美国国家公共电台 NPR--Latino superheroes are saving the day in Hollywood

Latino superheroes are saving the day in Hollywood

Latinos are a big part of the U.S. box office, and during the pandemic, they helped keep cinemas open. Last year, they were 24% of the movie-going audience, according to The Motion Picture Association. Many of the new blockbusters are superhero movies with Latinx actors or characters.

For instance, this year's Marvel¹ film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness features a 14-year-old Latinx superhero named America Chavez.

"She can punch star-shaped portals that allow her to travel throughout the multiverse and that is a power no one else really has," says Xochitl Gomez, who plays the live-action hero.

The first time we see Chavez on screen, menacing creatures chase her and Doctor Strange, and the superheroes talk to each other en espa?ol. "Spanish words. In a Marvel movie. That's huge," remarks Gomez.

Xochitl Gomez is a Mexican-American actress, known for playing the Marvel superhero America Chavez.

Marvel Studios

Gomez is excited about the Latinx superhero, who uses Mexican slang, wears a red, white and blue jacket and an LGBTQ plus pride pin. "Seeing how much it means to fans, especially young Brown girls, just going on this superhero journey... I get stopped on the street (by fans) going 'I feel so seen because you're there.'"

"There is validity when we see ourselves represented," says Victoria Alonso, an executive producer of Marvel Studios' biggest global film releases. She's being honored by the Hispanic Heritage Foundation as a visionary.

Alonso says she worked for many years to bring America Chavez and other diverse characters to the big screen.

"Superheroes give you the chance to dream of becoming someone with a different power," she says. "But at the end of the day, all of our stories bring you back to the power of you."

Coming soon are other superheroes played by Latina actresses: Colombian-American Sasha Calle is the new Supergirl in the upcoming Flash movie. Another Colombian, Rachel Zegler, will portray² a goddess with superpowers in Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

Unlike Chavez, these characters don't identify as Latina. In that sense, they're more like the TV superhero Wonder Woman.

But some Latina superheroes are struggling. The CW network recently dropped its planned TV series of Wonder Girl, the fictional³ daughter of an Amazonian warrior⁴ and a Brazilian river god. There's talk that Supergirl may not get her movie or TV series after Flash.

And then there's Batgirl.

Dominican Leslie Grace shot all her scenes as Batgirl before Warner Bros. Discovery spiked⁵ the movie, reportedly as a tax write-off.

Infuriated fans leak film footage and made their own online trailers with Warner Bros. as the villains⁶.

The Batgirl news worried fans about other DC superheroes, such as Blue Beetle⁷, whose feature film is set for release next summer.

"I'm not going to lie. There was concern, anger, fear at first," says Puerto Rican director Angel Manuel Soto. He says studio executives reassured⁸ him Blue Beetle won't suffer the same fate as Batgirl. "They told me not to worry, the film has their full support."

Actor Xolo Maridue?a stars as Jaime Reyes, who becomes "Blue Beetle" when he's implanted with super-powered alien armor. "He's kind of like a fusion⁹ of Green Lantern and Iron Man. He has a scarab from outer space that is attached to his body called Khaji da."

The 21-year-old actor, who also stars in Cobra Kai, says Blue Beetle is one of the oldest characters in the DC Universe. But this Blue Beetle is new.

"He's a first-generation Mexican-American kid from El Paso, Texas," Maridue?a explains.

Gareth Dunnet Alcocer wrote the screenplay for Blue Beetle, which follows the journey of Reyes and his entire family. "What would my mom do if an alien technology burrowed¹⁰ into my spine¹¹? She would not think it's cool," says Alcocer. "And for the Reyes family, this is terrible. 'We're going to get attention from American institutions, from the government, from military, from the police.'"

Alcocer says growing up in Mexico, he never related to ultra-rich superheroes like Batman or Iron Man. But he did enjoy a naive¹², accident-prone TV superhero from the 1970s: Chapulín Colorado.

El Chapulín Colorado was a satirical Mexican superhero in the 1970s.

Mexican comedian¹³ Roberto Gómez Bola?os, whose stage name is Chespirito, created the satirical character. He wore a red and yellow outfit¹⁴ with antennas¹⁵, and his power was just being a nice guy. Alcocer says, unlike the confident, powerful American superheroes, Chapulín Colorado is "just this wily, fallible, super-skinny, scared, slightly depressive guy."

There were other Mexican superheroes on film and TV: Kaliman, the Incredible Man had telepathic powers. And El Santo was a masked Lucha Libre wrestler¹⁶, a luchador who fought zombies, vampires¹⁷, Frankenstein and rivals like Blue Demon¹⁸.

"The oldest superheroes are the luchadores," says videogame industry promoter Hugo Abel Castro Duarte. At this year's Comic-Con in San Diego, he moderated a panel about Mexican superheroes.

"The luchadores were wearing Spandex in the late 1800s, way before Superman and Batman were wearing Spandex," he says. "So, we kind of joke around a little bit that they copied us in Spandex and their masks and their capes²⁰."

The Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny has been cast to play a luchador named "El Muerto" in an upcoming spinoff of Spider-Man. Over the years, Spidey has appeared in many guises²¹. In 2018, he was Miles Morales, an animated²², bilingual Puerto Rican kid in New York.

Onscreen, many Zorros have left their mark, portrayed²³ by actors from Douglas Fairbanks in 1920 to Antonio Banderas in 1998. Now, actor Wilmer Valderrama is developing a Zorro TV series for Disney. And filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and his sister Rebecca are working on a modern-day female Zorro.

Peruvian American filmmaker Alex Rivera is also working on Zorro 2.0 — a cyberpunk story about an undocumented kid named Oscar Vega.

