Masarykova univerzita Filozofická fakulta
Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky
Bakalářská diplomová práce
2020 Martina Šutovská Masaryk University Faculty of Arts
Department of English and American Studies
English Language and Literature
Martina Šutovská
Toxic Masculinity in Marvel Films Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis
Supervisor: Mgr. Petra Fišerová
2020
I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.
…………………………………………….. Author’s signature
I would like to thank my parents, sister, family and friends for their unconditional support and also my supervisor, Mrg. Petra Fišerová, for her patience and guidance.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ...... 6
1.1. Toxic masculinity ...... 8
2. Tony Stark and Toxic Masculinity ...... 10
2.1. Iron Man vs. Captain America ...... 19
3. Black Widow Against the Marvel Cinematic Universe ...... 26
4. Conclusion ...... 36
5. Works cited ...... 38
6. Summary ...... 43
7. Resumé ...... 45
1. Introduction
Today, one of the greatest and the most powerful means of entertainment lies in the cinematic universe. Superheroes, in general, gained an enormous amount of popularity among a wide range of viewers over the last two decades. Marvel Comics, and later Marvel Cinematic
Universe (MCU), had undergone an era full of experiments in order to establish their name in the film-making industry and, for the most part, becoming a leading giant.
By definition, a superhero is someone with the task of saving and protecting the peace and justice in the universe, that is one of the reasons the leading group of MCU was formed out of the mightiest superheroes. In words of Salter and Blodgett “the modern geek hero is both larger than life and incapable of acting as a normal person” (37), which enables them to handle prodigious problems. But their chivalric actions are not always delivered in their purest form.
Some areas of this gigantic part of the film industry are still presented with an old-fashioned example of masculinity – in this case, toxic masculinity.
This paper examines these areas with the help of critical analysis, and identifies these problems assigned to toxic masculinity, focusing mainly on the character of Iron Man, whose specific ways of behaving, such as his confrontations with Captain America and his womanizing behaviour in the early films make him a problematic member among seemingly perfect group of superheroes. It also focuses on the only female character occurring in Marvel films since the beginning of the new era – Black Widow.
This thesis provides an overview of what the concept of toxic masculinity means in general, because this topic is often neglected in academic literature, especially in connection with superhero world of this kind. Later, it takes a closer look at the relationship that Iron Man and Captain America have in the franchise, because this partnership is full of situations where it is possible to find the patterns of behaviour that could be considered as a part of the toxic masculinity scheme. Iron Man, in general, is one of the characters that is considered problematic in the cinematographic universe, for he is, without any doubt, portrayed as the most complex pillar in the Infinity Saga of the MCU.
Lastly, it gives a certain amount of space to a leading woman in the MCU – Black
Widow. Although she is not a character who could possibly embody toxic masculinity, there are several instances where she witnesses it or is a target of the toxic masculinity practised by her male colleagues in front of and behind the camera.
1.1. Toxic masculinity
The term toxic masculinity has gained its popularity in recent years, especially within the feminist movement. However, it “was coined in the mythopoetic men’s movement of the
1980s and ’90s, motivated in part as a reaction to second-wave feminism” (Salter). This movement is defined as a rescue mission for what belongs to a term “deep masculine” (Salter) and “sought to reassert and cultivate an inner "essential" masculinity through all-male gatherings and rituals” (Carroll 170). Those male gatherings and rituals included “male-only workshops, wilderness retreats, and drumming circles,“ (Salter) which were supposed to resurrect the “male warrior” (Salter) because it operated with the thought that there is only one type of masculinity, the “essential” (Carroll 170), which should be adopted by men.
This approach to masculinity was soon after rejected and a new trend was introduced by scholars led by Raewyn Connell:
Connell’s work describes multiple masculinities shaped by class, race, culture,
sexuality, and other factors, often in competition with one another as to which can claim
to be more authentic. In this view, which is now the prevailing social-scientific
understanding of masculinity, the standards by which a “real man” is defined can vary
dramatically across time and place. (Salter)
Connell rejects the idea of the concept of what a real man is as a globally set definition and operates with masculinity as a changeable term that changes with time and place. The term toxic masculinity “comes from these men’s social and political settings, the particularities of which set them up for inner conflicts over social expectations and male entitlement” (Salter).
Today’s understanding of toxic masculinity is more of a cultural concept and, following
Salter, becomes a term that describes the failures of masculinity and gendered violence. The term is more broadly described by Sculos, when he states that the term toxic itself “expresses the harmfulness of the practices and discourses that comprise this notion of masculinity” (3), and furthermore explains the term as a list of the traits that fit the cultural concept of toxic masculinity that is operated with today. He states that:
Norms, beliefs, and behaviors often associated with toxic masculinity include: hyper-
competitiveness, individualistic self-sufficiency (often to the point of isolation
nowadays, but still, and more commonly in the pre-Internet days, in a parochial
patriarchal sense of the male role as breadwinner and autocrat of the family), tendency
towards or glorification of violence (real or digital, directed at people or any living or
non-living things), chauvinism (paternalism towards women), sexism (male
superiority), misogyny (hatred of women), rigid conceptions of sexual/gender identity
and roles, heteronormativity (belief in the naturalness and superiority of heterosexuality
and cisgenderness), entitlement to (sexual) attention from women, (sexual)
objectification of women, and the infantilization of women (treating women as
immature and lacking awareness or agency and desiring meekness and “youthful”
appearance). (3)
This list most likely defines the term as is used today for the analyses and description of the toxic masculinity traits embodied by men.
Toxic masculinity, although containing the word masculinity, does not affect only men, but, as listed above, it affects members of society as a whole. This thesis tries to find some of those traits in the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and their characters, although not all of them are present within the films, and identify them in order to provide deeper understanding of the term to the readers and showing them the dangerous effects coming from the acceptance of those values as a norm within society.
2. Tony Stark and Toxic Masculinity
Tony Stark and his superhero self, called Iron Man, stand behind the successful start of the new era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which caused a hysteria among the geeks of the world, with the Avengers: Endgame still being the highest grossing film of all times, according to Box Office Mojo, with the revenue close to 3 billion American dollars. This rocket start caused the Marvel frenzy with action figures, T-shirts and other merchandise to expand rapidly.
Iron Man, standing among the favourites of the Avengers team, as a poll taken from
RottenTomatoes shows, while sharing his position with Captain America, is a hero that re- defined our perception of what a new era superhero should be and act like, however, his behaviour seems to be stuck in the past in which certain patterns, toxic patterns, of this behaviour would be considered acceptable.
