I know it’s in my tags for the Iron Man post but man, do you guys remember the “I am Iron Man” moment at the end of Iron Man 1? Do you guys remember what that represented?
Superhero movies obviously existed before Iron Man. X-Men come to mind, as well as a slew of DC movies like Batman and Superman. But you know what they all had as a subplot? Keeping identities secret. It was such a staple of the superhero movie genre that you went in knowing that there was going to need to be some kind of reset button at the end, or some stupid excuse for why the heroes couldn’t reap any of the benefits (and blame) of having just saved the world. They must always retreat into the shadows at the end, constantly helping but never known, because of “reasons”. Some reasons made sense, like protecting loved ones, but it had the underlying problem of meaning there was always this stale element to so many of these films. The world never fully got to react to superheroes existing, because they always retreated back into hiding afterwards.
When Tony said, “I am Iron Man” the theater erupted. I was barely a superhero fan at that point, and my jaw dropped. Something new had just happened. Everyone sensed it.
The film had already grounded Tony Stark in the war in Afghanistan, it had already shown him as a fairly realistic tech wunderkind working within the military industrial complex of the day. When you watch the film today, it’s very much a product of the Bush era. For example, everything is about propping up the military, and journalists are automatically annoyances at best and unpatriotic at worst (as a fandom, have we yet acknowledged that Christine Everhart is actually a hero? Her needling helped prompt Tony to change his ways, and far from showing her up by declaring he was Iron Man, he actually handed her the scoop of the century while thinking he was sticking it to her. Hilarious. Everhart is a top-notch journalist and deserves so much more credit.)
“I am Iron Man” heralded a new era of superhero movies. It meant we were going to have more than just Stark grounded in the real world (which was already a refreshing take on the genre). Rather, all the heroes were going to be grounded in the real world and the real world was going to know who they were and adjust as a result. No reset button. No status quo. No slinking back into the shadows.
To this day you can feel how DC superhero films are struggling with this old subplot. There’s an underlying element of staleness in those films because they were unable to make any similar bold and dramatic shift to revitalize the genre and bring it into the modern era. When your heroes have secret identities, the world can’t really respond to the superheroes in it because there can be no dialogue between the world and the superheroes, the world can only react to the disasters and try to recover from them. The superheroes go about their lives.
So kudos to this bold move by the Iron Man filmmakers ten years ago. I don’t think it can be understated that this is why we have the Marvel Cinematic Universe today.
Tag: mcu meta
I think it’s overlooked sometimes how political Guardians of the Galaxy 2 actually got.
Thor Ragnarok and Black Panther are both about an evil thing, colonization, taking something not yours to take and fashioning it to your own needs. But Guardians 2 forms the first part perhaps of Marvel’s anti-colonization trilogy. Ego is the ultimate colonizer, having no purpose in his life other than taking things and making them into more of himself. To this end he’s become the ultimate eugenicist, too. Every time he creates offspring – potential second versions of him, not even people in his eyes – he tests them and if they’re not what he wants he kills them. He’s a slaver (he owns Mantis in every way that matters) a killer, a manipulator, an absolute monster behind a smiling face.
There’s a running theme in GOTG 2 about the evils of treating people as things.
The Sovereign do this too – they’re gold in colour, but they’re essentially white supremacists. (The slight satire of them also being basically really hardcore video gamers, who sit behind drones and make mass murder into a competition, was not lost on me either.) And Yondu, Rocket, Gamora and Nebula are all where they are because they were treated as things – slaves, experiments, disposables. The movie explores their traumas, and makes it clear that they’re justified in their rages.
GOTG 2 does with Ego what Infinity War somehow didn’t manage to do with Thanos, and completely and utterly kill the monster at the end of its story. Peter is granted by Ego all the power he could possibly want, as well as the promise of the family he’s always craved. But once he discovers that it’s all built on bones, he rejects it utterly, even at what he thinks is the cost of his own life. Ego’s not given an ounce of mercy or sympathy, not even from Peter, his own son.
Essentially GOTG2 follows almost an identical path to Thor: Ragnarok – a god (alright, demigod in Peter’s case) discovers that the powers granted to him came from a place of evil, and rejects them in favour of something better. Those two films and Black Panther form an epic “dismantle oppressive systems, even if they benefit you” triple-bill.
