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| Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. |
Shh! Can you hear it? Listen again! It’s the sounds of women everywhere shouting the phrases, “I am Woman! Hear me roar!” and “Women rule!” The chants are so loud I cannot even hear myself think writing this column! They are even drowning out the cheers of the “Big Bang Theory” crowd as well.
Like it or not, there’s a reason for this. On July 23, 2017, the big screen will no longer be a male superhero’s world anymore. The days where female super heroines occupying the same film alongside the male superhero in the same blockbuster franchise movie will officially be over. Two and a half years from now following her big screen debut in March 2016 alongside the “Man of Steel” and the “Caped Crusader” in "Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice," the Amazonian princess Wonder Woman (aka Diana Prince as played by Gal Gadot of "Fast & Furious 6" - 2013) will get her own standalone superhero movie in what is already being planned as a trilogy by DC Comics and Warner Brothers.
Then in July 2018 Marvel Comics and Disney will bring their own female superhero to the big screen known as Captain Marvel. While I know enough about Wonder Woman, I am ignorant when it comes to Captain Marvel. The comic book nerds, the “Big Bang Theory crowd” and the “I am woman hear me roar” crowd will have to set me straight about who this female character is. The most I know is what Marvel President Kevin Feige said last November when announcing future Marvel Comic movie projects.
“This Captain Marvel’s name is Carol Danvers,” Feige said. “This film has been in the works almost as long as Doctor Strange or Guardians of the Galaxy before it came out, and one of the key things was figuring out what we wanted to do with it. Her adventures are very earthbound, but her powers are based in the cosmic realm.”
The big screen isn’t the only place where female superheroes will make their presence known. Late last year, Thor became a woman in her own alternate comic series from Marvel.
"The inscription on Thor’s hammer reads ‘Whosoever holds this hammer, if HE be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.’ Well, it’s time to update that inscription," said Marvel editor Wil Moss in a statement last year. "The new Thor continues Marvel’s proud tradition of strong female characters like Captain Marvel, Storm, Black Widow and more. And this new Thor isn’t a temporary female substitute – she’s now the one and only Thor, and she is worthy!"
This May, Marvel will introduce an all-female Avengers series called A-Force that will feature She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, Storm, Medusa, Jean Grey and Dazzler. I can already see a female Avengers movie coming after the male Avengers movies end in 2019.
The question I have is who besides women, the nerds and the “Big Bang Theory” crowd will sit in front of their flat screens and computers and download the Supergirl series off Netflix and Hulu? Whereas the Batman, Superman and Avengers movies appeal to both sexes, how many guys will actually sit through a female standalone superhero film? It’s like having a girlfriend or wife drag their boyfriend or husband literally on a leash to see some romantic "Chick Flick" that appeals only to women.
It’s not as if women superheroes have had long running success in both television and the big screen. Yes, the original Wonder Woman tv series with Lynda Carter had a catchy song that I still can’t get out of my head but the show featuring the Amazonian princess in the “satin tights, fighting for your rights, and the old red, white and blue” lasted only 60 episodes from 1975 to 1979. Compare that number to the WB’s "Smallville" series about a young Clark Kent that lasted ten years (2001-2011) with 217 episodes.
How many remember the 1984 movie, "Supergirl," with Helen Slater in her movie debut? I suspect more people remember "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" (1987) whose $15 million gross was one million more than what "Supergirl" made at the box office.
Or "Catwoman" (2004) in which star Halle Berry won and accepted the Worst Actress Raspberry Award in person in 2005?
That doesn’t mean the powers that be at Disney’s Marvel and Warner Brothers DC comics don’t realize how much is at stake if they fail. I am sure somewhere at Disney’s Marvel offices is a rule written on a wall somewhere that says “Hell hath no fury like Mickey Mouse and former president and Marvel Comics chairman Stan Lee scorned” along with their own set of ten commandments where the first one says “Thou shalt not make any Marvel movie that becomes a box office flop.” (By comparison, I am sure the same rule and Ten Commandments are posted up on a wall on the Disney’s Star Wars offices of film producer Kathleen Kennedy as well).
The powers that be at Warner Brothers were apparently so careful to not hop on any eggshells with the Wonder Woman franchise that they hired Game of Thrones director Michelle Maclaren to helm the first film thinking the movie would benefit more if it were directed by a woman.
There is still one other obstacle that the Amazonian princess and Captain Marvel’s Carol Danvers will have to conquer though and that’s the box office. Money is what makes the world go round. The amount of green will be what determines if what audiences get is another bomb the equivalent of a Supergirl or Catwoman movie or if they get another Superman/Avengers style blockbuster franchise.
©3/18/15
Like it or not, there’s a reason for this. On July 23, 2017, the big screen will no longer be a male superhero’s world anymore. The days where female super heroines occupying the same film alongside the male superhero in the same blockbuster franchise movie will officially be over. Two and a half years from now following her big screen debut in March 2016 alongside the “Man of Steel” and the “Caped Crusader” in "Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice," the Amazonian princess Wonder Woman (aka Diana Prince as played by Gal Gadot of "Fast & Furious 6" - 2013) will get her own standalone superhero movie in what is already being planned as a trilogy by DC Comics and Warner Brothers.
