Fridge pages are Spoilers Off. You have been warned.
- While the story isn't shy of putting the horror out in the open with straight up Nausea Fuel, there's a fair bit of this.
- Carol is described as being Younger than She Looks and very physically attractive to boot, looking about 20 at 14. The story explicitly touches on the downsides of this briefly, with a drunken Dirty Old Man grabbing her ass. While the guy gets put in his place after Bullying a Dragon in the form of T'Challa, as in real life, Carol is probably harassed, cat-called and treated as a sex object who knows how many times a day by grown men, and probably has since she was 11 or 12, which has to be extremely traumatic. She's also got a Stay in the Kitchen dad, a mother who's implied to be of the Extreme Doormat variety (though there's later revealed to be more to her), and her only close family is her grandmother Alison, Cool Uncle Jack O'Neill, and cousin Sharon, all of whom are often busy with work. Furthermore, she's implied, until Harry, to have only two close friends - Lex Luthor, who's something of Knight Templar Big Brother requiring her to be his Morality Chain, and Jean-Paul Beaubier, who's Camp Gay and hiding his mutation - and a few less close friends in the form of her soccer team. A few throwaway lines have implied that just about every boy that's tried to befriend her has been looking to get in her pants, prior to Harry, and being regarded as a ballbreaker and a challenge. No wonder she's a little spiky and abrasive at first. And the more abrasive she got, as noted briefly, the more she's likely to turn off any of the few who genuinely do want to just be friends.
- And when she really excels at sports, beating all the boys, including the entire football team in arm wrestling matches, their fathers lean on the school board to get her tested for steroids. That must be incredibly humiliating - she's doing something that she loves and no one believes that she can be that good simply because she's a girl.
- Jean-Paul also comes off as a Stepford Smiler - sure, he's extroverted, charming, funny and a Chivalrous Pervert that flirts with anything male, but his only friend is Carol (and then Harry), his twin sister is a mutant, psychologically disturbed and by all indications, only really responds to him. And since his father is the French Ambassador, that implies that his friendship with Carol is relatively recent. It also implies that it's on a countdown, since foreign postings only last so long. So, in a year or two, he'll be alone again.
- Thankfully, as a Flash level speedster, this last is no longer as much of a problem.
- Diana is an empath and, by implication, has been one since infancy. Imagine growing up with a constant input of other people's feelings, good and bad, with no filter. After all, A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read. And, like the above, she's rather cut off from her peers. Not to mention, until very recently she lived in the Olympian court. Where the King and Queen are pretty much the poster children for Jerkass God. The Queen, Hera, in particular would like nothing more than to see her dead and Diana knows it all too well.
- There's a lot of focus on Ginny and the psychic trauma she underwent thanks to Riddle, which Harry and Sean both independently refer to as mind rape. But what nobody addresses is that, about a year later, she got another heaping dose of psychic trauma from losing both her father, and a close friend of hers, on the same day. And on top of that, over the next six months or so, she has to struggle with accepting her sexuality, which would be a difficult enough process in an insular, unwelcoming society like the Wizarding World without all of her other scars. Oh, and there's no mention of her having any other close friends outside of Diana, her family, Harry, and Hermione either. Poor kid.
- Carol is described as being Younger than She Looks and very physically attractive to boot, looking about 20 at 14. The story explicitly touches on the downsides of this briefly, with a drunken Dirty Old Man grabbing her ass. While the guy gets put in his place after Bullying a Dragon in the form of T'Challa, as in real life, Carol is probably harassed, cat-called and treated as a sex object who knows how many times a day by grown men, and probably has since she was 11 or 12, which has to be extremely traumatic. She's also got a Stay in the Kitchen dad, a mother who's implied to be of the Extreme Doormat variety (though there's later revealed to be more to her), and her only close family is her grandmother Alison, Cool Uncle Jack O'Neill, and cousin Sharon, all of whom are often busy with work. Furthermore, she's implied, until Harry, to have only two close friends - Lex Luthor, who's something of Knight Templar Big Brother requiring her to be his Morality Chain, and Jean-Paul Beaubier, who's Camp Gay and hiding his mutation - and a few less close friends in the form of her soccer team. A few throwaway lines have implied that just about every boy that's tried to befriend her has been looking to get in her pants, prior to Harry, and being regarded as a ballbreaker and a challenge. No wonder she's a little spiky and abrasive at first. And the more abrasive she got, as noted briefly, the more she's likely to turn off any of the few who genuinely do want to just be friends.
