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The JLA: DCEUvsThe Avengers: MCUAh, yes the most debated team mash-up in all of comics, which team of superheroes is the greatest of them all…???Is it “Earth's Mightiest Heroes”……The Avengers:Or“The Worlds Greatest Superheroes”…..The JLA:Considering this has been the burning question for almost 60 years, let's take a little time to look at our contestants before we call this one shall we ….I will be using the current rosters for both teams, excluding Quicksilver since he is currently desceased in the MCU, and Dr. Strange as he is currently working as an outside agent within the MCU, as well as Green Lantern since he is not currently a member of the JLA in the DCEU ….I will be adding a few members to the MCU Avengers roster who are currently active within their ranks, but not defenetive team members as of yet to try and level the playing field, as the JL has the obvious advantage in terms of raw physical power and speed …..This is a random encounter scenario with neither team having prior knowledge of each others powers, abilities, or weaknesses ….WARNING..!!! WARNING..!!! WARNING..!!This is merely my personal opinion on a hypothetical battle scenario between the movie versions of The Avengers and The JLA, at no time should anyone become agitated or angered and begin to cry like a little girl if their favorite superhero or superheroes gets their ass handed to them like a sack lunch …!!!!!!With that being said, let's get on with this hypothetical battle scenario ….!!!DCCU JLA: (6) membersSuperman:The Batman:Wonder Woman:Aquaman:The Flash:Cyborg:MCU Avengers: (15) membersCaptain America:Iron Man:Thor:The Hulk:Black Widow:Hawkeye:The Vision:The Scarlett Witch:The Black Panther:Spider-Man:Ant-Man:The Falcon:The Winter Soldier:War Machine:Captain Marvel:Well for starters, The JLA is at a serious disadvantage here considering they are outnumbered by The Avengers nearly 3 - 1, but what the JLA lack in numbers they more than make up in sheer raw power, superior speed, and durability …So with all respect to the Avengers, Superman Wonder Woman, and The Flash could literally end this battle with their speed alone before Captain America could even raise his shield an say…“AVENGERS ASSEMBLE”…..But hey, let's make this interesting …!!!The last thing the JL remembers was standing in the batcave, before a blinding flash of light mysteriously transported them to what looks to be an abandoned Military base somewhere in the desert ….* Reference: (■ The Batman)Bruce, where are we, how did we get here..???■ I don't know Diana, but I intend to find out…!!!■ Barry, can you run some quick recon of the area…???Quick is what I do Bats ….■ “Barry”…”Recon”… “Now” …“Right”….!!!In a crackle of electricity Barry Allen disappears and reappears almost as if he had never even left at all…■ Well…???“Fort Org Military Base,” but the place is obviously abandoned…■ “Fort Org”…??? Doesn't ring a bell…!!!!!■ Clark can you get an ariel view, maybe give us an idea of what hemisphere were in…???With a nod, Superman rockets 5 miles into the sky were he hovers and begins scanning the horizon with eyes capable of reading the headlines of a newspaper from the surface of the moon…With a look that can only be described as confusion, Superman makes his descent back to the surface as he lands amongst his teammates…■ You okay Clark….????Yeah, just a little confused about our location…We seem to be somewhere in the Northern Hemisphere, place called Mariana, California but the geography is all wrong….■ Mariana…???■ No such place on any map in the United States Clark, I'm sure of it…I know that Bruce, that's what I'm concerned about, doesn't add up.…Geography's all wrong …???Abandoned Military base in an unknown city…???it shouldn't be here, I don't think this is even our earth….How is that even possible Kal-El…???I don't have an explanation at the moment Diana, I suggest we ….But before The Man of Steel can even finish his sentence, ear's that can hear clouds scraping together detect what sounds to be an aircraft in mid-flight, heading in their direction …Using his telescopic vision, Superman locates a single low flying incoming aircraft, (2) flying humanoids, and with eyes capable of seeing through solid steel, his X-ray vision shows him what also appears to be (2) men in armored suits as he relays what he see's to the rest of the JLA…We have an incoming unidentified aircraft, a pair of flying humanoids, and an apparent pair of armored humans 2 miles out moving fast on a direct interception course, they'll be here in less than a minute ….■ “Military”….???I don't think so Bruce …..I don't recognize the flying humanoids, aircraft design, or the armor, it's very high tech like nothing I've ever seen…???■ Looks like we're getting some company league, be ready for anything on my command…!!!!“We don't know that their hostile Bruce”…???■ “We don't know that they aren't Victor”…!!!Aquaman simply replies…Either way, like it or not, we're about to find out..!!!As the JL braces themselves for the inevitable arrival, an Avengers Quinjet, Iron Man, War Machine, Captain Marvel, and Thor come over the horizon and into view, stopping mid-air only a few hundred yards out, Iron Man, War Machine, Captain Marvel, and Thor hover momentarily, as Captain America and those aboard the quinjet slowly begin their descent to land ….* Reference: (☆ Captain America)☆ They must be the reason for the call from Fury at S.H.E.I.L.D., be ready team, we don't know who or what we're up against here…As the quinjet touches down Captain America flips a switch above his head, activating the Quinjets onboard com-link…☆ “Tony”….“Already on it Kemosabe”…I've already scanned the database within the suit, they don't match any known meta's we've encountered before…The guy in grey and black, is human….One seems to be comprised of flesh, bone, and an unknown alloy not native to the periodic table, obviously a “Cyborg,” very high tech ….The guy in red and yellow, has an accelerated metabolism similar to Wanda's deceased brother “Pietro, but exponentially faster ….The big one with the “Trident” in chain mail, very dense muscle and bone structure, high levels of H2o present….“Strange”….!!!☆ What is it tony…???These readings can't be right…..The last two have very unique and unknown dna signatures ….The female, looks human, but there are trace elements of kalonite and phylloscilicate minerals…..☆ “English Tony” …..Clay Cap, clay …!!!And the one with the cape in blue and red spandex is radiating “Solar” energy signatures, and has the densest physiology I've ever seen, non human, possibly alien in nature ….What's the plan Cap…???☆ Same as always Rhodey, we investigate first, can't assume their hostile until they prove otherwise…“Your the boss”….Pointing to the ground, Iron Man signals for War Machine, Captain Marvel, and Thor to descend from the sky and touch down as the quinjets bay door opens, as the rest of the Avengers walk down the gangway gathering in front of the quinjet several yards from where the JL stand at the ready for anything…(☆) Upon first sight, Captain America likes the odds but having fought in a World War, he has learned that superior numbers don't always guarantee victory, and apperances can be deceiving, so it's best not to underestimate this group of individuals especially since they don't seem to be overly concerned that they are outnumbered 3-1 here…(■) Upon analyzing the team of Avengers as they stand motionless at the nose of the quinjet, Batman does what he does best, and assesses fairly quickly that the JLA is hopelessly outnumbered as he tells his teammates that if it comes to it, the best stragedy is to thin out the herd by taking out the less powerful looking Avengers first, in order to keep the JLA from being overwhelmed by The Avengers superior numbers…(☆) Cap not wasting any time, decides it's time to get some answers about who these people are, and why they're here, as he speaks up first…☆ This is a restricted area, and you are trespassing on Government property…☆ I'm only going to ask you this once…☆ Who are you, and what are your intentions here..???(■) To which Batman replies…■ Funny coincidence, I was about to ask you the same thing….☆ “This is not a time for “jokes” mister…!!!☆ In case you haven't noticed your outnumbered and we have authorization to take you down if necessary ….■ I'm not laughing and on whose authority…???☆ That's clasified information on a need to know basis, and your not classified or in any position to demand the know….!!!☆ Just tell your team to stand down, and I'm sure we can get to the bottom of this peacefully…■ ”You first”….!!!!☆ “I won't ask again”…!!!!■ “So you've said”….☆ Last chance, you can't hope to win here…!!!■ That remains to be seen, you may be surprised at what we are capable of….!!!!☆ “Have it your way” …..(☆) Captain America lifts his shield, but before he can even yell out….“Avengers take them down”….!!!(■) Batman turns to Barry and says one word …■ “Now Barry” ……!!!!In the blink of an eye, Barry Allen disappears from the battlefield in a blur of red and yellow motion to the amazement of The Avengers…And in the ticks between seconds, The Black Widow, Hawkeye, The Scarlett Witch, The Winter Soldier, and The Falcon are unconscious and still falling to the ground, as Barry Allen reappears next to Batman in a crackle of electricity and say's…How's that …???(■) Smirking slightly Batman replies…■ It's a start…!!!As the Vision cries out… “Wanda”…!!!!He and several Avengers rush to the aid of the Scarlett Witch and their fallen comrades, as the remaining Avengers await Captain America’s orders…Scanning the battlefield, Superman is surprised to see an ordinary man in a two piece suit standing in the midst of the remaining Avengers, but before he can even comprehend why, he transforms into a giant green behemoth right before Clark's and the JLA’s eyes…To which Batman replies…■ “That could be a problem”….!!!Turning to Bruce, Clark replies….“We'll see”….!!!Before the green gargantuan can even let out a roar, Superman slams into the hulking beast with both fists at incredible speed sending him flying backwards where he lands on his back several yards away cutting a deep trench in the ground upon impact, in an instant Clark is standing over The Hulk who is shaking his head dazed from the effects of the blow, as Superman says…“Stay down”…!!!Looking up,The Hulk simply bellows…..