Ok I Like This Account.

Can we appreciate the moments with Ramonda and Shuri?

“Shuri!”

“Sorry, Mother!”

The scene at Warrior Falls when Shuri trolled the challenge only to announce she was ready to go home because her corset was uncomfortable and Ramonda pinched her.

“First Baba, and now my brother. Mama, we didn’t even get to bury him.”

“Shh…”

Ramonda saying, “Shuri”, then kind of nudging her back when the Jabari encircled them.  

lmaooooooooooooooooooooo

this is... technically marvel’s first gay kiss

Oh… You… wearing my brand.

I saw it, and I was like, ‘what a bad bitch- I NEED to read her T’Challa fics.’

Sis the girls aren’t checking for T’Challa fics anymore. Just so you know...

And? Y’all are still gonna get these chapters regardless.

This is actually a wonderful explanation I have been blessed to come across.

Why isn’t Thanos a Sympathetic Villain?

Asked no one who follows me, ever, but I’m here to answer it.

Why is Loki a Sympathetic Villain?

Loki’s primary motivations in the MCU are all linked to interpersonal relationships and the personality, instincts, beliefs, etc. those interpersonal relationships have fostered. When Loki kills Laufey it isn’t because Loki is evil or Laufey is evil, it’s because Loki believes Laufey abandoned him to die. When he turns the Bifrost on Jotunheim it is not because his ideology demands he obliterate an evil, monstrous race, it’s because Loki wants to prove his worth to Odin. It’s because Thor used to say the same thing, and Odin pushed back because war would hurt Asgard, too. But Loki’s method won’t get any Asgardians killed. Odin should find value in Loki’s genius.

We do not sympathize with Loki’s evil actions, but we can recognize that he wasn’t born evil. He does evil because he is a victim of parental abuse desperate to feel accepted and valued, but constantly signaled (and then flat out told due to the discovery of his heritage) that he is unworthy and will never measure up. We see the path that led him to evil and the path that led him to no longer trust his family and, in particular, Thor’s love. That’s why, to many, he’s sympathetic. That’s why he’s an excellent villain. Even people who don’t sympathize should be able to recognize that there’s more going on than Loki just being a villain or evil.

Why is Killmonger a Sympathetic Villain?

Killmonger’s primary motivations are linked to his ideology. He believes that grave injustices have been and continue to be committed against Black people across the global, and he desires to free these oppressed people from that injustice and oppression. 

The reason he’s sympathetic is that he’s right (to a point). Historically and currently, Black people across the globe face systemic oppression and exploitation that perpetuates poverty and violence in communities and countries. So, we sympathize with Killmonger wanting liberation for his people (or we should), and we can even see how growing up surrounded by violence got him to a point where violence seems like the only solution, even if (I hope this isn’t too controversial) we know that a global race war isn’t the first, best solution (though, to be clear, the movie presenting nonviolence vs. violence and determining violence isn’t a solution is simplifying the issues).

Does Not Thanos Earn Sympathy Through Interpersonal Relationships?

Uh, no. Duh it’s a no. He’s the abuser.

I’m starting with this one because it’s far more simple to discuss. Even though Thanos isn’t motivated by interpersonal relationships (his ideology is more important than Gamora) the movie, arguably, asks the audience to sympathize with him over having to sacrifice his daughter. So sympathetic, right, that he loses the child he loves most to his cause? 

Again, no. Thanos has manipulated and mutilated his children, including Gamora. They have been tools for Thanos from the start. Thanos is the one with all the power in their relationship. Him sacrificing her is just that, again. It’s the action of an abuser who has always used his children to further his ideology. Feeling sympathy for that makes no sense. Black Panther knew this. That’s why that film never asks us to feel bad for the characters that sacrifice their loved ones for their ideologies, even when those ideologies are somewhat sympathetic. We are not expected to feel sympathy for T’Chaka killing his brother because, even though we can understand what drives T’Chaka to keep Wakanda from the outside world, we know that he has the power to help oppressed people across the world. His brother is making that point. We are definitely not expected to feel sympathy for Killmonger when he kills his girlfriend, even though we know he’s sacrificing her so he can achieve the goal of liberating people from oppression/oppressive circumstances. Expecting us to feel sympathy for the villain sacrificing their interpersonal relationships for ideology is a hard sell because, even if we can sympathize with the ideology, we’re not supposed to sympathize with their methods. Otherwise they’d be the hero.

Does Not Thanos Earn Sympathy Through Ideology?

Thanos believes that the universe possesses a finite amount of resources and that to prevent the extinction of the diverse species across that universe he must kill half of every population.

Titan… *sigh* Titan suffered from a shortage of resources. Thanos loved his people and wanted to save them, but instead he witnessed their demise. That’s why he believes it’s his destiny to never let that happen to another species. In theory, we should be able to feel some level of sympathy for a person who lived through the extinction of their people.

Except, the first and only solution Thanos offered to “save” his people was mass murder. 

Thanos: Titan was like most planets; too many mouths, not enough to go around. And when we faced extinction, I offered a solution. Dr. Strange: Genocide. Thanos: But random. Dispassionate, fair to rich and poor alike. They called me a madman. And what I predicted came to pass.

(Let’s ignore that Thanos explicitly mentions there were rich and poor people, so resources also weren’t being distributed evenly among his people.)