- The narrative focuses on the reactions of Harry and his friends and family to his being killed and then immediately resurrected. But how is Xenophilius Lovegood, who's already lost his wife, going to react to the death of his daughter on top of that? Especially given that he seems to have pretty much no friends of his own? In canon, the only characters he was known to be friendly with outside of Luna are the Weasleys, who naturally have their own troubles to be getting on with.
- Given how much the Endless are confined by Rules, it's unknown whether Luna, as the new Delirium, would be allowed to reveal herself to her mortal father. Certainly, it seems like that wouldn't be the case, given that Lily surely would've talked to her son and husband, at least, if she were allowed. Which could lead to the additional Fridge Horror of Xenophilius believing his daughter to be dead while Luna watches her father grieve, and is unable to do anything about it aside from perhaps the odd whisper.
- Asgard's revenge on Russia for the Red Son project is pretty awesome (especially in the older sense of the word), but how many innocent people will suffer and die for what Lukin is doing? Especially given that Russia presumably trades resources with the rest of the world, as in real life, meaning that there's no shortage of individuals who don't even live in the new USSR and will be hurt by Asgard's purge of food and resources.
- It gets worse: in real life the old USSR dropped a nuclear bomb onto its own military exercise basically to see what would happen. The old USSR let ten million people starve to death on purpose because there was a food shortage and those were the ones "meant" to die. The old USSR let hundreds of people burn to death in their space facility rather than do more slowly and risk losing the space race. The old USSR put two whole days and a lot of manpower into making a nuclear power plant go supercritical on purpose - again basically to see what would happen - and succeeded. Do you honestly think the people in charge of the new Russia In-Universe would CARE about those that pay the price in their stead? If the Red Room is anything like the old USSR; then they care about ideas, not individual people. "An individual person is nothing, the collective is everything."
- The fact that, if Strange had been only a few seconds later, Sinister would've gotten Jean as well is absolutely horrifying. But then you start to think about it. With Jean under the control of the Red Room, not only could they have spread themselves faster and further with two Omega-class psychics, but Jean also wouldn't have been present during the finale of Child of the Storm. Which means that the Xavier Institute could have been overrun by demons, with all of its staff and students being killed. Not only that, but she wouldn't have been available to break the spell on Thor. Which, in turn, means that he wouldn't be available for the Battle of London. Worst-case scenario? Harry succumbs to Chthon's tempting without his father there to help him, and the entire universe gets wiped out (or subjected to a fate worse than death). All because Strange would've been a few seconds late.
- Throughout this story, Tony seems more compassionate and insightful than his MCU counterpart, whose kindness was often more deeply hidden under a barrage of snark and whose interpersonal skills could be...somewhat lacking, to put it kindly. But then it's revealed that here, Tony's godfather was Charles Xavier.
- Why are there persistent, albeit mild (at first) shippy undertones to Harry and Carol's friendship? Because he's pretty much the first straight guy her age to treat her like an actual person for years - like, after she hit puberty - and she's the first person his age to treat him like an actual person rather than a freak/saviour in pretty much ever. Even Hermione, after hearing his name, rattled off all the books she'd read about him in. For that matter, even some of his teachers reacted the same way in his first year!
- Why does Harry adjust so much less quickly during the temporary age up in Chapters 59/60 than his fellows, being described as barely scratching the surface of his powers? As one reviewer pointed out, he had so many more powers suddenly dropped on his head than the others did. Carol was just enhanced to Super-Soldier levels of ability, Uhtred similarly just became bigger, stronger and tougher, Jean-Paul became even faster, and Diana's physical and empathic abilities were also jacked up. Harry, on the other hand, went from teenage Squishy Wizard to fully fledged Flying Brick in the blink of an eye, along with gaining vast Energy Manipulation abilities, seriously jacked up Super-Senses, potentially vast Psychic Powers... the reviewer in question compared it to Clark Kent going from pre Smallville powers to full on sun dipped levels. He adjusted so much more slowly because he had so much more to adjust to.
