Ridley Rants: Why We Need More Asian Representation in the MCU (and who can fill the void)
On September 3rd, 2021, an all-Asian cast will headline a superhero film, not just for the first time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but also by a major United States movie studio. However, while Disney and Marvel have recently taken decisive steps towards telling more authentic stories and providing visibility to underrepresented groups on screen, more work needs to be done to move their properties past tokenism and lip service. While Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings and Ms. Marvel will help prove to fans that Disney and Marvel’s efforts aren’t wholly symbolic, major movie studios need to hire more Asian people in front of and behind the camera to prevent additional marginalization, bias, and stereotyping in the future.
By showcasing meaningful stories featuring a broad spectrum of Asian people, including those from North Asia, Central Asia, East Asia, Western Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and beyond, Disney and Marvel Studio’s can provide visibility to groups targeted for oppression that will positively impact how Asian people are seen and treated. Luckily, there are several strong and exciting characters to choose from in the comics with complex inner lives and interesting backstories that defy societal expectations. These individuals, some popular with and lesser-known to fans, would fit in well if they were included in the upcoming Phase 4 titles.
Totally Awesome Hulk/Prince of Power/Various, aka Amadeus Cho
Amadeus Cho, named after his parents’ love of Mozart, is a Korean-American teenage super-genius from Tuscon, Arizona, and one of the most brilliant people in the world. Amadeus uses his abilities to identify an infinite number of quantum possibilities to determine the outcome of any given situation. A supercomputer's mind allows Amadeus to solve complex problems and discover hard-to-find patterns on a quantum level. He’s a hacker and an inventor that gave himself the power of flight by designing an AI suit that also grants him increased strength and a protective energy field. As if that wasn’t enough, the suit is outfitted with a universal translator, too. Most impressively, he also invented a device that allows him to turn into the Hulk.
After obtaining the highest score in the Excello Soap Company game, "Brain Soap," Amadeus was declared the seventh-smartest person in the world. Pythagoras Dupree, an evil and jealous, once child prodigy that created the game to locate and kill his rivals, finds Amadeus to preserve his status as the sixth-smartest person in the world. Pythagoras sends Agent Sexton, his employee, to lie and say that the company wanted to train Amadeus, but he refuses the invitation. Consequently, his house is destroyed, and his family is killed in a planned explosion. The blast is meant to kill Amadeus, but he escapes and flees to New Mexico, finding and adopting an orphaned coyote pup named Kirby.
After discovering Amadeus’ new location, Pythagoras violently pursues his rival. However, in the ensuing fight, Amadeus uses his genius intellect to deflect an attack, which ends up causing a missile to misfire and hit Bruce Banner, unsuspecting and just passing through, instead, which forces him into his Hulk form. The Hulk then destroys the helicopter and saves both Amadeus and Kirby from harm, beginning a long-standing friendship between the two heroes.
Regarding how Amadeus can be introduced into the MCU, Ironheart or Ms. Marvel would work well given that he has teamed up with both heroes in the comics. I think the upcoming Fantastic 4 would also work, considering Amadeus has hacked into their bases in the past, and he would make for a great protege to Mr. Fantastic if they’re looking to write the Hulk out to clear room for new heroes. However, a debut in She-Hulk would make the most sense because they’ve teamed up with each other in the past to hunt dangerous monsters alongside Miles Morales.
Turaab/Dust aka Sooraya Qadir
Sooraya is a Sunni Muslim mutant and ethnic Pashtun from western Afghanistan who can transform her body into a bursting cloud of dust capable of flight. She can also manipulate her form when in a state of dust to grow or shrink in size and density or keep her regular figure in sand form. While using her powers, Sooraya is almost impossible to detect, and she is invulnerable to most attacks.
When slave traders captured her and attempted to remove her niqab against her will forcefully, Sooraya spontaneously used her powers in self-defense to skin the slaver alive with her razor-sharp sand-like particles. After the X-Men catch wind of the situation, they venture to Afghanistan and save her. Subsequently, Sooraya is brought to the United States and eventually becomes a student at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. In place of adopting the uniform worn by the X-Men, Sooraya decides to wear her abaya and a niqab veil and fight alongside the Hellions, a group of young mutants commanded by the telepath with diamond skin, Emma Frost, also known as the White Queen of the Hellfire Club.
