Marvel’s Move to Add Female Voices Is Good For The Franchise

In the past few years, there has been a move towards increasing the number of leading female superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Despite what some outrage merchants online want to claim, the MCU still has plenty of male-led properties like Loki and upcoming releases like Captain America: Brave New World and Deadpool 3. Yet the future of the franchise also features plenty more projects focused on female superheroes, which is a good thing.

Heroes like Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Ironheart, Captain Marvel, and Shuri are just a few names that have become audience favorites. After the MCU started with a predominantly male cast, the long-running mega-franchise has branched out in ways that set a new, groundbreaking standard in Hollywood. Being an industry leader, the impact can be felt, and we can only hope they continue down this route in the future. Here is why the MCU is starting to feature so many female heroes and why it is a positive development.

Update November 16, 2023: This article has been updated following the release of The Marvels and how the future looks for the MCU.

It Wasn’t Always Like This

When the MCU began, the MCU was prominently headlined by male characters. The first four MCU franchises were Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America. Black Widow was introduced in Iron Man 2 and was made a member of The Avengers (at one point when it was unclear if Johansson’s schedule would allow for it, the role of the Wasp was written into The Avengers with Joss Whedon eying Zooey Deschanel for the part). Gamora was a member of The Guardians of the Galaxy, and Scarlet Witch was added to the MCU in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but they were always notably supporting characters.

This, and the fact that many of these characters were not featured in toys or merchandise, was because of the long-held belief that a female superhero movie could not draw in a wide audience because of films like Supergirl, Catwoman, and Elektra. While bad comic book films led by men like Green Lantern, Batman & Robin, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine were never used to hold down male-led superhero movies, those other films were used as an excuse against female-led superhero movies by Marvel’s president, Ike Perlmutter.

Related: Every Woman-Led MCU Release So Far (& Others We’re Excited About)

Notably, Kevin Feige had been trying to develop a movie centered on Avengers hero Carol Danvers for years, as early as Phase 2 of the MCU, but was met with resistance by higher-ups at Marvel. He would grow frustrated that Marvel Television was allowed to feature a female-led superhero project like Jessica Jones or that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had many female heroes in lead roles, but the films were not as Marvel saw the movies as needing to push toys.

In 2014, Kevin Feige finally announced Captain Marvel would be in development. Captain Marvel opened in theaters on March 8, 2019 (International Women’s Day) and the movie grossed $1 billion at the worldwide box office. It was clear there was an audience for female-fronted superhero projects and that they could co-exist alongside the many male-centric properties.

After years of being a supporting character, Black Widow was finally given her own feature film. That same year, WandaVision premiered on Disney+ and put Scarlet Witch front and center. This kicked off more female-led Disney+ series like Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law as well as a whole host of new heroes like Monica Rambeau, Kate Bishop, Ironheart, Shuri’s Black Panther, Cassie Lang, America Chavez, and Maya Lopez’s Echo showed that the franchise was looking to be a more inclusive universe.

The Current Players

While Black Widow might no longer be part of the MCU, she laid the groundwork for a whole new era of Marvel heroes. Captain Marvel is the MCU’s powerhouse. Carol Danvers was seen by a number of people as cosmically overpowered. The truth was that she was simply a class-A badass. Brie Larson brought humor, gravitas, and a trademark smirk that showed she didn’t give a damn who was standing in front of her. Carol Danvers is a course a tough-as-nail superhero, but unlike some other characters that try to be the tough, empowered female hero, the writers and star have not sacrificed Carol Danvers’s feminity. They have allowed her to have stern, badass moments but also light up when she has to herd a group of kittens. These two truths that exist within her don’t contradict one another but instead, make her a richer superhero.

Kate Bishop, thanks to Hailee Steinfeld, has become a standout character. Not only does she have great chemistry with Clint Barton, but her role as a second-generation hero gives the MCU both a history and a fresh jumping-on point for new viewers. This is also the case with characters like Riri Williams’s Ironheart, who is designed to be the successor to Iron Man but also stands as her own character.