With Iron Man’s extraordinary act at the end of the Avengers: Endgame, where he finishes his character development in a form of going from a womanizer and a military equipment producer (Iron Man), drunk man in despair balancing on the edge of self-destructive behaviour (Iron Man 2), a man in despair dealing with PTSD (Iron Man 3) into a man willing to sacrifice everything for the people he loves (Avengers: Endgame) which makes the steps he made almost forgotten, but to understand the complicity of his character, it is still important to take those into account, especially previously mentioned beginning of this film saga and Tony
Stark’s stand-alone films, namely Iron Man, Iron Man 2 and lastly, Iron Man 3. These three provide deeply needed information from Stark’s life to understand what transformed his rather reckless self into a caring and loving father, partner and colleague.
This evolution of his behaviour is deeply rooted in his childhood and the behaviour of his father, as masculinity and social behaviour is something that is usually taken from behaviour seen in figures around us and, following Pearson and VanHorn’s work, “[p]arents are the most influential socializing agents for their children . . . although friends and role models may teach children different gender roles and expectations as they develop, many researchers agree that gender role development begins in the home” (285). Howard Stark was hardly present in his son’s life and treated him as a burden rather than a son. This is visible in the Iron Man 2, when
Fury gives Tony a box with Howard’s work that he left for him. Stark says “He never told me he loved me. He never even said that he liked me.” (Iron Man 2 1:08:24) and later proceeds to express his disbelief over his father seeing “the whole future…riding on [him]” (1:08:29).
Howard was, among other things, deeply invested into his work life than his family life, which is obvious from the video as well.
Howard’s lack of interest in his son’s life left Tony with his mother, Maria, and caretakers. Gender role and first exposure to it, is introduced shortly after the birth. With this come different expectations from, primarily, parents, who already portray a certain role in a society. With Howard Stark’s attitude towards family life, there is a missing role coming from the absence of a role he should adopt later in life. Furthermore, Pearson and VanHorn say:
Although fathers tend to perpetuate gender stereotyping more often than mothers,
fathers spend only about two-thirds the amount of time with their child in comparison
to the mother. Girls tend to encounter less pressure from their parents to follow strict
sex-typed stereotypes than do boys. (286-287)
The pressure escalates with the society’s acceptance of adopting traits connected to the opposite gender, as “[g]irls with masculine traits are commonly called ̒ tomboys, ̓ while boys with feminine traits are denigrated“ (287) and this is one of the factors that had shaped Tony’s character into hypermasculine man with elements of toxic masculinity in which there is a glance in the beginning of the Iron Man at the award show, praising Stark’s mastermind behind the
“new era for his father’s legacy”(05:06). Tony was forced to grow up into a man, with extraordinary amount of power and wealth, without having the most important model – his father - helping him to shape his character into a man that would be able to handle a burden of running a company as big as Stark Industries (4:20-15:50).
Hypermasculinity, in Tony’s case, is established in the first Iron Man film. Spencer et al. help to identify hypermasculinity with three characteristics: (a) view of violence as manly, (b) perception of danger as exciting, and (c) callousness toward women (235). This characteristic relies on the research of Mosher and Sirkin and helps to understand Tony’s personality better. His view of violence is intertwined with Stark Industries and the development of weapons (Iron Man 14:29-15:45), the perception of danger as exciting is interpreted in the development of his suit (56:40-57:50) and finally, callousness towards women in his womanizing skills (7:42-9:17), which are further analysed in this chapter.
Tony is further presented as a troublesome character right at the beginning of Iron Man, when, after the opening scene, viewers are introduced to Tony being a “Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.” as he infamously described himself in The Avengers (1:10:16). In the
Iron Man, Tony is awarded an award by his friend Rhody, nevertheless Tony spends this moment in a casino, surrounded by beautiful women, alcohol and casino games and is later confronted by Rhody (06:40-07:36). Tony sees his success in life in a different way from the others, which is visible when he hands the award to the casino worker and is approached by a journalist (7:38-7:47). Tony is hesitant to turn around and asks his bodyguard “She cute?”
(7:47) after the confirmation he agrees to the interview in which he obviously hints several times that he is successful in what he does and delivers every answer with a flirtatious tone.
Even though the journalist tries to awake guilt in Tony for developing weapons that murder thousands of people, she is later seduced by him (7:50-9:05).
Tony’s relationship with women is complicated in every aspect, although we see a certain amount of care in the morning after, when Pepper Potts, Tony’s assistant, greets the woman with “I’ve got your clothes here. They’ve been dry-cleaned and pressed, and there’s a car waiting for you outside that will take you anywhere you’d like to go.” (10:08-10:16). From this instance, it is obvious that this is not the first time she is taking care of Stark’s companions.
The process of gaining this kind of dominance over women and sense of power is a process decomposed by Brod and Kaufman as they claim that:
[The acquisition of] masculinities is a process through which men come to suppress a
range of emotions, needs, and possibilities, such as nurturing, receptivity, empathy, and
compassion, which are experienced as inconsistent with the power of manhood. These
emotions and needs do not disappear; they are simply held in check or not allowed to
play as full a role in our lives as would be healthy for ourselves and those around us.
We dampen these emotions because they might restrict our ability and desire to control
ourselves or dominate the human beings around us on whom we depend for love and
friendship. We suppress them because they come to be associated with the femininity
we have rejected as part of our quest for masculinity. (148)
Tony has complicated relationships with his friends as well, which is seen in his friendships with Happy and Rhody. Both of those are very close to him and yet Stark is still unable to maintain a healthy connection with them. It is more evident with Rhodes, as he is not his employee, but an army general, which suggests that there should be a sense of respect. But the truth is far from this reality, as we see multiple times throughout the trilogy, namely in the opening award show in the Iron Man or Tony’s birthday party in the Iron Man 2. Tony’s behaviour suggests his lack of respect which he excuses with the power he has over them, Stark
Industries being the mean of power over the military, as he is their source of power (technology, weapons and systems), especially in the first film. As Brod and Kaufman mention in their essay, to maintain power men need to be distant from other men as well as other women, only in this reality the patriarchy remains alive and therefore reassuring the ongoing position in the society
(151). This evokes another aspect of toxic masculinity, where men are raised in an environment where it is expected that “boys will be boys” and will do “boy things” and also that male friendships are expected to involve “detachment and independence” (Bird 125) as a mean of remaining masculine and keeping the powerful position in society. According to Bird and her research, men described talking about feelings as feminine and therefore something they need to suppress. Differently said, “[t]oxic masculinity is what can come of teaching boys that they can’t express emotion openly; . . . have to be ̒ tough all the time ̓ ,. . . anything other than that makes them ̒ feminine ̓ or weak” (Salam). In the Iron Man 2, Tony faces an obstacle in a form of life threatening poisoning coming from the reactor he has in his chest in order to keep him alive, also the army wants to take his suits away from him and with them also an important source of power and masculinity, as we have heard in his exclamation of “I am Iron Man!”
