Marvel Studios released its last episode of 2023, What if…? Every day the company introduces new stories set in alternate dimensions of its multiverse. The first part convinced fans, but the episode of the second part created controversy. This is episode 2×06 called: What happens if Kahori will change the world? It debuted a new heroine, although the story surrounding her was disliked by many fans due to its historical inaccuracies.
Kahori – a young woman from the Iroquois people. These North American natives inhabited northern New York State and southern Canada. They settled primarily around Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. Main character of the episode What if…? He is living peacefully with his family when European colonizers suddenly arrive. In the real world, these territories were besieged by the British, Dutch and French.
However, Marvel decided to make his villains of Spanish origin. Although the Spanish crown colonized much of the continent, especially Central and South America, they never reached Mohawk territory. For this reason, thousands of fans rushed to express their outrage at the company. Among the arguments they point out is that the “Black Legend of Spain” is given complete freedom of action, which also erodes the image of England.
The networks are exploding with the question “What if…?”
“Subject Marvel Studios to use the Spaniards as savages… Oh my God, Black Legend. But hey, I’m not a historian and I wasn’t there, some say it was like that, others don’t, I don’t know. Relatively MarvelI think they used Spain to adapt. 1602. Although they seem to have adapted the siege Juan Ponce de Leonwho wanted the fountain of eternal youth (1500 AD), questions Dani Laghi (@StripMarvel).
“Am I missing history, or did the Mohawks never deal with the Spanish and Marvel decided the Spanish are the bad guys these days?” What if because: Spanish conquistadors = bad, and British colonists = good?” another user complains X (Twitter). “Both the USA, France and England are primarily responsible for the spread of the Black Legend. It was surreal because the treatment that the Spanish gave to the Indians was much better than that given by the English or the French. Not to mention slavery in the USA. ..”, says another.
“I am amused by the good-natured campaign Marvel celebrating Mohawk culture with the creation of a new character in What if…? while crap on the image and history of Spain (again). Nothing about the Anglo-Saxons being genocidalists who destroyed the Indians, right?” – @zayasartist asks angrily. What if…? Today the bad guy is Spain. I don’t say no, but it makes me blush a little, because the good ones are a native culture that Spain didn’t even feel in color,” recalls another.
Marvel is acquitted
Just a few hours after the episode aired What if…?, Marvel He has already given his explanation. Episode scriptwriter Ashley S. Bradley, was responsible for justifying a historical mistake. He did this via social networks when a follower was celebrating the sixth part of the series. However, a fan criticized that they decided to bring back the Spaniards as villains where they weren’t. “I liked this chapter, but the only thing that shocks me is that they stationed Spanish soldiers when they never arrived in New York, but the area was really colonized by the British and Dutch,” he notes .
Bradley in response, he agreed with him and explained why, despite everything, it was quite logical that it was the Spanish conquistadors who terrorized Kahori and his people. And in the episode What if…?The Tesseract ends up there much earlier than in the main timeline MCU. Once there, he creates a mysterious underground lake with a portal to another world. However, Europeans believed that it was the mythological Fountain of Youth.
“You’re right! But in this universe, rumors of the Tesseract and the Forbidden Lake reached Europe, so the search for the Fountain of Youth began in New York, not Florida,” the screenwriter reveals. That’s why the queen Isabelle He sends an entire expedition to find him before England and the rest of the great powers of that time.
There are those who accepted the premise from which Bradley, but there are others who are not convinced. Among the criticisms is the persistent Marvel expose the worst version of Spain whenever they can (this has already been done in Eternals And in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), and the genocide committed by the British is never mentioned. In turn, they express whether this is a true justification for what Marvel In my mind, when I wrote the chapter, this should have been mentioned openly in it, and not after the fact. Be that as it may, the controversy cannot be stopped now. Meanwhile, everything indicates that Kahori will be of great importance in MCU outside What if…?
Source: Hiper Textual
