Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe learned its lesson the brutal way.
The vaunted MCU embraced woke storytelling tropes following the rampaging success of 2019's "Avengers: Endgame."
- More diversity!
- More women heroes of color!
- More progressive content, period
The most profitable, and dare we say valuable, franchise in Hollywood soon came crashing down to earth.
Suffice it to say we won't be seeing "Eternals 2" or more "Marvels" anytime soon.
So the MCU course corrected. It brought back Chris Evans to play Captain America once more, replacing Anthony Mackie who briefly played the star-spangled hero. The series ditched the woke warriors and played up the nostalgia element with this December's "Avengers: Doomsday."
The upcoming films find both Cap and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) as new parents, and their battles to protect humanity have a deeply human element — the nuclear-ish family.
Tell this to James Gunn's DC universe.
The saga's newest entry, HBO Max's "Lanterns," feels like it was air-dropped from the Peak Woke era — think the 2020 Summer of Love.
The show, starring Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler, follows the classic Green Lanterns saga, at least on paper. Except something seemed off from the start. First, a critical white character died in the pilot episode.
Next, said character was retconned to be a cranky, egotistical jerk. It felt like "The Last Jedi's" Luke Skywalker syndrome all over again, turning a classic hero into someone you wouldn't sit next to at a BBQ.
Next, some of the show's talents woked up the joint in promotional interviews, extolling what a better world we'd have if only Vice President Kamala Harris had been the president.
Here's co-star J. Alphonse Nicholson sharing how America doesn't trust black women based on the results of one election. (He didn't mention Jasmine Crockett ... hmmm.)
Could you imagine where we would be right now if Kamala got up in there, dog? Could you imagine how it would’ve been? It’d be a lot different. So we’re experiencing the consequences of not trusting a black woman.
What a way to pitch a TV series.
And there's the show itself. The latest episodes feature full-on lectures about racism in America. The speeches sound like someone from 2026, but the chronology of the show is all over the map. The following quote was uttered in 2016. Here's the wife of a wealthy militia leader attacking both her husband and white people in toto.
White men have the privilege of being eccentric. White men with money? They can do whatever the f*** they want. Play cowboy, build castles.
Episode three doubles down on the race-based lectures. Here, the mother of Aaron Pierre's John Stewart character gives a speech on being black in America in the 1990s.
Do you understand how unfair it is to ask a Black man in America if he’s afraid?” We are terrified daily of persecution and still show up, sometimes better than everyone around us. Did you know that?
Woke or not, "Lanterns" arrives with a distinct advantage. It's much easier, and cheaper to watch the show than see a woke movie. The barriers to entry for woke TV are far easier than their theatrical peers.
The early ratings for the show are strong. Now, imagine if the series had respected the source material and kept the lectures off screen. That's not to say a show can't touch on race, but the way "Lanterns" is handling the subject feels like Woke Storytelling 101.
The show could be a blockbuster, but Gunn's DC universe would rather lecture than entertain.