(Iron Man 1:57:13); and this sends him down a spiral.
A wonderful example lies in the scene, where Tony goes through the information connected to his enemy, Ivan Vanko, in his basement and there are tears in his eyes. As Rhody wants to talk about the events the threat of military taking his armour, he approaches him, taken aback by the tears and asks whether he is okay, Tony replies with simple “Let’s go.” (47:50-
48:23). He is confronted about the poisonous reactor and told that “[he doesn’t] have to do this alone” (49:30), which gets a rather alarming answer in a form of denying help or even denying that there is an existing problem. This is one of the qualities adopted by toxic masculinity that prevents men from having a deeper connection with other people because it would make them seem “̒ feminine ̓ or weak” (Salam) in their eyes.
The inability to form a deeper connection with another person has taken a completely new turn after the viewers learn that Stark’s assistant, Pepper Potts, has feelings for Tony, which is hinted for the first time after Tony is brought back from captivity in the first Iron Man (42:04-
42:50). Later in the film, it becomes obvious that Tony also has certain romantic feelings for Pepper during the scene where she switches Tony’s reactor and asks him not to ask her to do that again which gets a reply “I don’t have anyone but you.” (Iron Man 51:50) and an exchange of rather awkward looks and a switch of conversational topic. Tony is clearly unable to commit or even realise his feelings in a true form. This could be interpreted as a lack of empathy and compassion, which Brod and Kaufman state as crucial for maintaining one’s social status and position because these are “inconsistent with the power of manhood” (148).
Pepper is indeed the only possible person that is able to lead Tony through his journey of becoming a better person and more importantly a person able to commit and have a family
(Avengers: Endgame). Potts’ role in the film is to “humanize Stark, who left to his own often comes across as hostile or megalomaniacal” (Blodgett and Salter 37). She is also the one who understands Stark’s brain and is not terrified to help him even with his craziest actions, such as the reactor changing scene in the Iron Man. Pepper is an agent who helps the audience to understand that “there is more to Tony than his money and genius” and is a “humanizing [force] within the plot line” (37).
Understanding Tony becomes a series of difficult tasks as a new norm of a man becomes a norm in the 1950s by Hugh Hefner and his Playboy as it became “an update to masculinity that freed men from familial obligations” (Hatfield 528) which enabled Tony to “[maintain] a socially superior position to women and other groups of men” (528). To understand the concept of being a playboy as a part of an embodiment of toxic masculinity, it is necessary to understand the concept that feelings like love and tenderness need to be suppressed because they are connected to femininity which needs to be “rejected as a part of [our] quest for masculinity”
(Brod and Kaufman 148) which is demonstrated in Tony’s treatment of the relationship with the journalist in the first Iron Man through the words:
These are many things men do to have the type of power we associate with masculinity:
We've got to perform and stay in control. We've got to conquer, be on top of things, and call the shots. We've got to tough it out, provide, and achieve. Meanwhile we learn to
beat back our feelings, hide our emotions, and suppress our needs. (Brod and Kaufman
148)
Stark’s complicated scheme of behaviour is applied not only in his relationships with women or friends as we see in his friendship especially with Rhodes, but it all ties back to his father, which should have been the most important role model for Tony and his future self. As it becomes obvious throughout the films Howard Stark was incapable to do so as he was mainly working, drinking or looking at women. Work was an inseparable part of Howard’s life as Tony mentioned multiple times throughout the film and is visible from various sequences, particularly at the beginning of Iron Man 2 where Howard introduces his biggest vision at Stark
Expo (8:55-9:38) which later comes back again in the film where we can see young Tony and
Howard with a drink in his hand. His womanizing abilities were not mentioned directly by Tony but he can be seen kissing a random woman on stage in Captain America: The First Avenger
(12:03-12:10) after she introduces him and there are several other proving scenes in the Agent
Carter series.
These traits were also adopted by Tony as he became a sole copy of his father. This could be interpreted through the words of Remmo:
[L]ack of interaction, or negative interaction, can possibly sully a son’s perception of
his father. However, if a son is not the sole author of stories about his father—in other
words, other family members helped co-create narratives about the father—interaction
may not be a key element in his perception of his father. (72)
In other words, even though Tony lacked a real relationship with his father, his perception of his father’s persona was transformed by the stories of others, who present Howard as a visionary that was “on to something big, something so big that it was gonna make the nuclear reactor look like a triple-A battery” (Iron Man 2 1:07:21-1:07:25). This formation of Howard’s character made him look like a model of success in Tony’s eyes which escalated later, when Tony becomes a CEO of Stark Industries at the age of 21 (4:59). Being named a CEO of a weapon- developing company at such a young age had put a pressure on Tony’s masculinity, as Omar explains:
Using a series of focus groups, twelve masculine norms were agreed upon as distinctly
different from feminine norms: winning, emotional control, risk-taking, violence,
dominance, playboy, self-reliance, primacy of work, power over women, disdain of
homosexuals, physical toughness, and the pursuit of status. (17)
Violence takes on an important role in Tony’s life as he leads a company making the most advance weaponry in the world as an “American patriot” (Iron Man 4:27) and becomes a weapon himself in a form of a man in an iron suit. Connell supports the connection between men and violence in Gender and Power and claims that “[i]t is no accident that the means of organized violence . . . are almost entirely in the hands of men” (107). Tony’s masculinity is later challenged as he sees what his technology does in reality (Iron Man 20:43-21:50). As
Tony’s character development moves forward, he chooses to abandon this branch of his business and therefore challenges also a part of his masculinity in a form of power as his company’s stocks fall in value (58:30).
The execution of power in Stark’s sense is a challenging and crucial part of his character.
Power in relation to women has been considered above, as Stark uses his status to embody a womanizing character. Another questionable execution of power lies in Stark’s disrespect towards authorities, namely Nick Fury, who is a Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. who, above all, is a controlling figure of highly positioned national security service (Iron Man) and whom Tony repeatedly fails to recognize as someone superior to him in a sense of official positioning. The first look onto this ongoing feud begins in Iron Man 2 with the eyepatch scene, where Tony asks “Do I look at the patch or the eye?” (1:01:58) and it moves through the entire Infinity Saga. As Brod and Kaufman state “[V]arious men and masculinities may be defined in relation to other men, other masculinities, women, femininities, or some further difference(s). It is not possible to produce a complete taxonomy” (108-109). Tony’s behaviour towards Fury lacks respect in the same way it lacks in his relationships with women.
