Episode 70: America Chavez

it though, Yes I was. I was on. I was on krilling it back when I had like early bowl my hair. Yes, yes it's a little longer in tamer, but like I had the bangs and anything back when I was like a blue circle. This is This is how I know that you're one of my best friends because you've literally never asked me to be on this show, whereas like random people that don't know if he and I are like put us on your show, and then you're like one of our closest friends, and you're like,

I'm just happy you're doing well. I'm just happy for you guys. Well, I'm happy for you too. On TV at L Ray Network, which is Robert Rodriguez's channel that you're on, and our good friend Hector Navarre, who has been on here, is also a host with you. I got it's such a blast. I It's the first job I've had in a while where they just really let me let my freak flag fly, Like, let me get as weird as I want to be and as niche

as I want to be. Like we have an episode coming up, or I teach like a fifteen minute Kaiju class and they let me get really in depth. I I love it. There, please tag it, We'll share it. Uh. And then across from me, we have writer and host Tony Sanchez is. I'm very, very happy and excited to be here. You and I have been on a couple of panels at at different comic cons at the cons together. Yes,

I like them all. I love them all because I mean they've been essentially the same panel, which is talking about represent a shin and it turns into that yeah, and it turns into just basically just we I think, uh, Tamara Brooks Brooks, you know, wrangles together a really great group of people and we just kind of sit there and talk about, you know, the world of of fiction and geeky fiction in particular, and how it's sort of just reflects the world around us and what we could

be doing better and how people could be supporting just quality representation in general. So I've had a blast on every single panel with Danny so he yeay. Uh. So we've been starting our podcast with what we're geeking out about, Vanessa, I was going to start with you. Uh, what I've really been seeking out about is the announcement for the

new Creep Show series that's going to be coming out. Um. I really love I love horror, and I love horror as told in vignettes like to my favorite things that influenced me a lot growing up, uh where the first two Cryption movies and Tales from the Crypt Uh. And I feel like a lot of a lot of horror things that come out now are really fun, but they're also like very art house and bleak. And it's not that I don't like them, it's just they could be

exhausting when that's all you really have. And creep Show at its heart has always been really fun. Uh, It's always been Yes, it's a horror bet at the end of the day, it's really fun and entertaining and sometimes silly. If you've seen the second movie, it gets real silly. Uh So I am so pumped for the series to actually like come out and be a thing because it also gives like really great indie horror writers and directors a spotlight that they wouldn't otherwise get to have. Yeah,

when is it coming out? God? What was it released? State? So is it doing something that Halloween Hornets? It's also doing something at Halloween Hornets. And here's the exciting thing about it at Hornet's is not only are they like working stuff from the current show that's about to come into it, but also there are going to be elements of the first two movies in the maze, So it's going to be like a full encapsulation of the Creep Show franchise as a whole. Um twenty nineteen is when

they yeah, they don't really say, I bet. I'm imagine it's before Halloween. May. Yeah, it's probably gonna be before Halloween. Does that mean that you'll go to Horror Knight's with me? Yes, it's my first Night's. Yeah, because you know I could have sworn that you said no when I asked you. You know, they give me tickets and everybody says no. If he says no, Danielle says no, nobody wants to go,

So you're gonna go. I'm I'm finally gonna do it, okay, because like I had, I'm finally like turning around on I love horror, but I'm like really bad about horror mazes. Uh. And I think it's because, for I was working on an article where I had to go to like horror mazes where they can touch you. Uh no no, And after doing with three of them in a row, I was like, I'm good for like five years. Uh. And now I'm like working my way back into horror mazes.

And but now that they're fun again, Yeah, because writing it down in my planner, Ate, Tony, what about you? What are you geking out about? As always, I'm always rewatching Golden Girls. It seems like, um, it's so obvious, like watching rewatching it as an adult where I'm like, God, this is everything that is me, And it's so obvious that I watched it a lot as a kid and everything just sort of informed my personality and my study. Like I was at Target the other day and my

sister was like, well, what are you looking for? And I'm like, I just sort of want this like late eighties like Florida Pastel chics, and I'm like, I'm describing the Golden Girl, so like that's exactly what I'm describing in the poem. Yeah, exactly. Um. The other thing that I'm thinking out about is that I'm prepping for a dragon Con, which is like my mecca. It's like my Recharge Con in Atlanta, Georgia, and it's like all my weird costplays get to come out and play, not just

like you know, popular superhero spandex costplays. So like, for example, like this is what's happening with my costplays. It's like Carmen san Diego, Benny the Cab from Roger Rabbit. This is why, Yes, Tracy term Lad from Hairspray. I rewatched Drop Dead Gorgeous last week and I've decided to go ahead and bring the physical Fitness number where they you know, dance with the freshly painted step ladders and they end

up with blue paint all over them. I'm bringing that to life too, So I yeah, I just really really loved the opportunity to make really obscure a niche cosplays where it's like ten people are going to like recognize it, but those ten people are gonna be so excited, and so I'm just really excited for just really silly little cosplays. What's your Tracy outfit? My Tracy eltfit. It's the Roach gown.

