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Wednesday, 29 October 2014 09:50![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhats
I just caught Marvel's Phase 3 announcements on twitter before I went out last night! BLACK PANTHER. CAPTAIN MARVEL. FINALLY. It's true that making one (1) film about a black man and one (1) film about a white woman is pretty much the least they could do (I was bracing myself for having to break up with the MCU based on what I feared they might announce) and yes, it's taken years and we still have years before we actually get to see these films. And yes, I am sad that we are not also getting films for Black Widow and the Wasp and more. :/ (My subject line is basically what I want from the MCU, diversity-wise.)
But... T'Challa was so great in Avengers: EMH and now he's getting a film! And CAROL. She's my favourite Marvel character and she's going to be in a film and based on the MCU's track record, it is probably going to be a film I will like. \o/ (Which is something that I'm a bit more worried about with DC's Wonder Woman film, to be honest: DC's storytelling priorities aren't really matching the kind of films I want to see as well as Marvel's are at the moment. Which is not to say that I think that Marvel is superior, just that I'm finding their fictional universe more congenial at the moment.)
(Actually I think DC is definitely doing better diversity-wise right now, given that their film universe is much younger than Marvel's but they've still managed to announce one film with a female lead and two with non-white leads already (also, it's just occurred to me, do we know anything about Green Lantern yet? Could it be about John Stewart? *crosses fingers*). And yeah, you could argue that they HAD to do Wonder Woman (not sure I entirely buy that, given that they didn't seem to have much difficulty doing Green Lantern as their first non-Superman or Batman attempt last time round), but they didn't have to do Cyborg and they didn't have to cast Jason Momoa as Aquaman. Also I can't help but feel that making this about DC vs Marvel (which, yes, I just did) kind of elides the fact that they're both losing: both of them are still mostly making films about white men; neither are making films about queer characters or women of colour. Though while I am in these increasingly bulky parentheses, I will pause to daydream about a world where DC and Marvel DID actually start trying to one-up one another on the diversity front. DC announces Vixen and Batwoman! Marvel makes Daughters of the Dragon and rejigs Guardians of the Galaxy so that Phyla-Vell and Moondragon are the main characters! DC makes a Renee Montoya film and an Oracle led Birds of Prey one, with ALL OF THE WOMEN in it! Marvel ripostes with Ms Marvel and Fearless Defenders! etc etc etc.)
As for the rest of the Phase 3 stuff: I will probably see and enjoy Thor: Ragnarok. I do not care about Doctor Strange or Guardians of the Galaxy. I am deeply unthrilled by Captain America: Civil War, because I am just not here for superheroes fighting each other. (Though given how much I loved Winter Soldier, I am willing to be won over.) My initial reaction to Avengers: Infinity War was "oh no, not another multi-title crossover event", but I'll probably be more excited once I convince my brain that that's not what it is. ;) Inhumans I am agnostic on: I don't really know anything about them, so I am basically balancing "why couldn't that space have gone to Black Widow" against "well, Medusa's cool, plus this opens the door for Ms Marvel".
/thoughts on superhero films
But... T'Challa was so great in Avengers: EMH and now he's getting a film! And CAROL. She's my favourite Marvel character and she's going to be in a film and based on the MCU's track record, it is probably going to be a film I will like. \o/ (Which is something that I'm a bit more worried about with DC's Wonder Woman film, to be honest: DC's storytelling priorities aren't really matching the kind of films I want to see as well as Marvel's are at the moment. Which is not to say that I think that Marvel is superior, just that I'm finding their fictional universe more congenial at the moment.)
(Actually I think DC is definitely doing better diversity-wise right now, given that their film universe is much younger than Marvel's but they've still managed to announce one film with a female lead and two with non-white leads already (also, it's just occurred to me, do we know anything about Green Lantern yet? Could it be about John Stewart? *crosses fingers*). And yeah, you could argue that they HAD to do Wonder Woman (not sure I entirely buy that, given that they didn't seem to have much difficulty doing Green Lantern as their first non-Superman or Batman attempt last time round), but they didn't have to do Cyborg and they didn't have to cast Jason Momoa as Aquaman. Also I can't help but feel that making this about DC vs Marvel (which, yes, I just did) kind of elides the fact that they're both losing: both of them are still mostly making films about white men; neither are making films about queer characters or women of colour. Though while I am in these increasingly bulky parentheses, I will pause to daydream about a world where DC and Marvel DID actually start trying to one-up one another on the diversity front. DC announces Vixen and Batwoman! Marvel makes Daughters of the Dragon and rejigs Guardians of the Galaxy so that Phyla-Vell and Moondragon are the main characters! DC makes a Renee Montoya film and an Oracle led Birds of Prey one, with ALL OF THE WOMEN in it! Marvel ripostes with Ms Marvel and Fearless Defenders! etc etc etc.)
As for the rest of the Phase 3 stuff: I will probably see and enjoy Thor: Ragnarok. I do not care about Doctor Strange or Guardians of the Galaxy. I am deeply unthrilled by Captain America: Civil War, because I am just not here for superheroes fighting each other. (Though given how much I loved Winter Soldier, I am willing to be won over.) My initial reaction to Avengers: Infinity War was "oh no, not another multi-title crossover event", but I'll probably be more excited once I convince my brain that that's not what it is. ;) Inhumans I am agnostic on: I don't really know anything about them, so I am basically balancing "why couldn't that space have gone to Black Widow" against "well, Medusa's cool, plus this opens the door for Ms Marvel".
/thoughts on superhero films