One of the big narratives in terms of superhero movies over the summer has been the lack of women-led movies in the genre: despite the success of everything that Marvel does, Kevin Feige has remained non-committal in terms of the studio putting out a film with a female lead. And Warner Bros. may have cast Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman in "Batman Vs. Superman" but don’t appear to have made any strides forward in terms of giving the character her own solo movie.
And a backlash is starting to form: Jessica Chastain, being as awesome as she is, spoke up in favor of Scarlett Johansson (who had a monster hit with "Lucy" this summer) getting her own Marvel movie in the last week, and now one of Johansson’s co-stars has weighed in, with Robert Downey Jr, the figurehead of the Marvel movies, also speaking up in favor of a solo "Black Widow" film.
Speaking to USA Today (via Latino Review), Tony Stark himself spoke up in favor of the female character in Marvel movies, saying ""Look, I think that the interesting thing particularly after Guardians with Zoe (Saldana), (or) even from the first Iron Man where Pepper was kind of this really – to me the Iron Man franchise would never have taken off without (Gwyneth) Paltrow. There’s something about her that grounded the story. She’s not your typical lady in a superhero movie, and then by ‘Iron Man 3‘ she’s swallowing serums and putting on suits and kicking (butt) and all that stuff." But the actor also added that he’d like to Johansson get top-billing on a project: "It would be kind of more appropriate for a character that already was like a Black Widow (to lead a movie). It just seems like whatever Scarlett does people want to go see it."
Notwithstanding that the disappointing box office of the awesome "Under The Skin" doesn’t quite back that up, point taken. But that’s not the only Marvel spin-off that Iron Man wants to see. "The funny thing is," he says,’ honestly, at this point, everyone deserves a franchise. I think Jeremy Renner is —when folks see "Avengers: Age of Ultron" he’s just a rockstar, a badass. And Ruffalo is pumped. He does great (work). I’d like to hear them talk even more seriously about a Hulk franchise, because that’s been one of the toughest ones to get right. But I’m sure that my parent company is feeling expansive and and bold after the summer they’ve had."
Your move, Marvel. Given the potential of a Hulk or Black Widow movie, or even of a modestly-budgeted "Hawkeye" movie inspired by Matt Fraction‘s incredible recent run in the comics, these all seem like good ideas, even if Marvel has other franchises they want to launch too. In the meantime, Downey Jr’s about to open the Toronto International Film Festival with "The Judge" —look for our review in the next few days. And the whole gang will be seen in next summer’s "Avengers: Age Of Ultron."
