I guess I'm gonna get some hate for this.
But it's NOT RACISM to dislike Sam Wilson. Or any other character.
It's NOT RACISM to think he shouldn't have been Captain America.
No one should have taken that role. In the comics, it was Bucky who got the shield at first. And you know what? He got beat up big time every other chapter. And every other character had to drop everything and run to save his ass. And he almost died in the nearest crossover with slightly stronger enemies. Why? Because Bucky in the comics is not a super soldier. And Walker wasn't much better in TFATWS. The level of threats Captain America faces aren't meant for the average person. No matter how trained. At least not to fight them openly hand to hand. Like the original Captain America would.
If the MCU were a little more realistic, we'd have literally every minor villain on Sam's tail trying to kill him so they could be the one who killed Captain America. While it's easier to do.
It's not even a question of whether he's morally worthy. Of course, he is. It just doesn't do him any favors.
I loved Sam as a supporting character. He was easy-going and fun. He can't be that way in a leadership position when he's in charge of the rest of the group. And seriousness doesn't suit him. It makes him less entertaining. I'm not saying Sam should be a chronically secondary character. I'm saying that in order to be his fun self, this character needs someone who is an equal. Not these guys that BNW gave him. This New Falcon guy is nice but he is not Sam's equal. He is a student looking up to him. And that girl... That was really, really bad. She was the most faceless, forgettable Marvel character I've seen in years. What even was her name?! Couldn't they at least have Sharon for this position? If they wanted a badass female character?
I checked the CABNW tag. And you know what?
A big part of it is that 5-minute scene with Bucky's cameo. Because what? Because these characters are equals and they work well together. There were also only like a couple gifs of this New Falcon guy. And literally nothing about the girl. Like she wasn't there at all. Also, almost nothing about the villains.
What does that mean? It means that unfortunately CABNW completely failed at creating a team and making the characters likable. It could have been so much better if we could have had someone Sam could interact with more interestingly instead of that girl. Someone equal.
And I have to say I really liked the plot and the ideas in the movie. But the character interactions were disastrously weak and it got in the way of exploring Sam's issues. So, to the casual viewer, Sam looks like a guy who is right and has almost no problems.
And this is the second time that Sam's character has suffered from the script's inability to explain itself. The previous one was in TFATWS with the "don't call her a terrorist" thing. I wrote a whole page about why Sam was right and Carly wasn't just a terrorist. https://www.tumblr.com/halfnekoslair/783726082544254976/tfatws-thoughts?source=share
But the question isn't what's true. Or who's right. The question is what someone who's just watching the show and not trying to think sees. And that person sees a moralizing character without seeing the reason. And because the script can't explain why that character is right in an obvious way... It's not nice. It doesn't serve the character.
So poor Sam has two projects where the script has failed him. In the first, the script failed to explain well why he was right and in the second, the script failed to give him someone to air his problems with or have the funny conversations that made Sam likable in the first place.
This is what led to the current situation. People hate Sam on account of the post credits scene. Because he looks like this moralizing guy who is right because he is right. Because of bad non-obvious writing. Not because of the color of his skin.
Now that I've spent some time thinking about it, I can say that Sam is doing the right thing to stop people like Valentina from using the Avengers name. That Val is doing to the group the same thing that happened to Walker in TFATWS and it will not end well. TBH, I don't even see Bucky being opposed to Sam in this (he just hates the naming thing in general and is frustrated that it's become a problem).
But it wasn't like that the first time I watched it. Back then I immediately texted my friend "OMG they're making Sam look bad! They're ruining his character!" and she was also really upset because she liked him and she didn't watch TFATWS or CABNW.
Why? Because of the emotions. Thunderbolts did a great job of playing on the audience's emotions. They didn't have the strongest plot. And the pacing was weird. And not all the characters got enough attention. But those who did worked perfectly. Watching the movie, it was easy to understand why this title of Avengers is important for the characters. This is recognition of them as heroes. This is their ticket from the dark side where they suffered. And it seemed cruel that someone would want to take that away from them. It made me angry at that person. On an emotional level. Without seeing the big picture and trying to figure out who is right.
I understand both sides of the argument. Both those who think Sam's right and those who criticize him. But the racism argument irritates me the most. It's not racism to dislike someone or think they're wrong. Giving the topic of alcohol to both characters of Russian descent is racism. Or at least disrespectful stereotypes. And everything I can say against Sam is based on a shitty script of his latest projects and not his origin. The race argument just devalues everything. It's like saying "it doesn't matter what you say, you're the bad guy."
Sorry if I offended anyone.