Riddle me this: Why can’t women superheroes be film stars, too?
Despite her superpowers, Wonder Woman has had a hard time finding justice in Hollywood.
Though she has been around nearly as long as fellow Justice League superheroes Superman and Batman, the Amazonian princess has yet to appear in a major motion picture. In fact, when “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice” arrives in theaters next year, it will mark the first time that Wonder Woman has been seen at all on the big screen.
An early look at actress Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman in the upcoming film, “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice.”
And even then, as the title suggests, “she’s going to be playing third fiddle” to the guys, said Kara Kvaran, Ph.D., a lecturer in Women’s Studies at The University of Akron who specializes in American pop culture and gender.
Female superheroes rare
Kvaran is studying how superhero films based on comic books have evolved over the decades by analyzing 81 live-action movies that played in American theatres. Women were the main characters in only five of those movies.
“This is an overwhelmingly masculine genre of films, and it’s also one of our most popular genres,” Kvaran said.
Most comic book superheroes debuted around World War II. The characters’ origin stories were influenced by the gender ideals of a time when to be masculine was to be a provider and a protector, she said. Over the years, as new superheroes emerged, they took on similar qualities – and then some.
“The superhero films we’re creating now are more masculine than those that were written in the ’50s and ’60s,” Kvaran said.
Brawn over brains
Today’s movies portray a “hypermasculinity” based on physicality, strength and aggression, she believes. Superheroes now solve problems through violence. Even Superman, longtime defender of truth, justice and the American way, killed his first bad guy in 2013’s “Man of Steel.”
Movie studios have been under tremendous pressure to produce women superhero films, Kvaran said. That will finally happen in 2017, when DC Entertainment releases “Wonder Woman.” Marvel Studios is on track for a 2018 release of “Captain Marvel,” with the current Captain, Carol Danvers, in the lead role.
Next up in superhero movie releases, though, is “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” in theaters May 1. The mostly male Avengers team includes one female superhero, Black Widow.
“I’ll be there,” said Kvaran, herself a fan of superhero films, “rolling my eyes at the lack of female characters.”
Media contact: Roger Mezger, 330-972-6482, or 330-730-4215, or rmezger@uakron.edu.