Minorities
In
The representation of
racial diversity in the
Marvel Cinematic
Universe
Marlies van Kessel
26-06-2017
supervisor: dr. Mark Stewart
second reader: dr. Toni Pape
MA TV and Cross-Media
Culture
University of Amsterdam
TABLEOFCONTENTS Table of contents 1 Introduction 2Chapter 1 – Representing racial diversity 4 1.1 Representing diversity and whiteness 5
1.2 Stereotypes 6
1.3 Whitewashing 10
1.4 Being a hero 11
Chapter 2 – Stereotyping black heroes 13
2.1 Sam Wilson a.k.a. Falcon 14
2.2 Colonel ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes a.k.a. War Machine 16
2.3 Heimdall 19
2.4 Mordo 21
2.5 Nick Fury 23
2.6 T’Challa a.k.a. Black Panther 25
Chapter 3 – A Minority Minefield in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 27
3.1 Diversity or death trap? 28
3.2 Progress in representation 30
Chapter 4 – Luke Cage as the New Shaft? 35
4.1 A political hero 36
4.2 Blaxploitation in modern-day Harlem 38
4.3 Luke Cage 39
Conclusion 42
INTRODUCTION
“Cap is back, leading a team of rebels, alongside his quippy black best friend. […] Opposing them is team Iron Man, his quippy black best friend…”
(“Honest Trailers - Captain America: Civil War”)
This appears to be a problematic way of speaking about the black characters in Captain
America: Civil War (2016), which is done by the voiceover in the Honest Trailer of this film,
made by YouTube creators Screen Junkies. The Honest Trailers series is literally what the name says, trailers of films that give an honest perspective on said film. This is done mostly because its comedic effect, but in this case immediately highlights the point I want to make with this thesis. There are not many non-white characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and when they are there, in the case of Captain America, they are a stereotypical character, like the best friend of the leading white male character. To point this out, Screen Junkies are not only giving an honest view on the film, but at the same time make an important statement about racial diversity in superhero films. There seems to be a serious lack of racial diversity in these movies.
In the beginning of 2018 Marvel Studios will release the film Black Panther, a film that features a leading black superhero on the big screen for the first time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Over the last fifteen years the superhero film has been a huge success, with for example The Avengers (2012) being the fifth highest grossing film ever (The
Numbers). Many different studios, such as Marvel, 20th Century Fox, and Sony Pictures, have
continually produced very successful superhero films, ranging from Spider-man (2002) to
X-Men (2001), and of course The Avengers. All these comic book adaptations have led to huge
franchises that intertwine, making Marvel able to release three superhero films this year alone. This hype started in the 1980s and 1990s, when fantasy and science fiction films became more popular following the success of Star Wars (1978). Since the year 2000, at least three superhero films came out almost every year. Whether this is because superheroes saving major cities like New York “is a comforting tale in a post-9/11 world”, or that now special effects are so convincing we finally believe the heroes are real is unclear, but after almost seventeen years, superhero films are more successful than ever (Brown). With so many superhero films and series being released over the years, it has taken a long time for a leading black character to appear. How is it possible that this has taken so long, when in the same time three different Spider-man series have been made, all featuring white leading actors?
The issue is not only that there is not enough appropriate racial diversity in superhero films, but also that when it does appear, there is immediately a lot of backlash from fans who did not picture the character that way. Faithfulness to the original is always a struggle when making adaptations, but especially when a character’s race is changed, fans tend to fight this, making it necessary for casting directors to defend themselves on casting a non-white
character. When Aquaman is played by a Hawaiian actor this must be justified by his character’s origins, which would not be the case if the character was played by a Caucasian actor (Wheeler). Fortunately, when a character is non-white in the original comic books and then gets played by a white actor in the film adaptation, this receives a lot of criticism as well. Whitewashing a minority character like this is one of the ways through which racial diversity is lacking in superhero movies. This seems to attract more criticism than for example
stereotyping, even though both are unrealistic representations of racial minorities.
With this thesis, I want to explore how racial diversity is represented in superhero films. I will focus mainly on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and will not include the original comic books in my analysis. The comic books will only be referenced on occasion for background information. The visual sources I will be looking at for my main analysis are all the films, televisions show, and Netflix series made by Marvel Studios from Iron Man (2008) to Doctor Strange (2016), not including other Marvel adaptations made by different studios, such as the X-Men films. My focus will be mostly on media that include racial diversity, which unfortunately does not include all the MCU films and series. The crossover between three different media platforms as adaptations will be interesting to analyse, because each platform has their own way of distributing and dealing with different restrictions while doing so. Netflix, for example, does not have to adhere to the MPAA’s film rating system, while the films need to be suitable for a younger audience and therefore deal with the restrictions of this system. Netflix can afford to be more inclusive, diverse, and daring, as they are free of controlling networks and rating restrictions. This is why a show like Luke Cage (2016-) and
Jessica Jones (2015-) can be made the way they are, as perhaps more explicit, only on
Netflix. However, these series have still gotten a lot of criticism, due to Luke Cage being blaxploitation, just like its original comic book character was. In the chapter on the MCU on Netflix, I will further expand on this issue and see how Luke Cage deals with racial diversity.
Racial diversity has been somewhat lacking in the Marvel comics, since their
inception. However, the comics have tried to represent a more accurate image of society with the launch of the Ultimate Marvel collection in 2000, which included new black characters and more diverse reboots of characters. An example of this is the black Hispanic Spider-man Miles Morales, instead of his white predecessor Peter Parker (Itzkoff). With the comics
upgrading their style over the last fifteen years, it would seem only fitting that their adaptations do the same. Unfortunately, this has not happened yet. A third actor has been introduced for the Spider-man character in last year’s Captain America: Civil War, but he was once again white Peter Parker. This leads to wonder whether the representation of racial diversity is only lacking in films, and how television and Netflix series deal with this.
This thesis will analyse the Marvel Cinematic Universe, arguing that, while keeping in mind that although they have shown progress over the last fifteen years, Marvel is still depicting racial diversity in a stereotypical manner, if at all, which does not do justice to the multicultural heroes in our modern society. The way race is depicted by Marvel superheroes says something about what we feel a superhero should be, which says something about how we view the world. Perhaps by changing how society is represented in popular culture can change the way we view society in real life.
CHAPTER 1 – REPRESENTINGRACIALDIVERSITY
Over the last fifteen years many comic books have been adapted as films. These films have included many different characters and many of them superheroes. What is striking is that over these years, only two non-white actresses were cast in bigger roles. Halle Berry as Storm in the X-Men movies and Jessica Alba in the Fantastic Four films. Alba’s character the Invisible Woman or Sue Storm was originally white in the comics, while Berry’s character Storm or Ororo Munroe was African American. These two are the only major female
characters that are non-white. However, they are not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as Marvel Studios does not have the production rights to the X-Men nor the Fantastic Four, leaving the MCU with only white women in leading superhero roles. Of course, we can also discuss the small amount of female heroes in general in these films and series, but as I am focussing on race, it is noteworthy to mention up front that all the further examples of racial representation will be mainly of male heroic characters.
