I decided to take a dive into unfamiliar waters and read some other sites whose opinions are different from mine. This came from me working nights and spending far too much time on twitter, reddit and Instagram, I have literally no one to talk to so don’t hate me. And over the past few months I have seen a growing number of voices complaining that the MCU is too woke, or full of Marxist shit or that it has gone too gay. And all these changes have ruined the MCU. So, I decided to go read some of the linked articles and see what people were talking about.

Before we begin, I will say this, thankfully none of these writers actually accused the MCU of being full or Marxism, because most writers worth their salt are not that stupid – though in the case of that particularly stupid point it is usually the readers saying things like that. The consensus among some “fans” seems to be that the MCU has gone woke and is now broke. Citing issues like America Chavez having a Rainbow Pin badge and two moms as being an issue. Two moms who barely appear in Madness of the Multiverse and as for Rainbow badges, kids wear things like that all the time, welcome to 2022.

Sadly though, for many it went further than that and I just felt it would be cathartic to put my opinion out there. If you do not want to read my “Woke” views then that is fine, please move along, but if you think you have an open mind and that the MCU has gone Woke then please comment below. Now let’s begin.

Firstly, lets address Captain Marvel, more than any MCU project this one has received a lot of hate for pushing Feminism. But does it really push Feminism?

Yes, Carol Danvers is a woman, and yes at the time she was in the air force, where as a woman she would not be allowed to fly in combat, so writing that into her story is kind of logical and it gives the plot a pinch of realism. The fact she is a good pilot, she got into the air force thus she must be good, would mean she would be frustrated with not being able to fly. So, at point we get brief flashes of her being told she isn’t good enough because she is “a girl” sad fact is this is something that does happen, so I do not see any problem with that. But is this really pushing feminism?

I hardly think so. Also you see her being mentored by both Jude Law and to a certain extent Samuel L Jackson respectively. Both of their characters see potential in her and push her to be her best. If this was a feminist mouthpiece of a movie then surely, she would just be the strongest because WOMEN, right from the start?

Is it pushing an agenda?

No…

If you think having a woman shooting lasers is pushing Feminism then what about Iron Man is that pushing the military industrial complex, or Captain America is that pushing the use of steroids and Hulk is that film secretly telling us all that abstinence is the only form of safe sex?

The answer is clearly no, because they are just fun superhero movies.

Now let’s look at Eternals. Some sources such as CBM News would site this films downfall is because it featured Marvels first openly gay superhero. The word Superhero is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, the character in question is Phastos, played by Brian Tyree Henry, he has very little screen time in the film and is not even a superhero.

Eternals itself is not a bad movie, I think it suffered a lot because it was a much quieter picture that came into existence after more explosive releases. Nothing in the MCU is awful – if you think Eternals is bad then go watch Jonah Hex, Supergirl, 2015’s Fantastic Four or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen – those are bad Superhero movies. The Eternals is Marvel searching to break the formula and find something to work towards in a post Thanos universe. It is not one of the MCU’s best films but there is no agenda being pushed. Unless you are against the diverse cast, and with a cast this talented I don’t think anyone could really complain.

Then lets us jump to Black Panther 2, where Cosmicbook news would say –

“What they are doing is intentionally going out of their way to replace characters and change everything about them (i.e Namor) which results in poor quality content because it’s all about selling an Agenda instead of creating something good.”

Firstly, Namor was no-one’s favourite character, so who really cares?

And secondly changes were made not for diversity, but changes were made because Marvel needed to make him different from DC’s Aquaman. On the surface both characters have a lot in common, and any comic book lover worth their salt can tell them apart, but the average joe cannot do that. Seriously I have been in a room where people have asked me about a Batman vs Spiderman movie and when we are going to see that. Regular viewers are just there to watch movies, they do not know or care about canon or who owns what characters. Now changing Namor’s origin, well that was helps further tie the MCU lore further together and linked Namor to the Black Panther helping create a certain dualism between the characters. But at his core he is still the same ruthless bastard he has always been.

Finally let’s take a look at Ms Marvel and She-Hulk. Both have again been accused of pushing agendas and the tone of both series has been called into question. Well first with Ms Marvel if you think the plot of this series is stupid then I am sorry, but it is not that far off from the plot of Spider-Man. Also is it not nice to see a superhero with a healthy relationship with their family. Though Im sure the biggest issues for some people is that Ms Marvel is Muslim, and they changed her powers.

Is her being Muslim an issue?

Well, no and it should not be. But if it is an issue for you, tell me this, are you ok with Matt Murdock aka Daredevil and Kurt Wagner aka Night Crawler being Catholic?

Because that is integral to both characters. Or How about Magneto being Jewish. Magnetos being Jewish and all the persecution and hate he faced for being Jewish form the basis for why he does what he does. So, seeing a young Pakistani-American Muslim hero should not be an issue.

As for her powers, well stretchy powers are hard to pull off on screen, so the change is not really a big deal for me.

As for She-Hulk, it was a bit of silly fun that called out the haters before it even began, in fact the writers knew the hate was coming as they wrote the show. Its biggest weakness was that it did not focus on the law side of things and hopefully they will fix that with season 2. Also once again another Super Hero with a healthy family dynamic.

Before I close this out, I will also briefly mention Thor Love and Thunder – the wokeness did not ruin that movie. In fact, Jane Fosters Mighty Thor may have been one of the best parts of it, the constant stream of jokes and misuse of a great villain ruined that movie. And I know there is complaints about Korg being Gay, but he is a rock creature can rocks be gay?

So far there are five movies lined up for Phase 5 and three of them have White Male leads, so now the MCU has not turned woke. It has just gotten a little more diverse. Is it different from the comics?

It most certainly is, but is that a bad thing?
Maybe, maybe not. It just depends how you view it. If you are upset at changes being made now where you mad that Tony Stark was not injured in Vietnam?

Where you angry that the Guardians of the Galaxy where completely different?

Or that Mantis is not the Celestial Madonna?

That Hanky Pym didn’t build Ultron?

And how about Thanos’ motivations for wanting to kill half of the Universe?

Let’s not forget that many of these characters origins have changed over time so complaining about any movie changes is moot. And I am not some blind MCU fan boy who loves everything they do; I have legitimated complains about the franchise but being “Woke” is not a legitimate complaint. If the characters were written as only Muslim, or Gay or what ever without any defining traits id be annoyed but this is not the case.

In my opinion the MCU has suffered because Post-Thanos they lack a big bad, but Thanos took time to build up so we need to give Phase Four time to build up Kang the Conqueror, and hopefully he will be able to fill that void that Thanos left in our hearts. Another issue is that they killed off plenty of great villains or have failed to bring others back, but with the multiverse maybe we will see the return of a few old faces. Phase Four was definitely weaker than Phase 3 but all round it was stronger than 2, going forward I think the MCU will definitely have more hits than losses.

And even if one project is not for you, that is totally fine, they are building it so there is something for everyone and really is there any problem with that?