I can
vouch for Mr. Fisk’s Identity.” It’s
the DA. Kingpin shakes their
hand, and identifies them by name, even thanking them for showing.
“I’m sorry, Wilson, but you don’t understand the situation. I’m
not the cavalry riding in- at least not for your side. I’m here
with a warrant, to search the premises.” They hand him a folded
piece of paper.
“This
is absurb,” Kingpin howls. “I thought these pointless raids ended
for good after I made sizeable contributions to the fraternity of
police and your election campaign.”
“Wilson.
Call your lawyer. He’ll tell you what I’m about to. Shut up. This
is happening. All you can do is make things worse by talking.”
Relatively
quick cuts. Cops finding the open safe. Cops locating stolen goods,
taking pictures, collecting it in evidence bags. Kingpin perp-walked
out the front door.
Cut
to daytime, his lawyer speaking to reporters. “My client has been
framed. It is obvious that jealous elements within the state are
seeking a reason to embarrass and harass
my client. But he is a strong, proud New Yorker. We don’t cower
from a fight- we fight!”
We’re
back in She-Hulk’s offices, but this time the entire crew is
assembled. “He’d likely win, too,” Daredevil says. “The
evidence they have, right now, is circumstantial. Possession might be
9/10 of the law, but it’s not 9/10s of a stolen goods conviction.
And right now he has the full faith of the power structures of New
York, businesspeople, politicians. We’re going to make all
of them feel vulnerable- and make sure they all blame Fisk.
“Frank
and I have scouted out the drug operation. We’re hitting it
tonight. By morning, every criminal for a hundred miles is going to
worry about everything they’ve ever stashed.”
She-Hulk
takes over. “The rest of you will be hitting this
facility. It was originally run by S.H.I.E.L.D.- they were going to
start building helicarriers here in New York, until
Hydra hijacked the first three in Washington. When
the project
disbanded, Fisk bought the property. Thanks to Ms. Hogarth, Mr.
Nelson and Ms. Paige, we’ve connected the dots that it’s where
Fisk has been storing stolen and contraband goods. Every time a
blaster gets dropped in a fight, every piece of tech the Chitauri
left behind, scrap from all those Ultron drones, Stark tech stolen
during the Armor Wars, you name it, he’s been stockpiling it- even
bought up the Vulture’s operation when Toomes
went to prison. They’ve been supplying every hood on the seaboard
with exotic weapons. It is a heavily fortified base. We have to fight
our way in, and open the bay doors; they installed the doors, but not
the pumps that keep the base dry- so it will flood in a matter of
minutes. Should be enough time for Kingpin’s people to evacuate,
but nowhere near enough time to move all the contraband or stolen
tech. Questions?” Spider-Man raises his hand, and waits to be
called on, which she does, obviously annoyed.
“Is
it too late to change our minds and go with the Punisher, instead?”
“Yes,”
Luke snaps. “But none of you have to come, if you don’t want to.
This is an all-volunteer army. I won’t hold it against anyone who
doesn’t think it’s worth the risk. Anyone who doesn’t want to,
can leave, right now.” It’s uncomfortable, because he’s kind of
peer-pressuring them.
“Anyone
who doesn’t want to come tonight, just don’t show,” Iron Fist
says. “No pressure. We all fight for our own reasons. And we choose
when not to for our own reasons, too. Luke, can I talk to you after
this?”
The
rest, save for Jessica, file out, later.
“I
want you to be straight with me. I’ve let you go this far implying
I was funding your little operation. But I’m not about to watch you
emotionally blackmail kids into
doing your dirty work.”
“Kids?
Spider-Man’s like thirty. He’s just got a thyroid problem or
something.”
“Cut
the jokes. Who’s your benefactor?” Luke remains tight-lipped.
“You get anything?” he asks, looking to Jessica.
Luke’s
eyes open wide. “Same Jessica. Lying. Manipulating.”
“Don’t.
My job is finding out what other people are hiding. I may not have
volunteered, but you never asked if
Danny wanted me to probe. You’re the one hiding things.
Deliberately. Even now.”
“Condition
of our contract. Our benefactor demanded anonymity until the end of
the job.”
“Then
how do you know it’s not just a rival crimelord?”