It's the Miss Auto Show. Like and the last time I wore this, I had some like teenage girl come up to me and she thought that I was dressing up as Alaska from RuPaul's Drag Race because Alaska wore this, I guess on some reunion special and I was like, your clothes, you're so close and it's not your fault because you're twelve, but no, it's Tracy. So yeah, I it's my favorite con ever, Like if you ever just sort of like, wow, would I ever do that? Like

Dragon Con is the place to do that. I dressed up as Rod Sterling one year at l a comic con, but like and I had to put the spiral behind me. I had a little cigarette which I couldn't like, and I had like his eyebrows drawn in, and I was wearing a suit but the suit with the cigarette. People were like pulp fiction but like but it was because I would pull the spiral out of my back, so like I didn't have to walk around. I had the spiral like taped to a yardstick so you could tell.

But then yeah, without the prop but yeah, looked amazing. It was fun. It was fun. And my friend Mark Ellis was one of the pig doctors from one of the episodes. I was going to say, I have trauma with Benny from uh from who frame Roger Rabbit because he's always broken down Disneyland. If you live in l A, you know, or southern California, you know what we're talking about.

That right, is always broken down. I've written it once out of like the hundreds of times that I've been for an hour and then you get to the front and sorry rides down. Yeah yeah. Also the shoe, the dipping of the shoe. I just can't handle it. There was a Guay last year. He showed up as doctor and he had the full oil barrel with like glowing like green google coming like you know, it was obviously just a light effect, but I literally was like, you're

a horrible monster, and I walked away from him. What are you going? As the antelope from the Lion and he was the Wilder Beast, I mean that holding and he would like that was his whole deal. He had the actual shoe with like a sad little expression on his face, holding over the oil barrel, and I was like, you're a monster. I am convinced anybody that caused plays as Judge is a sociopathlete going as a hunter, that hurt that killed baby's mom. What are we doing here?

Oh god, um, we are here today because we're talking about one of our favorite superheroes of all time, and that is America Javes. Correct man, what is y'all's first introduction to America? My first introduction to America jav Is. I knew she existed when she was first created and she was with the Teen Brigade, but like, I never really read read anything with her. My first introduction was issue one of the jam Kelvey and Karen Gillen Young

Avengers Run. Just because she was right on the cover, run and center, you knew exactly who she was when she was about she had this great denim jacket and like high top sneakers and these like little black shorts. The hoop earrings was what a thousand percent sold me. But I've read all of her stuff since then, but that was my introduction to her and the personality that they gave her. Just surly and take new prisoners, what

about you, tony um Tumbler. Really that's such a funny way to find a superhero totally because it was like people that were really really pumped about this new character because I wasn't reading, you know, the comics that she was appearing when she was debuting, So all of a sudden, she just started showing up on my timeline and not just like bit by bit, like consistently, and I was like,

what is going on? And it's just people writing these I don't know if you've been on Tumbler, but it's a wonderful place for thing pieces and people to just like geek out with like entire five you know, page essay about what they love about this character. And I was like, this sounds like literally like a dream come true, like a queer Latin, a strong, you know, superhero who

dresses in streetwear and denim and combat boots. I'm like, this is literally everything I was ever asking for as a kid, and it just it just like blew my mind of just like this is obviously everything that I've been looking for, and it's here. How amazing is that? Yeah? So for people that don't know, or you're like, who's America Chaves? Which I still get some people, how does

that happen? Even in our community? Literally all the time, I was literally on a shoe for you know, uh, an online influencer and uh I had some of the books out, you know, the West Coast Avengers books, and they were like, oh what are you doing. I'm like, well, I'm going to be talking about America Chavez later Like who? And I'm like Miss America America Chaves Like oh, that's her name, Like, yeah, well, where have you been? Hello?

She's like the biggest Latina superhero? Um? Well yeah. So. America Chave is also known as Miss America, is from Marvel Comics. She was created by Joe Casey and Nick Dragoda. Um. She's the second character to use the monica Miss America after Madeline Joyce, and she first appeared in Vengeance number one back in September of eleven, before she ended up starting in her own ongoing series, America, which launched March

seventeen by writer Gabby Rivera. Uh So, she's Marvel's first Latin American lgbt Q character to start in an ongoing series Pretty Dope, And actually Gabby has a Ted talk up about how she was asked to write America and then um like the stories that weren't important to her.

And I love that Ted talk. Yeah, it's uh, it's a really sweet Ted talk because she really talks and touches on something that I think is a reason a lot of people love the American Job as character, and that is women of color, especially women of color in superhero type roles, never get to really be soft. Uh. And if we are soft, were soft in a way that's very like broken, and people don't respond to it well.

Uh And and a big part of that is, both in comics and in reality, Latina's tend to have to be very strong for the outside world, but at home is the only time we can feel that that softness, that that world weary weakness. And that Ted talk is gorgeous because Gabby talks about seeing her aunties and her mom and the women in the Bronx that would leave their softness at home and how much she wanted to

push that onto that character and allow her to be soft. Yeah, she even talked about I mean, I think just people in color in general, don't really get the luxury of like whenever you cry, it's like, suck it up, don't let them see you cry, like you know, you need

to move on, like we don't have. It's also a reason why therapy has been such a debated issue and so so taboo and some of these communities, because it's just like you don't have the luxury of just going of you know, of just they're doing real life things, you know, to them. It's like I can't cry about I can't go to therapy and cry about depression or

relationship what I might get shot by the cops. Like it's just you know, it's like you're it's it's just this this universe, this world in which you're right where you you have to constantly be strong at all times. And so she talks about that, uh in that Ted talk. But yeah, so America. I was introduced to America Chavez actually from Christopher Smith Bryant, who is a comedian and he's been on a couple of our our episodes. Uh, and he I think was reading Young Avengers, like you

