Fanfic / A Man Like No Other

A Man Like No Other is a crossover fic by Marcus S Lazarus between The Hunger Games and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, shortly after the events of The Avengers (2012).

Set before the events of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Katniss is approached by a man who turns out to be an aged Steve Rogers to bring the Avengers (minus the younger Cap and Thor) into the future to stop Snow. Along the way, the shocking truth of who Snow actually is is revealed and a new team of Avengers are formed.

The story is complete and now inspired a sequel Falling Hope, Rising Threat that crosses over with The 100, allowing the new Avengers to recruit new members and face further threats from the old world.

These stories can also be found on Archive of Our Own under the banner title "Avengers of Panem".

A Man Like No Other contains:

• Adaptational Badass: The Tributes were always skilled in canon, but they take a new level of skill through their training to become Avengers; Katniss receives training from Clint Barton and Steve Rogers, while Falling Hope has Anya and Octavia each learn that they have powers from distant relatives.
• Adaptational Species Change: In Falling Hope, Octavia is revealed to be half-Frost Giant through her father Loki.
• Alternate Timeline:
  • It's revealed this future deviates from the one the Avengers know thanks to time travel. When Katniss learns Snow is a future Bruce, she's prepared to kill the present Bruce but Steve stops her, saying it won't change this future at all.
  • Openly addressed when Bruce and Snow meet and Snow says he has no memory of talking to his younger self, affirming that this is a new history.
• An Arm and a Leg: Steve Rogers lost one arm and one leg due to past injuries, and Johanna Mason has one arm crushed by the Maestro in the final battle.
• Armor-Piercing Question: As in canon, Clarke cuts through Allie's claim of the City of Light being a good thing by asking about Wells and it taking a few moments for Jaha to remember his dead son.
  Clarke: How can anything be good if it costs you the memories of the good parts of your life just to get rid of the bad?
• Artificial Limbs: Steve and Johanna have artificial limbs to replace their lost injuries.
• Badass Boast:
  • When Johanna questions whether they can really defeat Maestro/Snow with “a bunch of modified weapons,” Clint responds, “We held off an alien invasion in our time with just the six of us and our regular weapons; considering what we’re up against now, I think the odds are still in our favour.“
  • Katniss delivers one to Snow when she, Natasha and Bruce attempt 'Plan A'; unleash the Hulk against the Maestro.
• Batman Gambit: How did Snow ensure that Allie and Ultron wouldn't interfere in his plans for control? By hacking their drones and sending out false data "proving" that Earth's nuclear power plants were headed for meltdown and would kill the planet in a few years. As they assumed mankind would be dead soon anyway, the A.I.s didn't see any reason to go after Snow, letting him stay in power.
• The Bus Came Back: Thor returns to Earth for the first time since the Maestro destroyed the other Avengers when he sees Katniss lift Mjolnir.
• Canon Welding: The first story shows that the world of Hunger Games is a possible alternate future for the MCU. The sequel explains how the characters of The 100 fit into both histories.
• Captured on Purpose: Tony is thrown to realize the plan for Bruce to fight the Maestro is like this. Steve points out that Bruce is facing a version of himself who's not only two hundred years older but far more powerful, not to mention ruthless. He's fully ready for Bruce to lose but give them an inside man and letting Snow underestimate them.
• Celebrity Paradox: Stark notes the resemblance between Gale and Thor, who are played by brothers Liam Hemsworth and Chris Hemsworth.
• Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames:
  • Following the MCU convention, the Avengers are rarely called by their comic book names. The one exception is the Hulk, but that is to distinguish him from Bruce Banner. The few times Steve Rogers is called Captain America—most notably, during a confrontation with President Coin—is largely to emphasize his Memetic Badass reputation.
  • Inverted in Katniss’ case, in which her title as “Mockingjay” is elevated to a codename, and the Avengers call her this as much as they call her Katniss. When the Victors form the New Avengers, Finnick adopts the codename “The Mariner,” Johanna becomes “Bloodaxe,” and Peeta becomes the new Iron Man.
  • In Falling Hope, Rising Threat, Clarke inherits the mantle of the Falcon while Anya becomes a She-Hulk, and Octavia adopts the name 'Azure Witch' after the Grounders start calling her 'Azurwicha', which translates as 'Ice Witch'.
• Composite Character: President Snow is revealed to be the Maestro, Hulk's villainous future self.
• Death by Adaptation: Bruce’s relationship with Natasha begins when she stops him from killing Blonsky after Blonsky kills Betty Ross. Natasha's death later was one of the catalysts for Bruce's descent into the Maestro, and Clint was one of the first people Bruce killed when he officially abandoned his old identity.
• Decapitation Required:
  • In the original fic, the Avengers ultimately defeat the Maestro by having Katniss shoot an explosive arrow into his mouth and blowing up his head.
  • In the sequel, Falling Hope, Rising Threat, this also applies to how Anya (the new She-Hulk) and Johanna Mason (AKA Bloodaxe) kill the Abomination.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • Peeta and Gale are barely present in the story, and Haymitch makes no appearance at all (though he’s referenced), as Steve usurps his role as Katniss’s mentor.
    • Peeta's role is 'elevated' in the sequel when he becomes the new Iron Man, but Gale remains distant from Katniss due to their conflicting attitudes.
