{"id":6760,"date":"2019-04-30T01:22:24","date_gmt":"2019-04-30T01:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog-proxy.atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/?p=6760"},"modified":"2019-05-01T21:09:48","modified_gmt":"2019-05-01T21:09:48","slug":"avengers-endgame-teased-a-future-a-force-team-up-and-that-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/avengers-endgame-a-force-tease\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Avengers: Endgame’ Teased A Future A-Force Team-Up – And That Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"

WARNING: Every word of this editorial is a\u00a0spoiler\u00a0for\u00a0Avengers: Endgame.<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Avengers: Endgame<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>came with so many emotions. It truly was a culmination of everything the Marvel Cinematic Universe has worked toward over the past eleven years. I\u2019m a big crier in movies. Is it sad? Tears. Is it unbearably cool? Tears. Is a woman getting to do something that a ten-year-old me never could have imagined she\u2019d see outside of the pages of a comic book? Tears.\u00a0<\/span>Endgame\u00a0<\/span><\/i>was basically scenes like this from start to finish, but we\u2019re going to touch on a few that check more than one of those boxes. Mainly,\u00a0<\/span>the nod to Marvel\u2019s A-Force.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I want to first add some context for those who felt like the all-female team up scene felt \u201cforced,\u201d \u201cout of nowhere,\u201d or \u201cpandering.\u201d Such a team not only exists in the comics but was critically acclaimed. That team was called the A-Force and, despite the aforementioned acclaim, it had a criminally short run (2015-2016). So, why would something so well-received by critics (who become critics because they are fans) get tossed in the bin after\u00a0<\/span>such a short period of time<\/span>?\u00a0<\/span>The run tanked due to low sales after being described as \u201cdecidedly feminist.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since we\u2019re not here to dive into the deeply toxic culture running rampant within the comic book industry right now<\/span>, let\u2019s just acknowledge that the team exists and hop on over to the\u00a0<\/span>Endgame\u00a0<\/span><\/i>talk. Yes, Marvel\u2019s A-Force comic was unprecedented and fiercely feminist. Yes, it died well before it should have. But\u00a0<\/span>Endgame\u00a0<\/span><\/i>gives a sliver of hope that the short-lived comic run may not be the last time we see the ladies of Marvel showing villains of the universe exactly what girls are made of.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The

The A-Force (Courtesy: Marvel Comics)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The MCU hasn\u2019t always done right by its women.\u00a0<\/span>Some of that\u2019s because the epic saga started eleven years ago, when the zeitgeist<\/em> of social awareness was much less aware, but it can also be attributed to the industry as a whole still learning how to handle female characters. Though it\u2019s unlikely we\u2019ve seen the end of the series\u2019 struggles with female representation (especially\u00a0<\/span>intersectionality<\/span>),\u00a0<\/span>Avengers: Endgame\u00a0<\/span><\/i>feels like a huge leap forward.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, the film focuses on the main six (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye, and Black Widow), of which there is only one woman. Rationally, it should, as\u00a0<\/span>Endgame\u00a0<\/span><\/i>is meant to be the close of their chapter. And, unfortunately, that also means that overall the women don\u2019t see as much\u00a0<\/span>screentime<\/span>. But that\u00a0<\/span>doesn\u2019t mean they aren\u2019t given their opportunity\u00a0<\/span>to throw big, impactful punches.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve seen a lot of our favorite ladies fall over MCU\u2019s tenure. Unfortunately, it\u2019s rarely been done well. I might not ever get over Black Widow\u2019s death, but she is certainly an exception to that rule.<\/span>\u00a0While the story wouldn\u2019t have been able to progress without the Soul Stone her death procures, it\u2019s much more important that<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Natasha dies fulfilling her character\u2019s purpose. She had red in her ledger, and that red is now gone. Laziness has led some to characterize the character\u00a0<\/span>as a self-serving spy, but the reality is that there\u2019s only one member of the Avengers both old and new with more loyalty than her.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Natalia\u00a0<\/span>Alianovna<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Romanova<\/span>\u00a0paved the path upon which the rest of the women in the MCU have run. It\u2019s not five boys and one girl anymore. The end of this chapter of Marvel\u2019s cinematic journey doesn\u2019t just signal a changing of the guard, but a new era for the women of the universe. We literally see the gauntlet handed off from a man (Peter Parker) to a woman (Carol Danvers) to get it where it needs to go.\u00a0<\/span>What transpires next isn\u2019t about whether or not Captain Marvel is strong enough to get the job done on her own. It\u2019s about the fact that she doesn\u2019t have to.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As she flies toward the van to\u00a0<\/span>get the Gauntlet to what they hope is its final destination<\/span>, the rest of the MCU\u2019s female heroes fall into place around her in support. Women we\u2019ve spent the whole run with, like Pepper Potts as Rescue, all the way to brand-new additions like\u00a0<\/span>Shuri<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Okoye<\/span>\u00a0march together with one uniform purpose. There’s no squabbling over who’s in charge or rank. They’re simply there to get the job done. One by one they drop into the scene ready to ride or die to save the universe. They fail. And then they all get back up and continue the battle.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just a singular incredible moment in a film filled with countless other amazing scenes. It signals a chance for something more. Many of these women haven\u2019t even met one another before, yet they fall in line and march together in the heat of battle without a second thought. If ever given a chance to expand on the A-Force, things will be messier. They\u2019ll have their differences. They\u2019ll disagree and clash as we\u2019ve watched the teams of the MCU do countless times and, when the time comes, they\u2019ll march into battle all over again.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The

