Masha
Over the past several years, the reaction to female characters by (almost exclusively) men who have deemed themselves the gatekeepers of all things film and comic book related has been both disturbing and laughable.
We saw this last June when The Last Jedi actress Kelly Marie Tran was bullied off social media simply for being the first lead female character of color in the Star Wars series.And we saw it again more recently when members of the right declared they would be boycotting the new Marvel movie Captain Marvel because it had a “feminist agenda,” and because lead actress Brie Larson didn’t “smile enough.” Seriously.
Larson had a perfect reply last fall, Photoshopping Marvel heroes such as Iron Man and Captain America from serious, unsmiling faces to give them giant, Joker-like grins.
On Wednesday, comic book writer Gail Simone penned a funny tweet making fun of the men who accused Larson of “not smiling enough” by calling out the absurdity of the sentiment. “The Punisher would be a lot prettier if he smiled more,” she wrote.
The Punisher would be a lot prettier if he smiled more.
— Gail Simone 💙💛 (@GailSimone) March 5, 2019
Simone hasworked on comic book titles like Deadpool, Batgirl, Wonder Woman, Wolverine, Justice League—and yes, The Punisher in her Agent X comics.
As always, there was IMMEDIATELY a man in her replies telling her she was wrong.
Lord please make sure I never embarrass myself on Al Gore’s internet like this: pic.twitter.com/jLkwlDFVpc
— shanna 🇵🇸🍉 (@shittybonmots) March 6, 2019
“Ummmmm, I know what you’re getting at here,” he wrote, before going on to explain how Simone—who was a writer for Deadpool—isn’t taking into context The Punisher’s backstory.
When Simone posted a photo of all the comic books SHE HAD WRITTEN, he only doubled down on his argument.
“Dude, between the two of us, which one has actually written the Punisher, do you think?” asked Simone.
Twitter wasted no time in roasting the poor lad.
This is the second time today I’ve used this GIF… pic.twitter.com/2W7BcrFOLD
— Thea Cooke (@Thearetical) March 7, 2019
He is such a Chad. He is one of the Chadliest of Chads to have ever Chaded.
— Caleb *facepalm* Gannon (@Yesyoucannon) March 7, 2019
I hate that this happens to her as often as it does but I love watching her make these dudes embarrass themselves.
— Parkey’s Participation Trophy (@SowaTheArrogant) March 7, 2019
Also, can we please just point out (I hope someone let this dumb young man know) that that IS exactly the point?! That sometimes characters have reasons that they don’t smile and insulting to demean them by caring about smiling and looking pretty over internal character traits?!
— Danny (@DNAlienPrime) March 7, 2019
The fact this dude went out of his way to mansplain to her even after she made it clear she knew what she was talking about explains a hell of a lot about things.
— AJ (@CrazyLASports) March 7, 2019
Whyyyyy do these dumb dudebros come after @GailSimone like this? It always ends in tears. https://t.co/TD6Bh05Nyw
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) March 7, 2019
On the bright side, it appears as though this particular mansplainer was able to accept that he was wrong, and even apologized after he was bombarded with (tbh rightfully deserved) disses.
Aww, happy ending tho!
It’s fun to see an arrogant butthead get knocked down a few pegs, but its heartwarming to see them genuinely apologize and come out a wiser, less buttheaded human. pic.twitter.com/2EDXHqzb6U— Steph’s Awakening IX™ (@PangolinFeets) March 6, 2019
“Sorry that I misunderstood you,” he wrote, before giving credit where it was due: “I made the mistake of not getting my facts straight before commenting. My harshness was uncalled for.”
Westan an apologetic ‘The Punisher’ fan.
So, alls well that ends well. And in conclusion:
I think the lesson here is: do not fuck with @GailSimone
— Colin Hanks (@ColinHanks) March 7, 2019
h/t Twitter
