Marvel: Defenders of The Status Quo

Life in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

would be an absolute nightmare

for the average person living on planet Earth.

"This is a nightmare."

"I've had better nightmares."

And not just because of the super-beings

flying around, causing near-extinction level events

practically every other week.

This is a universe where very little

social progress can ever really be made.

While the heroes do usually manage

to roll back the various apocalypses,

they don't use their superpowers to help

build a better world.

They instead spend all of their time

defending the status quo.

"You want to protect the world,

but you don't want it to change."

The villains are the ones who are constantly

dreaming up audacious schemes

to reshape established institutions

or transform the entire universe.

I want to stress two things up front.

First, this video is not a blanket condemnation

of all Marvel movies.

Many of them are fun, entertaining spectacles.

And some of the more recent entries have made great strides

in terms of representation.

Secondly, this is not some kind of galaxy-brained hot take

claiming all the bad guys are actually right.

Although it must be said that a few of them do have

legitimate political grievances.

"How do you think your ancestors got these?

You think they paid a fair price?

Or did they take it like they took everything else?"

On the whole, MCU villains are written

to be ruthless and brutal--

sometimes to a genocidal degree.

What we are going to be examining