“Hulk Smash”……!!!!!!!!!With a speed that defies all logic for a being of his size, The Hulk throw's an uppercut as he gets to his feet, sending Superman rocketing into the sky where he disappears into the clouds…Unable to even comprehend what she just witnessed, Diana whispers to herself ……“Merciful Minerva”…..!!!!Fighting to stay conscious, Superman hurtles ever upwards, slowly he begins to regain his composure as he begins slowing himself down in order to halt his ever increasing trajectory…Coming to a complete stop, Clark hover’s momentarily shaking his head, as he openly admits to himself …“Great Scott” I don't think I've ever been hit so hard in my life ….!!!Using his microscopic vision, he scans the horizon below locating the green giant that nearly took his head off, quickly realizing it's probably not in his best interest to slug it out with the giant green monster, his eyes light up in a flash of red energy as he unleashes two beams of pure hellfire upon the the jade giant….As The Hulk looks to the sky in search of the puny red and blue man who hurt him, he is suddenly engulfed in a heat equivalent to the surface of the sun as he roars in unimaginable pain…Seeing his chance, Superman rockets to earth at incalculable speed from 5 miles in the sky slamming into the still smoking Hulk with all the strength and force within him, rocking the battlefield with the force of an earthquake…As the Avengers attempt to get back to their feet and recover from the impact, the smoke clears as Superman slowly rises into the air from a massive smoking crater looking down at the form of an unconscious man where a monster once was…Captain America and the remaining Avengers stare in sheer disbelif, as they try to comprehend how one man could so easily defeat The Hulk …As Thor looks upon the man of steel, he can only muster these few words silently to himself…By Odin's beard, what power this being must possess …!!!!Realizing now the power the Avengers face on the battlefield this day, Captain America yells out to his remaining teammates…☆ “Avengers,” hit them hard, hit them fast, don't hold anything back…!!!Thankful Clark Kent has survived the immense impact of his collision with the Hulk, Diana silently whispers to herself…“Thank Hera”…!!!But her prayer is for not, for even before Superman has a chance to recover from the incredible impact himself, he is hit square in the chest by Thor traveling at incredible speed, carrying them both through a nearby building, and effectively out of sight….Diana, concerned with her friends well being cries out…“Kal-El”…. ”No.”….!!!!!Turning her gaze towards the apparent sounds of a furious battle between Superman and Thor, Wonder Woman can barlely make out their silhouette's through the growing destruction of smoke and rubble, as the windows begin to shatter in surrounding buildings from the immense shockwaves of blow upon blow capable of leveling mountains…As Growing concern for Clark's safety overtakes Diana emotionally, she draws her sword and takes off running in the direction of the two titans locked in their furious battle…But before she can close the distance, Diana is stopped dead in her tracks as a searing beam of energy cuts through the air striking the ground just several feet from her as Diana raises her shield…Upon lowering her shield, Diana see's a smoking crater and a very attractive but powerful looking blonde woman with her arms crossed hovering 20 ft above her blocking her path who casually says with a serious tone…That was a warning shot, the next one hits it's mark…!!!!Unimpressed, Diana simply replies…I don't know who you are, but Kal-El may be injured, and you are impeding me from aiding my friend…I will only say this once…”Move Aside”To which Captain Marvel merely responds …“You're not going anywhere”….!!!And I would be worried more about myself if I were you…You dare threaten Diana of Themyscyria, Daughter of Hippolytta, Queen of the Amazons…???“I believe I just did”….Then by Athena, you will regret your descesion…!!!!!Yeah, yeah, yeah…Blah, blah, blah…Heard it all before, what do you say we get this over with….???Seeing an opportunity in the sudden shift in momentum, Captain America turns his gaze to his remaining teammates, and taps the side of his helmet activating the com-link within…☆ “Tony”…☆ “Rhodey”…☆ the Cyborg… !!!Nodding in understanding, the two armored titans look to one another and blast off side by side as jet propulsion powered suits propel them high into the air…☆ “Vision”…☆ “Peter”…☆ The speedster is your’s…“Acknowledged Captain”…Upon completion of his scan on Wanda Maximoff and his downed teamates vitals, and thankful they are merely unconscious rather than seriously injured, The Vision looks towards Barry Allen and reply's “gladly” as he goes intangible disappearing into the ground….Peter Parker takes aim and taps the palms of his hands activating his web shooters hitting his mark, as he leaps into the air and swings towards his intended target…☆ “T'Challa”…☆ “Scott”…☆ The big guy with the Trident…With the tap of a buttton, Scott Lang shrinks down to the size of a living action figure, leaping on to the shoulder of the Black Panther as he silently begins running towards Aquaman…Leaving the super-soldier alone in his charge as he himself begins running directly in the direction of Batman, with the intent of dispatching the obvious tatical coordinator of the JLA…Batman realizing his battle with the Star-Spangled Avenger is imminent, turns to Arthur, Victor, and Barry and says….■ Clark and Diana have their hands full, pick your opponent's, and let's end this…Suddenly, Bruce yells “Incoming” diving to the right, just as Aquaman and Cyborg are hit head on with a pair of repulsor rays, as Iron Man and War Machine rocket overhead past Bruce and Barry…“Bullseye Tony”…!!!Intended targets are down, possibly out…Well at least we know the targeting systems in the new Mark L Armor are on point, but we better make another pass just to be sure…“Roger that”…As Batman comes out of a roll and recovers to his feet, he finds a man with a star-spangled shield standing in front of him as he say's under his breath……■ ”Damn”…!!!As a handful of smoke pellets hit the ground, Batman is engulfed in a cloud of smoke, as he yells out to Barry Allen…■ “Barry”….!!!!“I know”….But before Barry Allen can even take one step, to his complete and utter surprise a ghost-like figure materializes up from beneath the very ground upon which he stands directly in front of him with a look of pure rage on it's face and says…“You hurt Wanda,”and for that, you will pay dearly….!!!Barry taken completely unaware can only respond with…“Umm yeah, sorry about that,” just following orders…Realizing it's in his best interest to put some distance between him and the android, Barry turns fully intent on accelerating away, but before he can even take one step, he is suddenly yanked of his feet, looking back at his feet, he see's what appears to be spider webbing binding his ankles together…looking up he see's a guy in red and blue spandex with black webbing, land beside the Vision who say's sarcastically…“Sorry man, just following orders”…!!!!Barry simply responds…”Touche”….Without hesitation Barry Allen begins vibrating his hand at incalculable speed as the intense friction of shifting molecules allows The Flash to literally destabilize the polymer webbing around his ankles snapping it as if it were paper…As the speed force begins to crackle and pop around The Flash time stands still for everyone and everything around him, as he moves between the ticks of a second…Moving directly around the Vision, Barry Allen's eyes grow wide with shock as he looks back to see the Vision's fist moving in slow motion and eventually land where he once was, as the concrete buckles and cracks from the sheer force of the android’s blow….Quickly realizing he can't possibly compete with the sheer physical strength housed within the body of the Vision, Barry is left no recourse but to accelerate away from the android and turn his attention to his other adversary, until he can come up with a plan to negate the androids abilities…Quickly scanning the battlefield, Barry looks towards Captain America who raises his shield as smoke pellets ignite and explode, engulfing The Batman in a cloud of black mist…Able to think and process with the same hyper- accelerated speed as he runs, Barry quickly see's his opportunity to incapacitate Peter Parker without having to cause him serious injury …In a flash, Barry Allen accelarates past Captain America relieving him of his shield, circling back towards Peter Parker fully intent on using Caps shield with just the right amount of kinetic force to execute his plan, but much to Barry's amazement the agile web-slinger leaps into the air flipping backwards as his spider sense momentarily saves him having alerted him earlier of Barry's intended movement …With a flick of his wrists, Peter manages to let loose twin threads of web fluid as he lands on his feet intending to ensnare The Flash once more, but unfortunately for Peter Parker luck is not on his side as the webbing sticks to the front of Caps shield instead as Barry reappears right in front of Peter …Before Spider-Man is even able to disengage his web-shooters, Barry begins circling Peter at hyper speed effectively ensnaring him in his own webbing along with Captain America’s shield, taking him out of the fight as he falls to the ground struggling to break free of his own webbing…Cracking a smile, Barry is quite content with himself for not only disarming Batman’s opponent, but incapacitating one of his own, but his celebration is short lived as he is alerted to movement behind him, turning he finds himself face to face with the Vision who is not only standing directly behind him, but has now become solid in body, at which point an androtic voice tells Barry Allen that he has most certainly made a grave mistake in judgment, in forgetting about him…As Aquaman gets to his feet dazed but otherwise unscathed thanks to his Atlantean heritage, he reaches down to recover his Trident and looks over to see if Cyborg is still in one or more pieces considering the blasts they directly took from the two armored Avengers…To his surprise, Cyborg is unharmed as a metallic shield morphs itself back into an arm courtesy of “Apokolipton” tech …“Nice trick,” bet that comes in handy…lolOh, you got jokes huh…????Sorry couldn't help myself….lolWell save the stand-up for the comedy club, those two tin cans are turning around for another pass…!!!!Let 'em come, I wanna return the favor…!!!!Looks like your gonna get your chance, here they come and their moving fast…Hey “Tin Man” think you can lay down some pattern fire to split them up…???If you can get them down low enough, I can possibly take at least one of them out…!!!!I got you “Fish Stick”…!!!Now who's got jokes…Well you know what they say, one good turn…“Just get to it already”…!!!!