This torpedoes any small amount of sympathy we might feel for him. I simply cannot sympathize with a person whose first, best solution is mass murder. Plus, this plan would not work long term. It would have to be repeated every time the population hit an unsustainable level. And if any of the finite resources needed for survival were truly finite (not just annually finite or whatever we might consider crop yields), then that would occur often, because consumption of those resources continues even at a slower pace.

Garnering sympathy for Thanos’ ideology has, therefore, stumbled at the first hurdle. We can’t even be on board with the ideology based on Thanos’ experiences on Titan, because Thanos was an idiot advocating mass murder rather than offering legitimate solutions to a terrifying problem.

The idiocy continues when he casts his net wider. Let’s examine, “Titan was like most planets; too many mouths, not enough to go around,” in more detail. That’s an incorrect statement. None of the planets we’ve seen in the MCU appear to have this problem. None of them. Earth does not have this problem. It’s ridiculously easy to debunk the overpopulation myth. The problem we have now is with distribution. Rich people and countries have more than poor people and countries. There is enough food for all our mouths and massive amounts of it go to waste because it’s more profitable to discard it than to give it away.

How are we supposed to feel sympathy for someone whose ideology is based on nothing but, seemingly, resentfulness that his own people didn’t get on board with his mass murder idea? His ideology wouldn’t have saved his people, and it won’t save any one else in the universe because it’s utterly irrelevant to the troubles other species are contending with.

And, of course, HE KILLS HALF OF THE PLANTS AND THE ANIMALS, THUS MAKING THE RATIO OF PEOPLE TO FOOD RESOURCES THE FUCKING SAME!!!

There’s no point where you can feel sympathy for Thanos due to ideology. He makes no good points, except for the ones constructed by the movie. Oh, Gamora’s planet’s doing great? I guess that means Thanos has a point! Oh, his people didn’t run with his plan and then they all died? I guess that means Thanos has a point! None of this sits right if you know anything about the subject matter being addressed.

TL;DR

We can neither sympathize with Thanos through his interpersonal relationships because he is the abuser with all the power, nor through his ideology because he has not identified a legitimate problem and his only solution is randomized mass murder, which does not solve the “problem” he’s identified.

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why do I always cry on my birthday?

Why I still find Killmonger fascinating after THREE years of the movie being out is that-

He had all the tropes given to heroes, while still being a full-on psychopathic villain.

1) His parents had a forbidden love story: N’Jobu was sent to Oakland as a spy. Starting a family was definitely out of question because fraternizing with and having attachments to a foreigner would have been against the War Dog code.

2) He only heard stories about Wakanda: This might not be exactly a hero trope, but this was what actually made me think that he was the hero in this story. Being disconnected from their homeland/ family is one major point that heroes usually have.

3) He saw his father die... at the hands of a powerful guy: Well, not exactly, but finding the dead body of your parent is a popular scene in hero movies. Either that, or hearing about your parent’s death. And he knew who did it.

4) Wait- He’s an orphan: This actually broke my heart, considering how his mom was killed too, through systemic oppression. They don’t talk about it, but all the implications show that this wasn’t even like having you mother die of something you can’t control (disease, accidents). He knew about Wakanda’s wealth and prosperity and had to helplessly watch his mother suffer because his country didn’t even bother to do anything. At this point, you can’t blame him for wanting the throne.

5) He grew up in a harsh environment, but got to the top anyway: “Graduated Annapolis, age 19, MIT for grad school” is no small thing for anyone let alone a literal kid thrown out into world without anyone to be there for him. He was the best, no doubt, securing top ranks in the military and earning himself a name. All those unseen training montages usually belong in heroes’ stories.

6) He has an heirloom from his (dead) father: That Ring was just a Hero Trope™. (Think- invisibility cloak, lightsaber, sword, mithril shirt, etc...)

7) He Returned To His Home™ to unseat his counterpart: ... who is usually the undeserving one, and let’s face it - T’Challa is technically the Prince Who Had Everything growing up, and N’Jadaka is the one who struggled more. Though eventually, he proved to be a monster and a neat product of his environment and experiences, it’s hard to not see his side.

8) He got a few rebels on his side: In most stories, you find that all the Rebels and the Resistances make up the allies of the hero, (*cough* starwars,harrypotter,hungergames *cough*) But in Black Panther, we see the villain playing the most justified part in a dethroning. To fit into that trope better, he specifically got W’Kabi, a man avenging his family, on his side. 

9) His death was emotional: Most villains don’t get that while still on their villainous arc. Killmonger did not necessarily go back on what he was shown to believe in, but rather caused his opponent to change for the better. Plus, his defeat was shot as if it was centered around him rather than T’Challa, putting more weight into his recurring hero tropes.

10) People’s lives became better because of him: You can’t see that at first glance, but think about it- Wakanda was finally forced to hold itself morally accountable; People started receiving aid all around the globe; Because of that, Nakia was able to pursue her aspiration of helping the underprivileged while reconciling with the man she loved. It’s sad that he didn’t actually get to see the Outreach Centers or live the life he deserved, and that sounds a lot like people living their life oblivious to an unsung hero. Though his intentions were far from that, it’s safe to say that he was a necessary evil in the story.

NYC Data Stories: Allyship