To understand and distinguish the different ways people of colour are represented in the Marvel Cinematic Universe we need to first realise how racial diversity is usually
represented on screen, if at all. This will help with looking at the different films and television series more closely. Representing racial diversity is often done by using stereotypes of a certain culture, which for example can be seen in blaxploitation films. Another way in which characters of colour are often misrepresented is by casting a Caucasian actor to play a non-white character. This is done on more than one occasion in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and often faces a lot of criticism from fans. Finally, when looking at the Marvel Cinematic Universe we are talking about heroes. But what does being a hero entail and why is it that heroes are mostly white men? How has it taken so long for a black character to become the main hero of a superhero movie? All these different elements overlap somewhat, because it all comes down to the representation of minority characters in terms of their race. As it is all too easy to just say that they are not represented often enough, it is important to look at how they are represented, and see if it is done mostly with stereotypes. When racial minorities are not represented when they should be, how is this handled? What type of roles do they play in these superhero films? When we put all these different aspects together, we get a more
complete view of how racial diversity is dealt with in media in general and can thus apply it to the Marvel Universe.
1.1 Representing diversity and whiteness
Looking at diversity and how it is represented is nothing new. However, it is still relevant today as many minority groups are, even now, underrepresented in popular culture. The increasing prevalence of more independent distributors, such as HBO and Netflix has shown progression in this area already, as they do not have the same constraints as television broadcasters have to deal with. This has created new opportunities for progress in diverse racial representation.
Richard Dyer argues that focussing so much on minority groups as a minority has led to those groups remaining different from the norm. “The norm has carried on as if it is the natural, the inevitable, the ordinary way of being human” (“White” 44). This means that by writing and focussing on these groups as minorities, they remain seen as minorities. With his texts, Dyer wanted to put focus on white people as a race. According to him, whiteness is not a category as it is everywhere and therefore harder to see, whereas the absence of whiteness and inclusion of diversity is ‘different’ and therefore noticeable. Even though Dyer wrote this in 1988, the issue is still relevant today. Even now whiteness is embedded in our Western society as the standard form. We do not view whiteness as a race. “In the realm of categories, black is always marked as a colour (as the term 'coloured' egregiously acknowledges) […] white is no colour because it is all colours. This property of whiteness, to be everything and nothing, is the source of its representational power (Dyer “White” 45). Only when someone is not white, we notice that they are of a different race. This unnoticeable whiteness can also be found in popular culture. It has to be pointed out that a character is white, because it is still the norm. Marvel films still follow the dominant racial ideology of whiteness as the standard form. This goes unnoticed for most white viewers, as they recognise themselves in the heroic characters portrayed. However, for viewers who only have Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to relate to in a film, it is harder to see themselves in a film. This also has to do with the lack of diverse characters that are non-white. White representation is always more specific than, for example, black representation. “Brief Encounter is not about white people, it is about English middle-class people; The Godfather is not about white people, it is about Italian-American people; but The Color Purple is about black people, before it is about poor, southern US people” (Dyer “White” 46). With black people, for example, we do not expect diversity in their personalities, because they are already different by being non-white. That is how black actors mostly portray stereotypical black characters. The comparison Dyer makes, shows us clearly the immediate difference between white representation and black, or really any other racial representation.
When looking at films of the Marvel Universe, we find that minorities are heavily
underrepresented in bigger roles. Even films about the X-Men, which are basically about a minority group being targeted by the human population, do not include many non-white actors. The X-Men struggle with being outcasts and being different from the majority of the population. This struggle can be attributed to any real minority group ever, such as the gay community, which is pointed out in the second X-Men film X2 (2003) when a mutant’s mother says: “Have you tried not being a mutant?”. Aspects like these make these movies, and their original comic books, very relatable for minority groups. However, these struggles are represented in the films mostly by white male actors, which makes their problem of feeling like outcasts less convincing. Had the mutants in these films been a more racially diverse group, then they would have really been a slice of society. Their struggles of being outcasts as mutants would come across as more relatable when audiences can actually recognise themselves in members of the group. This is one example of a minority issue in superhero films, where the lack of racial diversity weakens the story. Another issue with representation of racial diversity comes with stereotyping non-white characters.
1.2 Stereotypes
Stereotypes are generalizations about social groups-characteristics that are attributed to all members of a given group, without regard to variations that must exist among members of that group (Seiter 15). That means stereotyping is a simpler way of looking at a person, through one characteristic, for example, that makes him a part of a certain social group. When stereotypes are used in popular media, it creates a very one-sided image of a cultural or social group, which then becomes the aspect or characteristic this group is known for. An individual is always much more than one enlarged characteristic. When people only see the stereotypical way a cultural or social group is represented, they start believing that is really what everyone in that group is like. Their individual aspects disappear and only the stereotype remains.
There are different aspects to stereotyping. In the case of racial minorities, the stereotypes were usually created by white people. For example, with stereotypes of black people, this stems from slavery, when stereotypical imagery of black people was the norm. According to Donald Boyle, there are about five different stereotypical characters an African-American actor can play (4). These include a Tom, Coon, Mulatto, Mammy, and Buck, which are very limited and unrealistic portrayals of actual people. The Buck, for example is a very aggressive and savage black man, who lusts “for white flesh” (13). Though perhaps this may seem like a very crude stereotype that is not used nowadays, stereotypes are still enforced in popular culture. This problem also arises with black superheroes, because at the time they
were created, this was done by white artists. “Their stories have been plagued by stereotypes, cultural ignorance, and unfortunate creative compromises” (Svitavsky 153). This limited the quality of the work, naturally, which led to these characters being less popular than white heroes that were more realistic and therefore more relatable. Comic book fans are also generally well-informed about the characters’ backstories and “often favour consistent portrayal of established characters over incongruous change. Black superheroes are therefore largely stuck in the era in which they first appeared” (153). This could be the reason why
Luke Cage (2016-) has been criticized for being a blaxploitation piece, even though it was
only adapted by Netflix last year. When black heroes were finally created by black artists they were drawn “from white popular culture and from black mythology and folklore” (Reid 26). This was done in the 1970s when blaxploitation films were made. At this time, independent film began to arise, which led to specialization in certain genres. Blaxploitation films were made by African Americans for African Americans, and “showcased young black performers and, sometimes, black creative personnel” (Thompson and Bordwell 491). Furthermore, these films “celebrated black power and resistance to dominant white culture rather than promoting the benefits of racial integration” (Pramagiore and Wallis 326). Even though these films were made mostly by black artists, they still featured heavy use of stereotypes, as the filmmakers were mostly out to get money from them. “These supposedly black-oriented films all too frequently reduced African Americans to outlaws, pimps, drug dealers, and prostitutes” (326). A few years after this, new independent filmmakers tried to focus more on changing the ideological content of Hollywood films, rather than pushing their own political ideology through stereotypical representation. Black superheroes that were created during this period were either stereotypically exotic, mostly from Africa, or based on characters from
blaxploitation films (Svitavsky 154). However, these characters were made less controversial, as writers did not want to disturb white readers with images of violent African Americans (155). Even though blaxploitation concerns a period in the 1970s, it is still a topic of
discussion today, which will be discussed later with a detailed analysis of Netflix’ Luke Cage, a character created originally at the height of blaxploitation films (155).
