[khazhoux]

I don't know about the "political" part, but as a parent to young kids, I'm a bit frustrated that they mix up the age ratings throughout the Marvel franchise.

Eternals has a scene with two characters having sex on a beach. Spider Man Homecoming has a gag where Ned says he's watching porn on his laptop. In She Hulk, a key plot point is she's filmed having sex and the video is then broadcast.

If they want to make Marvel for teens and older, then by all means. But they clearly market the franchise to the under-10 crowd, and the content above was not subtle. It wasn't written to go over the little ones' heads... it's in their face.

[ipv6ipv4]

I'm always surprised that a smidge of sex, that would probably completely fly over the head of a child anyway, is more concerning than the glorified extreme non-stop violence of these films.

[khazhoux]

Be that as it may, the violence is inherently part of every single Marvel movie. Parents who object to violence in movies would know to not show them to their kids.

But the sexual content is unexpected and random. She Hulk is "hulk for girls"... and one episode is about revenge porn. As a parent, that's pretty awkward.

Note that my complaint isn't about movies having sexual content. It's that 95% of Marvel movies don't have overtly sexual references, and then a couple suddenly do, within the same sub-franchise. The right way to go is like Jessica Jones (on Netflix), which was a Marvel series but it was very clearly marketed for adults.

[dagmx]

She-Hulk is “hulk for everyone” and is also clearly targeted at adults. This is clear because it’s rated TV-14 but sets the tone pretty early that it’s not a children focused show.

That the protagonist is a woman doesn’t mean it’s for girls btw.

If you’re looking for a more child focused Marvel series with a female protagonist, Ms.Marvel would be it.

The Marvel episodic content is (with the exception of Falcon and the Winter Soldier) is a lot more diverse in style content than the films, and unapologetically so. This is where Marvel is experimenting and providing a more varied range of content.

[khazhoux]

> That the protagonist is a woman doesn’t mean it’s for girls btw.

Yeah, I didn't really mean that the show is "for girls", but just that here was a new female-protagonist show. Ms. Marvel was fantastic, by the way (for many reasons).

I didn't notice the TV-14 on She Hulk at first, but did catch on pretty quick that the series leaned more mature. Still, the Avengers movies dropped all the overt sexual references after Iron Man 2 and became more "kiddie-friendly", so I find it odd (and frustrating) to have the maturity level vary within the same set of characters. That is my problem. In the other mega-franchise brands (Star Wars, Pixar, Disney) you know the maturity and sensibility to expect.

[scarface74]

Why would you expect the same set of characters to be one dimensional? And you’re not concerned with your kids being exposed to violence but you are concerned with them being exposed to sexual innuendo?

[dagmx]

I think really the big thing is that the films are very high budget and therefore Disney/Marvel are scared to do anything in the least offensive because they want the most return. So it’s not so much intentionally kid friendly as just as vanilla as can be for safety.

Streaming/episodic is much lower budget so they take more risks to try and bring in a different set of audiences that their films weren’t pulling in. My wife for example doesn’t care at all for the films, but really got into Wandavision and She-Hulk because the premise was more interesting to her.

I think the safety of the films might also disappear soon too as China and a few other countries recently rebuffed them. Marvel has tried very hard for years to be very China friendly because it’s a huge market, but recently with Shang-Chi they got blocked. So now they’ve stopped pandering to a more conservative market.

Coincidentally the big up and coming market is progressive youths and I think you’ll see a lot more topics that speak to them (or at least what a Disney exec thinks does). I don’t think Disney gives a crap about being progressive for the morality of it, but after they’ve had a pretty bad few years at the hands of conservatives (China, Florida gay rights etc), they’re now realizing this progressive market is ripe for the picking.

I think She-Hulks tone comes firmly from that pivot. So I suspect what is traditionally seen as child friendly values will see a down turn in their big projects.

That said, media is both a reflection of us and we are a reflection of it. So I think what topics will be considered child friendly will also change dramatically over the next few years.

