Marvel Studios has done it again... stoked the ire of some fans on the internet, that
is.
While reactions to the first trailer for the upcoming Black Widow were largely positive,
a certain subset of fans took issue with what they perceived as the fat-shaming of the Red
Guardian, portrayed by Stranger Things' David Harbour.
The Guardian, real name Alexei Shostkov, appears at a couple of different moments in the trailer.
Russia's answer to Captain America is portrayed as being perhaps a decade or two past his
prime, and suffice to say that Harbour — never the trimmest of actors — didn't exactly
get jacked for the role.
This is obviously by design, as we first see Shostakov flexing his admittedly considerable
muscles in a mirror, then attempting to squeeze into his old suit. He does, then proudly announces
to his "family" — Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff , Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova,
and Rachel Weisz's Melina Vostokoff — that it still fits.
"Yeah! Still fits."
That's when Vostokoff says:
"You got fat."
However, in the spot's very next scene, we see that the Guardian's added heft doesn't
seem to be slowing him down much, as he single-handedly takes on the villainous Taskmaster.
The response from some fans online was highly reminiscent of the "Fat Thor" controversy
after the release of Avengers: Endgame. Many were incredulous that Marvel appeared not
to have learned anything from said controversy, including Twitter user @The_GothDaddy, who
wrote:
"The Black Widow trailer looks pretty good I'd like it more if Marvel learned their lesson
with Thor and maybe considered leaving out yet... A n o t h e r... Dig at fat people."
User @Artists_Al agreed, writing:
"So I watched the Black Widow trailer. Is Marvel just gonna do wall to wall fatphobic
jokes in all their movies now or....? Yeah that's gonna be a no from me."
There were a wealth of similar tweets to be found in the trailer's immediate wake, and
while everybody is obviously entitled to their opinion, ours is that — as with the Endgame
controversy — the approach to Harbour's character is being wildly misinterpreted.
User @MediocreJedi contributed another critical tweet that touched on our reasoning:
"Imma watch the hell out of #BlackWidow but did Marvel learn ANYTHING from their Endgame
Thor fat joke backlash? Most women I know find David Harbour hot. So, another fat joke?
Signed, guy who can barely fit into his 21-year-old dress uniform but can still kick ass."
While one could certainly make the argument that Marvel didn't exactly think through the
potential ramifications before committing to their portrayal of Red Guardian, we submit
that those accusing the studio of fatphobia would do well to take a look at the broader
context of the spot. Sure, the fact that Shostakov is old and out of shape, squeezing into his
superhero costume only for his "family" to poke good-natured fun at him, is played for
a laugh. Does this make the Red Guardian a buffoon, a punchline, like some in the Twitterverse
are asserting?
Respectfully, we don't agree that it does. Again, in the very next scene, we see the
Guardian in all his overweight glory engaging one-on-one with one of the deadliest villains
in the Marvel universe — and everything about his appearance in this sequence, regardless
of how many extra pounds he may be packing, screams "utter badass."
Those raking Marvel over the coals on Twitter obviously took away something different, and
that's unfortunate — but we certainly didn't see Marvel encouraging audiences to point
and laugh at the hapless fat guy. What we saw was much more along the lines of, "Hey,
Alexei may be past his prime; he has to struggle to get into his old suit, and his family ribs
him about it. He may not have the body of Captain America, but he can damn sure throw
down like him."
To us, this is the exact opposite of fat-shaming, and we took a similar position in defense
of Fat Thor — AKA "Bro Thor." Yes, it was a shock to the system to see the God of Thunder
having packed on the pounds, swilling beer and playing video games, and Chris Hemsworth
leaned into the comedic aspects of his first onscreen appearance in that state. Yes, Tony
Stark made fun of him; Stark made fun of everybody, every chance he got.
But Thor's extra pounds, and the profound depression of which they were a symptom, were
not treated as a joke. In contrast, Odinson's descent into depression in the wake of his
failure to stop Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War was treated with a great deal of sensitivity,
and the entire arc was one which we would never have expected for the character.
With Red Guardian and Bro Thor alike, Marvel seems to be pretty darn consistent in its
message, which is a timeless one: don't judge a book by its cover. You might be old, you
might be chubby, you might be depressed; you can be any or all of these things, and you
can still be a hero. That is a message anyone should be able to get behind.
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