Avengers: Endgame — Marvel Feminist Reviews
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Endgame is packed with ups and downs, ultimately letting down its female audiences.
As an action movie lover and feminist, I feel strongly about the representation of feminist themes in big box-office narratives. Feminist themes make better, fresher narratives and incorporate emotional intelligence (the part that makes viewers actually think and feel). Not only is it important to represent progressive themes, but box-office hits have a bigger responsibility to do so. Their impact on social culture is huge.
What’s this? Action? Time travel? More gauntlets?
Endgame is packed with a TON of fan-pleasing moments and storylines. Marvel has been improving their storytelling skills. They finally realized along the way that it’s the characters that make the story, not just their superpowers. DC has proved that with their own “Avengers” equivalent (or not so much), Justice League. Superpowers aren’t what makes the story interesting. It’s the connection to the characters who have them.
But what hasn’t improved in this latest installment is Marvel’s treatment of its female characters. There was plenty of road paved with feminist themes leading up to this film, but it seemed like 50 percent of it was snapped from existence at the end of Infinity War.
There were a few good points related to feminism in this film. Let’s look at those first:
Spoiler warning: If you haven’t seen Avengers: Endgame, there are major spoilers ahead. You know the drill.
The good:
Captain Marvel
I wanted to see a whole lot of Captain Marvel kicking ass. I was disappointed (more on this later). While she could have been utilized better, her character is incredibly feminist for a reason that has nothing to do with her powers.
Captain Marvel radiates unapologetic confidence. She’s the MVP and she knows it. Confidence is a rarity for female characters, even when it comes to superheroes.
