Is Marvel Afraid Of A Female Superhero?
Guardians of the Galaxy Movie Cover
Over the last decade movies with female leads have been steadily growing both in number, and in popularity. There are, however, some companies that still have yet to produce a female-led film. Marvel tops the list. Marvel has made several blockbusters in the past five years, all having strong female characters, that have broken opening weekend records (Guardians of the Galaxy), and become some of the most popular movies of the age (The Avengers). While these movies did include some incredible superheroines, they all fail to have a female lead. In the case of the Avengers, which has several spin off movies many of the male leads, Black Widow is one of two of the six Avengers that didn’t get their own movie, despite an abundance of fans lobbying for a Black Widow movie. She is also the only female Avenger despite the numerous female characters in the comic book source material.
Marvel has excused away their lack of super-heroine movies in a few ways, the most recent being Marvel president Kevin Feige siting Marvel’s abundance of franchises. Feige claims that because Marvel already has several franchises currently in the works (Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America, etc.), they simply don’t have room to start any new franchises, female led or otherwise. However, these excuses are flimsy thanks to the Sony hack. An email was released from the Marvel CEO, Ike Perlmutter, to Sony CEO Michael Lynton that included Perlmutter giving examples of female superhero movies that did terribly. Among these are Supergirl (1984), Catwoman (2004), and Elektra (2005). While those movies did flop when released, each character has been positively revived in current media. Supergirl now has her own TV show on CBS, Catwoman was brought back in the immensely successful Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, and Elektra will appear in the very well received Daredevil TV show in season 2, with talks of her own spin off TV show.
Marvel hasn’t completely kept women leads off their roster, however recent those additions may be. In early 2015, Marvel released the very popular Agent Carter TV show, starring Hayley Atwell as Shield Agent Peggy Carter. Marvel is also releasing Jessica Jones, a Netflix Original based off the superheroine and private detective Jessica Jones, in 2016. Sony has also alluded to the possibility of a Black Cat, Spider-Woman, or Silver Sable movie. The movie would be a spin off of Spider-Man, with Black Cat being the most likely, as her civilian persona, Felicia Hardy, appeared in the most recent Spider-Man movie; The Amazing Spider-Man 2. On the other hand, the release date of the Captain Marvel movie based off Marvel character Carol Danvers, has been pushed back to 2020, and a Black Cat movie is still just probable speculation.
Works Cited:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/womenandhollywood/marvel-ceo-doesnt-believe-in-female-superheroes-20150504 (Note: This is the link to the Perlmutter and Lynton email)
http://time.com/3079882/a-female-superhero-movie-is-finally-coming/
http://time.com/3075927/marvel-kevin-feige-guardians-of-the-galaxy-black-widow/
http://marvel.com/news/movies/25244/marvel_studios_phase_3_update
Pug Ma Thoin • Feb 20, 2016 at 5:35 pm
If they had one that could deliver a profit, they would.
…and I’m sure they will, when the time is right.
Madison DePierro • Nov 13, 2015 at 6:53 pm
I don’t think that Marvel is refusing to make a movie with a female superhero. I think they are just hesitant like Lujan said. It would be really cool to have a female superhero since they really aren’t leads in any Marvel movies. In Guardians of the Galaxy, there are some main characters that are female but none of them are leads. I enjoyed seeing female main characters for a change so I think marvel should try to make a movie with a lead female superhero.
Lujan Pena • Nov 8, 2015 at 8:58 pm
FIrst, I’d like to say I’m impressed and relieved that someone wrote about female leads in comic-based films. I can appreciate a good piece when I see one. Yet, I do have an opinion on the matter. I agree that it is fantastic that there are more movies with female leads, but I do not think Marvel is refusing to introduce a female lead in a new film. For instance, they have good reasoning for not opening another female, seeing as the last time they did, the reviews were’t as great as with their usual, team/one-man films. Now, I’m not being sexist, since I, myself am of the female species. I am simply agreeing with the facts, and being realistic. Even so, there are some movies, like the X-men series of films that include the female superheroes/villians: Jean, Storm, Mystique. They are in fact, important female roles in the comics, and the films. So, to sum up my comment, I’d really just like to say, I’ve enjoyed replying and giving my opinion to this wonderful article, and that although I respect your thoughts, I have to disagree and say, Marvel is not refusing to release a female led movie, but instead, reluctant based on the past facts. Now, the opinions of the past may have changed, but I believe the producers are trying to play it safe.