The idea of an all-female Avengers movie has been tossed around since even before Avengers: Infinity War, the third installment in the Infinity saga, was released. The women of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have gradually been rising to prominence. From Pepper Potts to Captain Marvel, these ladies have lived through over 10 years of action sequences, tragedies, and love stories from across the universe and beyond.
As time has gone on, women’s roles in the MCU have shifted. What started with one female character now includes dozens with a variety of backstories and abilities, and by now, producers and fans both have ideas about what to take and what to leave for the proposed A-Force movie.
Don’t Want: Damsels In Distress
It’s a concept as old as fiction itself. Female characters are sometimes created for the sole purpose of being saved by, being a love interest to, or dying to provide motivation for a male hero. This normalizes the idea that women shouldn’t be allowed to do a “man’s work” and aren’t capable of heroism, saving themselves and others.
Marvel has been straying away from this theme over the years, thankfully, placing women in lead roles in movies and TV shows and introducing female characters who lead armies and wield the strongest powers in the universe. It seems promising that A-Force will be the culmination of all this and could show just how far Marvel has come.
Want To See: Diversity
As more women have been introduced to the universe, Marvel has taken even more steps toward gradually diversifying their line-up. Black Panther was monumental in incorporating black characters of an unprecedented number to the franchise, including several women we hope to see in A-Force, but Marvel can still do better.
The MCU has yet to introduce a single member of the LGBTQ+ community, but an all-female film would be the perfect setting for the franchise’s first lesbian couple. Marvel could also stand to add to its non-black P.O.C. population as well, which A-Force along with the productions of Phase 4 can potentially address.
Don’t Want: Bodysuits
Following the underwhelming box office stats of her movie Charlie’s Angels, Elizabeth Banks credited the success of blockbusters like Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman to those movies being part of a male genre. It’s hard to disagree with the fact that the MCU ladies cater to the male gaze when Black Widow is fighting in skin-tight, cleavage-exposing bodysuits alongside the male heroes equipped with body-enveloping armor.
Of course, a quick glance at any woman in a Marvel comic makes it clear why the films have costumed their women rather scantily, but giving women more practical suits in A-Force could do a lot to combat the “male genre” claim.
Want To See: Major Villains
Gone are the days when the only major female player in the MCU could only be trusted to fetch coffee and push a button. A team made up of the women of Marvel would be the Tsar bomb of team-ups, and it should be treated as such. They are capable of taking on the biggest threats to humanity, to the universe, and should be depicted that way.
In 2017, Thor: Ragnarok gives us Hela, the only main female villain of an MCU movie, who can set a precedent for the A-Force villain. On the other hand, it’s not only female villains that the all-female team can defeat, but if the toughest evils in the world happen to be women, then this team can be trusted to take them down all the same.
Don’t Want: “Perfect” Characters
There’s no doubt the women of A-Force need to be strong and smart, but like any other character, they need their weaknesses. One flaw of Captain Marvel was the movie’s final battle scene. Because it was already established that Carol was much stronger than her opponents, the fight never had the felt suspenseful or dangerous.
In addition to a good story, it’s important that the A-Force isn’t just made up of flawless characters who never doubt themselves, but characters who are real and reflective of the women who will be watching them on screen.
Want To See: Relationships
Marvel, Hollywood, and society in general have a bad habit of assuming that any two women in the same room will not get along. Using one of the first female character interactions we see in the MCU as an example, Pepper had a bone to pick with Natasha in Iron Man 2. This trend has improved over the years, though. Take Black Panther, which features Nakia and Okoye working together with T’Challa and Shuri in the car chase scene.
That’s not to say every member of the A-Force team should get along (the original Avengers certainly didn’t), but the women of this film should have a variety of relationships, from friendships to rivalries, that reveal aspects of the characters fans know and love in ways unique to the members of this team finally coming together.
Don’t Want: Family-Related Expectations
It would be realistic for some of the A-Force women to be motivated by love and children. Clint Barton’s family played a big role in his narrative, but it wasn’t the only aspect of his story, and it doesn’t concern anyone that none of the other male Avengers have wives or children for most of the franchise.
Natasha’s Age of Ultron story, in comparison, equates her inability to have children to being a monster. The film also establishes an inorganic pairing between her, the only female Avenger at the time, and Bruce Banner, which seems to imply that she needs a romance in order to remain a relevant character. The A-Force movie is Marvel’s chance for redemption, a chance to value their female characters as characters apart from their ability to start a family.
Want To See: Complex Characters
A common misconception evident in many mainstream action movies is that women can either be good fighters or have human emotions and that the two can have no overlap. Gamora and Nebula, for example, are both considered to be two of the greatest warriors in the galaxy, but during Guardians of the Galaxy, both are stoic almost to the point of roboticism.
While it’s true that they had different upbringings than their male counterparts, the way they were written seemed to suggest that if they had used their emotional hardships to fuel their journeys, as Peter and Drax did, it would have completely unraveled their skills.
Don’t Want: “…For A Woman”
“You’re good for a woman” is a sentiment expressed by men who still want to feel superior to a woman who has beaten them.
A-Force is a superhero movie. The heroes who are featured in the film will be women, but that will not be the reason why it will be a good movie. Them being women will not be why they’re a strong, smart, talented bunch. Like the other Marvel movies, it needs a good story, clever dialogue, and well-developed characters. It needs to stand on its own. The all-female aspect of the film shouldn’t be a gimmick, and it shouldn’t be the reason it’s considered as good as its predecessors.
Want To See: Female Producers
Anyone who has ever watched a superhero movie can tell you that no one saves the world on their own. Saving the world, or making a movie, requires a dedicated support team of diverse people with different talents who get the leads where they need to be. Unfortunately, a severe lack of women on Marvel’s production teams has been a problem, with not a single solely female-directed, -written, or -produced movie to date.
Marvel does seem to be shaping things up, though. Captain Marvel was co-directed by Anna Boden and co-written by Boden and Geneva Robertson-Dworet. In July 2018, the studio announced the upcoming Black Widow will boast the franchise’s first solo female director, Cate Shortland. When there is diversity in the writers’ room and the director’s chair, we see new, unique perspectives in film. While we’re looking forward to seeing all the women on screen, Marvel’s first all-female superhero movie would feel incomplete without a stronger female presence in its production team.
