We like Joss Whedon over here at Gabbing Geek. We like him because he’s given us some great movies and TV, and while we don’t expect him to slow down on that front, we especially like him since he spoke out about the lack of female-led superhero films.
In a recent interview with Digital Spy Whedon commented on why he thinks there haven’t been an real female-led comic book movies:
“It’s a phenomenon in the industry that we call “stupid people.” There is a genuine, recalcitrant, intractable sexism, and old-fashioned quiet misogyny that goes on.
You hear, “Oh [female superheroes] don’t work because of these two bad ones that were made eight years ago, there’s always an excuse.”
Whedon went on to praise the efforts around the Hunger Games and used it as an example to show that Female-led blockbusters can be a bankable project:
“Hunger Games is a different structure and aesthetic to a certain extent, but these narratives where people are bigger than life and they’re in these terrible, heightened circumstances, it’s all part of the same genre,” he said.
“Marvel is in a position of making a statement simply by making [a female-led] movie, which I think would be a good thing to do.
“But it has to be a good movie, it has to be a good character, and most of the best characters in Marvel are owned by Fox, let’s face it!”
Whoa – whoa there Whedon. Don’t get too far ahead of yourself. While I might agree that Fox owns a good number of characters, I would argue that they don’t own the best. Remember my hand-dandy Marvel Movie Rights Infographic? By looking at that graphic, you can see that Fox owns X-Men and Fantastic Four. And I’m going out on a limb by saying Sue Storm from the Fantastic Four is definitely not in my top 10. Now, granted, there are some wonderful strong female characters in the X-Men franchise, but if we’ve learned anything from Marvel, it’s that their character bank is deep and wide. Characters like Captain Marvel – Black Widow – She-Hulk – Gamora – Wasp – And a few hundred more, prove that there is no end to what Marvel could do with their current database of characters.
I am proud of what Marvel is doing as of late. With their recent announcement of Captain Marvel as their first female-led superhero film, and their work on Agents of Shield, plus the spinoff for Agent Carter, I’d say we’re on the right track. Am I totally appeased with what’s out there? Not yet, but we’re moving in the right direction.
What say you loyal Whedon fans – what do you think?
I think I am not a Whedon fanboy…but he’s right about a lot of things, like how stupid people ruin everything, and how far too many of them actually seem to have positions of authority.
Sue Richards got better, too. Back in the early Lee-Kirby days, they did a special letter column where Reed and Ben answered letters. One writer said the Invisible Girl was useless and should be ditched. What paragon of feminist virtue and strength did Reed and Ben compare her to? Abraham Lincoln’s mother. You know, someone only remembered in history due to a prominent man passing through her birth canal.
Of course, in those days, female members of the various Marvel teams seemed to be there to be easily captured by the bad guys, despite the fact most of them (Sue, Jean Grey, Wanda Maximoff) would later be shown to have the best and most potent superpowers.
Though there was one nice, fairly feminist female team member over at DC. That would be Elasti-Girl of the Doom Patrol. The one issue of that old run where the men tried to leave her behind to protect her from a massive threat, she ended up saving all their lives.