- Not only that, but Diana, Uhtred, and Jean-Paul are all used to their powers (Diana and Uhtred have had their powers since infancy, and for Jean-Paul it's been at least a few years), while Carol has always been a little above average anyway, and like the others isn't getting anything new, per se, just being jacked up to the max of human potential. On the other hand, it's been only a few months since Harry's powers (other than magic) have begun to show, and less than six since The Reveal. He's still getting used to having all of those powers in the first place!
- Carol's relatives descended from the same source, Peggy and Steve, all seem to have some unusual level of enhanced badassery. Except, seemingly, her mother. Jack O'Neill managed to become a Brigadier General entirely on merit at an unusually young age and has demonstrated a bit of super-strength while thoroughly pissed at General Ross for suggesting that they experiment on Carol. Sharon Carter managed to kick the ass of Baron Zemo's possibly enhanced protégé with relative ease, fighting on even footing despite his being considerably larger, possibly more experienced, and the fight being in close quarters. And Carol had hints of it even before the incident with the Genius Loci. This suggests that the abilities aren't entirely dormant and only require a relatively small kick in the genetic pants to activate.
- With all of that in mind, it's very likely that instead of the upgrades skipping her, Carol's mother has the same potential abilities, and chooses to be an Extreme Doormat because she's terrified of what she's capable of.
- Going by her appearance in chapter 6 of Ghosts of the Past, she's no doormat of any kind, and is later confirmed to have Refused the Call.
- It's stated that at some point before the story, Gravemoss dueled Doctor Strange and survived. Is it because of Gravemoss's combat skill, or because Strange let him survive, so that Gravemoss could raise Chthon and thus play his part in his defeat? Given that Strange was able to go toe-to-toe with Gravemoss while performing astral projection, the implication is pretty strongly the latter.
- A small one, but in Chaos Reigns, Harry Dresden mentions that Murphy has big dog issues. Perhaps due to having fought werewolves in Fool Moon?
- Sure seems like a Contrived Coincidence that a young, Omega-class mutant just happens to be skiing on a mountain with a genius loci, and that the Avengers, Harry, and his friends are all there at the same time that he's most vulnerable and HYDRA are most likely to make a grab for him. Knowing Strange's MO, it wouldn't be at all surprising if he'd arranged that, too, somehow.
- Implicitly confirmed by Strange in CoS chapter 80, when he lists it as one of the nails he scattered.
- Why did Strange get so spectacularly worked up about saving Maddie, to the point of being Driven to Madness? Because way back in the day, after he arrived too late to change the outcome of the Battle of Camlann, which led to the deaths of almost everyone he knew, his mentor nearly going mad with grief, and his home and everything it had stood for crumbling around him, he made a vow to never, ever be too late again. This, from a man who never, ever lies, whose word being questioned is a personal Berserk Button, and a magical practitioner of almost unrivalled power in a world where an oath made on one's magic has very real consequences. Not only was he guilty about failing, but his vow would have kicked in. The Fridge Horror, of course, kicks in when one wonders just what it would have done to him, and what would have happened to the universe without him...
- The Reveal in Ghosts of the Past that Gambit was artificially aged and "born" at about seven explains why he's so flirtatious-given that Carol estimates his age at about nineteen or twenty, he's really a Hormone-Addled Teenager!
- A minor one that gave this troper a good chuckle, Harry is from the Grey Family and Draco is distantly related to the Frost family and now their rivalry makes sense. Frosts and Greys have never gotten along.
- The occasional descriptions of the American magical world as more liberal and open to Muggles than its British equivalent seems pretty much the opposite of the canon MACUSA's attitude (cf Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them). But then the Fridge Brilliance kicks in-this is a magical community heavily influenced, if not outright run by, Fury and SHIELD. Of course it's more open to Muggles.
- There sure are a lot of Adaptational Badasses in this story. Sirius going from being a skilled duelist in canon to having the Red Baron of "The Marauder" and being picked for the Shadow Initiative, the Winter Soldier becoming The Dreaded for just about everyone, Sean Cassidy being able to do far more with his Make Some Noise powers and having Boxing Lessons for Superman, etc. Makes a lot more sense when you consider that Strange is setting up Earth to go against Thanos, and all of the upheaval caused by Chthon and the resultant aftereffects, and presumably therefore wants every advantage he can get.
- Not to mention, all of those Contrived Coincidences in the first three Harry Potter books? Probably they weren't "coincidences" at all...
