We should really let Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Batman, and Superman be all moody by themselves in a corner. More than one panel at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend made us think the world would be just fine if you left the heroines — both DC and Marvel — in charge.
First, the Wonder Woman trailer premiere got many hyped for the first female-led superhero movie since Elektra. Then, Marvel gradually introduced the new and old female members of its universe, which is slowly growing to include every great actress of this generation.
There's Captain Marvel Brie Larson; Black Panther 's Lupita Nyong'o and Danai Gurira; Spider-Man: Homecoming 's Zendaya and Laura Harrier; Doctor Strange 's Tilda Swinton and Rachel McAdams; and Guardians of the Galaxy 's Zoe Saldana, Elizabeth Debicki, Karen Gillan, and Pom Klementieff. Avenger Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Jones star Krysten Ritter, and Ant-Man 's Evangeline Lilly were absent from the gathering.
This is progress, but not quite victory yet in the long, slow war to get more women in front of (and behind) the camera in action films. For every Force Awakens celebration, there's a Ghostbusters backlash. And where is that Black Widow movie? The actresses of TV and film at Entertainment Weekly 's Women Who Kick Ass panel were glad that the discussion is out in the open.
"It’s nice now we can finally talk about it and not feel as if we’re these horrible shrews who are demanding the same as men," said Connie Nielsen, who plays Wonder Woman's mother, Queen Hippolyta, in the upcoming film. "There are so many things that are unconsciously still in screenwriters’ and producers’ minds, and even in audiences’ minds, about what really is it to be a woman and a man? What values do these things carry with them? And until we really ask, again and again, why we expect one thing from a female or a male character and why we accept that, we’ll still see eight men and one woman as a lineup."
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