Time Anomaly by Morena Evensong
is a crossover between the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Doctor Who, which introduces Kang the Conqueror to the MCU. Opening with an alternating storyline of Tony and Steve meeting Amy and Rory while trapped in the 1940s and a series of ‘flashbacks’/‘flashforwards’ looking at how the two arrived in the past, the second half of the storyline focuses on how UNIT, the Avengers, the Doctor, the Zygons and the Silurians all come together to oppose Kang’s attack on Earth.
The fic can be read here and here.
Time Anomaly contains examples of:
- All Your Powers Combined: Kang is opposed by the Avengers, UNIT, the Zygons now living on Earth, and a group of Silurians.
- Anachronic Order: The first half of the story alternates between looking at Steve and Tony meeting the Williams’ in the 1940s and how they actually ended up there in the first place (as well as the first chapter being a ‘flash-forward’ to Bill receiving a call from Amy on the TARDIS phone that asks her to tell the Doctor he needs to come to New York).
- Ascended Fanboy: Amy and Rory’s adopted son Timothy is a big Captain America fan, and gets the chance to meet his hero. He later becomes a robotics scientist (suggested to have been inspired by meeting Tony and/or the Vision) who passes on an important message to the Fifth Doctor.
- Atrocious Alias: Kang is basically accused of this, as the Doctor notes that he expects the man to be wearing a big pot on his head that goes ‘Klang’ every time someone hits it.
- Avengers Assemble: Obviously when the Trope Namers are part of the storyline, with their allies including UNIT, the Doctor, the Silurian airborne division, and a group of Zygons doubling up.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Of all people, Kang the Conqueror suffers from this; he tries to present himself as a warlord with advanced technology capable of conquering Earth's defences in the twenty-first century, but the Doctor swiftly realises that Kang really stole his time-travel technology, has little in the way of actual military hardware, and has no real idea what he's doing when it comes to travelling in time.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- When Steve, Tony and the Williams are about to be caught by Kang's forces after returning to the present, River Song appears to help them get to safety.
- The Doctor serves this as far as all of UNIT is concerned
- Big Entrance: The Doctor makes one when he finally reaches UNIT HQ.
- The Bus Came Back: Amy Pond and Rory Williams return to the twenty-first century, along with Steve, Tony, and the Williams’ three adopted children.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: After River brings it up, Tony becomes continually amazed that, as far as the Williams are concerned, Rory shoving Adolf Hitler into a closet wasn’t the most interesting thing to happen to them on a certain day.
- Call-Back: There are repeated references to knocking out Hitler and shoving him into a cupboard rather than killing him, enough to annoy Tony into threating Rory into explaining the story.
- Canon Welding: Comes up on a few occasions, such as the Doctor discussing his own glimpses of thirtieth-century Earth as a world ravaged by solar flares or Jack Harkness mentioning that he saw one of Captain America’s shows when he was in the 1940s.
- Continuity Snarl: The author specifically states that Children of Earth and Miracle Day never happened in this world, as it’s virtually impossible to reconcile those global events with the MCU.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Hinted at for Bethany; her biological mother died of an unspecified illness, and her memory of her mother’s death was so troubling she immediately flashes back to it at just the suggestion that Rory might be ill
- Demoted to Extra: General Ross tries to assert his authority, but the Avengers weren’t listening to him and Kate was trying very hard to get him to back off and let UNIT take charge even before the Doctor showed up and dismissed Ross as unimportant
- Exact Words: Amy and Rory have told anyone who brings the topic up in the 1930s that their daughter was ‘taken from [them]’, Rory noting that people just assume that the person who took her was God rather than the Silence.
- Forgotten First Meeting: Tony apparently met Amy in 2013 at New York Fashion Week, at which point he made a pass at her while so drunk Amy isn’t surprised he didn’t remember it later.
- Happily Adopted: Rory and Amy have adopted three children since they arrived in 1930s New York; Ben, who reminded them of Rory at that age, Ben’s best friend Timothy, and Bethany, an older girl they took in to help keep the other two in line who was unlikely to be adopted by another family due to her age and tomboyish attitude.
- Hit Me, Dammit!: The Doctor claims that he’ll give Kang the chance to destroy New York to prove his belief that Kang can’t actually do it.
- Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: The Doctor observes that Kang is subject to this, as his plans all depend on his limited (and flawed) understanding of time travel allowing him to change history
- Internal Reveal: The moment when Amy tells her children the truth about the stories she’s told them that were actually based on her past adventures;Amy: “I may not have entirely made them up, you see. I just left out the alien with the space-time machine.”
- Noodle Incident: River talks about Kang’s claims to have spent time as a Pharaoh in Ancient Egypt, musing that there is no evidence to confirm or deny that story.
- One-Liner: The Doctor’s first line when he enters the same room as General Ross just as Ross is protesting that UNIT have no right to take charge;“Actually, I do believe I’m in charge”.
- Out-Gambitted: Kang’s plan succumbs to this when the Doctor determines that he doesn’t actually have the power to carry out his threats.
- Overly Preprepared Gag: When the Doctor makes his Big Entrance, Bill notes that he actually spent the last few minutes waiting outside the door for the right cue to do it.
- Riddle for the Ages: Scott finds himself wondering why the U.N. didn’t send Kate Stewart or a member of UNIT to approach the Avengers about the Sokovia Accords, musing that the team might have reacted better to the Accords from a relatively neutral party rather than someone like Ross, who had an extremely negative history with at least one of the team, but no answer is ever provided.
- Stable Time Loop:
- Amy learns that, after the crisis is over, she and the Doctor will have to go back to the nineties to make arrangements for an alliance with the Silurians living underneath America to help them fight off the current invasion.
- Later, it is revealed that River Song received information about her role in this crisis from a letter she found in the Eleventh Doctor’s TARDIS, which her adopted brother gave to the Fifth Doctor when he, Tegan and Turlough were visiting Cardiff in the 2050s.
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: Upon arriving in the 1940s, Tony claims that he’s Howard Stark’s cousin when Amy finds him familiar (although she later confirms that she knew who Tony really was and his true relationship to Howard from the beginning).
- Worf Had the Flu: Wanda Maximoff is left in a coma for the rest of the story after Kang’s first attack on the Avengers, depriving the team of one of their most powerful available members.