have to read this series. There's like a character you have to there's someone in here that I think that you're going to really love um. And then I saw her and I'm like, oh cool, she looks like me, Like she literally looks like me, and she has my jaw. Um. So I was like, dope, another cool thing because I get teased about that and I think, uh, I don't know. I think superheroes. Another thing that Gabby talked about and that Ted talk is she was like, I don't look

like a superhero. I don't look like how superheroes have been made forever. So I didn't think that that that was like something possible for me. Um and for me to see like, oh, she has you know, thick curly hair, she has gorgeous lips, she has like you know, all of these things that I think are are are beautiful but have been kind of shut out of strong, full body, like you know, I'm just excited to see it. Yeah,

she's all thighs, she's she is um okay. So, so diving into the character of America, did one of you want to talk a little bit about her back story? I don't like where she comes from or her personality. Yeah. Um, so backstory. She's from an alternate dimension called Utopia. She was Autopian parallel Utoonian parallel, and she was raised by two moms, uh, which if you have one Latina mom, you can only imagine how two of them would shape

you into becoming a human being. And when she was six years old, both those moms um when the Utopian parallel was under threat, basically sacrifice themselves to close of a black hole. And that was when, uh. Shortly thereafter, she took it upon herself to stick on her own and prove her own abilities as a hero and essentially ran away into different dimensions because guess what, she can

kick holes in a different dimensions. That's one of my favorite descriptions of her power because anytime somebody's like, what does America do, it's like, she's really strong, and she's really fast, and she has superstantama and also she could punch holes into different universes and dimensions there in the shape of stars. Yeah. And then she eventually joined the

teen Brigade. So when she joined the Teen Brigade, initially it was to help um free the in between her because I believe he was under Loki's clutches at the time. Um Or Loki was trying to recruit him and she was almost she was basically co lead of the Team Brigade Team Brigade with Ultimate Nulla Fire, and that's kind of when she also started to experiment with her sexuality because she briefly had like a fling with him. They kissed,

but it wasn't really her thing. Eventually, with the Team Brigade, it let down. It like led to a battle in Latin Area against Doom, and then she at the beginning of Young Avengers, which is when you see her again later when she chases Young Loki to Earth to one too, she only really says about because she abruptly left the Teen Brigade. We broke up due to musical differences, and

that's all she'll say about it. Uh. And then eventually from Teen Brigade for when she chases looking down to Earth two one two that she finds herself on six one six, and that's where we start the Young Avengers. Yeah, yeah, you know, I'm just I'm looking at something. I didn't realize that. She also appeared in the Hawkeye series. Okay, it says in a possible future depicted in the second volume of the Hawkeye series an adult America, Chavez is a member of Shield I wasn't aware of that and

has taken on the mantle of Captain America. Wouldn't mind that happening. Ye, wouldn't mind that happening whole whole bunch. That would be holidayptacy. Um. Yeah, she was briefly in the hockey comic just because she's very frequently find you find her with a Kate Bishop. They're very close, both from Young Avengers and several comics onward. Because I know there was one arc where she ended up being hunished to work for Shield because she broke several intimate interdimensional

laws by throwing a shark. It's a if you ever get a chance, look up why that happened and look up those panels. She's just throwing a big gash shark. I love that stupid arc so much. Um. Yeah, So, Tony, what were some of your favorite moments from Like America

that you remember reading? I remember just well. The whole premise of it is that we've reached a point past you know, her being on Team Brigrade and also being part of Young Avengers, and now she's attending college and she's going to Soda Mayor University, named after the first Latina Supreme Court justice, so do Mayor. And it's like there's an actual hologram of judges so to Mayor just like greeting the students and saying like, hey, everybody, welcome

to my university. And I remember, just, um, you know, one of the big you know, just spreads, you know, the two page spread is a campus map, and that's so cool. And I just was like I was actually reading this, like I got to know this because I eventually want to go to this place. And there's, oh god, what is the name of it. It's something called like the Department of Radical Women and Intergalactic Indigenous People's or

something like that. And I just was like, I'm never going to read that anywhere else but in this book. And I love this book so much because of just

that one little detail. And from that point, I mean that's only I think maybe the fourth or fifth page at that point, but at that point, I was just I was hooked, and I was just like already, just something as simple as just the fact that there is a university, you know, filled with like super genius people and other people who have abilities, and that is named after such a pivotal, you know, person in history, and I think is that the comic where we met her

girlfriend too, well, we meet um. Actually the book starts with her reuniting with Lisa, her girlfriend, and it's not long before Lisa and America kind of go their separate ways. Lisa says, like, you know, we're not heading in the same direction, and America just kind of, you know, punches a hole into the universe and just goes off. But I think I remember her picking her up and is that Do you remember that? Which one am I thinking of? Maybe? I think where she like shows up on the doorstep

and she picks her up and takes her to the department. Yeah, yes, no, that is the one I'm thinking I remember that. It was very like you were saying, it was super soft.