Nowadays, one hopes the use of stereotypes would be gone, however, when watching black characters in films or on television, a lot of stereotypes are still in place. “Traditional negative black stereotypes still exist and are still used in the popular arts. […] Too many white Americans still obtain their most important impressions of black Americans through such misrepresentations” (Geist 275). The number of different roles a non-white person can get is not high and depends on his or her cultural background. This becomes clear in a video made by Mic, a diverse news and media company, where Mamoudou N'Diaye auditions for
the eleven stereotypical roles a black actor can play (Mic). These roles differ from ‘slave’, ‘deadbeat dad’, and ‘happy African’, to ‘the charity case’, and finally ‘angry black man’. Even though these stereotypes are likely to be recognizable for moviegoers, they are not very obviously found in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the MCU, the most common
stereotypes for black men are the ‘sidekick’ and the ‘magical negro’.
The sidekick is a very common character, not only as a racial minority, which can often be found in superhero films, like Robin from Batman. When this relationship is
interracial, it gets more problematic. The role of being the best friend to the white man can be seen in many cases as being inferior to this white character, who is generally the lead
character. As mentioned in the introduction, the non-white friend of the main character is usually quippy, always coming up with funny things to say, also at the expense of his white friend. This is the role of the comic, in a stereotypical subgenre within a film, namely that of the “interracial buddy film” (Haggins 7). The other stereotypical non-white character that can be found in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the ‘magical negro’, which is defined as such:
The Magical Negro has become a stock character that often appears as a lower class, uneducated black person who possesses supernatural or magical powers. These powers are used to save and transform disheveled, uncultured, lost, or broken whites (almost exclusively white men) into competent, successful, and content people within the context of the American myth of redemption and salvation. (Hughey 544)
This character can be found in more than one film in the MCU, where a black character selflessly helps a white man, even if that goes against everything the black man believes in. He is always helping out his ‘friend’ in need, before doing what he himself feels is right. In next chapters these stereotypical characters will be explored in the MCU and analysed in more detail.
Up till now, we have mostly looked at African-American stereotypes and misrepresentations, which is due to their presence in the MCU. However, Asian, Latino, and Middle-Eastern characters are also relevant, due to their absence in the MCU or their
appearance as evil characters. There is quite a lot of attention going to African-American characters being stereotyped and underrepresented, which has to do with Western countries’ history of slavery. Latino and especially Asian characters appear to be overlooked in this process (Tung 89). Therefore, it shows progress that Agents has a strong Asian female lead character.
Stereotyping is also very present with these characters, for example in Iron Man, where the only Middle-Eastern characters are terrorists, and Ant-Man, where the only Latino character is best friend to the white hero and presented as an ignorant criminal. These
stereotypes are very old, similar to stereotypes about African-American people, as they come from Western colonialization of Asia and the Middle East. This is where the notion of ‘the Orient’ comes from. Orientalism is a way to view ‘the Orient’ and place it in contrast to the Western world. “To define Europe (or the West) as its contrasting image, idea, personality, experience” (Said 2). With this theory Edward Said changed the field of Orientalism to a patronising way of looking at East Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa.
Said’s text is very old, which means that the stereotypes mentioned are not necessarily a reflection of what is used nowadays. Stereotyping has become more subtle, but is so
integrated in popular culture, that it is perhaps no longer as noticeable to non-Asian people. Asian characters in the films and Netflix shows are most common as enemies of the main heroes, which is also the case in Marvel’s Elektra, where white hero Elektra fights against the Asian group ‘the Hand’. Stereotypically Asian people are most often depicted either as a ‘model minority’ or ‘yellow peril’ (Kawai 110). The ‘model minority’ implies that Asian-American people are still a minority and therefore inferior to white Americans.
However, it also means that they are better than other minorities. The ‘yellow peril’ is a stereotype where Asian people are a danger to the Western world (112). “The yellow peril referred to cultural threat as well as economic, political, and military threats to the White race” (112). This is used to make American society appear colour-blind, because as the Asian population of America is a successful minority group they prove that it does not matter that they are a minority to succeed. However, at the same time describing one minority group as the ‘model minority’ this is “downgrading other racial minorities as ‘problem’ minorities” (114). This divides minority groups and the fear of the ‘yellow peril’ rises in their success. When a group like ‘the Hand’ rises to power it is often their goal to end Western domination, which is a stereotypical way of portraying Asian-American characters, even as evil characters.
Even though stereotyping is not a correct representation of a social or cultural group, it will be a slow process to remove them from our popular culture. Especially because many white viewers will not notice them, according to reception research done by Ji Hoon Park et al. “White viewers were comfortably aligned with the dominant racial ideology that promotes White invisibility and minority stereotypes […] and thus readily adopted the reading strategy privileged by the film” (169). Viewers do not see a stereotype as a stereotype when they are the ideal audience. Furthermore, stereotyping is not always criticised by minority viewers, because they often prefer to overlook the negative ways in which their race is depicted, to
focus more on the positive ways in which they are depicted or on the fact that they are depicted at all (Park 171). These more positive views on stereotyping also keep the act of it intact.
1.3 Whitewashing
Another way of misrepresenting racial diversity in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is done by whitewashing. Whitewashing has been a trope used throughout the history of film.
“Filmmakers replace bodies marked as Asian with ones marked as white through casting practices” (Nishime 30). In the earlier days of film, when society was also very different than it is now, this went as far as white actors using blackface, such as Laurence Olivier in Othello (1965). White actors portraying the role of a non-white character seems like an almost racist act from the past, but unfortunately this is still done in Hollywood today. Whitewashing is often used in adaptations, when a character is, for example, of Asian descent in a comic book and then gets cast in the film with a Caucasian actor. This was the case with the anime adaptation Ghost in the Shell (2017), whose lead character was portrayed by Scarlett Johansson, a white woman playing a Japanese woman. Other times a white actor is cast to play a non-white character, such as Mickey Rooney playing an Asian man in Breakfast with
Tiffany’s (1961). This character could just as easily have been played by a real Asian man,
which could have avoided a stereotypical and almost racist performance that is Rooney’s in this film.
In some cases, whitewashing is done because studios fear that audiences will not watch the film if the lead actor is not famous, which can be said for Ghost in the Shell. However, in instances like this, as with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the original comics have a huge fan base, that will always watch the film, no matter who plays the lead role. Other times, whitewashing is used “as an alternative to stereotyping” (Nishime 30). This was the case for Doctor Strange (2016), where the character of The Ancient One was played by the white British actress Tilda Swinton. This received a lot of criticism, as the original character was an old Tibetan man. The studio used whitewashing in this case as a better alternative, because the original character “was too steeped in outdated exotic stereotypes” (30). To use this as an excuse, makes the studio try to picture their choice more as a step forward for gender equality rather than as a step backward for racial equality.
Whitewashing does not necessarily have to include a white actor in the role of a non-white character. It can also be done by slowly appropriating another culture, removing the need for the real non-white body. “By both exploring the gap between racial performance and racial bodies and ultimately reducing Asianness to a series of detachable aesthetic traces.”
