The Walt Disney Company and Marvel appear ready to continue moderating their content back towards a more mainstream middle approach. That means preventing the release of a children’s cartoon episode that veers into very partisan territory. The Disney Plus show, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, produced by Marvel Entertainment, will not air a story called “Gatekeeper” that featured heavy-handed storytelling about girls’ sports and who should be able to play in them.
Frame taken from Disney Marvel Show
In the episode, which has been cancelled from ever appearing, a young person wishes to play in a sporting event with girls but controversy erupts over real world issues our society is debating in a heated way. The Disney show takes a definitive side in the debate, essentially siding with the idea that those who oppose traditional boundaries for who can play in girls sports are villainous. In fact, in the episode, the character attempting to maintain the more traditional concept of girls’ sport rosters just so happens to be a supervillain. It’s a battle over identity and what the boundaries are; the episode decidedly presents a very binary choice of right versus wrong, good versus evil, for children… over a topic that many families vehemently disagree upon.
John Trent, Former Editor for That Park Place, Tackles Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
Yet, in a twist from Disney and a break from their recent history, they’re pulling the plug on the controversial content.
It’s not the first time we’re seeing Disney change their ways over the last week. While a former writer for Marvel was losing her mind over the election, almost nobody in Marvel proper has publicly gone on such a tirade.
‘Captain Marvel’ Writer Kelly Sue DeConnick Breaks Down After Donald Trump’s Election Win pic.twitter.com/ur5bk7ysvX
— Rosary Warrior John F Trent🇻🇦 (@jftrent) November 15, 2024
A rundown of the episode by Polygon gives us a pretty good idea of why Marvel might be keen to keep the episode off-air… and keep their employees quiet about it as well.
Early in the episode, “The Gatekeeper,” Brooklyn recalls her time spent playing soccer and “the darkness of me having to play on the boys team.” Brooklyn’s comments about her athletic past are overheard by the opposing team’s coach, Greer (played by Amy Sedaris), who tries to have the teenager disqualified from the game. But Brooklyn’s coach, gym teacher Coach Hrbek, tells Greer, “Brooklyn IS a girl, and she’s gonna play.” The episode then veers into supervillain territory, as Greer uses a magical key to confine Brooklyn, her teammates, and watergirl Lunella in the girl’s locker room.
— Michael McWhertor, Polygon
Though Disney has worked hard to keep things quiet and employees behaving well, it’s not gone in an entirely smooth fashion. On Friday, November 15th, someone went rogue and uploaded the entire un-aired, cancelled episode onto YouTube. It has since been removed. The show itself is also wrapping up its final episodes, not being greenlit for a third season.
Let us know what you think about Disney’s sudden moderation efforts in the comments below. Do you believe this will continue or do you think the House of Mouse will return to pushing divisive positions once more?