Tony Stark, especially in the beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, adopts various schemes belonging to the topic of toxic masculinity. This makes him an interesting role model of many fans of superhero films, even though he is not a mere definition of a superhero as the only superpower he has is his brain. But this makes him the embodiment of “the modern geek hero” which “is both larger than life and incapable of acting as a normal person” (Salter and Blodgett 37). Iron Man brings out a superhero without the superpowers that were known before or people are used to, and lacks the typical qualities a hero usually has, such as Captain
America has his super strength. He brings out a hero people can admire, mainly towards the end of the decade long film saga, who manages to overcome the outdated standards of what a man should be and act like.
2.1. Iron Man vs. Captain America
The MCU gained its popularity because of a flamboyant, new and innovative portrayal of world’s favourite superheroes, such as Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow,
Hulk or Hawkeye. These heroes formed the base of a group that charmed the audience with its capability of fighting against all villains imaginable. The chemistry of two members mentioned above becomes problematic as their values differ greatly. Steve Rogers, or Captain America, and Tony Stark, or Iron Man, could both fit the description of what it, according to Hatfield,
“means to be a man” (527), but they each fit a different category. One of the factors that differs these categories from one another is the era, in which the heroes live in during their original runs.
Steve Rogers has not always been the embodiment of a super soldier; his physique was quite the opposite as it can be seen in the first film made about his origin - Captain America:
The First Avenger. What made him desirable for enhancing his abilities were, among other traits, his values, which are introduced when he insisted that he needs to join the army and go to the war because “[T]here are men laying down their lives” and “[He] got no right to do any less” (13:52-13:56), which happens to be a conversation overheard by Dr Erskine, the developer of the serum. In the world shaped by the Second World War, the ideal of masculinity is defined by military standards and “the strength, courage, and intelligence of the men . . . was essential to keeping freedom and liberty intact” (Locke 4). This ideal is put forward in a form of “very traditional, white, middle class masculinity that exuded aggression and strength,” (4) which
Steve does not quite execute.
Rogers is quite the opposite of what is the army looking for, especially of what is the army looking for in a soldier suitable for the experiment. An example of this is visible during the conversation between Erskine and Phillips during the training of the recruits (Captain
America: The First Avenger 22:55-24:21) where Phillips suggests Hodge as the most suitable candidate. Hodge is an ideal recruit for the army because he embodies every trait, he is white, middle-class, strong and aggressive. His introduction at the army base includes sexist comments aimed at Agent Carter, such as “What’s with the accent, Queen Victoria?” (19:58) and “I got a few moves I know you’ll like.” (20:17) with a smirk. He later proves himself to be a bully when he kicks down the pole holding the barbed wire above Steve (21:20). On the other hand, Steve
Rogers is a “90-pound asthmatic” who might be useful “like a gerbil” (23:01-23:07), the only traits that are typical for the army and Steve possesses are that he is a white and middle-class man.
Steve possesses different qualities that make him the perfect candidate for Erskine, and eventually transformed the petit man into Captain America. The serum enhances his personal traits as well, as is described by Erskine it “amplifies everything that is inside, so good becomes great” (26:36-26:41) and “[Steve] becomes the perfect human specimen in strength, speed, agility, and intelligence, intended to be the first of a new corps of superagents“ (Stevens 24).
He embodies American monomyth of his era. American monomyth can be defined as “[a]n archetypal plot pattern emerging in American popular culture in which a community threatened by evil is redeemed through superheroism” (34) and Steve’s first redemption came with his creation as a weapon against Nazis.
His first mission becomes his last after Captain Steve Rogers goes into the ice for almost
70 years after a plane crash at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger and with him go his traits and beliefs. The standard he brought from the 20th century American life in its purest, is now waiting with him to be resurrected in 2011. However, as Stevens mentions “masculinity alters over time and amid changing circumstances. It cannot, by that understanding, be a monolith, but is protean—changing shape and emphasis” (17). Captain’s masculinity becomes outdated as new standards and forms are introduced after the war. During the Second World
War, there are mainly two forms of masculinity that are accepted by society. Locke defines this dual system as those who served in the army and those who did not or returned from service and were thought of as the heads of families (4). This duality changes in the 50s with the introduction of Playboy magazine by Hugh Hefner.
Hugh Hefner and his Playboy introduced a new form of masculinity that “freed man from familial obligations” and it sets up a “hedonistic lifestyle” (Hatfield 528) that is standardized in a contemporary culture. Hatfield defines this modern lifestyle of a man as following:
This modern man, a gender warrior changing accepted behavior, served as a
contradiction to the ‘‘old man’’ while maintaining a socially superior position to women
and other groups of men. Hefner’s portrayal of bachelor masculinity offered an
acceptable, alternative masculinity that reinterpreted the male patriarchal stereotype of
the macho and the wimp . . . (528)
This norm of masculinity is adopted by another Avengers hero – Tony Stark, which causes a collision of two fundamentally contrasting masculinities that later evolves into many conflicts between heroes that should have been fighting for the same cause.
The Iron Man, a film from 2008, introduced a different scheme of masculinity. Tony
Stark embodied the concept of what it is to be a man in the terms of the lifestyle introduced in the 50s. Steve Rogers, on the other hand, embodies the masculine ideal of the Second World
War – soldier or a breadwinner of a family. Their procedures, opinions and personal traits differ greatly but their masculinities share a similarity in the competitive nature to dominate over men and women, a core feature of establishing further self and for an individual to be seen by himself as appropriately masculine (Bird 127).
First encounter of the two masculinities comes in 2012, after the team of superheroes is put together under the name of The Avengers, in a film that shares the same name. The difference of the two heroes mentioned starts to show before the team is finalised. When Steve is being recruited to join the forces to prevent another catastrophe, his attitude shifts from almost ignoring Fury and boxing (21:34-21:47) to a soldier who uses military terms, such as sir, when speaking to Nick Fury, to show his respect to an authority of a higher position the moment he learns about Tesseract (The Avengers 22:10-22:53). On the other hand, Tony Stark ignores agent Coulson, which shows his lack of respect towards an authority. By ignoring Coulson’s calls (24:17-40), Tony sets himself as a male of superior position without the need to answer to anyone because in his eyes he is a self-sufficient individual, without the need to answer to anybody, which is a trait assigned to toxic masculinity, according to Sculos (3). Undermining is an aspect of toxic masculinity, although usually aimed at women, Tony manages to undermine other masculinities, who are superior to him, such as Nick Fury in multiple sequences, one of them lying in mocking Fury’s missing eye with a sentence “How does Fury even see these?” (The Avengers 54:26) while covering one of his eyes in front of the operating screens.