“Right” …..Scanning the airways, Cyborg pinpoints both Iron Man and War Machine moving at incredible velocity heading directly towards his and Arthur's location, and in an instant two pulse cannons replace Victor Stone's arms as living metal becomes twin weapons of mass destruction…Communicating with the living Mother Box computer within his cybernetic armor, She determines the best chance of success Cyborg has is to try and send a rapid barrage of pulse fire with his left arm cannon directly at Iron Man head on as to deter his oncoming trajectory, and directly overhead of War Machine to split the two metal men up bringing Rhodey down low enough within reach of Arthur and his Trident…In a whirl of Apokolipton mechanics, Cyborgs living cannon's light up andd begin pulsating with immense energies as the Mother Box cybernetically relays the correct trajectory of pattern fire necessary for optimal success…Only gonna get one shot at this Arthur, you ready…???Don't worry, I'm gonna open up the first one I get my hands on like a can of sardines…!!!In a flash of red light, Cyborgs pulse cannons scream out as glowing red orbs of pure energy begin pouring out of them in rapid succession towards their intended targets…Internal Alarms ring out in Iron Man and War Machine’s armor alerting them to the incoming weapons fire, taking evasive maneuvers, Tony barrel rolls to the right and Rhodey rolls left dropping down in altitude to roughly 15 feet above the surface in order to evade taking a direct hit as Cyborg’s cannon fire flies overhead…Before War Machine even has a chance to alter his trajectory to level out, he is taken by complete surprise as Aquaman’s Trident rips through his jet boots disabling them as he crashes to the ground at high velocity where he comes to rest several yards from his sight of impact…To his horror, Tony Stark can only cry out…“Rhodey “….!!!!In desperation he begins circling around to come to the aid of War Machine, unfortunately he is met with another barrage of cannon fire from Victor Stone's Apokolipton armor as he once again takes evasive maneuvers in order to avoid being hit himself….As Rhodey slowly begins to stir internal sensors within the armor assess and relay the damage taken by Aquaman’s Trident, opening his eyes he looks up to see a large muscular man with a beard standing over him smirking and holding a golden trident who simply says….“Don't even blink”….!!!!!Still stunned from the impact of the crash landing, James Rhodey rotates his right hand and let's loose a blast of repulsor fire intended for Arthur Curry's chest, only to have it deflected by Aquaman and the “The Trident of Poseidon”…“Nice try, but big mistake”…!!!!!Reaching down, Aquaman grabs Rhodey's right hand crushing the very armor around it as he yells out in agony at the sound of his breaking bones….Picking up Rhodey within the War Machine armor with both hands, Arthur Curry keeps his word as he cracks open and tear's the armor from around James Rhodes with his immens Atlantean strength, as if he were cracking open a lobster’s shell….!!!!“Now little man, let's see how tough you are without your armor”….????But before Arthur Curry can get the answer to his question, he is suddenly alerted to the sound of running footsteps behind him with ears capable of a hearing a ship's propeller whirl (7) miles above, from the blackest depths of the ocean floor…Releasing Rhodey, Arthur Curry whirls 180° just in time to watch sparks fly from his breast plate, as The Black Panther and “Vibranium” alloy claws meet royal “Atlantean” regalian armor, as T'Challa lands crouching between him and James Rhodes….That was close, you almost had me there Catman…!!!!Were I trying to cause you permanent injury, we would not be having this conversation…!!!My intention was merely to distract you, not harm you, but I cannot guarantee my friend behind you will be as forgiving…!!!Hey “Nemo,” why don't you try picking on someone your own size….???Raising his Trident, Arthur Curry turns on his heels to face the unknown opponent behind him, but is perplexed to find that there is no one there…Even before he can comprehend the reasoning behind it, he hears a tiny voice at his feet that says…”Yo, down Here” ….!!!!!Looking down at his feet, Aquaman begins to laugh as he see's the tiny Ant-Man …“You've got to be kidding”…?????“What are you going to do”…???“I can literally squash you like a bug”….!!!!With the touch of a button, Scott Lang activates the “Pym Particles” within his suit and suddenly begins increasing in size, reahing out he grabs Aquaman with his enormous right hand as he continues to grow to a height of 50ft becoming a literal “Giant-Man” much to Arthur Curry’s apparent surprise, at which point Scott Lang simply smiles and say’s….“Funny, you should say that”….!!!!!Twisting and turning, Iron Man's “Mark L” armor continuously alters his trajectory to avoid Cyborg’s cannon fire as he rockets through the hail of red orbs intent on finding their target…Linking his internal com-link to T'Challa's he begs the question….“Panther,” is Rhodey….????Alive Mr. Stark, but he requires immediate medica attention, he's out of this fight….!!!!Get Rhodey to the quinjet and set a course for Wakanda if you can, I'll handle the second rate “Terminator” wannabe, and Scott looks as if he’s got a handle on the guy with the pitchfork….Silently nodding, T'Challa picks up James Rhodes and heads directly towards the Avengers quinjet where upon reaching it, he straps in James Rhodes and lay’s a course in for Wakanda…As the Avengers quinjet rises into the air and disappears over the horizon, Tony Stark sighs a breath of relief as he set's his sights on Cyborg and whispers to himself…“That was a mistake you will not live to regret my friend”…!!!Without hesitation, Iron Man raises his hands and begins firing his own salvo of repulsor fire as his targeting system within the Mark L locks on to the continuous barrage of red orbs exploding around him as he closes in on Victor Stone…As Tony Stark rockets through the sky in his attempt to close the gap between him and Vic Stone, again he whispers to himself under his breath as wave upon wave of red energy explode around him as his targeting system continues to find and counter it's target's…I've got to disrupt his concentration long enough to stop his pattern fire and take out his arm cannon's, if I'm going to get in close enough to land and get my hands dirty…As Victor Stone watches Iron Man's phenomenal display of aerobatic prowess and counter fire from behind the pulsating glow of his dual arm cannon’s, he can only think to himself…This guy is good, maybe to good, he is already adapting and countering my attack, if I don't come up with something fast I'll be standing face to face with an opponent quite possibly able to equal me cybernetically in a confrontation…Suddenly a pinging sound begins to reverberate throughout the mind of Victor Stone as the “Living Computer” housed within his “Promethium” armor relays a strategic and tatical solution to the ever increasing onslaught of the “Invincible Iron Man”….To which Victor Stone silently replies…“And if I am unable to do so …???□ “Ping”…”Ping”…”Ping”…”Ping”… “Ping”…“There must be another solution”…???“That would be a “Death Sentence”….!!!□ “Ping”…”Ping”…!!! “Ping”…”Ping”…!!!“Yes”…!!!!!If I am left no other alternative, I will not hesitate…!!!As the thick black cloud of smoke dissapates in the wake of Barry Allen's velocity, it becomes suddenly apparent to Steve Rogers that he is no longer in possession of his vaunted “Shield”, nor is The Batman anywhere in sight…..Unimpressed with the “Caped Crusader's” apparent attempt at misdirection, Steve Rodgers calls out in an attempt to try and draw out his adversary….☆ “Smoke pellets”….???☆ “It's going to take more than smoke and mirror parlor tricks to beat me mister…!!!Scanning the surrounding area, Captain America whispers to himself under his breath…☆ “Where”…???Suddenly a voice from behind Steve Rogers speaks up as to answer his question…■ “Right behind you”….!!!Spinning around, Captain America finds The Batman standing several yards from him to his surprise and say's…☆ “Well that's a first”….☆ I didn't think anyone was capable of sneaking up on me….■ If I were trying to sneak up on you, you'd be unconscious by now….!!!☆ That right…???■ I'm fairly certain of it…!!!■ By the way, I hope you weren't to dependent upon that shield of yours….???☆ The shield is merely an extension of the man…!!!■ We'll see….■ “What do you say we get this over with”…???☆ We don't have to do this….■ At this point, I beg to differ…..☆ Then I'll make it as quick and painless as possible”…!!!■ “Agreed”….And with those final words it begins, as a pair of Batarangs leave The Batman's hands spinning in unison intended for Steve Rodgers…But before they are able to find their mark, augmented super-human reflexes and agility come into play as Captain America easily evades the pair of spinning projectiles as if they were in slow motion …Without hesitation, Steve Rodgers breaks into a full sprint with a speed Batman quickly deduces is beyond the means of an ordinary man, as the Batman barely ducks a right hook that would surely have taken his head clean off….Wasting no time, Batman counters landing two well placed shots to Cap's midsection in return, unfortunately for The Batman, they neither faze nor amuse the “Super Soldier” as Steve Rogers lands a powerful left hook of his own to Bruce Wayne's rib cage, sending The Batman reeling a few feet backwards favoring his left side …!!!■ “Not Bad”…..!!!!☆ “You can't possibly win this”…..■ “Heightened strength, speed, reflexes, and durability”…■ “Reminds me of someone”…..☆ “That right”...???■ No signs of “Bionic Augmentation” …■ “Steroidal Muscle Accelerant” perhaps …???☆ “Something like that”….■ “Then it looks like I'm going to have my work cut out for me”….☆ “Surrender now and make this easy on yourself”…!!!■ “Think I'll pass”….☆ “Suit yourself”….!!!(■) As the two master combatants stand only a few meters from one another, studying, searching, looking for an opening, Batman can only think to himself that he is not only physically outclassed here, but will eventually tire long before his opponent does….(■) But Bruce Wayne has faced bigger and stronger opponents than the man standing directly across from him, he has faced lunitics and killers, monsters and demons, gods and goddesses, and even cosmic conquerers from beyond the stars….(■) Bruce Wayne has faced augmented beings before, one broke him and nearly put an end to the Batman, yet he is still here, but a voice deep within tells him he may have finally met his match in this man….(☆) Not one to underestimate an opponent, Steve Rogers can only wonder if the man across from him really hides a secret power, or is he in fact, just an ordinary man dressed in a kevelar reinforced suit….????(☆) And if so, knowing he is physically outclassed in everyway, what he is up against, why is there no sign of fear emanating from this man, can he really be that skilled a fighter to believe he stands a chance of defeating a “Super Soldier”…???Without words, almost if they had read the others mind, they step towards one another and begin…..A kick, a parry, a jab, a block, there is no quarter given, none taken, as to unique fighting styles continuously vie for supremacy over the other….