Rivera says the original Zorro story, written in 1919, was based on the legendary²⁴ bandit Joaquin Murrieta from the 1850s. Zorro was Don Diego De La Vega in colonial California.

"By day, he writes poetry and complains that his back hurts. But then at night, he takes on this other identity as an avenger²⁵ with a mask and a cape¹⁹ standing²⁶ up for the poor," says Rivera. "This image of the rich man by day, avenger by night gets taken up by the people who create Batman. So I always say Batman has a Mexican father."

As Hollywood looks for ways to boost the box office and remain culturally relevant, Zorro, Blue Beetle, America Chavez and other Latinx superheroes are poised²⁷ to save the day.

1 marvel   

vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事

参考例句：

• The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.机器人是现代工程技术的奇迹。
• The operation was a marvel of medical skill.这次手术是医术上的一个奇迹。

2 portray   

v.描写，描述；画(人物、景象等)

参考例句：

• It is difficult to portray feelings in words.感情很难用言语来描写。
• Can you portray the best and worst aspects of this job?您能描述一下这份工作最好与最坏的方面吗？

3 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

4 warrior   

n.勇士，武士，斗士

参考例句：

• The young man is a bold warrior.这个年轻人是个很英勇的武士。
• A true warrior values glory and honor above life.一个真正的勇士珍视荣誉胜过生命。

5 spiked   

adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的

参考例句：

• The editor spiked the story. 编辑删去了这篇报道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They wondered whether their drinks had been spiked. 他们有些疑惑自己的饮料里是否被偷偷搀了烈性酒。 来自辞典例句

6 villains   

n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 )；罪犯；（小说、戏剧等中的）反面人物；淘气鬼

参考例句：

• The impression of villains was inescapable. 留下恶棍的印象是不可避免的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some villains robbed the widow of the savings. 有几个歹徒将寡妇的积蓄劫走了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 beetle   

n.甲虫，近视眼的人

参考例句：

• A firefly is a type of beetle.萤火虫是一种甲虫。
• He saw a shiny green beetle on a leaf.我看见树叶上有一只闪闪发光的绿色甲虫。

8 reassured   

adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The captain's confidence during the storm reassured the passengers. 在风暴中船长的信念使旅客们恢复了信心。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The doctor reassured the old lady. 医生叫那位老妇人放心。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 fusion   

n.溶化；熔解；熔化状态，熔和；熔接

参考例句：

• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc. 黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
• This alloy is formed by the fusion of two types of metal.这种合金是用两种金属熔合而成的。

10 burrowed   

v.挖掘（洞穴），挖洞( burrow的过去式和过去分词 )；翻寻

参考例句：

• The rabbits burrowed into the hillside. 兔子在山腰上打洞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She burrowed her head into my shoulder. 她把头紧靠在我的肩膀上。 来自辞典例句

11 spine   

n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊

参考例句：

• He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
• His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。

12 naive   

adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的

参考例句：

• It's naive of you to believe he'll do what he says.相信他会言行一致，你未免太单纯了。
• Don't be naive.The matter is not so simple.你别傻乎乎的。事情没有那么简单。

13 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

14 outfit   

n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装

参考例句：

• Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
• His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。

15 antennas   

[生] 触角，触须（antenna的复数形式）

参考例句：

• Marconi tied several antennas to kites. 马可尼在风筝上系了几根天线。 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Radio astronomy today is armed with the largest antennas in the world. 射电天文学拥有世界上最大的天线。

16 wrestler   

n.摔角选手，扭

参考例句：

• The wrestler tripped up his opponent.那个摔跤运动员把对手绊倒在地。
• The stronger wrestler won the first throw.较壮的那个摔跤手第一跤就赢了。

17 vampires   

n.吸血鬼( vampire的名词复数 )；吸血蝠；高利贷者；（舞台上的）活板门

参考例句：

• The most effective weapon against the vampires is avampire itself. 对付吸血鬼最有效的武器就是吸血鬼自己。 来自电影对白
• If vampires existed, don`t you think we would`ve found them by now? 如果真有吸血鬼，那我们怎么还没有找到他们呢？ 来自电影对白

18 demon   

n.魔鬼，恶魔

参考例句：

• The demon of greed ruined the miser's happiness.贪得无厌的恶习毁掉了那个守财奴的幸福。
• He has been possessed by the demon of disease for years.他多年来病魔缠身。

19 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

20 capes   

碎谷； 斗篷( cape的名词复数 )； 披肩； 海角； 岬

参考例句：

• It was cool and they were putting on their capes. 夜里阴冷，他们都穿上了披风。
• The pastor smiled to give son's two Capes five cents money. 牧师微笑着给了儿子二角五分钱。

21 guises   

n.外观，伪装( guise的名词复数 )v.外观，伪装( guise的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She took pleasure in the various guises she could see. 她穿各种衣服都显得活泼可爱。 来自辞典例句
• Traditional form or structure allows us to recognize corresponding bits of folklore in different guises. 了解民俗的传统形式或结构，可以使我门抛开事物的不同外表，从中去辨认出有关民俗的点点滴滴。 来自英汉非文学 - 民俗

22 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

23 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

24 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

25 avenger   

n. 复仇者

参考例句：

• "Tom Sawyer, the Black Avenger of the Spanish Main. “我乃西班牙海黑衣侠盗，汤姆 - 索亚。
• Avenger's Shield-0.26 threat per hit (0.008 threat per second) 飞盾-0.26仇恨每击（0.08仇恨每秒）

26 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

27 poised   

a.摆好姿势不动的

参考例句：

• The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
• Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。