Credit: Marvel StudiosJames Gunn made a questionable choice.
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Ever since Iron Man (2008) brought Robert Downey Jr. back into the spotlight as the eponymous Iron Man/Tony Stark, The Avengers (2012) by director Joss Whedon truly set the standard for multiple stories spanning across an entire “cinematic universe”, culminating in an epic shared finale. This was further perfected with the end of the Infinity Saga, the Russo Brothers Anthony and Joe Russo’s Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) ending Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Now, director James Gunn is the latest in a line of successful Marvel directors to leave the company, being the celebrated showrunner for the Marvel Studios’ Marvel Cinematic Universe series of films, the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise.
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 slated for May 5, 2023, as part of Phase Five of the MCU. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will star familiar faces reprising their roles from the films in a final farewell, with gun-toting human (and former-part-Celestial), Peter Quill AKA Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) leading the pack, daughters of Thanos, green Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) and cyborg Nebula (Karen Gillan), tree-like alien Groot (Vin Diesel), fluffy-yet-deadly Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), revenge-bound Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), empath Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Ravager Kraglin Obfonteri (Sean Gunn) and Stakar Ogord (Sylvester Stallone). The colorful cast was last glimpsed (exclusively on Disney+) having a heartwarming Christmas adventure with the festive Marvel Studios Special Presentation, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022). Likely for the last time.
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But soon, the ex-Marvel director will no longer be associated with the Mouse House and The Walt Disney Company’s superhero mega-franchise. Gunn has already begun work as DC Studios head for Warner Bros.-owned DC and their newly reconstructed DC Universe (DCU), after the essential dissolution of their prior DC Extended Universe (DCEU) franchise, which included Henry Cavill’s Superman/Clark Kent and Zack Snyder’s Justice League universe.
But before all that? It seems that James Gunn might have made a serious blunder that could have cost him his position as the beloved long-time Guardians director.
What are people saying about James Gunn’s “racist” portrayal?
Way before Marvel fans and audiences venture into Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (2025) and deal with Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror, or tackle with Multiversal incursions in Avengers: Secret Wars, and even before Thor Odinson (Chris Hemsworth) crafted the mighty axe Stormbreaker to defeat Josh Brolin’s Thanos and his Infinity Gauntlet, cast your mind back to one of 2017’s biggest movies, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. That film fully established the current roster of galaxy-defending Guardians (sans perhaps… old Gamora. May she rest in peace). It heralded the entrance of a fan favorite character, that of Pom Klementieff’s Mantis — recently revealed to be Peter Quill’s sister. It’s complicated.
In the Marvel Comics, the character of Mantis actually has Vietnamese roots, being the biological child of hero Gustav Brandt AKA Libra and Lua Nguyen. Klementieff herself is of mixed Korean descent and though isn’t Vietnamese herself, shares mixed Asian heritage with the Mantis character.
However, some “problematic” depictions of the Mantis character have surfaced, prompting the public to call these portrayals out as borderline “racist”. The initial screen test footage of Mantis’ character from James Gunn’s Guardians 2 test has revealed Mantis portrayed with yellow skin. As The Direct tweeted:
Official GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 screen test footage shows
@PomKlementieff
‘s Mantis with yellow skin! More photos: https://thedirect.com/article/james-gunn-mantis-change-photos
Official GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 screen test footage shows @PomKlementieff's Mantis with yellow skin! More photos: https://t.co/Di3Efj5U0f pic.twitter.com/SM9V7hbNJG
— MCU – The Direct (@MCU_Direct) March 18, 2023
The public was quick to respond, with users like @Atomisworld calling out the odd character design choice of yellow skin on an Asian actor:
Walking the fine line of racism and experimental character design
Walking the fine line of racism and experimental character design
— Atomis (@Atomisworld) March 18, 2023
Others were not as forgiving, citing that they thought this was an intentionally racist depiction that was fortunately changed:
Pretty sure it wasn’t intentionally racist but glad it was changed
Pretty sure it wasn't intentionally racist but glad it was changed
— g (@hexxtechs) March 18, 2023
Others addressed Twitter-active James Gunn himself, hoping for a response:
@JamesGunn don’t tell me this is real what were you thinking.
@JamesGunn don’t tell me this is real what were you thinking.
— Vengeance (@RCorpro) March 18, 2023
Perhaps some not-so-positive feedback was gathered, or the studio itself noticed a potential timebomb in the works. 22 year-old UK resident Matthew adds:
Definitely some level of racism, even if unintentional. And if you disagree… we’ll why was it cut and changed in the final movie?
Definitely some level of racism, even if unintentional.
And if you disagree… we’ll why was it cut and changed in the final movie?
— Only Matthew (@waterninja12345) March 18, 2023
Mantis in the Marvel Comics has usually been depicted as having human-like, beige-toned or green skin, so the question here really is: why yellow? Perhaps it was an easy way in Gunn’s mind to create a definitively alien-looking character with the odd colored skin tone. However, most can likely agree that the current Mantis design with her flesh-toned glowing antennae is far superior to the bright yellow, white-wigged original depiction.
What do you think of this Mantis portrayal? Did it have racist origins? Share your thoughts in the comments below.