(☆) As if there were any doubt, Steve Rogers gets his answer to just how skilled this man truly is in his fighting abilities, as it is all he can do to defend himself from The Batman's precise strikes and movements….(☆) He can only think to himself, that his opponent can't possibly be just an ordinary man beneath the mask, his strength, speed, and reflexes say otherwise……(■) With each swing, each near miss, each block, the Dark Knight becomes more and more aware of the sheer physical power his opponent possesses within his well muscled frame, it is almost overwhelming……(■) Bruce Wayne begins to realize it is only a matter of time before fatigue begins to set in, or the man in the Star Spangled suit lands a bone crushing and debilitating blow, that will surely bring him to his knee's…■ He's too strong, to fast, I can’t match him physically, got to change tatics or it'll be over in a matter of minutes….(■) Flipping backwards, Bruce somersaults end over end to get some distance between him and the Captain…Where he comes to rest on one knee, several feet from Rogers….(■) Sensing he has his opponent on the ropes, Steve Rogers rushes in intent on ending the fight closing the gap between him and his opponent….(■) Rising to his feet, bruce sidesteps a kick that would have surely and effectively broken his spine….(■) Whereupon he lands two well placed shots to Cap's kidneys….(☆) Without even turning, Steve Rogers lands a mule kick square to the Batman's chest with tremendous force, sending him several feet backwards where he drops to a knee clutching his chest….(☆) Turning to face Bruce, Captain America says…☆ We've already established your no match for me physically, if that's how you intend to win this, then you might as well give up now….☆ I would prefer not to cause you permanent injury, so just stay down….(■) Looking up, Bruce Wayne merely smirks tapping two small pads in the palms of his gloves and says…..■ “Tag your it”…..(☆) Steve Rodgers barely has time to hear the high pitched whine of Wayne technology, as he is suddenly engulfed in a sticky foam like substance that begins to exponentially expanded around his body…..(☆) Struggling against the ever expanding and hardening foam, Cap falls to his knee's, as the realization that the kidney shots were never meant to stop him becomes apparent, but rather all the time necessary for his opponent to attach the foam tech, and give himself the upper hand….(■) Rising to his feet, clutching his chest, The Batman turns toward the sounds of distant thunder, as unstoppable Kryptonian strength, meets immovable Asgardian might…..(■) Still clutching his chest from the deveststing kick delivered by the Captain, It is all he can do to muster a single word under his breath…■ “Clark”……???Blow after blow of incalculable strength rocks the ground upon which they stand, as the very earth around them buckles and cracks under the strain of unimaginable power, threating to swallow them whole….For all his incredible power and abilities, Clark Kent must admit he has never faced such an equally powerful opponent in all his days, not the giant kryptonian Non, not the green skinned behemoth he battled earlier, not even at the the monster known as Doomsday……With x- ray eyes, Superman scans the body of his opponent, only to discover his physiology is not that of human origin…..What undeniable power this being across from him holds in the form of a human, he could never have imagined there was another species in all the universe that could equal his alien power born of the stars….It is all the God of Thunder can do to stand his ground against the immeasurable power of his adversary, he has battled men and monsters alike, in his thousand years as a warrior of Asgard…..Even in his countless battles with the Dark Elves of Svartalheim, or the Frost Giants and Storm Giants of Jontumheim, the last cursed one Kurse, nor the Destroyer Armor, he has never encountered a being of such intimidating power in all the nine realms, save the All-father Odin himself…..But despite the overwhelming power he faces here on the battlefield today, he will not fall, he is Thor, “God of Thunder,” and he not only battles for earth, but for Odin, for all of Asgard……With unholy strength, Thor brings both hands down upon Superman with enough power to level a mountain, bringing the man of steel to his very knee's……Without hesitation, Thor grabs Clark Kent by his hair, as he brings his knee up to connect with Clark’s face, sending him flying backwards several yards away to land with a sickening thud……Lying on his back dazed and trying to focus, Clark feels a warm liquid running down his face, wiping it away, he looks at his hand surprised to see his own blood….The last time he saw his own blood, was right before his death at the hands of the kryptonian abomination known as Doomsday, he lost “Lois,” his “Mother,” and his very “Life” that day, he will not lose those he loves ever again…..Kryptonian eye's flash as an immense beam of searing heat envelopes Thor, with the equivalent temperature of the very Sun itself….Asgardian skin begins to burn and blister as the heat of a star sears his nigh- invulnerable flesh, it is all Thor can do to keep from screaming aloud from the unimaginable pain as he crosses his arms in attempt to shield himself….But he has faced the “Fire Demon” Surtur on more than one occasion, and if he could not be felled from the fires of the lord of Mesplheim, he will not fall at the hands of this false God….Slowly Thor begins to move forward towards his opponent, one footstep after another, gritting his teeth as the very earth around him begins to burn ….Unable to believe what he is witnessing before his very eyes, Clark Kent can only whisper to himself “Drop Damn You, Drop…!!!Left no choice, Superman increases his power unleashing the very fires of hell itself against Thor, as the God of Thunder disappears in a flash of blinding heat and smoke…..Rising to his feet, Clark Kent takes a much needed breath from his titanic battle with Thor, assuming his opponent has finally fallen, he inhales and uses but a fraction of his super powered lung capacity to clear the area of the smoke hanging in the air to be sure….But he can only stand immobile and wide eyed in disbelief, as a smoking but very much alive Thor stands on a sheet of glass created by the very temperatures unleashed by his heat vision, holding Stormbreaker….Superman can barely muster the words, but somehow they escape his lips….“My God,” how could anything have survived that …..???Clark Kent doesn't even have time to consider it, as Thor and Stormbreaker begin to crackle with the unbridled power of a lightning storm….With eyes filled with rage, and the very power of the lighting he commands, Thor yells aloud….I have felt your power “Alien,” and now you shall feel mine….!!!!!!Thunder and lightning slither and scream across the sky with increasing power, as Clark Kent can only cover his ears, as the pain of super hearing drops him to his knee's…..And in an instant, one “Billion” volts of unimaginable power engulf the “Man of Steel,” followed by a thunderous roar from the very Gods themselves, that not only shakes the very foundation's of the abandoned military base itself, but can most certainly be heard for miles around….Followed thereafter by a scream of indescribable pain, from lungs that can cause hurricane force winds with a single breath….Turning her gaze away from Captain Marvel, and towards the flash of immense light, Diana whispers under her breath….“By the power of Zeus Almighty”……Kal- El…???For a moment, every combatant on the battlefield stands or hovers immobile as if turned to stone, and turn their attention to the very spot where two titans once battled for supremacy, but now only one apparent victor stands over the lifless body of Clark Kent, within an immense smoking crater…..As the God of Thunder lowers his head in silent prayer for his opponent, silently he praises Superman as the greatest single opponent he has ever faced on a field of battle….With a rage that would even give pause to the very Gods of Olympus themselves, Diana of Themyscira yells out in her apparent pain for her fallen friend, as she looks upon Thor standing over the smoking and lifeless body of Superman …..“DAMN YOU”…….!!!!!!!With a speed that defies the very laws of physics, she hurls her shield with the force of a speeding comet directly at the surprised Carol Danvers, the sheer impact knocking her out of the sky, as she plummets to the ground unconscious…..In the blink of an eye, the speed of Mercury allows her to bridge the gap between her and the immense crater, as she stands with sword drawn between Thor and the lifeless body of Superman ….What have you done…..???What i had too, he left me no other choice…..I take no pride in his death, I only acted as any warrior in battle would have in defense of his own life…..Kal- El was the best of us all, and by Hera herself, you shall pay for your insulent transgression against him….There is no more need of further bloodshed, surrender along with your teamates, and you will be allowed to take the body of your friend, I give you my word as the “Prince of Asgard,” he will recieve an honorable warriors burial….It is to late for that “Warrior Prince,” I too give you my word as an “Amazon” warrior, upon your death at my hands, you too shall be shown the same courtesy….!!!!!Although it is not the “God of Thunder's” wish for further confrontation …..If it is further battle you crave, for Odin, for Asgard, “So be it”……To be continued…..