After the team first got together, there was another significant difference in the behaviour between Steve and Tony when meeting Dr Bruce Banner, known as Hulk. Steve can be heard saying “[Bruce’s decision to help them is] the only word [he] care[s] about” (The
Avengers 32:41) to Bruce after he starts to be concerned about the Hulk’s reputation, to let him know that his only intention with him is to track the Tesseract. Tony does quite the opposite and surprises Banner with an electric shock thinking it might release the Hulk (56:39). This could be interpreted in a way that Tony wants to compete and fight the Hulk or him acting without thinking about consequences. Stark stands, in this scene, as an example of hyper- competitiveness, which falls under the attributes belonging to the definition of toxic masculinity
(Sculos 3), while Captain stands on the opposite side, trying to stop him while realizing the danger of Hulk (The Avengers 56:44-56:56). Meeting Thor brings yet another example of hyper-competitiveness in Tony and Steve’s natures. While Tony does not wait for any explanation from Thor and automatically attacks him, Steve tries to prevent the fight and is not the one who attacks him first (47:03-50:20).
Captain America “has always been an idealist, a peaceful man driven to restrained violence by the circumstances in the world” (Stevens 121) and he always tries to solve problems without force until it becomes necessary, unlike Tony. He opts for violence in most scenarios when he is in his suit, which implies his need to be in superior position in relation to others, including
Steve.
The first deeper glance inside the rocky relationship which Tony and Steve share comes in the first Avengers film, when they found S.H.I.E.L.D.’s plans for nuclear weapon made to use the power of Tesseract. During the fight of the whole team (1:07:30-1:12:37), there are many insults thrown from each side of the room. Steve is known for avoiding violence unless it is inevitable and, in this scene, he threats Iron Man with a fight (1:11:18) with a prompt “to put on that suit” (1:11:18) which makes Captain seem as someone, who is not after competition
– one of the key factors of toxic masculinity, which is based on the concept that dominant males tend to pick on the weaker to assure their success during a competition (Bird 122) but Captain respects Stark’s weakness (not being in his armour) and tries to eliminate it, thus defying the base of this theory and standing once again on the opposite side from Stark.
The Avengers opened the glorious world of Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it is certainly not the only cinematic piece that deals with the troublesome relationship full of differences. Another worth mentioning is in The Avengers: Age of Ultron, released three years later, in 2015. This film introduces a settled bond between the duo without major conflicts at the beginning, which soon enough passes and a different conflict between them is introduced.
Tony tries to form an army of robots with artificial intelligence (AI) to protect the world from incoming threats but fails and creates self-sufficient AI that later becomes Ultron, which forces Steve to shut the idea completely. It results in physical violence, where Steve attacks the technological equipment and not Tony (1:31:59), making a choice that ultimately circles back to American monomyth, defined by Stevens followingly:
The assertion that Rogers had made a choice and that the choice he made reflected the
American value of “freedom” would become a canonical truth of the character from that
moment forward. This choice also relates to the hero’s stance on the use of violence to
achieve his mission goals. Captain America’s restraint would become a mainstay of the
character, defining his masculinity as one permanently in the throes of restraint and
defining him as a figure who refuses to cross over that boundary of righteous violence
so consistently present in the American monomyth framework. (161)
Tony, however, is inclined to the use of force and aggression which ties him back to the attributes belonging to the toxic masculinity.
The climax was spared for a film that premiered the year after, in 2016, bearing the name Captain America: Civil War where Steve decides to fight against the military, the centre of his belief and masculinity. It is needed to mention that this character change in Captain, which forces him to question what is right or wrong, was introduced after the terrorist attacks of 2001 in the comics, when the perception of the world and American monomyth changed the narrative (Stevens 243-244) and so did the film. Captain America holds and embodies countless of traits assigned to masculinity but in the Civil War, he takes on a few extremes of toxic masculinity. His friendship with Bucky takes over him completely and evokes the problematic areas, such as his friendship with the rest of the Avengers.
Captain and Tony’s relationship is based on Steve’s opposition to some of the traits of the toxic masculinity that Tony embodies, which ends in Roger’s stepping down in most scenarios that could’ve result in physical conflict, but instead he opts for verbal confrontation
(The Avengers 56:42-57:56). Nevertheless, this changes in Civil War with the battle at the airport (1:30:13-1:43:02). The final battle takes place between Tony, Steve and Bucky (2:03:15-
2:10:55) and it ends in a breakup of the Avengers for three years.
Steve Rogers and Tony Stark were rightfully chosen by the filmmakers to stand at the opposite sides during the Avengers: Civil War for they embody two different masculinities that collide since the introduction of the team. This evolution creates a tension between the two that draws the audience in since the first Avengers film. The relationship also manages to support
Connell’s claim that masculinities change and evolve over time (Salter), which is seen in throughout the film saga, mainly because of these two colliding superheroes.
3. Black Widow Against the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Black Widow, codename for Natasha Romanoff, has become an essential piece of the
Avengers team ever since her first appearance in the Iron Man 2, where she works undercover for Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. Throughout the years, her character was never given enough screen time to fully understand her complexity, but even the short snippets focusing on her past life as a Russian assassin provide enough information for a viewer to understand that she is a strong and powerful member of the Avengers, even though she lacks superpowers. Natasha rightfully gained her place in the team as she proved that her abilities go far beyond her training in the Red Room. Nevertheless, Black Widow, though she is a deadly assassin, remains a target of the toxic masculinity embodied not only by her enemies, filmmakers but her colleagues as well.
As already mentioned, her first appearance happens in the Iron Man 2 where, right in the first scene she is in, she becomes a target of sexual objectification coming from Tony Stark and Happy. “[Sexual objectification] occurs when a woman’s body . . . [is] singled out and separated from her as a person and she is viewed primarily as a physical object of male sexual desire” (Szymanski et al. 9) which is obvious right after she enters the room and the attention of previously mentioned men shifts to her (Iron Man 2 23:24). This is certainly not the only time throughout the films where the men objectify Natasha. Another example can be found in
Captain America: The Winter Soldier where Black Widow meets Captain’s America newly found companion Sam Wilson, where his gaze lands upon Natasha’s physique almost immediately, which is underlined by his flirtatious “How you doing?” (3:14-3:20).
