Maya López (Alaqua Cox), is deaf. Which has made his quest for justice and then to understand his extraordinary abilities different from other superheroes. The Serie Threw out from Disney+ places special emphasis on the fact that its titular heroine learns a whole dimension of her abilities, thanks to the sensitivity of her senses. What makes her, not only an enemy to be feared, but also, an intriguing figure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But it’s not the only one. Over the decades, the superhero genre has paid special attention to characters with disabilities. Whether mental or physical, many of comics’ most beloved superheroes go through a tough journey to do good. Which includes understanding that some diseases or organic limitations are not really borders to cross. They are new ways to explore your capabilities, points of view and especially, how power can manifest itself.
We leave you five films about superheroes with disabilities who have become famous figures in comics and movies. From the most recent sprinter to reach the live action from franchises to a cruel version of madness. The superheroes of the most popular sagas often demonstrate that the body will always be a territory to discover. The greatest and most interesting message from several of the most beloved figures of mass culture.
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Eternals
One of the most controversial films of Marvel’s irregular phase four, it is also a good example of how a disability is not a limit. His extensive group of superheroes includes a hearing-impaired figure. In fact, Makkari, played by Lauren Ridloff, was the first deaf character in the film saga before Maya López came to the small screen.. Which allowed the film to explore an unknown landscape, giving new nuances to what was supposed to be a limitation.
But actually, Makkari She is not only powerful, but also a crucial team member to understand the passage of time on the tape. It is she, the one that remains in the team’s original ship – and suggests the centuries that have passed – and the one that travels extensive distances in minutes.
Something that allows us to understand how the heroes of the film perceive distances. Gradually, Makkari, who communicates through sign language, proved central to providing depth to the story’s main premise. That is, diversity is part of power and never, an obstacle to show the skills of the most emblematic figures.
X Men First generation
Matthew Vaughn took the premise of heroes with particular genetics and turned it into a reflection on the subtext of disability. In fact, in several of the scenes, the script by Ashley Edward Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman and the director himself emphasizes the theme. Of Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto (Michael Fassbender) Raven Darkhölme / Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) the message is the same. No matter what element of your body makes you different, it will always be a source of pride and never shame.
A point at which the plot delves into some of its most memorable dialogues. Erik insists to Mystique on the need to show herself as she is. Hank McCoy/Beast (Nicholas Hoult) talks about fear of his nature. The film uses the context of the well-known heroes of the world of the X Men to analyze more complex topics.
Specifically, the way physical and mental characteristics are not something to hide. Rather, they are important parts of how identity is displayed in all its many nuances. A particularly hard and beautiful concept, that is subtly hidden between bare-knuckle fights and digital effects.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League
Beyond the endless controversy over the director’s cut and its impact on the defunct DC Extended Universe, one thing is evident. The way the filmmaker analyzed his superhero team is much more sensitive and profound than the way Joss Whedon did. Particularly regarding the character of Cyborg (Ray Fisher). In Zack Snyder’s version of the legendary superhero group, the tragedy of Victor Stone takes on specific importance.
Beyond his powers and abilities, this is a man who went through a traumatic physical experience from which he is still recovering. The script explores his recovery and also the mental journey it took for him to accept his amazing abilities. But behind the figure’s origin story, there is a clear message. Victor Stone/Cyborg, is a man wounded and scared by what happens to his body after his father tried to bring him back to life. A premise, that beyond its extremes of pure science fiction, explores humanity in an elegant and well-constructed way.
Cyborg, who begins his story journey isolated and terrified by the outside world, ends up joining forces with a group of extraordinary characters. But more than that, he finally understands that his body — and all of his quirks — make him valuable and unique. An idea to the subtext that Chris Terrio’s script takes to an emotional and sensitive dimension.
Daredevil
In 2003, director Mark Steven Johnson brought the story of Matt Murdock, the blind vigilante of Hell Kitchen, to the big screen. Already in the comic, the character is quite a rarity. Not only is he a lawyer who dedicates time and effort to lost causes. At the same time, he is a superhero who uses his notoriously sensitive senses due to loss of sight to fight crime. The result is a complex hero who makes it clear on several occasions that his blindness is not a limit.but a new expression of an amazing kind of power.
The film version — played by Ben Affleck, in his first foray into the genre — is not as interesting as the comic. Even so, it retains the undercurrent of turning an apparent physical limitation into a form of power.
Much more, to turn Matt Murdock into a symbol of good and justice from an unconventional angle. In fact, both the film and the comic make the character’s blindness an allegory between the light and the shadow of the moral realm. Something that the figure of the masked man also inherited in his television version, played by Charlie Cox.
Batman: The Killing Joke
Alan Moore’s founding comic came to the DC animated universe in 2016. And although it softened its cruel premise, it did bring one of the most controversial points of its plot to the small screen. Barbara Gordon (Tara Strong), also suffers a violent attack by the Joker (Mark Hamill) and He ends up losing the mobility of his legs.
But, that does not prevent it from becoming the center not only of the plot, but also of the fight against Gotham’s most powerful villain. Specifically, because the script for the feature film analyzes that the disability that Barbara suffers is an incentive for the character to find other ways to express her intelligence. The highest point of an irregular ribbon.