Besides being a character with tons of untapped stories to be explored in the MCU, Jimmy Woo was also somewhat of a milestone for diversity and representation in comic books. Around the time of Woo’s debut, Asian characters were often portrayed in comics as racist stereotypes speaking in broken English. But Woo bucked that trend, and the character was quickly established as being just as capable as — if not more than — any of his fellow agents, regardless of race.
Eventually, comic book Woo would lead his very own super team, the Agents of Atlas. In recent years, the character has continued to foster more representation in comics, as the team was rebranded as the New Agents of Atlas in 2019, a group that is now comprised entirely of Asian and Asian-American heroes.
Randall Park’s portrayal of Woo onscreen is undeniably charming and likable, but it’s also fair to view it as somewhat of a missed opportunity. He serves his purpose as a goofy side character amongst a sea of goofy side characters in the MCU perfectly well, but Woo has a wealth of history begging to be explored that could easily, and deservedly, raise him on another level. It’s hard to imagine that the guy stupefied by a card trick in Marvel movies is the same secret agent who volunteered to fight Godzilla in a giant Gundam suit.
