So, there I am, watching Captain America, and shortly after the movie, I was like "hey, that was awesome! They actually had several solid female roles in the movie!" I started following that thought, wondering why I was so surprised by this. Marvel's always had pretty solid female characters.
Then it hit me. Marvel doesn't exactly have many women who have much power in their movies.
The Avengers, for instance, have a SUPERHUMAN SOLDIER, DUDE IN ROBOT ARMOR, A GOD, THE STRONGEST THERE IS, Hawkeye for men. The only woman is a baseline human. Hawkeye, at least, never misses. What has Black Widow got? Nothing Hawkeye doesn't.
It got me thinking about what women to pick from. Marvel's most capable female characters, I think, are largely X-Men, which, for licensing reasons, are stuck over at Fox. Beyond that, we've got female counterparts to male characters, like She-Hulk. And don't get me wrong: I'd actually love a She-Hulk movie, assuming we could get an actress with strong comedic chops in the role, as well as a director who can pull off superheroics and humor (which is surprisingly hard!) and actually do a hulk character that doesn't just look stupid on film.
The next most obvious choice is Captain/Ms. Marvel, but in the grand scheme of things, she's not exactly that capable, and her personality in comics is kinda bland--and I say this as someone who really enjoyed Brian Reed's run. What little I've seen of Kelly Sue Deconnick's work has been pretty good, though.
And... that's about it. Oh, sure, I mean, we can go dig up people like Tigra (cat powers), Photon (light shows), whatever, if we really want to... but...
If Marvel can turn a character who, for about fifty years, has been a white dude, into a black dude, then surely a gender swap isn't that big a deal, right?
Marvel's got plenty of characters who aren't established enough to change
.
Take Captain Marvel, for instance
. In those old comics, you had Rick Jones switching places with Mar-Vell. Imagine a situation where, say, you've got a girl who switches places with an alien superheroine. Maybe, if you want to actually have some fun with the concept, go with some sort of Birdy the Mighty take on it. For even more fun, make 'em switch bodies, so the girl's in the superheroine's body, and the superheroine's in the girl's body.
Sentry might be a neat take too, and I don't mean the modern "I'm a psychotic drug-using monster" version, but the original concept: a hero from the past that everyone's forgotten, dealing with a superpowered dark version of themselves. To avoid being too grimdark, borrow some inspiration from the Justice Buddies version of Mary Marvel, with this sweet, adorable, occasionally naive powerhouse. Spend half the movie dealing with her beginnings as a superhero, and the other half dealing with her resurfacing in the future, trying to convince people who don't remember her of their past, regaining her power, dealing with The Void, stuff like that.
There's plenty of other possible characters. Hyperion, Captain Universe, Gladiator, and Quasar, for instance. Some of these characters actually have female versions (like Phyla-Vell or Xenith), so it's not that big of a stretch to just use them as the main character.
So.
Yeah.
Am I crazy for thinking Marvel could do better than their current 5 guys to 1 girl ratio going on in Avengers/Guardians of the Galaxy? Is it weird to want some female powerhouses/reimaginings of boring-but-capable male characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Has my boredom gone too far?
EDITED FOR CLARITY:
Basically, I'd like to see a character who:
1) Can take on Thor, Iron Man, or Hulk. Someone who can keep up with the big boys. Seriously, go look at Marvel's "most powerful" lists. Not many women on the charts. Dozens of men.
2) Can be used by Marvel (so no mutants, possibly not the spider-women)
3) Isn't just a female version of a male character already in the movies
Then it hit me. Marvel doesn't exactly have many women who have much power in their movies.
The Avengers, for instance, have a SUPERHUMAN SOLDIER, DUDE IN ROBOT ARMOR, A GOD, THE STRONGEST THERE IS, Hawkeye for men. The only woman is a baseline human. Hawkeye, at least, never misses. What has Black Widow got? Nothing Hawkeye doesn't.
It got me thinking about what women to pick from. Marvel's most capable female characters, I think, are largely X-Men, which, for licensing reasons, are stuck over at Fox. Beyond that, we've got female counterparts to male characters, like She-Hulk. And don't get me wrong: I'd actually love a She-Hulk movie, assuming we could get an actress with strong comedic chops in the role, as well as a director who can pull off superheroics and humor (which is surprisingly hard!) and actually do a hulk character that doesn't just look stupid on film.
The next most obvious choice is Captain/Ms. Marvel, but in the grand scheme of things, she's not exactly that capable, and her personality in comics is kinda bland--and I say this as someone who really enjoyed Brian Reed's run. What little I've seen of Kelly Sue Deconnick's work has been pretty good, though.
And... that's about it. Oh, sure, I mean, we can go dig up people like Tigra (cat powers), Photon (light shows), whatever, if we really want to... but...
If Marvel can turn a character who, for about fifty years, has been a white dude, into a black dude, then surely a gender swap isn't that big a deal, right?
Marvel's got plenty of characters who aren't established enough to change
For instance, I'd never think of making Ben Grimm a woman, because he's the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing, and that's just all he's ever going to be
Take Captain Marvel, for instance
yeah, yeah, I know, Captain Marvel is Ms. Marvel's new name
Sentry might be a neat take too, and I don't mean the modern "I'm a psychotic drug-using monster" version, but the original concept: a hero from the past that everyone's forgotten, dealing with a superpowered dark version of themselves. To avoid being too grimdark, borrow some inspiration from the Justice Buddies version of Mary Marvel, with this sweet, adorable, occasionally naive powerhouse. Spend half the movie dealing with her beginnings as a superhero, and the other half dealing with her resurfacing in the future, trying to convince people who don't remember her of their past, regaining her power, dealing with The Void, stuff like that.
There's plenty of other possible characters. Hyperion, Captain Universe, Gladiator, and Quasar, for instance. Some of these characters actually have female versions (like Phyla-Vell or Xenith), so it's not that big of a stretch to just use them as the main character.
So.
Yeah.
Am I crazy for thinking Marvel could do better than their current 5 guys to 1 girl ratio going on in Avengers/Guardians of the Galaxy? Is it weird to want some female powerhouses/reimaginings of boring-but-capable male characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Has my boredom gone too far?
EDITED FOR CLARITY:
Basically, I'd like to see a character who:
1) Can take on Thor, Iron Man, or Hulk. Someone who can keep up with the big boys. Seriously, go look at Marvel's "most powerful" lists. Not many women on the charts. Dozens of men.
2) Can be used by Marvel (so no mutants, possibly not the spider-women)
3) Isn't just a female version of a male character already in the movies
