Re: Steven Barnes
1. Diners, always. Diners 5eva. Better if there's a jukebox and the special is some kind of "melt" sandwich.
2. I think he'd have less of a complex? But I think SHIELD would have gotten their hands on him anyway. He's smart - very smart - but Luka was always smarter, so that made him feel sort of useless. SHIELD really preyed on his insecurity to get him to do so much so young, and to really coax him to be completely loyal and give up his sense of self in order to be a living weapon. If Luka hadn't overshadowed him, if he'd felt like he had some kind of importance outside of SHIELD, it would have been less messy. He wouldn't have been brainwashed or misused, wouldn't have given up his identity to become a weapon of SHIELD -- but he wouldn't have become as good of an agent, either, on the flip side. That kind of skill only comes with single-minded dedication, and he would have been too independent.