From Black Panther to Black Widow: The Future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Diverse
In the decade since Iron Man, its very first release, the Marvel franchise has produced another 17 movies. Those movies have starred, variously, a giant angry green guy, an anthropomorphic raccoon with a gun, a walking tree that then became a baby walking tree and three different versions of a teenager who shoots sticky white stuff from his, ah, hands. But female heroine Black Widow, who has been in nearly every Marvel movie to date, is still yet to have her own film.
2018 marked a decade for Marvel — a milestone its founders were keen to celebrate — but not a lot of innovation. The last ten years of Marvel films have followed the same three heroes: Captain America, Thor and Iron Man. Over and over, we’ve seen the same superhero protecting the world from an egotistical scientist or otherworldly foe.
But after years of the same origins stories, 2018 has shown that with films like Black Panther and Thor: Ragnarok, Marvel are beginning to listen to what audiences really want: more diversity.
Diversity Works
Black Panther and Thor: Ragnarok were boldly different than the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and presented a universe that celebrates people of colour and female heroes.
Black Panther’s cast is almost exclusively made up of PoC and women. From the visual and aural aesthetics to character design, Ryan Coogler’s film was unapologetically black and streamlined the message of black excellence in the Marvel film series. It now holds the record as having the fifth largest opening weekend of all time, surpassing James Cameron’s Titanic at the box office; and second to The Avengers, it’s had a more successful opening weekend than any of the Thor, Iron Man or Captain America films. That alone speaks not only to the quality of Black Panther but also that fans want diversity more than films that are what we already expect of the franchise.
Similarly, Thor Ragnarok was unapologetically Australian and oozed Taika Waititi’s frivolous and dry humour. It painted a powerful metaphor of Indigenous Australian and New Zealand people in the Asgardians losing their homeland to a malicious enslaver, and coming to the conclusion that one’s home is defined by their culture and people, not their physical surroundings. While it didn’t necessarily sell as well as Black Panther, it marked our first glimpse at a queer superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
According to actress Tessa Thompson, Thor Ragnarok’s Valkyrie is bisexual and a scene explicitly confirming her bisexuality was cut from the final version of the film. Instead, the film uses various imagery, such as Valkyrie wielding a turret like a strap on sex toy and fighting an army to the backdrop of rainbow coloured fireworks, to code her as queer without explicitly calling her such. Naturally, fans and Thompson were disappointed to see the studio fail to commit to a queer character but this is the closest the studio has ever come to representing queerness in their films.
After the innovation of Black Panther and Thor: Ragnarok, Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War is a huge gamble. A two-part film arc starring every memorable character in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is no easy feat, and if the Russo brothers pull it off, they’ll no doubt become two of the most wanted action directors in Hollywood. Marvel Studios President Kevin Fiege admitted the company has plans for 20 more films post-Avengers 4, and that following the events of the film, the MCU won’t be the same. Which means there’s no reason for them not to rebrand Marvel’s big superhero team with more diverse characters and storylines.
Marvel has yet to reveal the title for Avengers 4, claiming that the name is a spoiler and foreshadows the future of Phase Four. By the end of Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos turns all of the MCU’s post-Phase Two characters such as Spider-Man and Black Panther to dust. The threat of Thanos and saving the world is left in the hands of the original Avengers team, Rocket Raccoon, Nebula, Okoye, War Machine, Captain Marvel and potentially, Ant Man and the Wasp. Excluding those with their own movies in between Avengers films, this is in many ways the original characters’ final adventure, and paves the way for the new team.
As some fans predict, a core theme of Infinity War is the idea of sacrifice: over the course of the film, each of our heroes fail to protect the infinity stones from Thanos because of their unwillingness to sacrifice someone they love for the greater good, all while Thanos sacrifices the only daughter he ever loves and succeeds in his mission. A growing fan theory for Avengers 4 is that each of the original six members of the first Avengers film will sacrifice themselves to reclaim the six infinity stones and restore.
While the idea of killing all six big name characters is *incredibly* ambitious, especially when Marvel has already confirmed a Black Widow film is in the works, it’s likely we’ll see the death of some of the franchise’s most beloved and titular characters, namely Captain America and Iron Man. There’s a high chance Steve Rogers’ and Tony Stark’s black sidekicks, Sam ‘The Falcon’ Wilson and James ‘War Machine’ Rhodes, could don the shield and iron suit. This would then mark the end of an era and new beginning for Marvel with an Avengers team led by Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, Ant-Man and the Wasp; and following the fact some of these heroes have some of the best moments in the latest film, they can easily lead the next decade. This theory is echoed by an upcoming Avengers-themed figurine announced days before Infinity War.
In much the same way, as fans, we should be asking for more films led by people of colour, queer people and women. Currently, there are 18 Marvel films released and yet not one stars a heroine of the MCU. Of the 24 characters featured in the Infinity War poster, only seven are women. Additionally, during the opening scene of Infinity War, where Thanos and his henchmen defeats Thor and the Asgardians, the film fails to address the whereabouts of Valkyrie and Korg, two of Thor: Ragnarok’s more unique and lovable characters. Sure, Black Widow, Gamora and Scarlet Witch are in a number of movies, but Marvel Studios has yet to make them as important to the plot and overarching Marvel brand as their white male co-stars.