The Iron Man 2 is a troubleshooting piece which is entwined with male gazing and objectification right from the introductory scene. Natasha is described as a “potentially very expensive sexual harassment lawsuit” (24:18) by Pepper to Tony, whose reaction to this statement is ogling her lingerie photos in her CV, skipping all the other information and experience (24:48-25:04). Prior to finding the information, Tony proclaims that he “feel[s] like it’s her” (24:32) who should become his assistant without hardly looking anywhere else but her direction. Tony’s behaviour is, in this instance, notorious so it could be described as his personality, but alarmingly, he is not the only man who is objectifying the Russian assassin.
Sexual objectification is not only embodied by Marvel characters but also the creators of the MCU. Dealing with the Iron Man 2, it is obvious that Black Widow’s character was created to please the male audience. Her character enters the MCU wearing rather dangerous cleavage, trousers that are tight around her waist, high heels, and her hair down (23:20). This interpretation and portrayal of her character worsens as the film progresses. Black Widow is the only female character present until the introduction of Wanda Maximoff in the Avengers:
Age of Ultron. One of the most unsettling scenes is one of the final fight scenes, where she and
Happy breach into the building and Natasha’s combat uniform consists of skin-tight overall, shoes on a platform and her long red hair down, which is a combat hazard. It is a phenomenon occurring in the superhero world where women fall under May’s definition:
[T]oday’s superheroines … are often unrealistic, sexualized representations of female
figures, with large chests, curvaceous backsides and unattainable hourglass
dimensions. Their skin-tight outfits accentuate their sexuality with plunging necklines
and bare skin.
Another aspect of toxic masculinity that Black Widow becomes a target of is sexism, where sexism, in this instance in cinema, is described by Kinnunen as following:
[E]specially in the dominant Hollywood cinema women on screen were “merely
signs for all that is non-male”, and that women were presented only as what they
represent for men, instead of showing “women as women”. (15)
The belief that women are less capable than men could be found in many films and is once again present in the very first film she is in – the Iron Man 2. Shortly after she walks in, she is required to come into the boxing ring to have a boxing lesson. She is asked by Happy whether she has ever boxed before in a rather mocking way if it was “[T]he Tae Bo? Booty Boot Camp?
Crunch?” (24:37) which are simplified versions of the traditional box, which Happy considers to be too manly for a petit woman like Natasha Romanoff.
Films like the Iron Man 2 are the ones where these patterns are expected to appear, but they are not the only films of the MCU that evoke sexism on the screen. In Captain America:
The Winter Soldier, Black Widow works with Steve Rogers, who is now defrosted for roughly
3 years since his first stand-alone film Captain America: The First Avenger and its 2011 premiere. In the mentioned film, Steve spends around 3 years in the military from which a significant amount of time is devoted to a military propaganda (48:20-51:52) and not an actual combat. On the other hand, Natasha went through an elite training in the Red Room which left her with a tremendous amount of abilities (Avengers: Age of Ultron 49:30-50:12) but she is never the leading one of the group and receives orders from others, usually Steve who is less experienced than her. There are various poofs of that throughout the films, one of them can be found at the beginning of the Captain America: The Winter Soldier where Steve commands Nat to “[s]ecure the engine room” (7:20).
In addition, in the previously mentioned film, it is also possible to identify the aspects of toxic masculinity taking place behind the camera. In various sequences, the camera focuses on Natasha’s physical attributes rather than her combat skills and fights themselves. During her solo fight in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there are multiple shots of her bottom in her tight uniform rather than the skilful elimination of the object (9:45-10:11). Contrary to the portrayal of Natasha’s fighting is Steve’s, where the viewer is able to see his abilities close-up
(5:45-7:05). Mulvey describes this cinematic phenomenon of male gaze in her essay Visual
Pleasure and Narrative Cinema where she states the following: The determining male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female figure which is styled
accordingly. In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at
and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that
they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness. (837)
Mulvey’s research supports the existence of the difference in the perception between male and female characters of the MCU, where Natasha becomes an obvious victim of the toxic behaviour in both environments – on and off screen.
Another onscreen occurrence of the toxic masculinity is misogyny, which is portrayed by Loki in the first Avengers film. Lorraine Code describes the term misogyny in her book
Encyclopedia of Feminist Theories as “implicit or explicit male denigration and/or hatred of women“ and also focuses on the difference between misogyny and sexism where “misogyny
[is manifesting] itself in psychologically-based fear or hatred of women,” and “sexism in systemic discrimination, or failure to take women into account” (291). The interrogation scene between Loki and Black Widow is not spared of misogynist sentences, which are ended with a notorious exclamation of a “mewling quim” (1:06:38), which is a Shakespearean reference to female genitalia, according to Urban Dictionary. Although misogyny is an extreme example of how far the toxic masculinity can go, it is an essential piece for understanding its complexity.
Misogyny hides its core idea in the hate of females but there are softer approaches bearing the same concept of thinking about femininity as a concept that is lesser to the concept of masculinity. This undermining of abilities occurs in the scene between Black Panther, Black
Widow and Okoye in the Captain America: Civil War. After Natasha stands in Black Panther’s way and is confronted by his personal bodyguard Okoye with a sentence “Move or you will be moved” to which Black Panther replies with “[a]s entertaining as that would be …” (1:25:12-
1:25:15), which implies the undermining of the abilities of the two women and hence supporting the factor of toxic masculinity which lies in the dominance of men over women, also known as patriarchy:
Patriarchal societies enshrine the assumptions that heads of state must be male and male
voices rightfully dominate public/private spaces. … The term refers to hierarchical
relations between men and women, manifested in familial and social structures alike, in
a descending order from an authoritarian—if oftentimes benevolent—male head, to
male dominance in personal, political, cultural and social life, … (Code 316)
Patriarchal belief that is preserved in today’s society is deeply connected to intimidation that men feel because of women. Intimidation of men caused by women triggers misogynist behaviour since it is violating the dominant position of men in the society, hence violating the masculinity to which it is referred as toxic. There are a few scenes, once again, in the Iron Man
2 where Natasha violates a position of another man, in this case Happy, in a presumed hierarchy.
Natasha walks into the scene and shortly after she is asked to have a boxing lesson with Happy, who underestimates her because she is a woman. Black Widow pulls out her iconic disarming move and knocks Happy down (25:04-25:25) to which he replies “I just slipped.” (25:17) which implies his inability to be in a submissive position to a woman. This shows that Happy belongs to the group of men that embody the toxic masculinity in the MCU as well.
