{"id":479167,"date":"2021-05-06T17:50:48","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T21:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=479167"},"modified":"2021-05-06T17:50:50","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T21:50:50","slug":"new-captain-america-says-to-expect-more-social-justice-from-marvel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-captain-america-says-to-expect-more-social-justice-from-marvel\/","title":{"rendered":"New Captain America Says to Expect More Social Justice from Marvel"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnew-captain-america-says-to-expect-more-social-justice-from-marvel%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=479167&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-478559491.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p><span>According to actor Anthony Mackie, Marvel\u2019s bold foray into social justice with \u201cThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier\u201d is no one-off. The newly-minted Captain America reveals in the latest episode of the studio\u2019s behind-the-scenes series, \u201cAssembled,\u201d the MCU is now out to change the way society looks at itself.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Mackie, who plays Sam \u201cThe Falcon\u201d Wilson, says of his transition into Cap at the end of FATWS:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"15\">\n<p><i><span>It\u2019s been an emotional experience, especially in the time in which we live in now. For Marvel to give me the opportunity as a black man, from the south, to become Captain America, I think, says a lot, not only about the work that I\u2019ve put in to get to this point, that they would entrust me with that. But with the way that they\u2019re hoping to change the way society looks at itself.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>Producer Nate Moore clarifies what Mackie means: \u201cAs a black man in America, to take on the stars and stripes, and wear that proudly, that\u2019s not something that Sam Wilson would do out of the box.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Lest these be dismissed as off-the-cuff comments, not necessarily representative of Marvel\u2019s views, head writer Malcolm Spellman\u2019s strikingly similar statement to<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2021\/tv\/news\/falcon-and-winter-soldier-race-nationalism-malcolm-spellman-1234935019\/\"> <span>Variety<\/span><\/a><span> a few weeks earlier suggests the studio is intentionally telegraphing a message of racial grievance. Asked about the theme of FATWS, Spellman said it\u2019s about a \u201cblack man confronting the stars and stripes and whether it\u2019s even appropriate to carry that shield.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Marvel didn\u2019t always see such a conflict of interest between black heroes and the U.S. (a point we\u2019ll return to in a minute), but there\u2019s no question the latest version of Sam is decidedly woke. From a bank denying him a loan, to his sister saying her world \u201cdoesn\u2019t matter to America,\u201d to a subplot about a former black super-soldier who now hates his country,\u201d the series is chock-full of suggestions little has changed since segregation. When an antagonist calls Cap\u2019s red, white and blue shield a \u201cmonument to a bygone era, a reminder of all the people history left out,\u201d Sam\u2019s expression makes it clear he sympathizes with her views.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>There\u2019s some evidence fans aren\u2019t thrilled with the MCU\u2019s new direction. According to a<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/boundingintocomics.com\/2021\/04\/07\/new-rumor-claims-the-falcon-and-the-winter-soldier-viewers-turned-off-the-show-after-blm-messaging\/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=new-rumor-claims-the-falcon-and-the-winter-soldier-viewers-turned-off-the-show-after-blm-messaging\"> <span>report<\/span><\/a><span> from popular YouTube personality and independent entertainment journalist Overlord DVD, viewers tuned out of FATWS \u201cin droves\u201d during one very particular moment \u2014 in the second episode when it becomes clear the story will hinge on BLM\u2019s outlook on America.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Streamers use a data metric called \u201ctime out time stamp\u201d to determine when an individual user stops watching a show or movie. For obvious reasons, this analysis provides platforms useful information in determining what audiences like and what they don\u2019t. Overlord claims an inside source at Disney+ revealed to him that 80% of viewers timed out at almost the same moment \u2014 during an early scene when police arrive to break up an argument between Sam and Bucky \u201cThe Winter Soldier\u201d Barnes and assume Sam is the instigator because he\u2019s black.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cMy jaw hit the floor,\u201d Overlord reports his insider saying, \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe what I was seeing. All the turn out was at the cop scene where it clearly shows they were ready to pull their guns on a black guy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Mackie defends this storyline in \u201cAssembled,\u201d saying, \u201cI felt like we would be dishonest to the fans and dishonest on a human level if we had this black man just accept this symbol without having real ambivalence about it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Except the black man <\/span><i><span>did<\/span><\/i><span> accept the symbol of America\u2019s virtue without any ambivalence, and neither Mackie nor anyone else on the Marvel team expressed any issues with it at the time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In 2019\u2019s \u201cAvengers: Endgame,\u201d when Steve Rodgers <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/4hcZSzV7h_E\"><span>gives<\/span><\/a><span> Sam the shield, Sam offers no hint that he\u2019s in any way morally conflicted about taking it. \u201cHow\u2019s it feel?