Falcon and The Winter Soldier had just released its second to the last episode of the season. The series has been phenomenal in every single episode.
One of the standouts has been Erin Kellyman’s character, Karli. The leader of the anti-patriotism group the Flag Smashers purely believes that the world was better with “The Blip” and is fighting for open national borders.
In each scene Karli is in, I grow even more invested in this character giving that it’s so drastically changed from the comic source. I believe in part, this is down to Erin’s acting ability, she’s 22 years old and is already such a huge talent. She’s killing in Marvel and has even appeared in the Star Wars universe.
But in the last week or two, I’ve been seeing hate online towards the character and even towards the actor herself. I don’t get why?
First off, Erin is not Karli, she shouldn’t have to deal with the hate that the fictional character gets, whether that be for her motives, her will to make a stand, or her might to cross that line where no one else will. Even the hate that she gets for being gender-swapped in the show, Erin SHOULDN’T have to deal with it, it’s the same with Wyatt Russell.
Secondly, Karli in the show is standing up for basic human rights, to be allowed to be in a country, she’s standing up for all the people who returned from The Blip who have nowhere to go, who are in camps or tents. This isn’t anything to get hated by, even Sam in the show agrees with her.
You could say “but she murdered someone” and I agree, she did murder someone, but it was in the heat of battle against a psycho Captain America who was high on the super-soldier serum. If he had just waited, I fully believe Sam would have gotten through to her in that one scene.
The hate is pathetic, it’s understandable that people might not like this character or that character but sending hate directly towards an actor/actress is sad.
I absolutely love this character and I love even more how she’s portrayed by Erin Kellyman, she’s been a huge part of this series, she smashes each scene, and her chemistry with actors such as Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan is perfect.
Photo: Erin Kellyman as Karli.