Here she is picking her up and she's kind of like straddling, and then like the next shot is obviously like you know, after sex, and you know they're just sort of like snuggling in bed and starting out with an extremely intimate moment, which was really cool that they got to do from Marvel Comics is like huge, you know, mainstream thing to have this intimate moment between this this superhero and it wasn't played for like you know, salacious value. It was just like, no, this is just a really

sweet moment between two people. This is an opportunity for her to allow to put her guard down. Yeah, so you Vanessa where came into the studio wearing America Javas jacket? You want to talk about some of her fashion because I know that you love her her cause play is legit, like when I love when I see America cause play. But what are some of your favorite things that she's

or some of her favorite outfits? Like, I every single person that's like jumped onto the America Chaves story from like when we first saw her to like now with the West Coast Avengers, everyone's had their turn it like because she's a really fun one to like do different

kinds of fashions and costumes for. But my absolute favorite is everything single thing that she wore in The Young Avengers running because kind of like the way, like the way briand the O'Malley like changes his character's outfits to like show where their heads at and what their current mission is, there's a lot of that with her. My absolute favorite ones is one that I referred to as

a very danny outfit. She's got like these high waisted stretchy black leggings that and she's just like all booty and thighs. And she's got like these like high top sneakers that are just gorgeous, and this like American flag crop top sweatshirt, huge hoops, like a low ponytailer that

she's always fighting in her hoops. She's always fighting in her hoops, or like the one that she initially walked in on that inspired the jacket that I'm wearing, which is like the little black short shorts and a blue shirt with like a star on it, the hoops and then just like the curls everywhere she everything that she wears has always been very age appropriate, like young style,

like streetwear. And I think a big part of that is that it makes so it makes a reader at home, especially like a young Latina reading, it make her feel so much more accessible to you because it's not like a giant spandex leotard or it's not like a cape. It's something where you're just like, that could almost be me. What also makes sense that you would fight fight crime in that. You know, she's certainly uncomfortable. Yeah, yeah, she's comfortable. Yeah.

Also love that she frequently refers to Loki and that comic as Chico because I stand a queen that talks down to men. We are going to take a really quick break and they're gonna hop back into More America Chabas right after this and we're back. So still talking about her outfit because we haven't fully covered it yet. But one thing we didn't mention that it normally is

a variation of the flag in some way. Yes. Uh, it's usually like there's quite a few where she has like a trucker hat where it's like the fallon American flag on the front. It's very like a full denim outfit era early two thousands, Brittany. Uh, like the mesh bag trucker hat with the flag in the front. Those Von Dutch hats, She's got a Von Duch hat. Von Dutch store on Melrose is open for business. I walked in and I was like, Wow, this is so timeful.

They can pay like two dollars for those hats anymore. Let me tell Popping again and I have that. I know that. Oh my gosh, I'm looking and I am not liking okay, um sorry, yeah. So so, red, white and blue is typically a part of her outfit. Yeah, because a big part of it is she the Miss American Moniker is very much like like you had brought up earlier during your break that it's very much a

manage to Metal and Joyce. Yes, Um, I think there's a lot of I mean, because there's a lot of patriotic inventry that can be found just within Marvel comics in general, but especially if you're talking about those specific characters that have had the America name as a part of their name, you know, Steve Rogers, Madaline Joyce, and even just talking about how, um, you know, the Puerto Rican flag obviously a derivative of the American flag, And I mean there's like a lot to play with there,

and there's just you know, reading through the Gabby Rivera books, you know, just looking at some of the images. I mean, because obviously these these artists can just do anything in cloth or however they want. So sometimes it's not even in the shape of stars or or stripes. Sometimes it's a gold eagle patch, you know, on on the on the back pocket of her jeans. Maybe it's a choker with a white star, and maybe that's more to allude to the fact that she punches star portals into you know,

into the air um. There's just a lot of imagery to play with, which is awesome and nice just because it's great to see a dark skin Latina character just sort of representing the idea of America. Maybe she's not representing the United States of America so much, but we as the readers are meant to sort of interpret it

that way. Yeah, It's it's something that you see a lot with superhero stories where something like you can even trace it act to like Superman, where it's like, on my home planet, this means uh, you know, this means X. But here this is what it translates to this and it just so happens to like coincide with the colors and iconography of your country. You see this with Captain Marvel, and like those are two examples of Aliens versus the

Wonder Woman. You know, the whole thing was like, you know, her whole red, blue and gold was that, Well, I'm going to return you know this, Steve, you know, Steve Trevor, back to the you know, to America, and I'm wearing America's colors in order to denote that I am an ally and not just you know, So there's a lot of ways in which comics in general have been able to play with the idea of red, white and blue and gold and America and the whole like you know,

just patriotic, you know, paraphernalia. So yeah, it's it's it's always it's been frequently used, not so much like because Captain America is he's from Aviously, but when it's when it's worn by an alien and an alien being, especially like America Chava as it's very much like I am one of you, I'm an ally and I'm adopting this

place as my own, and this is my home. And it when you see it with characters like um, like Wonder Woman, it's impactful, but more so especially when it's like a character that's coated as Latina, because it's very much like, this is the home that I've adopted and I am like I'm I protect you now, um, I'm

I'm one of I'm one of you. I love it is because it kind of reminds me of on a fourth of July this year, I want to go see a wrestling show, and one of the main through lines that they had was it was like a tea party style thing, but the people that were defending America were luchadors wearing American flag masks. So it's one of those like it's one of those things where you like see an amalgamation of two worlds where it's like you don't have to be exclusively from here to where the colors

from here be be one of us. Yeah. One of my favorite things that I have framed in my living room is her Beyonce cover So America Chaves. We will tweet this out if you haven't seen it. They did a variant cover of her that matched Beyonce's Lemonade Um and I think even they tweeted out when it was released and it was like, okay, ladies, let's get information and just and it just all it said. It's her looking badass as hell, and again she's in a red, white and blue. She has the top hat and then

