Anna Daniels
Some characters in film franchises get the brunt of criticism for being a waste of time because they become mere comic foils.
Everyone knows the general opinion about Jar Jar Binks in the Star Wars prequels, despite being reassessed recently. In the MCU, fans are scoping out similar characters, and it appears Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) is the new target.
Casual viewers of the MCU may need updating on who Darcy is. As a close friend and assistant to scientist, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Darcy was caught in the middle when Foster and Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) discover Thor in New Mexico. She appeared in two MCU movies: Thor and Thor: The Dark World.
Darcy is not a scientist and more a professional assistant. However, her being grounded in reality makes her observations about events unfolding a chance to bring some comedic irony. Not all fans agree on her being necessary, though.
What is it about Darcy Lewis fans think is pointless?
The general consensus on places like Reddit is that Darcy was just placed into the Thor movies to add some comical reactions back before Ragnarok became a comedy. From the MCU perspective, there was obvious thought to bring a little droll wit from a non-scientific sideline character.
Having an assistant bewildered about discovering Thor and everything in the periphery was a good idea from the outset. Such tropes have been done before to allow for funny reactions from someone thrown into incredible situations.
Some fans still think Darcy dumbed things down too much. As a contrast to the serious and pedantic Jane Foster, the writing team obviously wanted the character contrast to prevent the film from being a science movie.
Not all fans appreciate someone being planted in a movie just to bring laughs. If one can argue Star Wars events would still be the same without Jar Jar Binks, fans are insinuating the same with Darcy in the MCU.
Darcy Lewis still has some defenders
Just because a thread was started about this on Reddit does not mean everyone commenting agreed. More than a few thought she was a fun character, including being lovely to look at.
Yes, Kat Dennings is a beautiful and expressive actress. Her reactions to all the crazy things going on around her worked well, even if not needing to be there to progress the plot.
Another good argument is she grounds the Thor movies in reality as a buffer between Jane the scientist and the god Thor. From this writing construct, the defense of her makes sense.
The creative team at the MCU also agree since Darcy as a character is still going to be around.
Reportedly, Kat Dennings will return as Darcy in the upcoming Disney+ series WandaVision. She may end up being that buffer again in processing all the strange things going on in the world of Wanda Maximoff and Vision.
Maybe Darcy needs a reassessment from a few fans
Considering Darcy was also friends with Thor (including her having a crush), her reactions to interacting with superheroes might need some reexamination. If one can still argue she was just there to provide ironic laughs, Darcy is arguably better than Jar Jar Binks in not being annoying.
Split opinion will probably continue, especially as time goes on and the MCU films are more closely scrutinized. One comment on Reddit above was telling about the Darcy character: “I didnt mind her that much. Didnt love her didn’t hate her.”
Another comment dug a little deeper: “Her undercutting comic relief says what people are thinking, giving them permission to feel that way so they can laugh and then take the rest of the film seriously.”
With these observations, Darcy is now deemed a necessary character contrivance with more ambiguous opinion rather than a strong consensus of writing her out.
Written by: Cheat