Bart Ehrman has popularized arguments for forgeries in the NT recently. Sorry, this is a bit long, but short answers can only go so far.Let’s start with 2 Thessalonians:For starters, Ehrman argues that the views concerning the Second Advent expressed in 2 Thessalonians differ remarkably from those found in 1 Thessalonians so that they can’t be written by the same person. Here’s Ehrman:“The author of 2 Thessalonians, claiming to be Paul, argues that the end is not, in fact, coming right away. Certain things have to happen first. There will be some kind of political or religious uprising and rebellion, and an Antichrist-like figure will appear who will take his seat in the Temple of Jerusalem and declare himself to be God. Only then will the “Lord Jesus” come to “destroy him with the breath of his mouth” (2:3-8)… But can this be by the same author who wrote the other letter, 1 Thessalonians? Compare the scenario of Jesus’s appearance in 2 Thessalonians, according to which it will be a while yet and preceded by recognizable events, with that of 1 Thessalonians, when the end will come like a “thief in the night,” who appears when people least expect it. There seems to be a fundamental disparity between the teachings of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, which is why so many scholars think that 2 Thessalonians is not by Paul.”— Forged, pp. 121-122But is that so? After going through the famous “rapture” passages in the previous chapter, (1 Thess. 4:16-18) Paul addresses the timing of Jesus’ coming. Paul writes: “Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.” (1 Thess. 5:1-6)Ehrman seems to misconstrue Paul’s words. Quoting Paul, he says the end will come “like a thief in the night” but v.4 says that day won’t surprise believers like a thief. That’s for those who are in darkness. This presupposes signs that they should’ve been aware of. This is why Paul gets down to brass tacks in his second letter compared to the warmth of his first letter. They were being thickheaded, so he had to remind them of things he told them in person. (2 Thess 2:5)So when Paul says that Jesus will come like a thief in the night, he’s not saying there is nothing leading up to that. Because they’re of the day, and therefore should be aware of exactly what is leading up to his second coming. At the same time, when Paul teaches about when the ‘man of lawlessness’ comes, he’s not saying the timing of Jesus’ coming is exactly predictable, either.DOES JESUS COME LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT, OR ARE THERE OBVIOUS SIGNS?Consider Jesus’ admonition in Matthew 24:42-43: “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.”Just like in 1 Thessalonians, we read that Jesus’ coming will be like a thief in the night. But reading the rest of the chapter, there’s a laundry list of events that have to happen first, including the apostasy that Paul mentions in 2 Thessalonians. (Matt 24:10-12) So in the same chapter, Matthew tells us that Jesus will both appear suddenly and also after observable events. If Matthew didn’t see the tension as a contradiction, why would Paul?Some might object here and say, “Exactly! The Pseudo-Paul who wrote 2 Thessalonians was dependent on Matthew (or Mark) and combined some imagery from Daniel and added the ‘man of lawlessness’. We know Matthew and Mark were written at least two decades after Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians.”But the dating of the gospels isn’t that cut-and-dried. Even skeptical scholars like James Crossley have offered arguments for dating Mark in the 40s or 50s. And there are also compelling reasons to think Matthew was written before the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. I could get into several, but here are three I find convincing:Jesus approves of the Temple Tax. Robert Gundry tells why this is so significant: “The distinctive passage [of Matthew 17:24–27] teaches that Jewish Christians should not contribute to their fellow Jews rejection of the gospel by refusing to pay the Temple tax. This exhortation not only shows Matthew’s concern to win Jews. It specifically favors a date of writing before AD 70; for after the destruction of God’s temple in Jerusalem the Romans shifted the tax to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in Rome (Josephus J.W. 7.6.6 §218; Dio Cassius 65.7; Suetonius Dom. 12), and m. Šeqal. 8.8 says that the laws concerning “the Shekel dues…apply only such time as the Temple stands.” Surely Matthew does not include this passage to support the upkeep of a pagan temple, for then the argument implies that the disciples are sons of the pagan god! Nor can we suppose that Matthew is urging Jewish Christians to support the school of pharisaical rabbis that formed in jam yet during the aftermath of the Jewish rebellion, for he excoriates the Pharisees throughout his Gospel. The argument from 17:24 – 27 for an early date gains further cogency from the evidence that Matthew himself composed the passage.“Swearing by the Temple. In Matthew 23:16-22, Jesus is excoriating the scribes and Pharisees. He says “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it. If this text was written after 70 AD, it makes as much sense as me talking to a Gen Z audience about slide projectors. Unless the temple still stood, all of these practices would be antiquated.Gift at the Altar. In Matthew 5:23-24 we read “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” As with the previous passage, this Jesus-saying is only found in Matthew. It could be the case that Matthew was faithfully passing on a saying of Jesus, but it doesn’t make as much sense for Matthew to relay it for the very important reason that no one could obey it if the temple was no longer standing!This excursus into Matthew reinforces that there was an early Christian belief that there would be events that lead up to Jesus’ Second Advent, but it wasn’t so predictable that they’d know the day or the hour. Paul echoes these early Jesus traditions in his second letter. There’s no reason to think that there are contradictory theologies here. This is a pastoral correction.BART’S SECOND OBJECTION TO 2 THESSALONIANS – PAUL’S “SIGNATURE”So much for the eschatological objection. But Bart has another argument:“At the end of the letter, the author insists that he is Paul and gives a kind of proof: “I, Paul write this greeting with my own hand. This is the mark in every letter of mine; it is the way I write” (3:17)… What is peculiar is that the author claims that this is his invariant practice. But it is not how most of the undisputed letters of Paul end, including 1 Thessalonians. The words are hard to account for as Paul’s, but they make sense if a forger is trying to convince his readers that he really was Paul. But perhaps the queen doth protest too much.”— Forged, pg. 122-123Is Bart right in suggesting that the writer of 2 Thessalonians overcompensating? In his paper Who Wrote 2 Thessalonians?: A Fresh Look at an Old Problem, biblical scholar Paul Foster absolutely demolishes this cheeky objection. It’s a bit of a technical paper, so brace yourself for some Greek and fancy words, but Foster’s worth quoting at length here:“For the sake of argument, the implications of reading this signature as stemming from a non-Pauline author without any form of oversight from Paul will be considered. The formula is presented in the following form: ὁ ἀσπασμὸς τῇ ἐμῇ χειρὶ Παύλου, ὅ ἐστιν σημεῖον ἐν πάσῃ ἐπιστολῇ, οὕτως γράφω (2 Thess 3.17) The opening clause, ὁ ἀσπασμὸς τῇ ἐμῇ χειρὶ Παύλου, is an exact parallel to 1 Cor 16.21 and Col 4.18.By contrast, the signature in Phlm 1.19 acts as a surety guaranteeing repayment if claimed, and the formula in Gal 6.11 may be an intentional contrast with those described in the following verse as ‘desiring to make a good show in the flesh’. As there are no obvious identifiable strong parallels between 2 Thessalonians and Colossians or Philemon, and only one verbally similar parallel with Galatians (Gal 6.9/2 Thess 3.13), it would appear that if a supposed non-Pauline author has derived knowledge of this expression from any other epistle it must be from 1 Corinthians.Given the lack of other parallels, a direct literary relationship between 1 Corinthians and 2 Thessalonians may not be likely. Furthermore, if one were persuaded of a literary relationship the direction of that dependence would also need to be established. However, again for the sake of argument, assuming that 2 Thessalonians did in fact know 1 Corinthians, then the author of 2 Thessalonians would appear to be aware of only a single case where Paul greeted his recipients in his own hand.Furthermore, unless that author was consulting the autograph of 1 Corinthians, that particular feature might not stand out from the continuous script of what would be the uniform hand of a subsequent copyist. In fact, for the author of 2 Thessalonians to claim that a handwritten signature was Paul’s uniform practice in all his letters would require him to be familiar with a significant collection of Pauline epistles.[But]…it is not until the mid-second century with Marcion’s ten-letter collection that one begins to be able to identify a sizeable corpus of Pauline letters. While this collection process may have begun earlier in the second century, it would appear that a pseudonymous author would not have had access to the resources of a Pauline letter collection until the second century on which to base the claim that Paul wrote a greeting in his hand in all his letters. So one would be forced to postulate a very late date for 2 Thessalonians, if it were non-Pauline.However, such a position quickly falls apart on other grounds. If the putative pseudonymous author were consulting a Pauline letter collection around the beginning of the second century (if such a collection even existed at that point) this presumably would not have been formed from the autographs. Reading many of Paul’s epistles, such as Romans, 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Ephesians, and 1 Thessalonians, it would not appear to be the case that Paul did make a sign in his own handwriting in every letter.Again, also self-defeating for this hypothesis is the fact noted by both defenders and opponents of Pauline authorship of 2 Thessalonians, that the only Pauline epistle that appears to be known by 2 Thessalonians is in fact 1 Thessalonians, where there is no reference to Paul making a sign in his own hand.”Sorry again for the long quote, but it’s worth every sentence. Queue the sad trombone for Bart and whoever else makes this argument. Too much ink spilled over this objection, lame pun intended. Plausibly, Paul fixed his signature to the letter so that the Thessalonican church would quit acting like Chicken Littles over missing Christ’s return.PAUL WROTE 2 THESSALONIANSHere’s the bottom line: The church father Polycarp quoted the letter in around 110 AD. Polycarp reportedly knew the apostle John and was familiar with Paul’s martyrdom. Irenaeus not only quoted the letter but refers to it by name in 180 AD. The heretic Marcion included it in his canon in around 150. Clement of Alexandria [Miscellanies, 1.5, p. 554; The Instructor, 1.17], and Tertullian made use of the epistle in the early third-century.Every piece of external evidence we have says Paul wrote it. It wasn’t until the 19th-century did this come into question, and as we’ve seen here, those reasons are dubious. Critics haven’t provided persuasive enough reasons for us to think that 2 Thessalonians is a forgery.THE PASTORALSThe witness of the early church fathersIf there was anyone in a spot to know who wrote 1st and 2nd Timothy, it would have been the church father Polycarp. In his letter to the Philippian church written in about 110 AD, Polycarp quoted 1 Timothy 3:8, 6:7, 6:10 and 2 Timothy 2:12. He also mentions Paul by name four times in his letter, including some indications that he was familiar with