Entertainment

'Avengers 3' Needs to Feature These Two, Okay?

by Kadeen Griffiths

Listen up, Marvel. I have said it before and I will say it again. You need to put Thor and Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. No, I don't mean the flawless portrayals from Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans respectively. I mean the female taking up Thor's mantle in the comics and Sam Wilson aka the Falcon aka the new Captain America. Although the Marvel creators have made it clear that these changes in the identities of these familiar characters are comic-only, I am leading the charge to ask why. Superhero comic books aren't the only media with a diversity problem, you know. Superhero moves have it, too. Big time.

As we all wait for The Avengers: Age of Ultron to come out and reunite Earth's greatest heroes again, these huge changes in the comic book world already have me looking forward to The Avengers 3. We all know Marvel is going to keep making these movies for as long as we keep going to see them. They've even admitted as such. Now is it too much for me to dare to dream of a world where everyone can go and see an Avengers movie starring two women and one black man in the otherwise all-white, all-male superhero team?

Even though Sam Wilson is the only character we know very well — next to nothing is known about the woman who will be the next Thor at this point except that she looks exactly like him but female — there are already solid reasons for why the new Thor and the new Captain America should be in The Avengers 3.

1. The Avengers fails the Bechdel Test.

The Avengers is still sitting in third place on the list of highest grossing films, but it fails the infamous Bechdel test. If you're rolling your eyes and wondering when people will stop talking about the Bechdel test, the answer is when popular movies stop failing it. While the Avengers does have more than one named female character (Pepper Potts, Black Widow, and Maria Hill), none of them speak to one another, whether it's about something other than men or otherwise. Adding the female Thor to the superhero team would make it a requirement that she and Black Widow would have to talk about something. Anything.

2. The only person of color in the cast is Nick Fury.

Out of the cast of The Avengers, the only person of color is Nick Fury. Nick Fury isn't even an Avenger. The first time we truly got to see him in action was in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In The Avengers, Fury is mainly there to be snarky, bark orders, and shoot down a plane. The fact that there isn't a single person of color on the Avengers team is something that is long overdue to be fixed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sam Wilson already gets along with two of the Avengers, so I think the other three would love him just fine.

3. Neither Captain America nor Thor have touched the popularity of Iron Man.

When it comes down to sheer numbers, there is no movie featuring an individual Avenger that has grossed as much money as Iron Man. While Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier both did better than their predecessor movies, Tony Stark is the man carrying this franchise. That's probably why we're getting a new Cap and a new Thor but not a new Iron Man and that's why Marvel should take a chance on headlining a movie with these new characters while the buzz is still hot. People are curious. Just don't get rid of Tom Hiddleston and you'll be fine.

4. Thor and Black Widow would make an amazing duo.

Black Widow shines in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for not only being a fierce anti-heroine, but for also being a fierce anti-heroine who keeps up with the boys despite not having any superpowers whatsoever. She doesn't turn green, she doesn't have an iron suit, she isn't a god, and she wasn't injected with super serum. She's just had a lot of training and was born with a lot of nerve. Thor would provide a perfect foil to that, being a woman who gets her powers from her worthiness to wield the magic hammer Mjolnir. Imagine them fighting side by side. The boys might as well go get shawarma.

5. Fans already love Sam Wilson.

Anthony Mackie was a newcomer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe who somehow managed to hold his own and shine as the third main character alongside Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow and Chris Evans' Captain America. His portrayal of the Falcon was one of the best parts of the movie and fans absolutely adored him and his relationship with Steve. Who is going to complain about getting to see more of the Falcon, especially as an actual Avenger rather than just Captain America's sidekick? Not me.

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