The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special Finally Lets Mantis Grow As A Character
This piece contains minor spoilers for "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special."
After adventuring the cosmic Marvel galaxy alongside Thor in "Love and Thunder," our loveable misfit group of space outlaws has been reunited once again with writer/director James Gunn for "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special" on Disney+. Set right before "The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," the special is a lighthearted, heartfelt little interlude before the trilogy is complete and we definitively part ways with these characters that have stolen our hearts. Sure, it might be a tad inconsequential in the grand scheme of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it's been five years since "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" and after all the pain this family has gone through during the Infinity Saga, a fluffy breather is exactly what these characters needed.
But would it truly be a Gunn project without a proper emotional gut punch? This time, the beating heart of the narrative is not Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), but instead, Mantis, wonderfully portrayed by Pom Klementieff. While the holiday special allows room for every member of our plucky family to have their moment to shine, Gunn's true concern is to graduate Mantis from background comedic relief to one of the more vital members of the team.
In "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special," Gunn shows us a dynamic, confident side to Mantis — allowing her the space to properly heal from her years of solitude with Ego the Living Planet and find her true belonging within the Guardians of the Galaxy.
The submissive Asian woman stereotype
When we first met Mantis in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," she was Ego's quiet and humble servant. He depended on her empathic powers to help him control his sleep on his mission to colonize entire galaxies and homogenize them into his own hungry planet. Before she met the Guardians, her time with Ego was the only life she had ever known — openly admitting to Drax (Dave Bautista) that she was not aware of social cues or customs.
Because of the way "Vol. 2" was structured, having the Guardians all separated on their own plotlines, Mantis' screen time was mainly coupled with Drax, and though he's a loveable and weird uncle, he's not exactly the most empathetic character on the team. Though they shared enough sweet moments to still make their time together emotionally resonant, Mantis and her naivete coupled with Drax's chaotic personality led to some of the most mean-spirited jokes aimed at Mantis' expense — something that always felt at odds with the otherwise sweet thematic core of the series.
A running gag that outstayed its welcome throughout "Vol. 2" had Drax expressing how Mantis is horrifyingly ugly to him. Though the joke is supposed to be aimed at Drax's aloofness, it felt cruel to imply that after the lonely life she's led, her attractiveness is tied to her sole value. Coupled with her minor role in the film, all of these traits made Mantis reflect the stereotypical role of a submissive Asian woman. One of the more powerful members of the Guardians of the Galaxy was disappointingly translated into something more undignified; she didn't even get to co-exist in the group shot without getting hit by a falling rock as a gag.
A much more dignified portrayal of Mantis
By the time the Old 97's original song finishes and the "Guardians" logo flashes on the screen, the focus shifts firmly to Mantis and Drax's perspective. Right off the bat, Mantis' characterization we've been so familiar with in "Vol. 2" versus the special feels like an immediate contrast. While Drax is still as likeably obtuse as usual, Mantis freely quips back and challenges Drax in a way she never seemed capable of before. As they go down to Earth in the spaceship Bowie to find Kevin Bacon as a present for Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Mantis is leading the way and actively navigating Drax through unfamiliar territory, but not without getting into her own goofy antics along the way.
In the past five years since "Vol. 2," the Guardians have faced turmoil, both onscreen in the fight against Thanos and offscreen with the creative director. Famously, James Gunn was controversially fired in bad faith from "Vol. 3" due to his old tweets that displayed a provocative sense of humor that he has since outgrown. He was eventually rehired, but that moment of self-reflection has proved to be crucial to his voice as a creative. In his two DC projects, "The Suicide Squad" and "Peacemaker," when he interrogates the concepts of redemption and culpability, he's very much reflecting on his own personal experiences.
His return to writing the "Guardians" in this special, and especially the way he revisits writing Mantis, doubles as both natural evolution for her character and also a reckoning towards his past mistakes.
Finally, Mantis has a sense of belonging
Crucially, Mantis is holding in a secret for the entirety of the "Guardians" special: she believes that Ego was her father as well, making her Peter's half-sister. It's not only her driving motivation to make Christmas special for Peter, but also a sense of identity and connection that she simply had not had before.
The greatest gift James Gunn gives in "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special" is a sense of belonging for one of the more underappreciated characters in his series. It takes great strength as an artist to be able to accept fair and justified criticism, and through dedicating 40 minutes to evolving Mantis from the butt of the joke to a dignified, funny individual of her own, Gunn also displays impressive growth as a writer.
If this special is a good sample of what we can expect to see in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," then we're eagerly awaiting to see more of this version of Mantis in the future.