” You could n’t live with your own failure. What did that send you to? Up to me”.
–Thanos Robert Downey Jr. to Bob Iger ( probably )
Like a mischarging arc reactor ( Nerd-to-English Translation: That’s what powers Iron Man’s suit, duh. ) The Marvel Cinematic Universe began with the idea of bringing up a group of extraordinary people to see if they could be anything more… successful. It was then abruptly – and very violently – erupting, triggering waves of repercussions that shook pop culture its core. To see if they could collaborate when we needed them, and to generate a box office that we could n’t possibly do.
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It began with the release of” Iron Man” in 2008, featuring the origin story of Tony Stark ( Robert Downey Jr. ) becoming Iron Man, and reached its fever-pitch in 2019 with” Avengers: Endgame”, where ( Spoiler Alert ) Tony Stark sacrifices himself to stop the evil alien Thanos and save the universe.
( So, it’s a lot like” Hamlet”, but with way more talking trees, wicked-cool laser guns, and amorphic raccoons. )
If necessity is the mother’s milk of invention, then the MCU was born in a huge sea of lactose: Unwilling to stable the film rights to the superheroes well-known to the masses – Spiderman, Wolverine, Blade, the rest of the X-Men, heroes like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman were locked-up by DC, a rival company – Marvel developed an interwoven, overlapping shared visual “universe” populated by b-level characters: Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Hulk … and a prosperous, arrogant light industrialist who moonlights as Iron Man.
Not unlike Antman ( who can get really, really tall and not just shrink, you know, guys. Hey, stop calling me a nerd. ), the MCU grew and grew and grew. And as its presence swelled to Galactus-sized proportions, outside pressure on its creative direction grew as well:” Why is the Viking god Thor a white guy?! Hey, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Iron Man and Hulk are all white people, too! ( Okay, maybe Hulk is sometimes green, but when he’s not green, he’s definitely white! ) Something’s gotta change”!
And so, the MCU began to course-correct, replacing its original white-male-majority cast with something far more diverse:
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The Asgardians ( Viking gods ) are now under the control of a minority woman, and Thor was replaced by Jane (until she passed away ).  ,
Hawkeye the archer was traded for Kate Bishop, a young woman.  ,
Steve Rogers was replaced by Sam Wilson as Captain America.  ,
Iron Man was replaced with Riri Williams.
Bruce Banner’s Hulk was given a backseat to She-Hulk.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with the addition of new characters, even minority ones, in a sprawling, episodic setting like the MCU. In a fictional universe with space monsters, weird aliens, multiverse adventures, and psychic powers, there’s certainly room for all ethnicities. But the original magic of the MCU was the appeal of these specific characters: They were fun, goofy, interesting, and heroic. Yes, they were ( mostly ) white, but they were extraordinarily colorful, too.
The MCU decided to force-feed us new characters that were the exact opposite: They were n’t white, nor were they colorful. They appeared to be the result of a PC request alone.
It’s the standard liberal infiltration technique: Identify something big in pop culture, shame the participants until you’re granted a seat at the table, push your agenda until it’s no longer profitable … and when it dies, just move on to the next big thing.
So, after Robert Downey Jr. dusted that lousy, no-good Thanos, the MCU searched for a new Big Bad Guy. For a brief while, they thought they found their foil: A multiverse-hopping baddie named Kang, played by black actor Jonathan Majors. He first appeared on the Disney + TV series” Loki” and was Antman’s adversary in” Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania” ( where the male character of Antman was being phased out and replaced by his daughter, Cassie Lang, by the way ).
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Alas,” Quantumania” was a quantum-bomb. It lost money at the box office, which is unusual for an MCU movie! – and Kang actor Jonathon Majors, who was later found guilty of two domestic violence counts, was fired from Disney.
Disney and the MCU were reeling. What was once the biggest thing in pop culture had suddenly become unprofitable, their TV shows had been disappointing fans ( the less we can say about” Secret Invasion” ), and what was once the biggest thing had completely lost its relevance.  ,
They were desperate. ” And in their desperation, they turned to a man they did n’t fully understand”. ( Oops, that quote was actually from” Batman”, not the MCU, sorry. ) For the same reason, the entire franchise was teetering toward total collapse and was attempting to replicate the same fall. – as what happened to” Star Wars”.
And now, as Disney’s CEO stood at a fork in the road, he had made the decision for himself. He could either double down on the same path that led Marvel and Star War astray, or he could course-correct. After all, Disney might adore every color in its inclusionary rainbow, but we’ve always assumed it was green ( and not just for the Hulk ).
This time, Iger did n’t screw around.
The MCU did n’t opt for a diversity hire. A radical new version of Doctor Doom, where he’d be played by a transgender paraplegic Asian woman, was not made public. Instead, they went back to basics and hired Robert Downey Jr., the same person who first introduced the same franchise:
If we criticize Disney for their profits and forging the woke agenda, we should also applaud them when they acknowledge their error and change course. So, bravo. Yes, it might be unauthentic, but did you really expect anything less? Hey, lip-service is still service.
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The woke agenda is just unsustainable for a mainstream brand like Disney when the bottom line is the bottom line. If you want to stay in business, you have to appeal to non-liberals, too.
Therefore, to quote my favorite intergalactic warlord, Iger’s decision was … “inevitable”.