[unsupp0rted]

Well it’s certainly not for boys, unless boys like being considered incompetent idiots who can never understand why they’re toxic. At least that’s true of every straight male character in the show.

[dagmx]

I’m a straight guy and I enjoyed it. So I think your certainty is not so certain.

Also there’s straight guys on there who were just fine. Wong and Matt for example were issue free. So was Bruce and a ton of extras.

A lot of the women on the show weren’t the nicest either, like Titania and the friend whose wedding she went to.

[unsupp0rted]

Wong, the Sorcerer Supreme, was reduced to watching trash tv on a sofa with a vapid drunk club girl, because he’s a sorority girl now.

Matt, i.e. Daredevil, was reduced to carrying his shoes in his hands in a “walk of shame” (his shoes are uncomfortable heels? He feels shame after sex with a fellow lawyer?), because he’s a sorority girl now.

Bruce, who spent two decades learning to control his inner Hulk and multiple times watched friends die in service of a higher calling was upstaged in 5 seconds by a girl who told him what real anger is because she gets catcalled and asked out on dates by people she doesn’t find attractive.

Whatever boys are supposed to get from this show, they’re probably not getting it. Or perhaps boys are getting exactly what the writers want them to get.

[scarface74]

> a parent, that's pretty awkward.

Maybe that should start an awkward conversation then? Revenge porn and sending naked pictures to other “friends” is happening in middle school

[themihai]

I really doubt it. Source: I was a kid. Sex scenes definitely did not fly over. It was something I did not understand and somehow affected my behaviour more than violence between robots.

[diob]

It's a western sentiment that violence is okay, but everything else needs to be prude.

[khazhoux]

Which non-Western countries include overt sexual references and content in programs aimed at small children?

[DSMan195276]

> If they want to make Marvel for teens and older, then by all means. But they clearly market the franchise to the under-10 crowd, ...

TBH I'm a little confused by this claim, why do you think any of the marvel movies or shows are targeted to kids younger than 10? I'm pretty sure basically every MCU movie has a PG-13 rating, which is definitely a deliberate choice they made. Certainly the ratings are just a suggestion, but I don't feel like they're making any attempt at targeting kids younger than 10, they have completely separate shows like Spidey that target that demographic and (AFAIK) have nothing to do with the MCU.

[khazhoux]

> why do you think any of the marvel movies or shows are targeted to kids younger than 10?

* Merchandise targeted at little ones. Toys, costumes, Lego…

* Avengers Campus in Disney California Adventure, next to all the kiddie IP

* Precedence: No f-bombs in the films, no blood, no sex, etc

[DSMan195276]

Like I mentioned there's other ways for kids to learn about these characters. Until just a few years ago there was both an Avengers animated series, a GOTG animated series, and various other series all targeted at kids. Any kids who watched those shows would know all the Marvel characters without needing to watch any of the MCU films.

Beyond that, many of those things are also collectables, so a lot of that stuff is not _just_ for kids. But kids who know the characters will enjoy them even if they don't specifically know the MCU versions.

> No f-bombs in the films, no blood, no sex, etc

I agree to an extent, but you basically just listed the requirements for a PG-13 movie, not whether a movie is for ages younger than 10. They definitely earn a PG-13 rating, many of them have (sometimes less than subtle) sex jokes, a few have brief sex scenes, they do have some blood and a few gruesome character deaths (for kids), and all of them have a fair amount of swearing (much more than I'd let my young daughter watch). I feel like you've just equated anything that's not R rated as "targeting kids 10 and under", ignoring the middle area that is PG-13.

[khazhoux]

I agree they’re squarely in the PG-13 territory. My point is they are actively promoted to an even younger audience.

[scarface74]

> Merchandise targeted at little ones. Toys, costumes, Lego…

You might be shocked that there are action figures for a mass murdering vigilante (The Punisher), a homicidal maniac (Joker), a guy who literally killed dozens of kids (Darth Vader), etc

[wilg]

Would be simpler just to look at the official rating.