the apostle’s martyrdom.On the significance of these early patristic quotes, here’s Biblical scholar Kenneth Berding. He makes two main observations in regards to Polycarp’s use of 1 and 2 Timothy:“Observation #1: The first is that Polycarp clusters allusions to Paul’s writings around each of the three times that he mentions Paul’s name explicitly (in chapters 3, 9, and 11). You see, Polycarp is like some elderly Christians you may have met in your life who are so immersed in the Bible that they almost talk like the Bible. Polycarp had huge sections of the Old and New Testaments committed to memory. His letter could almost be described as a pastiche of allusions to various writings, about half of which are originally Paul’s. (His connection to Paul in this letter makes sense, of course, since he is writing his letter to a Pauline congregation….the Philippians!) Polycarp pretty randomly mixes allusions to Paul’s writings (half of his total allusions) with allusions to other writings (e.g., Psalms, Matthew, 1 Peter, 1 John). But there is one significant exception: when he mentions “Paul,” he clusters allusions to Paul right after the mention of his name. He does this all three times he mentions Paul, showing that this is a pattern.Observation #2: In the first “cluster” of Pauline allusions are two clear allusions to 1 Timothy (1 Tim. 6:10 and 6:7 found in Pol. Phil. 4.1) and in the second “cluster” is one clear allusion to 2 Timothy (2 Tim. 4:10 found in Pol. Phil. 9.2). There are none from the Pastoral Letters in the third cluster.The implication of the first observation is that Polycarp considers the phrases in each cluster to be Pauline. The implication of the second observation is that Polycarp considers the phrases which he quotes from 1 and 2 Timothy also to be from Paul.This, of course, doesn’t prove that Polycarp is correct in his assessment. But, as Koester writes, Polycarp was “doubtlessly the most significant ecclesiastical leader of the first half of II C. E.”Critics say that the writer of the Pastorals was addressing Gnostic heresies of the late first and early second-century, so they were written around 110. But Polycarp was writing around the same time and seems convinced Paul wrote the letters. Irenaeus of Lyons tells us that Polycarp knew some of the apostles, in particular, John, whom Paul met. (Galatians 2:9). And he was familiar with Paul’s death, so this theory that the pastorals were written in the early 2nd-century is pretty strained.Writing some 40-50 years later, Irenaeus explicitly mentions that Paul is the author of the Pastoral Letters. In his work Against Heresies, Irenaeus writes regarding heretics and says: “Paul commands us, ‘after a first and second admonition, to avoid” (Titus 3:10). Irenaeus also writes that Paul says to avoid those who use “novelties of words of false knowledge” (1 Tim 6:20).Furthermore, the author of the Didache (a very early Christian writing dated to the late 1st-century) clearly quotes 1 Timothy 3:4. The Pastorals are also quoted by Clement of Alexandria (180 AD), Tertullian (220 AD) and Origen (230 AD). The witness of the early church is pretty clear. They quoted the pastorals as authoritative, and they believed the letters genuinely be from the Apostle Paul.UNDESIGNED COINCIDENCESIf you’re forging a letter from someone and you want to make it believable, you’re going to color it with some overt connections with their previous letters and life-details. Some critics say this exists when the writer of Timothy talks about Paul’s former life as a church persecutor. (1 Tim. 1:13-16) But there are some less obvious interconnections in the pastorals that seem very unlikely to be intentional. These point to Paul being the genuine author of the letters.These come in the form of undesigned coincidences. What the heck is an undesigned coincidence anyway? An undesigned coincidence (named by J.J. Blunt and first popularized by William Paley) happens when one account of an event leaves out a piece of info which is incidentally filled in by a different account, which helps to answer some natural questions raised by the first. You can read more about them here.Lydia McGrew has recently revived and updated this older argument in her fantastic book Hidden in Plain View. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in defending the reliability of the New Testament. For our purposes, we’ll look at three undesigned coincidences where Acts and 1 and 2 Timothy seem to incidentally interlock.TIMOTHY’S UPBRINGINGThe first is about Timothy himself. 2 Timothy 1:5 says “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.”. 2 Timothy 3:15 gives us some more details about Timothy’s upbringing: “and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”So Timothy was steeped in the Jewish scriptures and in the faith. These details fit well together with what we read in Acts 16:1-3: “Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.”In Acts, we learned Timothy’s father was Greek and apparently drew the line at circumcision, but his mother was a Jewish convert to Christianity. That’s why he would’ve been familiar with the scriptures since he was a child. 2 Timothy mentions his grandmother but not his father. Neither group of details seems to be in connection with the other. McGrew concludes that “this undesigned coincidence has the ring of truth. Timothy’s father was a Greek and his mother was Jewish, he was raised from childhood in the knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures, and both the author of 2 Timothy and the author of Acts knew about him and described him accurately.” (HIPV, 200)TIMOTHY’S FAMILIARITY WITH PAUL’S TRIALS2 Timothy 3:10-11 says: “You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me.” This raises an interesting question. Paul went through a lot of persecutions, so why mention Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra as ones that Timothy would be familiar with?In Acts 16:1 we read that Timothy was known as a believer when Paul came to Derbe and Lystra. Both cities are near Iconium, so Timothy must have been from one of them.In the run-up to these verses, Acts gives us the rundown on the persecution of Paul experienced during his first missionary journey in Antioch (13:44–52), Iconium (14:5), and then Lystra (14:19). Paul was stoned and thought dead in Lystra in particular, so surely word got around about this event. It must’ve made quite an impression on a young believer like Timothy. Furthermore, Paul calls Timothy his “beloved child” (2 Timothy 1:2), suggesting he played a role in him becoming a Christian.McGrew sums up this undesigned coincidence as follows: “Notice how indirect all of this is. One infers from II Timothy that Paul had some special reason to mention those persecutions to Timothy and to say that they were known to Timothy. One notes the point in Acts 13–14 where the narrative describes persecutions in those towns. One then infers from Acts 16 that Timothy was already a disciple from that region and had been converted during Paul’s previous visit to the region, described in Acts 13–14, during which the persecutions took place.” (HIPV, 203)THE ROSTER OF WIDOWSFor our last undesigned coincidence, we notice that in 1 Timothy 5:9-10 there are some instructions on how to help widows: “Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband, and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.”The conservative dating of 1 Timothy is in the early 60s, three decades after some of the stories related in Acts, which includes details of a ministry devoted to assisting widows. With that in mind, check out Acts 6:1-4: “Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”So Paul implies that this listing of widows has been a tradition that’s been well-established, and he’s laying out some specifics how Timothy is to carry it out in his neck of the woods. We’d expect this kind of clarification if this practice had been carried out for a while and there needed to be some further practical instructions given since some women were abusing the system. (1 Tim 5:13-14)Here’s William Paley’s summary on this particular undesigned coincidence: “Now this is the way a man writers, who is conscious that he is writing to persons already acquainted with the subject of his letter; and who, he knows, will readily apprehend and apply what he says by virtue of their being so acquainted: but it is not the way in which a man writes upon any other occasion” (Horae Paulinae, pp 300-301)PERSONAL REFERENCESThere are a lot of personal references made in the pastorals. The writer mentions a lot of individuals that he had a connection with during his missionary journeys. In 1 Timothy 1:20, he names Hymenaeus and Alexander as false teachers.In 2 Timothy, he not only mentions Eunice and Lois by name (which we touched on earlier) but he also blesses Onesiphorus for his kindness that he showed him at Rome and Ephesus (2 Tim 1:16-18) He talks about a number of disciples forsaking him during his trials, such as Demas, Crescens and Titus. (v. 4:10-11) He mentions Mark and Luke and asks Timothy to bring him his scrolls. (v11-13) He then asks Timothy to greet Priscilla and Aquila. He mentions Erastus and says he left Trophimus sick in Miletus. (v. 19-20)In Titus 3:12 he asks Titus to join him once Artemas or Tychicus arrived to replace him. He also mentions some fellow workers, like Apollos and Zenas the lawyer (Titus 3:12-13)If such allusions to people and circumstances were spun out of thin air by a forger pretending to be Paul, you’d think that such a sham would be easily exposed. But as we said earlier, none of the church fathers doubted the letters’ genuineness.Now let’s listen to the critics and see just how strong their arguments are.UNPAULINE VOCABULARY?One of the more popular objections to Pauline authorship is the difference in vocabulary between the undisputed letters of Paul and the Pastorals. Here’s noted biblical scholar Bart Ehrman:“There are 848 different words used in the pastoral letters. Of that number 306-over one-third of them!