The MCU Has Failed Its Female Characters

the MCU is a hot phrase to throw around these days it refers to the current state of Marvel films and its evergrowing cast of lackluster female characters there are plenty of other videos that already point out this issue but I would like to try and break it down with a more productive spin we're going to go character by character to point out what went wrong and talk about what could have been because Marvel's Comics already have a wellestablished and very large roster of prominent female characters that for one reason or another didn't translate to the big screen adaptations very well so let's figure out why the first of many to cover will be pepper pots pepper started out as a traditional will they won't they love interest that steadily developed into Tony Stark's life partner who he would go on to marry and have a child with that's all well and good though there are three particular hiccups that arose along the way the first being Iron Man 3 that whole movie was a dumpster fire and Pepper's role within it was no exception mainly the scene in the finale where she effortlessly defeats the man that calls himself the Mandarin she then goes oh Whoopsie Daisy that happened how it's really violent and it's like excuse me this was advertised as an Iron Man film not celebrity yoga don't get me wrong seeing pepper do some cool stuff with temporary Powers is neat but this is a bridge too far she just jarar Binks her way into beating the main villain Iron Man's arch nemesis while the titular hero just sits there and watches before this moment pepper was just a secretary that worked for a wild boss and struggled to put up with his hij Jinks seeing her jump from that to this is such a leap that it makes makes this film's plot feel much less important than it should and all it serves to do is make an already bogus villain even more of a clown her second hiccup is due to her absence in the various sequels with little to no explanation as to why we see her in 2013's Iron Man 3 then she just vanishes until 2017 Spider-Man homecoming where she's basically reduced to a glorified Cameo all we get between this Gap are singular lines of dialogue about how she and Tony are having problems we're taking a break it's nobody's fault now granted I'm not saying she should show up in every single film she is only a secondary character after all but this is important to bring up because during her absent period it was difficult to tell if we were even meant to still care about this person or if she was just being quietly ritten out of the story this is a problem that will come up a lot with these characters oh you know Jane and I aren't even dating anymore one film Tony and pepper are closer than ever then the next film makes it unclear if we'll ever see pepper again then all of a sudden she's back and they're getting married it's a bit of a mess that Los is a lot of potential by taking these breaks and these long running story lines become hard to follow when they feel like they're being dropped and revived on a whim by bringing this up the hope would be that Marvel would learn from these kinds of Mistakes by planning out entire arcs for these characters well in advance before putting them on screen if you want a massive long-running franchise then that will require extensive amounts of pre-production in order to keep the quality consistent Peppers roll in Avengers one is a great example of how to do it the right way she gets a lengthy opening scene to establish her current status in the world then she gets lightly referenced throughout to remind us who Iron Man is fighting for her role is small but it is still very important the third hiccup is rescue this is going to be another reoccurring problem with a lot of these characters Marvel Comics began a downward spiral in terms of quality during the 2010s and one contributing Catalyst to this collapse was the idea to give every love interest sudden and lazy superpowers this was a dumb idea for a multitude of reasons mainly that doing this diminishes the importance of the hero and often misses the point as to why the hero even has their powers in the first place pepper does the former by becoming rescue and deflating the value of the Iron Man suit Iron Man isn't special if there are many other equally capable iron people and some of you may Wonder well what about Roi by that logic wouldn't he contribute to the problem as well and yes you would be correct he is part of the problem however this problem is very small when it's only two the more you add the harder it gets to justify and War Machine was always presented as Iron Man's sidekick having many story elements put in place to establish why he should be there when pepper puts on the suit especially in the movies it's incredibly sudden with no reasonable justification she goes from secretary turn CEO mother who threatens to leave Tony anytime danger even remotely approaches his vicinity to now all of a sudden sharing 360 no scopes and killing scores of aliens on the front lines like it's no big deal it really gives the impression that any schlub off the street could just grab a suit and save the day because wearing the suit apparently just puts you in Easy Mode the only Saving Grace from Iron Man 3 is that it established that Tony Stark was a hero beyond the suit and that he could not be replaced and Pepper's involvement just throws that whole idea in the trash pepper being utilized like this rapidly diminishes the stakes of this story