# Will DC or Marvel be the first to deliver a modern female-headlined super heroine movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2014, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226 "2014-02-13T08:16:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226/21 "2014-02-13T23:34:50Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > The obscureness works in her favor, at least in terms of revamping her origin. Look at Hawkeye - no one complained about the movie apparently ditching his background as a former circus performer-turned-super-villain. Not to mention “obscureness” has to be put in context. How many people actually knew who Iron Man was before the Robert Downey Jr. movie. Sure comic book fans knew, but he was hardly Superman, Spider-Man, or Batman. I think the problem may be that I’m not sure how many successful action movies have had the lead role be a woman. Off the top of my head the ones that come to my were Buffy the Vampire Slayer(the movie not the TV Series), and Barb Wire which both flopped, the Lara Croft movies(which I think did okay but were hardly spectacular), and Haywire(which I think did okay). That said, I don’t think you can count the first two because they were both comedies and terrible ones(though I did like the idea of having a remake of Casablanca with Pamela Anderson in the Rick role). As for the others, I actually liked Haywire and think it could have done far better with a better actress. As for the Croft movies, A) I don’t think they were terribly good and B) I could be wrong , but I get the impression that a lot of female movie goers don’t particularly like Angelina Jolie and with a different actress it could have been better. In short, I think a female-headed action movie could do very well, America just hasn’t seen it yet. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226/22 "2014-02-13T23:41:23Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Not to mention “obscureness” has to be put in context. > > How many people actually knew who Iron Man was before the Robert Downey Jr. movie. > > . That would be plenty of people as Iron Man had a 1960s cartoon, he was a founding member of the Avengers and he had a long running Marvel Comic. While he wasn’t Superman or Batman he was hardly the fringe character that Carol Danvers has been in the Marvel Universe. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226/23 "2014-02-13T23:41:36Z")
You forgot Salt and Wanted… both headlined by Angelina Jolie. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226/24 "2014-02-13T23:44:33Z")
The Hunger Games would like to have a world with you. Also, the first Tomb Raider was a hit, the sequel bombed. Resident Evil movies I assume make a lot of money since they keep making them. Kill Bill vol. 1 and 2 If Disney is willing to make a well-received female lead action movie that might not become a blockbuster there’s also “Colombiana” and “Hanna” as inspirations. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226/25 "2014-02-13T23:51:15Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > The Hunger Games would like to have a world with you. > > Also, the first Tomb Raider was a hit, the sequel bombed. > > Resident Evil movies I assume make a lot of money since they keep making them. > > Kill Bill vol. 1 and 2 > > If Disney is willing to make a well-received female lead action movie that might not become a blockbuster there’s also “Colombiana” and “Hanna” as inspirations. None of those are superhero film, or characters. Chalk & Cheese. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226/26 "2014-02-14T00:00:17Z")
I voted Marvel, though I don’t actually know it’ll be Black Widow—'plenty of other heroines. It could be She-Hulk, or Captain Marvel, or Night Nurse—for one major reason: I’m not entirely confident that DC knows what it’s doing these days, film-wise. That, and the observations/scuttlebutt among the nerd nations seem to indicate DC is generally less female-friendly. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226/27 "2014-02-14T00:23:21Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > You forgot Salt and Wanted… both headlined by Angelina Jolie. You’re correct about Salt, though, I’m not sure how big a hit it was. It looks like it had a huge opening and then somewhat fizzled. Angelina Jolie was not the star of Wanted any more than Linda Hamilton was the star of Terminator 2. > [@](#): > > **Push You Down** > The Hunger Games would like to have a world with you. You’re correct, that’s been one of the biggest hits of this decade. I didn’t think of it because I though of it more as a YA movie than as an action movie. > [@](#): > > Resident Evil movies I assume make a lot of money since they keep making them. > > Kill Bill vol. 1 and 2 > > If Disney is willing to make a well-received female lead action movie that might not become a blockbuster there’s also “Colombiana” and “Hanna” as inspirations. I haven’t seen any of those other than the Kill Bill movies(which I really should have thought of), but I think you may have been missing my point. I wasn’t saying there are NO successful female-led action movies, just that they’re really rare which I think we can all agree. I also made it clear that I thought they can be successful when I said > [@](#): > > I think a female-headed action movie could do very well, America just hasn’t seen it yet. My point being that I thought Hollywood would be really reluctant to make a female led super heroine movie for the same reason. