Avengers: Endgame: Can we stop telling women how to feel about that A-Force moment?

It’s been more than a year since Avengers: Endgame hit theaters, and fans are still complaining about that A-Force moment. Let’s dig in.

Avengers: Endgame may have hit theaters back in April of 2019, but fans are still talking about the film (no surprise there) and one controversial scene that happens near the end of the movie. During the final battle, which is wrought with fanservice — some done well and some not so much — Captain Marvel is charged with getting the Infinity Gauntlet across the battlefield.

When Peter Parker questions how on Earth she’s going to get the thing past Thanos’ giant army, the rest of the women from the Marvel Cinematic Universe pop up to tell him, “Don’t worry, she’s got help.” They proceed to march across the battlefield together, giving fans a shot that’s not all that different from some of the iconic shots the original Avengers team has had throughout the Infinity Saga — just with the franchise’s women.

And as short as this moment is, it’s become a controversial topic over the past year and a half, with fans divided on whether or not it “worked.”

We’ll be honest, whether it was well intended or not, the scene does feel a bit forced. There are no doubt conversations to be had about this attempt at putting Marvel’s female heroes in the spotlight after spending so many films focused on the men — and doing so almost immediately after killing off Black Widow, the MCU’s first female hero, whose solo film was long overdue at this point (and sadly, still is).

Those conversations are precisely why Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys attempted to draw attention to this moment in its second season finale. The episode shows The Boys‘ leading ladies joining forces to beat down a Nazi supervillain, giving the show’s fans a satisfying moment that was quickly praised all over the internet. Speaking with Movieweb, showrunner Eric Kripke recalled his and executive producer Rebecca Sonneshine’s gripes with the scene, which ultimately led to The Boys‘ “Girls get it done” moment:

"“A lot of that came from our executive producer, Rebecca Sonneshine, who came in after the weekend Endgame opened. She was just furious. I saw it, too, and I was like, ‘That was the dumbest, most contrived-‘ And she’s like, ‘Don’t get me started.’ She found it condescending and I agreed. So that just created for us a target, a satirical target. When there’s something really ridiculous in either superhero or celebrity or Hollywood culture, we’ll immediately go after it. It’s an easy shot.”"

It’s a fair enough statement, and their criticisms of the A-Force scene are no doubt valid, even if some fans would disagree. But Kripke’s comments quickly reignited the discussion surrounding this Endgame moment on Twitter, leading Marvel fans to share their own thoughts. And that’s precisely where things get murky.

Let Women Decide What Empowers Them

Although Sonneshine’s and Kripke’s complaints about this controversial moment are understandable, Marvel fans — many of them men — quickly jumped on the opportunity to agree with the pair, citing that women should demand more from their movies and shows.

But here’s the thing: Is it not equally condescending for a bunch of men to tell women what should and shouldn’t empower them — and how they should feel about a scene that’s made for and about them — as it is for Marvel Studios to shove this A-Force moment in their faces?

It’s telling that so many men have hijacked this conversation about whether or not a film’s feminist moment was “feminist enough” — and have begun talking over women to get their point across. And as Sonneshine demonstrates, there are undoubtedly women who would agree that this scene didn’t do A-Force justice. But should that negate the Marvel fans who actually enjoyed seeing a group of women supporting each other onscreen?

There’s no denying that Marvel Studios needs to do better when it comes to representation, but the fandom also needs to do better in listening to different perspectives. It’s one thing to call out what you didn’t like about a scene, but it’s another thing entirely to put down the people who do enjoy it — the people it was intended for — under the guise of supporting that same group of people.

A possible solution? Let’s get more women behind the scenes so we don’t even need to have these conversations anymore.

What did you think of the A-Force moment in Avengers: Endgame? Are you surprised people are still talking about it? Sound off in the comments below.