Melinda May
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Melinda May |
| Occupation: | Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. |
| Relationships: | Phil Coulson (Team leader), Leo Fitz (teammate), Grant Ward (Teammate), Jemma Simmons (Teammate), Skye (Teammate) |
| Fandom: | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (MCU) |
| Other: | Portrayed by Ming-Na Wen. |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Melinda May is an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. She is portrayed by actress Ming-Na Wen. She has also appeared in Marvel comics.
Canon
Melinda May appears in all episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to date. She is a skilled pilot and expert martial artist, but was initially shown as reluctant to participate in combat operations, and told that she would only be required to pilot "The Bus", the aircraft used by Phil Coulson's team. Later it was revealed that she was suffering from post-traumatic stress following an incident in which she saved the lives of a number of agents. Following this incident she became known as "The Cavalry", a nickname she loathes. She is the ex-wife of Dr. Andrew Garner, a S.H.I.E.L.D. psychologist.
Fandom
Pairings
The most common pairings for Melinda May are the canonical relationship of Melinda/Grant Ward and the non-canonical relationships of Melinda/Phil Coulson, Melinda/Natasha Romanov, and Melinda/Skye. Rarer pairings are Melinda/Maria Hill, Melinda/Jemma Simmons, and Melinda/Jasper Sitwell.
The Melinda May Matters Project
As a part of the larger ongoing conversation about representation in fandom, The Melinda May Matters Project was started to highlight the importance of Melinda May as a representative of various marginalized groups: because of her race, because of her gender, because of her age, etc. From the "About" section:
The Melinda May Matters Project aims for two things: one, to be a space to show love and appreciation for Melinda May, and two, to add an explicitly human, personal dimension to the idea that representation matters. Have you loved watching May on Agents of SHIELD this season? Has having a character like Melinda May meant a lot to you? Has her character taught you valuable lessons, or reminded you of important things? This is a place for you to express why Melinda May matters to you as a fan and as a person.Send us a fan letter to Agent May, send us meta, send us an edit of a May moment that was meaningful to you. Send us your appreciation of Agent May in any way that you’d like, and at the end of May, we’ll send the Tumblr to the producers and compile the entries into a book to send to Ming Na. Melinda May is vitally important to so many of us - let’s make that crystal clear.
In a nutshell, the idea behind the project is this: Melinda May matters, and as a fandom and as individuals, so do we.
There is both a tumblr and a twitter account devoted to the cause, and on 3 July 2014 the people running the project mailed a book made up of submissions to both Ming-Na Wen and Joe Quesada, Marvel's Chief Creative Officer.
Example Fanworks
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Fan Fiction
Fan Art
Agent of SHIELD Melinda May, by poorking
Agents of SHIELD Melinda May, by astridv
Faux Comic cover of Melinda May, Agent of SHIELD. By ratscape
Melinda May, by lostphysics
Meta
- Melinda May is a woman of color in a white men’s world on a white men’s show and that is so important. - By thebrightgeist, posted on The Melinda May Matters Project.
- “He listens for a living and she doesn’t speak”--why Melinda May is a Classic Hollywood Action Hero - by secretallie (2015)
Archives and Fannish Links
- Melinda May works at AO3
- Melinda May works at FFN
Tumblr
- Melinda May tagged works on tumblr
- Fuck Yes Melinda May
- melindamaygifs
Resources
- Melinda May at Marvel Database
- Melinda May at Marvel Movies Wikia
- Melinda May at Marvel Cinematic Universe Wikia
- Melinda May at Agents of SHIELD Wikia