Warning: This article does contain mild spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Additionally, there are direct references to animal cruelty that may disturb some. Please read with care.
Even though Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is being decorated with all the praise in the world, the film is getting some bashing for the extreme levels of animal cruelty in the film. Many who don’t find the inclusion justified and feel that James Gunn has gone too far are either busy calling out the director or waiting for its digital debut so that they can skip the heartwrenching scenes. But one critic has even more problems with the film and thus ends up prompting the aforementioned scene-skipper to point out how futile their attempts to criticize the film are as its themes or its villain are not as fictional as many would like to believe.
After Quantumania’s Kang, even a moderately good villain would have appeased fans, but Vol. 3’s High Evolutionary exceeds expectations as a maniacal mastermind who is not swayed by misguided views of the greater good. He is unhinged, cruel, and one selfish man who deserves all the hate in the world.
But not everyone can digest the scenes where baby Rocket is brutally operated upon, tortured, kicked, and thrown around, other animals are experimented on, and the heartbreaking death of his friends Lylla (who made her secret MCU debut 10 years ago!), Floor, and Teefs. Given that the inclusion of animal cruelty in the film is pretty well known by this point, an MCU fan, like many others, is planning to binge the film after its digital release as they won’t be able to stomach the scenes even though they are still psyched for Vol. 3.
Gunn’s MCU swan song is also being lauded for not being afraid to highlight very real-world topics like child trafficking, corporation greed, and animal cruelty. Even those bothered by the latter accept that its inclusion was necessary for the film’s plot and the only reason they would not be seeing it right away is because not everyone can watch such scenes.
But evidently, a critic of the film had issues with the fact that it dares to include genocide and child trafficking as plot points as well.
Seemingly pissed with the accusatory tone of the observation, the one waiting for GotG Vol. 3’s digital debut alleged how America’s former president is practically the High Evolutionary in the real world.
While Trump continues to sink below the burden of multiple accusations — the number is slowly inching towards infinity — his past is peppered with yet more pointed at him. The Home Alone 2 has been accused of putting “children in cages” during his administration where he practiced “zero tolerance” when it came to migrant children. Thousands were separated from their parents or guardians and put in cages, which were initiated as a part of the mass-detention policy during Barack Obama’s administration. But it was only when Trump took up the Oval Office that children were taken away without any concrete plans in place for getting them back to their families
As for genocide, he has been accused of indulging in the same when he decided to ‘wind down’ the White House’s coronavirus task force (though he later reversed it) during the peak of the pandemic without taking into account the lives that would be lost because of his choice.
Of the gazillion fingers pointed at him, many also hold him responsible for the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria which resulted in the death of 90 civilians and displaced over 300,000 people. It was with Trump’s approval that U.S. forces, who had been stationed there to protect the Kurdish people residing in the area, were ordered to withdraw allowing Turkish troops to go forward with their military invasion.
Well, that is Trump’s multiverse of misdeeds. We are in MCU land for now, so even if we do set aside Trump getting dragged into a GotG conversation out of the blue, we do have to appreciate the brave attempt at making a fantasy film that gets its head out of the fictional cloud, and touches upon concerning real-life issues when big names in real-life are facing allegations of committing the same.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is currently in theaters.