Originally Posted by
Albert1981
We've had extensive discussions on these threads about the "crazy powerful women" trope. And it has been used on people like Jean, Wanda and Lorna REPEATEDLY. Lots of people love the idea of these powerful women going through extreme traumas and reacting to these tragic situations by murdering anybody that they can get their hands on (family and friends are preferable). And because of their transgressions, they HAVE to be abandoned or even outright killed by the people who supposedly "love" them. No sympathy is required here. Especially if these women don't understand their powers and are begging for help from the people who are supposed to care about them. And often times these characters are "possessed" and/or being "brainwashed" into committing such heinous acts. That is yet ANOTHER trope. In addition to that, once they gain said powers, these women almost always are portrayed as representing the dangers of "sexually liberated" women who follow their base desires (basically they become slutty). That's trope number THREE. As Leo was saying earlier, such characters can NEVER be forgiven. Their past mistakes are rubbed in their faces at every opportunity (Hank Pym and Wanda are two Avengers who have gone through this a LOT). I often joke that Scarlet Witch should just change her name to Scarlet Letter. However, on a VERY positive note, things might be slowly changing. I am encouraged and take great satisfaction in the fact that lately more people seem to be rejecting these old (some say ancient) ideas about powerful women. Dark Phoenix and Game of Thrones' last season were NOT well-received because of these really stale and downright lazy notions of how women should behave when accessing great power. As I have stated on these boards, I see NO signs that Wanda will kill and/or anybody in WandaVision. You don't have to be a hardcore feminist to understand the two main female writers of the show, Jac Schaeffer and Megan McDonnell, will NEVER tolerate these kinds of tropes on their watch. For lots of people, women are just simply more irrational and emotional than men. And they can't be trusted to handle great powers and/or responsibilities. When it comes to Marvel Comics, however, all bets are off. The creators there seem pretty keen on maintaining these kinds of stereotypes. I have much less confidence and optimism on that front.
We've also had EXTENSIVE discussions on Pietro's and Wanda's parentage here as well. It's like a Whose the Daddy? kind of thing you would see on the Maury Show. I know of no other children in the Marvel Universe who've had their parental origins questioned and changed to such an extent and so often. It's literally become an absolute JOKE! I'm surprised that nobody has gotten weary and bored of these fights and debates because they keep on raging up to this HOUR. There's just so much unnecessary and prolonged drama here on this matter that I've totally changed my views on the issue. I used to think it was a cool and interesting dynamic keeping Magneto, Polaris and the twins related and wished that the MCU would have brought that into the movies. But after finding out about what happened to Wanda and Pietro because of their "family", I just want Kevin Feige and company to make Professor X and Magneto into black characters. Just so this insanity can FINALLY be put to bed (for the films), you know? With the unprecedented tensions and unrest gripping the world over racial issues right now, I think it's a growing possibility that Disney is actually gonna make this happen. And this is coming from a dude who is NOT really interested in becoming a social justice warrior and/or being a woke person and/or wanting diversity for diversity's sake.
On a final note, I want to repeat that I don't hate X-fans at all. I think the idea of the X-Men is absolutely noble and worth celebrating. Their stories are so amazing and they helped make Marvel what it is today, no question about it. And their message of positive change and hope is needed more than ever these days. I just find it sad that Wanda and Pietro are two characters that are totally dividing the X-fan and Avenger-fan communities. From what I read, the whole House of M stuff is a really compelling and dramatic story. You can never please everybody with such a controversial event, but I definitely understand why it remains popular and enduring to this day (even though Wanda fans hate it). I know it added a lot of pathos to the story of the mutants in the Marvel universe, so I get why people (mostly X-fans) enjoyed such a unique tale. So that story was massively beneficial to the X-Men. But from what I understand, it DESTROYED the Avengers. Heroes were killed, relationships ruined and long-time Avengers had their characters assassinated. Maybe Avengers and Marvel sales were dropping at a time when Marvel Comics was going through a difficult period (I left comics around that time), so I "get" why Bendis and Quesada felt they HAD to do something shocking and different to boost sales. Perhaps they needed a way to reduce the huge mutant population in the Marvel Universe (that they were NOT responsible for) and couldn't think of another way to it than the way they did. I GET that. I also won't deny Pietro's and Wanda's mutant heritage. It's unquestionably a HUGE part of their story. Same thing with their on-and-off again relationship with Magneto. So I can sympathize with X-fans' position on wanting to keep him as their dad. I just find it amusing that Avengers fans want Wanda's relationship with Vision to be explored and X-Men followers want Wanda's ties with Magneto to be focused upon (when it comes to the movies). I know it's a generalization, but I don't think I'm too far off. I actually think having problematic relationships between somewhat "villainous" parents and "heroic" children can make for some unbelievably compelling storytelling, you know? In fact, one of my favorites is between Nightcrawler (he is my all-time favorite X-Man and I hope he's still somewhat heroic today) and Mystique. I find their relationship to be strained and poignant, but it didn't actually damage either of them too much. What I'm saying it's not problematic like the one between Magneto and his (former) twins and Hank Pym and Ultron. Those two relationships have brought nothing but suffering and misery for everybody involved. I just want damaging and outdated stereotypes and tropes to be done away with and Marvel characters from both the mutant and non-mutant worlds to have a reasonably functional relationship. I'm probably in a minority of one here and I expect my views to be probably really unpopular though.