Sooraya would make a great addition to the MCU, and she would provide much-needed representation and visibility to the Muslim community. Sooraya’s story could also shine a light on the societal issues that women in Afghanistan confront today. Having Sooraya make her first appearance in an upcoming X-Men film would make the best point of entry. Still, she could also be introduced in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Season 2, given that both Sam Wilson and John Walker served tours in Afghanistan.
The inclusion of her character would make for great social commentary. She would be an exciting addition to the new Captain America’s growing team, as long as the writers don’t use Sooraya as a plot device. If the writers make her a three-dimensional character and write a storyline that confronts the United States’ history of imperialism and interventionism in that area, Sooraya’s introduction would help focus the show’s theme.
Wave aka Pearl Pangan
Pearl Pangan is a Filipina fast-food worker who controls water using her elemental telekinetic abilities, aka hydrokinesis. Pearl spent her childhood on the shores of Mactan Island in Cebu, Philippines. She was always a powerful swimmer with Olympic athlete potential, but when life got in the way, Pearl had to take a job working in a fast-food chain, where her life changed forever.
During this time, a representative from AlonTech approached her because of her impressive high school swim record. They tricked Pearl into participating in their illegal science experiments in their lab, where Pearl received her powers by becoming drenched in the energy found within their biotech chemicals.
After AlonTech was brought to justice by the Triumph Division, a group of Filipino superheroes, Pearl decides to join their ranks, becoming a hero in her own right while learning how to hone her immense power. Eventually, Pearl teams up with Agent Jimmy Woo and the Agents of Atlas, a secret society made up of Asian and Asian-American members that use their power to fight for the greater good.
Pearl’s introduction into the MCU would provide visibility to the underrepresented Southeast Asian community. In addition, her comic book connections to Agent Jimmy Woo, Amadeus Cho, and Shang-Chi make her an excellent choice as a new Marvel Studios superhero. All four of these character’s affiliations with the Agents of Atlas means Marvel Studios could adapt an Agents of Atlas film or series in the future. The inclusion of an all-Asian superhero team with a roster this stacked deserves to be in the MCU.
Excalibur aka Dr. Faiza Hussain
Dr. Faiza Hussain is a Muslim woman of Pakistani heritage from just outside of London, England, in Chelmsford. She is a doctor, adventurer, and MI13 agent who can deconstruct anything into smaller parts and control matter, both organic and inorganic, on a sub-atomic level. She can keep an organism alive while disassembling them, and she can also freeze motor functions and paralyze her enemies. Faiza’s ability to take people apart and put them back together is achieved through some form of telekinesis, and the true extent of her powers is still unknown. Most notably, she is the wielder of the legendary sword Excalibur, the magical weapon of King Arthur fame.
While Dr. Faiza Hussain is helping to take care of people in need of medical attention during the Skrull Invasion in London, she is shot by an alien laser beam from a downed Skrull war machine, which renders her unconscious. At this time, Faiza has visions of the legendary weapon, Excalibur. After she regains consciousness, Faiza begins to discover her newfound abilities amid an all-out war.
By the battle’s end, Captain Britain, a superhero with mythical powers bestowed on him by the sorcerer Merlin and his daughter Roma, defeats the Super-Skrull commander using Excalibur. He then buries the weapon into a stone, and Faiza, drawn to the legendary sword, removes the blade from its resting place and becomes its new wielder. She soon joins MI13 under the tutelage of Black Knight, with who Faiza later is romantically involved with.
As writer Paul Cornell said in his past interview with CBR, "I have two aims here: to make her a real person and not someone who has to represent the entire British Muslim world all the time -- I think superheroes are too prone to being standard bearers for whole communities -- and to make her an everyday religious person who you won't hear anything religious from until it would naturally come up . . .I want people to adore her, not to be pleased she's there as part of a quota system."
