By Avery Strychasz, staff writer

Dear Marvel,

What you are about to read will upset you, but these statements must be said. 

First of all, your movies are confusing. With over 50 hours of footage combined, it would be nearly impossible to sit and marathon the movies continuously. However, this is the only conceivable way that you might understand the overall plot of the cinematic universe.

While I have enjoyed watching the characters and plot lines play out on the silver screen, to say that I understood the underlying message would be a horrendous lie. Rather, I caught myself doing more extensive research on specific scenes than most college students do for their senior thesis. 

This isn’t to say that the movies aren’t great; they just simply aren’t cohesive. They tend to be segmented by a character or group of characters, and any movement between the segments leaves you confused and thrown off. 

Now, to get into one of the most polarizing opinions about the MCU: Iron Man is the worst Avenger. It can be argued that he is the most replaceable Avenger, because all he offers is an Amex Black card and pithy remarks. 

Tony Stark’s entire character arc revolves around him playing into the debonair, rich asshole stereotype, except he wasn’t playing a part that was his true character. Ultimately, all the problems that the  original six Avengers had to solve were created by Iron Man.

Stark became a billionaire through inheritance and creating the world’s most dangerous weapons. He created Ultron as the ultimate super-weapon. While this idea was originally intended to stop worldwide crime, Stark and the Avengers ended up destroying billions of dollars worth of infrastructure trying to stop the wrath of Ultron, a machine created by Stark. 

The only redeemable action that Iron Man offers is his sacrifice at the end of Avengers: Endgame. However, this change in his personality is not entirely of his own invention. A lot of the credit for the “new and improved” Iron Man needs to go to his unsung hero: Pepper Pots.

While on the subject of unsung female heroes, it is time we address an egregious oversight made by the Russo brothers — Black Widow’s death. Simply put, it shouldn’t have happened. Black Widow was the first and, for the longest time, only female superhero in the MCU. Killing her off once again proved to audiences that Black Widow is underappreciated.

Now, I understand someone had to die that night in order to obtain the infinity stone and stop Thanos; it just shouldn’t have been Black Widow. In fact, it should have been the other person on Vormir that night: Hawkeye.

At this point in the movie, Hawkeye had already given up on himself. Succumbing to his darkest impulses after his family was snapped, Hawkeye proved that he had nothing to redeem. Black Widow, on the other hand, fought every day with Captain America and others to find a solution to the dusting. When weighing the value of their contributions to the Avengers, there is a clear winner on who should have lived. 

I understand that these opinions are unpopular, but that doesn’t necessarily make them invalid. Next time you find yourself watching a Marvel movie, try and consider some of these points. If you still say I’m crazy, then you’re probably right, but deep down, there might be a small part of you that agrees with me. 

Sincerely, 

A Concerned Comrade