and tells the audience that there isn't really any danger in this battle at all anyone who is capable of most bodily functions can just show up to tell jokes and have fun The Simple Solution to fixing this problem would be to not do it and that goes for pretty much every character that gets this treatment pepper doesn't need superpowers in order to be a fascinating character being a normal human that it's wrapped up in this wild world is all already inherently interesting on its own furthermore it's good to have normal people around to keep the Hero Stories grounded and relatable when everyone gets to have powers the world itself feels more cartoon-like to the point where anyone without power seems abnormal and when everyone's super no one will be plus it's a simple and easy way to give the hero something to fight for I know we like to boo the damel and the stress Trope but honestly it's a Trope because it's effective and there's nothing wrong with it so long as it doesn't get repetitive and lazy moving on from pepper we have Betty Ross where is she she only gets one decent film before Vanishing completely why she is a pivotal character to the Hulk story and they just throw her in the trash and replace her with black widow of all people it's false no way it never happened the Hulk story is an inherent tragedy he never gets to live happily ever after like all the other Heroes and that's a major reason as to why his story is so fascinating a big contributor to that tragedy is his love story and that he and Betty openly love each other but can never truly be together because the Hulk is far to too dangerous and Betty's father is the Hulk's most persistent villain it should go without saying but by removing Betty from the equation the entire Hulk storyline gets severely diminished and loses a piece of its Soul Black Widow is in no way a suitable replacement because she has nothing to do with the Hulk and both of their stories are better suited to go in other directions and while we're on the topic of Black Widow there's a lot to say about this one many people out there even the most harsh MCU critics tend to agree that black widow was one of the best handled female heroes in these films I do not agree don't get me wrong she is one of the best of the bunch but that isn't a high bar to clear to put it short she doesn't live up to her potential and the character we see does not line up with the background she is said to have we are told many times over that black widow spent her youth being tortured mutilated and brainwashed into being a ruthless cold-blooded Russian spy who committed many heinous acts and would have continued to do so were she not brought back from the brink of damnation by Hawkeye and later recruited into Shield that is who we are told she is but what do we see in practice was that your first kiss since 1945 we need you to come in are you kidding I'm working we're still friends right SP I know hard you hit me oh wait what about that girl from accounting Laur Laura lilan lip piercing right yeah she's cute yeah I'm not ready for that an unusually well adjusted fun ant who loves to quip and put her feet on the dash if it weren't for her opening scene in The Avengers you would barely be able to tell she had a Russian background at all any actual Espionage she performs is incredibly limited with her most often just filling the role of thigh Grappler with guns what the MCU presents is good enough to be entertaining and people aren't inherently wrong for enjoying this portrayal however if they had taken advantage of what they set up for this character and fully utilized the stories they inherited from the comics then black widow's story could have gone from great to groundbreaking here's what I mean for one let's get a genuine Russian accent please with how big Marvel is that shouldn't be a big demand then change her personality to be incredibly cold and strictly professional with the exception being when she plays a character while conducting spy business have Hawkeye be the only one she even slightly opens up to since he helped her turn her life around and give her an arc where she learns to be more open and trusting with the other Avengers have her start out these films by being very mysterious hard to read hard to connect with that would do wonders in terms of having her develop long term and as far as comat back goes she should not be having her time wasted on fighting basic enemies on the front lines alongside everyone else we can do better Espionage and infiltration should be this character's top priority her playing the victim in order to trick Loki into spilling his plans is a perfect example of what to lean into now take that a step further for example during the winter soldier film instead of having her quipping with cap and setting him up on dates have her reveal herself early on as a member of Hydra that would be a completely mind-blowing moment and a huge twist for both Captain America and and the audience you could intertwine her with crossbone story and place her in command of this new corrupted Shield but then towards the end of the film reveal that her allegiance to Hydra was only a ruse that she pulled for the purpose of assassinating Adrien Pierce and by doing this established that she is so good at being a spy that neither good nor evil factions can tell where her loyalty truly lies with limited exceptions such as Nick Fury in ag of Ultron instead of just having her punch robots have her infiltrate ultron's base of operations