#marvel commentary

--Alex Segura on his new book ENEMY OF MY ENEMY: A Daredevil Marvel Crime Novel (LibraryCon Live! 2025 Closing Keynote)

X-Men doesn't really hit the same once you realize that mutants actually aren't a good metaphor for marginalized people in society because generalizing and hating and fearing people for their race/sexuality/etc isn't the same as humans fearing mutants. Someone isn't inherently dangerous for those things, and while mutants aren't inherently dangerous either, it's 100% understandable to distrust and fear someone who can mind control you and crush your car with you in it if they're in the mood.

No I mean a whole character heroine journey (the Joseph Campbell way) about maturing and finding her way and all the variations that can imply.

Give me the story through the woman's perspective, the growth, the anger, the grief, the grey morality everything male action protagonists have been praised upon and women (look at Daenerys or Wanda) have been called as *shock face* mad villains.That's some bulshit right there and a shallow understanding of a multi leveled character but because their stories are been told through male writers ( yeah I see you g.r.r martin) or through a male protagonist the male audience must identify with (and the female audience has learned to do as well), we never truly explore or bother to understand the women in films.

God how can a woman be anything more than a secondary character, a loving mother, a mad bloodthritsy man hating (most of the times abused) woman, a sexualised teenager etc.

Back to shang-chi for a sec. Imagine a film with xialing as it's main character, we never saw much behind her badass image (which was pretty satisfying I must say), to her own trauma, her own head to head meeting with her father, her own grief about her mother, her journey of leaving as a kid a traumatic life and finding her way to the top. It's just.. frustrating.

Because we have seen the father and son archetype and clash and reconciliation many many times in cimena (which is predominantly male dominated) but never the mother and daughter archetype and relationship, the clash also, the kindness and all the emotional depth. The matriarch and her heir.

There's just so much unexplored space there and so many young girls and women who are thirsty for something to identify and ponder with, to see themselves and take pride in.

I'm sorry but even tho it was a good movie and we need this representation of asian culture, it could be so much better if marvel just stopped being marvel for a sec. I rolled my eyes so many times when his father was literally abusing him but never got called on his bulshit by either him or his sister and we got a montage of them locking eyes in the end as he gave him the ten rings (like thanks dad but what about all the psychological and physical pain I endured through my childhood, guess we'll never mention it again).

A part I did like was how the siblings switched places a bit, with shang-chi taking his mother's caring role and xialing taking her father's leadership (which again would have more impact if she developed a relationship with him, negative or positive).

Okay I'm done rumbling. The summary of that is that we need more action packed blockbusters about young girls and women and their journey of finding themselves. Also more films about women in general and the portrayal of abused women, angry women, vengeful women without bias (there's been a slight shift in that), also the portrayal of queer women with loving realationships (just imagine a black widow film where Yelena and Natasha weren't sisters but friends to lovers, okay I will stop now).

Finally, this all ties back to the first ever morally grey woman I saw on tv. That's Morgana from BBC's Merlin and of course she is viewed as a villain through our main characters lenses and good vs evil philosophy but she was such an interesting character, both kind and cruel. Just imagine an ending *potential spoilers*of Merlin and Arthur fucking of in the distance to become farmers and be gay together( like please) and Morgana with a*you can't change my mind*heavily queer coded Morgause rule Camelot together with acceptance of magic and a fresh chapter in fantasy and mythology and storytelling . It isn't hard. Of course one would argue this isn't how the original tales go, but this is art, it's fiction based on the Arthurian legends and you can expand and shift them as you desire, in fact you should explore their many sides(which the green knight with dev Patel did really well).

They're both exoticized non-American, non-Anglo women (Arab-Chinese; Greek (bonus for being portrayed by an actress of Cambodian descent in the mcu)) who became ruthless and deadly killers and assassins through mysterious organizations steeped in Eastern-inspired aesthetics, mysticism, and martial arts (League of Assassins; The Chaste/The Hand), that also have the ability to resurrect the dead (the Lazarus Pit; the Substance (mcu)). They were both trained and groomed by a problematic father(-figure) (Ra's al Ghul; Stick) who led the organization, and who they were deeply loyal and obedient to…until they weren't. Both men supported or enabled the relationship between the women and their respective love interests, for their own agendas--Ra's, because he viewed Batman as the only man worthy to either become his heir through marriage to Talia, or to sire a male heir with Talia (which technically happened); Stick, because he wanted Matt to sever all ties to his civilian life and fully join the Chaste.

In some of Talia's even darker depictions, she only loves "Batman" and has no use for Bruce Wayne. Similar to how mcu!Elektra wanted Matt to live only in his "glorious darkness" and expressed mockery and disdain for his civilian life. But overall, both have a history of flipping between ally and antagonist to the titular superhero, which is connected to their conflicts within their own morality. Both are often depicted with psychotic or sociopathic traits and tendencies, particularly when it comes to disregard for human life. However, they both genuinely (if not completely) loved Bruce and Matt, respectively (and Talia absolutely loves her and Bruce's son, Damian)--to the point that both their feelings could be derided as a "weakness", as Talia's love for Bruce is what fist spurred her to defy her father, and Matt was like the only person mcu!Elekra couldn't be made to murder.