Suicidal Overconfidence
is a crossover fanfic between Central Park and the Marvel Universe by L3t_U5_D0_That_Aga1n. It sees Bitsy Brandenham set up a meeting with The Kingpin after her deal to get rid of Central Park goes south. Little does she know that she's in way over her head...
The story was published on July 4th, 2021 as a one-shot.
Not to be confused with the video game trope Suicidal Overconfidence.
This page contains spoilers. You Have Been Warned!
This fanfic contains examples of:
- Alone with the Psycho: Bitsy insists on meeting with the Kingpin alone while she has Helen wait outside with Shampagne. After proceeding to insult the supervillain repeatedly, Bitsy ends up killed in a Curb-Stomp Battle off-screen.
- Ambiguous Situation: After she's informed that Bitsy is dead and that she is now the sole inheritor of her will, Helen is left wondering if Bitsy actually named her as such or if the Kingpin changed the will to say that so she wouldn't report him to the authorities. She decides that she'd rather not know.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: Bitsy rants to Fisk about how the heck he managed to make all of the people who were backing her on her scheme to raze Central Park back off all of a sudden. Fisk's answer only barely conceals the fact that he threatened them all in various ways - such as potentially assassinating Dimitry's (yet unborn) grandchild.
- Atrocious Alias: Bitsy is under the mistaken impression that "the Kingpin" refers to bowling, and that "the Kingpin of Crime" is a ridiculous and undeserved alias. She finds out the hard way that it's not.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Bitsy will get to have the closed-casket funeral just like she wanted, albeit after Fisk has already beaten her to a bloody pulp.
- Berserk Button: By insulting his dead family, Bitsy pressed Fisk's. Hard.
- Bittersweet Ending: Helen finally gets the inheritance she so longed for, but she's too traumatized by the circumstances of Bitsy's death to be able to enjoy any of it in the foreseeable future.
- Bullying a Dragon: Bitsy tries to get under the Kingpin's skin by insulting him, his weight, and his family. She ends up getting beaten to death for her troubles.
- The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much: Bitsy insults Fisk's dead wife and son, who are officially classified as "disappeared in the New York sewers" and "disappeared in Switzerland" respectively, by mocking the fact that they vanished in ignoble places (or that they disappeared at all; as she puts it, "How stupid do you have to be to get lost in Switzerland?"). Fisk decides she is better off having herself an accident with his bare hands, but not before asking what kind of funeral she wants.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Though it's depicted off-screen, the Kingpin wastes no time beating Bitsy into a bloody pulp with little to no effort.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Downplayed.
Word of God is that the Kingpin didn't pummel Bitsy repeatedly just because of the sadism, but because Bitsy was a tough enough woman (even at her age) to require that much force. - Deadly Euphemism: After beating Bitsy to death off-screen, Wilson Fisk comes out of his office while wiping blood off his hands and informs Helen that her boss "has had herself an accident."
- Everyone Has Standards:
- As much as she wants Bitsy's money, Helen makes an effort to steer her away from Fisk, knowing fully well what will happen if they make contact.
- Fisk regards Central Park as too important to the city to simply bulldoze, no matter how much money there would be in such a deal.
- Eviler than Thou: Bitsy is a mean old lady but against the Kingpin the fact there is no contest is written on neon signs the size of the Burj Khalifa. That only Helen saw.
- Exact Words: Played for Horror. After what Fisk did to her, Bitsy will definitely have to get the closed-casket funeral she envisioned, since otherwise all of the funeral-goers will be scarred for life.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: When Helen asks who convinced Dimitry to drop out of the Central Park deal, Bitsy replies, "I don’t know—something ‘Fist’." This leaves Helen confused because as far as she's aware, the only Fist in New York is Iron Fist. She figures that Bitsy must have misheard the name, which then gets her to wonder what could sound like "Fist"... and that's when she realizes that Dimitry was referring to Wilson Fisk, aka The Kingpin.
- Extremely Short Timespan: The fanfic seems to take place within the course of less than a day, starting with Bitsy getting a phone call from Dimitry regarding him pulling out of the Central Park deal and ending with the Kingpin brutally killing her in his office.
