Danai Gurira deserved better in Avengers: Endgame
This is an opinion piece and I would be glad to be proven wrong
[Some spoilers for Endgame and Game of Thrones]
Earlier this year, Marvel unveiled the main poster of Endgame only to be met with criticism: Danai Gurira’s name wasn’t in the poster despite Okoye being featured. Her name was the only one left out from all the people featured in the poster. To their credit, Marvel quickly rectified the poster to include her name in the roster.
But is it fair for Gurira? I am no expert but most probably those names are arranged by who got paid more or what’s written in their contracts. As an actress who just made the transition from TV to big budget films, Danai Gurira probably doesn’t make half of what Robert Downey Jr. or Chris Evans made (again, I’d be glad to be proven wrong). Her character’s inclusion on the poster would only mean that Marvel is trying to raise the hype by featuring a character from their wildly successful Black Panther. Her inclusion could also mean that Marvel is trying to showcase their ‘diversity’. Don Cheadle and Gurira are the only non-white people and Gurira is joined by three other women heroes. But was she subjected to tokenism*? Her paygrade wasn’t enough to justify her name featured in the poster, but her character was? It’s great that they now wrote in her name back to the poster but did Gurira receive a respectable compensation as the other people who were featured in the poster? She probably makes millions and I shouldn’t complain about that for her but still.
After seeing the movie, it’s also weird to have two of their prominent female heroes have no impact to the plot. Despite a few action in the finale, Carol Danvers didn’t contribute significantly. She did join the first mission in the beginning but she was missing for two-thirds of the movie, despite being prominently featured in the posters and trailers. But Okoye, man. She is the only character visible in the posters who really wasn’t around for the whole movie. She didn’t go to space to kill Thanos. She didn’t join the time heist. She literally was in the poster as the black, female hero. Regardless of the plot and what presumably happened in Wakanda, Okoye could’ve taken War Machine’s place and it would make no difference at all. I, for one, would’ve had a blast seeing Okoye kick ass in space.
I was once subjected to tokenism some years ago. I was selected for a group because I was the only one from my country and they needed diversity. What’s different with Okoye and I was that I actually was not that qualified for that group . So I was feeling like a fraud (this was not an important group, so save your complaints) but we know Okoye is so much capable than half of the Avengers so it was just common sense for her to join. Surely there are other lieutenants in Wakanda to take her place. If you’re going to utilize her for the poster, she should’ve joined the adventure too. Think Arya Stark in The Long Night. She deserved to be the one to kill The Night King, not because of #girlpower or some witchcraft prophecies, but because she’s the most capable.
I find it very unfair for actors just to be used as a tool for diversity. I think we are at the next step for the whole discussion on inclusion/diversity. It’s not only how one should be included and get fair treatment, but also what can one contribute to the big picture. I find it very satisfying to see success stories around inclusion and diversity (some of the Black Panther Oscar wins, Crazy Rich Asians). But it’s also annoying when people just throw around the word just to get into the trend without fully understanding the actions that go with the word, like ‘we should make a female version of The Expendables’ which obviously would cater to men (I don’t even like The Expendables and have no desire in seeing more great action stars in a mediocre action film) and not advance anything in the conversation.
Same goes to War Machine/Don Cheadle who was just mostly there. He didn’t really do much, did he?
