The Marvel Cinematic Universe this year has been a hell of a rollercoaster of emotions and it has been filled to the brim with content. What I have loved about everything this year in the MCU is that it has been really diverse in everything that they have released, and I feel like this year truly has had something for everyone. In Wandavision it combined the superhero genre with shows like ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ bringing nostalgia to the older generations that may watch Wandavision, but still keeping the over the top fight scenes that we learn to love in Marvel. Along with this, what I feel Wandavision did well is that with each episode that came out, it left us asking more and more questions about things like who made the hex and who is the true villain of this show, and it wasn’t until the last few episodes that we finally got the answers that we were looking for.
In ‘Falcon and the Winter Soldier’, the big problem in the show and in the real world is racism. This show is one of my favourites, because of how well this show brings awareness of how bad racism is. In episode 2 of the show, Sam and Bucky encounter a black super soldier named Isaiah Bradley; after this encounter Sam was left outraged because Bucky had told no one of Isaiah. A little while later, two cops run into Sam and Bucky asking Sam for ID and looking for any excuse to arrest Sam. It is only until Bucky steps in and tells the cops who Sam is that they stop. In episode 5, Sam goes to Isaiah to try and understand what went wrong and why Isaiah was imprisoned for 30 years. Isaiah was part of a squad of super soldiers; some were captured on a mission and Isaiah went to break them out. He was tortured, imprisoned and experimented on for 30 years and the staff had him declared dead. What this show does well is that it shows no matter how big of a reputation a black man or woman may have or how powerful they may become, there are people in the world that will hate them for it. But that will never mean that they can’t do what is right, because at the end of the day, no matter where we come from or what colour our skin is, we all built this world and bled for it; so no one can tell you that you can’t fight for it.
But that’s just the beginning. As well as exploring racism, the MCU also discusses sexuality and culture. In ‘Loki’, there was a scene in episode 3 where Loki comes out to his variant - Sylvie - that he is bisexual. In Shang-Chi, it is entirely based around Chinese culture and it is the first MCU movie to be centred around Asian characters. Eternals is probably the most diverse movie that came out this year. The story of Eternals bases itself around so many different cultures and beliefs, because in the story, the Eternals are the one that shape different mythologies and cultures around the world, because they were here since the beginning of civilization. It also tackles different character’s sexuality. Thena becomes Athena: the god of wisdom and battle strategy in Greek mythology. Ikaris based the legend of Ikaris: the man who flew too close to the sun; this ended up sealing his fate at the end of the movie when Ikaris flies into the sun. Phastos is a gay character in Eternals and ends up marrying a human he met and he also ended up adopting a child.
This year has truly been the best year for Marvel and I hope this year has opened the window for a great amount of diversity moving forward.
By Trey Mitchell-Andrews
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