We’ve called Marvel out on their lack of a female-led movie before. And there’s enough heat on the topic that Kevin Feige, planner of the Marvel movies, weighed in… if only to pass the buck.
In an interview with Comic Book Resources, Feige says the right things to please the Internet. But it’s what you can read between the lines that stands out:
I think it comes down to timing, which is what I’ve sort of always said, and it comes down to us being able to tell the right story… I very much believe that it’s unfair to say, “People don’t want to see movies with female heroes,” then list five movies that were not very good. But we find ourselves in the very strange position of managing more franchises than most people have — which is a very, very good thing and we don’t take for granted, but is a challenging thing. You may notice from those release dates, we have three for 2017. And that’s because just the timing worked on what was sort of gearing up. But it does mean you have to put one franchise on hold for three or four years in order to introduce a new one?
Or, to sum up what Feige is actually saying: “My bosses won’t make a female led movie as long as we can make a lot of money from what we already have, so basically, maybe in 2019.” Honestly, it’s a bit of a thin excuse. If they’re going to roll out solo movies for Doctor Strange and Ant-Man, two characters we haven’t seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe before, surely they can make a little time for Black Widow or Captain Marvel.
It rings especially hollow because by Feige’s own admission, they’re going to be up to three movies a year by 2017. Part of this is money; Scarlett Johannson doesn’t come cheap, especially not now after Lucy opened at $40 million last weekend and broke even in its second weekend. But still, at this rate, DC will get it together and put out a Wonder Woman movie first, which is probably the most stinging criticism we can make.