disrupt his assembly line hack into his drones amongst other things be more creative with how a super spy can save the day and with that stupid Bruce Banner romance please nuke that completely Bruce loves Betty that's it however with that said the idea of Black Widow playing a nurturing character in order to try and trick and control the Hulk could very much make for compelling drama if done right though you would need to distinguish Bruce and the Hulk as separate characters first Bruce loves Betty but the Hulk is alone inv vulnerable in that regard then have the payoff of this be that the Hulk eventually learns the truth about Black Widow in that black widow was just manipulating his feelings in order to make him a more Cooperative Avenger in discovering this betrayal he would leave The Avengers on bitter terms instead of leaving for no reason plus this could be used as a hypothetical Arc for Black Widow in that she would feel guilty for causing such a betrayal and she would reflect on what lines she would be willing to cross in order to see her missions through I could go on with other black widow films but I think you get the point this is a character that should be much more complicated to say the least make her borderline villainous at times get creative with how she contributes to the team having the ultimate super spy on the roster should be a gateway to endlessly unique and exciting interactions that no other character could provide also one last note if you're going to hook her up with anybody in the MCU why not make it the other top tier assassin who could greatly relate to her trauma of being brainwashed by the Russians as he went down a similar path himself similar skills similar background similar aesthetic this should be an easy layup moving on from Black Widow we ought to talk about Jane Foster and the Asgard iians we've gone over these characters in great detail in the past so I won't want to repeat myself too much here but I would like to make a point about the roles these characters play in these stories the way I see it before all the multiversal copy and paste characters classic Marvel characters used to all fit together in one big story like small pieces to a large puzzle for the most part they would each bring something unique to the table that no other character could provide and that is what would make them special it would be so fascinating to watch all these vastly different characters come together for these big Stories the reason this is relevant to someone like Jane Foster is because Jane is unique in how normal she is there aren't many Marvel characters that are simply just nurses with no more quirks or special attributes even when compared to other love interests who usually have much more exciting jobs or missions so Ironically in being average Jane actually stands out quite a bit in a world full of Fantastical and Powerful figures the irony gets stretched even further when this most normal character gets involved with the most mythical character and there is a lot that a writer can do when playing with a concept like this however the modern regime within Marvel seems to have lost sight of what makes Jane Foster's piece of the puzzle so valuable so instead of allowing her to sit in her rightful place within the great Marvel Puzzle the MCU higher-ups saw fit to make Jane yet another of the many dozens of Marvel super Geniuses cramming her piece into a corner of the puzzle that is already way overcrowded as a result Jane comes off as much less memorable with many of her scenes involving her spouting the same fake science m jumbo that we have already heard many times before and therefore making Thor's early films even more forgettable than they already were if she wasn't played by Natalie Portman nobody would even remember that she existed at all but that wasn't enough for the MCU she was in fact still too original so they had to copy and Pac Thor right over top of her it is a completely unnecessary move that dilutes both her and Thor's originality as well as cheapening what little stakes and investment were left in this franchise at this point I would also say that it takes her character's Journey off the rail only she never really had a journey in the beginning she had a budding romance with Thor then she became acclimated to Asgardian culture then she completely vanished for nearly 10 years only popping up when Thor feels the need to remind us that she is done and gone in his story until of course when the writers decide that she isn't done and gone and they wheel her back out so that she can take Thor's hammer for one film then die it was painfully obvious that there was no plan for her character especially when Natalie Portman took a break from the franchise and that is disappointing the people in charge could have planned out her journey alongside Thor years upon years in advance with plenty of source material to pull from to guarantee success but instead of doing that they just wrote her story on the Fly and allowed behind the scenes actor drama to leak into the films and create a heavily disjointed love story for one of their big four Heroes it can't be that difficult to plan these movies out before producing them if anything that should make this job much easier but apparently Marvel just doesn't like to write their movies at all if the actress in question doesn't want to do the job anymore then replace her you would be surprised just how unnecessary she is though if you would prefer to have an in Universe