(Nishime 34). A white character uses Asian aspects to avoid having to include a real Asian actor. The influence is there, but it is appropriated by a white actor. This is the case, for example, in Elektra (2005), where a white British man teaches Elektra, who is
Greek-American, martial arts, while she is in an Asian environment, surrounded only by Asian men practicing martial arts alongside her. Eventually she does not need this environment any longer, using her appropriated skills in her more familiar surroundings, avoiding the need for any non-evil Asian character to appear. Whitewashing can thus be used in a couple of
different ways, but in its essence is always a way to avoid casting an Asian actor, when the Asian actor is the most obvious and appropriate choice.
1.4 Being a hero
When looking at superheroes, villains, and sidekicks, it is useful to know what these characters represent on screen. What does being a hero really mean and what are his or her characteristics? Why are some characters the main heroes and what makes a sidekick the sidekick?
Somehow, I personally associate heroism with masculinity. If I visualise a hero, I visualise someone who looks like Captain America. A muscular man in a tight suit. Why? Perhaps because it is the image I have seen most throughout popular culture and everyday life. He is the typical superhero, mainly because, aside from being immortal, he could be any guy who is overdoing it at the gym. He is the ultimate guy next door. Captain America stands up for his friends and for the little guy, not for the government or any institution. This last part may be key as well. A hero works to protect people, not because he has to, but because he wants to. He does the right thing, always. What is interesting is that this is actually something that comes into play in Captain America: Civil War. The heroes have to stop being heroes, in order to protect the world. At least, that is what the government believes. It then becomes a ‘civil war’, as the heroes start to argue amongst themselves, disagreeing on whether to keep helping ‘the little guy’ or to listen to the government. The heroes disagree on what ‘the right thing’ is in this case.
Another issue that comes into play a lot in superhero films is the question whether the hero is a good person or not. Heroes kill people all the time, but mainly the enemy, who is bad. Therefore, killing is justified. However, when a hero (accidentally) kills or causes
innocent people to die, even though he has saved the entire world, he might not be a hero after all. This happens in The Dark Knight (2008), when Batman kills the villain Two-Face, who is known to the public in Gotham as the good guy Harvey Dent. Batman decides not to let the people of Gotham know that Dent turned into a murderer, but leaves them with the heroic
image of Dent, while taking the blame for Dent’s murders himself. “Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So, we'll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he's not our hero” (The Dark Knight (2008)). These events change the way Batman is viewed by his people, even though he is still a hero, he can be viewed as a villain as well. This appears to have to do with whether the world or the city he protects is in need of a hero at that moment.
Heroes are also adapted to their time. They are what the moment in time that created them needs them to be. This becomes visible when comparing, for example, the film
characters Captain America and Iron Man. Steve Rogers was made into Captain America during World War II, a time when a superhuman soldier was needed, while Tony Stark created Iron Man during the War on Terror, a time (like today) when people rely more and more on gadgets and technology to do work for them. Perhaps there is also a difference in whether the hero in question appears on the big screen or on Netflix. A show like Jessica
Jones (2015-) is very dark with many explicit scenes. The series is not as glamorous as Iron Man (2008), but because of that more realistic.
Of course, with the original comic book characters this was even more the case. Superman was created in 1938, when an understanding of heroism meant characteristics like “questions of manhood, ethnic identity, ability, respect, and justice” (Chambliss and
Svitavsky 18). These were aspects of what being a good man entailed at that time, which needed to be visible in a hero as well. Major events in history have also changed the perspective of the hero. In the Marvel comics, this meant including Captain America in the war with Vietnam and the war against communism in general. The patriotism and anti-communist attitude that was so visible in the comic books of the 1960s is not visible in the adaptations, because the time does not call for such political views. However, the fact that Tony Stark is taken hostage in the cave of Arab terrorists does display the time in which the first Iron Man film was made, namely in post 9/11 America. This makes Stark the great American hero that defeats terrorists, at a time when the War on Terror was fully operating.
A hero is what the people he is fighting for needs him to be, while with that being a product of his own time. In that way, heroes in popular culture can be seen as reflections of the time they were created.
CHAPTER 2 – STEREOTYPINGBLACKHEROES
Throughout the years there have been made many films featuring superhero. This is not something that has just been figured out to be successful over the last twenty years.
Successful Superman and Batman films have been made long before that. However, Marvel Studios only started self-producing much later, after the success of the first X-Men and Spider-Man films in the early 2000s. Marvel gained back some of the rights to their own characters and kept the ones they still had for themselves to create the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). This is the name given to their franchise of films that all intertwine, and make up one elaborate storyline of all the characters Marvel has the film rights to. The MCU started with Iron Man in 2008 and is an ongoing process, also including television series and series on Netflix. The films, the focus points in this chapter, are divided into phases. This means that for example, the first few films were part of ‘phase one: Avengers assembled’, leading up to the film about all the Avengers (The Avengers (2012)). All the preceding films were needed to introduce the different superheroes that would later form the Avengers. Each new film adds a new element to the phase they are in, ultimately leading up to a final film for that phase, which now appears to be for Avengers: Infinity War (2018). This film will, most likely, also include Chadwick Boseman as the Black Panther.
For this chapter, the focus will be on the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and how they deal with representing racial diversity on the big screen. As mentioned before, there are not many black superheroes or even black characters in the MCU worth mentioning. The focus in this piece will therefore be on the most noteworthy characters, namely Falcon, Nick Fury, War Machine, Heimdall, Mordo, and of course Black Panther. Black Panther is the only one of these characters to feature in his own film, which suggests he will be more complex than the others. We will see whether diversity is included in a stereotypical manner or if the characters will be more complex than that. Furthermore, focus will also be on the lack of diversity and the use of whitewashing to avoid casting racially diverse actors in important roles. In this way, I will showcase how diversity is dealt with in these films and prove that even in this modern age the heroes who fill the big screen are no true representations of our multicultural society. However, by misrepresenting society they show exactly how our society still is not looking at itself clearly and equally.