-do not occur in any of the other Pauline letters of the New Testament. That’s an inordinately high number; especially given the fact that about two-thirds of these 306 words are used by Christian authors living in the second century. This suggests the author is using a vocabulary that was becoming more common after the days of Paul, and that he too, therefore, lived after Paul.”Forged: Writing In The Name Of God – Why The Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are. Pg 112If you don’t find this too persuasive of an argument, I can’t say that I blame you. We all know that we use a different range of vocabulary based upon our audience. Paul’s letter to Timothy was a personal letter written to one of his spiritual sons and a fellow minister of the gospel, unlike his letter to the Romans, a large church body whom he hadn’t met yet. It’s not hard to see why his vocabulary is different.Allow me to give an example from everyday life. I’ve been a supervisor before. I’m going to write an email differently writing to an individual under me who I’ve built some rapport with vs. an email that I’d address the whole company with. Moreover, even in my own blogs, I’ve written about sports and apologetics. My vocabulary changes quite a bit depending on my audience. I don’t tend to write about baseball the way I write about apologetics. And I certainly don’t text my wife the way I blog for an audience! (I can’t see myself using the word “moreover” in a text to my wife.)Even Ehrman himself suggests that this isn’t all that strong of an objection to Pauline authorship. Quoting Ehrman: “Probably not too much stock should be placed in mere numbers. Everyone, after all, uses different words on different occasions, and most of us have a much richer stock of vocabulary than shows up in any given set of letters we write.”DOES ‘FAITH’ MEAN SOMETHING DIFFERENT IN THE PASTORALS THAN IT DOES IN PAUL’S OTHER WRITINGS?So Ehrman moves his focus from the word-statistics to how the way the words are used in the Pastorals. Here’s Bart again:“In books such as Romans and Galatians faith refers to the trust a person has in Christ to bring about salvation through his death. In other words, the term describes a relationship with another; faith is a trust “in” Christ. The author of the Pastorals also uses the term “faith.” But here it is not about a relationship with Christ; faith now means the body of teaching that makes up the Christian religion. That is “the faith” (see Titus 1:13) Same word, different meaning.”Forged: Writing In The Name Of God – Why The Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are. Pg 113But hang on a second! That just isn’t true. Paul mostly does use the word ‘faith’ in the manner that Bart says, but he also does use it to refer to a body of doctrine at times in his undisputed letters. Here are some examples:1 Corinthians 16:13 (ESV) “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”2 Cor 13:5 “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith…Gal 1:23 “They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”Phil 1:27 “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel”I’d argue that Ehrman’s just wrong here to suggest that Paul doesn’t use different shades of meaning when he’s using the word ‘faith’. He doesn’t use it in a wooden manner that has only one definition.DO THE PASTORALS DISAGREE WITH PAUL’S TEACHING ON MARRIAGE IN 1 CORINTHIANS 7?Another objection that Bart raises is Paul’s idea of marriage elsewhere doesn’t match in the Pastoral letters. Here again, is Dr. Ehrman:“In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul is insistent that people who are single should try and remain single, just as he is. His reason is that the end of all things is near, and people should devote themselves to spreading the word, not establishing their social lives. But how does that square with the view in the Pastorals? Here the author insists that the leaders of the church be married. In Paul’s letter, it’s better to not be married; in the Pastorals, it is required that people (at least church leaders) be married.”Forged: Writing In The Name Of God – Why The Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are. Pg 114But this ignores the context of 1 Corinthians 7. Paul says that he wishes that all were as he was (celibate) but he says that not everyone has the same gift and his wish was not the same as a command. He starts off the chapter by saying “because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.” (v2)It’s not hard to imagine Paul, thinking prudentially and wanting to avoid sexual scandal, saying that pastors should be the husband of one wife. While Paul thought that celibacy might be the best for some, it wasn’t practical for all. With pastors leading the flock, the less temptation they have to deal with the better.IS THE IDEA OF BISHOPS AND DEACONS FOREIGN TO PAUL?Bart’s final objection has to do with the church hierarchy. He says that this “probably the biggest problem with accepting the Pastorals as coming from Paul”“The one thing Paul does not do is write to the leaders at the church of Corinth and tell them to get their parishioners in order. Why is that? Because there were no leaders at the church of Corinth. There were no bishops and deacons. There were no pastors. There was a group of individuals, each of whom had a gift of the Spirit, in this brief time before the end came. Contrast that with what you have in the Pastorals. Here you do not have individuals endowed by the Spirit working together to form the community. Here you have the pastors Timothy and Titus. You have the church leaders: bishops and deacons. You have hierarchy, structure, organization. That is to say, you have a different historical situation than you had in the days of Paul.”Forged: Writing In The Name Of God – Why The Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are. Pg 116This strikes me as patently false. In Paul’s undisputed letters, there are offices of overseers and deacons. Paul opens his letter to the Philippians with “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons”. (Phil 1:1) Here the word overseer and bishop are interchangeable.While not as explicit, Paul also does mention that the Thessalonians had church leaders: “We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you” (1 Thess 5:12). He also states in Romans that some are gifted to lead (Rom 12:7) and mentions specific church leaders in other places. (Romans 16:1, 1 Cor 16:15-17) If this is the strongest objection against the genuineness of the Pastoral epistles, then color me unimpressed.VERDICT: PAUL VERY LIKELY WROTE 1 AND 2 TIMOTHYThe critics’ case for forgery in the name of Paul just doesn’t seem to be all that remarkable. When we weigh the positive case vs. the negative, it seems to be far more probable that the early church got it right. If the critical scholars think that Pastorals are obviously not Pauline based on such flimsy arguments, then why should we not trust them when they tell us that Ephesians or Colossians isn’t Pauline as well?

***WARNING***This is a very long answer. Do not click read more if you don’t want this taking up your feed. Also, spoilers.Why Tangled Is My Favorite Disney Princess MovieI feel like one of the best conversation starters to start with someone is the subject of a “favorite Disney Princess.” You can tell a lot about someone from this question or at least about what they admire. If they like Belle, they appreciate someone who is studious or caring. If they like Mulan, they’re probably into braver and stronger characters. If they like Aurora, they don’t exi-.I have a list of jokes that can be said about favorite princesses, but the one I want to focus on along with her movie is The Emperor’s New Groo-, okay that was a joke.It’s Tangled. There’s a lot to unravel here. Obviously, the main focus would have to be on the Princess character, but there are a lot of factors to judge in concern of this sort of thing. I mean you got the villain, the side characters, the “prince” (and I say “prince” like that because let’s face it. Are all of them really princes?). So come along!Let’s discuss this topic as I sit on my butt and talk about this because I’m too afraid to talk about this to some other chap.(Rapunzel is a good character)Rapunzel is a good character. Her motivations are clear, her personality is fun and charming, and she herself is quite attractive. I’m not creepy. Let’s start with her motivations. If you argued that her character is basic and probably just an algorithm for a traditional stereotypical teenage girl, I-I wouldn’t completely argue with you. She does have that independence mindset that a lot of girls have and her eventual relationship with Flynn can seem a little cliche because the girl character needs to have a love interest. Oooooooooooh. The thing is, though, her motivations for independence are well-founded in her isolation from the outside world. Imagine being confined in a space limited to a pretty large living room and two bedrooms (estimate, not completely sure). Additionally, she has to live with a verbally though subtle abusive “mother” figure (more on that later). All of Rapunzel’s experience on the outside world are based on a window and probably those books she reads in the morning. Her relationship with Flynn and the idea of love also come in way later. Her goal is focused on independence, and the idea of a man-figure comes later through experience. Actually, if anything, the guy-figure is sort of a catalyst for the idea of independence. She needs this dude to give her access to the independence factor of the outside world. This reflects one of my problems with Frozen. It’s a pretty good movie, Anna is a pretty good character, but too much of the conflict revolves around her connection to one guy. This also reflects off Frozen as flawed because, unlike Tangled, this gets in the way of her true intention of forming a bond with Elsa. Rapunzel wants to be free and, oh! A guy! Sure, that’s a part of my motivation. Anna is just like, “I want to meet my sister. Oh, and a dude would be nice as well.”Additionally, Rapunzel actually has remorse for her actions. She was afraid of hurting Mother Gothel which led to scenes of doubt and despair (you know which one I’m talking about). She’s genuinely sorry that she left the tower. What does she have to repay for that ?Well, that, but she does have the best time of her life. I also truly believe that there was a part of her that believed that Mother Gothel wasn’t exactly the nicest person. The biggest indication of this is her first argument with Mother Gothel in the “Mother Knows Best Reprise: in which she states her claim about Eugene. This is an interesting conflict because Flynn is everything Mother Gothel said was wrong about the world. He’s not mean or evil or has a dental issue and, oh wait. I’m getting ahead of myself. Hold on.