Hey! Did you guys know there are a lot of people who would like to see a female-led superhero movie? It’s true! And thankfully, it’s a point of discussion that’s gotten too loud to ignore. In an interview with Comic Book Resources, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige addressed the question we’ve been asking since, oh, forever: just how long before we see a female-led Marvel film?
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.
I can appreciate that picking the right story is important, and I am glad to hear Fiege comment on the ridiculousness of the whole “female heroes don’t sell” thing. But honestly, if Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man are acceptable risks, surely a Black Widow movie is a safe bet. Take a popular existing character (played by a popular actress), give her a GotG style media blitz, and I think you’re golden. At this point, news of any leading lady would be welcome.
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