2.1 Sam Wilson a.k.a. Falcon
Sam is introduced in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) when he is on his morning run and constantly gets overtaken by Captain America or Steve Rogers. He quickly becomes a friend to Steve and helps him to get back into contemporary life after waking up 70 years after Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) and the events of The Avengers (2012). Sam is immediately introduced as a funny and sarcastic character. Steve is much faster than him and every time he runs past Sam he says: “on your left”. Sam gets annoyed by this and the last time this happens he says: “Don’t say it. Don’t you say it!” Steve: “On your left”. Sam: “Come on!” Sam becomes angry and tries to run faster to keep up with Steve, but is quickly exhausted and has to rest. In the scene after that he sits against a tree trying to catch his breath when Steve comes over to him. Steve: “Need a medic?” Sam laughs and says: “I need a new set of lungs. Dude, you just ran like thirteen miles in thirty minutes.” To this Steve responds seriously: “I guess I got a late start.” Sam responds sarcastically: “Oh, really? You should be ashamed of yourself. You should take another lap. [pause] Did you just take it? I assumed you just took it.” This first piece of dialogue Sam has with Steve asserts him as the funny friend character. He is also a war veteran and can therefore relate to Steve’s situation. Steve struggles to get used to the contemporary world, in a similar way as any veteran would struggle to go back to ordinary life after being sent to a war zone. Sam leads a group of veterans and helps them to fall back into their everyday lives after missions. This is how he also helps Steve. On multiple occasions, he gives Steve a pep talk about what he could do with his life. Steve and Black Widow also turn to Sam for help after S.H.I.E.L.D. has been taken over by Hydra. He then offers himself to help Steve and Natasha to take back
S.H.I.E.L.D. “Dude, Captain America needs my help. There’s no better reason to get back in.” This is one of the few times that Sam shows he is not just a friend, but that he is also in awe of Captain America. This shows as well, for example, when they have invaded the Hydra mission and Captain makes a speech through the intercom, informing the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents
that Hydra has taken over and urging them to fight for freedom. Sam is impressed by the speech and says: “Did you write that down, or was it off the top of your head?” with an almost flabbergasted look on his face (Picture 1). During the film Ant-Man (2015), Scott (Ant-Man) goes to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and is able to overpower Falcon when he is the size of an ant. After this slightly embarrassing moment Falcon speaks to the agents on the intercom: “It’s important to me that Cap never finds out about this.” Sam constantly expresses his adoration for Steve and does not want to lose face in front of him.
Aside from this behaviour, Sam is also a soldier. He fights where he is needed, but also tries to help Captain America where he can, meaning that he stops people from fighting the Captain, so the Captain can go on with his initial task. In Winter Soldier this means fighting off against a man who was first aiming of Captain America, so Captain can go after the Winter Soldier and Natasha. This makes him Captain America’s right hand. When the three heroes are taken to the underground S.H.I.E.L.D. base, Captain takes the lead,
disagreeing with Nick Fury. Fury then looks at Sam for support, but Sam says: “Don’t look at me. I do what he does, just slower.” This is a reference to the beginning of the film, when they were running. Furthermore, it shows that Sam sees himself as Captain’s right hand,
because he will only follow him and no one else. He follows Steve around everywhere; to a funeral in London, but also when Bucky is taken by Civil War’s villain, and when they take Bucky to a safe place. Sam always walks slightly behind Steve as well, showing that he has got Steve’s back, but is not on the same level (Picture 2). Furthermore, Sam realizes that his role is not always to follow Steve. For example, during the airport fight scene in Civil War, it is Sam’s idea to distract Iron Man’s people so Bucky and Steve can escape. He knows that it is important that they get away and helps Steve in that way again.
“Sam walking behind Captain America.” Picture 1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Dir. Anthony and Joe Russo, 2014.
Despite that Sam is mostly in fight scenes to help Steve, he does have his own impressive and heroic moments as well. The first time we see Sam in his Falcon flight suit he gets his own hero moment. Captain America and Black Widow threaten a man by throwing him off a roof top. The camera stays on them, so we do not see the man fall. Then, suddenly, he is carried through the sky by the Falcon, who throws the man on the roof top and then easily lands on the roof himself, with his back towards the camera (Picture 3). His wings go back into his rucksack and he slowly turns around, while the camera goes into close-up of his face. Because Sam has moments like this he appears to be as much of an Avenger as the other heroes. The one fight scene where Sam is fighting for the bigger scheme and not for Captain America, is one that is not given a lot of screen time. There he fights one of Hydra’s lead soldiers. The scene ends right after a short piece of dialogue and the film only cuts back to it after the mission is complete and the building they are in gets hit. We need to see that he gets out safely and the bad guy does not. Each of the heroes in The Winter Soldier, Sam, Steve, and Natasha, all get their own parts and duties. However, Sam’s part is significantly smaller than the other two. In the end, he is mainly there to help Captain America do his job and be a friend to him.
2.2 Colonel “Rhodey” Rhodes a.k.a. War Machine
Sam is mostly a second rank superhero, only present because he is a friend to Captain
America. His role contrasts with the other black best friend character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; Colonel Rhodes or Rhodey, who is Iron Man’s best friend. Though Rhodey is first and foremost Iron Man’s friend, he has a mind of his own. He calls Tony out on his
behaviour, especially in the first Iron Man films. In the first Iron Man film Rhodey is played by Terence Howard, but in the latter MCU films he is replaced by Don Cheadle. In Iron Man, we see Rhodey first when he gives a speech in honour of Tony Stark, saying Tony is a friend
“Sam flies down on the roof.” Picture 2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Dir. Anthony and Joe Russo, 2014.
and a mentor to him. Tony, however, does not show up to accept this award. He treats Rhodey rather arrogantly, by making him wait for three hours. Rhodey calls him out on this
behaviour, saying “you don’t respect yourself, so I know you don’t respect me.” He is not in awe of his friend, but appears to be an equal. This can be because of his higher ranking as a colonel in the army. When Tony and Rhodey are on screen together they appear on the same level. Their dialogue is done using over the shoulder shots from both men, not at an angle to give either a different rank.
When Tony is in trouble, Rhodey is the first one to find him. For example, after Tony has escaped the terrorists or after Obediah has taken the reactor out of Tony’s chest. He also helps Tony get back to work or get his head straight on more than one occasion. What is striking it that many of the main heroes go through personal issues and inner conflicts, but the miner heroes do not. When they do this is not given that much attention or even taken
seriously. Someone like Clint (Hawk Eye) gets his special personal moment and background in Age of Ultron, but Sam or Rhodey do not get this. Tony, however, gets plenty of these moments, such as in the second movie, when he is facing his impending death. Rhodey uses one of his suits to get Tony out of his own suit. Tony has been drunk and acting dangerously in his suit. They end up fighting and Tony does not think Rhodey is worthy for the suit. “You think you’ve got what it takes to wear that suit?” In the finale of the third Iron Man film Tony, Rhodey and all of Tony’s suits attack the Mandarin. Rhodey wants to wear a suit, just like Tony: “Give me a suit, okay?” To which Tony responds with: “Oh, I’m sorry they are only coded to me. I’ve got you covered.” Rhodey then asks: “What’s that mean?” Rhodey is not able to get his own suit at this time, until he saves the president, who is trapped in the War Machine suit. He then gets carried off by a suit (Jarvis) and says “very funny” in a sarcastic tone. Even in this time, Tony uses his power to embarrass Rhodey. Again, they are not fighting as equals, because he is not willing to give Rhodey a suit.