Last year’s Wonder Woman was the first official superheroine film and is reportedly the highest selling film in the DC cinematic universe. Although not Marvel, this tells us that, much like Black Panther, films led by superpowered women do sell. Marvel recently listened to fans’ years long request and announced plans for a standalone Black Widow film, and Captain Marvel in 2019 will mark the first super-heroine film in the MCU.
The Stories We Need To Tell
We’ve seen 40 superhero films come to the big screen in the past decade. Over these 40 films and more, Sony, DC Comics and Marvel Studios are consistently trying to one up one another with superpowered teams fighting off an impending threat of doom, and it’s getting tiresome.
To avoid the superhero bubble to burst, Marvel needs to make superhero stories that will stand outside the conventions of the genre and past MCU. The X-Men film series is notoriously a poor adaptation of what is to many 90s geeks a beloved memory of their childhood. Excluding X-Men: First Class, the writing in each has been messy with questionable casting choices, action scenes and unoriginal plot development. In this way, 20th Century Fox’s Logan (2017), which sees an old and dying Wolverine and Professor X as the last mutants standing as Wolverine learns to be a father, poignantly changed how we saw the X-Men film series.
While Black Panther in many ways serves as a reminder of how these stories could influence the perception of the Marvel film franchise, the studio needs to continue to adapt more of the obscure and less conventionally superhero stories that the comic book community has grown to love. Tom King’s and Gabriel Hernandez Walta’s The Vision comic series is one such a story that needs to be told. It tells the tragic story of The Vision and his artificial family moving into a small-town community, struggling to adapt to human society and falling apart.
There’s still a near infinite number of heroes Marvel can adapt in the next twenty films, and if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll notice the studio has been dropping hints of their existence in the MCU overtime. There are various iterations of the Avengers line-up in the comic universe but in Mark Waid’s All-New Avengers comic series, the team is made up of a black Spider-Man, black Captain America, female Thor and Pakistani-teen, among others.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has already introduced the hidden identity of the new female Thor, Jane Foster (played by Natalie Portman), in the Thor trilogy, but there’s no reason why we can’t see her re-appear in the future as a human turned God taking the mantle from Chris Hemsworth. Similarly, Donald Glover’s short cameo in Spider-Man Homecoming as Aaron Davis mentioning he had a nephew in the area implies that Marvel clearly have plans to introduce the Ultimate Spider-Man Miles Morales at some stage. As mentioned earlier, Sam Wilson is likely to take over as Captain America following the predicted death of Steve Rogers. At the same time, Valkyrie is a beloved new member of the MCU and part of the Secret Avengers in the comics, and needs to be a more starring member with scenes that explicitly demonstrate her as unapologetically queer.
Captain Marvel (2019), which sees the studio introduce Carol ‘Captain Marvel’ Danvers, is where the studio truly begins to retcon their roster. Captain Marvel is an incredibly gifted super-heroine from the past, and a noteworthy replacement for Rogers’ veteran heroics in the team and Marvel’s equivalent to the all-purpose superpowers of Superman. She possesses superhuman strength, near immunity and damage absorption, flight and projectile beams of light. Despite Nick Fury paging her in the present in Avengers: Infinity War’s post credits scene, her film is set in the past, introduces the Skrull to the MCU and explains her appearance in Avengers 4.
Much like with Jane Foster’s Thor and Miles Morales, adding Captain Marvel allows Marvel Studios to eventually introduce Inhuman characters and the Skrull, including the loveable Pakistani-American teen, Ms Marvel. In the comics, Kamala ‘Ms Marvel’ Khan is discovered by Captain Marvel, Captain America and Iron Man after a mysterious mist gives her the inhuman ability to stretch, morph and compress her body into any shape she can imagine. She was first introduced in 2013 and has since become a fan favourite in the new Marvel comics universe, as well as being the first American Muslim superhero. With characters like Ms Marvel, Ultimate Spider-Man and Jane Foster, Marvel Comics is representing the groups of society that are yet to be inspired by their heroes, and the film franchise needs to reflect this.
Marvel Studios’ films work in phases. Phase One introduced and starred the original Avengers; Phase Two further developed the relationships between these characters and their sidekicks as well as introduced the Guardians of the Galaxy; and Phase Three concluded many of these characters’ arcs as well as premiered Black Panther, Doctor Strange and the Marvel-owned Spider-Man. The future of Phase Four is mostly unknown at this point, except that it will span from 2019 to 2028 and will include sequels to Spider-Man: Homecoming, Black Panther, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Doctor Strange and a Black Widow film. Irrespective of that, it’s highly unlikely we’ll see any of these characters begin to appear on screen until Phase Five at best.
The next phase of Marvel films will feature something different than the original Marvel Cinematic Universe. The aftermath of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4 will no doubt change the core Avengers team and the tone of the franchise going forward; and as a result, gives Marvel the opportunity to resolve their past poor representation of women, queer folk and people of colour.
In response, we as fans need to ask Marvel Studios to continue telling interesting and dynamically new ideas in their superhero films with characters like Black Widow, Captain Marvel and other female heroines leading the way.
