Contains spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War.
Avengers: Infinity War is an absolute riot. Watching all of your favourite superheroes joke, and bicker, and kick ass together is like being a kid and getting all your A-list toys into one big game all at once. What’s not to love about that?
Directors Joe and Anthony Russo had a mammoth task ahead of them, cramming every major player from the MCU into a single movie. And it still had to feature all the action and pizazz of a summer blockbuster. But honestly, I think they pulled it off.
Of course, after that cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers, everyone’s wondering what will become of our heroes in the as yet untitled Avengers 4. And Thanos––what’s going to happen to him? Everyone left alive after his shocking character cull has a reason to go after the indomitable titan. But for me, if it’s anyone other than the daughters of Thanos pulling the proverbial trigger, it just won’t feel like justice.
Daddy Issues
Way back in 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy introduced us to Gamora and Nebula: fierce women, talented fighters, and the adopted daughters of space warlord Thanos. For being ladies in the MCU, these sisters have had some pretty decent character development. (For the women that feature in more than one movie, they get so far and then a new director shows up and changes it all. I’m looking at you, Joss Whedon. I’m eternally grateful that you got your filthy paws off my Black Widow.)
Gamora and Nebula start out as bitter rivals, with Nebula jealous of her sister’s battle prowess and the attention their father showers on her. But when we catch up with them in the sequel, the girls are able to talk about their feelings and eventually forgive one another.
But Guardians 2 also introduced a darker thread to the Thanos story.
We knew he invaded planets and killed people––a lot of people, as it turns out––but when it’s one CG alien killing another bunch of CG aliens with some CG explosions it does tend to lose some of its gravitas.
We knew from post-credit sequences that Thanos was the Big Bad we were building up to throughout the franchise. But he never seemed that much of a threat to me until Nebula recounted how, every time she failed him, he had torn out parts of her body and replaced them with machinery. That’s horrible. That is, indeed, a truly villainous thing to do. But to Nebula, Thanos isn’t just a villain: he’s her father.
Tale As Old As Time
When confronted with his planet-dominating, child-killing dad Ego back in Guardians 2, Peter Quill used his newly attuned god-like powers to utterly demolish him. But if Ego had, say, thrown Peter off a cliff halfway through the movie, leaving it up to someone totally unrelated to defeat him, we would have felt that was a rather unsatisfying resolution.
Of course, we knew while watching the film that nothing like that was going to happen. Peter had been grievously wronged by his father, and he was going to get justice because that’s what he as the hero deserved. Boys overcoming evil fathers is one of the oldest plot lines there is. But this is 2018, and one can’t help but wonder when the girls are going to get theirs too.
Nebula and Gamora’s outrage at their father ought to be a focal point of the film.
To be fair to the Russos, Gamora does get her moment to tell Thanos exactly what she thinks of him. That would be really satisfying, if he didn’t then hurl her off a cliff immediately afterwards. As Gamora––a character that we’ve known and cared about for two and half movies––is falling to her death, we cut back to Thanos––a dude we just met––looking sad. I don’t want this. I don’t care about his feelings right now.
One of my favourite characters just died, and I’m supposed to feel sorry for this guy? “Oh, but he loved her,” you cry. “He said so himself!” Take it from someone with a real life deadbeat dad: actions definitely speak louder than words. And when Nebula realises that Thanos has killed her sister, it’s Peter who gets to have the big rage-fuelled tantrum that costs them a victory. Nebula just has to stand there. She doesn’t even get any more lines.
Hot Takes for Avengers 4
Avengers: Infinity War gave all our heroes motivation to see Thanos dead. And I hope they all get the chance to land some meaningful punches when the time comes. But, they’re hurting because of what he did to other people, rather than direct action towards them.
Don’t get me wrong, the deaths in this film are heartbreaking. But we’ve already had an entire movie of Steve Rogers getting upset on Bucky Barnes’ behalf (Captain America: Civil War). We’ve seen Thor weeping over Loki on numerous occasions (mainly Thor: The Dark World). And we’ve definitely seen Tony Stark beating himself up for not being able to protect the people he cares about (literally every movie he’s in).
Steve, Thor, and Tony all deserve to be upset, absolutely. But so do Nebula and Gamora, and with the male writers and male framing of the MCU movies, I worry that the girls are going to get shortchanged. If either of them were men, they would get their big showdown, no questions asked. They’d get their revenge and their grief, just like Peter Quill.
But between now and Avengers 4, the Marvel slate has two movies with titular female characters.
It’s bizarre that it’s taken this long. But, I’m excited that Ant-Man and The Wasp and Captain Marvel will give their lady protagonists the chance to take up space on the big screen. I hope Marvel affords that same space to Nebula in Avengers 4, and to Gamora, whatever her ultimate fate may be. The daughters of Thanos have been wronged by their father, and they had better get their justice, because that’s what they as heroes deserve.
If you still don’t own these amazing MCU picks yourself, consider shopping our Amazon affiliate links here: Guardians of the Galaxy,Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Avengers: Infinity War!
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Anna Bailey
Anna is an artist and journalist from the UK, currently mooching in the Deep South in search of good stories, strong liquor and old ghosts. Her hobbies include wearing the same clothes every day, taking road trips with her husband, and watching the Lord of the Rings movies on repeat.
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