Exsqueze me? But are you talking trash about Darcy Lewis, Queen of Tasers?
It’s one thing to not want her in Ragnarok but she is one of the most complex female characters in a long time.
1) Darcy Lewis is the only character in any franchise that has any actual common sense.
At the beginning of Thor, Jane and Erik want to drive into a tornado but Darcy has enough sense to stand up to her friends and say no.
She only drives into the storm because Jane grabs the wheel, forcing her to turn.
Do you know how rare it is for any character to have even a shred of common sense? So few that the concept should be renamed rare sense.
I know I don’t have to scream at the screen for the character not to do the stupid thing because if Darcy Lewis is there, she has enough sense to tell people not to do the stupid thing.
How many other MCU characters can you say that about? If your answer is anyone other than Phil Coulson, you’re the one self inserting fan fiction.
2) Darcy Lewis is the only female character who UN-appologetically defends herself.
Thor, a man who is much larger and physically stronger, who could easily overpower two young women and a senior citizen, who seems drunk/on drugs, starts to act belligerent and hostile.
The scared woman trope has been used for eons: lone woman hears someone breaking in so she grabs a baseball bat/knife/feather duster to defend herself. The audience is scared for her safety because she’s a poor, helpless maiden and he’s a big, bad predator.
But we’re not scared for Darcy. Why? Because Darcy Lewis doesn’t second guess her instincts. She has the confidence to keep herself and her friends safe!
Later, at the hospital when Jane tries to deflect her own blame by pointing out that Darcy tasered him, what does she say?
Darcy Lewis is PROUD of her actions, she owns her decision to keep her friends safe from Schrodinger’s Rapist.
Our sexist society says that women should be nice, even to their own detriment but Darcy Lewis is an example of putting yourself and your own safety before men’s ego & comfort.
I hope that more women in the real world decide to take a page out of Darcy Lewis’ playbook.
3) Darcy Lewis speaks her mind.
You know you were thinking it. For once the everyman trope is played by a woman and she does a fabulous job of being the audience surrogate but let’s put that asside.
Darcy Lewis is honest and doesn’t care about society’s expectation that women should stroke an ego as if her life depended on it.
4) Darcy Lewis IS the backup plan.
Even though she’s a poli-sci major, Darcy decides to go for an internship in the “hard” sciences with Jane. Armed with nothing more than her common sense, bravery and honesty, Darcy decides to follow Jane to London.
At one point in Dark World, both Jane and Erik fall off the map and SHEILD doesn’t returning her calls. Darcy makes the most logical call in the history of the MCU!
Sidebar here: how many times did you ask why the Avengers never showed up in Iron Man 3? I bet it was more than zero.
Darcy is left to deal with the Convergence, an actual-sci problem, by her poli-sci self.
She doesn’t fall apart, she doesn’t let her male intern take over the decision making, she just goes about saving the world the best way she knows how.
Darcy finds Erik and hatches a plan to get him out of the hospital and when the battle starts she doesn’t run away to hide, she does her part.
Men are funny and women laugh at their jokes. That is the pre-ordainded hierarchy of the world.
Only Darcy Lewis is having none of your chicanery. She is witty, sarcastic, dry, charming and knows she’s awesome. She doesn’t need your approval or support because at the end of the day she knows how to take care of business.
And she still gets her man.
