The MCU Madripoor sucks: A

Disclaimers first: I am actually, so far, liking The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. That's not the point. I can criticize something that I am enjoying, right? Now, let's go.

SPOILERS ahead, mute if that's something that'd bother you. (1/?)

First, the easy ones. Today's expected temperature range in Manila is 25 - 34 °C. In Singapore (which is close to where Madripoor is supposed to be), it's 24 - 32 °C. If you want me to believe people will wear these in SEA WITHOUT SWEATING, I don't know what to tell you. (2/?)

Baron Zemo thinks Madripoor stinks.

Is he sure he's not smelling himself? A FUR COAT. IN SOUTHEAST ASIA. (3/?)

Still on the easy ones. I get that Madripoor is supposed to be a multicultural, extraterritorial State. People from all over the globe live/exist there.

But I think it's reasonable to expext SOME Southeast Asians existing. Can you point out the Southeast Asians in the bar? (4/?)

So, on to more complex things. A lot of SEAsian maritime cities can be called "melting pots." (I know, I know, it's not the best term.) Multiple cultures syncretize with local customs to form some kind of unique identity.

Now, Madripoor is certainly "a mix." (5/?)

It has the skyline of... Hong Kong? KL's business district? Maybe. (6/?)

The streets are...I want to say generic gentrified port city? What cyberpunk thinks Asia looks like? Although IMO it's too clean. (7/?)

The song blaring on the streets is definitely Tagalog -> Filipino: (8/?) https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/04/02/21/shanti-dopes-amatz-featured-in-falcon-and-the-winter-soldier

And the container warehouse doesn't feel remotely Southeast Asian. I can't quite place a finger on why that is. Maybe it's the color palette? The goons looking Western? The trench coats? (9/?)

Aside: If you can find the movie Merantau (it used to be on Netflix?), it has a final act that occurs on a storage container "warehouse." It feels more apt to the location, maybe because of the red palette.

It tells you how metal containers + SEAsian sun = HOT. AS FUCK.

(10/?)

Anyway back to my point. Madripoor is definitely a mix of different SEAsian "token points," but it fails to melt them together IMO. SEAsian cosmopolities ARE multicultural, but there's usually an underlying identity to localize/melt around. Madripoor doesn't have that IMO. (11/?)

Granted this is easier said than done. If you pin the different cultures around a unifying, core identity, then Madripoor can no longer be "generic SEAsian place."

And that's what's bothering me: The very IDEA of a generic SEAsian city that Madripoor makes me think about. (12/?)

I am not writing off Madripoor. What we got in Falcon and The Winter Soldier was a first look, but in the future maybe the location can be fleshed out more. I hear the location is important to the X-Men franchise, so that's neat.

And wouldn't you know it, I have ideas! (13/?)

Idea 1: Madripoor needs street food. Seriously.

Photo (left): Cubao, Metro Manila
Photo (right): Somewhere in KL

(14/?)

Idea 2: On the streets, make it sweatier. Give it age, or make things seem like they are still under construction, Make paint strip off the walls.

Pics: Merantau again. Seriously check that movie out. (15/?)

Idea 3: We don't do "light drizzle on an overcast day."

It's either

SUNNY AS FUCK

or

OH GOD OH GOD IT'S RAINING SO HARD I NEED TO KEEP MY STUFF DRY

Combine hot and wet on the same scene.

Pictured: The Pasig River, along Guadalupe.

(16/?)

Idea 4: Add at least a little green! Even in the most brutal urbanscape, the tropical climate means that nature is always, always trying to grow back.

Image source: https://www.cio.com/article/3535805/luzon-on-lockdown-how-filipino-tech-leaders-are-responding.html

(17/18)

In summary, I'm the idea of a fictional, Southeast Asian pirate haven-city is neat. But Madripoor ended up having all the nods to Southeast Asia, while somehow being unable to feel like southeast Asia at all.

If the MCU ever returns here, they need to do a better job. (18/18)

PS. Can we look at the map again? I don't know if the MCU will follow the comics canon, but it's insane for me to think that Madripoor, an island that's pretty much in the Hell's Gate to the Straits of Malacca is "just" a pirate haven.

Wars were fought to control the straits.