Good fucking post!!!
Thor took groot as an elective which means growing up he was the rare combination of nerd and jock and idk why people are surprised i mean the boy talks astrophysics wirh bruce 7 phd’s banner like its nothing and when he drops down to earth which clique does he immediately join? Not shield!! Not the avengers!! Some podunk star scientists out in the middle of nowhere on an extended camping trip like!! Whilst loki was painting his nails to match his cufflinks, thor was studying foreign languages as he benchpressed heimdall. Thor isnt your garden variety jock he’s a bookworm jock, easily found stargazing or doodling in his moleskin journal
no I don’t want a M’Baku movie I want a fucking M’Baku sitcom. daily life with the Jabari. vegetarian food. pretty African mountain village aesthetics. killer jokes. prob some actual gorillas. would be great.
keeping up with the jabari
Shuri gets wind that T’Challa is considered a sex icon and immediately dedicates her social media presence to videos and pics of T’Challa that disprove that Erroneous opinion
Shuri sprinting away after she posts a video of T’Challa dropping a muffin on the floor, looking around, and picking it up to eat it: BROTHER I AM MAKING YOU SO RELATEABLE, OKOYE STOP LAUGHING AND PROTECT YOUR PRINCESS
Queen Ramonda is very happy to supply whatever baby photos Shuri needs
she posts the video of T’Challa kicking the Black Panther suit and getting blasted across the room, and someone replies “he’s still daddy af” and she doesn’t shut down the internet so everyone can think about what they did but she considers it for a really really really long time before sending that tweet to Nakia with the comment “joining the world was wrong”
marypoppinswasmyfatherbitches:
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) dir. by James Gunn
Mom Gamora is best Gamora
She’s so naturally good at it; loves this little baby so much. ❤
This is such a great scene though, because Gamora is NOT naturally good at it. She’s cold and hard and has the emotional awareness of a grape. Look at how she treats Peter and Nebula throughout the whole movie; she doesn’t even realize she loves them until they smack her in the face with their own feelings. Repress and deny, that’s how Gamora does feelings.
But she’s soft with Groot. It’s a sweet contrast that shows that she’s working on her shit.
Yessssss. Seriously, Gamora is more afraid of feelings than almost any character I’ve ever seen. She doesn’t just fail to notice her feelings for Peter and Nebula, she’s actively afraid of them (at the very least for Peter, and quite possibly for Nebula as well). Look at how she snarls and wheels on Peter the moment he starts to charm her in vol1. Gamora tenses up the moment she finds herself feeling charmed and then tries to squash the scary feelings under aggression.
Gamora consistently treats the people she loves most by being meanest to them. So her carefulness with Groot is evidence of really, really hard work and character growth on her part. In some ways, she is actually working harder on being nice to Groot here than Rocket is, which is hilarious and terrifying.
I think it makes a lot of sense that it’s Baby Groot she manages to be the softest with as well. Gamora has got to have a lot of thoughts about How to Do Parenthood Right; I’d imagine she’s extremely motivated to do a better job with Groot than Thanos did with her. (I mean, that’s a low bar, but she’s still very determined to pass it.)
Plus, Peter and Nebula might ask things of her she’s not prepared to give, they have their own unknowable motivations, they might (do!) fuck up; it’s all sorts of complicated and messy. But Groot’s a child, and she knows very well that entails a responsibility for her to provide not just food and shelter, but comfort and love.
I really adore the moment in the opening battle of GotG2 where Gamora stops fighting briefly to just give Groot a friendly “hi!”, because I feel like that encapsulates their relationship: Gamora forcing herself to put down her defenses because Groot needs to see her feelings.
Yes. all of this.
Also, baby Groot is the least threatening. Like you said, Peter or Nebula might ask things out of her that she doesn’t expect or can’t give. But Gamora can predict everything Groot wants (affection, brightly colored candy, good tunes, to not get squished, and the odd bug) ahead of time. Groot is simple and wants relatively simple things.
So he’s not so scary.
Peter and Nebula, though… that’s another story.
