(LIVELY INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
RIKKI POYNTER: Hello and welcome back to this channel.
I have some exciting news to share,
and that is the fact that Marvel has announced its first Deaf superhero
in the movie part of the universe.
It was just announced at Comic-Con that Lauren Ridloff,
who you might know from 'The Walking Dead'
is playing Makkari in the movies.
Ma-mak-makkari, ma-kari, makkari...
Deaf problems.
Before we get into the details about that,
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Now, saying that Marvel has its first Deaf superhero
has gotten people to be a little bit like, confused and going, "What?"
Because they want to tell you that Marvel has already had superheroes.
Two of them, being one, Echo, and the other, Hawkeye,
who you might know even more, 'cause he's very popular,
especially in the movie part of the universe.
But here's the thing,
Hawkeye in the movie, is played by Jeremy Renner, who is a hearing man,
and also just Hawkeye simply as a character overall, is not Deaf.
They made him hearing, so...
Yes, in the comics, Hawkeye is Deaf, but he is not in the movie,
and Echo is not, to my knowledge, in a movie,
so...
Lauren Ridloff aka Makkari is the first Deaf superhero
and I am so stoked.
I am not the biggest die hard fan of Marvel.
I am not knowledgeable in all of the things Marvel,
but I do enjoy the movies now and again
and well, I might actually go see something at theaters now,
because somebody, a Deaf woman, is playing in 'Eternals'.
So, who is Lauren going to be playing?
As it turns out, Makkari is in the comics, a white hearing man,
but in the movies, Makkari is going to be a Black and Mexican Deaf woman.
I know people are going to be upset about that,
while in the same breath, they go, "Anybody can play anybody"
if we talk about how a hearing person really doesn't need to be playing a Deaf person,
when Deaf roles are so small.
So, if you're gonna be one of those people,
well, I'm gonna throw it right back at you.
"The Eternals are a race of god-like beings locked in a millenium-old conflict
with the less evolved Deviants and their originators, the Celestials.
Each Eternal has watched civilizations burgeon and die
from their domain of Olympia.
They are immortals blessed with strange, sometimes monstrous powers.
As for Makkari, the character possesses Earth-eternal physiology,
superhuman strength, speed, and reflexes,
and the attitude to design various high-velocity transport vessels."
I think that this is exciting, people.
The Deaf community has been wanting a Deaf superhero forever.
Chella Man is going to be part of the DC Universe, playing -
I forgot who he's playing.
So, first, we have someone in the DC Universe,
and now we're gonna have somebody in the Marvel Universe.
When I posted an article about it on my Facebook page,
which, if you haven't liked it yet, consider doing so,
I'll put a link down below.
Someone asked me if Lauren was going to be signing or speaking in the role,
because what was the point of doing so, or what was the point of casting her
if she's not going to sign?
I don't know specifically, what language she's going to be using.
I don't know a whole lot about her, but if I'm guessing, right?
ASL is her main language, so she's probably going to be signing in it,
just like she's signing in 'The Walking Dead'.
But regardless of whether or not she uses ASL or spoken English for the movie,
a Deaf representation is Deaf representation.
What's the problem?
One of the reasons why Marvel has disappointed us when it comes to Hawkeye
is just the fact that, well, he's not Deaf in the movies,
and we don't really understand why.
It was Hollywood, that is why.
But still... (LAUGHS)
If he was already Deaf in the comics,
then it was just perfect to have him be Deaf in the movie,
and signing in the movies that he's in.
If they had made Hawkeye Deaf, would Jeremy Renner still be casted?
Probably.
Would they make him Deaf himself?
I was gonna say 'crip up' for a second, but I don't think people...
I don't think the Deaf community would like that term, either.
Anyways, if Jeremy were to 'pretend to be Deaf', that would also suck,
just because, you know, like, there's plenty of other Deaf actors
that could have auditioned for the role.
But anyway, I don't think Marvel would be replacing Hawkeye anytime soon
and also, I feel like I recall something in the past,
where Jeremy Renner was kind of anti-Clint and Hawkeye being Deaf.
Anyways, I could be wrong, but I feel like I read something about that in the past,
that he wouldn't be interested in that type of thing, anyway.
That's all I have to talk about on that matter,
because there's not really a whole lot of information happening right now
other than that.
But if you are also a fellow Deaf person,
let me know how you feel about this announcement.
Very, very exciting.
I can't wait to watch it.
But what do you want to bet that there's not gonna be
any real good open caption dates, if any at all?
And all the CaptiViews and Caption Glasses
are going to totally fail in the middle of the movie.
Because what, Marvel movies are like, three hours long?
That's probably gonna happen.
If you would like to help translate this video,
I would very much appreciate it.
It's always a huge, huge help.
I will leave a link to the translation process down below.
Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to watch this video.
You are all incredibly fantastic, and I will see you later.
Bye!
(INSTRUMENTAL ROCK MUSIC)