“Because
I’ve been the rival
crimelord. And because I did my homework- or, I hired Trish to do it
for me.”
“Et
tu…”
“She
hasn’t killed a wife of mine, yet, Jess.”
“That’s…
messed up.”
“It
is. This is messed up.
I’m in love with you… but I can’t trust you.”
“Yeah.
Lot of that going around.”
Luke
hits a button on the intercom. “Trish?”
Hellcat
enters. “I was thorough. Patient. Luke’s been putting this
together for months, so I had time to do it right. He’s clean.
Maybe a little eccentric. But show me a billionaire who isn’t, and
within a day I’ll tell you what kind of kinks he’s hiding in his
closet- and the more zeroes the stranger it’s going to be.”
“So
how strange is he?” Jessica asks.
“Stranger
than Xavier or Spector, but not as strange as Stark.”
“But
he’s clean?”
“No
underworld ties. Not so much as a parking ticket- he’s got a
driver, but still. He squeaks.”
“And
let’s not forget,” Luke interjects, “even if he didn’t, this
is the Kingpin. He’s wounded. But we’re taking our shot. We can’t
miss. Or he’ll be more dangerous and less vulnerable than ever
before.”
|
|
|
Spider-Man/Black Cat
|
Break into Kingpin’s condo, leaving stolen valuables from his
deposit box
|
|
|
|
|
|
Luke, Jessica, Hawkeyes, Iron Fist, Colleen Wing, Misty Knight
|
Break into Kingpin’s armory. It includes piles of Chitauri gear,
and tech from every villain and supervillain (and a few heroes),
including some surplus Iron Man/Ultron tech. Basically, when
Vulture’s operation was busted up by Spider-Man, it was bought
up and better funded by Kingpin.
|
|
Daredevil/Punisher
|
Fight their way through a facility. But first they destroy their
vehicles, so they can’t move any equipment or drugs. Daredevil’s
job is to flush them out, Frank’s is to prevent anyone from
taking anything of value, and for that he uses bean-bag rounds.
“This
is Frank Castle. This facility is rigged to blow. You have just
enough time to get to safe distance if you run. Now. Try to take
anything, and I’ll put you down. Try to stay and fight, and my
pointy-headed friend will make you regret it. I want
you to live through this, because I want you to get the word out-
Kingpin can’t protect you- he can’t even protect himself.”
|
|
|
I
imagine we’ll do a bit of an Ocean’s 11 Riff, as a framing device
we have them discuss the plan, occasionally intercutting that, but
then go into it actually happening.
We
start at the front door. Luke and Iron Fist argue with Colleen and
Misty because no one thought about how they’d actually break in-
they should have brought Black Cat, or at least a She-Hulk to smash
it down. Suddenly, a USB arrow, like the one from the Avengers, fires
into the door, and it opens. “Why do you even have that?” Kate
asks him.
“I
don’t know. Ask Nick Fury.”
“You
know you could have walked it over here, right?” Iron Fist asks.
It’s probably too
much to have him do the hand on the elbow raised fist gesture (and
might be duplicating the joke from earlier by Jessica, too)… but
I’d at least consider it.
They
enter, and from here on in it’s a lot of fighting. It’s
also an opportunity to play
around with any tech we want to from previous films that might be
fun, so the Shocker gauntlets, or what have you. It’s also an
opportunity, if Sony wants, to have some proto villain gear show up.
For the sake of synergy with the Spider-Verse movie, I’d probably
have Tombstone running security. He’s probably tough enough to take
on most of the heroes we brought along on his lonesome, especially
with random baddies plinking away. If they’re along for the ride,
during the fight, Spider-Man and Black Cat infiltrate and open the
bay doors, turning it from a fight to a fight in an underground
facility that’s flooding!
Meanwhile,
likely intercut, Daredevil and Punisher are back at the drug
facility. It starts with a bang, as Punisher blows up all of the
vehicles in the parking lot, including a bunch of panel vans used for
transport.
Frank
comes over the loudspeakers in the joint with a message: “This is
Frank Castle. Some of you call me the Punisher. This facility is
rigged to blow. You have just enough time to get to safe distance if
you run. Now. Try to take anything, and I’ll put you down. Try to
stay and fight, and my pointy-headed friend will make you regret it.”