- Also, it does seem a little odd at first that Sirius and Lupin were chosen for the Shadow Initiative, given that everyone else on the Initiative has serious superpowers, decades of experience, or both, while both of them are out of practice. Surely SHIELD in particular would have at least a few combat mages. However, given that a) Fury isn't sure who he can trust after HYDRA revealed itself and b) that he used to work and fight alongside Sirius and Lupin during the bad old days, it makes a lot more sense why he would choose them. Particularly since there's no way that Sirius, having been locked up ever since his Order days and then brought to Asgard and the Avengers very soon after escaping, could possibly be a HYDRA agent, and Lupin is almost as unlikely.
- Wanda is shown to be not so different from her father in many ways: their temper, power levels, awesome feats, and resultant Famed In-Story status, fierce protectiveness of their family, etc. However, a more subtle one is their respective entrances: After having been talked up as a Living Legend of fearsome power, both Wanda and Magneto pull a Big Damn Heroes moment in the middle of an epic battle against otherwordly forces (featuring many of the same combatants both times), appearing in the sky with otherworldly light playing around them as a side-effect of their powers and turning the tide for the weary heroes, absolutely annihilating the enemy.
- Strange's penchant for making smug, irritatingly enigmatic pronouncements makes even more sense when he reveals in chapter 20 of Book 2 that one of his original mentors was Kilgarrah.
- McGonagall's fear that her daughter would resent her for having magic isn't unfounded—according to Pottermore, she herself is a half-blood whose parents had a strained marriage due to having to keep up The Masquerade.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business : downplayed, as it's near the beginning of the first appearance (so before any solid expectations for in character), and it's directed at someone offscreen you don't see - but. But: one of the serious contenders for nicest and most zen person in the series, the poster child for grace and patience, Jesus really-no-middle-name Christ, is (by comparisson) pissed - at the notion of other people possibly listening in on a private conversation (and at least thoroughly annoyed at being watched, too). However: not only is the privacy issue Serious Business enough all by itself to be that (in or out of character), there are several additional good reasons to take the prospect of this specific chat not staying private even more seriously:
- Word of God states that the instance in question constitutes acting as something of a combination of parole officer and therapist. Extrapolating from that statement, the latter of which would make the conversation confidential. While the supernatural bigwigs needn't agree to Earth ideas of doctor-patient confidentiality, it seems in character for Joshua to agree with the concept.
- On top of that, there is a bit of Genius Bonus that can be deduced. Apart from and next to everything else it is, the chat in question has all the components to be a confession in all but name and ritual trappings - it even roughly follows the same sequence (including asking Harry if he wants to talk about something he knows he's done wrong at the beginning and what amounts to blessing him at the end) - and someone overhearing that would also be serious business indeed: those taking another's confession have regularly rather let themselves be tortured to death than divulge information shared there. So for Joshua to think the same way about something very like it would be even more in character.
- Speaking of whom: it's occasionally hinted in-series that Thor and Loki weren't necessarily a bad influence on him, rather it may have been the other way around. How an All-Loving Hero would be a bad influence on Thor and especially Loki depends heavily on the definition of bad - but the page image for Jews Love to Argue offers a possible explanation: Arguing With God - A Jewish Tradition. Considering that for one thing his father is the god in questionnote , who seems to be quite okay with it (as long as the contributions argued are of value - the translation of the name of his people, "Israel", is "those who contend with God"); and for another that this attitude to authorities decidedly would not go down well with most of the Asgardian pantheon (especially given Bor in particular's likely reaction to anyone challenging him)... Well.
- Fridge hilarious on the note of Affectionate Parodies of real world religions and allusions to them in this vein is that a lot of people who've spoken to Jesus in person in the Christian accounts end up in a Roman era gladitorial arena - and so does Harry In-Universe, acting as a gladiator on Sakaar in The Phoenix and the Serpent. Nimbus should have brought a few lions.
- Dracula defeating a Cerebro-amped Xavier in a telepathic duel can be explained by a couple of factors. Not only is there the matter of experience, but Xavier noted in the first book that the stronger a body one possesses, the more raw power one can put behind psychic abilities. Xavier is a fit, if disabled, human with the biology of someone in middle age, while Dracula is King of the Grey Court, with everything that entails.
