Choosing Empowerment (Avengers: Endgame Thoughts Part 2)

Source: https://thors-soft-cheeks.tumblr.com/

Fat and STILL WORTHY. Thank you to Thor’s Soft Cheeks for this (and for my Fit Fatties group on FB for posting it). After a lot of processing and reading of other people’s reactions to Fat Thor, this is where it lands for me. I choose to feel empowered. He’s been through A LOT. He’s lost his mother and father, his sister tried to kill him, he had to destroy the planet, he had to watch his people and Loki and Heimdall die at the hands of Thanos, nearly get burnt to a crisp trying to forge Stormbreaker, and THEN fail to kill Thanos before he can snap half the universe out of existence. Anyone would want to hide away and play Fortnite for 5 years.

But despite all of that and the depression and the PTSD… when he summons Mjolnir, he is still worthy. Still. Always.

And no matter what you’ve been through or what you’re going through or if your belly is soft or hard or your thighs rub holes in your jeans… YOU ARE STILL WORTHY. Still. Always.

Avengers: Endgame and THAT Moment

WARNING: Slight spoilers for events in Avengers: Endgame. If you haven’t seen it, go no further.

Endgame Poster

I’ve been ride or die for the MCU since pretty much Day 1. Over 10 years and 22 movies I have lived and died with the characters, acknowledging the problematic content along the way. The lack of women in lead roles (until Captain Marvel). The lack of people of color ANYWHERE much less in a lead role (until Black Panther). But there’s one area where Marvel, and really all storytellers, have to do better. Showing people of size.

Fatness is a hard one. Everyone who blogs about or posts about body positivity has, at some point, been critiqued with the same chestnut: You’re glorifying obesity! How dare you!

I am far too used to jokes made at the expense of bodies like mine. I barely blinked when Peter Quill was ribbed for having put on weight during Avengers: Infinity War.

And then Marvel put Chris Hemsworth in a fat suit. **shakes head** Don’t get me wrong, I loved Endgame. As a fan, it was everything I wanted the 22nd movie to be. But REALLY? I cringed when most of the theater laughed at the reveal of Thor’s newly fat body and I cringed again at every (admittedly pretty mild) jab at his weight and what he should do about it.

My feelings on the matter have been pretty complex, and since I’m new at this, I’m not going to try to sort them out any better than Your Fat Friend has in her latest post.

Fat shaming is never okay, in any context, and people telling stories that include fat bodies have to do better. We can start by normalizing fatness in the narrative and acknowledging fat fans.