GORY, GORY

WHAT A HELL

OF A WAY TO DIE!

❝ up next, the skinny ginger, he's

. deadly stare, fidgety hands,

a tad paranoid. great guy. could very

well explode you if he wanted to,

so make sure the mortars are aimed

at the right place, rogers. ❞

━━ ,

introducing his commando 105

to the wild commandoes.

❝ oh. you're mad at me. i... guess

i should have known that.❞

marvel cinematic universe

scott grimes

bucky barnes

dead (in 2024/present mcu time)

❝ i know you're called mad

jack, but what the fuck?❞

hugh manilow

ㅤ › manny, by everyone. most people call him by his nickname only.

ㅤ › technical sergeant manilow, his rank and formal addressing in the us army.

ㅤ › mortyman, by fellow soldiers, those not from the commando. this nickname comes from the word mortar, since he was part of the mortar squad in his company and later stood out as an expert in explosives as part of commando 105.

ㅤ › 25 as of first avenger, in 1943

ㅤ › 27 as of first avenger/post-film, in 1945

ㅤ › 94 as of the winter soldier, in 2012

ㅤ › 96 at the time of his death, in 2014

cis male, he/him

gay

ㅤ manny is romantically and sexually attracted to men and people with neutral or masculine gender alignment.

ㅤ his relationship with his sexuality is... weird. it's not like he doesn't know it, but it's also not like he has ever come out or even said it. manny doesn't think about it that much, but he definitely knows it's there. he just needs to come to terms with it.

north las vegas, nevada, united states.

ㅤ not the las vegas, north las vegas, which is an entirely different city but it's almost vegas.

❝ so you've got a plan that's

gonna probably get us all

killed. cool. i'm in.❞

scott grimes

ㅤ specifically in his role as donald malarkey in the hbo miniseries band of brothers.

ㅤ › some scars achieved during training, combat or his childhood as a sickly looking, lowkey unhinged kid.

ㅤ › no tattoos, nor piercings, nor noticeable birthmarks.

ㅤ › definitely recognized due to his red hair, or the occasional soot on his clothes due to his proximity to explosions and fire.

ㅤ › even though he's not know for his strength, manny is unexpectedly strong. not superhuman, not even the strongest in his company, but well, he's in the army after all.

ㅤ › army uniforms are a basis — it was especially common during the war for soldiers off duty to still go out in their army attire, and manny doesn't have much of a social life outside the army anyways.

ㅤ › still, outside of the army, manny keeps a pretty basic style, with casual or dress shirts of soft fabric. he's not a very formal person, but there's a certain level of formality associated with the army.

❝ i went for a patrol, and sir, there's

some freaky shit in that forest.❞

ㅤ manny is... kind of an odd duck. quiet, always alert, a bit jumpy and often keeping to himself. didn't say much, didn't expose himself much; and people are curious, which sparked several rumours about him from early on — weird kid from the company, probably into conspiracy theories, what if he's crazy about aliens, or an alien, or a murderer hiding a body? who knows? he's not one to make a good impression, or to have many friends, but not for antipathy per se, he's just not very good with people. manny himself is still surprised that he found such a tight-knit group of friends like the misfits that would futurely form commando 105 — misfits and weirdos have to stick together, don't they? his friends don't seem to mind that much that he is awkward, or maybe too observant, or maybe too unpredictable. manny is a little box of surprises, in a way; no one knows what's on his mind, since he's mainly secretive, quiet, and very difficult to read, so basically whatever he does is sort of unexpected. he's chaotic in this way. his awkward behavior is balanced, however, by his borderline unnatural skills. observant, he may not pick up social cues, but he's extremely valuable to spot things in the battlefield and quickly find solutions to unexpected situations — no doubt he was selected for an elite group of the united states army. the thing about manny is that he doesn't exactly understand people, or himself for that matter, or interactions or how to manage his own life. but he cares, actually a lot, about the people he's close to; he just doesn't exactly know how to show it. in spaces he's more comfortable in, with people he likes, he can actually be a lot of fun and a great friend. and he would definitely die, or kill, or blow up something, for his closest friends.

