You know an interesting theory shot its way into my mind the other day, a theory-oddly enough-proposed by a co-worker. This theory was that the character She-Hulk would never appear in The Marvel Cinematic Universe because of her over-sexualization in the comics and how translating that to film would be risky. Interesting. Interesting to put in a post!
Characters like Wonder Woman and She-Hulk and Storm were designed to not only represent the female demographic, but to also represent femininity and the female body. Sure, most writers and artists may put in a scantily-clad scene in a comic for the drooling masses of male fans, but these scenes also make statements about the human body. To be fair, male characters are treaty the same. How many superheroes don't have abs or seductive facial hair or the type of personality that'd be labelled as "charming". Superman and Captain America represent men and their more attractive features just as much as my previous female examples. Thor, Hulk, Hercules and many other muscular characters scream male strength just by appearance, and its not like female and/or man-loving viewers of the Marvel films haven't gotten their fair share of eye candy. Star-Lord, Ant-Man, Thor, Cap, I'm pretty sure every main male character in these films has gotten a shirtless scene. In Mark Ruffulo's case, it's not always a peep-show. What about male and/or woman-loving viewers? Black Widow had a changing scene in the back of a car in "Iron Man 2", but mostly we've been shafted. Gamora almost had a topless scene, but it was only in the trailer for "Guardians of The Galaxy", and we do have characters like Scarlet Witch, Peggy Carter, The Wasp, and other females as part of this universe. Is it fair to say that if they haven't had "ohmygodsohot" moments yet, they still could? Or is that a matter of the studio not wanting to push the female sexualization in their films? In the past superhero flicks that limitation didn't seem as forced, the "Blade" trilogy, Fox's "Daredevil", Fox's "Fantastic Four", the first "Spider-Man" all played with the female sexualization concept, but now we see comic book films changing beyond that needed bit of wink-wink eye-candy.
So then what about characters like She-Hulk or Power Girl who's lore somewhat revolves around their beauty? Are they lost causes? Well first let me remind you that if we never see She-Hulk in a film, its because Universal Studios still has a weird co-ownership of the Hulk and his characters with Marvel Studios. Aside from that, She-Hulk could possibly co-star in a film, or be on Netflix, or on ABC, or even steal the lime-light from her cousin by getting a film trilogy. But the real question is: how would she look? Green hair and skin and muscles is one thing, but She-Hulk has been known to wear leotards and two-pieces, and right now we don't really have a lot of characters rocking that look. Olivia Munn will appear as Psylocke in "X-Men: Apocalypse" and her look is pretty spot-on with the leotard, so I can't really see the outfit being an issue. Maybe its just the sexualization people worry about. She-Hulk is a known swinger, she is known to dress-how should I say this-"foxy", and she is at heart a flirtatious character. We don't really have a character like that yet in the MCU, so it's a bold move. But you have to figure if Marvel is going to break down walls by making a film about a black superhero (Black Panther), a female superhero (Captain Marvel) and a teenage superhero (Spider-Man), what is really stopping them from doing a film about a manizer (the opposite of a womanizer)?
When you break it down, there is no reason not to use She-Hulk in the MCU. She's a well-known Marvel character, she has a lot of lore and personality, she's different from most characters, and she's one the forerunners of powerful, sexy, independent female superheroes. Her presence on screen wouldn't be offensive or dangerous, it'd be bold, inspired and refreshing to a world of viewers used to seeing heterosexual white men dress up as superheroes. And if there is one thing Marvel Studios does best, it's give us what we don't think we want and end up making us love it.
Thanks for reading!
Facebook: The Panel Biter
Twitter: @ThePanelBiter
Podbean: Panelbiter.podbean.com
So then what about characters like She-Hulk or Power Girl who's lore somewhat revolves around their beauty? Are they lost causes? Well first let me remind you that if we never see She-Hulk in a film, its because Universal Studios still has a weird co-ownership of the Hulk and his characters with Marvel Studios. Aside from that, She-Hulk could possibly co-star in a film, or be on Netflix, or on ABC, or even steal the lime-light from her cousin by getting a film trilogy. But the real question is: how would she look? Green hair and skin and muscles is one thing, but She-Hulk has been known to wear leotards and two-pieces, and right now we don't really have a lot of characters rocking that look. Olivia Munn will appear as Psylocke in "X-Men: Apocalypse" and her look is pretty spot-on with the leotard, so I can't really see the outfit being an issue. Maybe its just the sexualization people worry about. She-Hulk is a known swinger, she is known to dress-how should I say this-"foxy", and she is at heart a flirtatious character. We don't really have a character like that yet in the MCU, so it's a bold move. But you have to figure if Marvel is going to break down walls by making a film about a black superhero (Black Panther), a female superhero (Captain Marvel) and a teenage superhero (Spider-Man), what is really stopping them from doing a film about a manizer (the opposite of a womanizer)?
When you break it down, there is no reason not to use She-Hulk in the MCU. She's a well-known Marvel character, she has a lot of lore and personality, she's different from most characters, and she's one the forerunners of powerful, sexy, independent female superheroes. Her presence on screen wouldn't be offensive or dangerous, it'd be bold, inspired and refreshing to a world of viewers used to seeing heterosexual white men dress up as superheroes. And if there is one thing Marvel Studios does best, it's give us what we don't think we want and end up making us love it.
Thanks for reading!
Facebook: The Panel Biter
Twitter: @ThePanelBiter
Podbean: Panelbiter.podbean.com
No comments:
Post a Comment