  • Alma Coin is relegated to a comparatively more minor role in the new civilian government of Panem, as she has no real political collateral now that the Avengers are a more independent force.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: Snow claims to be this, stating that he treats all races equally, and that anyone can advance in his society as long as they obey his rules. Not exactly true, but racism does not seem to be a part of his evil tyranny.
• The Evils of Free Will:
  • Snow claims that humanity destroyed itself, because too many people were allowed to pursue their own aims, some of which were quite destructive. It’s not clear how much he really believes this, or this is a convenient-sounding motive.
  • ALLIE and a brainwashed Jaha use this to argue it's much better to let everyone in the City of Light to free them of pain. The Avengers are quick to point out all that pain is what makes people human.
• Expendable Alternate Universe: Ignored; it is clearly stated that this timeline and the Avengers' timeline exist independent of each other the moment Katniss and Steve brought the other Avengers into this future and gave them the chance to change it, so both timelines can co-exist.
• Fantastic Racism: It is revealed that the Azgeda officially practice this philosophy, as Queen Nia has disfigured children killed at birth and is determined to kill anyone discovered to possess powers in her territory.
• Future Me Scares Me: Bruce clearly is shaken by how he turns into the Maestro in this future, and makes a vow that he'll never let himself become that man in his world.
• Groin Attack: Hulk to Maestro, just as he did in the original comic.
  Hulk: Sing soprano!
• He's Back!: When Katniss manages to wield Mjolnir, Thor returns to Earth after several centuries, his faith on humanity revived by the fact that, even after everything that happened, someone Worthy was born on Earth.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In Falling Hope, Monty prevents Mount Weather being completely contaminated by exploding terrigenesis crystals by diverting the gas from the exploding crystals so it's contained to the room he's currently in (although he is mutated by the gas rather than killed, he didn't know that would happen when he did it).
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: Snow’s argument to Bruce, which shows his resentment for so long being treated as a monster.
  Snow: For so long as I can recall, human toted their moral superiority over me, I was the “monster” … But when it came down to it, they were the ones who brought destruction to themselves. Me, a monster? I wasn’t even in their league.
• An Ice Person: In Falling Hope, Octavia learns that she is the daughter of Loki, and thus learns how to generate and wield ice as an offensive and defensive power.
• Ironic Echo: Between Tony and Steve:
  Tony: Plan of attack?
  Steve: The plan is simple; attack.
• The Leader: Everyone follows Captain Rogers with little question, despite an absolutely crazy plan and him not always sharing information. Katniss even asks Clint why they follow Rogers, in a way trying to understand her own blind loyalty.
  Clint: The point is, we respect Steve because Captain America served as a symbol of what America was fighting for in the darkest war we’ve experienced in our history, and ever since he’s returned … he’s reminded us how important it is to protect what we believe in, rather than just fighting to kill our enemies.
• Let's You and Him Fight: Plan A to take Snow out is simply unleash the Hulk onto the Capitol and have him beat the Maestro to death.
• Luke, You Are My Father: Thor introduces Octavia to Loki to reveal that Loki is Octavia's real father.
• Medieval Stasis: Computer technology has largely stagnated since the 21st century, so Tony is able to upgrade his suits and Natasha is able to hack the Capitol’s security system with little problem.
• Mentor Archetype: Steve Rogers is a mentor to most of the new Avengers, but it is made clear that Katniss is his primary protégé in her developing role as the Mockingjay.
• Motive Rant: Maestro explains that what finally turned him against humanity was the lack of gratitude humanity had for the Avengers, and especially for him.
• New Era Speech: Katniss gives a heroic version of this after Snow has been defeated, during which she introduces the new Avengers- herself, Finnick, Johanna, Peeta and Thor, the Tributes/Victors now known as Mockingjay, Mariner, Bloodaxe and Iron Man respectively- and affirms their vow to protect the world.
• Noodle Incident:
  • It’s still left unstated what caused the nuclear war that completely destroyed the United States.
  • This time, Clint references the mission with Natasha in Budapest.
• Pragmatic Villainy: When Allie claims she's doing all this because Earth's nuclear reactors are going into meltdown, Steve scoffs that whatever else, Snow would not let the world he wanted to rule be destroyed and had those plants shut down years before.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Steve Rogers serves as this to the new Avengers, in contrast to Coin's attempt to control them; after the revolution, the new President of Panem allows the Avengers relatively free reign to deal with other problems in Panem.
• The Reveal: Snow is none other than a still alive Bruce Banner, having been warped by the nuclear war into a dangerous Hulk who has now become the Maestro.
• Regime Change: Snow is overthrown by outsiders rather than a homegrown revolution.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Villified: The Avengers are able to win over the people of Panem, even many in the Capitol, by showing them that the team went out of their way to prevent civilian casualties rather than just trying to kill their enemies.
