In the entire history of modern filmmaking, there has never been a franchise as ambitious or impactful as the Marvel movies. It helped to completely redefine the superhero genre.
As you can probably imagine, there are moments that have held up over time as well as others that have not.
See for yourself and check out these 10+ Marvel movie moments that didn’t age well.
1. Drax calls Gamora a derogatory word for literally no reason at all in *Guardians Of The Galaxy*.
Before the Guardians set out to fight Ronan, Drax says to the group, “You, Quill, are my friend. This dumb tree, he is my friend. And this green [expletive], she, too —” at that point, he’s interrupted by Gamora.
Why would he say that? At no point does Gamora do anything even remotely sexual?! So why would he be hurling that kind of shade?
2. Does Black Widow equate morality with fertility?
During a heart to heart moment between Bruce and Natalia, she explains to him that she (like him) cannot have children. Part of her training to be an assassin was to undergo a sterilization process.
She then refers to herself as a “monster.”
Clearly she is trying to empathize, but the implication she makes is that women who can’t have kids are monsters.
Fans still talk about that scene to this day.
3. The original version of *Thor*.
When we first meet Thor , he’s a cocky, arrogant, pretty boy with almost no redeeming qualities whatsoever. He’s loud, brutish, and has some incredibly outdated opinions on women.
He even goes so far as to refer to a waitress as a “wench.”
4. Tobey Maguire’s incredibly awkward dance moves in *Spider-Man 3*.
While Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man may not be included in the MCU, it is still worth mentioning.
The film as a whole is hot trash, but it’s the inexplicable dance moves of Maguire that really seal the deal.
5. The lack of diversity among the Avengers.
I guess you could say the lack of diversity overall. It took more than a decade before we saw a film with either a Black or female lead!
This was a huge missed opportunity for Marvel as a whole.
6. Glorifying the good old days in *Avengers: Endgame*.
What is it with old white men and “The good old days”? They certainly weren’t all that great if you were a person of color, a woman, LGBTQ+… You get the point.
Having Captain America idolize this forgotten time does not sit well with some of his fans, even though we know that he’d fight for what is right in the end.
But other fans believe that he simply misses the life he never got to have.
What do you think?
7. The lack of LGBTQ+ relationships.
Seriously, Marvel? You’re going to look out at your audience with a straight face and try to convince us that Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes are “just friends”? I’m not buying it.
This could have been groundbreaking but they once again cower to comic-book fandoms.
8. All of the fat jokes thrown at Thor in *Avengers: Endgame*.
It wasn’t the fact that Thor packed on the pounds that had audiences upset. It was the fact that his weight became the butt of every single team member’s joke.
You can’t take a stand against unrealistic body types by shaming one another. It’s hypocritical.
9. The girl power moment in *Avengers: Endgame* was too little too late.
First of all, let’s get this out of the way. The fact that Scarlet Witch didn’t have more to do in the last two movies is mind-boggling since Kevin Feige has confirmed she could have killed Thanos.
But then, to seemingly make up for the fact that we got so little out of the women throughout all the movies, they threw them together for 30 seconds of screen time.
Which is astonishing considering Captain Marvel and Scarlet Witch are among the most powerful superheroes.
10. Tony’s playboy attitude in *Iron Man*.
Thankfully, this didn’t stick around for very long. But the first time we meet Tony, he’s greasily wooing a reporter back to his apartment for a one night stand.
He even has a stripper pole installed on his private jet! That’s just icky.
While we know that this was all in the name of character development (which he developed beautifully), it’s still cringey to watch all these years later.
11. Just how exactly did Thanos get the Power Stone?
I will admit, both Infinity War and Endgame had substantial ground to cover. There were a lot of stories to pack in. However, the explanation behind how Thanos got the Power Stone is vexing.
He just “decimates” Xandar? And for some reason, not a single team member has any reaction at all over the destruction of an entire planet?
It just seems odd. But hey, it is space, so who knows what the rules are there.
12. The clumsy, awkward, and forced romance of Bruce and Natalia.
Bucky and Steve had ten times the amount of sexual chemistry as Bruce and Natalia. The romantic interest between the two is nothing short of perplexing.
Maybe instead of trying to force-feed us Hollywood romance, they could have spent more time exploring the true romantic chemistry between cast members.
They could have easily gone with the Natasha x Clint route.
13. When Pepper slut-shamed Tony’s overnight guest in *Iron Man*.
OK, to be fair, it’s not like Pepper fired first. That reporter overstepped with her own snarky comments, so obviously Pepper couldn’t let that happen in her own house!
However, calling a woman “trash” simply because she slept with Tony is a little on the degrading side.
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14. The overt sexualization of female superheroes.
Have you seen Black Widow’s “uniform”? It’s a glorified catsuit. The sexual innuendo and double entendres are positively cringe-worthy.
It’s insulting to both the audience and to the characters themselves to reduce them to nothing more than sexual objects.
15. The lack of follow through in *The Incredible Hulk*.
In The Incredible Hulk , once Banner and Sterns meet, Blonsky shows up to capture them, and as Sterns tries to inject Blonsky with Banner’s blood, some ends up on a cut on Sterns’ head.
This foreshadowed the coming of The Leader, who is one of the Hulk’s deadliest enemies.
But unfortunately, he never came to be an actual character, as Hulk was recast and never got a solo film.
So the potential for one of the greatest fights ever is just lost to us.
What other Marvel movie moments do you think aged poorly?
Was it the bad CGI in some of the first films that were being released? Or was there a joke that was so badly timed you can’t stop thinking about it?
Let us know below in the comments!