In the airport battle in Captain America: Civil War Ant-Man suddenly transforms himself into a giant as a diversion. He is then so big that he can hold War Machine in his fist like a doll. Tony responds to this action by saying “give me back my Rhodey”. This comment can mean two things. The first is that it is a comment on their friendship as well as a comment
to
how large Ant-Man holds Rhodey in his fist like a little doll. The second is that it insinuates that Rhodey is Tony’s property. Neither one takes Rhodey completely serious as a person. Due to this diversion Captain and Bucky manage to escape in a jet. Tony and Rhodey fly after them, while Sam tries to stop them from doing so. Rhodey then tells Vision to hit Sam, but Sam ducks and Rhodey gets hit himself and his suit turns off. He falls from the sky, while Sam and Tony both try to catch him before he lands. However, they are too late. This fuels the anger Tony already has for Captain America, because if it was not for him, there would not have been a fight between them in the first place. Tony ends up cradling his friend on the ground, staring angrily in the distance (Picture 4). He has finally acknowledged the tragedy of what would happen if he lost his best friend. What is striking in this shot is that it is hard to distinguish Rhodey’s face from his suit, as both are dark. Tony’s suit is bright red and gold, making him stand out more, while Rhodey’s suit is dark grey. The Iron Man suit is always noticeable, but the War Machine suit is not. In a shot with both suits, one’s eye would always go to Iron Man, because the colours are simply more noticeable, while War Machine goes into the background as if he is not equal.
This is confirmed on a couple of other moments as well. When Tony throws a party in
Age of Ultron, Rhodey tells a joke, but the punchline does not hit with Tony and Thor.
Rhodey says that the story kills everywhere else, asking himself “why do I even talk to you guys?” Later when he tells the joke to a group of ‘regular’ people at the party they all laugh at the right moment. He looks like he is thinking “that’s all I asked for”, nodding to himself, but still looking disappointed. By distancing himself from the heroes, along with agent Maria
Hill, he distances himself from being their equal. He finds his joke funny, as do the other ordinary people, making him more of a non-hero, even though he fights with the Avengers. Furthermore, during the end credits of Age of Ultron, the heroes are depicted in a marble statue, like the ancient Greek gods were as well. This statue includes new Avengers Scarlet Witch, Vision, and the deceased Quicksilver, but does not include War Machine or Falcon, even though they are both new Avengers as well. Falcon was not included in the battle for Sokovia like all the other heroes, but War Machine was. When Don Cheadle’s name appears on screen, before Quicksilver’s Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Scarlet Witch’s Elizabeth Olsen, we do not see a statue of his face or of War Machine’s helmet, but an image of one of Ultron’s robots. There is no reason to not include Cheadle in the statue, yet he is not there. Even though he was a part of the battle for Sokovia, he is not seen as an equal to the other, even new, Avengers.
2.3 Heimdall
The wise ‘magical negro’ character comes back in two characters, namely Heimdall from
Thor (2011) and Mordo from Doctor Strange (2016). Both are friends of the main white
heroes and both are used to give valuable background information to the plot and wise words of advice to their often-ignorant heroes. This notion of a magical wise black character comes from “the mainstream traditional association of Blacks with folk wisdom and spiritual insight” (Glen and Cunningham 136).
Heimdall is the gatekeeper for Thor’s realm Asgard. He can open and close the Bifrost and let people in and out of different realms. He is wise and magical, because he can see everything and appears to be able to foresee events happen as well. When we first meet Heimdall he is upset because villains have snuck past him into Asgard unnoticed. We see him
at a crooked angle from above and then the camera tilts to a point of view from below, while the crooked angle stays the same. Loki is arrogant and wants to address him, persuading him to let them through, but Heimdall knows what they have come for. “You think you can deceive me?” However, when Thor asks him he lets them through. It is as if Heimdall sees through all of Loki’s deceit from the start. “Beware, I will honour my sworn oath to protect this realm as its gatekeeper.
When Thor later tries to take his hammer from the research site, but fails, we see the shot of the hammer reflected in Heimdall’s eyes, proving that he can see everything that happens in the universe and showing that he is a ‘magical negro’ character (Picture 5).
“What troubles you gatekeeper?” By calling Heimdall ‘gatekeeper’, instead of using his name as he did in Heimdall’s first scene, Loki disrespects him. He knows Heimdall’s name, but chooses to call him by his profession, pointing out his lower social standing.
He proves his distrust of Loki in a later scene, when he says:
“You were shrouded from me like the frost-giants that entered this realm.” Loki: “Perhaps your senses have weakened after your many years of service.”
Heimdall: “Or perhaps someone has found a way to hide that which he does not wish me to see.”
Loki: “You have great power Heimdall. Did Odin ever fear you?” Heimdall: “No.”
Loki: “And why is that?”
Heimdall: “Because he is my king and I’m sworn to obey him.” Loki: “He was your king. And your sworn to obey me now. Yes?”
Heimdall hesitates and then answers “yes”. Even though Heimdall has great magical powers, he does not use these powers for himself. He only uses them to serve his king. There is a difference in this scene when compared to an earlier scene after Odin gets Thor and his friend out of Jotenheim. In that scene, Odin was standing above everyone else and he wielded the sword at the gate. In the scene with Loki, however, Heimdall is at his place above Loki, holding the sword. Even though Loki tries to assert his power over Heimdall, Heimdall keeps his place. The camera is either looking at Heimdall from below, or looking over Heimdall’s
shoulder down to Loki (Picture 6). Even in close-ups we see Heimdall from a lower angle, which makes him appear more powerful. These camera angles could show that Heimdall will not obey Loki.
Heimdall behaves like a ‘magical negro’ character in Thor. A ‘magical negro character’ “often appears as a lower class, uneducated black person who possesses
supernatural or magical powers” (Hughey 544). This character teaches and helps a lost white character to become a successful and better person. Although this might appear to be a
positive way of depicting a character, it is still a stereotypical and racist perspective on a black man. Heimdall’s role as gatekeeper could make him come across as low social class, which is certainly how Loki perceives him. However, Heimdall’s magical ability to see everything everywhere makes him very powerful and respected by most. He chooses to help Thor, even though that means disobeying his true king Odin. He has an active role in this as he summons Thor’s friends. “Heimdall demands your presence.” Heimdall has that much power that he can send other guards to fetch people for him. He also does everything in his power to protect the realm, even physically, when Asgard is invaded in Thor: The Dark World (2013) he attacks one of the enemy’s ships to stop it from entering the city. Therefore, he appears to be a more powerful version of the ‘magical negro’. However, he does contribute to the white man’s redemption and he does not technically break disobey his ‘king’ Loki when he leaves the gate open for Thor’s friends.
Loki also ridicules him after his ‘betrayal’: “There are secret paths between the worlds to which even you with all your gifts are blind.” He then freezes Heimdall as revenge for his treason. Heimdall is so powerful that he can eventually break out of his frozen shell, but only appears to have the willpower for this when Thor calls upon him. He knows that only Thor can stop Loki. Even though Heimdall always obeys his king Odin, he somehow also always helps Thor. In The Dark World, Heimdall feels no longer needed by the king, because he has closed the Bifrost, leaving Heimdall without a job. He comes to sit with Thor and takes off his helmet. They appear to be equals in that scene. Thor convinces Heimdall to help him, even though this technically goes against Odin’s commands. Heimdall then asks Thor: “What do you require of me?” In Asgard everyone speaks in a very formal tone, but this way of phrasing hints that Heimdall will always serve Thor’s needs. He ends up reporting his own treason to Odin, which proves his never-ending service to the king. Despite all his magical powers, Heimdall does not act for himself once, only for the men he serves.
