The ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Scene That Still Feels ‘Forced’ and Unnecessary
When it comes to the present and future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, everyone with a sense of equality knows women are important. However, how this comes about is sometimes complicated in a time when any action looks like a political move.
Some fans felt divided when Avengers: Endgame, which was released in 2019, attempted to kick the girl power move into gear. Fans on social media still debate whether the intention behind it in Endgame somewhat backfired from its original goal.
Is this really true, or just asking for a bigger argument between men and women in film? Based on the arguments from fans, the timing was a little off to showcase the future A-Force.
Things will likely change in upcoming MCU movies.
Was the girl power scene in ‘Endgame’ too politically correct?
A bigger argument about this scene took place on Reddit where a thread about the subject started off innocuously. A user started things off by showing the iconic shot of all the MCU women lined up, this time in living color rather than its previous black and white.
As comments progressed talking about how great they all looked, someone came in to note an unpopular opinion: The girl power scene in Endgame ended up being too obvious.
Said the poster: “I disliked that scene as it felt forced. In the ‘infinity war’ when widow and okoye ended up fighting proxima midnight, it felt organic. That power walk when they were going to help Captain Marvel (who just took down Thanos’ ship) was jarring and was to self aware. I get what they were trying to accomplish, but it felt clumsy to me.”
When comparing this scene with the one in Infinity War, there really was a difference in approach. For women feeling underrepresented in the MCU, though, any kind of scene showing the power of the women cast was more than suitable.
Said one commenter in reply: “People only think it’s forced and pandering because it’s women… if that exact same moment happened with a load of the male heroes no one would bat an eyelid. It was a little fan service about A-Force, just like most of Endgame is fanservice”.
Meanwhile, some fans pointed out that other scenes in the MCU have felt forced over the years.
“Tbh, we’ve had plenty of forced/fanservice scenes that were just as clumsy in the MCU,” a Reddit user argued.
Does the MCU need to handle the women power scenes better?
What made people think the Endgame scene was too forced was the cast lining up single file to go help Captain Marvel. Fans above point out Carol Danvers hardly needed any help, even if the sight of the women coming to her aid was inspiring in the abstract.
Having to make it look manipulative created a bigger problem compared to organic fight scenes in Infinity War. Yet, what does this mean for more women in the MCU as the studio kicks off Phase Five?
Marvel Studio’s Phase Four film Black Widow stuck the landing by sending off an iconic character and introducing Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova. However, apprehension remains for the upcoming 2023 film The Marvels.
Down the road, the newly assembled Avengers team may also be mostly women if going by the comic book story of the A-Force. Many rumors still permeate about Marvel making a movie centered on this group.
The writers of ‘Endgame’ defend that girl power scene
No matter if the Endgame girl power scene splits fan opinion down the middle, co-writer Stephen McFeely defended including the moment during a New York Times Q&A. He admits the writing team debated whether it was “pandering.”
“There was much conversation. Is that delightful or is it pandering? We went around and around on that. Ultimately we went, we like it too much,” McFeely shared.
Endgame co-writer Christopher Markus added, “Part of the fun of the “Avengers” movies has always been team-ups. Marvel has been amassing this huge roster of characters. You’ve got crazy aliens. You’ve got that many bada** women. You’ve got three or four people in Iron Man suits.”
Perhaps everyone should give the scene its due since it was answering to women who had pleaded for years earlier to bring a similar scene. If it looked forced, it probably paved a golden path to an organic process of women basically running the future Avengers as they should our real-world government.
