‘Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ Should Absolutely Get ‘Political,’ Some Fans Say
2020 was a bad year for a lot of reasons, but for many people, those reasons were largely political. Politics isn’t usually fun, and as a result, some people would prefer if their entertainment was free from politics. However, for many things in the entertainment business, that’s practically impossible since they are deeply tied to politics.
That is definitely the case with Marvel’s upcoming show on Disney+, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which Marvel fans are saying should get as political as it needs to. Here’s a look at why some fans don’t want politics in their MCU, and why other fans absolutely want Marvel to make Falcon and the Winter Soldier a political show.
Why some fans don’t want politics in their show
Without getting political about politics, like some Marvel fans on Reddit said, some of the issues regarding talking about politics in movies or TV shows ultimately boils down to identity politics.
Like one fan summarized, “What’s interesting is that whenever they argue about politics, it happens to always be in a discussion concerning marginalized groups/minorities.”
As a result, some studios will steer clear of even touching anything political, as it’ll very likely cause such arguments from fans as well as from the media.
That being said like many other Marvel fans wrote, Falcon and the Winter Soldier should get as political as it can since the source material is quite political as well. As such, the politics would be a very critical part of the story as well as the characters.
‘Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ and its real-life political parallels
Off the bat, the main characters in the show are already quite political. For example, Sam Wilson, who is the Falcon and will play the next Captain America, is a veteran, and Bucky Barnes, who is the Winter Soldier, is also a soldier as well as a former assassin for the Soviet Union.
In addition to that, like Marvel fans said, there have also been rumors that a character named Isaiah Bradley will be showing up in the show. Isaiah’s story in the comics is somewhat related to the Tuskegee Experiment, which was an infamously unethical experiment that involved black people as the participants. As such, if Isaiah is in the show, then it would be impossible to do his backstory any justice without making those political parallels.
That being said, these are not the only political parallels that the show might have with reality. And in fact, some Marvel fans have pointed out that the parallels are pretty close to home.
Will ‘Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ be too political?
For instance, there could be many more parallels based on race, as Sam may become the new Captain America in the show as well. Like Marvel fans said on Reddit, the comics explored how Sam being Captain America may be treated by people in the present day, and as such, there are some racists who don’t want a Black Captain America.
However, other fans beg to differ. Like one fan wrote, “Marvel and comics in general have always been very involved with the world around us.”
Many comics have been clearly political, yet fans seem to enjoy them nonetheless. For example, the X-Men have always been a political allegory for the Civil Rights Movement, yet the X-Men have remained popular despite wearing its politics on its sleeves.
