Analyzing Captain America: Civil War and the introduction of Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther.
Captain America: Civil War, colloquially known as "Avengers 2.5", is the movie that introduced the world to Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther, the MCU's first African superhero. This was a monumental feat considering how underrepresented Africa is, especially in the superhero genre. And they couldn't have chosen a better actor than the late Chadwick Boseman himself. His portrayal of T'Challa will forever be one of the best things about this movie for me. He's the literal embodiment of the words 'cool' and 'king'.
For years, Marvel failed to deliver proper African representation. When we did get Black superheroes, such as Don Cheadle's War Machine in Iron Man 2 or Anthony Mackie's Falcon in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, they were nothing more than sidekicks. Their only role was to support the white male lead and be their friend. T'Challa as a character rejects this trope of the 'Black sidekick'. He is introduced as a supporting character at odds with Chris Evan's Steve Rogers and he actually has a character arc unlike his counterparts in previous movies.
We see him loose his father in a tragic terrorist attack and then we get to see him grieve. That grief ultimately consumes him and leads him down a path of vengeance. But by the end of the film, we see him come to terms with his grief and he chooses not to let his desire for vengeance consume him. Up until this point, it seemed as though Black MCU superheroes did not have such fleshed out storylines. I am delighted to see an African superhero get this kind of attention, especially in a film as central to the MCU as this one.
While I could go on and on about how much I appreciate the writers' treatment of T'Challa's character and Boseman's inspiring performance, I must also discuss the murky nature of the Sokovia Accords and Wakanda's political agency in this film. This is the first time we see an African nation take centerstage in the MCU and I think that Marvel absolutely hit it out of the ballpark.
The Sokovia Accords and the Problem With Politics
If you recall from last week's part two, the Avengers caused a lot of damage in Sokovia. Civil War deals with the aftermath of that damage. After a botched mission in Lagos, Nigeria where Wanda accidentally kills several people (including 11 Wakandans), US Secretary of State, General Ross, decides to pay the Avengers a visit and fill them in on the emergence of the Sokovia Accords.
In his words, "the Accords were approved by 117 countries and states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations Panel only when and if that panel deems it necessary."
We're never told how many of those countries are African, but we do know that Wakanda is one of them. This is significant because in the mythos of the MCU, Wakanda is supposedly a third-world country with one of the world's strictest isolationist policies and yet here it is leading the forefront of this issue. If that were to happen in real life, I think I'd be very surprised. Picture a 'third-world' African country taking such a definitive stance against a major global issue like climate change or gender inequality. Unfortunately many of our political leaders and representatives are corrupt as hell, but that's besides the point. The point is, it's really inspiring to see an African nation, even a fictional one, speak up for itself in this way.
That being said, there isn't much speaking up can actually do, even if your platform is the UN itself. Don't get me wrong. In the real world, the UN has achieved a lot, but I think most of us are aware that it's not exactly perfect and still falls short on so many fronts. I like how T'Challa puts it in the movie: "[I agree] with the Accords, yes. With the politics? Not so much. Two people can get more done than one hundred".
It's one thing to make these policies, but implementing them is another. Given our track record with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, I think it's safe to say that the odds of the Sokovia Accords doing any good were close to none. Sure progress may have been made in some or even perhaps most countries by preventing superhuman individuals from doing whatever they want with their powers, but even then the foundations of these Accords are still flimsy at best.
On one hand you have the perspective of Wakanda and presumably other African and/or 'third-world' countries, which is to alleviate the damage caused by superheroes. In the words of King T'Chaka of Wakanda, "victory at the expense of innocents is no victory at all".
However, when you look at it from the perspective of the US government in the movie and presumably other well-off Western countries, the Accords seem to be much more about control than anything else. They want to keep the superheroes in check. They're not too concerned about the hundreds of lives (mainly overseas as we've seen with Sokovia and the Duel of Johannesburg in Age of Ultron) being lost.
When looking at it from the Wakandan perspective, I am team Iron Man all the way. Western superheroes shouldn't be able to just come into our countries and leave a mess without paying for it, especially when they caused the mess to begin with. But when I look at it from the viewpoint of the American perspective, I find myself leaning towards team Captain America because I can't stand the idea of world governments having control over what superheroes do or don't do.
Since most of the superheroes that we see in the MCU are of western origin, I imagine some political leaders would take advantage of their power and use them to carry out whatever agendas they have planned. Just picture living in a world where Earth's Mightiest Heroes are largely controlled by the guy who wanted to 'make America great again' and you'll understand why. Plus it's no secret that rich and powerful countries often bully the poorer ones. Adding a squadron of superheroes 'supervised' by the UN into the mix would only make matters worse. Wakanda would be fine either way because they've got Vibranium so it's easy for them to say otherwise.
Needless to say, the politics behind the Sokovia Accords is tricky. So tricky in fact that implementing such policies would be too complicated and cause more harm than good. Not only that, but it would take a lot of years for any change to even happen. Like we see with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it's years and years of joint efforts that make the world a better place. Not some signed document. Factor in delays like pandemics, genocides and internal/external conflicts and now you're looking at a bunch of unrealistic policies that will take decades to implement if at all.
Don't believe me? Just look at the world in the MCU during and after 'The Blip' in Avengers Infinity War and Endgame. Nobody cares about the Sokovia Accords because there are other pressing issues at hand. Wakanda and any of the other African countries that signed the Accords should've just ignored them and focused their energy on other matters because in retrospect, it was really just a waste of time. Anyway, that's life for you. Stay tuned for Part Four in the "Africa in the MCU" series. I'll be discussing Black Panther, which is one of my favorite movies of all time!
Thanks for reading! What are your thoughts on Captain America: Civil War and the Sokovia Accords? Let me know in the comments below! If you haven't already, subscribe to SENTIENT's monthly newsletter to stay informed on updates, new posts and more!
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