Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow has been stuck with a supporting role alongside her male co-stars. Photo / Supplied
Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow has been stuck with a supporting role alongside her male co-stars. Photo / Supplied
Opinion
Ethan Sills asks why there is still one area where women do not yet have equal opportunity to kick ass with the men.
This has been a week for celebrating diversity and equality, the historic United States Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage showing just how far even the most conservative of nations has come.
But recent comments have gone on to highlight just how behind the times some of our biggest movies are.
British model-actress Cara Delevingne came out against superhero movie sexism in Empire Magazine this week: "Female superheroes are normally naked or in bikinis. No one would be able to fight like that. Wonder Woman, how the hell does she fight? She would be dead in a minute."
Delevingne is set to co-star as Enchantress in next year's DC Comics adaptation Suicide Squad, and says the film's three female characters have the best roles.
Her points are not without merit. In the race for superhero box office domination, one of the few things that will differentiate Marvel and DC's growing rosters is their handling of minorities.
Last October both studios unveiled their film slates for the rest of the decade, making up a total of 18 movies to premiere between 2016 and 2020. But among those 18, only two will be headlined by women, and fans are starting to take notice.
Most of the criticism so far has been aimed at Marvel and its handling of Black Widow. Scarlett Johansson's scene-stealing heroine has been relegated to supporting performances next to her male co-stars.
The character failed to show up in merchandise for Avengers: Age of Ultron, toy companies going so far as to release toys from Black Widow scenes but replacing her with Captain America and Iron Man.
Saturday Night Live lambasted the character's treatment when Johansson hosted the Black Widow: Age of Me parody.
And there is still no sign yet of her own solo venture. Instead, Carol Danvers will headline Marvel's first female effort, Captain Marvel, in 2018.
But while it may be dragging behind in the movies, Marvel is taking huge strides towards equality and representation in the medium that started it all: the comic book.
The publisher made global headlines last year when it said the Captain America and Thor mantles were being passed on to African-American Sam Wilson - the alter ego of winged superhero Falcon, played by Anthony Mackie in the movies - and a mysterious woman respectively.
Marvel has plans for a female Thor in print. Photo / Supplied
The same week Miles Morales, a Black Hispanic teen and fan favourite in the comics, was announced as the new Spider-Man in print, it was confirmed Peter Parker would once again be the onscreen Spidey.
The casting call for the role leaked online this month, specifying Spider-Man had to be white, male and straight. Marvel legend Stan Lee jumped to its defence, saying there is no reason to change characters from how they were first introduced.
The comics notably have several LGBT characters throughout their titles; they even had the first gay marriage in a comic when X-Men mutant Northstar wed his boyfriend in 2012.
Meanwhile, Marvel movies producer Kevin Feige says we should see one in the movies "within the next decade", just a tad behind the times.
The advances in the comics only highlight the failures of the cinematic universe: From a business perspective, the studios have some right to be tentative about female superhero films - both Catwoman (2004) and Elektra (2005) were box office flops.
But in comic sales, female-led titles are raking in the money. Spider-Gwen, an alternate universe title where Peter Parker's love interest Gwen Stacy is bitten by the radioactive spider, outsold all other superhero titles in February.
Ms Marvel, about Pakistani-American teenager Kamala Khan, has been sitting near the top of sales since it debuted last year.
The aforementioned gay wedding issue of Astonishing X-Men was the highest-selling issue of that title for 2012.
Marvel is making strides on the small screen. Agent Carter, following Captain America's love Peggy Carter, has been renewed for a second series, while Krysten Ritter will headline Jessica Jones later this year, the second of Marvel's five Netflix series. CBS and DC will also be joining in with Supergirl, coming out in late October.
However, the movies are where the real battle lies for pop culture relevance, and it's there where Marvel needs to up its game.
It certainly says something that we will be getting our third Peter Parker movie in 10 years before we get a female-led movie.
Both Marvel and DC need to open their eyes and pay attention to their fans' pleas for diversity if they want to stay ahead in this game: it could be the key that helps them win the battle of the box office.