• Rule of Symbolism: Katniss being entrusted with Captain America's old shield, repainted gold and black with a Mockingjay rather than a star in the centre, represents how she has become the new symbol for her country just as Rogers represented America back in his day.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Falling Hope reveals that Mount Weather has had Emil Blonsky/the Abomination trapped in a cage since the nuclear apocalypse, using his blood to create the Reapers, until the Avengers' attack on the facility drives the Mountain Men to unleash the Abomination to try and oppose the heroes.
• Spared by the Adaptation:
  • Finnick Odair survives to become a member of Katniss's new Avengers team, under the codename 'the Mariner'.
  • Callie- a friend of Kane and Abby's from the Ark who 'vanished' after the pilot episode- survives the Ark's return to Earth because she was rescued by the Avengers, and becomes the Avengers' semi-official liaison to the general population of the Ark (outside the Ark and Coalition citizens who become part of the Avengers directly).
  • Basically all of Asgard, as the events of Thor: Ragnarok didn't take place in this future; Octavia not only visits there, but trains with the Warriors Three.
• Switching P.O.V.: Happens a couple of times in the first story. The sequel is more blatant with a prolonged period of the narrative where one chapter is narrated by Katniss, like in the original novels, and the next from a third-person narrative checking on other characters, such as Octavia's time on Asgard.
• Take Up My Sword:
  • During the final battle, Katniss is able to lift Thor's hammer; although she returns it to the Asgardian later, she is also entrusted with Rogers' old shield, repainted in a new style to reflect how she fights for Panem rather than America.
  • After Thor reclaims Mjolnir, he passes on Jarnbjorn, the axe he has been using as a weapon since he became unworthy, to Johanna, as part of her codename of 'Bloodaxe', and Peeta takes on the mantle of Iron Man when Tony gives him the armour before returning to the past.
• Talking Is a Free Action: Subverted during the Avengers’ battle against Snow. After Thor shows up and attacks Maestro, he then stops to explain to the Avengers why he decided to return to Earth at this point. Maestro actually holds off from attacking again, so he too can hear Thor’s rationale, and of course, to heal further from Thor's attack.
• The Team: Being part of the Avengers is the first time Katniss ever appreciates being part of a team, while Clarke comes to appreciate being part of a group as well.
• That Man Is Dead: It is actually the original Avengers who apply this argument to Snow, claiming that Bruce the Avenger is a separate person from the Snow the tyrant.
  Natasha: You’re not Bruce anymore, President Snow; you’re just the thing that was left over when you destroyed everything that made him worthwhile.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: In Falling Hope, Rising Threat, Anya not only beats the Abomination into defeat, but once he's down, she borrows Johanna's axe Jarnbjorn (which was originally owned by Thor) and proceeds to cut off Blonsky's head before ramming the axe into his body to ensure he can't grow a new head.
• Time-Shifted Actor: For the purposes of the story, Mark Ruffalo and Donald Sutherland should be envisioned as playing the past and future versions of Bruce Banner.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Definitely applies to Katniss and the other Tributes who are chosen to become the new Avengers (particularly with Katniss receiving archery lessons from Hawkeye).
  • The sequel also sees various characters from The 100 take the necessary steps to become Avengers-level fighters; Clarke is chosen to become the new Falcon, Anya becomes a She-Hulk, Octavia is revealed to have inherited ice powers from her biological father Loki, and Bellamy, Echo and Monty become Inhumans after exposure to terrigenesis crystals.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: The sequel shows that Thor became this following Jane's death and Bruce becoming the Maestro. He was no longer worthy of his hammer and refused to help those on the Ark despite how easily he could have. It reaches its breaking point when he strikes Sif in a rage and she chooses exile rather than serve a man she no longer respects.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Averted. Steve’s stated plan of having Katniss shoot an explosive arrow into the Maestro’s mouth successively blows up his head and kills him.
• Villain Has a Point: In the second story, Loki dryly points out that if he'd been allowed to conquer Earth, he'd have ensured that the planet didn't suffer a nuclear war.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting:
  • It is established that Snow can turn into his Maestro state whenever he wishes while retaining full control of himself; by contrast, the Avengers have to inject Bruce with a specific drug cocktail to trigger a transformation into the Hulk that will heal Bruce's broken neck and give him a degree of control over his other identity.
  • In Falling Hope, Rising Threat, Anya soon learns how to do this once she gains control of her new Hulk abilities.
• We Can Rule Together: Snow proposes this to Bruce.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Snow presents himself as this for imposing an "order" to save the world post nuclear war, no matter what, but characters all reject that idea and agree that Snow is nothing but a monster who wanted to see all of humanity become what they always told him he was, citing the fact that he let the Games happen in the first place as proof.
• Wham Line:
  • A big one in the first story when Steve reveals Snow is the future Bruce.
  • The sequel has another one as Thor introduces Octavia to "my brother Loki...your father."
• What the Hell, Hero?: Comes up majorly in the sequel with Thor hearing it from Octavia and Johanna when they learn how he refused to help the people on the Ark.