Ok seriously we’re not appreciating M’Baku enough?? Boy challenged T’challa, lost, accepted it and left. Then like 3 days later the king washed up on his shore and he’s like “aye I could use this to become king but nah let’s save the guy until he gets better” so now he has an unconscious, barely-clinging-to-life king in his living room, but he does everything to save him. Then the servants of that king show up, offer him the throne and the Black Panther serum which would pretty much make him invincible, and what does he do? Does he go “Mhm ok niiice” and accept it, thus becoming rightful king? Nope! He shows them the dying T’challa, who they bring back to life with the serum and leave. They ask for his army, but he doesn’t want to risk his people, but in the end realises they should stick together so he barges into the battle like the fucking Icon™ he is ok I just love M’Baku let’s give him the appreciation he deserves
M’baku is the personification of honour imo. You won’t find a defeated warrior with pride and honour like his that easy. Respecting his rival, the needs of his people and Wakanda itself??? Putting all that over his ego???? Someone raised that man right yo.
At the same time, we can’t forget T’Challa’s role in all this. He had M’Baku at his mercy, and could have easily killed him or gone out of his way to humiliate him. Instead he treated him as a fellow warrior with honor, and assured him that he respected his leadership of his tribe. That very much planted the seeds of M’Baku’s respect for him, and wound up serving as his own salvation.
It’s the rarest of unicorns – two competing alpha males whose masculinity isn’t toxic.
T h a n k y o u
It’s all so damn true!
not to be dramatic, but Okoye telling her bitch ass husband she would end him without hesitation when he tried to manipulate her changed me as a person and cured my depression.
“would you kill me my love?”
“for wakanda? No question.”
a woman in my theater: “oH I HEARD THAT!!!!”
Listen. LISTEN. *cups your face in my hands* Listen to me. I have never so perfectly and purely seen a Paladin depicted in a movie as I saw in Okoye. Lawful good to her core. Pure, unvarnished loyalty to Wakanda and her people evident in every goddamned motion. Dignified, graceful, reverent respect for the rules of her country and its greater good.
There is something so beautiful about faith, something that just burns through with a beautiful glow that lights up someone’s eyes and every expression. There is a confidence and a peace that is both palpable and enviable when faith has been tested and come through intact. You could so hear it in her voice.
Personal shit is great, and I’m glad she was seen in a loving relationship. The Lone Woman Warrior trope is worn thin, and I’m sure even thinner for black women who are often not allowed to be lovable people on screen. But the core of the Paladin is ‘there is something greater than I, and I will sacrifice everything for it’, and it was beautiful to not only see that happen on screen but see her proved right, see her win, in one case by not even raising her weapon. She stood firm in her faith and the narrative said yes, it said this is just, it said your very faith will protect you from harm. And she’s not seen as hard or cold edged weapon for that. The imagery around her in that moment is more like a saint or an angel, glowing and reaching out a peaceful hand to a symbol of one of the tribes of her country. Her country loves her back.
Okoye doesn’t just love her country. She doesn’t just serve her country. She doesn’t just believe in her country. She has unshakable faith in an absolute truth: Wakanda Forever.
She is elevated for her faith as much as her skill.
It’s fucking breathtaking.
y’all notice how black panther quietly but fervently rejects western assumptions about women in non-western countries by not only displaying Wakandan women in a variety of influential positions but by making clear that only outsiders question them
women are shown in all levels of Wakandan society – Ramonda as a trusted advisor for her son, Shuri as the country’s leading innovator, Okoye and the Dora as respected warriors, Nakia as a spy and philosophical compass, unnamed women who serve as tribal representatives and spiritual leaders. it is not at any point suggested that their gender is a barrier to achieving anything in Wakanda.
there’s a moment during T’Challa’s crowning that’s small but very good, when M’baku questions letting a child handle the country’s technological advancement. he specifically calls her a child, not a girl, questioning her youth and perceived lack of respect for tradition but not her gender, which flies in direct defiance of many western assumptions about how masculine non-western men like M’baku treat women and girls.
that moment, as far as I recall, the most any Wakandan man ever directly disrespects a woman. a lot has been made of how much faith T’challa places in his female relatives and warriors, so I won’t rehash that, but it’s Good.
