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Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM
As an autistic viewer, ????!?!?!?????!!?
I do not see that coding anywhere, think it’s a poor excuse for poor dialogue, and really don’t like the stereotype of “autistic people make better assassins.” If you want to see what a Whedon character coded autistic looks like, it’s the Flash from Justice League.
Well, they can all understand Groot now, so...
Just because Rocket can speak Groot doesn't mean he's not full of it.
One Strip! One Strip!Well Drax can be typical for his species, but his species could all also be coded autistic. Its not like that's mutually exclusive.
I'll see if my autistic friends who first pointed out the "Nat is coded autistic and I relate to her" thing to me in the first place are willing to share their thoughts on it. Like I said, I can see why they relate to the character in how she's presented in the avenger films, but I don't want to speak for them, because, y'know, I'm not autistic and it's not my place.
Also I don't think it's fair to argue that because Flash is coded autistic and Nat doesn't resemble him, she can't be coded autistic, like, autism isn't interchangeable in how it presents in people, especially across the gender line.
Also also, I wasn't aware that autistic women as spies was a cliche! If so it makes me like how Whedon writes Nat less. I was aware of the long history of autistic women becoming spies in real life, but I could see how in media that could just become an annoying cliche.
Also x3, I kind of doubt Whedon intended for Nat to be read this way. It's well known that Whedon bases his female characters off of women in his life (often his mother) so I wouldn't be surprised if Whedon is writing autistic traits into his characters without even realising that that's what he's homing in on.
What I was arguing in regards to Flash and Widow was not “autistic people can only behave in one way”, and rather “Whedon, a non-disabled writer, has a very narrow idea of what neurodivergent people behave like, and Flash is that idea, not Black Widow.” Black Widow has too many intentionally smart-witted lines, while most of the Flash’s laugh lines come from him saying something he doesn’t realize sounds weird. He’s the butt of the joke, the butt of Widow’s jokes is who she directs her snark at.
I mean, I don't disagree with you; I've already said that I'm not sure Wendon would have coded Nat intentionally. So again I don't think how he writes Flash is much commentary on how he writes Widow. Nor do I think he'd nesicarily write autistic characters the same. (well he might, but I wouldn't assume it)
I mean, I didn't see the MCU using the symbiotes in the first place. They're a whole plotline that requires a lot surrounding them, while at the same time there aren't an awful lot of unique things you can do with them anyway.
I could've seen them using the symbiote well into the future in a Secret War adaptation, introducing it like it was in the comics (where it's on him for a while before realizing it's alive, and it being less inherently evil and more impressionable and obsessive) and giving it and Peter a more complex split, but that possibility is a far ways away.
I don't know, from 1999 to 2012, sure, star power was worth nothing. But now foreign markets are opening up and China is willing to pay hundreds of millions to see Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange, I think we're returning to the era of star power.
However, being an R rated film with a smaller budget, I expect Sony consider this a low risk film.

... And then the Wakandan team gets banned for doping because they all took the heart-shaped herb.