above it it just says America. And it's so like, it's just like this is America. I am America and and I represent America and I belong here, and it was just so powerful. I like got it and I was like, oh my gosh. And I'm a couple of them. I think I also have um, well Joe Kenons did uh it does the artwork for for America with the Gabby Rivera run but um and also follow him on Instagram just constantly making amazing art. But yeah, I mean

it's just so I agree with you all. I just love the fact that it just had the singular word that it was like America, this is us, this is who we are, and it looks like me, And it was just so powerful And I'm excited that we're doing this episode so more people can find out about her. As we were speaking, kind of parallels to Captain America and and um then being patriotic. We also get to see her punching Hitler. Yes, so that was without question or hesitation. Yeah, so that was it needs It's like

a necessary thing. Like I feel like anytime someone gets to write a comment, especially that you know has an American Viber character that represents America, it's always I got to find that one what we have a wonder woman punching um him and Ned and h Captain America and

all of Yeah. So it's just really great. So yeah, so part of her coursework at Soda Mayor University is that she takes a class called don't quote me, but I think it's called Intergalactic revolution revolutions and you and she's given uh an assignment by her teacher that you know, you need to figure out how to essentially make a revolution successful and how are you going to do that?

And you're now your project is to go ahead and basically research you know, somebody a famous revolutionary throughout you know, the entire galaxy that has gone ahead and created a successful revolution. And now you're going to basically create some sort of project that you know, just shows off everything that you've learned. And because she can punch you know, portals through time or through space, she's now figured out that she can time travel to now and so she

ends up going back in time World War Two. She ends up on the battlefield. She literally pushes Captain America out of the way in order to punch Hitler. But ultimately the story that's not even the big lead. The story is that she meets with Peggy Carter, who basically imparts some advice to her about you know, you need

a plan. You just can't go around punching people as satisfying as that maybe, And you know, that's basically the rest of the story, and she ends up meeting Storm from the X Men the same way too, but it's nine eighties punk Storm, which is the best Storm ever. So it's yeah, it's just her kind of like going through and meeting these amazing women who are able to basically impart more whist into her so that way she can become a better superhero and a better you know, revolutionary.

I remember that Ted talk, Gabby was saying that she wanted the first black female superhero to meet the first queer Latina superhero. Um, and that's why she had that introduction with Storm. Yeah, I love eighties Storm too. That maybe one of my favorite Storms because I was obsessed with her romance with Forge. It's it's my favorite superhero compling.

Coupling like what forged in the eighties. Telling Storm that she's just like a fascinating woman is the version of like a dude calling you a rare one today, where it's just like, oh man, did I is it warm in here? Or did you just compliment my entire being. One thing that I forgot to say was that, um,

this is inspiring. But Gabby actually she wrote Juliet Takes a Breath, which was a novel that she wrote and after and it had wide praise from Roxanne Gay, from like a lot a lot of people that just really resonated with it, and so much so that Marvel reached out to her. Marvel reached out to her to write it.

And that kind of reminds me of a tnahs Coat who ended up getting to write for Black Panther because he had between the World and Me and his other works, and then it was kind of just like he was given this opportunity to write. I just find that so fascinating that you don't necessarily have to go specifically into comics. If you're a great storyteller, you know you have that opportunity.

That's what they're looking for. So that has a unique I hate saying this because it is what they say to us in UM and like meetings, like you have a unique worldview, and it's like, no, it's not, actually, it's just that it's something that you personally haven't seen before. But um, what I would like to say is experience

someone that has experiens in a story to tell. Yeah, yeah, so I loved I love that as well, that they that they hit her up about that America is such an interesting vehicle for whoever writes for her, because you can really see what their passion points in identity are. Because in her run with Gabby Rivera, you can really see that a lot of what Gabby wanted to talk about is just like really showing like the strong Latina's

in her life. And one of the things I really love about her and the Young Avengers run is she's the kind of character I wish I saw in things like the Buffy and Charmed verse as a kid, where very frequently the Latina characters were you were usually like magical helpers that would just kind of exist as like something that was killed off or like a wacky best friend.

Pretty quickly, I wanted to see like that surly bad girl that was more about punching than talking it out, and so I got to got to get that a lot in like some of her teen stories, just because

very frequently we're assistants were not the story. Um. What I also love about it is that she's really grounding the story and this idea of exploring ancestral knowledge and it's you know, the vehicle being you know, time travel and dimensional travel, where she does get to meet Peggy Carter and storm, and eventually it does lead to her discovering that she has a grandmother, a surviving grandmother, um, and she goes on this journey of just self discovery

and you know, self affirmation to you know, discover that there is more in her than she realizes that she does have family and that she does have a connection. And because she really does start you know, the story just sort of believing that she's very much alone. Lisa has broken up with her she's literally living in a van as opposed to living in a dorm with a roommate because she just feels so disconnected from everything and

everybody else. And by the end of it, you know, we found that she not only has you know, friends, but she has real allies, and that she has people that are willing to not only show up for a fight, but just show up for you know, for her, just even just to hang out and just tell her that we think you're awesome and cool and we think you're amazing and you shouldn't know that and if you don't,

that's just silly. And it was just so great to just see something that was like, you know, we're talking about star portals and you know, interdimensional travel, but at the end of the day, it's just about a girl discovering that she has family and friends. And I thought that was just like, it's such a I don't need you coming from me, Gabby. I really don't and I'm not so alone, but thank you. I appreciated all the same. Did you all want to talk about some of her powers?

