#1 malewhore

The Captain America movies are pro-military at its core but they also critically look at how the military treats human beings as bodies and experiments first. They also discuss how many people can easily become swayed by a larger power and then turn sides, and those sides end up fighting the same fight in the end. Captain America is a glorified soldier, yes, but he also is fed up with his identity, his abilities, and he just wants to be a human being, not a symbol of military prowess. And in the end, the individual won over the institution.

In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, they also critically look at the military industrial complex because they discover that the American Military tested the super soldier serum on Black men first, and one of those men ended up in prison for many years. And then the Falcon became Captain America, but he had to contend with the racist history of the organization. He ended up not taking the super soldier serum and using his individual training as his super power.

In the Age of Ultron, the power that billionaires have to affect daily lives is critically discussed because Tony releases an unknown AI into the universe that wants to destroy the world. It's his fault because he created it, couldn't contain it, and ultimately does not destroy it. It's the first breaking point of the Avengers.

In Civil War, you have the group breaking apart because one side is empathetic and knows the individual should stand over the institution and the other stands for the institution. Who is on the side of the institution? The billionaires. And when they recruit a teenager to join them, he thinks they're so awesome until he's older and realizes there was no point in him joining their side.

The entirety of End Game and Infinity War is a crucial existential question of is the world better off if half the population disappeared? The Earth is better but the people aren't. So how do you balance this kind of grief? The dolphins are back in the Hudson, but people's families are destroyed.

Wandavision is about grief at its core, and it's also about losing an individual to the military industrial complex. She goes scorched Earth on them when she finds out that they cut him into pieces to experiment.

Captain Marvel is another example of critically looking at the military through a feminist lens. She ends up fighting alone, no partners until The Marvels, who are all women and do not have military backgrounds; one is a scientist and one is a teenager, proving that you don't need institutional backing to be a hero in society.

Black Panther is another amazing commentary on the United States. They have the most valuable metal in the entire world, and they hide it. They pretend to be a developing nation who needs resources rather than show off that they are above and beyond in science for fear of colonization and military intervention. And they are right.

The Winter Soldier is another example of individual over institution, where he is experimented on, but at his core, he's a good person and wants to remain himself rather than feeding into militaristic ideals of being a man.

I think you need to start critically looking at these movies. Yes, many of them end up being pro-military and pro-billionaire but there's deeper messaging in all of them. The fact that the entirety of the Avengers factions because individuals cannot agree on a mission statement is in itself anti-military because they are not willing to blindly follow the institution.

Also, Captain America Brave New World is a not great movie, but it's about an arms race between countries in which America is the bad guy. For half the movie, they want you to believe that it's Japan, but it's actually America (basically what Black Panther predicted would happen). At the climax of the movie, they blatantly show a leader in office who is mentally unwell, physically unwell, and enforcing extreme amounts of power and destruction to stay in his position. And they take down that leader so that people do not die.

Hawkeye is a story about a girl that glorified the Avengers because they saved her until she learns the messy truth that they are all human beings that have made huge, lasting mistakes. When Hawkeye is watching a Broadway Musical about the first Avengers battle, he is put off by how flippant it is. How people died, including his best friend later on. He retired because he no longer saw the point after all that death, including at his own hands; so how can someone be touted as a hero after they murdered so many people?

The movies love to harbor on old military villains (Russia, Japan, Germany, etc) but most of the time, the villain is calling from inside the house. The villains are the military, the government, and the leaders in their own organization.

Also, the United Nations comes together to draft the Sokovia Accords after the Avengers basically level an entire nation and cause hundreds of deaths. They want to register superhumans and keep track of their whereabouts.

Congress adopts this law and forces the Avengers to sign it. This a multi-layered conversation and huge lead-up into Civil War because those that were in the military see this as a loss of autonomy and becoming soldiers again while those that love capitalism see this as accountability for past mistakes. Those that were alive during WWII think registering any individuals up to be tracked by the government is a bad idea. Those that do not like violence see it as the first stop-gap in a potential war. You get to see many different sides to these conversations, and the thing about Civil War is that people don't agree with 1 overarching side. Some side with Captain America and some side with Tony, but either way, they both have huge faults. There's nuance between these two sides, which is why it was so fun to discuss after the movie came out. Because there was no consensus.

Shows like Jessica Jones, Daredevil, Lukas Cage, Ironfist, The Defenders, and The Punisher are important balance. Specifically Jessica Jones. There is an entire storyline where families are anti-Avengers because they lost family members or their homes were destroyed. Even Jessica Jones, who has superpowers, does not want to be a superhero because she has seen the destruction a superhero can ravage.

Trans activist Jamison Green's passport photos before and after HRT. Left he's age 32 (1980) Right age 41 (1989) after being on testosterone for one year (x)