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MCU Civil War: 60 hours.
Still trying to be upbeat, expecting entertainment and plotbunnies.
Still angry.
In the meantime, trying to finish off a couple of shorts before the desire flees. Most CapHill writers have already fled the building, and the rest of us that remain are struggling.
As shipping runs go, I guess we had a good one - better than the Clintashas did, although they had more on their side for shipping purposes. And Natasha, being the only female character of significance across the MCU, still gets to be her own person, and pursue a love interest of her own choice (even if people don't like it and what it implies). She's allowed personal and romantic agency, even if she doesn't get her own movie.
Maria's a throwaway character. She doesn't have a popular and socially adorable actor like Darcy, she's not worth the interest of a guy like Jane or Sharon. She's not a heroine like Natasha or Melinda May. And she's not an Avenger like Wanda. So it doesn't matter what happens to her - not in fandom, and certainly not to the PTB who are the worst of fandom only magnified and unself-aware.
She got thrown away in the movie of the book that made her character.
That should tell you just how 'important' Maria Hill is to the MCU narrative.
And yes, I'm still bitter.
Still trying to be upbeat, expecting entertainment and plotbunnies.
Still angry.
In the meantime, trying to finish off a couple of shorts before the desire flees. Most CapHill writers have already fled the building, and the rest of us that remain are struggling.
As shipping runs go, I guess we had a good one - better than the Clintashas did, although they had more on their side for shipping purposes. And Natasha, being the only female character of significance across the MCU, still gets to be her own person, and pursue a love interest of her own choice (even if people don't like it and what it implies). She's allowed personal and romantic agency, even if she doesn't get her own movie.
Maria's a throwaway character. She doesn't have a popular and socially adorable actor like Darcy, she's not worth the interest of a guy like Jane or Sharon. She's not a heroine like Natasha or Melinda May. And she's not an Avenger like Wanda. So it doesn't matter what happens to her - not in fandom, and certainly not to the PTB who are the worst of fandom only magnified and unself-aware.
She got thrown away in the movie of the book that made her character.
That should tell you just how 'important' Maria Hill is to the MCU narrative.
And yes, I'm still bitter.
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Most CapHill writers have already fled the building, and the rest of us that remain are struggling.
THE NICKNAME FOR MY NEIGHBOURHOOD IS "CAP HILL" NO RLY. I FEEL THIS IS A SIGN. //nods vigorously //is clearly well in touch with reality
She got thrown away in the movie of the book that made her character.
For me a lot of what I loved about her is how tough she is -- Cobie Smoulders (heh) is obviously beautiful, yeah, but in the movies Maria's very no-nonsense, not ingratiating, not waifish, not femme and small in the way a lot of those other female characters you listed are. Hell, Nat still gets seen in MCU as a honeypot a lot of the time, and her actress is what, 5'2"? I love Melinda May, and Ming-Na's performance was amazing ("You guys talk a lot") but she still fit right in that mold of tiny femme action heroine. (And then she got Tragic Backstoried out of being grumpy, and her grumpiness was a Psychological Problem. I was all OMG NOOO JUST LET HER BE AWESOMELY GRUMPY.*) I really loved seeing Maria onscreen as someone who was just tough as nails, but I think that was unfortunately one big reason why she got wiped out like that.
We'll always have fic....? (my headcanon is Pepper is CEO and Maria is COO of SI. It helps, a little. Altho Jesus these movies have turned into a sausage fest.)
*No lie, I quit AoS in fury right after what happened with Victoria Hand and Izzie. I was like HOW CAN YOU DO THAT TO SAFFRON BURROWS AND LUCY LAWLESS? OMG, SHOW.
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Alas, all the signs are pointing to Apocalypse. And bloody sausagefests. :(
I think the thing about Maria is that she's not coded as attractive until AoU. Yes, Cobie is drop-dead gorgeous, but Maria is always dressed in SHIELD uniform, hair back, self-contained. None of the male characters look at her like she's beautiful or sexy or attracive, and so the way she's presented is "a woman who does what she does and isn't attractive enough to be noticed" and boy, do we need more of those in movies!
It's so rare that a woman isn't 'beautified', 'sexified', or 'cutified' (Darcy Lewis, Mary Sue Self-Insert of American MCU Fandom, I'm Looking At You) before we get to see her in action - and her competence or capability isn't linked to how good she looks (the Makeover To Become Cool trope). And Maria was in business mode for the first two movies we see her in, and then we see her in both business and party mode (and then business mode in party outfit, which, YES).
The main problem with fic is that it's a struggle; a struggle to find readers, a struggle to find writers, a struggle to develop good stories...
*sigh*
I haven't really watched AoS since...2.07? Me and TV shows are Not Talking and haven't for a few years now...
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There will always be people who simply slash any two white guys, and there will always be people who go the trite Main Girl Must Love Main Boy! route, but I believe if only we had more women AND more authorial love and attention for those women we would get better stories...and I have reason to believe so: Warehouse 13 was FULL of femslash and gen about the ladies; The 100 (yeah, yeah, tumblr hates the show right now, but it is and has always had women front and center) fanfic circles largely around Clarke, Octavia, and of course Clexa; Supergirl does have a lot of Alex Danvers fanfic and a lot of Kat Grant fanfic, not just Kara herself; and oh, oh, JESSICA JONES! <3