They go from “the War on Terror is a scam and built on lies” (Iron Man) to “SHIELD is full of nazis” (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) to “CIA saves Wakanda”.
Disney has been in bed with the military since WW2. Part of the reason Captain Marvel was even made is because they did a huge ad campaign for the Air Force and the DoD lent them locations to shoot. Iron Man was still under Paramount when it was made and released. By Iron Man 2 he goes completely Libertarian and literally says “I’m tired of the liberal agenda” in regards to philanthropy and stuff. It’s also about the Air Force getting a badass Iron Man suit which is actually more responsible because Tony was being a dick and a drunk. A military officer stole his suit and they never confront that ever again in the series. Other than some throwaway line about how if Tony didn’t actually want Rhodes to have it, he would have set a different password. Which actually doesn’t help their image as much as they think. Blaming the individual for not protecting themselves against eminent domain is pretty cringe.
Winter Soldier doesn’t ever criticize the military with the Hydra thing. All the CIA people stand up for Cap while the evil Hydra mercs hold them hostage. Project Insight is revealed to be a Hydra plot and not the kind of status quo mass surveillance and drone warfare that everyone in government is fine with. Cap’s line about how “This isn’t security, it’s fear” or whatever falls flat in the face of that.
The Marvel movies can sometimes give the illusion of a greater commentary, but it’s just a writing sleight of hand. It never actually challenges anyone’s beliefs or makes a real statement other than military good.
That being said I don’t dislike the Marvel movies like a lot of other leftists. They’re hit and miss but there are some good ones.
Winter Soldier was so weird as it was Cap rebelling because the Insight Project was evil and bad… GOOD THING IT TURNED OUT TO BE HYDRA PLOT AND NOT SIMPLY BUSINESS AS USUAL! Which is how America looks at Trump and Republicans and the whole Russiagate thing. Imagining that Some evil mastermind is controlling ALL republicans instead of them just being assholes means the problem IS NOT the system.
The Marvel Movies are fine but I’d like them more if they were NOT part of the Disney empire.
First iron man
Discover cheap infinite energy
weapons business is more profitable - what the fuck?
why the fuck would you need weapons if energy is infinite you can abolish oil in years time
stop global warming
provide heat, and clean water to everyone
nah, I’m gonna kill two guys in a desert
Iron Man
Even from the very first Iron Man movie, the Marvel films were never against the War on Terror - Tony Stark and Iron Man represented the kind of war that liberals wished they could fight, where the bad guys get blown up and the technology is so good that no civilians are harmed. Compare Iron Man’s sleek, smart suit to Jebediah’s knockoff at the end of the movie, which is much bigger, and it perfectly mirrors the liberal conception of a good war as being one fought with drones and special forces instead of a big military occupation.
Yeah Tony Stark decides to stop selling weapons to the government (but immediately makes exceptions for War Machine), but then flies to Afghanistan and personally murders a bunch of nameless bad guys. But the audience knows it’s good that he flew there to do murders because they take time out of being murdered to act reprehensible while he’s doing it.
They go from the War on Terror is a scam and built on lies
I just watched Iron Man and there isn’t even a hint of this. All of Tony’s regret/guilt comes from either when a.) he is personally affected or b.) Americans died by his technology. He doesn’t regret the innocent lives who get bombed out by Stark-tech, he doesn’t condemn the military industrial complex, he never for a moment considers that his wealth was stolen and should be redistributed.
In fact there’s an important sequence in the middle of the movie where reporters are literally begging “Who will save these innocent villagers in Afghanistan”. Innocent villagers are being slaughtered by evil brown people (who have no ideology other than pure evil) and not only are they helpless to fight back, they are greatful for Iron Man to show up. It doesn’t challenge the war on terror or offer ANY systemic critique, it justifies the whole colonial notion.
woof, a youtube comment says
i remember when my 7 year old ass thought this was real.
Yeah man, I think a lot of kids did, grew up, and are still influenced by media like that. How many Americans imagine drone strike an bombings happen with zero civilians killed like in the movies they grew up with.
