Out of all the many ways that men have found to be condescendingly shitty to women over the millennia, few are as awful or innovative in their simplicity as telling a woman to smile. It’s really the ultimate in controlling, judgmental efficiency, throwing up more red flags than an overly prepared clown with the stomach flu, and it’s not anything we need bleeding into our beloved superhero escapism, either.
So honestly, some of the reactions to the recent Captain Marvel trailer—and specifically from people upset that Brie Larson isn’t grinning ear to ear while she’s crashing into video stores and kicking the shit out of evil old ladies—can honestly go fuck themselves. Certain quarters of the internet were apparently so incensed by Larson’s expressive but slightly subdued face, in fact, that they took it upon themselves to “fix” the trailer’s shots with face-scanning apps, slapping awkward grins on her face to match some pre-conceived notion of what a female superhero “should” look like.
Luckily, turnabout does, in fact, turn out to be fair play. And since we’re all suddenly so concerned about turning MCU frowns upside down, Twitter user Jane Ritt has made sure that Carol Danvers isn’t the only brooding crime fighter getting smiles painted on her soul:
Aw, Tony! You should smile more. You look so much more approachable and handsome when you do.