The women of the MCU (Courtesy: Marvel Studios)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Like the MCU as a whole, whatever future the A-Force has will deviate from the comics to focus on the women who have enough of a tenure in the franchise to warrant excitement around a film that focuses on them. It\u2019ll still likely be led by Captain Marvel, but we\u2019ll get to see\u00a0<\/span>underused\u00a0<\/span>characters like Valkyrie, now queen of\u00a0<\/span>Asgard<\/span>, shine.\u00a0<\/span>Whip-smart\u00a0<\/span>Shuri<\/span>\u00a0on tech, with warriors like\u00a0<\/span>Okoye<\/span>, Wasp,\u00a0<\/span>Gamora<\/span>, and Nebula on the front lines. Scarlet Witch fulfills the need on the magic front, along with Mantis and her own brand of empathy.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With these incredible women that we already know\u00a0<\/span>comes<\/span>\u00a0the opportunity to branch out to other characters as well.<\/span>\u00a0Five years ago, the general population didn\u2019t even know the Guardians of the Galaxy existed, let alone that\u00a0<\/span>we<\/span>\u00a0would\u00a0<\/span>be willing to\u00a0<\/span>die for a tree. The larger MCU as a whole has acted as a springboard for lesser known, or more ridiculous sounding stories (here\u2019s looking at you, Scott Lang) for years.<\/span>\u00a0There\u2019s no reason to think that will change as the universe continues to expand.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

All of this is to say that prior to\u00a0<\/span>Avengers: Endgame<\/span><\/i>, it would have seemed impossible to think that an A-Force<\/span>\u00a0story could be on the horizon. Whether as its own thing, or whether it starts off as its own team-up in future Avengers storylines, a heart-wrenching and fulfilling ending did exactly what great endings are supposed to do: signal the chance for even brighter beginnings for something all-new. Maybe even all-different.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WARNING: Every word of this editorial is a\u00a0spoiler\u00a0for\u00a0Avengers: Endgame.\u00a0\u00a0 Avengers: Endgame\u00a0came with so many emotions. It truly was a culmination of everything the Marvel Cinematic Universe has worked toward over the past eleven years. I\u2019m a big crier in movies. Is it sad? Tears. Is it unbearably cool? Tears. Is a woman getting to do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":6785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[60,50],"tags":[39,37],"class_list":["post-6760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avengers-endgame","category-editorial","tag-featuredtop","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6760"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6786,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6760\/revisions\/6786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}