We show Daredevil dropping down on one end of the place. “I want
you to live through this, because I want you to get the word out-
Kingpin can’t protect you- he can’t even protect himself.”
Daredevil
gets essentially a supersized version of his hallway fight as he
takes on the stragglers, some armed. And Frank, true to his word, is
posted at the exit. He shotguns the first mook to try to run with a
brick of drugs. He shotguns another, who was raising a gun, as
several more scurry past. He turns, shotgunning one of them, who
draws a gun and was going to try to shoot him in the back. This one,
however, we pause on, as one of the others helps him to his feet.
Frank’s using bean-bag rounds. If we need
to sell this harder to make it fit within his character, we can make
it a primarily trafficked workforce- people who didn’t want
to work for Kingpin, so Frank doesn’t mind letting them live.
Eventually,
Daredevil bursts out as the last few flee, limping. “That
everybody?” Frank asks. Daredevil listens, and confirms theirs are
the only heartbeats left in the facility. Then he asks about the safe
distance. “Safe distance is right about here,”
he points at their feet, before hitting a detonator. The explosion is
relatively tame and contained; the point was destroying the facility,
its equipment, and the drugs.
We
have kind of an afterparty, similar to the party at the beginning.
Clint Barton sidles up to Frank. “I heard you managed to go a whole
day without killing anybody.”
“Day’s
not over yet, Avenger,” Frank growls, but is mostly messing with
him.
“Boys,”
Kate says, putting an arm around either of them, before immediately
backing off, “nope, immediately regretted both ‘boys’ and the
contact.”
“So
what’s it like, having a sidekick?” Frank chides.
“You
want her, you can have her,” Clint says. Kate is offended in a
cartoonishly over the top fashion, but our attention is drawn by Cage
clanging on a glass.
Luke
seems like he’s about to give another speech, but instead he tells
them their benefactor wanted to introduce himself. Now, this
particular reveal relies on having access to Sony properties. You
could use Victor Von Doom as a backup, or maybe build out someone
else; if we need to be creative we could always use Ezekiel Stane. If
Sony is willing to play some but not all ball, you could use Silver
Sable, too.
But
my preference would be that Luke introduces them to their mysterious
benefactor, none other than this universe’s Norman Osborne. I’d
have him played by Willem Defoe, because that would twist the knife
further for Spider-Man- since the last time he saw Norman he was
trying to stab him with his own glider for murdering Aunt May.
Peter’s unnerved, maybe even freaks out a little, say, webbing
Norman’s hand to his chair. “Wait. You don’t understand, he’s-”
“Evil?”
Norman asks with a smile. “They say no one can amass billions of
dollars without being evil. But I give to the poor. I provide my
innovations to poorer countries at cost. I daresay my record as a
philanthropist is more sterling than Tony Stark’s.” Peter is
incensed, but Norman reacts in a human way, “I’m sorry. I know
some of you knew him, and while at times I viewed Tony as a business
rival, I also appreciate everything he did, for all of us. After all,
he brought my son back to me.” We introduce our new Harry Osborne,
who, yes, was blipped.
“Harry?”
Peter asks quietly.
“I
paid you, handsomely, to deal with Kingpin. He was a blemish, a
distortion, injuring commerce and enterprise in the greatest city in
the world- all due respect to the Golden City. And I don’t know if
Luke told you- I asked him not to, because I wanted to, but as a
bonus for eliminating Fisk, I’m granting each of you a full-ride
scholarship to the school of your choosing, good for any of you to
use, to grant to your children, sidekicks, a loved one, or to give to
someone in need. Whatever rise in the cost of school, for my
lifetime, I will cover all expenses for a four year degree. And if
any of you are scientifically minded, I’ll pay for a doctorate-
provided you consider
interning at Oscorpe after you graduate. I’ve taken the liberty,
too, of making sure that any taxable benefits will be compensated
for, as well, so you won’t need to worry about paying that
out of pocket. You’ve done something extraordinary, for New York,
for the country, and for capitalism- and it’s because
I’m a capitalist that I believe so strongly in compensating a job
well done.”