I know we talked about her punching through portals. Uh so she has self propelled flight, which is pretty neat. She has ability to fly at superhuman speeds. Uh speaking of, she has superhuman speed. She can run and move at phenomenal speeds, which Monica Rambo also very excited that she's

in this world. If you all don't know or weren't paying attention, there was a little girl named Monica in the Big Captain Marvel movie that y'all watched, and who is going to be now a big girl named Monica, which they announced at the Marvel panel, so very like. When I saw her with her little Monica necklace, I was like, oh my god, it's coming fast forward to now. I was like, this is in the nineties. Let me do math. She's going to be thirty two, thirty five.

She's good I was like, I know what's going to happen next. Um So Monica, who is also in UH in this series with with America, was stunt at how fast she was moving, even after transcending into light form where everything stands still. Uh. And then she also has superhuman strength, which we've touched on a little bit. UH. But she appears to easily tear through large metal doors off their hinges, nearly bested Loki who was a god. And she also has a power stop. I love the

power staff. The power stomp is like the power of Stomp. And also let me mention that that shark I said she threw earlier was a megalodown wasn't like a regular shark. It was like the big daddy of sharks. I love that so many of her powers aren't like as delicate as it because like typically when you see female superheroes, we tend to be very like delicate. It's it's usually like like an energy blast where we don't have to use flexible. We're flexible. We'll literally not have bones for you.

And don't get me wrong, these are superheroes that I adore, but the usually when you see male superheroes, they have such a big spectrum of what their powers are, and we tend to be under the realm of pretty and delicate and artful. And she's brute strength, Like they draw her that way. It's not like, oh, man, crazy that she's lifting that car. You see muscles flex, you see her leg tense out, but she like stomps into the

ground and opens up a portal. It's it's a lot of like that brute strength that you don't really get to see in female superheroes, and it's a lot in the way that she draws it. The muscle flexing is what I really love in her abilities. Yeah. So she's bulletproof, flame retardant, Um, can survive in the vacuum of space unaided. UM. Loki actually referred to her as a nearly indestructible superwoman.

So uh. And then like we talked about, she has portal crea actually star portal creation where she has the rare ability to smash open star shaped portals that enable her to transverse the multiverse. Uh. And then she has interdimensional travel, time travel, energy and fusion, where the closer

she is to the Utopian parallel makes her stronger. UM. And then she has hyper cosmic awareness, much like the rest of the Ultimates team, where essentially she has metaphysical insight to the goings on of the multiverse at large. She's like a Peter Tinkle. Peter Tingle is this isn't from this dimension. It's not like in the high school

or the school bus. It's like in the galaxy. Yeah, exactly, Like they use that a lot in the Young Aventers are because there's a lot of like interdimention and inter reality style stories. Um, there's even ones where things like exist outside of the panels that they're currently in and trying to figure out how to look into it. So there's a lot of like conversations on reality, and she's the one that understands it the most, even more so than Loki sometimes because he is also kind of the

one that broke it sort of read the book. It's there's a lot of ties in into it, but there's a part where everyone's dead parents come back, and she's the only one that realizes, like, these aren't my parents, They're not from here, and I can sense that. Oh she's also six ft hell yeah, hell yeah. She's like picking up men left and right, um, tossing him a lot. I just I love that. I love her friendship with Prodigy.

They're very cute. To god, yeah, they're well. First off, I was just excited to see Prodigy in general, just because it's like, for those of you that don't remember prodigies, uh.

Power used to be that he would u mimic the knowledge of the people around him in the close Vicinity, but this would ultimately frustrate him and he would basically become very obsessed about retaining the knowledge, so he would have to relearn everything that he had in his head at one point, and it made him very intelligent, very ambitious, but he was unfortunately a victim of the House of Him, the depower, the depower of all the mutants in the world, um or most of the mutants in the world, i

should say. And to see him pop up, I was just like, of course you're here. Of course you are. I'm so glad to see him. And it's so awesome too, just because because he was written as someone who was very frustrated and ambitious, he was also written very cold in previous stories, and to see him here, it's like, no, he's obviously moved past it. He's a young you know, adult in college, ready to go ahead and learn and prove himself. Uh, not only as a unpowered being or whatever.

They they say something about the fact of like, oh, what are you here, and he's like, do you think only superpowered people are year Like, no, like, we're all here and we all have something to contribute, something along those lines. And I just thought it was like, of course you'd be here. Of course you would be saying that. I love that, It's amazing. But I did want to touch on real quick about her, um, her powers, of the fact that she is drawn to be just like

an incredibly strong person, like physically strong person. Um growing up, you know, the product of a Mexican Catholic mother who was very very insistent on me being as lady like as possible, and her being constantly disappointed that I wasn't because I was just always like trying to like play on the playground and you know, be a power ranger or whatever it is that the the other kids wanted to be that day. Um. God, I so wish I had her like as a kid, because I didn't. All

I had were like barbies and like Jim. As awesome as Jim was. She was also a very pretty character. I didn't have brutes, you know, just the brute strength, you know, female character to look up to, because any of those characters that did exist in comics at that point, they were jokes, you know, they were like, oh here's

you know, um god, like a candy. You know, if they were in small and delicate than they were written as like, oh, this is the fat friend or this is like, you know, the the two tom boyish to even consider feminine. You know, she's not even usually shaved their heads exactly. And it just was like, Oh, how great is that. She's super strong and she's pretty, And I just so wish I would have had that to be like, see, mom, I could be whatever I want. And you know what, the closest thing that I feel

like we had was Spinelli sell my Heart. Yeah, Oh my god, Like I literally was her. I was like, oh, she's so sarcastic, she doesn't care about these guys. Um. Do you remember that her name was Ashley? Yeah, and they made her during the Ashley's my middle name is Ashley. And watching that was like a whole experience for me, and I was like, there is hope for me. I can still be Spinelli even our nineties kids. Spinelli was from recess Um. Actually I dressed up as Spinelli one.