\u201d Steve asks as he watches Sam pick it up. \u201cLike it\u2019s someone else\u2019s,\u201d Sam answers. \u201cIt isn\u2019t,\u201d Steve assures him. At that point, Sam looks down at the shield, appears choked up and says simply, \u201cThank you. I\u2019ll do my best.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>This touching moment makes sense in the context of Avengers canon, given that Sam is an Air Force veteran who volunteered for multiple tours of duty. What doesn\u2019t is a Sam who suddenly, inexplicably isn\u2019t sure how he feels about serving his country.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>And after the credits rolled on that emotional passing of the torch, did fans rebel against the idea of a black Captain America, making it necessary for FATWS\u2019 storyline to address their dissatisfaction? Hardly. Fans were thrilled with the film, handing it the biggest box office<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2019\/07\/21\/avengers-endgame-is-the-highest-grossing-film-of-all-time.html\"> <span>haul<\/span><\/a><span> the world had ever seen and a 90% positive audience score on<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rottentomatoes.com\/m\/avengers_endgame\"> <span>Rotten Tomatoes<\/span><\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But a lot can happen in two years and that was before the Summer of BLM and the George Floyd trial. That suggests FATWS writers and producers were less concerned with exploring a character\u2019s organic internal struggles and more concerned with kowtowing to external pressure to endorse the progressive left\u2019s obsession with sowing racial division in every corner of our culture.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Consider, before BLM, black men suiting up as patriots wasn\u2019t an issue for Marvel. In 2013\u2019s \u201cIron Man 3,\u201d for example, Tony Stark\u2019s friend Colonel James Rhodes (played by Don Cheadle and Empire\u2019s Terrence Howard) proudly dons Stark-designed armor boasting an<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/American_flag\"><span>American flag<\/span><\/a><span>-inspired color scheme.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>On some level, Mackie, a Christian who grew up the son of a small businessman, seems to realize there\u2019s something about the message of BLM and social justice that doesn\u2019t square with the higher ideals the Avengers have previously embodied.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Long, long ago, back in 2017, Mackie didn\u2019t buy the BLM party line, telling the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/anthony-mackie-talks-marvel-dictators-and-how-republicans-suppress-the-vote\"><span>Daily Beast<\/span><\/a><span> he thought Marvel executives were wrong to insist on a black director for Black Panther: \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s important at all,\u201d he said. \u201cAs a director your job is to tell a story. You know, they didn\u2019t get a horse to direct Seabiscuit! The thing is I don\u2019t think the race of the director has to do with their ability to tell a story.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Maybe that\u2019s why, at points in \u201cAssembled\u201d Mackie can\u2019t help offering opinions that directly conflict with the PR narrative the rest of his team is pushing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI\u2019m not black Captain America. Steve wasn\u2019t white Captain America. He was solely Captain America,\u201d he says. \u201cSo as a society, as a country, we need to realize, that all the people who are citizens here on this soil, no matter what their origins are, they are Americans. Later, seeming to betray some discomfort with the PR messaging the studio is crafting for the public, Mackie even advocates meritocracy over tokenism when it comes to superheroes.\u00a0 \u201cYou know, Sam realizes he deserves the right, he\u2019s earned the right of Captain America,\u201d he says, \u201cand that has nothing to do with his race or his background.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Megan Basham (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/megbasham\">@megbasham<\/a>) is the entertainment reporter for The Daily Wire. She\u2019s a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic who was previously an entertainment editor and podcast co-host for World Magazine.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>member<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to actor Anthony Mackie, Marvel\u2019s bold foray into social justice with \u201cThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier\u201d is no one-off. The newly-minted Captain America reveals in the latest episode &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2277497,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-478559491.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"New Captain America Says to Expect More Social Justice from Marvel","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-479167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-478559491.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"New Captain America Says to Expect More Social Justice from Marvel","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2277497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}