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226/28 "2014-02-14T00:29:13Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > That would be plenty of people as Iron Man had a 1960s cartoon. I don’t mean to be insulting, but how many people under the age of 50 would have seen that cartoon or even heard of it. I’m 41 and this is the first I’m hearing of it. > [@](#): > > he was a founding member of the Avengers and he had a long running Marvel Comic. While he wasn’t Superman or Batman he was hardly the fringe character that Carol Danvers has been in the Marvel Universe. You’ll notice I said > [@](#): > > How many people actually knew who Iron Man was before the Robert Downey Jr. movie. > > **Sure comic book fans knew,** but he was hardly Superman, Spider-Man, or Batman Nothing in your above paragraph would indicate why anyone other than comic book fans would know who he was in comparison to Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, or the Hulk. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226/29 "2014-02-14T00:42:45Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > I don’t mean to be insulting, but how many people under the age of 50 would have seen that cartoon or even heard of it. I’m 41 and this is the first I’m hearing of it. > > You’ll notice I said > > Nothing in your above paragraph would indicate why anyone other than comic book fans would know who he was in comparison to Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, or the Hulk. And you’ll notice that I also said that he wasn’t as famous as other comic book heroes who have had multiple films and series made about them. But then neither is Ghost Rider, Jonah Hex,The Flash, Wonder Woman,Green Lantern and a number of other characters who are at or slightly exceed Iron Man’s level of fame. What I said was that Carol Danvers was (and remains) a fringe Marvel character only known to those who are familiar with the Marvel Universe and who may remember her from her brief and failed Ms. Marvel series in late 1970s. It would be a waste of money to create a film whose entire length would have to be exposition of who the character is and why the audience should care about her. There never has been a demand for much about Carol Danvers (her failed comic is an indicator of that) and spending Hollywood’s limited capital upon such a marginal character would be a poor business decision. Sidenote: The fact that you didn’t know about the Iron Man cartoon is an indicator of little besides the fact that **you** have never heard of it. It was shown in syndication throughout the 1970s and again in the 1980s and it was part of a number of Marvel cartoons which were created in the 1960 by a then prescient Stan Lee who saw that there was money to be made in the company’s characters. **BTW, I’m 47, so I wouldn’t have seen it when it was on the air for its initial run.** Reference: Theme Song [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0Wn4iYoMcAA/hqdefault.jpg "Iron Man - Theme Song") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wn4iYoMcAA) ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226/30 "2014-02-14T01:40:30Z")
I was going to say, “someone else, not DC or Marvel.” Of the two? Who knows? Probably not soon. Maybe when the super-hero movie fad dies down, someone will have the idea to do a “bad girl” movie to get some eyeballs, but I doubt it. Both companies are weirdly…conservative. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226/31 "2014-02-14T02:45:13Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Both companies are weirdly…conservative. With an emphasis on “weirdly”. Generally “conservative” doesn’t mean “hates marriage”. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226/32 "2014-02-14T02:57:20Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Not to mention “obscureness” has to be put in context. > > How many people actually knew who Iron Man was before the Robert Downey Jr. movie. > > Sure comic book fans knew, but he was hardly Superman, Spider-Man, or Batman. > > I think the problem may be that I’m not sure how many successful action movies have had the lead role be a woman. > > Off the top of my head the ones that come to my were Buffy the Vampire Slayer(the movie not the TV Series), and Barb Wire which both flopped, the Lara Croft movies(which I think did okay but were hardly spectacular), and Haywire(which I think did okay). > > That said, I don’t think you can count the first two because they were both comedies and terrible ones(though I did like the idea of having a remake of Casablanca with Pamela Anderson in the Rick role). > > As for the others, I actually liked Haywire and think it could have done far better with a better actress. > > As for the Croft movies, A) I don’t think they were terribly good and B) I could be wrong , but I get the impression that a lot of female movie goers don’t particularly like Angelina Jolie and with a different actress it could have been better. > > In short, I think a female-headed action movie could do very well, America just hasn’t seen it yet. There’s [_D.O.A.,_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOA:_Dead_or_Alive) FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226/33 "2014-02-14T03:13:52Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > The X-Men movies are from Fox, not Marvel Studios. Fox didn’t have much interest in the character, but Marvel might feel differently. How’s that work anyway? X-Men is Fox, Avengers is a different company, Fantastic Four yet another, and Spider Man another? How many Marvel characters come along with the rights to a particular super hero or team? I assume Dr. Doom is off the table for everyone but the FF. Do these contracts spell out exactly which characters are off limits to everyone else? ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226/34 "2014-02-14T03:35:26Z")
here’s a visual guide to the various Marvel characters and studios - [http://imgur.com/gallery/DnXShSd](http://imgur.com/gallery/DnXShSd) ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226/35 "2014-02-14T03:50:32Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > here’s a visual guide to the various Marvel characters and studios - [http://imgur.com/gallery/DnXShSd](http://imgur.com/gallery/DnXShSd) Interesting, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226/36 "2014-02-14T12:39:20Z")
I voted Other: Marvel: Captain Marvel She’s not as obscure to target audiences as all that, because she’s had quite a big role in the recent animated series _Avengers: Earth’s Mighties Heroes_ (although not yet in the _Avengers:Assembled_ series to date) ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226/37 "2014-02-14T13:24:23Z")
Speaking of Guardians of the Galaxy: [http://imgur.com/gallery/nivpkG2](http://imgur.com/gallery/nivpkG2) ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226/38 "2014-02-14T14:14:36Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Speaking of Guardians of the Galaxy: > > [http://imgur.com/gallery/nivpkG2](http://imgur.com/gallery/nivpkG2) Yeah, not a damn chance I’m going to watch that. I don’t know the series but if I was making the movie, I’d start out with Gamora (Thanos’s adopted daughter and now his enemy), Drax (a man killed by Thanos and back for revenge), Moondragon (Drax’s daughter) and Phyla-Vell (Moondragon’s lover). Rocket Racoon and Groot, as far as I can tell, don’t have these sorts of close links to Thanos - they’re just there. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226/39 "2014-02-14T15:39:44Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Yeah, not a damn chance I’m going to watch that. **I don’t know the series but if I was making the movie** , I’d start out with Gamora (Thanos’s adopted daughter and now his enemy), Drax (a man killed by Thanos and back for revenge), Moondragon (Drax’s daughter) and Phyla-Vell (Moondragon’s lover). Rocket Racoon and Groot, as far as I can tell, don’t have these sorts of close links to Thanos - they’re just there. Well that speaks volumes. Drax and Gamora are confirmed and cast, by the way. Rocket Raccoon and Groot will put asses in seats by way of the groundswell of positive internet / geekdom buzz this quick gif is already generating. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226/40 "2014-02-14T16:35:36Z")
It looks like Marvel’s Avengers 2 is supposed to lead into a Black Widow movie. > **[Will Avengers 2 pave the way for Black Panther and Black Widow movies?](https://gizmodo.com/will-avengers-2-pave-the-way-for-black-panther-and-blac-1522535341)** > > A Game of Thrones star says the show could become a movie. David Fincher is remaking the British series Utopia in the U.S. Find out why Cap's costume is changing in Captain America 2. A new promo may have answered a major Walking Dead question. And a... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-dc-or-marvel-be-the-first-to-deliver-a-modern-female-headlined-super-heroine-movie/681226.md?page=3)