Ross briefly insults Okoye with his assumption that she doesn’t speak English, but 1.) the narrative and the audience both understand this to be an ignorant statement on Ross’ part for which he is promptly put in his place by Okoye herself and 2.) Ross immediately learns and does better. when he wakes up in Wakanda his disbelief is only for the level of the technology, not that a teenage girl is the mastermind behind it, and during the final fight he defers to Shuri’s guidance despite his piloting expertise.
a lot of words have already been written about Killmonger’s treatment of black women: the casual murder of his partner, his disregard and abuse of a spiritual leader, the slaughter of a Dora. it’s just one of many parts of his ideology that mark him as fundamentally misunderstanding Wakanda and being an Other in the kingdom.
Wakanda is a futuristic fantasyland that makes absolutely no narrative room for men who don’t respect the authority of women.
In addition to the Killmonger point –
I love how it circles back to the cultural disparity between Wakanda and the Western world. It demonstrates how similar ideologies – the drive for resource sharing and international responsibly – can appear so vastly different (ie Killmonger and Nakia). It speaks to the cultural environment in which they existed. I believe Killmonger to be a reflection of the internalised toxic values Western society presents poor Black boys – essentially following the well trodden path from vulnerability to violence.On that last comment, the narrative also specifically positions Erik as a tragic character. He is clearly the villain because his values are warped but the tragedy is that he didn’t have to turn out that way. The difference between the three heirs to the throne and how they approach each other (T’Challa, Shuri and Erik) comes down to culture.
superhero media is too “apolitical” nowadays. where’s the superhero taking out drones in the Middle East to save lives and protect privacy. where’s the superhero who spends more time fighting cops than supervillains. where’s the superhero showing up to protests to protect protestors. where’s the superhero who fights all the evil capitalists causing water crises and environmental disasters. where’s the superhero who fights the KKK. where’s the superhero who helps real people with real problems instead of fighting aliens and robots all the time.
This. This a billion times. God, I’m so glad someone wrote this. Bless you.
Where’s the superhero that shows up to stop a cop from shooting an unarmed black child? Where’s the hard-nosed Green Arrow-style vigilante who rains terror and vengeance down on the heads of serial rapists who go unpunished due to slut-shaming, and then goes after the university disciplinary board who let it keep happening because their rules were geared more toward protecting the perpetrators than the victims?
Part of what has always made superheroes resonate is that they filled a need in fiction that was not being filled in reality by standing up to the corrupt powers of their day. Captain America fought Hitler. Batman stood up to the mob and a corrupt police force. Oliver Queen fought against the drug trade and underhanded corporate practices and was an outspoken social progressive besides. Superheroes have always been involved with the politics of their time.
Now we have this weird generation of fake geek boys who are often vocally arguing the opposite of what OP said, whinging about how “political agendas” are ruining all the things they love, while completely forgetting that they largely owe the things they love to the brilliant writers and artists who had something important to say and chose to say it through superhero stories (and science fiction as a broader genre, for that matter).
The real kicker is how deeply hypocritical these complaints are, because a large number of these guys are the same ones who support their presumed ownership of this material (as “real fans”) by pointing to how important it was to them when they were getting bullied in school, how much they loved these things before it was “cool” to love them (and before they were cool, by extension).
And it somehow never occurs to them that the very reason these stories were so important to them, so relevant, was because they were powerless kids reading about/watching heroes who were attacking corrupt power structures. It somehow escapes them that there might be people out there who need that kind of boost just as badly as they did, or even more so.
This generation has problems, dudes. It needs heroes just as badly as you did when you were a kid. They may have different backgrounds than you’re used to and fight different monsters, but that doesn’t make them less true to the spirit of storytelling in comics. You wanna know why the MCU is starting to feel flat and rote? Because they’ve tossed out the soul of what made superhero stories so damn good and replaced it with a lot of shiny action sequences.
The truth is, politics aren’t ruining superheroes. Political apathy, poor representation, and whining fanboys are ruining superheroes.
This is why Black Lightnining’s pilot feels so refreshing. Because damn if they don’t tackle police brutality and racial profiling right from the beginning.
Question of Smoke 