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Female Superheroes
Although the comic books Ms. Marvel: No Normal and Spider Gwen: Most Wanted were
great sellers, Marvel Studios has yet to release a movie with a female superhero as a lead. The
leads of all Marvel’s movies thus far have been white straight men, so why not change the
characters? Although Marvel Studios may have its reasons, the company shows in their female
comic books that women are not yet strong enough to be a superhero in a film.
To start off, both comics showed women as insecure. Ms. Marvel does not have confidence
in herself so she wishes for superpowers. Once she has those superpowers, she feels the need
to disguise herself with the blonde hair and the mask. Spider Gwen also has the insecurity of
being seen. A majority of the comic she is shown in full Spider Woman costume and does not
reveal her identity to anyone but her father. Male superheroes hide behind their costumes in
movies while fighting but they are not afraid of who they are. They show confidence and all the
characters, minus the bad guys, in the movie show respect towards them. In Ms. Marvel: No
Normal, Kamala is intimidated by the popular girl, Zoe, and disloyal to her parents; therefore,
having lack of respect. In and Spider Gwen: Most Wanted, Gwen is trying to prove she is the
good guy and while trying to do so she gets defeated the whole comic first through her band,
then her father telling her not to be a superhero, then the villains and the police after her.
Gwen was setup to be upset the duration of the comic making her appear insecure on what to
do. Both men and women can show insecurity; however, it has become the stereotype for
women because of the supporting movies and comics.
Male superheroes are strong and can handle any villain that comes their way. In the Marvel
comics, both Ms. Marvel loses her first fight with a villain. Ms. Marvel tries to save Vick from
the basement of a house and loses the fight to Doyle. Doyle does not have any powers just his
“kitty” robots and his laser gun but because he’s a white male character he defeats Ms. Marvel.
Spider Gwen’s first battle on her own in the comic is between her and Vulture. The previous
fight also involved the help of her father. However, when Vulture attacked they fought back
and forth yet he won by dropping her from higher off the ground than anything she could web
too. Vulture is also a male character, which continues to show that male characters are
