In just six years, Marvel Studios has managed to take some of the second tier characters from their comics and transform them into box office juggernauts. Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the collective “Avengers” have all taken the world by storm, and Marvel has shown they’re not afraid to take a risk either as you can see with this weekend’s release Guardians of the Galaxy. But with ten films under their belt and another eleven planned through 2019, where are the female-led super hero movies?
Speaking with Comic Book Resources, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige was asked how close he thought they were to doing this, given that the fan demand for such films across all genres is reaching critical mass. He replied:
“I think it comes down to timing, which is what I’ve sort of always said, and it comes down to us being able to tell the right story. I very much believe in doing it. I very much believe that it’s unfair to say, ‘People don’t want to see movies with female heroes,’ then list five movies that were not very good, therefore, people didn’t go to the movies because they weren’t good movies, versus [because] they were female leads. And they don’t mention ‘Hunger Games,’ ‘Frozen,’ ‘Divergent.’ You can go back to ‘Kill Bill’ or ‘Aliens.’ These are all female-led movies. It can certainly be done. I hope we do it sooner rather than later. But we find ourselves in the very strange position of managing more franchises than most people have — which is a very, very good thing and we don’t take for granted, but is a challenging thing. You may notice from those release dates, we have three for 2017. And that’s because just the timing worked on what was sort of gearing up. But it does mean you have to put one franchise on hold for three or four years in order to introduce a new one? I don’t know. Those are the kinds of chess matches we’re playing right now.”
Thus far in the canon of the MCU, Marvel has brought to life Pepper Potts, who got her time in the spotlight (after four films) in Iron Man 3; Black Widow, with rumors about a solo film popping up almost annually; Peggy Carter, who starred in her own short film and will be getting her own eight-episode series on television next year; Sharon Carter, who debuted in Captain America: The Winter Soldier; and Gamora, who is a key member in Guardians of the Galaxy and will no doubt be an integral part of its already-announced sequel. They’re bringing Scarlet Witch into the fold for Avengers: Age of Ultron, Jessica Jones will be getting her own series on Netflix in the near future, and Evangeline Lilly will take on the role of Hope Van Dyne in next year’s Ant-Man, but when eight of their ten movies are named after the male lead, what has Marvel got to lose by giving the public a female-led film?
Despite a number of the prominent characters from Marvel comics belonging to Fox and Sony, there are still a wide range of female characters perfect for leading their own features. Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel), She-Hulk, Misty Knight, Monica Rambeau (Captain Marvel/Spectrum), Elsa Bloodstone, Tamara Devoux (Captain Universe), Ava Ayala (White Tiger), or even the recently-announced female Thor, would all provide a unique path to explore in their universe.
Starting in 2017, Marvel Studios will be releasing three films a year and hopefully one of them stars a character without a Y chromosome. Which female Marvel characters do you want to see star in their own film? Let us know in the comments below.
