The Sam Wilson Birthday Bang
| Challenge | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Sam Wilson Birthday Bang |
| Date(s): | 2017, 2019 |
| Moderator(s): | unclesteeb, sweet-coffee-jelly, sarsaparillaswords, awesomesnafu, neuromagpie, and samwichwilson |
| Founder: | |
| Type: | Big Bang, Challenge |
| Fandom: | Marvel Comics, The Avengers (Marvel), Captain America, Captain America Movieverse, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Avengers Assemble, The Super Hero Squad Show, The Avengers: United They Stand, but the bang was centered around Sam Wilson |
| Associated Community: | Tumblr |
| URL: | Sam Wilson Birthday Bang (Tumblr) |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Sam Wilson Birthday Bang is a Big Bang specifically focusing on the character Sam Wilson from the Marvel universe. The challenge was a collaborative effort between authors who write fics with artists who create accompanying artwork, podfic, or playlists for the fic.
This Bang is notable for a few reasons, including the fact that it was created specifically for and by Black people to celebrate one of the few Black characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It prioritized the needs and comfort of POC fans over white fans, and had an intensive vetting process for authors before any mod approved a fic for inclusion in the Ao3 collection.
The Bang was supposed to be very small, and the mods estimated only about 20-50 people would participate. However 87 works have been posted in the Ao3 collection, and the mods believe that about 150 fans participated.
Rules and Requirements
All fanwork has to be centered on Sam Wilson.
Because of the short time period in between claiming fics and posting them, the minimum word count was only 2,000.
Other rules that made this bang unique, and very specifically anti-racist in nature include:[1]
- No shipping characters under 18 with adults.
- It should go without saying, but just in case: No killing off Sam! It’s his birthday.
- No explicit or romanticized non-con.
- No explicit material involving characters under 18. (High School AUs are welcome as long as they don’t contain explicit material involving minors.)
- No presenting Hydra or other Nazi analogues in a sympathetic or romanticized light.
- Works that perpetuate stereotypes or anti-Blackness will not be permitted. If you are unsure about your writing, we encourage you to read this guide for non-Black writers or check out the Writing with Color FAQ.
Fanworks
2017
87 fics were posted to the moderated challenge collection on Ao3.[2]
While not specifically a Slash Bang, most of the fics tended to ship Sam Wilson with either [Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson Steve Rogers] ( about 31 fics) or Bucky Barnes (about 29 fics). Other slash ships represented were nine Sam Wilson and Riley fics, five Sam Wilson and T'Challa fics, and one Sam Wilson and Thor Odinson fic.
Multishipping was also common, with about 10 fics focusing on the OT3 comprising of Sam Wilson/Steve Rogers/Bucky Banes.
Sam was also written with Natasha Romanova in five fics, although no other female character was shipped with Sam as a major or final relationship.