It was really cute. Dope. Yeah, I was trying to think of superheroes that we had growing up. I have one. Oh yeah, go she's a villain. Rita Repulsa, totally, totally. If you watch Power Rangers growing up, Rita Repulsa the big badge. She's a Latina. Uh and very frequently my eye regles I claimed Carmen san Diego. Yes, yeah, I

think she was. She was yeah, well yeah, um, and like like you know, I think they originally were like kind of ethnically ambiguous, and then you know, obviously now with Gina Rodriguez on it like no, she's our anyven closest that we can grab anything that we can possibly take. She would claiming her, you can't have her, and uh but yeah, Carmen San Diego is the only other Latina that I could think of that I I would say, um, Catherine Zada Jones and Zoro, but nope, not not heartbroken.

I was to discuss that, and I was like, that's how I feel about um. I can't remember his name, but Shades and Luke Cage, you know, yeah, we still don't have a ton of we still are fighting for our roles. So it's it's difficult when someone's portraying one of us and they're not one of us, just because it it is heartbreaking to be like, oh so I

can't actually be it. Yeah, Like, as much as I love Di Palma, one of the biggest like Latino characters is played by someone Italian because very frequently with castings, what most people consider to be Latino is Italian close enough, And I do want to say that's an issue with casting. Um, I try not to fault Like also when Latino's take like different uh ethnic like different roles and stuff, and you know a lot of times that's that's because it's

only the only thing that they're allowed to take. Like some of these people would be like why did you take this where you play a criminal? And yeah, we've seen the gamut of that, Like we've seen that so much. But I don't necessarily fault them at times when it's like you need to pay your rent and that's like

all that they're giving you. Yeah, and not only that, it's like I'm loving that what we're starting to see two is Latino roles where maybe it's like kind of like Read Repulsa, where it's like it's a villain, but the villain isn't like a villain because they're Latino. They're

just a Latino villain. Yeah, and they're but like look at look at Cohn in Star Trek, Like, yeah, Cohn is a villain, but he was the kind of villain where it's not like he like I I completely understand that in but it's also like there's certain characters that we got to have where we can get to sink our teeth into a villain and we're just an intergalactic villain as opposed to like for who we are, and

it's lovely that we still have those padded through history. Yeah, we have to take another quick break and then we're going to hop back into America Chaves. Right after this we're back, we're still talking about my Kachavez Vanessa. Did you want to walk people through a force that she was a part of? Yeah, a force? Um, I believe it was twenty fifteen. It was shortly after the Young Avengers run where uh in the Ultimate Series third run.

I want to say it was like right after that, Um, she was on an all female team that included Captain Marvel and I. Their dynamic back and forth was really fun to watch because both of them are very like, this is how we have to do it, and why are the people around us not being as sensible as

our choices are. There's some really great panels from the A Force run of all of these like female superheroes together that Danny you had touched on during the break a little bit where people had speculated the game that was the tease to A Force. Uh, and that is I can't believe I keep coming back to this, but it was the thing that eventually led up to the shark. Uh, We're what a crime? And then she ends up being

arrested by Thor. So if you're looking for that specific come when Narc narc something he would do, um fight a shark. That sounds a thousand percent like thor he has done that hit someone with a shark. He should know better. Marvel Rising Marvel Rising is animated series that we get to see these characters come to life. So in it America Chavez, She's in Marvel Rising Secret Warriors. She's voiced by Sierra Ramirez and uh yet dope, it's

dope as hell. So in this the Cree have come to America's home planet when she was young and encouraged the inhumans there to fight each other. The planet was on the brink of destruction. America wanted to join them in the battle, but her mom's teleported her to safety and she was never the same after that. Umle Rising is still one. Yeah. Oh also it has uh, it has a Milana vont Yes, a squirrel girl, um Marvel Rising.

If you haven't seen it, and you either you want to watch it or if you have like young girls in your household, it's a really fun one to strut them on Marvel with. Um. I my nieces eight and I got her hooked on a Marvel Rising. Sorry parents, uh, because now she demands it. Um. But it's basically it starts off with squirrel, squirrel girl, uh, Miss Marvel, Spider Gwen, and those are the first three that you see, um, and then it slowly adds more of these characters that

we don't really get to see a lot of. And I know they added American trave as for like a specific I think it was like a movie or like a longer episode essentially that they did for Marvel Rising. But it is such a great one for like the young girls in your life where they're like, I want to get into Marvel, but you know some of the story yeah, where they start and some of the story arcs might be a little heavier. There's like a little bit too much backstory to go through, and there's a

lot for them to jump on. Yeah. So Marvel Rising is on the Disney Channel and Disney XD, and Disney XD has been killing it, killing it. That's where we got to see Myles Morales first before he wasn't at least, you know, animated, before he was into the Spider Verse and Spider Gwen. They're really crushing. They're really crushing if you haven't turned over to Disney XD. They've got a lot over there. The Guardians like a cartoon is also

really fun. They're they're really spearheading some great animation. Anyways, Disney, I know you love me because I'm with one of y'all, So I just need to slide my way in there. Um. I mean, I used to live in Orlando, I used to work at Walt Disney World, and I remember when you know, the big concern was how are we going to get boys into Disney? How are we going to

