I think that Black Panther is (ironically enough) even more right wing than Iron Man given that it directly and repeatedly endorses the CIA intervening in another country’s politics in order to overthrow the new dictator (who just happens to be anti-US and against opening up Wakanda’s markets to foreign exploitation) so that they can reinstall the righteous leader (who just happens to be pro-US and all for opening up Wakanda’s markets to foreign exploitation). All the while justifying all the work the new dictator did to illegally overthrow the governments of other countries and torture dissidents while on the payroll of the CIA right up until he starts acting against US interests (kind of like a certain real world Iraqi romance novelist turned poster boy of democracy turned evil tyrant).

Also it promotes the idea that said evil dictator utilising the natural resources of Wakanda to defend other African nations from being ruthlessly exploited by western imperialists is a violent terrorist action is extremely .

And the post credits scene shows the UN applauding as the restored righteous monarch declares that he’s opening the country’s markets for foreign exploitation or ‘to help those with less than us, so that we can be citizens of the world’ or whatever moralising bullshit he says to that effect

Edit: also I forgot about how Kill Monger, did actually legally win the trial by combat and as such the CIA is overthrowing the legal ruler of the country.

Damn, the ideology goes deep on this one, when Kill Monger disregards wakanda’s traditions on isolationism he’s the bad guy for “upsetting whatever wakanda’s bullshit version of the prime directive is” (attempting to build internationalist relations with other exploited countries) but when he respects wakanda’s traditions of trial by combat to decide who rules the country he’s “taking advantage of an obsolete violent system”.
:parenti:

  • Frank [he/him, he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I think I've read that the inspiration for Iron Man was to make a character that sixties leftists would hate - A rich alcoholic arms dealer.

    • ssjmarx [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Movie Iron Man is the liberal dream of a "smart" war on terror, which they all cling to as something that could have actually been done if only that cowboy Dubya hadn't fucked it up. There's a particular moment in that film's action sequences that sums it up perfectly - the terrorists have a bunch of civilian hostages, but Tony Stark uses a super-precise weapon to ID and kill them all without any collateral damage.