Later,
Spider-Man and Black Cat sit on the top of the Oscorpe Tower. “You
remember how we met?” he asks.
“I
remember you were… depressed.”
“My
aunt died, the woman who raised me. Norman Osborne killed her. But
not that Norman
Osborne. This one was evil, unhinged after being exposed to a
chemical agent in a different universe. Maybe this one is like Mr.
Stark. Maybe he’s just trying to do the right thing.”
“But
you don’t think so?”
“I
tried to help him- to cure
him. That’s why he was close enough- he got close enough to hurt
May because of me.”
“You
can’t save everyone.”
“No.
But May taught me you got to try.”
“She
sounds like she was a great lady. I’m sad I’ll never get to meet
her.”
She’s
trying to comfort him, but it lands wrong. “Would you have? You
don’t even want to know my real name. You don’t even want to see
me with the mask off. Is any
of this real to you?” His heart’s breaking; he isn’t attacking
her, but feeling, in this moment, that he gave up everything to be
Spider-Man, and he’s only this second realizing that a relationship
with a woman who only wants to be with Spider-Man isn’t enough.
She
pulls off his mask, and helps him peel away her domino mask. “I’ve
known who you were since the first night we met, Peter. I haven’t
been hiding you
behind a mask, afraid you wouldn’t measure up- I’ve been hiding
me,
afraid that I wouldn’t, that if I dropped the sex kitten act… you
could never be satisfied with just Felicia Hardy. Because I love you,
and this is so real it terrifies
me.”
“Felicia,”
he cradles her cheek in his hand, “I love you, too.” They kiss.
Roll
credits. Mid-credits scene: Matt Murdock is waiting in a bar. Frank
Castle rolls up, and sits down. “Might as well call them over. I
clocked them from the door.” They’re joined by Hawkeye and Nick
Fury, who sit down with him. Hawkeye sets a beer down in front of
Frank.
Daredevil
says, “I
didn’t become a preacher for a lot of reasons, but most important
is I was never comfortable preaching, but I’ll say this: what we
do, and especially what you do, Frank, it’s hard. It takes a toll.
And if you let it, it will eat you. And I worry, not for your soul,
but for what happens to Frank Castle when he’s hollowed out, when
he stops caring, when he stops being careful. We might not agree on a
lot, but I think we both never want you to kill someone you didn’t
mean to.”
Frank
glares bullets, before picking up his beer. “I can drink to that.”
“Settle
a bet,” Hawkeye says, talking to Fury. “Natasha swore up and down
you had a Doomsday plan, for a rogue state like Latveria, or if
Ultron had tried to take and hold Sokovia. Basically, the idea was
you rev up Hulk and this guy,” he points at Frank, “and drop them
at opposite ends of the territory.”
“Never
happened,” Fury says confidently, but somewhat quieter, somewhat
mischievous, adds, “so far as you know,” before taking a swig. We
go back to credits.
Another
mid-credits scene. Luke arrives home, to find Jessica sitting in the
dark, waiting for him.
“Jess-”
“I
owe you an apology. A lifetime of them, probably.”
“I’m
not looking for apologies. I’m looking for a way to trust you. I
want to. I know I shouldn’t but…”
“No,”
she says, standing up. “You shouldn’t.” She kisses his cheek.
“But I hope I can change that.” She walks out, and we resume
credits.
We
start in close, Norman Osborne’s reflection as he looks out over
the city at night. We hear a sinister voice, one that should at least
hark back to his Goblin voice. “You think they bought it?”
“Why
wouldn’t they? I’m not some thug. I’m a respected industrialist
and inventor. If anything I remind them of Stark.”
“You
think any of them suspect
it?”
“I
think the blind lawyer must.
They say he can tell a liar by his heart rate. Then again, he
wouldn’t be the first polygraph I beat.”
We
pull back, enough to see in the reflection a shadowy, cloaked figure
who could be the Green
Goblin. “Then the appropriate question is are you ready to take
over New York’s underworld?”
Osborne
turns. “I’m not, Parker. You are. Which is why this is the last
time you and I will be in the same room together.”
We
finally turn to see our next villain. “Parker Robbins is gone. Call
me the Hood.”