Happy’s problematic behaviour progresses after Natasha’s true identity is revealed towards the end of the film. These sequences, focusing on Natasha and Happy together, hide multiple problems, first one being the obvious male gazing happening during the car ride to
Hammer Industries (1:40:12-1:40:24) where Happy fails to understand a word Black Widow is saying because he is busy watching her in the rear mirror. After they get to the building, Natasha asks Happy to stay out of the institution, which he does not do and refuses to let her go in alone, implying that he does not believe Black Widow’s ability to handle the situation. Happy starts the fist fight with one of the security guards, which keeps him busy during the entire scene, after which he victoriously proclaims “I got him!” only to see the rest of the guards disarmed on the ground (1:41:28-1:43:30). Happy’s face combines the feelings of pride, confusion and disbelief caused by Natasha, which supports the idea of him embodying the toxic masculinity traits.
Black Widow does not always just fall victim to the toxic masculinity, in some cases she is the one who witnesses them. In the Avengers: Age of Ultron, there is a scene showing the men of the team trying to lift Thor’s hammer (27:26-29:24) thus proving they are worthy. The scene turns into a hypercompetitive macho sequence shortly after it begins, and the term described by Thornton et al. becomes visible on screen. Following their study, hyper- competitiveness is “an indiscriminate need to compete and succeed at any cost” and “a neurotic mean[s] of maintaining or enhancing one’s self-worth” (103). Furthermore, Thornton et al. support the idea that hyper-competitiveness is “expected to have a negative impact on personality and social development, but it also would be detrimental in later interpersonal relationships” (103) thus belongs to the traits associated with toxic masculinity.
The Avengers: Age of Ultron film brings up yet another problematic part which was never answered and that is the romance between Black Widow and Hulk, also known as Bruce
Banner. This relationship came without any previous hints and the viewers are thrown into the concept during the opening fight scene at the beginning of the mentioned film, where after the majority of the battle Captain America sends Natasha away with the words “[T]ime for a lullaby.” (7:24) after which she goes to find Hulk and performs the rather intimate calming ritual (8:00-9:09). The relationship tries to progress as the film evolves but ends in Bruce’s disappearance after the final fight (2:04:24-2:05:01). This romance formula is a part of the different treatment of male and female superheroes, which is analysed by Salter and Blodgett when they deal with the questionable treatment of female characters in superhero films and state that females are mainly a mean of the male character development (144-146).
Furthermore, they say the following:
[M]ale characters invite us to consider them as dimensional characters, as our previous
discussion of icons ranging from Sherlock Holmes to Doctor Who and Iron Man …
[while] the strong woman wears her power as a way to distract us from how she
essentially occupies the same role as the courtly damsel in the narrative’s progression.
. . . [T]hese women have no personhood: they are designed for the masculine gaze and
built (often literally) for sexualized consumption. (145)
This “personhood” (145) tried to be introduced but vanishes only to be settle with a nod of heads in the Avengers: Infinity War (56:00-56:21) and Natasha is re-introduced as the almost surreal character which serves the purpose of storytelling for the male superheroes as it wraps up her story arc in the Avengers: Endgame where she serves as the humanizing element for
Hawkeye and his redemption. “This view of women as other than people, defined by their sexual desirability and relationship with male protectors or spectators, plays out in the fan community itself” (Salter and Blodgett 146) which brings the topic of toxic masculinity off screen.
Natasha Romanoff is an essential part of the Avengers team and is one of the founding members but that does not spare her from being a target of sexual objectification, misogyny and undermining as a character out of the cinematographic pieces. “When Avengers arrived in theatres with next to no merchandise featuring Black Widow.” (Salter and Blodgett 106) it certainly raised a question that Mouse answers with:
While working at Marvel post-acquisition, I saw a deck circulated by Disney’s Brand
Marketing team. I’m prohibited from sharing the slides, but the takeaway is that, unlike
the actual demos, the desired demographics had no females in it whatsoever. This suggests that the toxic masculinity that we see in the films themselves has its root deeper and affects Black Widow as a complex character who lacks rightful representation, in comparison to her male colleagues, on and off screen.
The lack of representation of Natasha’s character failed with the next Avengers: Age of
Ultron as well. “Disney brought out sixty new items of merchandise, but only three with Black
Widow—a tote bag, a single Lego set, and a men’s shirt” (Slater and Blodgett 106) and following their work on this topic, it was said by Disney executives that “no boy wants to be given a product with a female character on it” (198) this only promotes toxic masculinity to remain a part of the society. Unfortunately, excluding Natasha as a female character based on undermining her character is not the only problematic area occurring within the MCU.
As previously mentioned, female characters fall victims to the stereotype of being a mean of telling a story of male counterparts, which, in Nat’s case, happens in a rather seductive fashion. It begins with the Iron Man 2, where she shares a few flirtatious conversations with
Tony Stark while working undercover, namely when she helps him get ready for the party and asks if the martini was “dirty enough for [him]” (52:12) with an obvious smirk. She shares a few moments with Hawkeye in the Avengers, for example the scene where she helps him get
Loki out of his mind (1:31:41-1:35:10), which implies a deeper connection between the two; until it is settled as friendship in the following Avengers film, where viewers learn about Clint’s family. Steve Rogers is not left out of the flirting sequences, especially in the Captain America:
The Winter Soldier during their conversation in the car (57:03-58:25). But the only intended flirt is with Bruce Banner, as it was already mentioned.
This did not spare her character of extremely sexist and misogynist comments from
Chris Evans and Jeremy Renner, who play Captain America and Hawkeye. In 2015, they were asked about their opinions of the possible relationship between Black Widow and their character and their answer caused an enormous outrage. Denham sums the part of the interview as following:
When questioned about the female character’s possible romance with Bruce ‘Hulk’
Branner, Renner (Hawkeye) simply deadpanned “she’s a s**t”, making Evans (Captain
America) laugh loudly and add: “I was going to say something along that line, she’s a
complete w***e”.
Taking these words, which are aimed towards the only female character in the male dominated team, where the majority of the assumed relationships is only presumed, it is safe to say that the character of Black Widow is a target of toxic masculinity on both sides of the MCU – in front of and behind the camera.
Female superheroes came a long way to deserve a place in the male dominated industry, but the prejudice and poor execution are still a matter of reality. Marvel tried to introduce a powerful woman, but their first try became a misstep for the rightful representation of women on the screen. John Whedon said “[t]here is genuine, recalcitrant, intractable sexism, and old- fashioned quiet misogyny that goes on [in the film industry]” (Jayson) and this prevents the existence of female characters that would not be limited by the truth lying behind his words.
