Tony Stark Avengers

Avengers: Age Of Ultron, A Huge Backlash That Cannot Be Washed Off

Avengers: Age of Ultron criticized after Robert Downey Jr. aka Tony Stark cracks an inappropriate joke.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe, The MCU, is home to the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy and trademark cameos by Marvel Comic Co-founder Stan Lee. The MCU is produced by Marvel Studios, now under the ownership of Disney. It is an interconnected universe of films, 23 at this time that began in 2008 with Marvel’s Iron Man.

An interconnected narrative of this magnitude was a first in filmmaking. Many Disney fans criticized the acquisition feeling Marvel didn’t fit into the ethos of Disney. But with the further success of MCU films, such as The Avengers, critics were silenced, Marvel characters found their way to the Disney Parks, and Marvel found a home at the House of Mouse. But recently, the most debating topic came up from Avengers: Age of Ultron where Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) was summoned for making an inappropriate sexual joke on Women.

Avengers Age of Ultron
Avengers: Age of Ultron

The Fallacy

Avengers: Age of Ultron is written and directed by Joss Whedon, an acclaimed creator of strong female characters and vocal supporter of gender equality. But Whedon also likes fiddling around with antiquated language — like Loki’s infamous line to the Black Widow in The Avengers. The pointed-out scene was the one where Thor (Chris Hemsworth) challenged the Avengers to give a try to pick his Mjolnir. When Tony’s turn came, he said “Reinstating Prima Nocta”, that’s where it got flawed.

Avengers Age of Ultron Tony Stark
Avengers: Age of Ultron

The phrase prima nocta, based on the Latin “first night,” is shortened and corrupted from just primae noctis, “right of the first night.” It generally names an ancient tradition in which all noble lords, whether kings or dukes, had the right to have sex with any of their female subjects—regardless of their will and even with a virgin bride—on her wedding night.

It was revealed that Batman in Zack Snyder’s Justice League might be dropping F-Bombs and other people opposed it. Tony Stark’s sexual joke was introduced again to the controversy. A person wrote, “It’s darkly hilarious that people are more upset about Batman cursing than they were about Tony Stark making a rape joke in Age of Ultron

Hey, I'm Shreya Thakur, a college student, a devotional cynophilist and a strong-armed Marvel fan. My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way. I try to fill the paper with the breathing of my heart.