No Girls Allowed

Despite there being an array of popular, well-established comic book superheroines, Paul Shirley laments their absence on the big screen:

“It’s almost hard to believe that there a was a time when a studio wouldn’t touch a comic book film to save its life. Now, they’re fighting over the scraps of every property that ever saw print. Except, it seems for the female ones.”

He also finds the thought of equating superpowered women to eye candy to be tiresome:

“Exaggeration is a common factor in comics, so really, the argument that characters, be it male or female, are molded purely for sex appeal is a boring stereotype. There is a generality in terms of appearance that commonly applies to the medium, and that is that the heroes and heroines look their best. Y’know, like superheroes, not out-of-shape common folk who can barely run a mile.”

(Image: Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff (a.k.a. Black Widow) in Iron Man 2, Marvel Studios/Paramount Pictures. In 2004, Lions Gate flirted briefly with the idea of a movie showcasing the Russian-born spy but the project never took off.)