Characters like Echo and Shuri have shown Marvel’s greater push for diversity. Echo is notably both a Native-American woman but also one who is deaf and has a prosthetic leg. This shows that the MCU is focused on making sure everyone feels included, but it also opens the door for plenty of stories to tell to truly make the universe feel lived in. Meanwhile, Shuri stepping into the role of Black Panther was likely not something Marvel planned so soon, but following the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman, worked it into the plot and made a more complex and tragic superhero origin story. One formed in grief and a truly reluctant hero.

Jennifer Walters, aka She-Hulk, and Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, might be the two standouts of the entire franchise. Jennifer Walters is a funny character with a wicked sense of humor who acts as an audience surrogate for people who might be sick of Marvel movies. She is a truly modern 21st-century woman, one who struggles with work and love life in a relatable way that the great Marvel characters have.

Iman Vellani, as Ms. Marvel, should be the key character the MCU builds itself around moving forward. She perfectly captures Kamala Khan’s fangirl nature, which is a great reflection for the audience. She reacts the way the audience would meet superheroes. She represents a new generation of Marvel fans, ones who have only ever grown up with the MCU as a dominant part of their lives. Ms. Marvel is also a Muslim superhero, reflecting a more diverse world and one where anyone can see themselves as a superhero.

Why Now?

Marvel Comics always sold itself as reflecting the world outside the reader’s window. If the MCU wants to truly embody that for film audiences, they need to also realize that it is a diverse audience. White male heroes won’t be going anywhere, but they also need to make room for more hero stories. To truly survive in a 21st-century market, they need to reach a wider audience and a new generation of fans. As Marvel prepares to continue on with their next phase, they’ve made it a point to showcase more female characters.

Related: Why She-Hulk Should Join the Official Avengers

It should also be noted that the backlash towards female superheroes is very real. Fanboys don’t seem to like them, and their vitriol has shown itself through the review-bombing of Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, and the new The Marvels film. It is not an easy road for anyone, but this particular boy’s club needs to open itself up. After years of asking women and people of color to just accept heroes like Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America, now they are tasked with accepting characters like Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, and Echo. There does seem a bit of resistance to it, but also if they cannot accept these characters, that is a them problem, not Marvels.

The Marvels Is A Triumph For Young Girls

The Marvels, as we said before, was a film that was always going to face heavy criticism from the wrong crowd. Even before anything substantial was revealed, people were detesting the film’s production, calling for it to be scrapped along with other woman-centric projects. Through it all, Marvel surprisingly doubled down on showcasing women in their stories and is doing so more boldly than before with The Marvels and other recent additions to the MCU. It could be commended for not buckling down under pressure and realizing that the naysayers of inclusion are nothing more than a vocal minority.

Now that The Marvels has now been released to theaters, we can say with certainty this is a big moment for women-led superheroes. Its platform is tremendously huge. By huge, we are talking global. While the film is far from perfect, and we can admit its flaws, it was impactful for many audiences. Its theme of teamwork between women is also a good takeaway. All in all, The Marvels is an important stint, especially for racial minorities, who might not always get the chance to see themselves in a big-studio film that’s being distributed so widely.

A lot of unfair blame will be placed upon The Marvels. There is a chance that some will use the film’s poor box office performance as “proof” that audiences don’t want female superheroes or that Marvel “ruined its brand” by focusing on girls. All of those are silly complaints with no basis in fact that ignore real issues with the movie, like it having to be released without any real promotion from the stars due to the SAG-AFTRA Strike or it having to bear the burden of poor reaction to Marvel films like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Secret Invasion.

It is unfair to put so much burden on The Marvels shoulders, but as with every major project featuring a female superhero or a female director, greater expectations are unfairly put upon it. What does matter is that The Marvels does seem to be connecting with its audience and that an entire generation of young girls will see themselves represented on screen. That will have a long-term impact greater than any box office number.