(Flynn exists)Flynn is the most dashing character in Disney history. Close follow ups are Phoebus from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Robin Hood from Robin Hood, Kristoff from Frozen, Tarzan from Tarzan, and Tamatoa.What makes Flynn so dashing are not only his looks or sense of humor (which is quite charming if I say so myself), but he’s ultimately a flawed person and deals with it in such great ways. He’s been orphaned which ultimately made him broken, so he makes a name and tells legends of who he is, but I think the better form of his dealt flaws is his redemption when he gets stabbed. Mother Gothel relayed the fact that Flynn was a thief and didn’t care about Rapunzel in the aforementioned “Mother Knows Best Reprise.” Flynn has been stealing for his entire life, but there are two ways he dealt with it, and they both revolve around the giving and stealing dynamic that I made up in my head because manipulative wordplay is fun! The first way was the fact that he gave Rapunzel a chance to live life and experience it for the first time. In words, that may not seem like much, but the events of the Kingdom Dance and the lanterns prove otherwise. He gave her a chance to feel free and to have a choice of the people she gets to meet and the places she gets to go. The second redemption is more of a consequence through experience, and it’s the scene where he dies in front of Rapunzel. His unfulfilled life finally had some light in it through Rapunzel. She became the first thing he truly loved. As Jack Sparrow once said,“Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate.” Rapunzel became the first thing in his life that meant something to him ever since he was orphaned from his parents and the idea of love. He even stated that he’d rather be lonely, but something touched him. Someone. When that person was in danger, he did everything in his power to take her back, but when she was in his reach, she was stolen back. His most valuable aspect was taken from him worse than he ever could from his time as a thief. Flynn was scarred physically and emotionally through the loss that was the only one that mattered anymore. Death meant nothing to him as he sacrificed his second chance at life for Rapunzel’s. The effect of this is heartbreaking. Maybe if he did stay dead, that would be true redemption, but Rapunzel didn’t deserve that and went through too much at that point. I love this, but there’s another person that allowed this to happen which I do wanna point out. Who is that you ask?(Mother Gothel scares the living daylights out of me)Mother Gothel is depicted as a real person, and it’s awesome and scary. Almost as scary as Frollo, and I say “almost” because...I think what made Mother Gothel so frightening was the fact that, besides the fact that she runs on sun-hair juice, she’s not very powerful like Hades and Maleficent and uses her mind as any evil person in the real world would do like Baron Zemo who is a very good villain. Don’t @ me. She verbally abuses Rapunzel in subtle yet striking ways, she makes deals with thieves and criminals, she stole from the monarchy so that she can live for eternity even if the thing that keeps her alive won’t live as long, she manipulates people so that she can get whatever she wants, she keeps private property from the government without taxation, and she kills people. As much as I joke about this, there are people in the world that do such things like kill, manipulate, and verbally abuse. She’s relatable to the real terrorists in the world that haunt the minds of good people. Her destructive nature is real. What makes her more real is the fact that she’s not just straight up evil. There was a moment where Mother Gothel actually lets Rapunzel heal Eugene. Even if it is more of a compromise, the idea of love makes her slightly sympathetic but still evil. That may make her less scary, but it makes her more of an actual person which may be more scary. I like other aspects as well. The “Mother Knows Best Reprise” I keep bringing up is genuinely good though not the best and drives the plot very nicely. Her voice acting is cunning and sadistic yet calm and experienced. My only problem with this character is that her motivations are one-dimensional even if the outcome of who she is isn’t. She just wants to live forever and that’s it. Typical lack of motivation from Disney. That’s honestly sad because the movie had so many opportunities to explain her sympathy and pain. There’s a theory by the Super Carlin Brothers about her origins and connection to Hercules that makes sense (check it out). There’s also a Mother Gothel origin story that I never read that hopefully fills in those gaps, but what kid would be interested in that. I wouldn’t have been for sure. Oh, well. There’s no point in beating a dead ho-(The side characters are actually very nice)Let’s have a look at the rest of our roster of characters. Do they hold the movie up very well for the time they’re given. Obviously, the two most iconic would be Maximus the horse and Pascal the chameleon.Maximus reminds me of Spiderman Noir not through their humor type, but they’re both defined as serious characters that make me laugh every time. There are several gags revolving around him being anthropomorphic and making facial expressions, and it’s just hilarious. Pascal is also a fun character who exists as Rapunzel’s animal sidekick because Disney princesses need those for some reason. I could say that Pascal follows Maximus’ anthropomorphic and facial humor though not as well, but he’s cute to add to the appeal to the kids and me. However, I do love the fact that Pascal is a minor representation of Rapunzel’s independence. It’s a nice little detail. I also think that the crooks in the Snuggly Duckling are very funny as well. You can also sympathise for their dreams as adorable and sad, but still focus on Rapunzel’s dream while simultaneously having fun. Minor thing, I was initially annoyed with the cupid guy at first, and his first few moments of screen time are still annoying to me, but there’s a gag in a jail cell that made me laugh. Actually, the whole jailbreak scene was hilarious. I wish it was longer. I also like the king and queen. They have no lines whatsoever, but their facial expressions and body language are perfect whenever they’re on screen. You can really feel for them, and it’s heartbreaking when you stop and think that Rapunzel is often a few miles away. I just realized that it’s kind of symbolic that whenever Rapunzel is closer to the kingdom, she gets slightly more in touch with her past as the Lost Princess. To me, that’s such a good detail and adds a nice layer on the film. Gosh, I love this film.(OHMIGOSH! THE SCORE!)No, it isn’t Beauty and the Beast. No, it isn’t the Lion King. No, it is not the entirety of the Hunchback of Notre Dame score minus Friend Like You, but I love this soundtrack anyway. Earlier, I was listening to the soundtrack while writing this, and I have no regrets. I would’ve listened to the entire thing again, but then I remembered that Don’t Think Twice by Thomas Diognardi was a thing. ANYWAY, When Will My Life Begin rocks, both Mother Knows Best-s are good but mostly for plot relevance while maintaining a really nice tone, and I Have a Dream is super fun. I guess When Will My Life Begin Reprise was not my cup of tea, but it applied more showings of Rapunzel’s character, so it’s still good. Is there a song I’m missing? Probably not (hint: I See the Light is getting its own segment). Even if Tangled doesn’t have the most powerful songs like the masterpieces above, I think what really sets this score apart is the consistency of fun quality. All of the songs except for the 20 second song that was necessary for character development are consistent bangers. It’s not like Hunchback of Notre Dame which, again, has the cursed Friend Like Me. It’s not like Lion King which has mediocre songs like Can’t Wait To Be King or the oversaturated Hakuna Matata (I really like this song, but it’s not as good as everyone says it is). It’s not like Beauty and the Beast which...actually, Beauty and the Beast is consistently good. Nevermind. My point is Tangled has very good songs with a consistent narrative of following your dreams. Not much else to explain there.(Other Random Stuff)And now for the part of the show where Joshdoesn’thavemuchelsetosayinfulldetailexceptforthespeciallyconcoctedconclusion, soheshoveshisotherthoughtsintothisonesegment. Anyway, I like the setting. The animation looks really nice and the animation still holds up...10 years later?! Now I feel old (no disrespect to my adult audience). The forest, pub, and kingdom are all atmospheric. The comedy is still funny. I love all the interactions between Flynn and Maximus as well as Rapunzel’s dynamic with Pascal. Mother Gothel was surprisingly funny and savage. I like her almost bipolar personality as one is, for lack of a better term, motherly but forced while the other is threatening, vile, cruel, and unforgiving. Do I have anything else? I’m sure that if there was a detail I missed, you guys can comment it under my answer. Other than that, I’ve pretty much run out of things to talk abou-(I See the Light Is My Favorite Disney Song)Some of you may know this already, but I’ve been a romantic for a decent amount of time now. I’ve always wanted to be in a committed relationship with a girl who could share my interests and share intimate facts with. We could sit together and gaze at a sunset or merely just do anything. It sounds great! Due to this fascination, I’ve always liked well-written romance sub-plots and even stories. With that being said, I See the Light wraps up the entirety of Rapunzel and Eugene’s love story. Rapunzel has finally seen the outside world, and Eugene has finally done something really good in his life. Really good. However, Rapunzel realized that a thief became someone better for her enjoyment. Eugene realized that he finally has someone in his life who has given him meaning. The setting of the song is gorgeous. The moment was perfect. The song itself was beautiful, touching, and purposeful.(What Now?)Tangled can be a massive impact on media in general if we let it. I think it can set a precedent for future Disney movies namely Princess ones. Why these Princesses matter so much is that they can be set as role models for future girls to look up to. I also think it can set up how to do a simple story which is what I personally believe Moana took inspiration from. Finally, I think that Tangled can show other movies how to do character development. Disney’s properties as of now have maintained a pretty good set of characters with nice growth, but what Tangled does is that it gears everything it is to the characters. The songs, interactions, and romance are all purposeful, powerfully beautiful, and intricately aligned for the sole purpose of given its characters a purpose.Author’s Note: I actually started this essay back in the summer and continued it in September. I planned on releasing it here, but some of you know what happened. This was an interesting one to write as it was one of my first comedic reviews I’ve ever written. I think Tangled was a good place to start what with its comedy and all that junk. I watched this for the first time in elementary school, and even then, I thought it was pretty good. I didn’t think about it until a couple years ago where I started my Disney existential crisis. Here I am, a 17 year old boy writing about Tangled. Anyway, thanks for reading!Have fun stormin’ the castle. It’ll take a miracle.