Natasha Romanoff proved herself to be a strong, independent character, but yet remains a target of old-fashioned and stereotypical toxic masculinity.
Black Widow embodies an example of what women are capable of achieving and becoming, but, as it is shown in this chapter, how the presence of toxic masculinity prevents them from doing so. Therefore, it is important to perceive the aspects of toxic masculinity as a harmful concept for both, men and women. Natasha’s character is present from the introductory film from 2012 but there is no original film explaining her story yet, which is contrary to the male heroes who usually have more than one film focusing on their journey. The attempt to devote screen time to Natasha’s character took 10 years to execute and her solo film is a highly anticipated film of 2020. But this does not change the fact, that the concept of toxic masculinity prevents women from achieving the same things man do in the same time, because they are always limited by the dominance of them.
4. Conclusion
Toxic masculinity is a term that was introduced towards the end of the 20th century, but this does not mean that it had not existed before. The concept of what toxic masculinity is changes the same way masculinities do over time and place and their presence, collisions and interactions exist in everyday life, real or fictional. This thesis focuses more on the fictional part of the world and aims to introduce the concept through masculinities that are present in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe, for the films belonging to this enormously known entertainment mogul, which owns names such as Iron Man, Black Widow, Captain America and many more.
This thesis dedicates the biggest part of the research to Iron Man, who is the main reason standing behind the success of the new era of superheroes. His introduction in 2008 raised not only the popularity of the films themselves but the question whether his masculinity sets an example of a toxic masculinity as well. The research proves that he embodies various traits assigned to the toxic masculinity, as mentioned in the introductory chapter, especially at the beginning of his branch of films.
The contrast between a toxic and non-toxic masculinity is shown through the rocky relationship between Captain America and Iron Man and their respective films, which works in favour of Steve Rogers, but deepens the dividing line between various types of masculinities and their characteristics. Towards the end, it is also proven, that masculinities do change, which is an important factor in the development and division between them. This could be a topic for further research focusing on the developing masculinity of Tony Stark.
Last target of this thesis is the character of Black Widow because it is not a rule that masculinities influence only the masculine world. Black Widow’s character opened a new point of view for the research and enables the readers to perceive the traits of toxic masculinity through someone who usually falls a victim or a target to the practices of it. This helps to understand the connection of the harmful qualities of toxic masculinity that affect every member of society, not just men themselves.
Masculinity is present everywhere, but not always in the best way possible. This thesis devotes the research to a media platform that stands at the top of the industry, with millions of viewers of all ages who see an example of toxic masculinity in their favourite superheroes, who make them want to be like them. Therefore it is extremely important to identify these qualities and try to eliminate them in order to promote a healthy standard of masculinity for various fans to adopt thanks to their heroes, who should be, among other things, people that others look up to and learn from.
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6. Summary
This thesis focuses on the problem of toxic masculinity present in the Marvel Cinematic
Universe, mainly through the analysis of the character of Iron Man, who personality hides the highest number of troubling character traits assigned to the concept of toxic masculinity. It concentrates on the early films, where Tony’s personality is influenced by his upbringing and relationship with his parents. These first films show Tony as a reckless owner of a weapon industry, a womanizer and a respectless man.
Tony’s character is later compared to Captain America, who sets is almost fully contrasting personality to Iron Man. This thesis devotes a part od the chapter to explain Steve’s character from the beginning and to explain the differences there are compared to Stark. These differences are fundamental for the further analysis of their respective characters and their behaviour in certain scene that include both of the characters or include nearly the same situation that is handled differently by the heroes.
Last but not least, the finishing chapter is devoted to Natasha Romanoff, known under her codename Black Widow. Although masculinity is ascribed to men, the toxic masculinity affects a wide range of society, women included. Natasha’s character is present almost since the beginning of the new era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and she is a target of the toxic masculinity embodied throughout the set. The understand better how far the toxic masculinity can reach, the thesis includes a short part investigating the influence of it behind the camera as well. It is important to note, that the MCU does not epitomize the greatest example not only in the films themselves but also beyond the reach of the cameras.
The presence of toxic masculinity has been studied since the 80s, which makes it a relatively young field of studies. It affects members of society daily and it is necessary to point it out in order to prevent the harmful traits to be normalized throughout the society. Media hold a significant position in the everyday lives of people and help to shape their characters without their knowing. This thesis aims to show the harmfulness a bad interpretation can have if not identified.
7. Resumé
Tato práce se zaměřuje na problematiku toxické maskulinity vyskytující se v Marvel
Cinematic Universe, kdy analyzuje postavu Iron Mana, jehož osobnost v sobě skrývá několik vlastností, které spadají pod koncept toxické maskulinity. Zaměřuje se zejména na dřívější filmy, kde je Tonyho osobnost ovlivněna jeho dospíváním a vztahem s rodiči. Tyto filmy zobrazují Tonyho jako lehkomyslného majitele výrobny zbraní, svůdníka a muže bez respektu k čemukoli.
Později dochází ke srovnání postavy Tonyho a Kapitána Ameriky, který svým chováním zosobňuje téměř naprostý opak Iron Mana. Tato práce věnuje část kapitoly k vysvětlení postavy
Steva a také rozdílů v jeho chování ve srovnání se Starkem. Tyto rozdíly zastávají nezbytnou funkci pro analýzu jejich postav a chování, ať už ve společných scénách, nebo ve scénách obsahující velmi podobné situace, které jsou ovšem velmi rozdílně zvládnuty.
V neposlední řadě se závěrečná část věnuje postavě Natashy Romanoff, známé pod krycím jménem Black Widow. Navzdory tomu, že maskulinita náleží mužskému pohlaví, ovlivňuje fungování celé společnosti, včetně žen. Postava Natashy se ve filmech vyskytuje skoro od počátku nové éry MCU, to ale nebrání tomu, aby se stala terčem chování ostatních, kteří zosobňují vlastnosti spadající pod termín toxické maskulinity. K hlubšímu pochopení tohoto problému se část kapitoly soustřeďuje i na chování za kamerami, jelikož je důležité pochopit kam až toxická maskulinita může dosáhnout.
Studie o fenoménu obsahující termín toxická maskulinita jsou přítomny již od 80. let, což z něj dělá relativně mladý obor. To ovšem neznamená, že není důležité se mu i nadále věnovat za účelem jeho omezení a identifikace problematických částí chování. Média si drží významnou pozici v životech lidí a pomáhají normalizovat spoustu věcí, z tohoto důvodu je nutné přispívat k tomu, aby tímto procesem normalizace prošly pouze ty vzorce chování, které nejsou jakýmkoli způsobem škodlivé pro společnost.