Then in July 2018 Marvel Comics and Disney will bring their own female superhero to the big screen known as Captain Marvel. While I know enough about Wonder Woman, I am ignorant when it comes to Captain Marvel. The comic book nerds, the “Big Bang Theory crowd” and the “I am woman hear me roar” crowd will have to set me straight about who this female character is. The most I know is what Marvel President Kevin Feige said last November when announcing future Marvel Comic movie projects.
 |
| Ms. Marvel as she is pictured in the comics. |
“This Captain Marvel’s name is Carol Danvers,” Feige said. “This film has been in the works almost as long as Doctor Strange or Guardians of the Galaxy before it came out, and one of the key things was figuring out what we wanted to do with it. Her adventures are very earthbound, but her powers are based in the cosmic realm.”
The big screen isn’t the only place where female superheroes will make their presence known. Late last year, Thor became a woman in her own alternate comic series from Marvel.
"The inscription on Thor’s hammer reads ‘Whosoever holds this hammer, if HE be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.’ Well, it’s time to update that inscription," said Marvel editor Wil Moss in a statement last year. "The new Thor continues Marvel’s proud tradition of strong female characters like Captain Marvel, Storm, Black Widow and more. And this new Thor isn’t a temporary female substitute – she’s now the one and only Thor, and she is worthy!"
This May, Marvel will introduce an all-female Avengers series called A-Force that will feature She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, Storm, Medusa, Jean Grey and Dazzler. I can already see a female Avengers movie coming after the male Avengers movies end in 2019.
 |
| Melissa Benoist as Supergirl. |
While on television, CBS has been hard at work bringing Supergirl to the small screen and unlike producer/screenwriter David E. Kelley’s proposed Wonder Woman series in 2011 that crashed and burned before her invisible plane ever took off, I have not heard any critical rumblings about the upcoming series let alone the “Woman of Steel’s” costume which debuted on the Internet recently featuring star Melissa Benoist in the title role. Allow me to offer my own negative criticism of her. She looks too thin and has no muscle. I don’t think villain Lex Luthor has anything to worry about.
The question I have is who besides women, the nerds and the “Big Bang Theory” crowd will sit in front of their flat screens and computers and download the Supergirl series off Netflix and Hulu? Whereas the Batman, Superman and Avengers movies appeal to both sexes, how many guys will actually sit through a female standalone superhero film? It’s like having a girlfriend or wife drag their boyfriend or husband literally on a leash to see some romantic "Chick Flick" that appeals only to women.
It’s not as if women superheroes have had long running success in both television and the big screen. Yes, the original Wonder Woman tv series with Lynda Carter had a catchy song that I still can’t get out of my head but the show featuring the Amazonian princess in the “satin tights, fighting for your rights, and the old red, white and blue” lasted only 60 episodes from 1975 to 1979. Compare that number to the WB’s "Smallville" series about a young Clark Kent that lasted ten years (2001-2011) with 217 episodes.
 |
| ABC's Agent Carter. |
I see ABC’s "Agent Carter" with Hayley Atwell which airs right after "Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D." on Tuesday nights as nothing more than a test to see if a female driven series about a woman who worked with Captain America can stand on its own without the guy with the red, white and blue shield.
How many remember the 1984 movie, "Supergirl," with Helen Slater in her movie debut? I suspect more people remember "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" (1987) whose $15 million gross was one million more than what "Supergirl" made at the box office.
Or "Catwoman" (2004) in which star Halle Berry won and accepted the Worst Actress Raspberry Award in person in 2005?
That doesn’t mean the powers that be at Disney’s Marvel and Warner Brothers DC comics don’t realize how much is at stake if they fail. I am sure somewhere at Disney’s Marvel offices is a rule written on a wall somewhere that says “Hell hath no fury like Mickey Mouse and former president and Marvel Comics chairman Stan Lee scorned” along with their own set of ten commandments where the first one says “Thou shalt not make any Marvel movie that becomes a box office flop.” (By comparison, I am sure the same rule and Ten Commandments are posted up on a wall on the Disney’s Star Wars offices of film producer Kathleen Kennedy as well).
The powers that be at Warner Brothers were apparently so careful to not hop on any eggshells with the Wonder Woman franchise that they hired Game of Thrones director Michelle Maclaren to helm the first film thinking the movie would benefit more if it were directed by a woman.
There is still one other obstacle that the Amazonian princess and Captain Marvel’s Carol Danvers will have to conquer though and that’s the box office. Money is what makes the world go round. The amount of green will be what determines if what audiences get is another bomb the equivalent of a Supergirl or Catwoman movie or if they get another Superman/Avengers style blockbuster franchise.
©3/18/15
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