Maybe the answer is more obvious than I think, but I don’t know how to explain it.
It seems like since at least the 1990s (if not the late 1980s) the default antagonists in realistic, contemporary settings have not been governments or nation‐states, but foreign terrorists. You can find this trope in almost anything modernistic, from 24 to Bad Boys to Call of Duty sequels to the Diehard series to James Bond sequels to obscurities like Nuclear Strike to the Soldier of Fortune series to Syphon Filter to Lady‐only‐knows how many Tom Clancy books/films/games/shows/songs/baseball cards. Hardly anybody seems to find anything weird about this.
What is so fascinating about foreign terrorists?
No doubt, but there seems to be a trend to me—though I’m someone who isn’t especially invested in blockbusters. China is really the more important factor considering that their domestic films now have essentially identical production values to their Hollywood counterparts and are starting to be exported like American films. I have to imagine the US film industry is quite concerned about losing ground. But again this is conjecture, so take it for what it’s worth.
Of course, of course. This is actually why I suspect we won’t see much “China bad” and Chinese antagonists getting killed on screen for some time still, despite the rabid rhetorics of the Washington officials.
At the same time, Russia is a smaller market, and Russians are still seen as “hwite”, so making us the go-to antagonists in blockbusters doesn’t risk revenue too much, nor does it risk any accusations of racism towards the film industry, however deserved it may be.
IDK what would Chinese blockbuster-going audience think about Russians portrayed as baddies of the week though.