ㅤ none. wicked explosive skills, very sharp intuition, always alert eyes, but no superpowers per se.

ㅤ › explosives. that's manny's main ability. from the army's basic training to him specializing in the mortar squad to his interest in bombs, he has a proficiency with explosives and a knack for anything that goes boom.

ㅤ › reconaissance. his naturally alert and borderline paranoid attitude make him ideal for reconaissance operations and just spotting things in general. he's always alert to his surroundings, maybe even too cautiously; that's why it's somewhat hard to get manny by surprise, and to do so you have to be sure he's really entertained with something else.

ㅤ › preparedness. he always seems to have in his rucksack exactly what they need — manny really takes "prepared for everything" seriously.

ㅤ › mechanics. manny can be a helping hand in fixing things as well, due to either his army training, his specialization in bombs or the fact that his dad was a mechanic — he grew up surrounded by tools and spare parts.

ㅤ › army training. he has the basic knowledge of weapons, strategy, survival skills, and physical training the army requires.

ㅤ › truco. when he was stationed in italy, some brazilian guys taught him a card game called truco. manny got kind of obsessed with it for a while. it's a game played in pairs, so his go-to pair is usually his friend cisneros.

ㅤ › singing. surprisingly, manny is a good singer. it's not like he took classes or could be a professional singer at this point, but he's got a genuinely good singing voice and a natural understanding of tempo and pitch. he doesn't pay it much attention though, and mostly just hums a random song while he's working.

ㅤ › cinema, going to the movies is probably his favorite thing to do. he had the habit of going to the movies almost weekly before enlisting, whenever he had some money to spare. manny's favorite film is disney's fantasia — sure, it's for kids or whatever, not like he cares.

ㅤ › mechanics, manny's way of calming down is working on something. when he's stressed, or his social battery's low, or he simply wants some time for himself, he'll just pick up some spare parts and tools.

ㅤ › his friends, it gets even kind of corny how much manny loves his friends. his social circle isn't that big, so he gets very attached to that small number of people that hangs out with him.

ㅤ › chocolate, he has a thing for candy bars — as well as everyone in the commando, which causes full-scale wars for any remaining hershey bars when they're low on food and on the field.

ㅤ › coffee, he shouldn't be left near coffe or else he'll chug the entire bottle — which is probably not a good idea, as he won't sleep for the next several hours. once during training he spent three entire days awake on coffee alone.

ㅤ › 40s bebop, which is a subgenre of jazz, characterized by much faster tempo and a more frenetic atmosphere. it's less popular music to be danced to and more artistic-like music, to be appreciated as a work of art. now, manny doesn't know shit about fine music and jazz as a work of art, but he does like dizzy gillespie and charlie parker so that's all he needs.

ㅤ › crowds, manny thrives when he's alone and the opposite of that gets on his nerves. too many people, too many distractions, too many ways in which things can go wrong.

ㅤ › school, manny was not the bright nor popular kid in class, so we can all assume how that went. also, being the fidgety and distracted kid at school in the 20s wasn't exactly easy.

ㅤ › slugs, they're slimy and pretty annoying.

ㅤ › liver, he tasted it once and wanted to vomit. never again, macfoy.

ㅤ › snow, manny gets literal war flashbacks from terrible missions in the harsh european winter — from frequent bombings with no visibility, to being surrounded by enemies, to having little to no adequate equipment, he's practically seen it all, and still shivers when it snows, even after the war.

ㅤ › that one drill sergeant who trained his company, the guy was an ass.

ㅤ › ghosts. you see, manny's not exactly a scaredy cat, but he sure as hell believes in ghosts. dangerous war zones? cool. extraction missions? on it. hydra bases? going. but any story of a haunted place... can't say he doesn't shiver straight from the core.