- Gilligan Cut: When Helen starts grating on Bitsy, the hag sends her out with Shampagne while she sets up a meeting with Fisk. Helen relaxes, telling herself there is no way Fisk will deign himself to talk to Bitsy. Cut to the next scene, where Helen, Bitsy and Shampagne are being escorted to the Kingpin's office by two massive bodyguards.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Due to the fic's "G" rating, the readers never get to see the Kingpin beating Bitsy to death after she makes the phenomenally boneheaded decision of telling him that she wishes to have a closed casket funeral. Instead, they're treated to Helen hearing several thuds coming from the Kingpin's office and then the Kingpin coming out while wiping blood off his hands with a handkerchief that she really hopes was that red to begin with.
- Grin of Rage: Fisk's meeting with Bitsy starts like this. She is so utterly self-absorbed that she fails to see the meaning of the smile as she keeps taunting and mocking his family... until it slowly shifts to a Slasher Smile as he is about to bare down on her.
- Idiot Ball: Bitsy decides to set up a meeting with the Kingpin, hoping to intimidate him while they're alone... all while unaware of how dangerous he is until it's too late. Bonus points for thinking that insulting his dead family serves as a "gotcha!" moment. Lampshaded when Helen wonders if Bitsy has always been that stupid.
- Ignored Expert: Helen tries twice to convince Bitsy not to go through with meeting Fisk, only for Bitsy to disregard her warnings since she's merely "the Help".
- Implied Death Threat: Although by the time he asks the question Bitsy is already doomed, Fisk asks her whether she would rather have an open or closed casket funeral. Completely ignoring the implications of the question, Bitsy ultimately decides to go with closed casket. Fisk gives her a Slasher Smile and obliges her.
- It's All About Me: Bitsy all the way to the bitter end, beginning with the annoyance of having to talk to someone who refers to himself as the Kingpin of Crime (a nickname Bitsy doesn't understand is well deserved) to going on a diatribe about how she wishes to have a closed casket funeral so nobody will ruin her day (although she wondered about it being open so people would bask in the glory of seeing her one last time) without thinking why someone would ask such a thing suddenly.
- Kick the Dog: Bitsy insults Fisk's dead wife and son after being told that Dimitry dropped out of the Central Park deal because his daughter is pregnant. Fisk, understandably, doesn’t take kindly to this; and he decides Bitsy deserves to die bloody right then and there.
- Last-Second Chance: Helen asks Fisk's bodyguards if they can still leave if Bitsy promises to drop the matter. The goon shrugs and gives her a "fifty-fifty" gesture.
- Minimalist Cast: Bitsy, Helen, Shampagne, and the Kingpin are the only prominent characters present in the fanfic. Some characters like Cole, Ambrose, and Dimitry are mentioned but never appear.
- Only Friend: Helen tells Bitsy, as the closest thing she has to a friend, that going against Fisk is suicide. Bitsy blows her off on both accounts.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Helen ends up finally getting Bitsy's money after years of putting up with her crap. However, she gets it after the Kingpin beats Bitsy to death, which subsequently leaves her too traumatized to revel in her newfound wealth.
- Rich Bitch: Bitsy refers to Helen and the Kingpin's bodyguards as "the Help" and ignores Helen's pleas to not antagonize Fisk because she is merely "the Help". She also scoffs at Fisk for being ”new money" next to the Branderhams.
- Shotgun Wedding: Implied. It turns out that Dimitry's daughter Anya is pregnant, and this is why the Kingpin had him pull out of the Central Park deal. Upon learning this, Bitsy remarks that she knew Anya "looked a bit heavy in her dress."
- Shower of Angst: The fanfic ends with Helen going back to the Brandenham Hotel to take a shower in an attempt to relieve her anxiety over Bitsy's death.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Anya is only brought up once near the end of the fic. That being said, she and her unborn child are largely the reason the Central Park deal falls through.
- Sound-Only Death: Aside from the Kingpin coming out of his office while wiping blood off his hands, the most the readers get from Bitsy's death is the sound of several thuds coming from his office.
- Too Dumb to Live: Bitsy thinks it's a good idea to try to intimidate the Kingpin while she's alone with him and throw petty insults at him while she's at it. It doesn't end well for her.
- Tranquil Fury: After Bitsy insults his dead family, Fisk just chuckles and says rather eerily calmly that some people would find his life story funny. He then walks in front of Bitsy and asks what kind of funeral she wants before beating her to death off-screen.
- Undignified Death: While it's only embarrassing because Bitsy brought it onto herself, getting beaten to death by the Kingpin nevertheless isn't a good way to go.
- Would Hurt a Child: While discussing the fact that Dimitry's daughter Anya is pregnant, Fisk says in a matter that is lacking subtlety that he threatened to have said unborn child (and it's mother) killed to make Dimitry back off from the Central Park deal.