get boys into the Disney theme parks? And of course this is you know, before they acquired Marvel, and the just was you know, once that the merger was announced, you know, or acquisition was announced, it was like, well, yeah, obviously, but it was even then it was still such a concern of like is this gonna work. I'm like, of

course it's gonna work. Well, it's really fascinating. And some of these like studio meetings and things that I do is that Nickelodeon is seen as the boys channel, Disney is seen as the girls channel, and a lot of people still a lot of old school people still view it that way. But it's so not the I mean again, like i haven't worked at the theme parks in a while, but I still you know, go quite a bit both, you know, California and Florida because I'm originally from Florida,

even though I live now in California. You know, everybody shows up, you know, men, women, boys, girls, you know, no matter your your gender or you know, your your your your race, your culture, you know, people show up.

They want to have a good time because they do buy into the idea that you know, Disney is for everybody, and now that Disney has sort of you know, there was the concern, you know, once they acquired Marvel, Star Wars some of these other you know, properties of like, oh no, how are they going to Disney by them? They're not. That's not what they're there to do. They know how to do Disney. What they need is what

you do. They needed Marvel, they really did, and I just love that now they've applied the same philosophy of Marvel is for everyone, and now we're finally seeing that, you know, with the Disney XD and with these animated shows in of course, with Phase four and Phase five coming up in the m c U, of the idea of this really does need to be for everybody and we need to make a serious commitment to that. Yeah. Well, so the future of America UM, that sounds really Dante.

The future of America travez uh. My guess is that she'll show up live action first and probably a Disney Plus property, probably before the m c U, but possibly the m c U UM. But yeah, I imagine that she might show up in one of those first. I was just gonna say, with the timeline at the m c U um has already put forth because there is a chronological linear timeline happening. I think we're on track for Young Avengers, the age group, just of what's happening.

And you know, of course we also have to consider, you know, how they're going to also integrate Fantastic four an X Men if they choose to go ahead and integrate them into the m c U in general. But I think because now Disney Plus is such a priority for Disney, I definitely think that they are going to try to go ahead and aim her for that first and then finally see if they can finally make you know, the guys stomping cowards, like put your TV characters in the m c U. Go ahead, you can have both.

You can have a character show up in the show and in the movies, like we only have one so far, and that's Jarvis. That's the only time it's ever happened so far. It happened in game they own, and it's like,

that's a shame. And I know that there's probably all kinds of you know, technicalities with contracts and who owns what's and if it was on Netflix or ABC and whether or not they can do that but um, I think that if I think it's the smart way to go, I I would love it for them to do Young Avengers. I think with what has already been announced and the storylines and the relationships that we know about American Javez, I'm and if that happens, I'm happy that it's recorded

on audio. Percent think her first appearance will be uh in the Hawkeye series right because of her friendship with Kate Bishop, because we've already confirmed that the Hawkeye series it is about Barton, but we are going to see Kate. The intro is basically in like the David Aja style of Hawkeyes, so we know that's the one that we're

going with. And if it's that Age Kate, that Age Kate is very close friends because of Young Avengers with America Chavez, they keep contact, they talk back and forth. They even if they're not in the same dimension, they still find a way to contact each other. Uh, They're they're very much they revolve around each other's lives. So I think if we're going to see her anywhere, it's

gonna be the Hawkeyes series. First. All I know is that Kevin Figy, he didn't interview UH some you know, with an overseas um outlet, and they specifically asked him like, you know, do you have plans for Comma And he's like, oh yeah, there are definite at plans. You know, it looks like she said that she wanted her in the sequel. Oh hell yeah, that'd be amazing. I mean, I don't know if we're gonna go with her being you know, you know Kamala, you know, she got her powers not

as a mutant, but through the Terrigen mists. I don't know if we've abandoned that now that MCU now has the mutant name back in the stable, I don't know what they're gonna do with that. Interesting because that event, you know, because I don't know if you guys were watching Agents of Shield, but that's how they were figuring out how to get around the mutant problem because uh,

the X Men were was over at Fox. They couldn't use the word mutant, so they couldn't use you know, oh, this enhanced you know, that's how they were getting around it. Oh this enhanced person. Yeah. And now that you know, we can go ahead and just say like, no evolution happened, and now people just happened to show up. You know, I do think that they are going to eventually, probably not in phase four, but definitely in phase five. So probably by like twenty three, I think we readily see her. Yeah,

that'd be so cool. So that wraps it up for us here. Definitely send us your America art. We will show the panel of her throwing the shark. Um, Tony, where can everyone find you? Um? You guys can find me on all the social media's at the Tony Sanchez Tony with Ani Sanchez, with the Z Vanessa. You can find me on at s gritten on all forms of social media. If you have direct TV every Thursday night, you can catch me on l Aria Nation at ten

thirty Eastern. Or you can go on iTunes and get the season pass that gets you all of the episodes that have aired in all of the episodes that will air, and that is a lot of episodes. Uh and uh til night Church for my sketch team, yay Um, I'm at Danny fernanezs M S D A N I F the R N A N D Easy. Thanks to everyone that's been buying merch. It's so cool to see you in it. We love sharing it, we love seeing people in our stay Nerdy shirts. That's t public dot com

slash Nerdificent. We also have just a bunch of comic book stuff on there as well. Uh yeah, so hit us up if you get any thing like d MS tag us, say hi to us, and as always, stay nerdy. H