We Seriously Need To Talk About The MCU"s Mommy Issues

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In recent years, Marvel Studios has given much more attention to the mommy issues in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, introducing several evil, morally-gray and problematic mothers. One of the best things about the heroes of the MCU is that they are as close to real people as they can be. They often have relatable backstories, believable motivations and raw, human emotions. Exploring these themes often makes family an important concept, with many heroes" family histories being detailed, which has allowed a wide variety of parents to debut in the MCU.
Unfortunately, the relationships between superheroes and their parents in the MCU aren"t always strong, and some parents have even been introduced as villainous dark mirrors to their heroic children. While the focus of the Infinity Saga was evil fathers in the MCU, it"s the mothers who have recently taken center-stage, contributing to a rise in mommy issues in the MCU"s Multiverse Saga. There have been exceptions to this rule, but it"s about time the problems with parents in the MCU get addressed.
The MCU Used To Be Obsessed With Evil Fathers Marvel's Infinity Saga Included The Likes Of Thanos, Ego, Hank Pym & Odin Close While it"s the mothers of the MCU who have recently shown their darker sides, Marvel Studios initially debuted a whole slew of evil and morally-questionable fathers. This has been a pattern that has persisted since 2008"s Iron Man first teased the estranged and troubled relationship between Tony Stark and his father, SHIELD founder Howard Stark. Phase 1 was pretty terrible for focusing on fathers and father-figures, with the likes of Stark, General Ross, Odin and even Thanos making their mark on the MCU, and establishing a status quo of difficult relationships between fathers and their kids.
Tony Stark became a father himself in 2019"s Avengers: Endgame, and while he was shown to be a good father for Morgan Stark"s early life, his departure on the Time Heist and eventual sacrifice to defeat Thanos during the Battle of Earth means he will no longer be around for her.
Hank Pym neglected Hope van Dyne following her mother"s apparent demise and favored Darren Cross, leading to the development of the Yellowjacket. Ego hoped to turn his son, Peter Quill, into a battery powering his expansion plans. Odin always favored Thor over Loki, which ultimately contributed to Loki"s scheming and machinations in an effort to thwart his brother"s happiness. All of these Infinity Saga fathers had their low points, but Thanos took the triumph, as he transformed his adopted children into living weapons, and even sacrificed them on his quest for the Infinity Stones.

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The Multiverse Saga hasn"t exactly been much better, but aside from Xu Wenwu, more focus has recently been put on the idea of surrogates and father-figures. This includes Wilson Fisk"s Kingpin, General Dreykov, Alexei Shostakov"s Red Guardian and the High Evolutionary, all of whom posed significant problems to their surrogate children, Echo, Black Widow, Yelena Belova and Rocket, respectively. There have been some exceptions to this rule; Clint Barton, Yusuf Khan, Scott Lang, Thor and Vision have all been wonderful fathers in the MCU, but there have, unfortunately, been fewer commendable mothers.
Now, Mommy's Are The Big Issue In The MCU Several Problematic Mothers Have Taken Center-Stage In Recent Years Close Except for the occasional appearance of the likes of Frigga, Maggie, Meredith Quill, Ramonda and Aunt May, mothers and mother-figures never really got much attention in the Infinity Saga. However, this took a massive turn with the dawn of the Multiverse Saga in 2021, as mothers, particularly those with dark pasts and evil intentions, were introduced to the MCU in spades. Melina Vostokoff, Janet Van Dyne, Maria Rambeau, Wendy Spector and Eleanor Bishop have all had key roles in forging their children into the powerful superheroes they became, for better or worse.
Marvel Studios has received criticism in the past for sidelining its female characters, but introducing more central women in the Multiverse Saga has seen many of them turn evil, which is perhaps just as much of a problem.
Most recently, Marvel Studios has been giving more attention to the witchy mothers of the MCU. Notably, Wanda Maximoff"s Scarlet Witch waged war on Doctor Strange and America Chavez across the multiverse in the hopes of reuniting with her children. In 2024"s Agatha All Along series, Agatha Harkness" history with her seemingly-deceased son, Nicholas Scratch, and her long-dead mother, Evanora Harkness, has been explored. The latter proved herself to be a wonderful, stand-up mother by declaring that Agatha was "born evil" and she should have "killed [her] the moment [she] left [her] body."

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Long before the start of the Multiverse Saga, in Netflix"s Defenders Saga, which was recently confirmed to be canon to the MCU, evil mothers were a consistent theme. Mariah Dillard, Alisa Jones and Dorothy Walker were all huge problems for the Defenders Saga"s heroes, but even back then, there were exceptions to this rule. Even though there have been a number of good mothers introduced to the MCU, it seems that Marvel Studios has recently been either taking two routes with the MCU"s mothers: killing them off or making them evil.
Marvel Either Kills Mothers Or Makes Them All Evil (With Few Exceptions) There Have Been Exceptions To Marvel Studios' Evil Mothers Pattern

Thankfully, not all mothers and mother-figures in the MCU have taken evil turns. The likes of Muneeba Khan, Laura Barton, Frigga, Maria Rambeau, Ying Li, Sarah Wilson and all of Echo"s ancestors have all demonstrated redeemable and positive qualities. However, this isn"t always the case in the MCU, as the majority of mothers and maternal figures have been turned evil or simply been killed off. This is a real problem in the MCU, especially since most of the good mothers have been severely under-served by Marvel Studios.

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It has been great to see more female representation in the MCU after so many years of women being neglected by Marvel Studios. There have been more female-led MCU projects in the Multiverse Saga than ever before, and there may be even more on the way. Even so, this representation is somewhat tainted by the fact that many of these women are not heroes at all. It seems Marvel Studios still has huge issues to address when it comes to women, specifically mothers, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but, hopefully, the tide will change soon.

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a multimedia superhero franchise that began in 2008 with Paramount's Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr. The franchise quickly grew in popularity, with Disney eventually buying out Marvel Entertainment in 2009. The MCU consists of dozens of movies and TV shows, most notably Avengers: Endgame, WandaVision, and Loki.
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