reason for not having her there you could shift Thor's Love Story over to focus on lady CF instead do any of you out there remember lady CF she had the most minor of roles in the first two Thor films before also dropping off the map and being reduced to mild cameos until she was able to return in love and thunder for one single excruciatingly lame joke about the technicalities of going to Valhalla oh I hate to break it to you but for a warrior to get into battal you have to die in the battle you survived oh [ __ ] she is originally meant to be one of the strongest Warriors in Asgard and creates a love triangle of sorts with Thor being his main Asgardian love interest and she's often a major player when Asgard gets involved with major storylines so the MCU had this quote strong female character who they opted to stuff into the background and do nothing with even while there was a long vacancy in Thor's love life that would have been the perfect time to boost her into the main character Spotlight but no she was banished to the shadow realm in favor of having Natalie return as a one-off Thor in one of the worst MCU films to date it is a complete disaster of a story arc they would have been better off not including lady CF at all though that sentiment could be shared with a lot of characters in this franchise another of which would be Valkyrie Valkyrie is another powerful Warrior vasg guard who was selected by Odin to lead her own special winged Calvary unit she has also gone on to be involved in several other not as guardian corners of the Marvel Universe and linked up with a number of major teams during her comic run she wasn't incredibly popular but she was a solid seist entry when it came to the films Marvel decided to take her in a different direction obviously instead of an honorable and well-respected Warrior she is portrayed as a drunken buffoon and a slob who is about as far from an Asgardian as you could get on every level Tessa Thompson looks like she just got out of bed for most of her scenes being the most modestly dressed King of the Gods you'll ever see while rarely showing even the slightest of emotions during any given scenario her likable attributes are slim to none so naturally Hulk and Thor are obsessed with her and beg her to be around all the time as an audience member valkyrie's inclusion in this story has felt like a burden that you are now forced to endure if you have any interest in Thor Thor can no longer be featured in this Saga without her being chained to his ankle want a Thor Hulk teamup movie too bad best we can do is a Thor Valkyrie team up with the hint of Hulk Thor's story is an arc where he learns the value of leadership in preparation for becoming king or at least at one point it was but then th suddenly became a pathetic drunker who instead will pass the crown to this other pathetic drunkard one who has spent a large majority of her life away from Asgard one a movie centered around Thor and Jane's love story not without Valkyrie as an awkward third wheel where would that movie be without her wacky jokes where Valkyrie was once a nice Edition that helped add to the Mythos of Asgard she is now a tumor that slowly kills any film she's involved in now some final notes to touch on before we move on from the Asgardian cast would be for Hela and the enchantress now I've spoken in great detail on these characters in the past so again check out my previous videos if you haven't already but tldr it is a crime that the MCU has been around for as long as it's been while completely disregarding one of the most prominent female villains in their Library the MCU leadership claims to be very Progressive and proman yet they seem to not even realize that there are many great female characters that they could utilize but either simply don't or when they do they change the character entirely which brings us to hela hela was one of the better villains to emerge from the films which isn't saying much because the villains are portrayed horribly in these movies and like the rest movie Hela does leave a lot to be desired as this portrayal strips a lot of the Nuance from her comic self instead of Thor's sister Hela was Loki's daughter and the ruler of the underworld her desire is to claim The Souls of the dead and anyone who interferes with that is considered her enemy her position would often put her at odds with Marvel's heroes but sometimes she would be at odds with its villains and could even be helpful to the side of good her unique agenda makes her more of a neutral force and has made her a more nuanced character as a result and that added depth would have been nice to see in the films instead of her simply being static and evil plus she was very big in the comics and I thought that as a society we liked big women so what gives Kevin the big woman still here now this is where we're going to stop for today but trust me there is plenty more to cover so please do like and subscribe to stay up to date and help this channel Prosper thanks and see you in the next one

Channel: Braeden Alberti

Views: 31,373

Keywords: the marvels is bad, the little platoon, the marvels, the marvels review, the marvels critique, mcu phase 4, mcu phase 5, brie larson interview, scarlet witch, mauler marvel, brie larson, critical drinker marvel, wanda maximoff, captain marvel, secret invasion, captain marvel evil, multiverse of madness, mcu, wandavision, kree

Id: sFEZFjlbuUA

Length: 18min 31sec (1111 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 06 2024