An obvious entry point for Faiza would be in the upcoming Disney+ series, Secret Invasion. However, a less obvious debut would be in Blade because vampires are afraid of Excalibur. Faiza was also a significant character in the war against Dracula when he attempted to control Great Britain. If Blade and Faiza team up to fight his nemesis, Dracula, this would make for an exciting partnership and open Europe up to the MCU. Still, Secret Invasion is the most logical entry point because this storyline encompasses her origin story. With the Black Knight making his debut in the upcoming Eternals film, perhaps her introduction will be sooner rather than later.
Silver Samurai aka Kenuichio Harada
Kenuichio Harada is a Japanese mutant who can create a tachyonic energy field, which he utilizes to charge his katana. His power can be used on any object he sees fit. When charged, his katana can cut through every material on earth except for adamantium. He also possesses a teleportation ring that gives him heightened stealth and mobility. Dressed in samurai armor-plated with silver metal, Kenuichio is a fierce sight to behold and an even fiercer opponent in battle.
As a child, Kenuichio trained in the ways of the medieval samurai and became a warrior for hire. Notably, Kenuichio is the illegitimate son of Lord Shingen, a feared Japanese crime lord, and the half-brother to Mariko Yashida, his nemesis Wolverine’s first love and ex-fiancé. He and Wolverine have often come to blows because Kenuichio is the bodyguard and chief operative of the Viper, a terrorist HYDRA agent, and foe to both the X-Men and Avengers alike, as well as possible lover to Kenuichio.
Although it makes the most sense to introduce Kenuichio as a villain to Wolverine in the upcoming X-Men films, having him encounter Hawkeye during his five-year stint as Ronin would add more depth to Clint Barton’s character. Many people are eager to learn more about this era in Hawkeye’s life, and Kenuichio would make an excellent adversary for him to face in a solo film. This way, Kenuichio can make his entry into the MCU before the X-Men do. His introduction could also set the stage for a Wolverine and Ronin team up if the film is set during the time period where they both lived in Japan. Having these two heroes work together to defeat Kenuichio and possibly the Viper in battle would set up his long-standing feud with Wolverine in future films nicely.
Jubilee aka Jubilation Lee
Jubilation Lee is probably the most well-known Marvel character on this list. She’s a Chinese-American mutant from Los Angeles, California, specifically, Beverley Hills, with the power to produce explosive, pyrotechnic energy blasts from her hands. She is a long-standing member of the X-men and an expert gymnast, possibly even an Olympic-level athlete, from an extremely wealthy family of immigrants.
As a teen, Jubilation was a mall rat and trouble maker, having participated in a series of petty robberies with her friend and using her talents as a gymnast to evade getting caught. After being pursued by mall security to a dead end in an alley, her powers manifested for fear that her parents would find out and that she would be sent away to juvenile detention. Frightened, Jubilation activated her powers when her fight-or-flight response kicked in, and she subsequently trashed the surrounding area with luminous blasts of destructive light.
Jubilee informed her parents of the incident, and they were accepting of her new abilities, but tragically, they were killed by criminals who framed the murder as a car accident. Although Jubilation was entrusted into the care of her neighbors, she became a runaway and secretly lived in the mall, the only familiar place that gave her comfort at the time. Eventually, her path crossed with the X-Men there, and the rest is history.
Outside of Crazy Rich Asians, it’s not often that you get to see Asian millionaires on screen. However, Jubilation is a California girl at heart with a rebellious streak. Her character already defies many pre-existing stereotypes, including how Hollywood portrays Chinese people as perpetual foreigners and how they add mysticism to many Chinese origin stories.
Considering her stint as a vampire in the comics, I think Jubilation could be introduced in Blade as a new twist to her origin story. Perhaps in Blade, she can find a cure for her vampirism, and after, join the X-men as a member of their team. Having Jubilation enter the MCU would bridge the gap between these Marvel titles and surprise the viewers who wouldn’t expect this storyline.