ㅤ › loneliness. you see, manny doesn't spend much time in deep self-reflection, so he hasn't verbalized it to himself or realized it explicitly and clearly; however, he's deeply scared of ending up alone. not exactly romantically, but he doesn't want to lose what he found up to now — his friends, hell, his family. it's kind of ironic, even, as he prefers to be alone in the moment, but on the long run? he's scared he won't have anyone to go to when he needs it. actually, as of now, he feels like he doesn't deserve any of his friends — goodness, what has he done to find such amazing people? and he usually isolates himself, keeps quiet, maintains the mystery, because he's scared of opening up and losing everyone due to... whatever he is, whatever way he'll fuck up. again, he doesn't consciously know it — actually he does, unconsciously, but doesn't admit it or thinks about it — manny somewhat hates himself.

❝ it's quiet. finally quiet. i like it.❞

ㅤ › US army, up until retirement after the war.

ㅤ › commando 105, during world war two & a post-war period.

ㅤ › manny was born in this small town in nevada — north las vegas, which is an entirely different city from vegas, but it's almost vegas — to a loving couple in a quiet neighborhood. growing up, he was always the quiet kid; the one in the corner who didn't have many friends, was picked on by the bullies, that kind of thing. understandable, probably the source of some of his self-esteem issues. the manilow couple was lovely, but they were also pretty traditional, white-picket-fence family type, you know? so yeah, manny was too shy for family photos, too quiet in family gatherings, kind of afraid of his older cousins; he always felt a bit distant from the rest of his family in some way, and that lasted through his teenage years until his young adulthood, when the war broke out and most men were called to fight across the ocean. manny's trajectory on the army could be standard, another war story, but it was anything but. to start off, he really was cut no slack at all in training — the drill sergeant really seemed to have fun picking on him, heavens. then, he met the weirdest people in his company — macfoy, cisneros, lady, the colleagues that would quickly become the best of friends. but on top of it, there was the weirdest guy of it all: mad jack churchill, the officer in command of his company, and a man who quickly earned his respect.

ㅤ › as if his life in the army wasn't chaotic enough — you know, with a war raging on and all —, he met captain america. well, that's a funny story. you see, he and his buddies and all of their regiment had been sent to azzano, italy, where most of said regiment was captured by german troops. although manny and most of his friends escaped, captain mad jack churchill was captured with the rest of the regiment — which led the ragtag group of friends to try and rescue him. coincidentally, another man named james buchanan barnes was also captured with that regiment, and his friend also decided to try and rescue him. and essentially that's how a group of absolutely disheveled, but determined, young soldiers bumped into the idol of america himself. the rescue was messy, sure, but they managed to aid captain america into saving an entire regiment from a hydra base — sure, he got the credit, but they got their friend and that's what matters.

ㅤ › commando 105. throughout his time in the army, manny developed his expertise in bombs and soon stood out among the regiment. the legendary story of a hydra base invasion added to his reputation of an ace (as well as a madman), which led to him and his friends being officialized as a commando: a small, elite group of soldiers, first created to fight the war, as all soldiers did, later repurposed by shield to end hydra operations in the war scenario. they were coded commando 105. commando 105 went in several successful, and some less than successful missions, and in various of those they stumbled upon and/or had to work with the howling commandos. that's mainly when manny grew closer to bucky. both groups developed a friendship and figured out ways to work together, maintaining their partnership until after the war, when the commandos were disbanded.

ㅤ › manny retired after the american troops went back to the united states, with commando 105 not continuing operations as shield agents and rather going back home to carry on their lives. well, he tried to carry on with his, at least — traumatized from the experience of war, and losing people he deeply cared about, such as rogers and barnes, manny distanced himself a bit from war memories. he still called and mailed his friends from the commando, the five of them having survived, but more scarcely than the rest did amongst themselves. he didn't marry, didn't have kids, didn't have much friends except for the veterans of the commando; as closed-off as he was naturally, the trauma heightened this behavior and left some emotional scars. and, on top of it, the deeply personal secrets he took with him to his grave — of the things he felt, and the one he loved. manny died in 2014, at 96, with no immediate family, but a tight-knit group of caring friends to keep his memory alive.

❝ i'm on watch tonight. it's not

like i was gonna sleep anyway.❞