Mordo is a wizard in Doctor Strange (2017) played by Chiwetel Ejiofor. He is the wise helpful friend of white hero Steven Strange, played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Mordo explains certain plot elements and teaches Steven about magic. He also has complete faith in his white leader, same as Heimdall has in Odin, until The Ancient One goes against his fundamental understanding of the world. Mordo has a very black and white perspective on the world, seeing only the evil in darkness. Furthermore, Mordo constantly hints at the inevitable consequences for the meddling with dark power, although there do not seem to be any
consequences. He ends up being the villain for the next film, so perhaps then it means that he is the consequence of using dark power. Mordo is the wise man turned villain, because the white hero does not listen to his advice. This comes back throughout the film, for example when Mordo tells Steven to “forget everything you think you know”. Steven does not take this seriously and does not take The Ancient One seriously. Later in the film he even meddles with time, which is against Mordo’s advice about the natural laws. This causes Mordo to believe that he has found the answer to the problem of the world: ‘too many sorcerers’.
Because of his role as Steven’s teacher, Mordo is also a ‘magical negro’ character. He passes his knowledge of magic on to Steven, along with warnings and wise comments. Steven is the lost and fallen white man, who is then given advice by the ‘magical negro’ Mordo. However, Mordo is a less stereotypical and more complex version of the ‘magical negro’. He is higher in rank than Steven, as he is The Ancient One’s right hand. Furthermore, even though he is wise and knowledgeable, Mordo has a black and white understanding of magic and the world, which ultimately turns him into a villain. He shows character development, which makes him a complex minor character. His disappointment when he finds out that the Ancient One has been using dark magic, amplifies his beliefs and makes him want to rid the natural world of sorcerers. He is not as easily convinced by Steven’s use of dark magic as Wong, but sticks to his own ideas about the natural laws.
Mordo: “Yes we did it. By also violating the natural law.” Steven: “Look around you. It’s over.”
Mordo: “You still think there will be no consequences, Strange? No price to pay? We broke our rules, just like her. The bill comes due. Always. A reckoning. I will follow this path no longer.”
Doctor Strange plays with the possible stereotyping that could take place when depicting a
film set in Nepal. When Mordo gives Steven the Wi-Fi password and Steven mistakes it for a mantra, Mordo says: “it’s the Wi-Fi password. We’re not savages.” Even though they are in a very old Nepalese house, the viewer must not think they are not aware of the modern world around them. Using the word savages, which has often been used to describe non-white
cultures proves Steven and his initial ideas wrong. The same happens when he is introduced to the Ancient One and she turns out to be a white woman, while Steven expects her to be an old Asian man. The film is self-aware of how racially stereotypical it could look and therefore shows progress in racial equality, despite its use of whitewashing.
2.5 Nick Fury
Nick Fury is the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. He is the ultimate leader and first recruits the superheroes for the Avengers. He also makes sure the heroes go in the right direction when they are lost and manipulates them to make them work together. “I am very real. I’m the realest person you’re ever gonna meet.” In this way he is like the ‘magical negro’ stereotype, but as he said, more real. The tone with which Fury speaks does not imply a magical wise being, but more someone who needs to go on with a job. Fury has a very sarcastic way of speaking, with a hint of African American English. When he comes to help Tony Stark in
Iron Man 2 after his fight with Rhodey, in order to get him back to work:
Fury: You’ve been very busy. You made your girl your CEO, you’re giving away all your stuff. You let your friend fly away with your suit. Now, if I didn’t know better… Tony: You don’t know better. I didn’t give it to him. He took it.
Fury: Whoa, whoa, whoa. He took it? You’re Iron Man and he just took it? The little brother walked in there, kicked ya ass and took your suit? [Turns to Agent
Romanoff] Is that possible?
Agent Romanoff: Well, according to Mr. Stark’s database security guidelines, there are redundancies to prevent unauthorised usage.
The contrast with Agent Romanoff’s formal vocabulary is noticeable. Fury comes off as intimidating in this scene, but not like a secret agent one would expect to be the leader of a spy agency. This has to do with how the character is written, of course, but also with the actor portraying him, in this case Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson often plays roles where he uses African American English, except usually this involves more cursing.
Nick Fury is unique in that he is the only minority character in the MCU that was based off a white comic book character. The comics have now adapted to an African American version of the character based on Jackson’s portrayal in the films. Jackson’s portrayal of the character has made it more complex and in some ways less stereotypical than other characters of colour. He is a leader, strong, though not opposed to keeping secrets from the people he trains and leads. Nick Fury manoeuvres the other spies and heroes to do as he thinks is best, without them knowing it. Furthermore, he does not look like the other agents at S.H.I.E.L.D., dressed in a suit. He is dressed in black mostly, often in long leather jackets. This gives him an impressive look, that is made stronger by his eyepatch, but also makes him less visible in the dark. His status as director is also made clear through cinematography. For
example, at the start of The Avengers Fury is the second recognizable character on screen when he leaves a helicopter (Picture 7). He is filmed from a low camera angle, while walking straight from underneath the helicopter towards agent Coulson. Maria Hill, who came out before him, ran out low to the ground, to protect herself from the fierce winds of the helicopter. Fury apparently feels no need for this, which shows that he might have more magical superhero-like qualities than we know. He also has his own fight scenes. For example, in Captain America: The Winter Soldier when S.H.I.E.L.D. is taken over by
HYDRA and Fury is trapped in his car, to be murdered by members of Hydra. He manages to kill most of the policemen who were aiming for him and get out. This scene and the chase scene that follows show that he is not just the director because he manages well, but also because he is an extremely qualified soldier and a spy like the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s agents. That allows him to go off the grid for most of this film, pretending to be dead.
However, Fury mostly keeps to the background, always being there as the boss of S.H.I.E.L.D., but not the main hero of any of the films. He is in control of many things and is the only one who can bring the Avengers together when they are all lost. This happens in the first Avengers film, when he lets them believe that Phil Coulson is dead to bond them
together, but also in the second, when Fury no longer is director of S.H.I.E.L.D. The Avengers fight and are scared because of Ultron. Fury forces them to think with and talk to each other. He points out that they are all he has left and if they work together they can still stop Ultron. In that way, he is also like the ‘magical negro’ character. He helps the fallen white people with wise words to get them motivated and back to work. The heroes do not appear to notice this. Only Captain America is aware that Fury holds back a lot of
information. When S.H.I.E.L.D. is compromised, Captain is the only one Fury trusts. Notable is that later, when Fury wants Captain to destroy Hydra, while trying to preserve what is left
of S.H.I.E.L.D., Captain refuses and wants S.H.I.E.L.D. taken down as well. As the others in the room agree with Captain, Fury is forced to accept this and says: “Looks like you’re giving the orders now, Captain.” He has to give up his position to the all-American white hero Captain America. After this, we only see him at the end of the film when he burns all evidence of him being alive and leaves for Europe. He comes back in Age of Ultron, even appearing to be back in his old role at the new S.H.I.E.L.D. base, but does not appear in the three films after that. Without Fury the Avengers try to fix their own mistakes, which ends up leading to a rift between them. It appears that without a wise character and almost omniscient like Fury, the white leading men of the Avengers get their egos in the way.
