Bad writing.
America Chavez was a fan favorite character who first gained popularity in the book Young Avengers. She had enough of a fan following to earn a spin off written by up and coming writer Gabby Rivera. Which became the butt of jokes in the first issue, and was cancelled shorty afterwards.
This is not the worst line that America Chavez has ever spoken. But it’s the perfect example.
The problem is that America Chavez is a Mary Sue. I realize that this is a loaded term, but it fits. She’s a queer Latina woman, written by a queer Latina woman, who is meant to be the writer’s idealized self. And that is something that is really hard to write, as it requires a lot of self awareness.
Spider Jerusalem, while he is Warren Ellis’s idealized self, the universe treats him exactly like the nuisance he is. That’s why you like him.
But Gabby Rivera lacks that self awareness. America Chavez is the queer Latina version of that shitty Naruto fanfic you wrote when you were 15. Except it got published, and now people are making fun of it.
America Chavez, minus the professional artist.
She’s a superhero who can kick anyone’s ass, like Batman. But unlike Batman she never faces a problem she can’t kick ass out of.
She’s horrible to her girlfriend, but she is always presented as being in the right.
America Chavez breaks up with her girlfriend because her girlfriend doesn’t want to move across the country with her. Then she teleports away. If you don’t see the problem here, your name is Gabby Rivera.
In general she’s kind of an awful person, like Batman. But no one ever calls her out on it, and the writing never acknowledges this, unlike Batman. Instead the book praises her to high heaven like she’s the second coming of Poochie.
Gabby Rivera, telling not showing.
The book breaks all of the conventions of good storytelling. There’s no real conflict. The main character is unlikable. Her powers are wasted. Everyone loves her unconditionally.
And while all of these conventions can be broken, they have to be broken in a way that still tells a good story. Which the comic doesn’t.
That’s what’s wrong with America Chavez.
Which is a shame because in the hands of better writers, she was an interesting character with great potential.
And that’s not even getting into the nitpicks, like why does an inter-dimensional traveler talk like a bad stereotype of a Puerto Rican woman? Or, what was the point of her punching Hitler?