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Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM
Being both Asian and female I have some really mixed thoughts. On the one hand she's an incredible actress and the Ancient One's gender is not important so I welcome the Gender Flip, plus it helps cut down on some of Dr. Strange's Mighty Whitey problems. On the other hand Asian roles especially in the cinema are already so rare that the loss of even one important character is a big blow for representation. I'd have much preferred Swinton in the role of Clea, personally.
While I'm not super upset by this I'd have much preferred them to rewrite the characters to minimize Asian stereotypes in the first place. Maybe cast an older Asian female instead as a Lisa Lisa-like tough mentor figure who still kicks ass directly, especially since Asian media still suffers from being intensely patriarchal. On the other hand since a key part of the Ancient One's character is that he dies, it's now going to invite complaints about fridging, whether justified or not.
edited 28th May '15 3:48:02 PM by AlleyOop
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I have a feeling they'll leave Wong out altogether. The character never sat well with me, even after later writers made him a more rounded character. If they do keep him they might Race Lift him into a white guy (a rare case where that actually might be a good thing).
Alternatively they could completely change and invert his relationship with Dr. Strange the same way they did with Bucky. He went from being a kid sidekick who was very close to Cap but his junior in every way, to a more equal relationship where he became basically Steve's older brother (and thus his superior, kind of) who nevertheless deferred to Steve out of love and respect for him.
edited 28th May '15 4:16:19 PM by AlleyOop
An interesting way the animated Dr. Strange movie did it was to have Wong, rather than be an attendant, actually be the one in charge of instructing those in the Ancient One's order - so basically, while The Ancient One is the Obi-Wan, in practice he was more like Yoda while Wong was doing most of the teaching.
Wong was Strange's superior and one of the most accomplished people allied with the Ancient One, but was also not a warrior like some of the other members so he took a non-combat role until he absolutely had to. Keeping a role like that in the movie would work - he's not serving Strange, he's guiding him on the Ancient One's orders. So he aids him on his various spells and adventures, but isn't doing him any favors or catering to his whims.
edited 28th May '15 3:59:57 PM by KnownUnknown
She was secretly Amy Pond in disguise, infilitrating Thanos' organization on behalf of the Doctor so that the Doctor could team up with Excalibur and the Last Centurion to vworp and zorp and then Thanos is sealed into every mirror, at least until editorial needs him again.
Also, in fairness, "the Ancient One" does sound like a villain title.
Which one, the scientist lady (Maya?) or the veteran lady that had to become a lava woman because we don't always take care of veterans?
edited 28th May '15 4:24:28 PM by Bocaj
Forever liveblogging the AvengersAlright, I am apparently a huge sexist and didn't realize there have actually been a ton of female villains.
In my defense, though, I was referring to main antagonists like Stane or Ronan, and specifically mentioned I was only talking about movies!
@Bocaj: Plant lady.
"It's so hard to be humble, knowing how great I am."We should totally have a female headlining villain, though. It's one of the reasons I dug the whole "female Radioactive Man" rumor that's been bouncing around for ages, even though it became increasingly obvious it wasn't going to happen years ago.
I'd like them to get away from the whole "female villains should only fight female heroes" thing, too. The same with non-white villains, actually.
edited 28th May '15 4:30:13 PM by KnownUnknown
Maya Hansen.
I remembered her first name, had to look up her last name.
Forever liveblogging the Avengers![]()
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I didn't mean it like that, I was just being contrarian like I always am. Sorry.
Y'know, on the topic of female villains: what female villains are there in the comics? Like, are there a lot of good ones that Marvel hasn't deigned to use because Marvel, or are there slim pickings?
edited 28th May '15 4:34:51 PM by Zarek
"We're home, Chewie."If we're counting the TV shows then I think Jiaying would count as a headlining female villian. She's the primary antagonist of the Inhumans arc.
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I don't think there are that many that are clear villains. A lot of them are either Anti Heroes or went through a Heel–Face Turn. Off the top of my head there's only Mystique, the Enchantress, and Madame Hydra.
edited 28th May '15 4:38:58 PM by Kostya
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She ultimately contributed very little to the plot, and was written out of the movie in way that just hammered in how little they actually worked with the plot they started with her. The way she was written is the best examples of how bad that movie's writing could get.
edited 28th May '15 4:41:05 PM by KnownUnknown
Having Killian come up with Extremis would have made things a bit more neat and would have meant one less fridging so...
Also, I think the majority of Marvel's female villains were actually heroines that went evil, usually for incredibly stupid reasons.
Just... so dumb.
Forever liveblogging the Avengers

The Ancient One is not a villain.