2.6 T’Challa a.k.a. Black Panther
T’Challa is a very serious character, which is due to the political nature of his character, being the heir to the throne of Wakanda, a country that was attacked by the Avengers in Age of
Ultron. However, when he thinks the Winter Soldier killed his father, he becomes the villain,
wanting to avenge his father’s death. Civil War mostly pushes the viewer into favouring Captain America as the right hero, therefore making T’Challa an antagonist. This is mainly since Captain America succeeds in everything he does, while his antagonists fail. Also, the viewer knows that Captain is right in believing Bucky to be innocent, making it easier to see Black Panther as an antagonist. He does reveal himself fairly quickly, which also immediately reveals his motives. In that way, he becomes more relatable to the audience.
Furthermore, Black Panther shows his excellent fighting skills against the Winter Soldier. He appears to be immediately respected by the Avengers, because he is the heir to the throne. T’Challa is not interested in the larger fight of Iron Man against Captain America, but he is only focused on killing Bucky. In the end, T’Challa is the only one who learns
something valuable from the ongoing civil war between the Avengers. He sees that killing his father’s murderer will not help him to deal with his loss. First, he desired nothing more than to kill the person responsible for his father’s murder. In the end, however, he realises that will not help him and so he tells the killer: “Vengeance has consumed you, just as it is consuming them.” T’Challa has grown and changed as a character even though is a very minor character in a film with over ten important minor characters. He ends up helping the Winter Soldier and Captain America out by keeping Bucky in his technologically advanced facility in the jungle of Wakanda. He is proving to be more than a stereotypical black character, because even as a minor character he has been more complex than the former racially diverse characters.
Generally, the racially diverse characters that are present in the MCU films are almost all partially based on a stereotype. Furthermore, they are not treated or depicted in the same manner as the white heroes. For example, most of the white male heroes in the MCU have had a shirtless scene. Even though the sexualized black man is a common stereotype, it has so far not been used in the MCU films. All the actors have kept their shirts on and have not been portrayed in a sexualized manner, even though their white friends have. Presenting black sexuality in an overtly explicit manner would have been a stereotypical depiction, but it is also noteworthy when none of the present black characters are even depicted as even having a romantic relationship of some kind.
Another noteworthy element is that the MCU films only have white male villains (or robots or aliens). The only human villain that was not a white man is Michael Clarke Duncan, who plays Kingpin in Daredevil (2003). In the MCU there has only been the hint of an upcoming villain of colour so far, namely in the form of Chiwetel Ejiofor’s character Mordo in an after-credits scene of Doctor Strange (2017). Here Mordo comes to the man who gave Steven Strange the advice to go to Nepal and find The Ancient One. This man uses magic to walk again after having been in a terrible accident. As a solution to Mordo’s “too many sorcerers” problem, he takes the magic away, leaving this man behind as a cripple. By setting Mordo up to be a villain Marvel Studios gives hope for a well-developed non-white villain.
CHAPTER 3 – A MINORITY MINEFIELDIN AGENTSOF S.H.I.E.L.D.
Television as a medium is very different from film in many ways. This comes from, for example, target audiences and channel restrictions. When it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe certain differences are immediately noticeable, especially when looking at diversity. This chapter will focus on how Marvel’s television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2014-) deals with representing diversity and how this is different from the MCU films. Agents is broadcast on ABC (American Broadcasting Company), which is also part of The Walt Disney
Company, as is Marvel Studios. ABC mainly broadcasts television drama or comedy shows that are family friendly and attract many female viewers (Wagmeister). Their family friendly reputation was supposed to disappear by changing the name ABC Family to Freeform, hoping this would attract a younger audience to the network (Lynch). This development is reflected in the programming of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as its time slot has changed over its four seasons. The show was always cast on Tuesdays, changing from 8 pm with the first season, 9 pm with the second and third, to 10 pm with the fourth season. The different broadcasting times coincide with a different target audience. This allows for more explicit imagery as younger viewers are no longer watching, which is not only visible through the amount of blood and deaths on screen, but also through increasingly complicated storylines in an alternate universe in season four.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2014-) is Marvel’s only current show on television. In 2015
and 2016 there was also Agent Carter, which was set after World War II and Captain
America: The First Avenger. Both shows were made to overlap with the major events
occurring in the MCU films and occasionally setting up elements for the films. Though Agent
Carter is now cancelled, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has already produced four seasons of
twenty-two forty-minute episodes. The show follows a small group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in their dealings terrorist organisation Hydra and enhanced people with special abilities. Agents is different from the MCU films, because it focuses mostly on the agents, who are trained and educated to have special fighting skills or scientific knowledge and did not acquire their talent by accident or birth. The show addresses this as well, with the agents repeatedly mentioning that they are no superheroes, but also by introducing inhumans, people who can be
transformed into enhanced creatures with special abilities. Each episode follows the agents cracking cases about superhuman and alien activity, while also often tapping into larger storylines about personal issues of a main character or S.H.I.E.L.D.’s ongoing battle against Hydra.
The main difference between Agents and the MCU films is that the main characters are not superheroes. They are ‘normal’, but exceptionally skilled humans or inhumans, who
belong to a team and try to do their job in keeping the world safe from superhuman activity. The agents are also present in the films, but more in the background, with occasionally one who stands out, like agent Phil Coulson in The Avengers. With this television series they get their own time to shine, but not in the same manner as the Avengers themselves do. This show not only gives a prominent position for the agents who are normally in the background, but it also is a platform for racial minorities who are often in the background or even left out altogether. Though racial issues are never discussed in Agents, racial representation is far less absent from the show.
3.1 Diversity or death trap?
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. focuses on about six to eight main characters who together form a team
of spies, scientists and engineers. These characters switch throughout the four seasons of the show, but five of them have been in every single episode of the series. This includes Phil Coulson, played by Clark Gregg, who was also in The Avengers. His right hand is played by Ming Na Wen, a Chinese-American actress. On the team are also a British man and woman, called Fitz and Simmons, and half Chinese Skye or Daisy Johnson, who is played by Chloe Bennett. Bennet is half Chinese herself as well and changed her name from Wong to Bennet to have better chances of getting a job in Hollywood (Wong). In the case of Agents there probably was no need for her changing her name, as writer and creator Maurissa Tancharoen wanted to include more Asian actors in the series, as she herself is from Thailand. Asian-Americans are underrepresented in popular culture, making this show a much more diverse one just by having two Asian women in the main cast.
Aside from the main characters, there are also many minority actors cast for recurring roles or even becoming main cast, such as the African-American engineer Mack, who is played by Henry Simmons or African-American agent Antoine Triplett, played by B.J. Britt. These two male characters are by nature good characters, working for S.H.I.E.L.D. and thus on the ‘good’ side. However, Triplett dies when Daisy becomes inhuman and he is one of many minority characters who dies, while the white characters outlive them. In general, although there are many racially diverse characters on this show, also featured in prominent roles, they are often killed off, get a drastic change in appearance or are evil. Yet, this appears to be a more frequent issue in the first two seasons than in the latter, as it is one of the straight white leading male characters who is killed alongside the inhuman in a white man’s body in the third season finale. As the show progresses, so does the equality between racial diversity and the nature of the characters.
